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My vision is that Knoxville would become in the next ten years the most loving, welcoming, safe, and unified city in America. People are flocking to Knoxville because of its beauty and opportunity, but my dream is that people will come to see the richness of our people - the talent, creativity, and passion of those who call Knoxville home. We have many challenges to match the leadership capacity in our city, from homelessness to affordable housing to transportation and unsafe neighborhoods, but there's no challenge so great that we can't come together to make things measurably better.

One best kept secret of Knoxville is the music scene. There are the larger venues like the Tennessee Theatre that hosts incredible artists, but then there are smaller stages like the Bijou, Jackson Terminal, Open Chord and Mine and Mill that showcase amazing local and national talent. I have heard that Knoxville has been known as the "Cradle of Country Music" and I don't know if people are aware of our music heritage. We have an awesome opportunity to celebrate country, bluegrass, and every shade of Appalachian music given our location and history.

My calling is to bring people together, so I plan to play my part in making Knoxville a better place by fostering deeper relationships among those with various backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. I hope to especially work on the "community engagement" emphasis of Leadership Knoxville to choose more places to get involved and lend a hand to the good work already being done. I also think that I can do more to bring together the faith communities of Knoxville, especially those who are near the downtown area, to work on some of our city's most pressing problems. Knoxville's downtown churches form a kind of circle around the core of our city, which to me symbolizes the responsibility we have for this part of Knoxville. We will be stronger when various faith communities (not just Christian) come together to move the needle on issues facing our city.

My favorite memory happened on July 4th, 2021, the first July 4th holiday after we moved to Knoxville. At the time we were living in a top-floor loft in the Old City. We thought we would have a quiet night with friends and maybe view a few fireworks from our balcony, but I was amazed to see how many fireworks shows were happening all across our area. We could see the edges of the fireworks show from World's Fair Park, but also could see colors of red, orange, and green popping up all across the horizon -- from Powell to Strawberry Plans and all across the ridge lines of the Smokies. There were probably 15 or 20 areas shooting off fireworks. IT WAS AMAZING!

The Women by Kristin Hannah

My mentor growing up was a pastor named Dale Huff. He encouraged me to always remember Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him; and He will make your paths straight.

If I could go back and talk to my 16 year old self, I would say something like this: "You're not alone. Life is going to throw you curve balls and you're going to face a lot of disappointments, but if you stay the course, be true to yourself, and treat everyone with kindness and love, you'll be OK. What may be the hardest of all is the need to acknowledge how you will also disappoint and hurt others. So name what you have done, ask for forgiveness, and learn to let go. You don't have to be perfect. Accept yourself for who you are, and from there, dream big. Everything is waiting for you. Join the conversation. Don't be afraid.