Exploring the Valley

Fresh seafood in the mountains sounds like a contradiction until you hear how it actually works. We’re catching up with Carolyn Bajesse, a St. Thomas native who found her way back to Black Mountain, North Carolina and stepped into ownership of Black Mountain Seafood, one of the most practical, community-rooted small businesses in town.  We talk through the real behind-the-scenes logistics of getti...

Your neighbor town can feel a mile away, until someone tells you the truth in a parking lot. We sit down with Brian Burpo, a Black Mountain local and the owner of Diamondback 4x4 in Swannanoa, to talk about how communities really connect and why small details like names, websites, and who you include in the story can change everything for local pride and local tourism. We get into what people come...

A teenager walks into a coffee shop and the staff already knows his name. That sounds small, but for a neurodivergent kid trying to rebuild confidence, it can be life-changing. We sit down with Brandon Moffitt, a licensed clinician and the founder and executive director of Black Mountain Academy, to talk about what happens when a school and a town work together to create real belonging for high sc...

An 80-year-old furniture store doesn’t last by accident, especially in a town that’s changing as fast as Black Mountain, North Carolina. I’m sitting down with Olivia Tyson Warren, a Black Mountain native and third generation leader at Tyson Furniture, to trace the real story behind a legacy business that started in 1946 and still earns deep trust today. We talk about the early pivot that shaped th...

A new director walks into town and decides the best way to learn it is to get outside with everyone else. We’re joined by Jacob Guiot, Black Mountain’s Director of Recreation and Parks, who’s only a few weeks into the role but already deep in the details that shape daily life here, from youth sports and community spaces to the events that bring the whole town together. Jacob shares the long road t...

A town can carry grief in its buildings and still be ready for a comeback, and Swannanoa, NC is proving it. We’re joined by Daniel Lancaster, founder of Short Sleeves Coffee, to talk about turning a 1920s gas station into a specialty coffee shop and community gathering place. Along the way, we trace the deeper story of Beacon Blankets, mill homes, and what happens when a factory closes, a fire end...

Fireworks look effortless from a blanket on the grass, but the work behind them is anything but. We’re joined by Jim Wright, better known as “Pyro Wright,” a local licensed pyrotechnician who’s bringing professional fireworks to Black Mountain and Swannanoa and explaining what most people never see: the rules, the risk, the planning, and the pride that go into doing it right. We talk about Jim’s p...

A 3:45 a.m. dispatch. Flames pushing out of the Beacon Plant. And a chief who still talks about service like it’s personal because it is. We sit down with Swannanoa Fire Chief Anthony Penlin, a Swannanoa native who started as a volunteer firefighter in 1990 and never stopped showing up. His story is equal parts leadership, local history, and the quiet grit it takes to wear the uniform year after y...

A place can change you when it removes the noise and gives you something real to pay attention to. That’s why our conversation with Greg Hall at YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly stuck with us: he’s building conference and retreat experiences that feel less like “another event” and more like a reset for your brain and your relationships. Greg shares his journey from growing up in northern Kentucky to becom...

A new town can make you feel invisible, even when you’re surrounded by friendly faces and beautiful views. We talk with Elaine Looney, the new executive director of Black Mountain Counseling Center, about the real nuts-and-bolts of starting over: the “where do I get coffee” questions, the comfort routines that make a place feel like home, and the surprising ways a community can help you belong fas...

Maui to the mountains is a big leap, and David Carmona made it with a three-year-old, a newborn on the way, and a vision of a life built by hand. We sit down with the man many locals know as “David the Window Man” to talk about what people rarely see behind a home service business: the values, the culture, and the long game. If you care about Black Mountain NC, Asheville small business, or how to...

Paul Krause is the kind of person who sees a “safe” job as a launching pad, not a finish line. We talk about how he walked away from stability, moved into a van, and built a working life on the road through sports photography, weekend tournaments, and a constant cycle of planning, driving, setting up, and tearing down. It’s a candid look at van life logistics too, from gym showers to finding legal...

Coaching can feel mysterious until you hear it framed like sports practice for adulthood: clear goals, honest feedback, and small tweaks that compound. We talk with Adam Knapp of Knapp Creative Coaching about transformational coaching, how his decades in teaching shaped the way he listens, and why so many capable people still get stuck wrestling with worthiness and self-perception. If you’ve ever...

A packed Jeep, a brand-new town, and the kind of fear that comes with starting life over from scratch. That’s where Ali Casparian’s story begins, and it’s also where a radically practical idea takes root: hunger relief can look like dignity, choice, and real community, not shame and scarcity. We talk with Ali, founder and executive director of Bounty and Soul in Black Mountain, about the personal...

A YMCA conversation in Black Mountain turns into a surprisingly deep look at what makes a town feel like home. I sit down with David Carter Florence, associate pastor at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, and we trace his winding path from the Shenandoah Valley to seminary, teaching, chaplaincy, and finally ministry in Western North Carolina. The more we talk, the clearer it gets that “community”...

A leap of faith can look like a rental signed sight unseen, a job change across state lines, and a promise to figure it out as you go. We sit down with Melissa Baker to trace how a Florida beach couple found their footing in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and why they now want their retirement to keep the mountains close. It starts with walkability on 4th Street and a chance hello at My Father’s...

A beautiful town rarely happens by accident. We sit down with Anne Drummond of the Black Mountain Beautification Committee to pull back the curtain on how 135 volunteers design seasonal displays, care for street trees, and make public spaces feel warm, walkable, and wonderfully inviting. Anne’s story weaves childhood summers in Montreat, a return to the North Carolina mountains, and a love of gard...

A room lights up when the right neighbor walks back in. That’s the energy Tammy Potter brings as she traces her path from New Mexico to the Smoky Mountains and shows how a “service first” mindset turns a company into a community engine. We dive into the real work behind those words—helping rebuild an agriculture program after storm damage, donating materials for a school pole barn with the Rotary,...

Two lives intersect over paint cans, songs, and a mountain skyline—and suddenly a vacation town becomes the place you can’t imagine leaving. We sit down with Jeanie Grindstaff to follow a winding road from Tuscaloosa to Belmont, through Nashville studios and the TV set of Nashville, into the bright, real world of Black Mountain where love, worship, and neighbors turn ordinary days into a lifeline....

A six-month hike from Maine to Georgia can change everything. That’s how Andy Gibbon stumbled into Black Mountain, fell for a local arts festival, and started a life anchored by family, music, and a small-batch coffee roastery that smells like pure happiness. We sit down with Andy, co-owner of Dynamite Roasting Company, to trace how a detour on the Appalachian Trail became a 25-year commitment to...

The most meaningful decisions aren’t made on spreadsheets—they’re made in the quiet moments when you ask, can I sleep at night with this? We sit down with Lee Ann Lewis, a lifelong Black Mountain local and mortgage banker who blends hard-won finance chops with a heart for community, to explore how a place shapes a person and how numbers should serve a life, not the other way around. Lee Ann’s jour...

A hurricane knocked down trees, but it lifted up something bigger: the kind of community you only understand when neighbors show up with laundry baskets, hot showers, and time. We sit down with Hope Burk—longtime local, real estate pro, and steadfast friend—to explore how Black Mountain turns shared hardship into lasting bonds and why that spirit keeps people rooted. Hope traces her path from App...

What makes someone trade the easy path for a winding mountain road and a van full of strangers who become friends by sunset? Phil Holderman joins us to share how a high school romance, a deep love for Western North Carolina, and an obsession with good views turned into TP Day Trip Adventures, a small-group tour company built for people who want the magic without the guesswork. We dig into the real...

What happens when a single word becomes a weekly promise to your town? We sit down with Ruth Pittard to follow a winding path from childhood trips through Black Mountain’s craft scene to a tiny, solar-powered home and a public ritual that turned protest into presence. After three decades at Davidson College, Ruth uprooted her life, found an unlikely lot by a retention pond, and—against a ticking c...

Ever wonder what happens when a part-time high school job turns into a life’s work and a community legacy? We sit down with Lori Morris to chart a rare arc: from a 17-year-old filing papers at White Insurance to becoming an owner, mentor, and steady hand in Black Mountain and Swannanoa. It’s a grounded story about choosing to stay, building trust one small task at a time, and discovering that home...