SHAPING DFW: ERIC PULIDO & MCKENZIE SMITH
Eric and McKenzie are musicians and business owners in Denton, Texas. Their musical journey and love for Denton led them to open several local businesses to further their city.
Eric and McKenzie are musicians and business owners in Denton, Texas. Their musical journey and love for Denton led them to open several local businesses to further their city.
Born and raised in Dallas, Fleetwood Hicks began his career in commercial real estate but quickly realized it wasn’t his passion. Hicks then began designing different products and was in Venice Beach, California when he rented a beach bike that would change his life. He is now the founding owner of Villy Custom, a beach bike retail boutique in Dallas.
Jeremy Biggers is a full-time artist in Dallas. After deciding to quit his job in August of 2014 to become a full-time artist, Biggers has experienced great success for his paintings that utilize manipulation of regular human images to show the duality of what it feels like to be two people at once.
Julie McCullough is the co-creator of The Pin Show, an annual fashion show. This fashion show is the first of its kind in the Southwest region, showcasing a growing group of slow-fashion designers on one runway for an audience of over 1,500 people, including top bloggers and reporters.
Chad Houser is the founder of Café Momentum, a nonprofit that employs teenage boys who have been through the juvenile justice system, and teaches them skills for the service industry. By creating a positive influence in a professional environment, Houser is able to mold and change lives for the better throughout the DFW community.
In Brad Oldham’s large-scale sculptures, which enhance the communities and in the collections of sculptures created for individual retail sales, the viewer will see that Oldham’s meticulous craftsmanship, passion, and creativity are cast into his every creation. He enjoys exploring his visual aesthetic to communicate stories, yet the quality of his work remains constant and strong.
In a world dominated by men, it’s no small feat that a Dallas based, highly successful tech accelerator was not only co-founded by a woman, but also counts 2 other women as top executives. It’s also no small feat that when Gabriella Zielke co-founded her company in 2009, there were only 10 tech accelerators in existence worldwide; now there are more than 5000.
An impulsive purchase of a cheap microphone at the age of 16 literally changed the life of Garland native Justin Mohrle. With no musical training or background, this now 24-year old started writing songs, and recording them with that same cheap microphone, which lead him to multiple writing and performing credits on Dr. Dre’s chart topping ‘Compton- A Soundtrack”; red carpets, parties, all-night recording sessions, and a reputation throughout as being courteous, appreciative, professional, and soulful.
Growing up in south Dallas, Tim and Terrence Maiden (AKA The Maiden Twins) could have easily followed the path of many of their friends—a dead end route of drugs and unemployment. But these graduates of Carter High School chose a different path. Both twins earned football scholarships to TCU. Upon graduation, both were scouted by the NFL, and yet again, the Maiden Twins took the path less taken. Instead, they chose to enter the work force. Both climbed their respective ladders quickly, while all along maintaining a burning desire to give back to the south Dallas community that they say shaped them. Just five years after graduation, the twins started the Two-Wins foundation with the goal of “building communities and changing lives”. For 10 years, they’ve been doing just that.
Chef and Restaurateur After cooking in kitchens across the country, Chef Matt McCallister found a fresh start in Dallas at FT33, his first solo venture, which he opened in October 2013 at the age of 31. FT33 and Chef McCallister quickly rose to local and national acclaim earning recognition from D Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and James Beard Foundation.