Jennifer Bradley Franklin

Secret Santa ATL (also known as “Loose Lips”), a speakeasy hidden in a warehouse deep within Pullman Yards in Kirkwood. The brainchild of beverage director Marian Chism, the concept started as an off-handed comment she made to property owner Adam Rosenfelt. “I jokingly said, ‘You know, I could throw a speakeasy up in the tunnels and people would come.’”

It’s never a bad time to visit North Carolina’s largest city, but lately, Charlotte is on a roll. From a new pro soccer team and groundbreaking Picasso exhibition to the buzzy Camp North End development, the Queen City seems to have something for everyone.

When Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set out to tackle the pandemic, it was all hands on deck.

Having grown up as the child of two entrepreneurs in Maryland, Meredith Leapley saw firsthand the challenges that come with being a business owner.

It’s impossible to know how many lives Nadine Kaslow has saved over the course of her career.

“It looks like every other house on the street from outside,” says the interior designer. “But when you walk in, it’s not. Defining the spaces as individual and special, while still being connected, was a wonderful challenge.”

When husband-and-wife duo Adam Rosenfelt and Maureen Meulen purchased the 27-acre Kirkwood parcel of land now known as the Pratt Pullman District in 2017, their plan was to turn it into a creative cultural destination, separating it from other mixed-use developments anchored by large retail or restaurant tenants. A trio of initiatives launching in 2022 will continue to make that vision a reality.

Chapel Hill, home to the University of North Carolina (UNC), has that elusive blend of qualities that makes for an ideal weekend destination: instantly comfortable yet demanding to be explored.

I’m not a big crier, but I feel two fat tears threatening to spill down my cheeks as an eight-piece band performs “What a Wonderful World.” I’m sitting in a darkened theater aboard the inaugural voyage of the American Countess, a luxurious new paddle wheeler cruising the Mississippi.

Atlanta is a city on the rise, always reaching for more and the next. That’s evident in the city’s economic growth, business innovation, and how it attracts the best and brightest talent from around the country. Thanks in part to challenges like GIVE Atlanta, it’s also a hotspot for generosity.