Tim Mask is the president and CEO of MWB, a 50 year-old creative firm in Jackson, whose mission is to “create for good.” Saying he “never had a real job” prior to coming here in 1999, Tim worked on political campaigns before finding his niche in the agency world. In this episode: www.mwb.com | Instagram.com/mwbcreate | visitjackson.com/safertravel | sippjackson.com/tasteoftheislands

Jordan Hillman is the Director of the City of Jackson’s Planning and Development Department. In her role, Jordan is the city’s problem solver and systems analyst, and her work ranges from community development to transit and business licensing. A decade-long resident here, Jordan and husband Matt are raising two boys in the City With Soul. In this episode: www.jacksonms.gov | www.jacksonms.gov/connectjxn | twitter.com/jordanrhillman | www.jxn.ms

From former teacher to musician and barista to baker, Cody Cox (along with wife, Molly West) are owners of Urban Foxes, the small batch bakery and coffee shop in Jackson’s Belhaven Heights neighborhood where food, family and community are all intertwined. Cody sees the city as fertile – “if you want to put the work in” – through grassroots championing for change alongside fellow Jacksonians, from citizens to city leadership. In this episode: www.urbanfoxesjxn.com | facebook.com/eleganttrainwreck/ | www.discoverjxn.ms/travel/24hours-codycox | www.sippjackson.com/coffee2

In this episode: Lauren Rhoades is the director of the Eudora Welty House & Garden in Jackson. Originally from Colorado, Lauren moved to Jackson in 2013 to work with FoodCorps, an AmeriCorps program. Prior to her work at the Welty House, Lauren founded and operated Sweet & Sauer, Mississippi’s first fermentation company. Her kimchi received a 2018 Southern Living Food Award. Outside of work, Lauren is a gardener, writer and an MFA candidate at the Mississippi University for Women. Instagram.com/laurenrhoades | www.EudoraWeltyHouse.org | jxn.ms/jxnoutside

As a teen, Jeff Good moved to Jackson from Salt Lake City and went on to attend Millsaps College and stayed put, planting deep roots in the city. As owner/operator of Jackson restaurants BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar, Broad Street Baking Company and Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint, Good’s face and welcoming persona is one that’s ever-present in the City With Soul. His most recent endeavor, a workforce training café, Refill Café, is based in West Jackson. In this episode: bravobuzz.com | salandmookies.com | broadstbakery.com | www.refilljackson.org

Cindy Ayers Elliott is CEO of Foot Print Farms, a 68 acre specialty crop vegetable and livestock farm, with a focus on agri-tourism for community development in the City of Jackson. She spent years in New York as an investment banker but has traded in her high heels for a pair of work boots and a different type of investing: Cindy believes that planting seeds in the earth will grow fresh vegetables, but planting seeds in the minds of young people will create a new universe of scholars. In this episode: footprintfarmsms.com | mdac.ms.gov/bureaus-departments/farmers-market | fertilegroundjxn.com

Creative Design Manager Reshonda Perryman is the artistic mind responsible for Visit Jackson´s new image and the visionary behind Pixels & Paint, LLC. Perryman is a graduate of Jackson State University and received her Master´s of Fine Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a self-described lifelong creative that specializes in many aspects of art and graphic design. visitjackson.com | pixelspaint.com | Instagram.com/pixelspaintllc | visitjackson.com/publicartmap

We’ve got a slate of future episodes lined up in the coming months, but we’re taking a pause for now during COVID-19. In the meantime, head to My City Jxn MS on IGTV and Facebook, and look for a new series, My City TV!

Interior Designer Mary Sanders Ferriss is the principal and founder of Ferriss and Company, known for its work in culinary, corporate and residential interior projects. Ferriss’s work has taken her across the country for clients like Starwood Properties, Eat Here Brands and many others. Jackson native and artist Scott Allen owns A Plus Signs and Creative, a company specializing in large format, handcrafted signs. His work with wood, glass and metal to create unique branding projects may only be eclipsed by his accomplished career-of-late in the public art and hand-painted sign space. Both artists are frequent collaborators whose work can be found, notably at Sophomore Spanish Club and Cultivation Food Hall, both at the District at Eastover in the LeFleur East neighborhood of Jackson. In this episode: www.ferrissandco.com | Instagram.com/a_plussignsandcreative | www.sophomorespanish.com | www.jxn.ms *Show note: this episode was recorded prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Geno Lee is the fourth-generation owner of the Big Apple Inn, an institution in Jackson’s Farish Street District. A purveyor of tamales, smokes and pig ear sandwiches, the restaurant has been a fixture in African American culture in the city. The Southern Foodways Alliance calls Lee the “great-grandson of a Mexican immigrant, son of a Freedom Rider and believer in Farish Street.” In this episode: Big Apple Inn | MS Civil Rights Museum | Jxn.MS