• We are excited to announce that OpenSpace now has a purified water dispenser located in the kitchen, which will provide our members with cold and hot Everpure-filtered water.

• With each glass, the “good stuff”, like healthy minerals and fluoride, stay in, while the “bad stuff”, like lead, chlorine, and bacteria are removed. Try it out!

Leadership and Motivation: Are you able to lead and motivate others to follow and deliver your vision? Developing your powers of inspiration by building confidence and expanding your charisma is key to building a successful business.

Communication Skills: Are you an engaging communicator? You need to be able to communicate well to sell your vision of the future to investors, potential clients, team members, and more.

Creative Thinking: Are you able to see situations from a variety of perspectives and come up with original ideas on the fly? Staying in tune with your creative side makes you a more effective public speaker.

Drive and Persistence: Are you self-motivated and energetic? Actors are some of the hardest workers out there, gambling their livelihood on the outcome of one high-pressure moment: the audition (pitch).

Risk Tolerance: Are you comfortable taking risks and thinking on your feet? We’ve been told practice makes perfect, so practicing your ability to cope with the unpredictable is the only way to master uncertainty.

Optimism: Are you an optimistic thinker? Optimism truly is an asset; it will help you get through the tough times that many entrepreneurs experience as you fight to find a business model that works well for you.

Resilience: Have you honed your ability to pick yourself up when things don’t go as planned? Being able to learn and grow from your mistakes is key for success in today’s workplace.

Some good thoughts on competition from Seth Godin’s blog:

“If you’re going to count on the competition to bring out your best work, you’ve surrendered control over your most important asset. Real achievement comes from racing ahead when no one else sees a path–and holding back when the rush isn’t going where you want to go.”

From the creators of the newest and coolest apps to the founders of new social-conscious online retailers, these are Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 entrepreneurs under age 30. With all the smart and innovative people we have here, we’re betting someone from OpenSpace will make this list someday. Could it be you?

Last month, OpenSpace held our big event showcase to kick off the new OpenSpace event venue. We could not have done it without the help of some of Charlottesville’s finest event professionals, who worked together to transform the Forum into a gorgeous spring fling! We’ll be highlighting those companies here on our blog; check back often to learn more about these fun, talented people!

Beehive Events

http://www.beehiveevents.com/

Shawn Cossette of Beehive Events got her start doing floral arrangements in California after graduating from UCLA. She fell in love with the famous Los Angeles flower market and everything went from there. She began doing large home flower arrangements, often for big name clients in Hollywood! As her business grew, Shawn started incorporating weddings and other social events into her repertoire, expanding into the world of event planning. After moving to the Bay area, she added more and more events, but flowers, she says, were her first love. Shawn and her family moved to Charlottesville about six years ago, looking to slow down some and enjoy a country lifestyle, but she has still found herself in high demand in the Charlottesville wedding planning business!

Shawn likes to use materials with a unique, textural feel, like chinaberries, figs, or blackberry brambles, that create her signature “dressed rustic” look. She can work with all different types of style, however, and even grows some of the flowers and plants she uses! For our event, she used tons of yellow roses and leafy greenery to match our spring theme; we really love how they brightened up the space!

Photo credit: Jen Fariello

Last month, OpenSpace held our big event showcase to kick off the new OpenSpace event venue. We could not have done it without the help of some of Charlottesville’s finest event professionals, who worked together to transform the Forum into a gorgeous spring fling! We’ll be highlighting those companies here on our blog; check back often to learn more about these fun, talented people!

Blue Mountain Brewery

http://www.bluemountainbrewery.com/

Taylor and Mandi Smack opened Blue Mountain Brewery in 2007 and have quickly established themselves as one of Virginia’s top breweries. Their idea was to create a rural brew pub, in the fashion of Central Virginia’s famous wineries. Now, not only do they now have a full scale restaurant at their main brewery in Afton, they have also recently announced their plans to expand to a new site in Colleen, VA, near Lovingston.

The new site will consist of two new production facilities to keep up with the increased demand for their popular brews. One will focus specifically on their more high-end, artisanal beers, such as the Dark Hollow Artisanal Ale, while the second and larger of the two facilities will handle the production and bottling of their popular six pack beers, like the Blue Mountain Lager and the Full Nelson Pale Ale. All of Blue Mountain’s beers are made from hops grown on-site at the brewery; visitors can tour the farm as well as the brewery. Afterward, be sure to stop by the lovely outdoor patio and enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery with a large soft pretzel and your favorite brew! Check their Facebook page for more brewery event details.

Photo credit: Jen Fariello

Last month, OpenSpace held our big event showcase to kick off the new OpenSpace event venue. We could not have done it without the help of some of Charlottesville’s finest event professionals, who worked together to transform the Forum into a gorgeous spring fling! We’ll be highlighting those companies here on our blog; check back often to learn more about these fun, talented people!

Cramer Photo

http://www.cramerphoto.com/

Sarah Cramer Shields has been in love with photography ever since she was little. She got her very first SLR camera at age eleven, and after graduating from the University of Virginia, she stayed in Charlottesville and opened Cramer Photo in 2005. Cramer Photo moved to the Downtown Mall in 2009; you might have seen her sign on the Mall, above Christian’s Pizza. She specializes in wedding, family, and portrait photography, and talking with her, it is evident that Sarah LOVES her job. For her, it is all about telling stories with her photography. It is a special thing, she says, to be able to photograph people’s biggest moments, which she does with images that are clean and fresh, portraying honest and open day-in-the-life moments.

Sarah also has a great love for Charlottesville and how supportive the city is of its artists and has been happy to stay here and call it home. Her newest project in 2011 captures that love for the city and especially its people, who she says make this town as great as it is. Called the “People of Charlottesville Project,” Sarah is getting to know the people of this town one by one, sharing each individual’s story and personality through fun and expressive photography. She even did one of OpenSpace founder Jeff Gunther that was used in the Cville-Weekly cover story!

Sarah’s “People of Charlottesville Project” will be featured next Friday (June 3rd) at the WVTF and Radio IQ Studio Gallery on Water Street for First Fridays- see Facebook for more event details!

Last month, OpenSpace held our big event showcase to kick off the new OpenSpace event venue. We could not have done it without the help of some of Charlottesville’s finest event professionals, who worked together to transform the Forum into a gorgeous spring fling! We’ll be highlighting those companies here on our blog; check back often to learn more about these fun, talented people!

Dickie Morris

http://justalittleditty.com/

As an event planner and crafter of hand-made clutches, Dickie Morris gets to do a little bit of every thing she loves. Both sides of her business allow her endless possibilities for creativity, and through her blog, she is able to share the beautiful things around her.

Dickie got her start in event planning with Easton Events here in Charlottesville, where she worked for four years before striking out on her own. She loves working with people and especially enjoys getting to help someone on the best day of their life and being a part of that happiness. No two events are the same, says Dickie, and she thrives off that ever-evolving atmosphere, enjoying facing the constant new challenges. There’s always something new when planning events, always some new variable, but Dickie loves the challenge of coordinating it all. She certainly pulled it all together beautifully for our spring party!

She also has a business making hand-sewn clutches out of new, repurposed, or vintage fabrics. Called ditty bags after her grandfather’s old beloved bag, each bag is uniquely crafted and gives new life to old fabrics and fond memories. They make great gifts; brides especially love these cute little bags for their bridesmaids! Custom bags are also encouraged- whether it is your favorite pair of jeans, mom’s old dress, or a vintage tee, it can be transformed into something special to hold all your little ditties in! In fact, the bag pictured above was made for Kathryn of Festive Fare out of old Festive Fare table clothes!

Like just a little ditty on Facebook and check out Dickie’s store on Etsy for all her newest ditty bags creations!