Sara Al-Zubi on Refugees, Faith, and ‘Unfiltered Me’

When Sara Al-Zubi saw what was happening to women and children in Syria and around the world, like so many of us, she was astonished and appalled. She couldn’t sit idly by, so – at just 20 years old – Sara crashed full-on into the world of refugee activism. From Truman Scholar to youth ambassador to founder of multiple nonprofits, her accomplishments are impressive, but Sara’s just getting started.

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Stories Behind the Booze: Carla Nicole Smith of The Greenwich

Carla Nicole Smith is a bartender and server at The Greenwich, a famous jazz club located in Walnut Hills. From becoming a ritzy destination in the industrial age to serving as a gather space during the city’s boycotts in the early 2000s, The Greenwich has withstood the test of time, and has hosted musicians and performers from all over the country.

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Scenes From the City: Charmaine Moore Kitsinis

“We were meant to know one another” – is often the phrase my inner voice feels confident screaming when I meet a woman with a heart that could be divided by ten million and still shine as bright. Upon meeting Charmaine outside of our day job stocking lettuce at Trader Joe’s, my inner voice was amplified for every Panera-goer to hear.

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Aprina Johnson: Transformation, Highways, and Musical Activism

I met Aprina Johnson outside of a warehouse. “You ready?” she asked. I said yes, although I wasn’t sure. I put my Subaru into drive and followed her sedan through a quick series of back alleys. We parked in a secluded area near an abandoned truck yard, and out of Aprina’s car tumbled four children plus herself. We scuttled across a road and past patches of overgrown weeds and large cement blocks, eventually making it to a highway overpass.

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‘We were the young people’: Rasleen Krupp on Youth, Activism, and Change

At just 18, Rasleen Krupp is already a political activist with an impressive list of accomplishments. She has spoken in front of thousands at Cincinnati’s Women’s March. She organized the walkout at her high school, joining thousands of other schools as they raised their collective voices to memorialize those killed in Parkland and protest for stricter gun control legislation. And she formed The Young Activists Coalition to offer a place for young people to get involved. That coalition organized the March for Our Lives and continues to hold events to educate and give a voice to teens.  

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Stories Behind the Booze: Rita Stall of Tech Elevator

Rita Stall may not have had her start in the tech industry, but she is certainly paving the way for others to become engaged in the industry, and learn how to become a developer through Tech Elevator’s curriculum. Not only did we learn about Rita’s passion for growth in the community, but Tech Elevator’s hope to help the community grow by bridging the gap in Cincinnati’s need for tech talent.

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The Molly Wellmann Mix: Shoes, Booze, Cats, and History

If you spend any time in bars in Cincinnati, you’ve probably heard of Molly Wellmann. The proud Cincinnatian, bartender, business owner, and former punk-rock girl has a wide smile and a lot of tattoos. She currently owns two bars, Japp’s and Myrtle’s Punch House, but she’s been a fixture on the local cocktail scene for roughly a decade.

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Read and Reflect: It’s magic, and I made it myself

If you know me well – and I mean really know me – you know that I think way too much about what others think about me. I’m one of those people who needs words of affirmation from others. I listen to what others say way more than I should. When I finished reading #GIRLBOSS, this was more evident to me than before – and it was already pretty evident to me then.


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Kate Zaidan: On Dean's Mediterranean and Love Over Fear

As the new owner of the specialty food store in Findlay Market, Kate continues the legacy of a business her father, a Lebanese immigrant, started over 30 years ago. With respect for the wisdom and success of her father and the thoughtful confidence to lead the business with new ideas, new products, and new branches of business, Kate combines people, food, culture, and personal principles to create an exceptional niche in the local food world. And while navigating her new role as a young woman business owner, she’s discovering that she just might have a knack for all that leadership stuff, too.  

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Read and Reflect: Giving people power has sucked the soul out of me

As digital editor at my college’s newspaper, I manage our social media and keep our website up-to-date and looking sharp. Anyone who manages social media for a business or an organization has encountered their share of trolls. There are mornings when I hop on Twitter and see notifications in the double digits. More often than not, the notifications are innocent, but recently, we’ve encountered a truly special troll.

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Read and Reflect: Embracing the Unknown

There is solace in the solutions science uncovers. We all have an urge, at times motivated by fear, to understand the unknown. But we are human beings, and our experience on Earth is artistic, expressive, and subjective. Lows allow us to feel highs; growth forces us to change whether we want to or not; and in the midst of all this noise, if we’re quiet enough to hear, the whispers of our intuition guide us.

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