Togather Books & Beer @ imogene + willie

Sunday, April 14th
2:00 - 3:30pm
1310 Clinton Street, Suite 121, Nashville, Tennessee 
Tickets here

Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Ice Cream
Carrie Eddmenson of Imogene & Willie
Miranda Whitcomb of Burger Up and upcoming restaurant Josephine 

Togather and Brooklyn Brewery present Books & Beer, a lively conversation and Q&A featuring three sucessfull entrepreneurs working in Nashville today. Carrie Eddmenson of imogene & willie and Miranda Whitcomb of Burger Up are Nashville-based business owners and formidable creative leaders in their industries. On Sunday, April 14th they will be joined by special guest Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Ice Cream for a conversation about starting and running a business and the road each has taken to make it work. The three provide insight about their professional experiences and discuss challenges, mentors, taking risks, failing, and the importance of community. The three women will  speak to the rennaissance Nashville is currently undergoing; how they helped foster the city's growth and the positive & negative implications of change for each of their businesses. (Jeni's opened a store in Nashville in 2011 and Miranda is opening a new restaurant in Nashville this year). The discussion will be moderated by Chuck Beard of East Side Story. 

Directly following the discussion will be a musical performance featuring the chamber twang of Nashville's Poly.

Your ticket includes a complimentary Brooklyn beer and samples of Jeni's frozen treats. A portion of all proceeds will benefit Slow Food Nashville.

Your speakers: 

Carrie Eddmenson
Carrie Eddmenson is the co-founder of imogene + willie, a denim company based in Nashville, Tennessee.  Carrie was a principal of Sights Denim Systems for twelve years prior, formerly the world's preeminent denim development laboratory and premium finisher. She worked in product development and design with companies including Paper Denim & Cloth, Rogan, Earnest Sewn, Levi’s Vintage Clothing, Ralph Lauren’s RRL, Joie and Loomstate. She and her company also started a product design and development company in Istanbul, Turkey, where she resided for three years.

In 2009, she and her husband Matt left Henderson, Kentucky to renovate an old service station in Nashville, where imogene + willie was born. imogene + willie is sold in the old service station, online and in over forty stores around the globe.

Miranda Whitcomb
A pioneer of the 12 South neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, Miranda Whitcomb Pontes embraces everything about the community she calls home. She relocated to Nashville  from Boulder, Colorado in 2002 and opened the first business in the emerging neighborhood, The Frothy Monkey Coffee House. Later she would open Burger Up, a gourmet burger joint, in the 12 South neighborhood and continue her love and support for her community. With unemployment in the United States at an all-time low, fortunately there are people like Miranda whose emphasis on community extends to those she employees. Miranda has made it her mission, since the very beginning, to employee non-violent former convicts and help rehabilitate them into productive members of society.  Pontes says,  "For somebody to have to basically wear a scar or a label of a criminal offense usually they're immediately disregarded. They're not even considered for a job". She goes on, "I just thought, why not? Why not offer them a place that would foster non-judgment and opportunity if they were ready for a different path in their life. It would be a safe place for them to come and change the direction in their life." In the past ten years of her career in 12 South over half of her employees have non-violent records. The practice is mutually beneficial, those former convicts she employees say they are "blessed" and happy to be working and to be responsible for themselves and Miranda feels fulfilled to see the sense of community growing, she says it is "just the sweetest feeling. "

Jeni Britton Bauer
Jeni Britton Bauer has created ice cream for more than 15 years. Drawing from her traditional pastry training and a pantry of exceptional ingredients, the Columbus resident continues to perfect the frozen desserts for which her company, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, is known. Jeni first discovered her love for dessert while working at La Chatelaine bakery in Columbus, Ohio. Her passion for ice cream eventually led to the opening of her first ice cream shop, Scream, in 1996 in Columbus’ North Market. With the help of her business partner and husband Charly, she founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in November 2002 in the same market where she operated her first scoop.

Now, Bauer is the owner and creative director of eight elegant scoop shops in central Ohio, one in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and one in Nashville, Tennessee, with individual pints available online and in freezer aisles throughout the United States. Her ice cream has been praised by Time magazine, the Washington Post, USA Today and countless other media outlets throughout the country. In June 2011, Artisan Books published "Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home." Now in its sixth printing, The New York Times best-selling cookbook has been dubbed “the homemade-ice cream-making Bible” by The Wall Street Journal, while The Washington Post proclaimed Jeni “an ice cream wizard.” In May 2012, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home won a James Beard Media Award in the "Cookbook: Baking & Desserts" category.

When Jeni isn’t developing new flavors, she devotes time to Local Matters (the Columbus-based, fresh-food-for-all non-profit she co-founded), as well as reading, painting at her kitchen table, sewing, drinking wine, cooking and making big messes with her husband and two children at their home in Columbus.

Chuck Beard
A freelance writer, editor, and author, realized that there was a lack of opportunities and spotlights for local aspiring writers and published authors not known on a national scale to hone their craft and share their stories. He opened East Side Story in August 2013 with the goal is to be a viable outlet to share stories online, through this website, and at the bookstore.  East Side Story was inspired by the creative talent evident in the Nashville area, and Chuck Beard hopes to continue to grow with and inspire this community.