“This is my favorite part,” said StartUpNV Director of Marketing Rukshana Hussain. 

Outside, the sounds of traffic dominate the sweltering Vegas heat, but inside the Nuwu Art Community Center there’s a silence as rural and Tribal entrepreneurs hang on to Hussain’s every word. 

She asks the group for their ideas, their dreams and aspirations for their startups-to-be or, for those already with fledgling startups, their goals for the future.

A hand is raised immediately. The answer?

Aaron Mallory’s ties to his community are as strong and rich as the brews available in his Waynesboro coffee shop. He created the upscale, yet cozy, cafe to be a third space between work and home where his neighbors can experience the highs and lows of life together. 

“Coffee is really exciting, but connection is our main mission,” says Mallory. “We started brainstorming names and wanted to go with something that would be easy to remember with roots in positivity and goodness. Happ is the Nordic root of words like happy, happenchance, happening.”

You could say that music is in Rob Seal’s DNA. His granddad was a bluegrass musician from Russell County who took him to picking parties every summer, and his brother is a professional guitar player in Nashville. Seal took up the instrument at an early age and possesses the most important skills for opening a music store … passion for playing and talking to people. 

For Kris Krupa and Mandi Fullwood, a caffeine boost isn’t just a great way to start the day. It was so instrumental to the daily operations of their Heritage on Main Street restaurant that they brewed up a plan to start a coffee shop to keep both enterprises running strong. 

Waynesboro’s proximity to Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail makes it a perfect place for hiking, biking, paddling and fly fishing in the great outdoors. It’s also a terrific location for adventures in your own backyard with a little help from Brian and Victoria Mininger. 

“At Bear Creek Outdoor Living, we design, build and furnish spaces to help people get outside in daily life,” said Brian. “I was born and raised in Waynesboro and have lived here the majority of my life, so it was pretty important for us to keep the business here."