Heather WagnerHeather Wagner credits her mother, Jane Philo, with inspiring her career in victims' rights law. Now retired, Philo spent 23 years working with victims of domestic violence in Biloxi, and Wagner saw the results of abuse first hand. "When she …
Marley Le"<i>I</i> did all the hard work, and she looks just like Scot. She's precious, but she looks just like him," Marley Le, owner of Fondren Nails, says of her now four-week-old infant, Elizabeth Ann, as she shows off pictures of …
Chuck CulpepperSaint Alexis Episcopal Church is in the heart of Jackson, just down the street from Hal and Mal's.
Toni CooleyToni Cooley was born in Chicopee, Mass., but was raised as an Air Force brat in Massachusetts, North Dakota, New Jersey, Mississippi and New Jersey again.
Louie MillerMississippi Sierra Club Director Louie Miller, 50, is nothing if not a pit fighter. He might smile for his pictures, but don't be fooled. Miller can be foul-mouthed and irascible, a product of conference-room shouting matches and broken-bottle, barroom-style fights …
Anna Lee DillonAnna Lee Dillon, 25, knows that perseverance is key to making a change. When her father, Sherman Lee Dillon, founded Jackson's Earth Day festival 15 years ago, it was a decidedly intimate affair.
Ann HendrickAnn Hendrick, 46, remembers the "time of chaos" when Mississippi schools belatedly integrated.
Thabi Moyo"I didn't know what I wanted to do when I first went to college," Thabi Moyo, 26, says, reminiscing about the spiral of events that led her to her current jobs as festival coordinator of the Crossroads Film Festival and …
Tiara RobinsonWhen she walked into the front office of Wingfield High School, she gracefully introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Tiara Robinson," she said with a huge smile and firm handshake. This small gesture told me that Robinson is a person with high …
Betsy BradleyIn a hard hat and heels, Betsy Bradley artfully maneuvered past the piles of rubble, plywood gangplanks laid over shallow ditches, and piles of sand and sawdust that surround the construction site of the new Mississippi Museum of Art.
Tekla SandersTekla Sanders fairly shone on the sunny day when we met for lunch, her glossy curls framing her expressive eyes and wide smile. At 27, she still considers herself a newly-wed after 18 months of marriage, and she's expecting her …
Crafton BeckIn seventh grade, Crafton Beck agreed to play an instrument he had never heard of before. Beck had wanted to play the trumpet, but the band director at his middle school in West Memphis, Ark., said to him: "Son, you …
Althea Stewart"I wear a lot of hats," Althea Stewart says. When Jim Hill students want to get something going at their school, they usually call on 39-year-old Stewart, who already sits on the Black History committee, is a cheerleading coach, coordinates …
Nancy KingNandy's Candy Store looks exactly how an old-fashioned candy store should. The floors are old hardwood, and the only thing that keeps customers from reaching their hands right in and grabbing whichever sweet confection tempts them is the domed glass …
Ruben Rodriguez-SantosRuben Rodriguez-Santos, 31, lives for family. He beams when talking about his 3-year-old son, Ruben Alexander. Hopping up from the booth near the front door, which allows a constant stream of customers in and out, Rodriguez-Santos goes to retrieve his …