Chuck Beard Talks Fatherhood and More on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers  embody, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

On Saturday, June 18, 2016, join me to hear a wonderful friend, Chuck Beard, owner of East Side Story, share his journey to fatherhood. (Emily Beard, wifey, shared her story in May.) Often times, the road to parenthood can be rocky and filled with ups and downs.

Chuck, like Emily, will be share his perspective about his hopes and dreams of starting a family after getting married and how he handled several years of trying. Chuck will give a rare glimpse of how men handle loss and the longing to become a parent. Tune in to hear how he balanced his emotions while staying supportive and encouraging to his wife.

On December 26, 2015, Chuck and Emily became the proud parents of baby bubbles, Avett Otis Beard, who has changed their world and the world of family, friends, and even customers of East Side Story! Avett Otis is so darn cute, he even has garnered a huge following on social media! Hear about the adventures of Chuck, now known as Super Dad, raising Avett Otis! Tune in to hear how he balances bouncing one of the happiest babies ever on his knee while managing East Side Story and how he stayed focused to finish graduate school this year. Whew! Hear his encouraging words to couples trying to become parents and life lessons he has learned along the way.

Avett Otis..some one hire this kid!

This show promises to bring you a few tears and tons of laughter this Father's Day weekend!


More about East Side Story! 

The Beards!

East Side Story is more than Nashville’s first, all-local bookstore.  East Side Story is more than a platform for Nashville-area writers to tell their best story while igniting, teaching, and encouraging the spirit of reading and writing in others.  East Side Story is an idea; a blank canvas for all local literary ideas to help make Music City more of a book town.

Like any good idea, East Side Story really started when more and more people besides the person who initially thought about it believed in its mission.  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.
In the Summer of 2012, Chuck entered his idea for what would become East Side Story into a nationwide idea contest titled Launch that was put together by Nashville’s own Proof Branding Solutions.  The contest asked anyone with a good idea to explain what it was about, what it would become if realized, and how it would positively affect the community that it is located inside and beyond into the future.  The winner of the contest would be rewarded with a number of services that Proof Branding Solutions provides to help small businesses get started.  Lo and behold, after receiving over a 100 solid ideas for the contest, East Side Story was chosen as the best one!

Chuck then met with the good people of Proof to begin things such as business and marketing plans on top of logo and website designs.  After meeting with Proof and defining the goals and essence of what East Side Story would become, the next step was to find a physical location.  Chuck met with good friends Bret and Meg MacFadyen of Art & Invention and The Idea Hatchery in East Nashville, and, as his running good fortune would have it, they had an opening at The Idea Hatchery for the perfect spot for East Side Story to officially begin and join the creative family of shops on “The Row” at 1108 Woodland Street.

On August 1st, less than a month after winning the idea contest, a lease was signed, keys were exchanged, and door at 1108 Woodland Street, Unit B, first opened … just in time to paint, design, and start loading the bookstore with local literature-based artwork and shelves of beautiful, locally written books.  Since idea inception, the snowball of positive feedback, more great ideas to make a good thing even better, and pure excitement for more original stories to be shared has grown more by the day.

East Side Story encourages, supports, cultivates, and provides a platform for local writers to tell their best story.  Our goal is to be a viable outlet to share these stories online through this website and at the bookstore.  East Side Story was first inspired by all of the creative talent that is evident in the Nashville area, and we hope to inspire and grow with this community for a long time going forward.

For more info about East Side Story click here:

Photo credits: East Side Story and the Beards

Photographer Chip Cooper on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes and Mocha Market Magazine during April as we spotlight out of the box thinkers who are change agents. From serial entrepreneurs who will not allow the word “no” be a stumbling block on the road to success to leaders of organizations who challenge the status quo by leading by example to military men and women who are taking their military training that helped rebuild foreign countries and now applying their skills in their communities to photographers who allow their lens to tell stories about individuals and culture that inspire us to appreciate the beauty in all people. Tune in to hear best practices, how they became overcomers, and how they turned missteps into opportunities.

On Saturday, April 14, 2012, renown photographer and scholar Chip Cooper will talk about his latest book,Old Havana, La Habana Vieja. For three years Chip and Cuban photographer, Nestor Marti, photographed a city that is undergoing a culture rebirth that have many longing to visit Cuba. Throughout the 228 pages coffee table book you will see proud, happy people ages nine to ninety nine that are living out thriving and vibrant lives. Hear Chip share about the inspiration behind the book and Cuba's rich heritage. Chip will also give us updates on the rebuilding of his hometown, Tuscaloosa,Alabama.

Living Your Best Life, is a radio show that empowers, inspires, and motivates one to live their BEST life. Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760AM in the Middle TN Region, Inspirational Networks, military bases, and UStream.TVfrom 9-10AM CST.

More about Chip Cooper

Chip Cooper was the former Director of Photography for the University of Alabama for 33 years and is now artist in residence in the Honors College, as well as a faculty member in Arts & Sciences.

He received his BA from the University in 1972, followed by post-graduate work in photography.

While working for the University of Alabama, he published the following books: Hunting: The Southern Tradition, Taylor Publishing, Dallas Texas; Alabama Memories, WH Smith, New York City; Silent in the Land & Common Threads, CKM Press, Tuscaloosa Alabama, Crimson: The University of Alabama, Booksmith Group, Nashville Tennessee}; and Charlie Lucas, The Tin Man, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa Alabama.

He recently had a photography exhibition in Havana, Cuba, and one in Alabama with Cuban photographer Nestor Marti entitled "Side by Side." They have finished Habana Veija, (Translation: Old Havana) published by Alabama Press in February 2012.

Cooper won an award of excellence for his book, Silent in the Land, from Communication Arts Magazine, and is a past recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He has shown his work nationally and internationally, and his work is in many museums, and private and corporate collections.

Text INSPIRE to 99000 questions or comments for Chip and to win a copy of his book. Other prizes $50 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobel and dinner for 4 to Ellendale's.