Aiesha D. Little, Communications Maestro

You may not know the name LifeFormations, but odds are you’ve probably seen the company’s work. From Germany’s Europa Park to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, this design and fabrication firm has created sculpted and mechanical elements for amusement parks, movie studios, museums, and other themed attractions around the world. “I, like many of our team, came into this business wanting to build experiences that ‘wowed’ visitors as they walked past or through our projects,” says Rodney Heiligmann, the company’s president. “So a maquette in Times Square, a theme park attraction in Asia, a museum here in the Midwest—wherever our work is located, we wanted to engage people in the space so we could entertain or teach them something.”

When Michael Weirich’s research position at Vanderbilt University went belly up last summer because of the pandemic, he had to find something else to do with his time. Knowing of his love of cooking, his mother joked that he should create a “restaurant out of our house,” and the aspiring entrepreneur was off and running. In July, Weirich launched Restaurant Confluence, a month-long pop-up dining experience at his parents’ home. This month, he’s back with a new winter menu and weekly takeout options.

When you think about the smoothest, coolest brass sections of funk and soul bands from the 1970s and ’80s, Ohio shows up front and center. Bands like Ohio Players, Slave, and Lakeside all came out of Dayton while Bootsy’s Rubber Band grew up right here in the Queen City. Trumpeter Mike Wade is continuing that tradition with the debut release of the eponymously titled Mike Wade & the Nasty NATI Brass Band.

When Hyde Park resident Lauren Barker lost her second job as server earlier this year because of the pandemic, she decided to use her love of cheese as a creative way to make up for the lost income. “I’m very passionate about cheese,” she says. “I decided, What better time to invest in myself than when the world is shut down and I have nothing to distract me? So I spent a couple months researching, making a business plan, and building my site and I went for it.” The result is Cheese Garden, a custom charcuterie board business, which Barker officially launched this summer.

Food insecurity is a major concern in “normal” times, but in a year like this one when COVID-19 has upended every facet of life? Well, let’s just say the Freestore Foodbank has its work cut out for it this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

When Asian Food Fest was canceled earlier this year due to the pandemic, the Asian American Cultural Association of Cincinnati still wanted to do something to celebrate Asian food culture. The result was last week’s Asian Food Week and the recent launch of Asianati.com, which “celebrates Asian food culture through stories, news, and an ever-growing directory of Asian restaurants, food trucks, markets, bakeries, and more.”

Drive past the No Pork On My Fork food trailer in Bond Hill on any given day and you’ll see a line of customers. Owner Willie “Wil” Hearn knows that when you try his breakfast and brunch specials, you’ll be happy to stand in that line, too. We spoke to Hearn about how he got started, how he made a name for himself at Cincy Soul: The Black Taste festival, and how he’s getting his business through the pandemic.

As COVID-19 cases spiked across the country, research facilities and pharmaceutical companies ramped up efforts to create a vaccine that will stop the virus’s spread. In the spring, St. Elizabeth Healthcare became the first U.S. site to participate in a Food and Drug Administration-approved Phase-2 clinical trial of the drug PUL-042, which boosts natural immunity in the lungs.

There’s a reason why Perfetti Van Melle employees and executives refer to the company’s 10-month-old warehouse and distribution center as “The Showcase.” It’s the former location of Erlanger Showcase Cinemas. Quite apropos for the makers of Airheads, Chupa Chups, Mentos, and other fine movie-appropriate candies. Perfetti is one of the world’s largest confectionery groups, manufacturing and distributing sugar confectionery and chewing gum products in more than 150 countries.

If you’re in the business of startups in the Midwest, you’ve probably come across Candice Matthews Brackeen. As co-founder and executive director of Hillman Accelerator, the University of Cincinnati graduate has spent the last three and a half years making sure her investment company provides underrepresented tech-enabled startups with the mentorship, curriculum, investment, opportunities, and resources they need to scale, grow, and thrive.

A showcase of the best short films focused on improving towns and cities will make a stop in Cincinnati on Sept. 26 and Oct. 3. Hosted by Women in Film Cincinnati, the Better Cities Film Festival highlights 18 short clips on everything from sustainability to affordable housing.

On a recent crisp Saturday evening, the rich sound of JD Allen’s tenor saxophone is floating through the air around Campsite Sculpture Park in Camp Washington. A crowd of 25 or so jazz fans, masked up and social distancing, are out to listen to Allen’s tunes, including some from his new album release, Toys/Die Dreaming (High Note/Savant Records).

A few weeks ago, fans of the hip-hop/jazz collective ISWHAT?! received an email from founding member Napoleon Maddox in their inboxes: a Spotify link to a new EP called iMaintain.

Local author/playwright Roger Collins’ stage play Humanoid Traffic Stop will be part of the Village Players of Fort Thomas’ virtual production, It’s Alive-ish!, which kicks off this Saturday, Aug. 29. We spoke with him about the play, relations between the African-American community and his 2020 goals.

Johnny Glover, aka Audley, rapped his way onto the Cincinnati music scene in 2011. On September 4, he shows off his singer/songwriter chops with his sophomore album, ROY. We talked to the artist about his musical journey, his sound and increased productivity during the pandemic.

While some small businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to the COVID-19 crisis, Brittney Braemer and Suzy Hinnefeld are bucking the trend with plans to open second locations of their lifestyle boutique Handzy Shop + Studio and its companion for kids clothing, Gumdrop.

Twelve years ago this summer, former University of Cincinnati track star Mary Wineberg was in Beijing, China, bringing home the gold as a member of the U.S. Women’s 4 × 400 meter relay team at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Today, Wineberg, an elementary school teacher for Cincinnati Public Schools, gets to relive that experience with children around the world through Airbnb’s “Olympian & Paralympian Online Experiences” program.

In 2001, I was a 24-year-old part-time editorial assistant at Cincinnati Magazine, attending graduate school at Xavier University when I landed an interview that would help shape my view of the world for years to come. I find it disturbing and infuriating that I could still do the same interview nearly 20 years later.

In the wee hours of the morning at the beginning of the state’s shutdown in response to the COVID-19 crisis in mid-March, fine art photographer Tina Gutierrez began formulating a plan – create an art project that would let people share how they felt about the pandemic through clothing. And thus, her coronavirus wearable art portrait series was born.

During the last three months of quarantining, photographer Tina Gutierrez has had a lot of time to work on how to visually represent her feelings about the COVID-19 crisis. Her latest burst of creativity comes in the form of a wearable art portrait project in response to the coronavirus.