Meet Carrie Cunningham!

A few years back this writer was tapped to emcee and help judge a Battle of the Country Bands contest at a local roadhouse. Even if country music isn't your thing, it's wildly popular outside the Portland city core, and there’s an army of talented country artists in our midst.

The standout winner of that year's competition was Carrie Cunningham & The Six Shooters—a tight, versatile band of stellar players, led by a petite dynamo who owns the stage the moment she arrives.

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Meet Dr. Thomas Mackowiak

“People often tell me I am easy to know, which I assume is a good thing,” says Dr. Thomas Mackowiak (pronounced; Ma-CO-vee-ack). “I was born in Poland, then we moved to Germany when I was a small child, and then to Chile when I was 19. People might be surprised that I studied law for three years in Chile. I eventually realized my heart just wasn’t feeling it, and that is when I decided to study to become a veterinarian.”

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Meet LeRae!

“I am a tom-boy with two totally different sides to me. I love to get down and dirty and take on projects like re-finishing my bathroom floor as well as dress up and shop. Those who know me well would say I am an ‘open book.’ I guess I sort of go with the flow depending upon the situation I am in,” says this energetic ‘Recess in the Pearl’ business owner and cat-mom, LeRae Hunt Ford. “My cat is a girl named George — she is a loveable Calico barn cat.”

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Meet Jason!

Our world is home to countless forces of nature that, once they’ve touched down, leave the landscape forever changed.  Some are large and dramatic — like shifting tectonic plates — while others are quietly industrious, like bees transporting pollen.  Those of the human variety can fall into either camp.  Jason Nicholas, fondly known as “Dr. J” of Preventive Vet, falls into the latter, working at a quiet, steady pace, changing the world a little wherever he touches down.

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