Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Carla Marie Reed. I owned Black Dog Cafe for 27 years. Used to be an academic of sorts at Florida State. And currently learning how not to be either one of those things. I made the decision to open Black Dog Cafe. We did. I was married at the time. I was pregnant with my son. And I wanted a way to be with my son and to make a living. I love talking to people. And one of the things that really drew me to coffee shops when I lived in Chicago was the communities that were built there. The same people would come in. You would see familiar faces. That seemed really important to me. And especially when I was having a baby, I didn't know anything about babies. And so I started a new mom's group. But one time we had almost 50 women with babies hanging out at Black Dog. So I learned a lot about babies. I learned a lot about my community and a lot about building a community and kind of what it takes to bring people together. What has kept me inspired and open to life is the beauty of every moment that I have. They may not be moments I like, but they are beautiful in that they are happening and that I'm learning from them. Just like running Black Dog for 27 years, it was an experience. There were bad times. There were terrifying times, especially when COVID hit. But man, I learned so much. And I met so many awesome people. And there were so many treasured moments. And there will continue to be. I'm Karla Marie Reed learning to live fully in the moment and enjoy life as it is. You're listening to voices that inspire.