He`s So Original

A childhood spent slaving over his sister's Easy Bake Oven paid off for Joshua. Born and raised in Pascagola, Mississippi, his father taught him how to cook as a kid. Luckily, his two sisters weren't into the popular play oven they received as a present, and Joshua turned those 100 watts into a cake making machine.

"I used to hand write Debbie Fields and ask her for recipes for her cookies," says the cake wiz. "Yeah, I was that kid."

As Top Chef comes around again on Bravo, we catch up with Season 4 fave, Richard Blais.

Daniel was supposed to be a funeral director. "I started working at a funeral home at age 14. And I loved it," says the Greenville, South Carolina native. So why did he go into hair styling? "My dead people looked fabulous!" he says. "I knew I was born to do this instead."

"Where I come from, if you don't dance, you're a geek," says Antonio Daza, co-owner of Daza Dance Ballroom Academy in Alpharetta. Born in Venezuela, this accomplished ballroom dancer started dancing in classes at age 6 but says he and his friends "came out of the womb dancing. It was just part of our culture."

Being from a third world country, Antonio admits that "it's funny that with all of our problems, poverty and corruption, we're a very happy people. We dance, we're around our families and friends and we like to get together." His exuberance and joy is evident as soon as you meet him.

As a young man, Antonia was studying graphic design as a career, but it was the movie Dance With Me about a Cuban man who moves to America and becomes a ballroom dancer, that changed his life. "When I saw that, I knew I wanted to do it too," he says. "I wanted to come here for something better."

Fashion designer and shopping activist Clint Zeagler is the creative mind behind the Southern fried clothing line Pecan Pie Couture, but his most recent endeavor is Fashion Over Atlanta, a four-day event that intends to bring back the glamour and luxury of fashion boutique shopping throughout Metro Atlanta November 12-15. Zeagler joined other local fashion savants to produce the event, which will highlight 25 of Atlanta’s most beloved boutiques (including Sandpiper, pictured) and offer shoppers exclusive discounts and benefits to re-inspire their inner fashionista. The stylisto also designed the event's official t-shirt, which will be sold at participating boutiques to benefit Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). Work! 

What do you like best about wearing a skirt? As a fashion designer, finding a great excuse to wear a skirt is the most exciting thing.  And hopefully, Fashion Over Atlanta will give lots of people a reason to go get a new skirt. 

What do you like best about reading skirt!? Keeping up to date on what women want out of fashion, especially here in Atlanta.

Three has always been a successful number—look at the Three Stooges or the Three Musketeers. This triumvirate took on the old guard music mags seven years ago and wowed the industry when they launched PASTE Magazine. As the Editor-In-Chief, President and Publisher of one of the most respected pubs in the industry—this trio has consistently stayed edgy and fresh. Last year they were nominated for a General Excellence National Magazine Award (the highest honor in the field.) “We’re about connecting music to the soul,” says Nick. “We’re not married to any one form of distribution.” To prove it, pastemagazine.com boasts the most traffic of any competitive site behind rollingstone.com. While most fans think they’re headquartered in NYC, they’ve entrenched themselves in the funky enclave of Decatur (where all three live) and have no plans of leaving.

What do you like about wearing a skirt?: “What skirt? I already forgot I had it on.”

What do you like about reading skirt!?: “I like reading a good women’s magazine that isn’t pissed at me for being a man.”

Christian started dancing at 8 years old because his little sister was getting more attention than he was with her lessons. Born and raised in Georgia, Christian has danced for 17 years and all of it with Atlanta Ballet. He joined the company in 2001 and eventually married a fellow member. “We’re like a big family. We have such camaraderie,” he says of his fellow performers. Or he plays rhythm guitar in a band with Atlanta Ballet members called Midnight United. Christian loves the classics—Giselle, and Romeo and Juliet, but he especially loves contemporary dance, like the show he did with Big Boi in 2008. The kilt he’s wearing above is from 2001’s Shed Your Skin, a unique show with the Indigo Girls. These days, with moves like the one above, this 25-year-old is getting more attention than his sister could even dream of.

What I like about wearing a skirt: “It gives me freedom to move around and dance. It is definitely more than the skimpy things we wear on stage, too.”

What I like about reading skirt!: “I like seeing different people in Atlanta and all of the amazing things they’re doing.”

Dean Cully’s hometown is the small, but unique Cairo, GA. His high school’s off-beat mascot, the Syrupmaker, whose fight chant is “Sop ‘em, Syrupmakers,” was simply par-for-the-course growing up. So it’s no wonder that Cully brings a unique POV to everything he does. After leaving his job of 35 years at the University of Alabama, to be the Dean of Grady College at the University of Georgia, Cully is working to change journalism students as journalism itself changes. With new classes, events, and ideas, Cully seeks to bring communications at UGA into the 21st century. “Journalism has changed drastically over the years,” says the race and media specialist. “Obviously technology has changed it.” Cully says that, “it makes no difference whether you see it from a printed page or screen in the telling of a story—all that remains the same. How it’s done is a whole new school, and we need to become a whole new school to reflect that.”

What do you like about wearing a skirt?: “I’m getting in touch with my feminine side.”

What do you like about reading skirt!?: “Well in one way, I really like the pace of it. It moves readers through.”

Atlanta-resident Shandon, 34, has shelved his Miami Heat jersey for a suit and tie fitting an entrepreneur. Five years ago, Shandon opened Nani Salon and Spa at Atlantic Station to solve an irritating problem—where do you take your little girl to get her haircut? “This business was a huge project,” says the father of two. “I changed my number because my agent kept calling me to play ball again. I decided I wanted to be an entrepreneur instead.” Nani was originally supposed to be a men’s barbershop but has morphed into more of a women’s salon, something Anderson is perfectly okay with. Besides the successful salon, he has plans for several small business ventures around Castleberry Hill. A Crim High School grad, Shandon’s other passion is Atlanta Public Schools. He runs a mentoring and scholarship foundation because, “City schools are taking the biggest hits financially and scholarly. You can’t forget where you came from.”

What do you like about wearing a skirt?
“It’s freedom. You’re doing something out of your element so you’re allowed to have fun.”

What do you like about reading skirt! ?

I am a feminist because…

“…my Mother is turning 98 this summer. I learned about feminism from her at an early age. She is a strong, smart woman and worked for 70% of what her male co-workers earned.  She was an active union member and an early advocate of equal pay and equal opportunity. She is still a forceful presence in my life.”

I’m a feminist because...

The chainsaw-wielding lead singer of Jackyl, Kennesaw native and father of three has sold over 3 million records and smartly (but quietly) built a multimedia empire. “I’ve been covert until now on a lot of my outside projects,” says the 45-year old owner of Mighty Loud Productions. MLP handles marketing and branding for clients like Crunk!!! Energy Drink, Full Throttle and Zippo lighters, brokering them opportunities with record labels. He is also executive producer and creator of MTV’s hit show “Two-A-Days.” He even has his own beer!