Major funding for Long Story Short is provided by the Haile Foundation.

Additional funding provided by The 5/3rd Foundation and contributions to your PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

On this episode of Long Story Short, a local entrepreneur invests everything she has into the macabre.

A business owner uses examples set by his father to create space for his employees.

A corner store owner.

reflects on decades in a small neighborhood before he retires.

Finally, an immigrant at the age of 60 fulfills her dream of owning her own business.

Welcome to Long Story Short, where we bring you the stories that make the Cincinnati and Dayton region home.

On this episode, we'll explore the behind the scenes stories of local businesses and the personalities that make them run.

For our first story, when most people consider opening a business in a small rural town they probably don't think about selling skeletons, stuffed two headed animals, or other oddities, but Cherish Brooks’ passion for all things weird.

pushed her to do just that.

Now if somebody tells me they're not represented, that breaks my heart and I'm immediately looking for something to make sure that I can fix that, because I don't want anybody to walk in here and feel like they are not accepted.

We are self proclaimed as like Halloween Town and anybody that's from around here knows it as such, and they know that when it's going to be Halloween, it's going to be something special.

It started my love for the horror community and finding my own people to have in my shop and things and when I was a kid I was down here doing that same thing that kids are doing now.

And just oohing and aahing at the window and seeing things that they never seen before.

I'm a foster kid, so I came from like nothingness.

I was told I was going to be nothing, but if this is where that led me.

If this all that was everything I went through to be where I am today, that's OK because maybe that's what it took to be who I am.

This is me like and if you don't like this then you're probably not going to like somebody like me, but there's lots of people that are like me.

They just don't know where to go or how to express themselves and I'm so happy to be able to give an outlet to these artists and they deserve it.

I'm going to share this with everybody, that's why I made it a store instead of an Etsy because I I don't sell stuff online.

I want people to come in and experience it from the front door on because there's so much more to see here than just something I can sell you on like a picture in a box.

If.

You go through this entire store and don't find something that intrigues you in some way you’re probably likes ramen noodle boring.

I'm sorry for you like I don't know what it is that does it for you, but there's something there really is something in here for everybody.

I hope that people take some influence here, and if that influences just be yourself.

Be a little weird, it's OK. Find your people.

Somebody will accept you.

You just gotta find them.

They just gotta know you gotta scream it from the mountain tops for them to know that you're even there kind of people anyways and it might take a little bit of effort to get to something like I've gotten to or other people, but just knowing that somebody else was brave for you, like sometimes makes a big difference so you know, I've watched other people succeed and I watched them be brave and I thought you know what I can be brave too.

Most of us take examples from our parents and apply them to our daily lives, and Joe Boyd's case, the simple seeming ingredients of a lawn chair, bungee cords and a company car taught him a lifelong lesson not only in regards to his family, but to his business as well.

The story I want to tell you is about my dad.

Because he said as a pastor, I want to hold a beer for a second so we could hang like I'm cool.

See what I did.

I'm a recovering post evangelical.

We can talk about that later if you want.

Thanks.

So I was uh ... Control yourself, lady.

I was born in Ashland, Ky was born in Boyd County.

My last name is Boyd.

And it didn't help me at all, but that's where I was born.

When I was twelve, we moved to Columbus, OH.

From there I went to Las Vegas.

I lived there for 10 years.

And then went to Los Angeles and then, like some sick magnet, was pulled back to as close to Kentucky as you can get without getting in it.

So I've had sort of a love hate relationship, being born in Kentucky because people prejudge it, and some of it's legit, and some of it's not.

When I was about 10 years old, my dad was a district manager for a gas station company called Certified Oil Company.

Certified fan.

Right now you're just packing your cigarettes.

Never had anyone clap there during the story.

So we were lower middle class.

I didn't know it at the time.

When if you had asked me when I was ten years old, what's a [mic cuts] What is a rich person do?

I would say when they buy new cars?

'cause I never thought we'd be this sort of family that would have a brand new car we always had used Pintos and stuff like that and my dad drove this old Red van that he got from Certified.

It was a company car.

It was kind of a weird like molester kind of man, but he didn't do anything bad.

That's just what it looked like, so nobody, everyone to ride in it.

One day he came home and I I was just looking out the window and he drives into the driveway in this brand new car like it was like the price is right.

This sparkling, it was a Nissan something or other whatever they made in the in the 80s.

And so it was.

It was not a nice car, but it was brand new and to me I was like, oh, we're rich.

Like I don't know how it happened today at work, but it must have been good.

I'm only child, which is why I'm so special and so my mom and I.

We got all excited about the new car and we ran out to see this car that my dad had gotten as a company car.

And I should tell you that my dad's boss, his name was E. Like the letter the the initial E. E. E. Carlisle Baker which is just sounds like the worst boss ever and I think he was.

He was like depression era Disney villain kind of boss.

And he bought my dad this new car to use for company use only.

He wasn't allowed to take his family around in it.

I don't think you ever had a company car.

But company Car is a Latin word that means do whatever you want with it.

So most people have a company car used for whatever but E. Carlisle Baker, the evil boss he wanted to make sure that my dad didn't use this car for personal business, so I ran out to the car.

The 10 year old.

It's hard to imagine but sort of chubby Joey, it was Joey back then I run out.

And I look into this new car that we're going to get to drive around.

And there's one seat.

Cause E.Carlisle Baker the boss man he had pulled the passenger seat out of the car.

And he pulled the back seats out of the car.

And he told my dad under no circumstances was he to use this for family stuff.

This is only for him to drive around and go to gas stations and check on the prices of cigarettes or whatever he did.

I don't know what he did.

And I just remember being like, oh man, we're rich but.

We can't ride the car.

This doesn't feel rich.

This is totally lame.

Now.

My dad was a hillbilly from Boyd County, Kentucky and this did not faze him at all.

This was the middle of summer so he marched around through our carport.

Remember those things marched through that into the backyard and he picked up a lawn chair that we had bought at Walmart.

probably 8 years ago and it had set outside through all four seasons for eight years and it barely had anything left in the vinyl straps and he took it and he put it in the passenger seat area where we're supposed to go.

Then he went to his trunk.

He popped the trunk and he pulled out four bungee cords.

And he took the bungee cords, and he attached the lawn chair.

To the passenger area of the car and he looks at me his 10 year old son whom he loved and he said ”Get in we're going for a ride.” I didn't think twice about it.

'cause at that point I was a hillbilly too.

I jump in, we ride around and that's considered illegal child abuse now.

But in Kentucky, in the 80s that was love, that's.

how a father expressed his love to his kid and I can remember for the next couple years riding around in that lawn chair was the most painful thing ever.

'cause the bottom is wearing out.

And I remember riding through he would all these gas stations to visit through West Virginia and southeastern Ohio and Kentucky.

And just driving through the mountains in the middle of winter, I remember listening to this is a Cincy story remember, listening to WLW with Gary Burbank when I was like 10 years old and they were playing that these Christmas these dumb Christmas songs one was like a blue Christmas by Porky Pig and I I just I just had this memory as a kid is setting in that godawful lawn chair.

And driving through 6 inches of snow through the mountains of West Virginia, listening to Gary Burbank, which is most dangerous thing ever, seriously?

Seriously, this stupid thing to do.

And just I don't remember anything.

My dad never talked about.

He would take me to work with him when I was on Christmas break.

But I remember being with him.

And then this weird thing came up on us as a family.

It's called puberty.

It started with me and affected the whole family and I became a little tiny man.

I don't want to help my dad anymore and my dad and I got some fights through those years.

And eventually my dad grew up.

He got a promotion to Columbus and to get a new company.

Car with seats.

Yeah, 'cause he's a VP now.

He's a big deal.

And the lawn chair was was retired and my dad and I had a little bit of a strange relationship through high school.

And then we mended it a little bit after college and it's fine.

I moved 3000 miles away.

Which is the key to any father son relationship?

I found out so we did fine and now we live in the same neighborhood again, just like Ray Romano and it’s uh ...

It's good.

I'd forgotten this story.

I'd blocked it out until about About four years ago I was asked to speak The topic I was given was talk about what it means to create space in your life.

For something good to happen, like I don't know that like what does it mean?

And this story popped in my head and I think that's what it means.

My dad uh ...

I'm an only child and he loves me more than anything in the world.

He's had a hard time showing it through his life.

It's not the most eloquent guy sometimes.

But I always knew he loved me, even when we were fighting.

And suddenly I was just overcome with the remembrance of this story that I blocked out that I have a dad who when his boss says your kid can't go with you in his car he goes and gets a lawn chair and he puts it he creates space for me, puts it in the passenger seat of his car and he says he says “Get in”.

And I didn't learn a lot of you know, traditional book education, like I learned that stuff later on, but I think what I learned from my dad was how to how to create space.

And so what I learned is when I look back, and the reason I started with that joke is because at a time in my life where I was totally, totally burnout, it had become a pastor, moved to Las Vegas and that'll that'll do it to you right there.

But I was I never questioned my faith and I was leading people.

In the inner inner religion of faith that I really had not questioned myself, and as it turned out, I wasn't really a good fit for the message I was giving to people.

And it's weird to be a pastor and have more doubts than your congregants.

And I quit.

And the only other thing I knew how to do was improvisational comedy.

'cause I've been training with the Second City as a hobby was my like therapy.

And uh ... That sort of environment at the Second City that improv world was a place where I could go they created space for me.

I wasn't like any of the rest of them.

I was coming from a totally different place.

They created space for me and that that actually spured on the rest of my life.

And it allowed me to heal in so many ways and when I look back on my life, it's those people that have created space for me.

That let me be where I am here today and all the best things in my life.

Is because some some girl named Debbie created space for me in her life and said that I could marry her, which is ridiculous.

She married like a young white Christian Republican and now she's married to me.

I'm still white.

But she's been married to this.

She's been married to four different guys with the same Social Security number.

And she continues to create space for me, and together we creates pace for these two human beings that somehow came out of us.

And these boys are getting older.

And.

I was allowed to start a company three years ago.

And the greatest joy of my life is creating space for people to join our company.

I like making money like I like eating.

And I love going to vacation.

Yeah, she should get a company car.

And I I mean I, I like making money as much as the next guy.

But the greatest joy for me as a business owner have been the six people I've got to hire in the last 12 months.

And to create space for them, and to see them sort of engage their whole heart and what we're doing.

And I think that this that this is a holy moment, it's pretty cool from my perspective to see 100 strangers staring at some guy they don't know because we created space in the middle of Over The Rhine on a Tuesday night, which the owners of this bar very excited about.

'cause they don't have this.

Many people would assume.

But it's just this holy moment, the sacred moment to create space to hear each other's stories.

That is the essence, I think of humanity.

And so my encouragement to you is is just be aware of this.

And as you go out, create space, the last thing I want to say, my son turns 16 in five weeks.

I had him I was 12.

I'm 42, that's not true.

And.

I had to walk around from the driver's side and sit in the passenger side and there was this moment where I realized my dad used to sit in that and I said here in a lawn chair and now I'm such a freaking grown up that my teenager sitting there and I had to get out of the driver seat that I had taken from my dad and walk around.

And sit in his passenger seat and let this 15 year old driving around.

It's the scariest thing in the world.

But that's that's life.

There comes a time when you just realize it's time to let somebody else take the wheel and to sit beside him and be a nervous wreck.

And coach them through and I think I think creating space for people, especially space behind the wheel is what I learned.

From my dad and for my son.

Thanks guys appreciate.

When Ramesh Sohndi’s father in law moved to Cincinnati, the hills surrounding the city reminded him of his hometown of Kashmir, India.

With nothing more than that reminder of home, Ramesh moved to the region and realize this lifelong dream of opening a business for himself.

And Ramesh and we have been here in Price Hill since 1983.

My father in law was here.

He came in this country since 1968.

I believe you know.

And when I was a child, you know 4th grade or fifth grade.

We used to read about America, you know.

So we were attracted towards America at that time.

So that dream came true in the age of 29.

I came over here and we loved it because there's one city in in India, Kashmir.

You might have heard that.

My father in law.

Was always used to, so he was he was living in Kashmir.

He said this city just like a Kashmir hills.

There is just enough so we just gotta set here.

Going on a daily basis and we both work me and my wife both worked in a factory.

In the beginning I never got in a factory in my country.

I was a businessman there so.

part of my dream was over here to open a business.

So that came true after 7-8 years.

You know business was in my veins, you know.

So that's what we have done our life business.

Even my parents and my family so.

'cause we were good with people the way we talk to each other friendly.

So people were very friendly sometime one or in two in between.

I don't even remember those things we don't even know pay much attention.

If my son wanted to do this business, you would have got it, but he's new generations different and I have no regret over here whatsoever of any kind.

You know, because I'm 71 right now and I worked all my life here and I really feel good.

When we come in the morning, open the store I feel like I'm going from one family to another family or we treat this neighborhood as a family.

But we have seen all these adult people as babies used to come in sometime diaper under so getting candy or this and that and since that time so you know when you see a same same person 10-15 times every day for so many years you know come emotionally attached to them, you know and we love it.

We love to come to work.

Bottom line.

Kim Dao made her very first piece of clothing when she was just 14 years old and after years of working for others in the industry at age 60, she finally became her own boss.

Now with the help of her son she's realizing her own version of the American Dream.

Thank you for joining us.

For more stories and episodes.

check us out at cetconnect.org/long-story-short and tune in next time for more stories from your neighbors.

Major funding for Long Story Short is provided by the Haile Foundation.

Additional funding provided by The 5/3rd Foundation and contributions to your PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.