About Soapbox
Soapbox tells the new Cincinnati story — a narrative of creative people and businesses, new development, cool places to live, and the best places to work and play.
The web site and weekly e-zine are published Tuesdays. Get Soapbox free in your e-mailbox each week by signing up here.
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A brief history of the The Soapbox crew:
Publisher: Dacia Snider
Dacia Snider is unabashedly proud to call Cincinnati home. This northeastern Ohio native's passion for the city was cultivated during her four years at
Downtown Cincinnati Inc. Drawing on her background in economic development, she understood the important role media played in setting the narrative for a community and seized the opportunity to launch a new online publication about the city she loved. In February 2008, Soapbox was born (as was her daughter three days later). Named an
Emanuel Community Center 2009 Woman of Over-the-Rhine honoree, Dacia is also proud to be recognized as a 2007 YWCA Rising Star and a member of the 2006 Forty Under 40 class by the Cincinnati Business Courier. In her spare time, Dacia is active on the
Cincinnati Parks Foundation Board, co-chairs the Agenda 360 Communications Team and is a member of the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. On a never-ending quest to achieve that delicate work/life balance, Dacia and her husband are raising their two children to appreciate all this great city has to offer and can frequently be found at
Findlay Market on Saturday mornings (usually per her son's early morning request).
Managing Editor: Sean Rhiney
Managing Photographer: Scott Beseler
Scott, an award-winning photographer, resides on the rivers' edge just south of the Roebling Bridge in Covington, Ky, in what he describes is his New York style dream loft, minus New York. In 2001, he graduated from Indiana University of Bloomington with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Journalism. As a freelance photographer for most of his career, Mr. Beseler considers his photographic influence to be that of the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and writer Hunter S. Thompson. This style comparable to the Gonzo style of journalism, combines Scott’s own captured vision of exaggeration, subjectiveness and heightened perception of reality, while capturing the moment without interrupting it. Pure joy for Scott is any opportunity to photograph friends, music, art, and global culture. Scott is thankful for his humble and notable roots in Cincinnati. Contributors of his professional portfolio include City Beat, The Cincinnati Opera, Jean Robert de Cavel Restaurant Group, The Art Academy of Cincinnati, Bang Nightclub, Cincinnati Art Museum and The Academy Award Show of 2005. To see more work from the days and nights of Scott, go to TakeTheDay.com.
Development News Editor: Randy Simes
Randy was born and raised on Cincinnati's westside. In 2004 he began school at the University of Cincinnati's nationally-ranked School of Planning where he attained his Bachelor of Urban Planning degree and a Historic Preservation certificate. During this time, Randy's passion for cities and urban issues grew and eventually boiled over into the creation of
UrbanCincy. The website that strives to connect Cincinnatians with the news and events going on in the urban core won a Best of Cincinnati award in 2008 and has quickly become one of Cincinnati's most popular blogs. In 2007, Randy began working with the non-profit
Hillside Trust to study hillside districts in Cincinnati and put together a report on potential land use planning techniques for hillside development. In 2008, Randy served on the Mayor's Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet on the Transportation Committee and was nominated for the Cincinnati Business Courier's Forty Under 40 class. Randy also received the Most Outstanding Planning Student Award foroutstanding achievement in the study of planning by the AmericanInstitute of Certified Planners in 2009. He presently works with CH2M Hill as aCommunity Development Planner.
Innovation & Job News Editor: Feoshia Henderson
Feoshia Henderson is an Eastern Kentucky native who moved to the Cincinnati area in 2003 to work for now-defunct, The Kentucky Post newspaper as a political writer. She also spent two years at The Cincinnati Enquirer as a suburban Hamilton County reporter before stepping out on her own to run a freelance writing business, just as the biggest economic downturn in her lifetime began... Still, she managed to stay afloat and pay the bills by writing for a motley assortment of publications across Kentucky and Ohio, including Soapbox Cincinnati. She also started Cincyburb blog, where she writes about community and volunteer activities in the 'burbs. Feoshia graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in journalism, and a political science minor. She's also a member of the 2009 Cincinnati Mayor's Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet on the Education Committee, and has settled in Sycamore Township.
Soapdish Columnist: Casey Coston
Inveterate Cincinnati kool-aid drinker and resident Soapdish scribbler Casey Coston is an attorney in the Cincinnati office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P., a global law firm with 32 offices in 15 countries, focusing his nationwide practice in the areas of business insolvency, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy reorganizations, out-of-court workouts and corporate restructurings. Prior to moving to Cincinnati, Casey was with the Detroit office of Pepper Hamilton LLP, a Philadelphia based firm, and was also a regular contributor to the Metro Times, a popular weekly newspaper in metropolitan Detroit. During that time, he had the unlikely position of feeding Detroit’s desire for nightlife and assorted gossip, covering everything from underground concerts and artsy parties in abandoned buildings to society balls in museums. He also launched the popular Rubble Rouser series, in which he raised the profile of Detroit’s architectural gems while addressing issues related to urban renewal and historic preservation, business development and just about anything else that popped into his head at the moment. A native of Michigan, Casey and his wife, two boys, two dogs and two cats have been comfortably ensconced in the amazing Cincinnati neighborhood of North Avondale since moving here in 2003. He can also be found DJ-ing around town and modeling his vintage fez collection on rare occasions. His primary goal in life is to eliminate the words "Mapplethorpe" and "chili" from the vocabulary of any out-of-town friends who have never been to Cincinnati.
Chief Advocate & Instigator: Eric Avner
During the day, Eric oversees economic development grantmaking for the Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation. Prior to that, he was Associate Director of the Cincinnati Business Committee, that venerable group of CEOs representing Cincinnati's 30 largest employers. And prior to that, while guiding Newport's downtown revitalization, he led the effort to create the Purple People Bridge. Most importantly, Eric spent 16 months meeting, discussing, planning, and plotting to get Soapbox launched. Now, when he's not occupying a barstool at JeanRo Bistro downtown, Eric keeps busy in board leadership roles for the Cincinnati Development Fund and Enjoy-the-Arts, and is co-chairing the Next Decade Capital Campaign for the Know Theatre. A boomerang Cincinnatian (he lived here in the late '70s, left, and returned to town in 1996), Eric also takes pride in his dual US/Canadian citizenship, eh. Eric and his wife now reside in bucolic Walnut Hills after several years in a downtown loft.
Soapbox is published by Detroit-based Issue Media Group.Operations and Media Contact: Deepa Ramsinghani
Web Site and E-Newsletter Technology: Matt Lehman and Mark Walz, Fluent Consulting
Web Site Design: Son Tran, Pitch Black Media
Also check out Issue Media Group's other fine publications: