1. A COLLECTION OF DESIGN CLIPS
Marshall A. Latimore
ART DIRECTOR & CONTENT STRATEGIST
2. STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
GATEHOUSE MEDIA
AUSTIN, TEXAS
ALABAMA MEDIA GROUP
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
NASHVILLE DESIGN STUDIO (GANNETT CO.)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
TAMPA BAY TIMES
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
EXPERIENCE
3. AUSTIN • TEXAS MAGAZINE & ADVERTORIAL DESIGNNASHVILLE • TENNESSEE MAGAZINE DESIGN
Stay On The
Go Magazine
Tasked with creating
a bright spot among a
resilient, but dying
black press, and also
producing an exciting,
more diverse lifestyle
publication, I took
over the reigns of
Nashville-based Stay
On The Go Magazine,
in late June 2015. In
nearly a year, we have
produced eight issues
ranging from women
of color in business,
the fear of approaching
gentrification and the
city’s vivrant food
community.
AT THE HELM
4. NASHVILLE • TENNESSEE MAGAZINE DESIGN
Cover Story
ON THE REBOUND
By Marshall A. Latimore
DESPITE A ROUGH START IN HIS FIRST SEASON,
TSU MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH
DANA FORD IS EXCITED, READY AND FOCUSED.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Cover Story
www.nashville.stayonthego.com Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 11
Editor’s Note: This article was originally
published online on Nov. 9. Since its originally
publication date, Ford has led the Tigers to a
12-4 (3-0 OVC) start. Already, the Tigers won
twice as many games as last season, Ford’s first
season at the helm of the program.
S
trewn along a desk covered in pa-
perwork and neatly sorted stacks of
books, a worn copy of Ben Carson’s
“Gifted Hands” and John Wooden’s
“The Greatest Coach Ever” immedi-
ately catch one’s gaze.
Alongside these gems, atop another stack
of books is a small green leather-bound
Gideon Bible. On the cabinet behind the
desk are several framed family portraits,
each revealing various points in the evolu-
tion of the family featured in them.
In the center of it all, talking on his of-
fice phone with one hand, his knee braced
against the desk while rearing back in his
swivel chair, a smiling Dana Ford acknowl-
edges the presence of people coming in and
out of his office then quickly diverts his gaze
down into the smartphone he is cradling in
his other hand.
After a few hearty laughs, he ends his call,
quickly apologizes then places the smart-
phone into his top desk drawer.
In an instant, Ford straightens up in his
seat and switches into head coach mode, al-
beit still cheerful, but ready to go into detail
about his excitement of the upcoming sea-
son of Tennessee State University’s men’s
basketball, which kicks off with a road game
scheduled Nov. 13 against Loyola Univer-
sity Maryland in Baltimore.
‘Used to being youngest.’
At 31 years old, Ford is the youngest
head coach in NCAA Division I basketball.
Now heading into his second season, he’s
looking to turn things around with a crop
of new recruits, along with returning top
scorer Marcus Roper and returning top
rebounder Demontez Loman.
“I’m used to being the youngest,” he says
with a toothy grin. “Hopefully, though, I
can one day be the oldest.”
Overall, Ford is pleased with the progress
his young team has shown in recent practices.
“It’s been encouraging because guys are
getting better every day,” he said about the
team last week during a practice. “We are
starting to execute a little bit better. We are
getting our rotation intact, and that’s help-
ing with a lot of the execution.”
Ford faced a tough first season, guid-
ing the Tigers to 5-26 record. Last year, he
inherited a team with only one returning
player.
“It was pretty hard,” he admitted.
By contrast, this year Ford has five
returning players, including three who were
starters in 2014-15.
To improve his chances headed into
this season, Ford and his coaching staff
have recruited across the country and even
internationally.
Two players, the returning Christian
Mekowulu and freshman Samson Oyedi-
ran, hail from Lagos, Nigeria and London,
England, respectively.
And with a bit more experience and more
depth among his squad, Ford is confident
his Tigers will exceed expectations, despite
being seeded sixth in the East division of the
OVC preseason poll.
“Not only was this a rebuild, this was a total
rebuild,” Ford said in an Oct. 20 OVC Media
Day conference. “But now, we have things in
working order. We feel now is the time where
we can see where the program really is.”
Ford has passed his excitement along to
his players, who themselves are anxious to
prove their talent on the court.
Such is certainly the case for Keron
DeShields, a redshirt senior from Baltimore,
Maryland, who transferred to TSU from
University of Montana last year. Per NCAA
transfer rules, he sat out the 2014-15 season.
Before coming to TSU, DeShields, a
shooting guard, had just played three sea-
sons at Montana under head coach Wayne
Tinkle, where DeShields helped lead the
Grizzlies to Big Sky Tournament Champi-
onships and NCAA Tournament berths in
2012 and 2013.
“I’ve won my whole career,” DeShields
said. “I want to finish my college career as
a winner.
A modern-day Mayberry
Ford, who grew up in a “very rural area”
in southern Illinois, is a self-proclaimed
“good ol’ country boy” and the youngest
sibling of three sisters and two brothers.
His maternal grandmother raised him
in the village of Tamms, Illinois, which,
according to the 2010 Census, has an ap-
proximate population of 1,042.
Tamms, consisting of a total area of 2.33
square miles, is known statewide for the
now closed Tamms Correctional Center, a
super-maximum correctional facility oper-
ated by the Illinois Department of Correc-
tions until 2013.
“The closest Wal-Mart and McDonald’s
were both 30 miles away,” he laughed.
“There are no stop signs. People still sleep
with their doors unlocked. It’s a modern-
day Mayberry.”
Ford started playing basketball at the age
of 3. “Illinois is a basketball state,” Ford
said. “That’s all we had to do. It started
opening up so many doors for me.”
He later attended Egyptian Senior High
School, where, as a guard, he broke the
school record for points scored by the end
of his final season.
Averaging 22 points a game, he was named
First Team Class A All-State Illinois and a
two-time conference player of the year. “Even
now, I still love the game. I always have.”
For Ford, pouring himself into the game
he loved throughout the years also shielded
him from some very adult issues.
At an early age, Ford saw first hand
the lifelong impact of domestic violence.
Basketball provided enough of a distraction
to many of the more violent acts against
women in his life.
For this reason, today Ford is an active
and vocal opponent against domestic
violence, an act he believes happens far too
often in collegiate and professional sports.
Ford and his wife, Christina, founded
the Rebound Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization that works to help
women and children rebound from domes-
tic violence.
Together, the Fords raise funds and
provide women and children in the metro
Chicago area with opportunity to take
full advantage of their second chance by
providing transitional housing that will
offer peace, education and empowerment
to end the recurrence of domestic violence
in their lives.
Locally, Ford serves on the advisory
board and as a mentor for the Nashville’s
YWCA’s MEND program, a prevention
initiative that seeks to engage men through
mentorship in order to become a part of
solving the region’s high rates of domestic
violence incidents.
“Domestic violence is a man problem,”
he said. “I grew up around domestic
violence. We hear about it in sports all the
time. I feel an obligation to use my voice to
speak out about it.”
Ford has played basketball since the age of 3. He played through high school and in
college at Illinois State University.
TSU head basketball coach Dana Ford, gearing up for his second season at the
helm, takes a call and checks e-mail on his smartphone.
STAYONTHEGOPHOTOS/ROBERTSHIELDS
Cover Story Cover Story
www.nashville.stayonthego.com Thursday, March 24, 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 9
STAYONTHEGOPHOTOS/ROBERTSHIELDS
Minding
Her
Business
verthelast15years,women-ownedfirmsintheU.S.have
grown by one and a half times the rate of other small
enterprises and now account for almost 30 percent of all
businesses. Further, one in five companies with revenue
of $1 million or more is woman-owned. In Nashville, that trend is
evidenced and supported through a large number of women only,
woman-ownedorwomen-ledorganizations.FromtheMayor’soffice
to perhaps even the White House, women have indeed positioned
themselves to run the world. Over the next few pages, get to know
some of Music City’s successful women in business, starting with
a talented trio poised to scale their companies internationally.
By Marshall A. Latimore
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
O
travel
www.nashville.stayonthego.com MAY/JUNE 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 25
Travel
By Michael MJ Johnson
SOTG TRAVEL EDITOR
T
hailand is a destination just mys-
terious enough to be exciting, yet
just familiar enough to be inviting.
Here is my own adventure: After a quick
visit to China—and The Great Wall—we
found ourselves on the beaches of Pattaya,
Thailand. From the moment we touched
down we could feel the infectious beats of
trance music parading through the city.
The first two nights were a blur.
Our $30-USD-per-night 5-star hotel
directly on the famed Walking Street was
the perfect jump off for a double dose of
vibrant clubs, spontaneous street parties,
and a weeklong nationwide waterfight for
Songkran (Thai New Year Water Festival)!
EXPENSES
Round Trip Flight from
ATL: $800 via Air China
(Long Layovers in China)
Accommodations:
• Hostels: from $15/night
• 5-Star Hotels: from
$30/night
Food:
• Traditional Thai cusines:
$2 USD per meal
• Fancier Restaurants:
$10+ a meal
VISA:
• Thailand: Free 30 Days
with U.S. passport
• China: Free 72-hours
with U.S. passport
For Booking/Info Contact:
Lori Johnson
Butterfly Kiss Travel
(615) 970-8290
www.butterflykisstravel.com
How many more times can you visit South Beach Miami? Like, seriously?
How...many...more...times? That passport has been sitting in your drawer
collecting dust since the day you got off the ship from Jamaica. You’ve
relaxed and cruised. Now is the time to explore! Let’s push the envelope!
Thailand offers eclectic mix of ancient, modern
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
COURTESY/TOURISMTHAILAND,MICHAELMJJOHNSON
MICHAEL MJ JOHNSON, TRAVEL EDITOR
5. AUSTIN • TEXAS MAGAZINE DESIGN
GateHouse
Media
I joined GateHouse
Media’s Center for
News &Design to design
magazines, seasonal
and holiday publications,
as well as other special
sections for the
company’s nearly 100
newspapers and media
groups. I particularly
specialized in magazine
redesigns and developing
prototypes for new media
products, including
dining, athletic and
tourism/city guides.
SPECIAL
ASSIGNMENT
7. Alabama
Media Group
In my hometown, I began
as a features designer for
the newly formed Alabama
Media Group and quickly
accepted more responsibility
and promotion to lead
designer of two of the three
newspapers. In addition,
I also contributed as
an assistant art director
for the monthly glossy
Birmingham magazine.
I worked directly with
curators from northern
Alabama and the Gulf
Coast region to produce
well designed pages
tailored to each region’s
unique readership.
DOUBLE DUTY
BIRMINGHAM • ALABAMA NEWS & FEATURE DESIGN
10. Nashville
Design Studio
My first full-time newspaper
designer position was at
the Gannett Co. Design
Studio in Nashville, where
I designed news and
features pages for 13 daily
newspapers, including
many of the newspapers’
community publications.
We worked remotely
with local editors using
a combination of chat
messeges, telephone calls and
emails. We also attended the
publications’ daily budget
meetings via Skype to suggest
play, ask questions, etc.
VERSATILITY
NASHVILLE • TENNESSEE NEWS & FEATURES DESIGN
12. LEARNING
THE ROPES
Tampa
Bay Times
At the Tampa Bay Times, it
was my repsponsibility to
design the Home & Garden
section, assist with two
of three Tampa regional
community news sections
and also, (my favorite),
aid in building Sunday
Latitudes pages. It was, by
doing Sunday Latitudes that
I learned the technique of
building nice airy pages by
breaking things apart.
ST. PETERSBURG • FLORIDA FEATURES DESIGN
