15 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com With stunning views of the water coursing beneath the Ravenel Bridge and sailboats drifting along the downtown Charleston skyline set against a cobalt sky, we thought that the USS Yorktown provided the best backdrop for the location of this year’s Best of Mount Pleasant photoshoot. For us, the aircraft carrier symbolizes the effort that it takes to become the best of the best: weathering every storm to stay afloat even when it feels like you’re sinking. And like our Best Of Mount Pleasant finalists, the ship has advanced despite the challenges it has faced along the way. For example, when the USS Yorktown was built in 1943, women couldn’t be in the Navy, and thus were not allowed to set foot on the ship. Yet coincidentally, because so many men were conscripted overseas in World War II, 40 percent of the ship’s builders were women. Fast forward 81 years later, and the roles most certainly have reversed. Today, Allsion Hunt is the executive director in charge of running the vessel turned museum and we greatly admire the unabashed fearlessness with which she navigates this traditionally male vocation in style. Welcomed by a crisp wind and a blazing sun hung in a cloudless sky, our guests, dressed in classic ivory, cream or camel, were buzzing with excitement as our photographer Mark Staff styled the shoot in front of the World War II fighter planes lined up on the deck as if ready for takeoff. After the formal shoot, we enjoyed meeting, conversing and taking selfies with local celebrities like Mayor Will Haynie and meteorologist Rob Fowler, while gathering around the table where coffee, hot chocolate and an artful array of donuts provided by Joey Bag a Donuts kept us warm. Both the USS Yorktown and our Best Of Mount Pleasant finalists continue to inspire us with their courage to forge ahead, as in the words of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow from Disney’s "Pirates of the Caribbean," “The seas may be rough, but I am the captain! No matter how difficult, I will always prevail.” Photo by Mark Staff. BY SARAH ROSE about the cover Photo by Morgan Winningham Photo by Morgan Winningham Left to Right; Rob Fowler, WCBD News 2; Dr. Cason Hund, Wando Family Dentistry; Dr. Jessica Hund, MUSC Primary Care; Nurse Kate Byrne, Christ Our King-Stella Maris School; Will Haynie, Mayor of Mount Pleasant; Ethan Lane, Movement Mortgage; Bryan Coleman, Principal at Cario Middle School; Stephanie Selby, Stephanie Selby Photography; Denise Kish, Mount Pleasant Gardens; Anja Stief, Dish and Design Catering; Dr. Craig Blum, Sweetgrass Plastic Surgery; Yesenia Leon, VIVA Tacos & Tequila.
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