Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Hopkins
Hi Emily, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a tiny town in South Carolina’s Upstate where I attended first grade in the exact same classroom, in the exact same building, that my dad did 35 years before me. Those deep roots led to a lifelong love with my hometown and made me start to think about what makes a place or a town or a community special. What makes us feel pride about certain places and what makes us choose to call them home?
I continued to reflect on these questions in grad school in Cooperstown, NY where I studied museums and how we can make them outward-facing institutions that serve the needs of their communities. Those questions about the power of place still persisted in the back of my mind when I moved to Macon upon graduating from the Cooperstown Graduate Program. And that’s when I started to get some answers.
I immediately fell in love with Macon. I fell in love with the people, I fell in love with the businesses, I fell in love with the realness, and I fell in love with Macon’s potential.
I saw a downtown with hundreds of beautiful historic buildings on the verge of coming back to life. A downtown with empty storefronts that could be home to new bars and restaurants and shops. A downtown with ample public spaces and parks that needed life and activation.
I immediately realized that I wanted to be part of helping downtown Macon realize its full potential. I began my career in Macon at Historic Macon Foundation where I planned fundraising events and coordinated marketing efforts that highlighted Macon’s preservation ethos. Following that, I became Macon’s Main Street Manager for Macon-Bibb County where I worked closely with downtown business owners and built connections with downtown stakeholders. I continued my role as Macon’s Main Street Manager, but moved to NewTown Macon where I now serve as the Vice President of External Affairs. For the past five years at NewTown, I have witnessed the incredible transformation of downtown Macon and had the opportunity to play a small role in it.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the challenges I have experienced in my work has been changing the negative perceptions of Macon, especially downtown Macon. When I moved here in 2014, I constantly heard that downtown was dangerous and there was nothing to do. This did not match up with my experience of downtown Macon where I have always felt safe and found plenty to do.
I was constantly frustrated by the negative comments I would hear and read online about downtown, especially as more and more businesses opened, new events were introduced, and our public spaces improved with better sidewalks and more lighting. I was discussing this with our Main Street board one day and we started brainstorming ways we could combat this negative perception and share the reality of the downtown experience. That’s how we came up with the idea of the Downtown Macon Hype Team.
Hype Team members are volunteers who are passionate about downtown Macon and have a desire to promote it. They serve as ambassadors during large downtown events and festivals to assist visitors and also as social media influencers who share positive posts about the wonderful things happening each week in downtown Macon. We were able to take a challenge and create a solution that now has people talking positively about downtown Macon and staying plugged into downtown’s progress.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work for NewTown Macon, an independent non-profit that focuses on economic development and revitalizing downtown Macon. Our mission is to invest time, resources, and money into local people and business to revitalize downtown Macon and our vision is a city led by locals that’s booming and real.
Since 1996, we have been leading the revitalization of downtown Macon. We were founded as an initiative of the Peyton Anderson Foundation thanks to the vision of an incredible Maconite, Juanita Jordan. She set out to save downtown when, in her words, it was “dead.” When she founded NewTown, about a third of downtown storefronts were full, a dozen apartments occupied the upper floors of our historic buildings, and no one wanted to visit downtown. Today, 83% of our storefronts are occupied, there are 750 lofts downtown that are home to over 1000 people, and the vast majority of our downtown businesses are locally owned and operated. Our successful locally-led downtown revitalization is one of the reasons CNN just named Macon one of the ten best towns to visit in 2024.
Our comprehensive, community-driven approach to downtown’s revitalization is why Main Street America named NewTown a Great American Main Street in May. Just ten years ago, winning an award that recognizes our downtown experience and revitalization efforts seemed almost unfathomable. By creating a shared vision that’s inclusive of our entire community, we’ve have been able to restore our vacant storefronts with locally owned and operated businesses, reimagine our public spaces, and activate our downtown streets with events that attract thousands of locals and visitors downtown. I encourage anyone who has never had the pleasure of visiting Macon, or who has not visited in awhile, to come see us to fully appreciate what we have been able to accomplish downtown.
I am proud to work at NewTown Macon where I serve as the liaison to our downtown businesses, oversee our marketing and public relations efforts, create volunteer opportunities for citizens to connect with downtown, and execute our signature events and programming. I am also our community’s Main Street Manager which means I maintain our accreditation as a Main Street community and have the opportunity to work with our volunteer Main Street board to promote downtown as a destination through storytelling and events. With support of the Main Street board, I plan and implement about 25 annual events that collectively attract 1 million people downtown and we led the application process for NewTown to be named a Great American Main Street.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risks are healthy and necessary to advance our communities. Revitalizing downtown Macon was a risk in 1996. Thanks to Mrs. Jordan’s bold vision and the culture of leadership and action she instilled in NewTown’s board and staff from the very beginning, downtown Macon is now being recognized as one of the best downtowns in the nation.
I think the key to taking any risk is that you must be ready to follow it with hard work. Taking a risk is also making a commitment to seeing something through and molding it to the outcome you desire. In the example of NewTown, this is true -we have been working to revitalize downtown Macon for 28 years and in that time, we have created solutions for our local challenges that have become national best practices.
I took a risk when I moved to Macon sight unseen 10 years ago, and it’s the best decision I ever made. Not just because I moved here, but because I immediately rolled up my sleeves and started to get to work learning about this community and figuring out what my role should be here. That mindset has allowed me to feel confident when I take risks in my position by trying new ideas and programs that bring new audiences downtown and build better connections in our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://newtownmacon.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newtownmacon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NTMacon/
Image Credits
Maryann Bates Photography
Jessica Whitley Photography
And So We Go Productions
Macon Headshots
