Arts + Culture

Bold, Beautiful, and Reborn

Jessica Bellanti finds inner strength through hardship and a new beginning at her namesake salon Article by Susan Gallagher Taking the easy road has never been an option for Jessica Bellanti. The demon of adversity has dogged her at every turn of her life, hurling one obstacle after another in her path. But the relentless demon met its match in this fierce and tenacious beauty entrepreneur.  Today, Jessica Bellanti wears the sheen of an accomplished professional. This savvy salon owner...

Arts + Culture

Catering With Love

The Fifth Flavor's Nina Parrott finds love and joy through food Article by Kim Piela | Photography by Kevin Edge Seacoast caterer Nina Parrott’s love for cooking and entertaining began in her childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “My mom knew how to throw a dinner party, so I learned from her. It really paved the way,” she recalls. After college, Parrott honed her craft at culinary school in San Francisco, but credits her real education to working in restaurants. Her love for catering...

Home + Design

Artistry & Ash

EAD Woodwork's Ed Szczepanik celebrates the vanishing art of traditional woodworking and extols the virtues of the highly valuable but rapidly disappearing ash tree Article by Susan Gallagher | Photography by Kevin Edge Ed Szczepanik is one of a dying breed. This gifted artisan is among an elite but dwindling brotherhood of true craftsmen. In a world of mass production and instant gratification, Szczepanik and his EAD Woodwork tradesmen lovingly craft furniture with precision, patience, and...

Life + Culture

Repairing Lives, Restoring Hope

Portsmouth Rotary mission trip to India provides no-cost surgeries with life-changing impact Article by Ann Kathryn Kelly | Photography by Don Chick On an early morning in September, Midge Nelson watched a room in an Indian hospital be filled with men, women, and children. They queued into two lines. Nelson, an account executive with USI Insurance Services and current president of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth, was behind a desk, paperwork spread before her. Fellow Rotarian Yvonne Legge, a...