Lindsay, a local Virginia Highland resident, is the Co-Founder and primary seed investor of the Virginia Highland District (VHD). As a response to the impact COVID was was having on our small local businesses, in addition to seeing our beloved North Highland corridor suffer from over 50% commercial vacancy, Lindsay felt compelled to do something to help the soul of our neighborhood remain intact whilst ensuring the next wave of businesses remained high-quality and local. To do this, Lindsay wanted to take a thoughtful and inclusive approach so she launched a grassroots campaign wherein hundreds of signs were posted around the neighborhood soliciting feedback. Through this survey Lindsay gathered over 1700 resident responses on ways to revitalize the community. Surprised by the overwhelming amount of responses, Lindsay teamed up with Katie Voelpel, then Co-Founder of Beautify VaHi, to begin implementing on residents' suggestions and took this feedback to the commercial landlords where she was met with an openness to partner together on how to curate a more vibrant business district. During VHD's first year, the neighborhood welcomed 21 new businesses. A core component of VHD's mission is rooted in helping to lift foot traffic in the main business nodes along North Highland, and as such Lindsay and her husband Tyler Wheeler, helped to implement the infrastructure along with providing the initial funding that would not only cover operational costs but also help to bring our first-ever Farmers Market, Porchfest, Food Truck Fridays and Winterfest to life.
Apart from Lindsay's love for the Virginia Highland neighborhood and its small businesses, she brings a diverse set of skills to the Board with over 20 years of business leadership experience. In her professional life Lindsay leads a large team of enterprise customer experience consultants who aid in helping many of the consumer brands we know and love today scale in their efforts to offer personalized 1:1 experience while leveraging cutting edge technology. Lindsay also has a passion for elevating great ideas through the means of effective storytelling and has served as a lead Speakers Coach for several of the worlds largest independent TEDx events.
Staying rooted in community, inclusiveness and mindfulness Lindsay has been teaching at Virginia Highland's very own Highland Yoga studio for the past 8 years where she invites you in with a warm smile, hug and a desire to truly know you.
