Meet BOS Community Manager, John Newman
Where do you consider your hometown?
I grew up just outside of Columbus, OH and that will always be my hometown. My wife and I left Columbus in 1990 when we had an opportunity to live and work in Kansas City. We both have family near where we grew up and we visit Columbus several times a year.
How long have you been in Ypsi?
We moved to Ypsilanti in 1996, and our daughter was born in a house just over a mile from The BOS, near the Prospect Gardens neighborhood. Since then we’ve also lived in Manchester and Dexter. In 2012 I started working at the SPARK East Incubator on a regular basis. In 2018 we officially opened The BOS.
What do you like about Ypsi?
There are lots of things I love about Ypsi. Two of my favorite things are the people and the food. Over the last seven years I have met and worked with an incredible mix of artists, entrepreneurs and change agents. On a weekly basis, I meet inspiring people that are doing incredible things. One of my favorite foods downtown is the peanut butter milkshake at GO! Ice Cream. (Pro Tip: ask them to make it with the sweet browned butter instead of vanilla ice cream for even more decadence).
What passion are you pursuing at The BOS?
The BOS feels like a blank canvas and we are in the process of creating an amazing tapestry of talent to fill it. Every day we have creative passionate people becoming members and adding new colorful dimensions to our community. It excites me to hear their stories and to be able to provide a platform for their work.
What's a fun BOS story?
Hosting, A Toast to Ypsi, a chapter of Toast Masters International, has been a lot of fun. Their meetings are always entertaining and keep me on my toes. I have heard interesting speeches that cover the range from funny, to personal to informative. They are a great fit for our culture; supportive, creative and focused on growth.
Have you ever been told you look like someone famous, who was it?
Not that I can remember. But I did work on a movie with someone famous once. In my past life, I worked in the Store Planning department at Borders. We were approached by a movie company, and I helped design a bookstore to that was featured in the Tom Hanks movie The Terminal. It was really fun to work with the set designers and see something that I helped create on the big screen.
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