Author

Tommy Allen, Publisher and Lifestyle Editor

Tommy Allen, Publisher and Lifestyle Editor's Latest Articles

Lessons from emerging culture: A quick look at three music movements and future cities

All cultures should have a value for a city, but not all have our attention…just yet. Rapid Growth's Publisher Tommy Allen looks back over time at three Michigan groups whose contributions, like so many other artists and creators, have impacted the culture of our state for the better.

Profit and heart: Etsy co-founder to talk business with a conscience in Grand Rapids

Etsy, like most startups, struggled to balance the company's values and outlook with that of venture capital investors’ desire for rapid growth. Co-founder Mathew Stinchcomb stops by Grand Rapids to talk about how the power of B Corps can transform our businesses -- and communities. 

Hippie Modernism
G-Sync: The counterculture effect and embracing hippie ideals in Grand Rapids

A recent visit to the "Hippie Modernism" exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum has Rapid Growth's Tommy Allen considering the role of the counterculture on the future of Grand Rapids — and all of society.

Christina Arnold
G-Sync: Diversity’s ambassador is a family affair

Christina Arnold of the Grand Rapids Community College's Woodrick Diversity Learning Center recently retired as its director. Publisher Tommy Allen sat down with Arnold during the last week of her employment at the college to reflect on the many years she has invested in our community to make it a better place, not just for the students of GRCC but for our entire region. 

G-Sync: Unleashing your inner superhero right where you are

Do new ideas of doing business really exist anymore? Publisher and Lifestyle Editor Tommy Allen goes downtown to discover the inner superhero in all of us. (It is Free Comic Book Day 2016!)

G-Sync: Potrykus and me

Filmmaker Joel Potrykus sits down with Rapid Growth's publisher and lifestyle editor Tommy Allen to talk about his new film world premier at the 2016 SXSW; on getting it done in Michigan; and the lines we all draw in our work.

G-Sync: The Perils of Tommy Allen (Adventures in Gigland)

As our gig economy expands throughout Grand Rapids, and the United States, who is profiting from it? And who isn't?

G-Sync: The city to the powers of ten

Publisher Tommy Allen reflects on what it means to be in publishing for 10 years and what we have witnessed, or covered, during a period of tremendous growth in Grand Rapids.

G-Sync: Getting it right – crossing lines for change

What can Grand Rapids learn from its past, and where is the city going? Publisher and Lifestyle Editor Tommy Allen begins to look back, and forward, as 2015 comes to a close.

Welcome to GR and Rapid Growth, Anna Gustafson

Rapid Growth welcomes our bold, new managing editor Anna Gustafson to the publication but also to her new home city in Grand Rapids. Publisher Tommy Allen sat down with Gustafson to listen and learn as the two dined on another bold import to Grand Rapids - Slows BBQ.

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