Beatrice Apple, a Bronx-born, northwest Arkansas-based engineer, artist and entrepreneur of Korean descent founded Pressroom (2011), Hillfolk (2018), and BIKE.POC (2020), championing both craft and equity in the outdoors.
Kimberly Seay, co-founder of BIKE.POC, was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. After receiving an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, she moved to Bentonville, where she became captivated by the natural beauty of the woods, hills and waters of the Ozarks. Seay and her husband have two grown sons who were raised on their hobby farm where they cared for an often stubborn and exasperating but always entertaining assortment of goats, sheep, dogs, cats and an occasional pig. Seay may often be found hiking or biking the trails around northwest Arkansas with her dog, Sparky.
As a small business owner, what is your vision for your business and our community?
Apple: This business strives to be an economic engine, bringing joy to the everyday lives of marginalized communities by fostering creativity, connection, and access to craft and the outdoors.
Seay: The gifts of the spirit and body find expression in all walks and in all times and places of life. My greatest joy is to witness the talents and gifts of people finding outward expression. Truly thriving communities encourage opportunities for everyone to share their gifts and talents into the world.
What advice do you have for keeping a team focused and motivated in challenging times?
Apple: Understand it’s a learning process, empathetic and open communication, grace and accountability.
Seay: To my mind, the highest form of leadership takes the shape of love. And for a team to lean into its work with love, the conditions and commitments that nurture love – that is, trust and vulnerability – must be firmly established. And, importantly, the team must never lose sight of its governing principle – namely, that the demands of the project must always prevail.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Apple: The slow realization that I had been able to transmute the pain of my past into a creative output that provided safety, joy, adventure, and community.
Seay: In my roles as a coach to teams and as a “coach to coaches,” my greatest joy is to help awaken others to who they may become. My happiness is to witness the growth of physical capacities but, more fundamentally and more broadly, to help awaken the maturation of self in body, mind and spirit so as to help enable one’s successful conduct through life.
Who has been the biggest influence on your life and career?
Apple: Not any one person, but a whole host of people who came through during rough times to help me navigate through uncertainty. From the community I found growing up in church as a child, to my circle of friends today.
Seay: My father, who recently turned 89 years old and, in his time and place, was a trailblazer and he became my template for a life well-lived. My father is loving, has a kindness of heart and a generosity of spirit. He always encouraged me to be true to myself.
Tell us the most meaningful piece of career or life advice you have received.
Apple: When I was working for a defense contractor in Connecticut, a Navy veteran and systems engineer told me that their motto was “slow is fast” and it’s stuck with me ever since.
Seay: Many years ago, a fellow coach once counseled me to become the best version of myself. I took this sound advice to heart and I hold this aspiration to be the achievement of lifetime. As a daily reminder, I often admonish myself with the simple phrase: “Be good and do good work.”
How do you like to de-stress after a difficult day/week?
Apple: Spend time in “gremlin mode” with my teenagers. Eating snacks and just being around each other.
Seay: I feel most myself when in nature. And so, I am easily able to sweep away from worries of the day by hopping on my mountain bike and feeling the soil, roots and rocks under my wheels and finding peace in the beauty of nature around me.
Sign up for Daily E-news
