Nearby Nearby

04/03/2026

Calling ADA compliance specialists and accessibility advocates.

At Nearby Nearby, we are building accessibility information into our listings for parks, trails, events, and businesses across rural communities. That includes things like wheelchair accessible entrances, pathways, restrooms, parking, boating, hunting, fishing, and more.

But here is the thing. We want what we call accessible to actually be accessible, measured against real standards, not just what a business or park thinks sounds right. We are looking at our data entry points and want to make sure we are asking the right questions, using the right language, and capturing what genuinely matters to the people using these spaces and what actually makes a place legally ADA compliant. I've done a ton of research but just want others eyes and feedback!

If you specialize in ADA compliance, accessibility standards, or advocate for this community, we would love your eyes on what we are building. Tell us what we are missing, what we got right, and what would make a real difference.

Drop a comment, send a message, or tag someone who does this work. You can also reach me directly at [email protected]

Getting this right matters to us!

01/27/2026

Behind every vibrant rural town is a story waiting to be mapped. And sometimes, the most powerful change starts with simply understanding what’s already there.

That’s why I’m so thrilled to officially share our partnership with Emily Yeager from Encompass Small Biz.

Emily brings years of experience helping rural towns understand and activate their local assets. Together, we’re giving communities a new way to see themselves, through micro-level data that shows every business, every service, every event space, and every unique offering that makes a place special.

With her expertise and our platform’s unique local database, we’re working with Chatham County and its towns to provide complementary asset mapping showing what exists, where there are gaps, and how to use that information to grow smarter.

This is just the beginning.

Our goal is to bring this data-forward approach to towns and counties across rural America. The tools are there. The people are ready. And now, we’re helping local leaders take action with what they already have.

12/19/2025

Time Travel Series: December 4th, 2025
GrepBeat Holiday Happy Hour – Crank Arm Brewing, Durham NC

When Cesar Romero said, “Feel free to dress in your favorite holiday attire,” it was game on.

My mom has this vintage, homemade Christmas sweater and jacket, so I went to her and said, “We need to find your ugly sweater.” And in true mom fashion, the kind of mom who has way too much stuff but somehow knows exactly where everything is, she said, “Oh honey, we don’t need to find it. I know exactly where it is. Do you want the knitted leg warmers and headband too?” I might have skipped on the leg warmers and headband. 😆

It was a great night with great people and exactly the kind of festive chaos I needed. Thanks to GrepBeat for always hosting a fun room and to everyone who made it such a good time.

12/18/2025

Time Travel Series: November 28th, 2025 (yes this is how I like to spend my black Friday's)
Final Project with Team Duke Discovery – Duke University

This month I wrapped up another amazing student collaboration, this time with Team Duke Discovery, Saakshi Satija, Rishabh Jain, Keshini Belsare, and Shikher Menon Sudheer, under the guidance of Professor Kathie Amato.

This team dug deep into how people plan rural trips and uncovered something that didn’t surprise me, but definitely validated a lot: folks are tired of flipping through 4–6 apps just to plan one weekend getaway. Rural America is full of incredible places and experiences but people can’t find them.

What they built was thoughtful, grounded, and 100% usable.
They gave us: A mood-based trip filter system (because sometimes you want an adventure, and other times you just want peace and quiet). A Verified Local Ambassador Program to boost trusted reviews from real people. Smart pop-up notifications for rural events (without becoming annoying)

What stood out the most? They didn’t try to reinvent Nearby Nearby—they focused on enhancing it in ways that help people trust and use the platform more. Their work is going to shape our next steps, especially around user profiles and local engagement.

Grateful to work with such sharp, creative minds. You’ll see a lot of what they built come to life soon.

12/17/2025

The RIoT Foundations program is coming to Pittsboro and registration is now open.

This free program is designed for idea-stage entrepreneurs and early-stage business owners (0–3 years in), in any industry. Whether you’re launching a tech startup or simply curious how to integrate technology into your small business, this program is built to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Program at a Glance:

• Cost: Free
• Audience: Idea-stage entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses (0–3 years)
• Location: Pittsboro, NC
• Schedule: In-person workshops on Jan 21, Feb 4, Feb 18, Mar 4 (5:30–7:30 PM)
• One-on-one virtual advising offered between workshops
• Registration deadline: January 9, 2026

Details and registration: https://riot.org/event/riot-foundations-program-information-session-winter-2026/

This is a great opportunity for anyone in or near Chatham County ready to start or grow something new.

Are you an early-stage founder, aspiring entrepreneur, or someone with a great idea you’re finally ready to pursue? In this info session, you’ll get a clear overview of the RIoT Foundations Program—what it covers, how it supports early-stage founders, and what you can expect from the curriculu...

12/17/2025

Time Travel Series: November 21st, 2025
Final Project Meeting with Team NearGuys at Duke University

Met up with my Duke student team Team NearGuys, Anmol Mallick, Upendra Dani, Kraig Fernandes, and Palkesh Laddha for their final project presentation, under the guidance of Professor Kathie Amato. Also marked my first time walking Duke’s campus, and it did not disappoint. Beautiful old buildings, sharp minds, and a prototype I’m still thinking about.

Their focus? How to solve the event discovery problem in rural areas and how to make people actually want to keep using the platform once they find it.

They built out a full working demo that included gamified user profiles, where users earn points by checking into events, become “Explorers” and “Social Butterflies,” and unlock secret rewards from local businesses. It wasn’t just clever—it was deeply intentional and rooted in real feedback from over 45 interviews. They also introduced “social validation,” so users can see if friends or classmates are attending an event, helping build trust. Even a reverse Yelp model where businesses reach out to users based on trending interests in the area.

You’ll definitely see some of their ideas come to life inside Nearby Nearby soon. Grateful for their brains, their heart, and the way they showed up for rural communities with this project.

12/16/2025

Time Travel Series: November 14th, 2025
Uplift’s Rural Tourism Summit – Raleigh, NC

I met the Uplift team a few months ago at the Outdoor Economy Conference and knew right away they were doing something special. This summit just confirmed it.

The event was held at the beautiful Min Acres Farm in Raleigh, and it brought together folks from all across North Carolina to celebrate and strengthen rural tourism. I got to meet so many incredible people and organizations who are working hard to make sure small towns and rural destinations get the visibility and support they deserve.

It was also a great chance to see everything Uplift has already done for rural communities here in North Carolina and honestly, I just wish I had found this amazing group sooner.

I hope they get the additional funding they need to keep doing this work. Because rural tourism matters, and Uplift is making a real impact.

12/12/2025

Time Travel Series: November 13th, 2025
Asheboro/Randolph Chamber + West Chatham Area Chamber Crossover

This was a good one.

I had the chance to attend the Chamber Crossover event at Millstone Farm, where both the Asheboro/Randolph Chamber and the West Chatham Area Chamber came together. We heard from a panel of local representatives about the future of the region, and it was definitely eye opening.

One of the biggest takeaways for me was the conversation around water—specifically how expensive it’s going to get in the coming years if something doesn’t change. A big part of that is because of how outdated our current infrastructure is. Pipes and systems in a lot of rural areas are decades past due for replacement.

I really hope our federal government starts stepping up in a real way to support rural communities that are in desperate need of funding for things like clean, reliable water. This stuff matters. And it’s going to take more than local efforts to fix it.

Grateful to both Chambers for bringing everyone together and making space for real conversations like this. Also, Millstone Farm, in Ramseur NC is beautiful and I'll have to be back to explore it next year!

12/11/2025

Time Travel Series: October 30th, 2025
Startup Horror Stories Panel – NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This one was a blast.

I was a panelist for Startup Horror Stories at NC State, alongside Matthew Pepe, David Baxter, and Richard Bitner. The room was packed, the stories were real, and the laughs were loud.

Big thanks to Ahmed Ali for being such a great host and keeping the conversation flowing. We covered everything from technical chaos to funding flops and reminded a room full of students and early founders that behind every pitch deck is a whole lot of trial, error, and figuring it out as you go.

Appreciate the invitation to share part of my journey and hear from others who’ve been through the ups and downs. Sometimes the best way to learn is through the stories where things didn’t go as planned.

12/10/2025

Time Travel Series: October 27th, 2025
RIOT XXI Founder Showcase + Pitch Night at Havoc Brewery, Pittsboro NC

This one was special.

We had a packed house at Havoc Brewery for RIOT’s Founder Showcase and Pitch Night, right here in Pittsboro, North Carolina. And thanks to Manav, founder of Tesslate, Nearby Nearby was actually up and running just in time for folks to poke around and give feedback.

It wasn’t perfect. We were still working on backend pieces and hadn’t finished the front-end design yet. But it was enough to share our first working version of the MVP and start hearing from people who live and breathe this world of tech and entrepreneurship. They gave us product feedback and called out things most normal users wouldn’t catch.

The feedback was incredible. Since then we’ve been fine-tuning the backend and updating the front end. Fingers crossed, our very basic MVP will be ready for real use in Pittsboro in just a few weeks. Once it is, I’ll be back out talking with business owners, getting them listed, and importing events. That’s when we’ll really start showing what Nearby Nearby can do.

Huge thanks to the entire RIOT team for making this possible. Tom, Rachel, Jen, Greg—you’ve each played a big role in helping me narrow down my launch area and get this MVP across the line.

A special thanks to my mentor Joseph Wiggins for his amazing technical brain and the way he breaks things down so I can actually understand them. My favorite moment was learning that we can run a special code to simulate internet speeds in rural areas where the connection is barely hanging on. It helps us see what actually happens with our site in those conditions.

Thanks also to the Town of Pittsboro for hosting this accelerator and showing up to support. And to my fellow founders in the cohort, it was a wild and wonderful 12 weeks:

Janie and Mike Hughes with BingoBard (PS, my mom loved playing bingo)
Ellie McTaggart with Carolina Interments
Bryan Tonton with Crown Biome
Charith Wickrema with Focus Cubes
Chris Bentley with InfraTechDC
Brian Barber with Mobile Surveillance Solutions
Samhita R with Resilience AI
Tyler Pinzon with SchedulerRX
Zach Hetzler with Verdi Dx
Kassidy Jerierski and Mario Riverron

Grateful to have shared this season with all of you. Onward.

12/09/2025

Welcome to another round of the Time Travel Series.... To take you back in time for a minute…

On October 24th, I attended (and ran) my first-ever mock board meeting with the rest of my RIOT Accelerator group.

Phew. It was a lot… but in the best way.

I learned real quick why this process matters, especially when you’re trying to build something that lasts. It was great hearing how each business has grown and how people are thinking ahead.

Big thanks to Cary Founded for the beautiful space to host us. Afterwards we all headed to Bond Brothers Beer Company for a little post-meeting decompression. Not like we hadn’t heard each other talk all day already… but I think that just shows how strong this crew is.

Grateful to be in it with this group of founders. Every step forward counts—even the ones with a mock board and a pint at the end.