Tacoma Rising

My favorite moment this week happened while watching the most recent Tacoma Rising podcast with Cheyanne Schaefer, owner of Cascade HR and Zachary Rine Rine of Goods Automotive.

They were legitimately having a great time. Laughing, riffing, finishing each other’s thoughts.

And as I watched them share how they met and how they work together, it hit me: these two aren’t colleagues. They’ve never had a single business to business transaction between them.

There’s something wholesome and pure about that.

When people build their network on actually enjoying each other, instead of the opportunity to make money, you get a different kind of relationship entirely.

Non-transactional relationships might sound like a waste of time. I think they’re some of the strongest ones built.

When there’s nothing to gain on paper, what’s left is real. You root for each other because you mean it. And that’s the kind of connection that holds up long after any single deal would have run its course.

That’s the heart of this season. You don’t have to build alone. Sometimes the best people in your corner are the ones you simply like, and the business, if it ever comes, gets figured out later.

🎙️ Same Team, Different Payroll. New Tacoma Rising episode out now.

🔗 Full episode link in our bio.

Production by JON PRENG | Tacoma - Social Media Manager & Content Producer

Print was supposed to die in 2001. Nobody told Josh Dunn!

That is the year he started Premier Media Group , right when the internet was about to wipe out the publishing world. Almost every regional title from back then is gone. PMG grew.

25 years later, Premier runs South Sound Magazine , 425 Magazine , Northwest Travel & Life and about 5 more. A team of nearly 30 people who stay over a decade in an industry that burns people out. He went remote before any of us were forced to. And now he is expanding across the Southwest, from Texas to California.

What Josh built is flat out impressive. Most founders would be proud to do one of those things. He has done all of them, quietly, for 25 years, and he is still going.

That is why it meant a lot to have him on the newest episode of Stories at Founders Square. Thank you, Josh, for the time and for being so open.

Stories at Founders Square is where we tell stories building Tacoma. Told at UrbanWork and amplified by Tacoma Rising.

Full episode at the link in our bio.

Produced by JON PRENG | Tacoma - Social Media Manager & Content Producer

We put leaders from across Tacoma on one boat. And something started to shift.

This week we’re coming off Tacoma by Twilight, our celebration of the and I’m still thinking about the conversations from that night.

City. Pierce County. Education. Business. Local stakeholders. People who don’t usually share a room, all aboard the Chippewa, all there for one reason. To start building real partnerships.

I believe that when groups like this work together, we build a stronger Tacoma.

For too long, this city has operated in silos. The city in one lane. Business in another. Education and capital off in their own corners. If we want to grow our economy, we have to break those silos down.

Here’s the truth. Tacoma is facing a 27 million dollar deficit. We are not going to cut or tax our way out of it. It’s going to take hard choices, and it’s going to take all of us, together.

But here’s what keeps me moving forward. Tacoma already has everything it needs to win. We just have to open our doors to new business and new ideas, stop fighting over the size of each slice, and start growing the pie.

You can feel it in the air on Thursdays when the Farmers Market is booming. Tacoma is at the place where this can happen. Our best days are right in front of us.

If you feel it too, come see what we’re building at Tacoma Rising. Let’s go.

Big thanks to Investments for the use of the Chippewa. This night doesn’t happen without these folks: Becca Lamberg, Emily Maier, Elaine McKnight, Zachary Rine, Ann Zimmerman, Quinton Davis, and every friend who came aboard.

Production by

Tacoma’s

S4 E4 of the Tacoma Rising podcast is live with Kevin Lee — owner of Third Space Cafe in downtown Tacoma.

Kevin talks about his journey as an entrepreneur. “You have to love what you do.” Kevin is building something special on Pacific Ave.

Every other week, we sit down with the people actually building Tacoma. Operators. Founders. Makers. The ones doing the work instead of talking about it.

🎙️ Watch the full episode — link in bio. Production by

→ Run a Tacoma restaurant? We’re looking for one more to tell their story like Kevin’s. DM us.

→ Want your brand alongside the people building this city? Season sponsorships are open. DM us.

One real challenge: reimagine Pacific Avenue — the gateway between downtown and UW Tacoma.

Not a class project. Not a hypothetical.

Real maps. Real leasing plans. Real deals in play.

Students stood in front of the developers, engineers, architects, financiers, and marketers who shape this city every day — and pitched them a vision for what Pacific Ave could become.

This is what city building looks like when you stop watching from the sidelines.

Tacoma Rising isn’t an event. It’s a system.

Promote. Connect. Support.

To every student who shipped a pitch in one day — you are why we do this.

To every mentor who gave a Friday to build the future — thank you.

🏛️ Schools in the room:
· · · · · ·

🙏 Sponsors who made it real:
UW Tacoma · · · .hr · · .washington · University of Puget Sound · · .westernproperties

Tacoma is the proof. Production by

founderssquare