Melody Joy Short, operating and marketing manager for Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns and co-founder of Artisan Café (photo by Jay Paul)
Melody Joy Short was eating lunch at Carytown’s Daily Kitchen in January when she got the call — Oprah said yes. Winfrey had greenlit the television series “Checked Inn,” which spotlights Akwaaba Bed and Breakfast Inns, to debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It was officially time for Short — a West End native and Akwaaba’s operating and marketing manager — to get camera ready.
“After the first few days, the cameras just sort of faded into the background,” she says of the whirlwind experience. The series began filming in March, on location in Pennsylvania at Akwaaba’s Mansion at Noble Lane in the Poconos. Short says the cast and crew sometimes worked for seven days straight: “There wasn’t a ton of scripting going on; what you’ll see is our team going about our regular business, taking care of guests and balancing the fun with the challenges.” Grammy-winning songwriter/performer Peabo Bryson appears on the show. Asked if any other famous faces make a cameo, Short hints with a smile: “Maybe one or two.”
Short splits her time between Richmond and Akwaaba’s D.C. location, traveling to the company’s three other properties when needed. After graduating from John Marshall High School, Short left for college at Morgan State University in Baltimore. She spent several years afterward climbing the business development and entertainment industry ranks, working for Sony and other big-name brands in New York City. A stay at Akwaaba’s Cape May, New Jersey, property 15 years ago inspired her to explore the innkeeper business.
“I opened what’s called a homestay in my apartment in Brooklyn,” says Short, who settled back in Richmond to raise her daughter, Nia, about nine years ago. “At that time, I was working part time at the YWCA, plus making and selling vegan sweet potato pies on the side. But people came over every weekend, and I made my home as comfortable as possible for them.”
Monique Greenwood is an author, former editor-in-chief at Essence magazine, and Akwaaba’s founder and owner. She’s also Short’s boss and mentor. Greenwood describes “Checked Inn,” which debuted Nov. 21, as “a behind the scenes look at the operations of a family-owned bed-and-breakfast,” highlighting the relationship between Greenwood; her husband, Glenn; their daughter, Glynn; the staff; and guests. It’s reality television, minus the greasy, sensationalized tone that sometimes defines the genre, leaning more toward wholesome series like “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” another show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Greenwood says Short is her “right and left hand,” and that the role she plays in Akwaaba’s marketing and operations is indispensable: “We are a very small business, but I can always count on her to execute the vision we are going for.” Beyond what she gives of her talents and time to Akwaaba, Greenwood says Short gives her hope.
A clip from "Checked Inn," a reality show featuring Short, airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
“Watching Melody blossom at Akwaaba and as a businesswoman, I have hope that her generation will do better than mine, and her daughter’s generation will do greater things than hers.”
Short says that her entrepreneurial spirit was sparked afresh when she landed again in Richmond during the latter half of the new millennium’s first decade. “I could see leaders being birthed,” she says. “I could feel this type of renaissance happening, especially in the black community — artists, writers, all types of creative energy.” Still, Short sensed room for even more growth and change. She and her business partner Adrienne Cole Johnson launched Artisan Café in 2012. “We wanted to create more opportunities for people of color and women who held creative gifts,” Short says. Artisan Café is an economic platform for artists, designers, jewelry makers and creatives of all stripes to springboard what may have been a hobby into a business venture.
“There are so many untapped creative people in the area, and we wanted to shine a light on them,” Johnson says. “People want something new from the creative scene, and we know this because when we started, people were leaving Richmond for jewelry, visual art, etc. We started by meeting those wants.” Through its Artisan Market, Artisan Café sells everything from visual art to clothing and accessories to home décor and beyond, in Richmond and at regional festivals and fairs. Under the same company umbrella, Short and Johnson ran the Artisan Collective store at Short Pump Town Center for two years. The old adage may claim “it’s business, nothing personal,” but Johnson says nothing could be further from the truth concerning her partnership with Short.
“Partnerships can be tough — thankfully, ours is not. I did not know Melody prior to working together, but we clicked immediately.” What makes them a dynamic business duo is their dual understanding and flexibility; both are busy women with lots of commitments, but “we have a lot of grace with each other,” Johnson says. “Our work styles really complement each other, and she’s my sister. The whole thing works.”
Yet another facet of Short’s life reflects her passion for business development: She’s small business director at UnBoundRVA, a local nonprofit that develops Richmond entrepreneurs and helps launch five new businesses annually.
“As much as Richmond is evolving, we are still challenged, too,” Short says. “We get international acclaim for our restaurant scene, but there are food deserts in the city. That’s an example of how there isn’t equal access to opportunity for everyone.” Short sees her role at UnBoundRVA as a way to counter this problem, training Richmonders from low economic backgrounds to create, lead and maintain their own businesses. She and her team work with a group of 20 hopefuls each year on all aspects of their enterprises, from writing the business plan to pinpointing their customer base to marketing. “What I see are people not just launching a business, but shifting their entire life narrative and possibilities, and their children are there watching them do it,” Short says. “It’s beautiful.”
As the small business director for local nonprofit UnBoundRVA, Melody Joy Short works with entrepreneurs like Royal McCargo of 1010 Post Construction to help them maintain their own businesses (photo by Jay Paul)
A thread of purpose that runs the gamut of Short’s life experiences is legacy building. What she admires in Greenwood is what she admires in women like Maggie Walker, and what she emulates daily here in her hometown and everywhere she goes: a tenacious spirit that drives them ever forward, a head for business, and a will to do their work with dignity and diligence. Women like these, like Short, uplift their families and communities. They seek to leave the world around them better for their presence.
“I want to create a legacy that my daughter can inherit, and that she will pass on to her children, too,” Short says. “I stand on the shoulders of trailblazers, especially these incredible black businesswomen, and that inspires me, pushes me, every day.”
Never miss a Sunday Story: Sign up for the newsletter, and we’ll drop a fresh read into your inbox at the start of each week. To keep up with the latest posts, search for the hashtag #SundayStory on Twitter and Facebook.
