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PURPLE REIGN: Kelli made no secret of her love for Crown Royal on radio and TV gigs. A rep for the whiskey company sent her a purple velvet throne, a promotional item that she’s adorned with a lemon slice pillow. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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MUGGING FOR THE CAMERA: Kelli drinks coffee, tea and soups from favorites in her mug collection, which includes two pieces handcrafted for her by local ceramics artist Molly Sanyour. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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STATE-MENT NECKLACE: Kelli’s love of Virginia is cast in silver and hung on a chain. “I have a lot of state pride,” she says of her favorite Christ-mas gift. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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HEARTS AND FLOWERS: Kelli dries bouquets and keeps florist cards sent to her by Otis, her boyfriend of two years. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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WAHOO WAH: Engraved Jefferson cups, as Kelli, and most University of Virginia graduates would agree, are a cherished gift for any occasion. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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PERIODICAL PURSE: The late artist Prince is featured on a bag made of Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly magazines. Kelli bought it at Lex’s of Carytown long before the singer’s death. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
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LEMON INFUSED: Kelli and her mother have collected lemon dishes and accessories through the years. The novelty, she says, has run its course. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
Behind the walls of her humble stucco four-square off Brookland Park Boulevard, Kelli Lemon takes a rare break from her whirlwind life and sinks into a leather armchair to talk about her “brand.”
She’s fidgeting about getting her house painted, grieving the loss of a financial manager and preparing to fly to Las Vegas for a college sorority reunion. Within her perpetual hub of activity, however, she remains focused on a bigger picture.
Lemon wants to be a change agent for unity in Richmond. With a hand in radio, TV, event hosting, restaurant management and other ventures, she’s got the platforms to do it.
“There are a lot of diverse people in the city,” she says. “I want to be the one who says, ‘Let me introduce you to you; your energy is the same although you haven’t met.’ Food, sports, music, entertainment and art — all of those can pretty much connect everyone no matter what job they do.”
Lemon and a friend produce an online talk show called “Coffee with Strangers RVA” Mondays at coffeewithstrangersrva.com. She introduces viewers to inspiring, often quirky, people around the city she’s lived in since graduating from the University of Virginia in 1998.
Her family had moved from Hampton to Richmond to be closer to both parents' jobs. Kelly enrolled in graduate school at VCU “and fell in love with Richmond.”
She earned her master’s in sports leadership and management, and landed a job as director of women’s basketball operations at VCU at age 22. She and her father flipped HUD houses as a hobby; by age 23, she decided to keep one for herself, the same home she still occupies today. There was a crack house on one side, a boarding house on the other and occasional gunshots ringing out. Lemon’s parents weren’t thrilled. But she forged ahead with two Rottweilers as her guardians, and “I’m so glad I did,” she says.
In the years since, 14 of which were spent in various jobs at VCU, she’s also been a sideline reporter for local telecasts of VCU basketball, host of “The Saturday Night House Party” radio show on KISS-FM and has appeared as a host on “RVA Grooves,” as seen on NBC-12 — all in addition to her full-time job as business manager at Jackson Ward’s popular Mama J’s restaurant.
She’s leaving some of those things behind by year’s end, but she won’t be downshifting too far. She has too much energy, too much ambition and too many people in the city to bring together.
