Joe Spector- The Charleston Palate

As an MBA student and graduate assistant at The Citadel I have been fortunate enough to be, as quoted by Pat Manna, "near the occasion of opportunity".  Professor Manna is a successful businessman who splits his time between running a company in Chicago and enjoying life in the lowcountry on Kiawah Island, while also dedicating his time to teaching the future business leaders of the world, aka Citadel cadets, a thing or two about the real world. 

Stemming from my meetings with Pat, I was invited to sit in and take photos for the CSBA social media outlets of Joe Spector, CEO and Publisher of Charleston's newest culinary magazine "The Local Palate".  Spector is an entrepreneur, but he refers to himself as an entremanure mainly because there is a lot of bull**** involved in creating your own business (obviously he has a sense of humor).  Growing up a Yankee he developed a strong work ethic and chose to attend Northeastern University that utilizes a Co-op education system.  From this he worked for companies such as IBM, realized the cube life just wasn't for him, and Target, travelling all over the globe as a VP of Merchandising.  From what he learned at Target he developed his own distribution company which in a few short years was worth $50 million (cha-ching!).  He sold his company, packed up his bags, and moved with his family to Charleston, SC. 

So, for the male readers out there, how does it sound having a drink, smoking a cigar and getting a haircut/manicure/pedicure/facial all in one?  That was Joe's next move.  He is the owner of the Old South Barber Spa at 10 State St. downtown, which has become highly profitable.  I wonder if I can figure out a way to sneak in there...

And so the question is: How did Joe Spector go from consumer merchandising and distribution, to a barber shop, to a magazine with NO publishing experience?  He was simply trying to buy ad space for his barber shop and realized there were no magazines celebrating the food culture and history in Charleston.  With the right amount of passion, enthusiasm, and drive Joe Spector can do anything and so there we have it, "The Local Palate" thelocalpalate.com.  It is what I'd like to call a coffee table type magazine, because it is just too pretty to not have out for guests to look at.  Spector made sure the material, design, and layout of the magazine represented the dedication and work he put into it.  Visually the magazine is appealing, it actually makes me hungry every time I open it up, and the content is quite the compliment to the aesthetics. 

Let's just say I own more than my one free copy and I even stayed to listen to him speak to Pat Manna's second class that day.   A special thanks to Pat Manna for allowing me and the Citadel School of Business to be "near the occasion of opportunity" and meet with a local entrepreneur (or entremanure?) who I know has made an impact on students making their way out into the real world.


Quote of the Business Day:
"Hard work equals good luck"- Joe Spector