Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman is not only an extraordinary circus artist but also an extraordinary human being. Sidney was born in North St. Louis, an area he describes as worse than Ferguson – the neighborhood brought to national attention by the protests that followed shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. Sidney is one of eight siblings who grew up doing flips in their back yard – a family tradition he shared with his brothers and uncles.
Read MoreRegina Meirmanova was born to be a circus star. Her father Nourbol, from Kazakhstan, studied at the world-famous Moscow State Circus School. When he graduated in 1980, his first professional gig took him to Orenburg, Russia. There, he met Svetlana, Regina’s mother. As Svetlana tells it, she was working in a store. It was her first day on the job after graduating from college. Nourbol walked in, pointed to her and said, ‘she is the one.’ A year later, they were married and touring the world as circus artists.
Read MoreAsiaha Butler (pronounce Ay-Sha) has a positive energy that’s infectious. She saw a problem in her community of Englewood and wanted to make a difference. She didn’t know where to start, at first, but that didn’t stop her. Until recently, she was working downtown at the Institute of Real Estate Management, an association for property managers, as the supervisor for Education Services. Anyone who meets Asiaha knows she’s a natural leader. Plus, from her years in the business, she understood real estate and development. Butler felt she had the capacity to make an impact, the question was how.
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