What is the Ozarks, really? Allison Cash leads LORE (Leaders for Ozarks Region Evolvement), the organization working to unite Springfield, Nixa, Branson, and all of southwest Missouri under one regional identity.
Ask ten people here what region they live in and you'll get ten different answers — and that's exactly the problem Allison is working on.
Allison is LORE's first executive director, and the organization is asking a question nobody else is: who's looking out for the region as a whole? Not Springfield versus everybody else, but one region that competes together, plans together, and eventually goes to market under one identity. And no, they're not inventing a new name — they're digging into what people here already call this place.
Allison's story runs deep in this region: born and raised in Christian County, Nixa schools, a marketing career that took her from Noble & Associates to Nestlé Professional, a beverage startup, Askinosie Chocolate (that story starts with a chance meeting in San Francisco), and the C-suite of a global coffee and tea company — before coming home to work on the place itself.
We talk about the regional identity research underway, why housing is likely next, what 186 conversations in six months taught her about this region, and why the family-name analogy might be the best way to think about who we are.
Want to learn more or ask Allison a question? Find LORE at ozarkslore.org or connect with Allison Cash on LinkedIn.
Every corner of the Ozarks has a story worth telling — a person worth knowing, a business worth supporting, a community worth celebrating. That's why we do this.
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Website: LivingInTheOzarks.com
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