Meet Mandee and Brooks Conkle!

Both born and raised in Mobtown, Alabama Mandee, and Brooks Conkle have made quite the impact on our local community, as well as, the Container Yard family as both a couple and individuals! Recently they were both able to sit down with us at Container Yard and explain a little more in-depth exactly what they do. Check out what they had to say:

We see you guys everywhere, but what do you actually "do?"

Mandee: I curate the Mobile Rundown each week and create the content for the Event Guides we produce each week, as well as handle all of the sales for the Rundown.

In addition to the Rundown, we are also working on four large-scale events each year. Soon we will host the BizKidz Children's Business Fair at the fairgrounds because why not start the entrepreneurship dreams early?! We want BizKidz to be an opportunity for these kids to set up a storefront and run a business for an entire day, and then hopefully that will carry over into a lifetime. We will also be hosting the FUN-nel Cake Run during the Greater Gulf State fair, as well as, the most needed event for Mobile, the King Cake-Off during Mardi Gras.

Brooks: When it comes to the Rundown, I am mainly in charge of the big picture stuff such as event productions and our digital media. As far as the three events Mandee mentioned I do whatever the ladies tell me to do, but I am also the event organizer for Gulf Coast BizCon which I aim to grow to be one of the leading business events on the Gulf Coast, and most recently we have signed an agreement with The Grounds and will be producing the "Toys for Big Boys" expo in May of 2020.

I also hold a broker's license at IXL Real Estate where I sell about a dozen or so houses in a year, but I am always looking at investment opportunities and Mandee and me currently in the niche of short term rentals where we manage our own short term rental and just brought two more online.

After all of that, I also create online courses where I have almost 9,000 Udemy students, create YouTube videos for our personal brand, and Mandee and I have close to eight recordings finished for a podcast we plan to launch.

Wow, so with all of that what does a typical day look for each of you?

Mandee: Well, that is a loaded question! Every single day is different for me, as some days are office-only content-generating days and others are full of meetings or event planning.

Brooks: My days are wild. Each night I open up my organizational app, Trello, to make sure I have my items for the next day already lined up. On average I have anywhere from 5-10 projects that I am pushing forward. So, in one day I may write a blog post, brainstorm ideas for a video, market a real estate listing, check on our Airbnb, or work on one of the events we mentioned above. If you haven't figured it out, having all of this going on at once is what makes me come alive!

Just curious, how was the Mobile Rundown birthed?

Mandee: Well, in 2011 Brooks and his former business partner had just missed a big event in town and couldn't figure out why they didn't know about it beforehand. So, the Rundown was born to be a one-stop local resource of all events happening in Mobile and on the Gulf Coast, then Brooks and I became sole owners in 2013.

If you could do one thing differently what would it be and why?

Both: Absolutely nothing.

What do y'all do for fun?

Mandee: It is a mix between amateur bodybuilding and absolutely nothing. Weights or Netflix? So hard to choose…

Brooks: Absolutely nothing. Beyond that, nature and seeing the world energizes me, so I will say camping and traveling.

How did you hear about Container Yard?

Mandee: I first heard about the Yard when Marine Street Lofts were under construction. However, I never got a chance to check out the space until Stacy Wellborn invited me to come try it for a day.

Brooks: Lots of my friends who are a part of the entrepreneurial community have used co-working spaces at some point during their journey and Container Yard is at the top of that list. I was impressed with the Yard when it was located at the bottom of the Marine Street Loft's building, but ever since the new space opened on Dauphin my jaw hasn't left the floor.

Why Coworking?

Mandee: I need to get out of my house and be around other humans now and then, so a coworking space is the best place to go for meetings and gives me somewhere to call my "office."

Brooks: If you can't tell by now, I like to mix things up! For me, coworking is just another piece of that puzzle and a few days a week working out of the Yard keeps me fresh. And it is a bonus that a lot of meetings are downtown and Container Yard makes a stellar hub.

Since everyone loves a good love story, how did the two of you meet?

Brooks: All jokes aside, at a bar. One evening I escorted a friend of mine to a wedding and we went to a bar after the wedding to enjoy some live music. Once I saw Mandee I acted as I knew her but hadn't seen her in forever and as it turns out, we did know each other (sort of) in high school. She couldn't get rid of me after that.

Mandee: Exactly what he said. It was love at first sight in a bar.

We are so happy to be a part of Brooks and Mandee's entrepreneurial journey. Being able to work with such innovative and driven individuals such as this is what makes Container Yard what it is.