Columbia's Best Kept Networking Secret Meets Every Tuesday at 9 A.M.

Issue #810

September 07, 2026

In this What’s Up Columbia issue…

🌤️ Columbia’s Tuesday Weather - Mostly sunny w/ high of 89, low of 70

✨ LOCAL SPOTLIGHT 👇

👉 Columbia's Best Kept Networking Secret Meets Every Tuesday at 9 A.M.

📸 How Low Is the Duck River? Duck River Conservancy Wants to See Your Photos

🗓 List of Upcoming Events

🎵 This Week’s Live Music

🗓 Know of Some Local Events Not Listed? Send us the Details!

Columbia's Best Kept Networking Secret Meets Every Tuesday at 9 A.M.

There's a certain kind of networking event most of us dread. The kind where you're handed a name tag, pointed toward a room full of strangers already deep in conversation, and left to figure out how to break in without looking desperate. Marty Ness-White knows that feeling well. It's exactly why she built something different.

Every Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., a small group of business owners, tradespeople, and local professionals gathers at The Factory at Columbia for coffee and conversation. No pressure. No membership fees. No obligation to refer business to anyone you don't actually trust. It's called Network Columbia, and it's become one of Columbia's best kept secrets.

Marty, who owns Kitchen Solvers with her husband Andy White, started the group a little over two years ago. What began as a handful of people trying out an idea has become something harder to manufacture: a room full of people who actually know each other.

The Group That Almost Didn't Happen

Marty didn't set out to run her own networking group. She'd actually done the legwork to bring a different networking organization into Columbia. She found the location. She lined up volunteers willing to show up consistently. She went through the training. And then, after all of it, the group backed out.

So she kept her word to The Factory at Columbia anyway and started her own group, built the way she thought networking should actually work.

"I took what I felt really worked from those networking groups and from other groups, and I threw it together for this one and made it better," she said. "I don't pay to network because I shouldn't have to pay to play. Networking should be organic and natural, not forced."

A Room Built for People Who'd Rather Not Work a Room

Here's something you might not guess about someone who runs a networking group: Marty considers herself more of an introvert. That tension is actually part of the design.

"It's hard to just go and mingle in a group of people where it's all clicky," she said. Structured networking, where everyone gets an equal, brief turn to speak, takes that pressure off. "It gives people an opportunity to speak and decide who they want to go talk to."

Each Tuesday follows the same easy rhythm. Everyone gets sixty seconds to share who they are and what they do, personally or professionally, along with an "ask," anything from a referral to a bit of advice they're hoping someone in the room can help with. Then come the shout outs, a chance to publicly thank someone who came through for you that week. And then a deep dive open discussion, where the group digs into whatever challenges or ideas someone's working through that day.

"It becomes a little bit more of a mastermind," Marty said, "than just, oh, there's nobody here that's a good business opportunity for me, so they leave."

Over time, that rhythm builds something harder to manufacture: familiarity. People stop treating each other like leads and start treating each other like friends who happen to also be good at their jobs.

Marty likes to surprise her friends when they send business her way!

No One Gets a Referral They Haven't Earned

Among people who know her, Marty has a reputation as one of the pickiest people in town when it comes to who she'll put her name behind. She means that as a compliment to herself, and honestly, it is one.

"I am a serial networker. I'm a conduit, so to speak," Marty said. "I love to make connections out of people or through with people. I don't get anything out of it, other than the satisfaction that I helped make a connection."

But that satisfaction comes with standards. Before Marty will refer a contractor to anyone, she wants to see the work firsthand.

"I need to see your work. I need to come on site and see what you do and how you do it before I will refer you out," she said. People are sometimes stunned by this. "They look at me like my hair's on fire."

It comes from experience in the trades, where a bad paint job or a sloppy tile cut can turn into a homeowner's nightmare, and social media has made it easy to fake credibility. Marty's seen plenty of glowing Facebook reviews for work she'd never sign off on.

"Homeowners do not always know what a good quality job is," she said. "It's not stupidity. It's ignorance, if you don't know what you don't know. It's scary out there."

And when Marty hasn't personally verified someone's work, she says so. She might mention a name she met through networking, someone she liked, someone she'd consider, but she's upfront about where that recommendation actually stands.

"I haven't actually verified them as quality, just that I met them," she said. "It's an important piece of the puzzle. If I'm a trusted referral partner, I gotta be honest. I haven't vetted them out."

That kind of scrutiny, and that kind of honesty, is what makes Marty something like the group's unofficial Rolodex. Ask around Network Columbia, and you'll hear the same advice more than once: if you need a recommendation for something you don't know much about, just message Marty. Chances are, she's got someone.

Real Business, Built on Real Trust

The connections that come out of those Tuesday mornings aren't hypothetical. Marty's own insurance coverage, a better policy for her son after an earlier one fell short, a wellness provider she now calls one of the best things to happen to her in years, all of it traces back to someone she met over coffee at The Factory.

Marty liked the work so much that she hosted two events for the provider, Dr. Jami Lee, both of which were hits. "I've sent other people her way, and several people have signed up to do business with her."

That's the quiet engine behind Network Columbia. Not big promises or sales pitches, just people showing up, week after week, until trust builds naturally enough that referrals stop feeling like favors and start feeling like common sense.

Building Up Columbia, One Tuesday at a Time

Marty's vision for the group has never been about growth for growth's sake. It's about who's actually invested in Columbia sticking around and thriving.

"If you really like Columbia and want to see more businesses survive and thrive, we need to be focused on the people that want to build up Columbia," she said. "It's not about going and blasting your advertisements every week. If you don't want to participate in the community and build everybody up, then it's not the right group for you."

That openness shows up in who actually fills the room. Business owners, sure, but also people who run local charities, folks involved with alternative schools, retirees who spend their time volunteering all over Columbia in whatever way they can. The common thread isn't a specific industry or title. It's caring about this town and wanting to see it do well.

Network Columbia also has a Facebook group you can join to keep up with what's happening.

If you like people, and you like the idea of Columbia thriving, there's a seat waiting for you at The Factory at Columbia on Tuesday morning.

Network Columbia
9 AM on Tuesdays
The Factory at Columbia
101 N. James Campbell Blvd

How Low Is the Duck River? Duck River Conservancy Wants to See Your Photos

From the Duck River Conservancy’s post..

It’s drought season on the Duck River — and we want to see your stretch of the river!

How does the Duck look where you are? Drop a photo in the comments here and include the location or Duck River Mile (DRM) if you know it.

Low water is more than something we can see from the riverbank. Streamflow plays a major role in the health of the entire river ecosystem.

As flows decline, aquatic habitat can shrink and become disconnected. Shallow water can warm more quickly, dissolved oxygen can decrease, and gravel bars and mussel beds that are normally submerged may become exposed. For the Duck River’s incredible diversity of freshwater mussels, fish, snails, and other aquatic species, prolonged low-flow conditions can mean significant environmental stress.

And because the Duck is a connected system, conditions upstream can influence what happens many miles downstream.

That’s why observing and documenting the river matters. Photos taken throughout the watershed can help create a visual record of how different stretches of the Duck respond during dry conditions — and remind us why responsible water use, healthy tributaries, intact streamside habitat, and thoughtful drought planning are so important.

Upcoming Local Events

🗓 Have an event to add? Send us the Details!

Tuesday, September 8th

Wednesday, September 9th

Thursday, September 10th

Friday, September 11th

Saturday, September 12th

Sunday, September 13th

👇 Click the Links to Learn About our Local Business Sponsors! 👇

🎵 This Week’s Live Music

Tuesday, September 8
Songwriters Round - Whiskey Alley Saloon, 6-9 PM

Thursday, September 10
Todd Ciprian - Tito's, 6-9 PM
Gwynne Alden - Whiskey Alley Saloon, 7:30-9 PM

Friday, September 11
TBA - The Spot: Burgers & Beer, 5-8 PM
Tommy Wheatley - Buck & Board, 6-9 PM
Sweet Niece - Whiskey Alley Saloon, 7:30-9 PM
Grasstime - Puckett's, 7:30-9 PM
Escape - Fozzy's Bar & Grill, 8-11 PM

Saturday, September 12
No Capes Music Festival - Marco's Pizza, 1-10 PM
The Vineyard Sessions - Natchez Hills Vineyard, 2-5 PM
Grasskickers - Amber Falls Winery & Cellars, 3-7 PM
Beatles 4 Sale - McCreary's Irish Pub & Eatery, 7-9 PM
Kit Bulla - Whiskey Alley Saloon, 7:30-9 PM
Curated Writers Round - The Bourbon Gospel, 7:30 PM
The Bandana Brothers - Puckett's, 7:30-9 PM
Downsouth Band - Fozzy's Bar & Grill, 8-11 PM
Chief Smiley Ricks - Twisted Copper Brewing Co., 8:30 PM

Sunday, September 13
The Sins - Amber Falls Winery & Cellars, 1-5 PM
A Night of Worship - The Mulehouse, 6:30 PM

Want to get your business in What’s Up Columbia? Let’s talk