Why showing up matters in relationship-driven Knoxville business world

“Tell me about all this cement,” one of my friends from North Carolina said as I carefully steered my SUV through construction on Sevier Avenue. “East Tennessee, you know, is known for having good cement.”

Are they thinking marble? I almost asked, but that wasn’t the point. This was just the latest round of laugh‑out‑loud teasing like we used to do in high school, only now the joke is my growing – perhaps, embarrassing – obsession with rattling off Knoxville facts.

Very little of my Knoxville knowledge was collected on my own, though. Much of it has come from people who aren’t just proud of Knoxville, but generous about it – willing and excited to let me in on local lore and introduce me to the movers and shakers who choose to keep the businesses they've built rooted in the city that shaped them.

Knoxville runs on relationships, and showing up curious can be the key to unlocking your potential here – a place where passionate locals invest in those who love this city or show a genuine desire to better understand it. This can pay invaluable dividends for Knoxville professionals.

I didn’t have a Tennessee license, let alone a local library card, when I moved to Knoxville in 2018. But my need to understand this place sent me in my first week to Hodges Library, where I pulled Cormac McCarthy’s “Suttree” from the shelf and got lost in the depictions of 1950s Knoxville.

About a month later, I walked into my interview with more confidence than I deserved after learning the Corner Lounge − a historic, real-life setting in the book − was reopening. And after breaking the ice with a "Suttree" reference, I quickly earned an invitation to the grand-opening party.

This newcomer stepped into a room full of Knoxville lifers and enjoyed the music of local legend Con Hunley, who still sends me birthday wishes years later − one of those simple Knoxville gestures that lands more than it should.

A more illustrious example of small-town, big-city Knoxville happened in the process of writing the Corner Lounge story when an editor asked me to shift gears and call the University of Tennessee veterinary school for an unrelated piece. I nearly dropped the phone when the person who answered was the bar owner’s wife, whom I had just called on her personal number to ask some Corner Lounge follow-ups. We played a game of "Who's on first?" before the connection clicked and our conversation shifted from pints to puppies.

That’s Knoxville. One person vouches for you, and suddenly you belong. People who love this place tend to look after others who love it too, and connections matter here. Justin Cazana, principal with Avison Young Knoxville, echoed this point as I was reaching out to former Knox News 40 Under 40 honorees to ask how their careers have shifted in recent years.

Through 40 Under 40, Knox News brings together some of the region's top young professionals each year for a chance to be recognized and network with fellow honorees.

I also asked for some advice to share with the newest class of top young professionals. Here's what Cazana said: “Knoxville is America’s largest small town. It is built on relationships. These relationships will help you grow personally and professionally over your career.”

A relationship between Knoxville Smokies owner Randy Boyd and soul food restaurant owner Jackie Griffin is helping bring Jackie's Dream to Covenant Health Park. And the baseball-to-soccer field conversions at the public stadium couldn't have happened without Earthadelic owner Steve Polte, who Smokies CEO Chris Allen said offered his expertise "really to just be a good community partner."

The opening of Covenant Health Park in 2025 showed how far Knoxvillians go simply because they believe in this place and in each other, and it illustrated another undeniable fact: Knox County is growing. Knox News reported in June another 75,160 new residents are expected to be here by 2040, according to the Tennessee State Data Center, representing 15.2% more people. Six months later, a moveBuddha report projected Knoxville will be the most attractive city for people moving in 2026.

My two high school pals are happily settled in North Carolina, but a fourth from our friend group followed the trend and recently moved from Charlotte to Knoxville for a new career opportunity. Per my obsession, I shared everything I knew about this place to make him feel welcome – partially to pay it back to those who welcomed me and partially because, well, this place can be hard to wrap your head around.

That’s a lot packed into an identity. But Knoxville’s true calling card isn’t any single amenity − it’s the way this place shows up for the people who show up for it. To be a true Knoxvillian means to embrace the Scruffy City in its entirety, and to be a local leader means to look out for your community and neighbors with compassion.

Mark Heinz of Dewhirst Properties, left, shows Knox News journalist Ryan Wilusz what's beneath the 100 block of Gay Street on June 7, 2019.

I can't blame people for wanting to flock here. Where else are you likely to spot a familiar face on a downtown Friday night and be cheering for the Vols on a football Saturday inside one of the largest stadiums in the world? And where else can you catch cash-only concerts of up-and-coming local acts nightly, while also welcoming the world every year for one of the country’s premier music festivals?

For every big‑city feature Knoxville boasts, there’s a small‑town ease that makes opportunity feel within reach. Maybe it's just K‑Town karma, but when you take the time to know your neighbors − when you keep showing up − they don’t just remember you. They root for you. They vouch for you. They open doors you didn't know existed.

In Knoxville, relationships are more than currency. They fuel advancement on personal and organizational levels, making this urban wilderness we call home a place where opportunities flourish.

Ryan Wilusz is the business growth and development editor for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; Cell: 865-317-5138; Instagram: @knoxscruff