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Members In Focus: Cheslie Kryst Knows the Beauty of Persistence

Photos by Blue Method Films

By Amber Nimocks

Cheslie Kryst failed to win the Miss North Carolina crown on her first attempt in 2014. It wasn’t bad for a first try, though. She cracked the top 10 and won a swimsuit award.

Before she went for the prize again in 2015, she prepared relentlessly: thousands of ab reps, countless hours at the piano playing Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” and endless hours watching and reading the news to be ready for the interview.

Find this and more in the February edition of North Carolina Lawyer magazine online and in your mailbox. 

She lost again. Runner-up. Plus a swimsuit award.

That was her last shot at the crown with the Miss America organization. She had aged out. But she still had a chance with the Miss USA organization.

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Libations and Litigation Are Twin Passions for NCBA Member Deborah Sperati

NCBA Members In Focus 

Ask Deborah Sperati if she would rather run a craft brewery or practice law as a partner at Poyner Spruill, and she answers with a question: “Why choose when you can do both?”

As co-founder, legal counsel and chief cultural officer of Koi Pond Brewery in Rocky Mount, Sperati blends her passion for craft beer and her 18 years of experience as a civil and commercial litigator. A North Carolina native who grew up in Greenville, Sperati earned her law degree from UNC School of Law and has practiced for 18 years. At Poyner Spruill, she leads the Brewery, Winery and Distillery Practice Group, which offers her critical insight into the challenges facing the state’s growing group of beer, wine and spirits artisans. Here, she offers some insight on how she keeps these dual pursuits alive.

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