When the finalists for this year’s local reader-choice awards were announced, one Mobile family found itself represented across an unusually wide range of categories, from makeup artistry to dance to teaching to coffee. For Courtney “CoCo” Matthews, the sprawling list of relatives who made the cut turned an already anticipated announcement into something of a family affair.
The reader-choice awards, voted on annually by the public, have become one of Mobile’s most watched competitions for local businesses, performers and educators, and finalist announcements tend to ripple through the local social media world. Few households, however, see as many of their names appear on the same list as the Matthews family did this year.
“Basically it’s all my sisters, my niece, nephew, son and me,” Matthews said. “No big get-together to celebrate. We just all talked to each other about it. It was cool to talk about even if none of us won.”
The family’s reaction, relayed with characteristic understatement, belied the scale of the showing. Six relatives across four categories and half a dozen businesses and institutions made this year’s finalist list, a concentration of local recognition that stands out even in a city that takes its reader-choice competitions seriously.
Who Is CoCo Matthews?
Matthews is well known around Mobile for her upbeat personality and entrepreneurial streak. She built a following as a makeup artist while also running a wide-ranging curio shop called Lunatix and Company at the corner of Springhill Avenue and Dauphin Street.
The shop’s location puts it at one of the busier intersections of Mobile’s midtown and downtown crossroads, and its inventory — an eclectic mix that defies easy retail categories — has made it a destination for shoppers looking for something they will not find in a chain store. Matthews’ personality is woven through the business; regulars describe the shop as an extension of her, equal parts boutique, art project and gathering spot.
More recently, she launched Neu Dawn, a multimedia creative event that has become another outlet for her work in the local arts scene. The event draws on Mobile’s deep pool of artists, musicians and performers, and it has given Matthews a platform beyond the retail counter — another entry in a portfolio of creative ventures that has made her a familiar presence at the city’s cultural gatherings.
This year, Matthews herself was named a finalist for Best Makeup Artist, continuing a category she has competed in for years without yet taking home the top honor. Her work in the category spans bridal parties, photo shoots, theater productions and the everyday clientele that has followed her career across Mobile.
The Family on the List
But she was far from the only member of her family whose name appeared on a finalist list. Her sister Tara Ridenoure, along with Matthews’ son Ashton Dreher and nephew Jacob Ridenoure, all work at Carpe Diem, a local coffeehouse that landed among the finalists for Best Coffeehouse.
Carpe Diem has built a loyal following among Mobile coffee drinkers, and the coffeehouse category is among the most competitive in the reader-choice field, contested by the city’s independent cafes and the roasters that supply them. The three relatives working under one roof at a recognized business gives the family a shared stake in the voting that few others can claim.
Another sister, Kacie Hardman, teaches at Fairhope Elementary and was named a finalist for Coolest Elementary School Teacher. The nomination crosses the bay to Baldwin County, where Hardman’s work in an Eastern Shore classroom has earned her a following among students and parents whose votes carried her onto the list.
A third sister, Lauren Dreher, owns Precision Dance, which was recognized as a finalist for Best Dance Studio. Rounding out the family’s showing, Matthews’ niece Macy Ridenoure was named a finalist for Best Dancer, completing a list that touches four categories and reaches from a coffeehouse counter to a dance studio floor to an elementary classroom.
“Out of all of us, we thought Carpe Diem would likely win something. The rest of us thought to even be on there was awesome,” Matthews said.
That expectation reflects the realities of the voting. The coffeehouse category, with an established business and a daily stream of customers, is one the family figured was their best shot at a win. The individual categories — dancer, teacher, makeup artist — are harder calls, and being named a finalist among Mobile’s best was itself the honor.
The Dance Contingent’s Resume
Of all the family’s nominations, Matthews said she was especially proud of the dance contingent, pointing to accomplishments that extend well beyond the local competition. Lauren Dreher coaches for an American dance company that has traveled to Poland to compete internationally, bringing home medals in past appearances.
“Lauren is a coach for the American dance company that will go to Poland again this year. They actually placed in medals there before, which is amazing,” Matthews said.
International dance competition is a world away from local studio showcases. Teams that travel to Europe to compete face dancers trained in different traditions and judging systems, and coming home with medals — as the American company has done — places its coaches and dancers among the elite of the sport. That Lauren Dreher coaches on that stage while also running Precision Dance in Mobile gives her studio’s students access to coaching of international caliber.
She was equally quick to brag on her niece, Macy Ridenoure, who has held her own against considerably older competitors. Macy’s division includes dancers between the ages of 16 and 35, and last year she was the youngest competitor in that group.
“There’s like kid groups and her group, the adult group is like 16- to 35-year-olds. She was the youngest in that group last year and placed seventh in the world,” Matthews said.
Seventh in the world, as the youngest dancer in an adult division, is the kind of result that reshapes a young dancer’s trajectory. It signals to judges, coaches and college programs alike that the Mobile dancer is competing — and finishing — at a level well beyond her age, and it explains why the family’s dance nominations drew the most pride from the matriarch of the group.
Matthews’ Own Long Race
As for her own chances in the Best Makeup Artist category, Matthews takes the competition in stride. She has never won the category outright, coming closest around a decade ago when she placed second.
“It was the year Jessica Price won. She brought me up on stage with her because she was ticked I didn’t win since she wasn’t even known for makeup at that point, just for hair,” Matthews said.
The memory — a winner pulling the runner-up onstage to share a moment of indignation on her behalf — captures the good-natured culture that surrounds the awards, where competitors are often friends and the voting is as much a community tradition as a contest. Matthews’ retelling of it a decade later suggests the friendships matter as much as the results.
The years of returning to the category without a win have not dimmed her enthusiasm for it. Finalist lists reset every year, and Matthews’ continued presence among them reflects a client base that keeps voting for her work, year after year, whether or not the trophy follows.
The Loudest Supporter in the Room
Matthews has long been known as one of the loudest supporters in the room when the awards are announced, sticking around even as crowds thin out later in the evening so that fellow nominees still have someone cheering for them.
It is a small habit with an outsized effect. Award ceremonies run long, and by the later categories the ballroom or theater often holds only the finalists and their immediate tables. A familiar voice hollering support from the crowd can make the difference between a lonely walk to the stage and a celebrated one, and Mobile’s award culture has come to count on Matthews for it.
“There’s always a group of us that stay and try to hoot and holler,” she said.
The group she describes — the stayers, the late-night faithful — forms the backbone of the event’s atmosphere, and Matthews’ place in it has made her as recognizable for her support of others as for her own nominations.
A First Absence, and a First Trip West
This year, however, Matthews will miss the ceremony for the first time. She is pairing her first absence from the awards with another first: a trip to Los Angeles to surprise a friend who has lived there for 18 years.
The five-day visit will take her farther west than she has ever traveled. “I’m going to surprise my friend in Los Angeles who’s lived out there 18 years. We’ll be there five days. I’ve never been farther west than Baton Rouge, so I’m looking forward to it,” Matthews said.
The surprise element — showing up unannounced on the doorstep of a friendship nearly two decades in the making — is of a piece with Matthews’ approach to everything else: big personality, generous gesture, and a story worth telling afterward. A friend who has called Los Angeles home for 18 years, and a visitor who has never been past Louisiana, makes for a reunion with two decades of catching up packed into five days.
The timing means the family’s support section will be short one voice this year. With six finalists across four categories, the Matthews-Ridenoure-Dreher table will have plenty to hoot and holler about without her, and Matthews will be following the results from the West Coast, two time zones away, cheering as always.
What the Showing Says About Mobile
The family’s across-the-board showing is also a portrait of how Mobile’s local recognition culture works. The reader-choice awards draw their finalist lists from the businesses, teachers, artists and performers that residents interact with daily — the coffeehouse on the corner, the dance studio down the street, the makeup artist who did a friend’s wedding, the teacher in the next classroom. One family touching so many of those points in a single year is unusual, but it is built from ordinary community connections: jobs held, businesses run, students taught, clients served.
It also reflects the reach of one family across the bay. With nominations rooted in both Mobile and Fairhope, the family’s showing spans the two counties that anchor the region, tied together by the bridge traffic that moves between them daily.
Winners will be announced at the ceremony Matthews is missing, and the family’s group text — the one that buzzed when the finalist list dropped — will no doubt light up again that night. Whether the coffeehouse takes the category the family expects or one of the long-shot individual nominations comes through, this year’s list has already delivered the thing Matthews said matters most: something for the whole family to talk about.