




Who we are...
How I (we) got here.

Let me introduce ourselves - my name is Rich Greene. I am a Navy Veteran, who saw combat in the Persian Gulf War; and I am now, many decades later, an Artist. I also happen to be a dreamer, visionary, a public servant, a life partner and a Father to a very cool little man named, Orion Jack.
The next Founding Partner I will introduce in this adventure with me is, Matthew Halloran.
He is the CEO of Top Advisor Marketing; and the host of the #1 Marketing Podcast in Financial Services. Matt is also more than that - Matt is also a Navy Veteran as well and he was my College Roommate for a few years. He is one of my biggest fans when it comes to my artwork (he also owns the largest collection of my work). Matt has supported all my crazy adventures in life - and through thick and thin has been there for me and my family.
And last but not least, my Life Partner, Amber Fae.
Amber Fae, is a highly sought after Interior Designer along the Southwest Michigan Coastline. She specializes in Second Homes and Vacation Cottages and is in charge of Operations Management and Marketing at Bayberry Cottage in South Haven, MI. She is also a gifted and talented copywriter as well; a nurturing Mother; and on top of all that - she is my rock and the biggest supporter of my dreams.
Matt will take on the primary role of our Chief Financial Officer in this business and will be charge of maintaining all the finances including the investment accounts.
Amber's primary role is going to oversee the Company's branding and marketing - making sure we stay true to ourselves and our message.
I will take on the role as the Resident Tattoo Artist providing tattoos for walk-ins and some custom work; specializing in black ink. I will also be in charge of the daily administrative and retail management of the business.
As soon as possible we will hire a second tattoo artist to expand the options for customers and to make better use of the company's resources - we were hoping to introduce a second Artist at this time, however, he just got his Christmas Wish answered and will be opening up his own shop in Kalamazoo, MI. And we wish him and his family well!
We will also do a “For A Limited Time” Visiting Artist Program that will provide a unique platform to bring in Local, Regional and Out-of-State Artists to provide greater depth of choice to customers and ink collectors - and we will introduce those people when that happens.
Matt Halloran

CFO - Black's Emporium
Podcasting Guru
The voice of the #1 Marketing Podcast in Financial Services
"Matt is a trained and certified life and business coach. (Actually, he’s way more than that – he’s a financial branding expert, social media expert and he’s an insane podcast host.) Here’s the thing about Matt, he wouldn’t work with an advisor unless they agreed to fix their business and their life. He gets how connected everything is. He gets how tough it is to be great and effective at marketing while running a practice, living a life, and loving a family.
Matt wrote the Social Media Guide for Financial Advisors. It was a hit. He’s been leading the social wave in financial services for years – teaching top advisors how to be human in an oftentimes inhuman industry. Teaching advisors how to create trust and rapport before they’ve ever met a prospect or center of influence.
Matt served in the Navy and is also a trained therapist. He’s been in the trenches as a financial professional too. He was also a radio broadcaster way before he went bald and gray." - From Matt's LinkedIn profile; too know more about Matt and review his profile click on the link to the right. -->


Amber Fae
Interior Designer and Copywriter
CEO - Black's Emporium
Amber has been working as an Interior Designer and Copywriter for over 12 years.
She has been instrumental in designing some of the most prestigious interiors found in 2nd homes and cottages along the southwestern portion of Lake Michigan's coastline, and interiors of condo's in Kalamazoo, MI and Chicago, IL.
She has penned several articles about interior design and color that have been published locally in News Papers and even internationally, on Coastal Living's website.
Amber's talents are many and her ability to transform interior spaces into unique and modern designs is one to be reckoned with, as evident by the interior design she created for Black's Emporium.
Amber will use her gift for words and her eye for trends to keep Black's Emporium's branding and retail - current, fresh and appealing to the clients we serve.

This is one of my favorite of my beautiful Partner in crime...this picture is of her turning in an application to run for City Council, as a write-in candidate. I am (We are) so proud of her!
Rich Greene
Artist, Dreamer, Father
and Founder - Black's Emporium; Tattoos and Taboos

- WARNING -
I have the gift of gab - as you can see by my Bio - but I think it's important for you to know how I (we) got where we are today.
How I (we) got here...
My career path is not unique to others who were born under the Sagittarius Astrological sign; to anyone else, it has been a crazy roller coaster of experiences. Fate brought me here.
I have learned to do a great many things.
My first major career accomplishment comes at the ripe age of 18, back in 1990. I was stationed in Oakland, Ca at the Naval Hospital. The Navy taught me how to do microvascular surgery, and I then assisted in the instruction of surgeons and resident doctors from all branches of the Armed Forces. It was during this period of my life when I first got my hands on a tattoo machine and received my first tattoo.
I have been a private nurse, a tow truck driver, a veterinary technician, a public health investigator, a special education vocational instructor, a union organizer, an illustrator and graphic artist...and a few other things along the way.
While working as a special ed teacher in Chicago, a coworker bought me my first machine and power unit. She said she was tired of hearing me complain about my student loans and thought that tattoos would be a good side hustle for me. Another coworker, and a dear friend of mine, Christa, helped me establish myself as a tattoo artist in Chicago.

This is my family. These two are my World - my laughter - my heartache and my headache. lol. I would love to help create a Community that is active and thriving for this little man - and a business that perhaps one day he can inherit or at the very least acquire skills that will allow him to see the world.
Christa used to host Tattoo Parties at her house. I would set up my machine and work for 3 or 4 hours; cover-ups on amateur gang or jailhouse tattoos and quick, original scratches for $20-$30 tips. Eventually, I got enough private clients and slowly stopped working tattoo parties. I met so many interesting people doing those though...I still miss those nights.
After more than a decade in The Windy City, Fate took a turn that would eventually move me back to Michigan; a very dear friend lost his wife on their honeymoon. This horrific moment changed the course of many lives, but in my life, its effects were profound.
I re-ignited an affair with my partner, Amber Fae. Amber was the last woman I dated before meeting my ex-wife and moving to Chicago to start college at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She read on social media that I was coming home to Michigan to support my buddy and she reached out: "If you need a moment to vent or get away while you are up here in Michigan, let me know."
And I did.
I told her my friend had a family obligation and I was planning to head down to Bell’s Brewery to tie one on. In the midst of my grief, Amber walked into Bell's and it was as if an Angel had come down to Earth and smiled on me, or something not quite so dramatic, but still pretty profound...
Fate has a twisted sense of humor and irony.
It's only because my dear friend lost her life, that Amber and I were brought into one another’s lives again - and that changed everything. As in, a brief courtship, followed by nine months watching my beautiful wife grow and gripe, followed by fatherhood and all of its curses and blessings.
There is not a day that goes by that I don't work to raise my son to be the best man he can be. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but because the world lost a great soul when she passed, but he can carry a bit of her goodness in his heart. I inked her Roller Derby number on my arm (yeah, she was awesome, she was tough) to remind me of the gift she left for me when she passed.
What it really was like when Amber walked into Bell's Brewery to meet and hang out with me after 15 + years of not seeing one another.
Amber and I spent a whole 6 months together before Fate smacked us again. We were having a child. I soon learned that automatic weapons fired from the alleyway, behind my Damen St. walkup, apparently make Amber anxious - so we decided that I would move back to Michigan and we would raise our son near family, in a quieter town. And finding a job in Michigan would be easy, or so I thought. Who knew the job market would be so tough on a guy with so many skills….
I tried again to use tattoo art as a side hustle, and to grow a client list like the one I left behind in Chicago. Then I learned tattoo parties are illegal in Michigan, and with a newborn, I couldn't risk going against the Institution that be. At the same time, I was offered a job doing stained glass and mosaic instruction. I jumped at the chance and I took that job. Tattoos had to take a back seat again, and have ever since. I have spent 8 years helping others to achieve their dreams, and left myself with no real time to invest in my own.
I have the Persian Gulf Syndrome, from - you guessed it, the time I spent in the Persian Gulf War.
Though it had been in remission for more than a decade, it came back with a vengeance once I was back in Michigan. It leaves me with grains of calcium in the alveoli of my lungs and the effects leave me with asthmatic-like conditions, at times. Coming home, to Michigan, also brought a new gift from the gift that keeps on giving. Seizures. They tend to come with the asmatic attacks. They have been oh so fun to adjust too, this late in my life.
They kind of remind of the outer body experiences I had when “experimenting” (<---just in case my Mother trolls this site) with mushrooms in High School and College. So there is that...seizures have also introduced me to such mega-stars as Wonder Woman and The Rock. I told you, bizarre. Another story for when you visit the shop.
Eventually, we bought a house in Bangor, MI because, well, it was cheap. And cheap offers up opportunities beyond housing.
There is potential in literally every direction you look here in Bangor. And the people who live here in Bangor are amazing. An honest-to-god melting pot. A close-knit city that openly embraces cultural and racial diversity won us over quickly. Kindness and small town chatter is the default. Help is easy to come by when you need it. The public schools here actively support and promote the arts, our tax base is low, and the house we bought has a spacious deck that overlooks a small creek that runs through our backyard - where trout and salmon come to spawn. Across M43 to the north of us is the Black River where the trout and salmon are heaviest and accessible!
Bangor rocks.
We immersed ourselves in the community. Amber regularly attended City Council Meetings, and has run for City Council, while I have held seats on 3 city boards: Art Council Chairman, Co-Chair of Parks & Rec, and a coveted position on the Downtown Development Authority. There is opportunity here everywhere, and we’ve worked hard to bring tourism and new businesses here.

I'm proud of her. She had the highest write-in votes ever! Still lost but made local history.

Summer Community Program for K-6 that I volunteered for and directed.

Learning how to pound ground with the Marines.

I'm proud of her. She had the highest write-in votes ever! Still lost but made local history.
It’s not just about capitalism though. I’ve worked on programs that benefit the community in other ways. I implemented and taught “Art in the Park” to local elementary kids one summer, raised money for and purchased the equipment for “Movies in the Park After Dark”, and introduced the city to the national model for “Trail Town,” a program that Bangor is uniquely suited to implement. These projects, and many others (from painting faded street signs when the City couldn’t afford new to a 2 year project to rewrite the City’s Parks report for the State so we qualified for public funding) are about using what is available to us to level up our little town and to offer a better quality of life to our residents and a better experience for our visitors.
While serving on these boards, Amber and I were approached by friends who dreamt of opening a brewery and asked for our help. We found the perfect location here in Bangor, and worked with them for 2 years, writing the business plan, purchasing the building, fundraising and hosting events.
I have stepped down from these boards to focus on other projects, but when Black’s Emporium is open, I intend to join the DDA again to work on the important branding and marketing Downtown Bangor will need to attract businesses and tourism and create a thriving downtown.

The perfect spot for a Brewery. A completely restored and historic Grain Elevator and will hopefully one day be one of the major Anchor Business in Bangor.
Then, Summer of 2016, as we were unwinding ourselves from the brewery and talking about next steps, like maybe opening a tattoo parlor, our house was hit by a tornado (or as 4-year-old Orion used to say, “A tomato hit my house!”). We’re the 1st house in the video. We lost all of our trees, but the house held and my family was safe.
And then came the helpful opportunists. We collected over 40 business cards that day from people offering to take the massive pine tree off of our roof. Business card #34 had a gait and a smile I would recognize anywhere - my cousin and childhood hero, Dan Greene. We hadn’t seen one another in 3 decades, but sure as hell that was Danny. He didn’t know we lived here, he was just a “tree-climbing monkey” with a chainsaw he stated as we got reacquainted. Fate, you’re a crazy Bitch.

Our Famous Trees upon our house. We lost so many trees. Our once beautiful pine and Willow are pictured here. What you can't see is the maples and the 120 year old pine that were lost on the other side of the house.
Danny (the hippie, environmentalist, educator, inventor, beekeeper, free-spirit, artist) owned a farm just outside of Bangor, and had tried for years to create a Teaching Farm where people could come to learn about holistic farming and the arts. He had worked with several groups that promised him that they would help, but they never seemed to actually make it happen. After hearing our stories about our work for the City, our success writing business plans, and our ideas for economic and community growth, Dan asked us to help him create his dream. So we did!
For the next 3 years I was lucky to be totally reacquainted with Dan, and to share the dream of Talking Trees with him. As we worked together to get 39 acres ready to develop a working educational farm and AirBnB, Dan taught me to make willow chairs and keep bees, and I helped him craft his dream into a service he could monetize so he could provide for himself and his family while living his dream. We worked closely and grew close.
Dan was with me one horrible day when a VA nurse informed me I was dying of cancer. Turns out I’m not, but there are several tumors inside me, like little ticking fucking time bombs; or maybe

Driving our 1951 Ferguson TO. One of the most reliable things ever to come into my life. Starts all the time and never fails to deliver when put to the test, never complaining about hard work.
they’re just there to give me something else to worry about... Dan also became my bridge of reintroduction to a family I thought I lost.
Dan died of a heart attack that spring, 3 days before he was to meet with a developer to sign the contract to begin work on his dream.
We have...I have... been trying to recover from this loss on many levels this last summer. My business partner, my cousin, and my friend left me that day. I sulked around all summer in depression and malaise... worried about how indebted I have made my family through our investments into the farm and what would Fate bring me next. And I struggled with that for more then a year. The next few years were hard on us. We struggled, mentally and financially. My depression grew worse, fed by lingering PTSD from the Military my life grew dark and so did my health.
At the same time, more cruel news hit us - Amber's Mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and her Step-Father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Amber ended up taking over her Step-Dad's Vacation Rental Company and leaving behind the world of Interior Design (for now). Her Mother's health over the next few years improved as her Father's declined. My depression ebbed and flowed as I struggled with relevance and bringing in form of substantial income. Over the next year, Amber rocked out her new career as the CEO of Shores Vacation Rentals, so much so we were able to move away from Bangor, to a bigger house, closer to her parents and a different school system for our son.
We bought a beautiful old family farmhouse on just over 4.5 acres of land in Fennville, a beautiful little City further north but still close to the coastline of Lake Michigan that we love so much. There is a double story barn that may be have to be converted into the Emporium if we are not able to purchase a building in downtown Fennville. Orion adapted quick to the new school here and so life has been mostly positive for us but...
After living in Fennville for a year, Amber's Step-Dad has had to move in with us, her Mother's cancer came out of remission and now is dealing with two different types of cancers. With his Alzheimer's he wasn't, isn't able to take care of himself or even drive. Its been an adjustment for everyone, we count our blessings everyday that we are able to help her Mother and Step-Dad. It is the least we can do for all the help they have provided us - and, most importantly, that's what we should be doing for our family members when they are in need, or sick, and my son is able to grow up with that belief but into motion.
We have started a small farm as well. We grew flowers, raised chickens and bees this last year. What a different lifestyle then I ever dreamed off as a Kid.
After going through all of that (and that's not even a complete story) now I finally have an opportunity to really chase a dream that could become tangible and life changing once again. My Dream is layered and complex, just like my personality - but it is obtainable. My dream, my vision...first and foremost, is to help my community prosper, so my child can grow up in a city with things to do; and create gainful employment opportunities for myself (obviously), but for my child and his peers too. I would like to be able to help a small artistic city grow and bring about change that can create opportunity for not just my family but also for those in my community. I would also like to create a business that my child can inherit and learn a skilled trade in if he chooses, and to create a business that offers training and apprenticeships so others too can have a skill and trade.
I want to create a place that i enjoy going to every morning - and a place that others enjoy going to and visiting. I want to create...
