EXTRAORDINARY UPDATE: The Smooth-ie operator

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — When it comes to life’s curve balls, some you swing at and get a base hit, others are a swing and a miss, and then some curve balls you knock out of the park. Marcus Lacewell is the definition of determination.

UPDATE-–> December hours/new locations: Marcus says in December, Smart Smoothies will be offering hot chocolate for $1. But, Smart Smoothies will only be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, until spring.

*Thursday from 11am – 4pm Smart Smoothies will be located at:
Cape Fear Restaurant Equipment, 1851 Dawson Street, Wilmington, NC 28403 by Food Lion where Dawson, Wooster and Oleander meet.
*Friday from 12-5 on Market St. At Capt’n Bill’s.
*Saturday from 11-4 at 5216 Carolina Beach Rd. at Cardinal Bands and Billiards.

THE BACKSTORY—> The Wilmington man has been on quite the journey since going from “anything’s possible” to a disabling “you gotta make it happen yourself.” He’s our Extraordinary Person of the Week.

Tucked away off of Market street is a small, portable smoothie business. Inside is an enormous story of determination.

“I just woke up in the hospital and didn’t know what happened,” Lacewell said.

Lacewell is a competitor, an athlete, an unstoppable force of both brains and brawn. But in 1999, a motorcycle accident would bring his world to standstill.

“First, they said I wasn’t going to live,” Lacewell said. “Then they said I was going to be a vegetable. Then they said I’d never walk again.”

But he would. Lacewell, the athelete and scholar, would go on to graduate from Cape Fear Community College and NC State defying all odds. Almost.

“I figured it would be easier to get a job because I have two degrees,” Lacewell said. “That one (degree) would cancel out my new disability. But I was wrong.”

He applied for a number of jobs that required degrees. Folks loved him on the phone.

“I would go on interviews,” Lacewell said of the challenges of trying to find work, “and they would sound excited about my resume, and they’d be like, ‘Come on in,’ but when I came in you could see a face change.”

So Lacewell took matters into his own hands. With the help of Cape Fear Community College’s Small Business Center and some local businesses in Wilmington, he opened up his own business Smart Smoothies. He uses everything he learned about nutrition during his recovery to make unique vegetable and fruit beverages.

“I don’t mind working extra as long as there’s an outcome in sight,” Lacewell said.

So next time you see his Smart Smoothie operation, expect more than just a smoothie.

Expect to meet Lacewell, whose dedication is simply extraordinary.

Lacewell sets up his portable smoothie operation himself. He says it takes him an hour or so in the late morning and then again in the evening. You can find him in front of Cap’n Bills on Market Street Tuesdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. and in front of Planet Fitness on Kerr Avenue Wednesdays and Saturdays 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.

For more on everything Marcus Lacewell does, visit his website by clicking here.