Jackson Free Press

I used to think Jackson is boring—and it's not," Tasha Rollins says. She has seen Jackson change as she grew up, but she says that it still has that kind of small-town vibe that she's grown to love.

Rollins, 35, graduated from Callaway High School and attended Jackson State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2004. After school, she says she was ready to work and wanted to wait to decide whether she wanted to go back to school.

She got a job as a teller at BankPlus and has been with the bank ever since. Recently, she became a customer-service representative at the Fondren branch, where she still gets to interact with customers on a daily basis—but now at a much more personal level.

"I'm the person you come to, to open your account, discuss financial information, loans and stuff like that," she says.

Rollins says that she always considered herself to be an introvert, but that seemed to change once she started dating Phillip Rollins, who owns Offbeat in midtown. She says she's transitioning into more of an extrovert these days.

The couple married in 2014, and they have one son, Riley, who is 7. Tasha Rollins says the family is at Offbeat a lot on the weekends, but it doesn't feel so much like work to her. She used to draw when she was younger, and dating and marrying Phillip has allowed her to engage with the art scene again and start creating things of her own. She says that she's still the business aficionado in the family, though.

"I feel like Phillip is so creative, and I try to take care of as much business stuff as I can as to not interfere with his creativity," Rollins says.

Despite being a full-time working mom, Rollins doesn't give off an ounce of stress in her voice. She says Riley is an active kid who, like his father, loves talking about video games and comic books.

"Riley is the kid who says, 'Mom, can I tell that other kid about Offbeat so I can give them a tour?'" Rollins says. "In Riley's eyes, his dad is like a superhero."

The Rollinses live in Belhaven Heights, and while Tasha initially wanted to leave Jackson immediately after graduation for a bigger city, she says things have changed. "I always wanted to leave Jackson ... thinking I can't wait to graduate and get out of here, and as I became an adult, I don't feel that way at all," she says. "It is a place that I do want to stay, (a place) that I do see is growing and progressing, and you know I want to stay here."