The Spice Diva was founded by Phyllis Hunter and her family in November 2011. A native of Texas, she was an opera singer, specializing in dramatic coloratura repertoire for many years, singing in opera houses in the U.S. and Europe.

 

While living in New York she was hired to sing with Virginia Opera, in Norfolk where she met attorney, Wil Harville. They were married less than a year later, settled in Virginia Beach, and had three sons: Jeremy, a chef at the Kauai Grill St. Regis Hotel, Princeville, Kauai; Sam, a former Coast Guardsman, who will graduate in 2018 from VCU in Mechanical Engineering; and Lucas, an entrepreneur with a drive-through coffee shop and roastery, a sandwich shop and an outdoor maintenance company in Granby, Colorado.

 

Phyllis taught singing privately and at Old Dominion University for many years. She co-founded the Virginia Art Song Society in 1998, to bring singing opportunities and great artists’ master classes to Virginia. She had a brief career selling Jaguars, Porsches and Audis and will always love fast cars.

 

The Spice Diva is a gourmet cook and Wil is her bartender, cleanup crew (no easy task), best food taster and supporter. Wil, a William and Mary, and Washington and Lee Law graduate is a lawyer in private bankruptcy practice at www.vabklaw.com. The Spice Diva Emporium continues its mission to offer the best in local products, spices, teas, oil, vinegars, and the most delicious Neuhaus Chocolates.

 

Most recently, Phyllis has co-founded Charlottesville Women in Food, an organization whose mission is to bring equality of treatment, opportunity and compensation to women making their living in the food industry locally. Both Wil and Phyllis remain politically active and try as much as possible to give back to the community which has enriched their lives to such a great extent.