Nicole McAlister and Zachary Sazama are training to climb the height of Everest. They would like it noted that they are not hikers.
The event is called 29029. Participants have 36 hours to climb the same mountain over and over, riding back down each time, until they have accumulated 29,029 feet of vertical gain. That is the height of Everest.
There is one complication, and the McAlister-Sazamas volunteer it themselves. "We are not hikers. At all."
Which may be the whole reason they signed up.
"We like goals that stretch us, force us to learn something new and give us something meaningful to work toward together," they say. "Training for this has become equal parts physical challenge, mental experiment and proof that apparently we're willing to climb a mountain repeatedly just to see if we can."
It is a useful introduction to a household that runs on one rule: plan for tomorrow, but do not postpone living today.
That rule shapes most things here. It shows up in how Nicole and Zach raise Rowan, their three-and-a-half-year-old, in the businesses they have built, and in the causes they support. The family, which also includes Apollo, a five-year-old Vizsla, and Leo, a six-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, lives on Lederer Avenue.
Nicole grew up mostly in the suburbs of Atlanta. Zach was born in Minnesota but has lived in Charlotte since he was three. Having lived in different parts of the Charlotte area over the years, they watched the city, and Ballantyne in particular, grow.
"As development started booming, we knew Ballantyne was where we wanted to land," they say. The location gave them convenience without giving up the suburban feel they wanted for their family.
What they talk about most, though, is the people.
"We love being surrounded by people who want to have interesting conversations, build meaningful relationships, better themselves and really live a full life," they say.
Appropriately enough, real estate is what brought them together. Nicole has spent her career in the industry and today is a Realtor, team leader and business owner, running Premier Property Solutions and serving clients across the greater Charlotte metro. Relationships rather than transactions, she says, have always been the foundation of the business.
Zach studied computer science, expected a career in technology, and found himself pulled into the finance side of it by Charlotte's banking industry. He later added an MBA, and his career has run through banking technology, capital markets and credit rating agencies. Today he is the founder of Ronin and Forge, a technology consulting company helping small and midsized businesses navigate the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence.
Years before any of that, Zach was simply one of Nicole's real estate clients. They stayed loosely in each other's orbit until he was preparing to move to New York City and called her team about selling his place.
Then Covid arrived, the move never happened, and the two finally got to know each other outside the world of real estate.
"We realized pretty quickly that this was something different, and the rest is history," they say. "Now we're married, raising Rowan, building a life together in Ballantyne and living happily ever after, or at least as happily ever after as two working parents with a toddler can."
The family philosophy, in their words, is to live as though they have six months left, without compromising their future. "In other words, plan for tomorrow, but don't postpone living today."
In practice that means traveling when they can, staying active, getting outdoors, and making sure work does not crowd out the life they are building. Weekend trips to Charleston and Asheville are favorites, as is a good steak on the grill at home. Rowan has discovered hibachi, and his parents suspect there is no going back after the fire, the flying food and the entertainment. Some evenings, they admit, living fully just means ordering pizza and putting on a superhero movie.
Giving back comes out of the same belief, that you should leave every person and every situation a little better than you found it. The family supports several nonprofits, including an annual toy drive for Levine Children's Hospital. This year they began partnering with the Isabella Santos Foundation to grow that effort further. Zach has served on the board of the CLT Foundation, and the couple value the chance to contribute time and leadership as well as money.
They are also working with others to launch a nonprofit of their own. The application is in process.
And they are just as interested in the smaller version of community building: supporting local businesses, introducing people who ought to know each other, helping when they can, and showing up. "We try to participate in activities both inside and outside the neighborhood that bring us joy, keep us connected, challenge us and, hopefully, keep us active and young," they say.
"Or young-ish."
Which is roughly the spirit the mountain is being climbed in. Work hard, stay curious, laugh often, pick something slightly unreasonable, and do not put off enjoying the life you are working so hard to build.
Photos by Charisma at a Brew & You Headshots.
To recommend a family to be featured, please email Delia at ballantyne@strollmag.com.
This story appears in the September 2026 issue of Stroll Ballantyne Country Club. Read the full edition here.