Who is the River Queen?: The story of our woman-owned business
Have you ever had the feeling you’re meant to be doing something different but can’t quite figure out what that is?
Annie Klaver is a self-made woman
Klaver, originally from Wisconsin, started waitressing at 15 and worked her way through college, then taught English to French schoolchildren outside Paris, ran tri-continental logistics in the Netherlands for an American company acquired by IBM, helped scale up a digital marketing company on Music Row acquired by Ticketmaster, and was the top salesperson at a video production company acquired by AOL. The pull to create her own company had been with Annie for years but the right idea hadn’t come. She worked her way up in corporate positions domestically and internationally for fifteen years until she was so over the rat race that no amount of money could keep her working for someone else. Although afraid, she quit in 2014 without a plan.
Annie was burnt out, feeling out of sync with her body and spiritually broken. For the next six months, only a rental property and Airbnb-ing her primary residence helped bridge the income gap.
Just two things were allowed on her normally overwhelming daily to do list:
1. Don’t drink
2. Exercise
That was it.
Some years before quitting the corporate world, Annie began exploring more of the natural beauty of Nashville with the help of her beloved friend group affectionately known as the Rivergang and bought a house on the Cumberland River a bit north of town. She took her kayak from her backyard upriver to Peeler Park, downriver to Riverfront Park, and everywhere in between, eventually finding the mental, emotional, and spiritual fulfillment she sought through the healing power of nature. She found herself wanting to share this natural beauty with others who might also be in need of this type of connection. The passionate idea she had been looking for was found and River Queen Voyages was born.
In 2015, Annie procured a permit from Metro Parks, bought a trailer and a load of kayaks from another outfitter on the Red River in Clarksville, and found an old church van on Craigslist all while running a successful IndieGogo campaign to fund it all. Being 5’2” and the only employee, when people wanted to go kayaking they had to help unload and load the trailer with her – and were more than happy to do it. She went from flying back and forth to New York City, running from meeting to meeting in high heels, to living in a van down by the river in water shoes. She’d come home happy but dirty, sweaty, sunburned… every time reminding herself: people need this connection to nature, this is going to work. Every year, she reinvested profits back into the company and along the way garnered praise from the Nashville Scene which calls RQV, “The Best View of the City.”
2018 brought a need for another form of recreation on the river. She set about researching boats and landed on a Pedal Pontoon: a pontoon boat with cycle stations powering a large paddle wheel at the back of the boat. Permitting and the pandemic delayed the arrival of the Pedal Pontoon until spring 2021. However, with this new addition to the fleet, RQV hopes to expand the recreational use of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. A partnership with Adventureworks in 2019 brought a unique River Scavenger Hunt to the RQV product suite for groups and teambuilding alike.
Eventually, the RQV team plans to franchise across America, bringing our sexy mermaid logo and good vibes to everyone who, like Annie back in 2014, might need a reminder that there’s nothing more potent than the healing power of nature.