Why The Hell Am I Here?

The topic of today's episode comes hot off the heels of CityLab Detroit, where our host Brittany Schock attended a conference session called "Are Female Leaders Different? Perspectives on Female Leadership." Feeling inspired, she brought the conversation back to Mansfield with a roundtable discussion featuring Richland County Commissioner Marilyn John, founder and executive director of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative Deanna West-Torrence, and president and CEO of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce and Richland Community Development Group Jodie Perry. We tackle topics including the "year of the woman," the #MeToo movement, and whether gender should matter when considering a prominent person in power. 

Thomas Palmer has quite the range of hobbies, talents and vocations. For example, right now he serves as the law director for the city of Galion, the owner/publisher of a local media conglomerate, and a church organist. That’s not even counting the two years he spent living in Paris, France with the Mormon faith, or his time he spent in the best damn band in the land. We’ve been Twitter friends for a while now, but I really enjoyed getting to know Thomas in the real world. 

Councilman Don Bryant went from briefly living in his car in college, to interning with Senator Sherrod Brown in Washington, D.C. to serving as a principal at his alma mater Mansfield Senior High School, to now serving as a city councilman for his hometown. Today's episode follows this winding journey and explores why public service is important to Don.  Oh, also, don't forget to vote on November 6. 

There may be some listeners out there who are disappointed that this is a podcast and not a video interview, because today's episode is with Mike Tyler, one half of the act "The Naked Magicians." The Australian native and his co-magician Christopher Wayne are coming to the Renaissance Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 17 to premiere their R-rated magic show in Mansfield. For more information about their act visit www.nakedmagicians.com and for tickets to the show visit www.mansfieldtickets.com. And if you're wondering, yes: they actually do get naked. 

Before starting his career in real estate, Jerry Holden had quite the successful baseball career. In fact, he was on his way to playing in the major leagues before an unfortunate injury sidelined him for good. Now, not only does he get to relive the sport through his kids, but also through his business The Holden Agency. America's pastime taught him lessons in teamwork and perseverance that will last him a lifetime. 

If you don't feel the need to go see the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra's next concert, then this podcast will have failed you. Music director and conductor Octavio Más-Arocas takes us through a musical journey today of how he found his calling as a conductor growing up in Spain, to his favorite part of a Symphony concert here in Mansfield.

Big changes are happening at DRM Productions Inc. in Mansfield, Ohio, and who better to talk about it than the two men at the center of it all? Jon Pierce is set to take over as president of DRM, filling Dave Damron's shoes when he retires at the end of the year...er, I mean, "goes part time." Jon started at DRM as an intern, and Dave finds himself a bit anxious about entering this next phase of life. And it turns out, this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

One day not too far from now, I'm going to be proud to say that taekwondo Olympian Natalie Hershberger was once on the WTHAIH podcast. Natalie and her father Chris are the first father-daughter duo we've had on the podcast, and we talk about how martial arts saved Chris's life, how Natalie knew at a very young age that she wanted to go to the Olympics someday, and the sacrifices one makes in order to train to be at the highest level of their sport. These two are a force to be reckoned with. 

By his own admission, Bill Freytag's career has not been a straight line. He started out in computer technology, took a quick side step to own my favorite bar in Shelby for a while, and then dove into politics with absolutely no political experience, but that’s where he’s ending his working life at the Richland County Board of Elections with less than a year left to go. And he's had an exciting run in politics, from serving on Shelby City Council to transporting political speakers at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016. The whole mission behind "Why The Hell Am I Here?" is taking a moment to look back on your life and realize how you got where you are, so what better time to do that than at the end of your career? Take a listen, and join me in wishing Bill a happy retirement.

Jessica Gribben has done some pretty awesome things right here in her hometown, from being an instrumental part of starting Richland Young Professionals to becoming a branch manager at Richland Bank to sitting on the board of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce. You might notice everything she has her hand in has something to do with business (for the suits) and economic development. Tune in to find out why that's exactly the right fit for her. 

Many people reach a point in their lives when they have an intense desire to leave a place - whether it be a hometown, a place they moved for a job, or a place that just gets old for them. Jodie Perry has definitely experienced this sensation, bouncing around all over the east coast before coming here to be the president of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce. But looking back, it turns out she's always been in the right place at the right time. 

Today we get to see a different side of Richland Bank's president Chris Hiner - rock enthusiast, former football champ and fan of local music (just don't call him Big Papa). We also take a bit of a dive into the life of a banker, and how it's a lot more people-centric than one might thing. 

The past few years have brought about some big changes for Tony Vero - a new baby girl, and a new job as a Richland County Commissioner. As a textbook extrovert, Tony always knew he wanted to be in public service someday. However, he didn't expect to enter politics in a climate where online insults are common practice and public trust in government officials is at an all-time low. Our conversation navigates the differences between the public and private sector and how elected officials are expected to handle the more volatile parts of their job. 

Mark Sebastian Jordan is sure that the universe has a plan for him, and definitely sure that the plan involves some type of creativity. Being a creative soul himself, it's difficult to not be involved in some kind of reading, writing, theatre or music piece - in fact, it keeps him up at night if he doesn't have some sort of outlet for the thoughts in his head. Not everyone has that kind of certainty about their purpose in life, and lucky for us, Mark enjoys helping others find the creativity within themselves and appreciate the various types of art that surrounds us at any moment. 

Continuing our trend of chatting with new reporters at our sister publications, this week we talk with Courtney McNaull of Ashland Source about settling into Ashland reporting and how journalism wasn't her first career pick out of high school. We also delve into some of the trials of being reporters and being subjected to negative news on a regular basis, and how being locally-focused journalists makes it a bit easier to recover mentally from following a tragedy. 

Journalists are supposed to be skeptical about everything, but I have no doubt that adding Grant Pepper to the Richland Source team was absolutely the right move. Grant is the new reporter for Knox Pages, and a fellow Dayton native like myself. In today's episode we touch on his transition from Ohio Northern University to Mount Vernon, and the potential for solutions journalism within the industry. 

It's always fascinating to me to think about where you started along your journey of life, where you thought you were going to end up, and where you actually are today. Ten years ago, Colleen Cook never would've predicted she would end up in the marketing world. But the beautiful thing about Colleen is, she's not afraid to go where the universe seems to be telling her to go - despite meeting a few closed doors along the way. But if there's one person who's qualified to help find your true voice in life, it's the vocal pedagogy major (I bet you don't even know what the word "pedagogy" means...I certainly didn't before this episode). 

What the world needs now is love sweet love, so what better way to kick off season 2 of #WTHAIH with a love story? Two of my very good friends, Cody Albert and Felicia Kreinbrink, of Shelby, Ohio are getting married in May 2019. In this episode, we talk about how they went from being friends to "fake dating" to a surprise engagement, but also why they're choosing to put down roots in their hometown. 

I honestly don't think I have laughed harder during a podcast interview than I have with Michael Thomas. It's amazing we actually got through this interview. But peppered among funny stories about farting on stage and being friends with Tina Fey, Michael has some poignant advice about being in the world of theater and finding your Eden wherever you are.  Click here to learn more about the Renaissance Theatre. 

In the 80s and 90s, Kathy Goodwin was keeping the company of music stars and moving to brand-new states completely on a whim. Now as a mother of two in Mansfield, she is a fierce advocate for the future of her hometown - and she believes it lies in the hands of the younger generations.  Click here to learn more about Element of Art Studio. 

At age 17, Traci Willis lost her brother to a heroin overdose - a tragedy that perhaps informed her future as an advocate for addicts and their families, though certainly didn't define it. But she's taken life's lemons and used them to become a light for others in the dark.  Click here for more information about Family Life Counseling.  Click here for more information about International Overdose Awareness Day.  Click here for more information about Richland Young Professionals (it's the least we could do). 

When he was 11 years old, Collier Landry's father murdered his mother. When he was 12 years old, Collier testified in court, helping to convict and sentence his father to 20-years-to-life for the crime. Now almost three decades later, Collier returns to his hometown - and the home where it happened - for the Cleveland premiere of a documentary about his experience. Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.  Click here for more information about "A Murder in Mansfield."  Click here for more information about the Cleveland International Film Festival.  Click here to follow Collier Landry on Twitter.

On March 8, Mansfield sent 15 people of all backgrounds to South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that takes place in Austin, Texas. Their goal was to absorb as much information as humanly possible and eventually formulate a plan to better the city of Mansfield. Upon their return, we asked them three questions: What's one thing you learned at SXSW that could be a short-term goal for Mansfield (7:04), what's one thing you learned that could be a long-term goal (25:01), and what did you personally take away from the experience (44:58)?  Click here to read the blogs from the SXSW team.  Here are all the members of the SXSW team, in the order you'll hear them speak:  Jay Allred  Allie Watson  Aurelio Diaz  Benjamin Davis  Bob Bianchi  Cameron Haring  Chelsie Thompson  Damien Beauford  Jennifer Kime Jodie Perry  Jotika Shetty  Leona Smith Matthew Stanfield  Nikki Lewis  Maura Teynor

Llalan Fowler, commonly known as "the bookstore lady," has a life that revolves around storytelling. She curates stories for a living, she's actively trying to change the story of her hometown, and she's learning every day from the story of her life thus far.  Click here for more information about Main Street Books.  Click here to read Voices from the Borderland. 

This episode title pays homage to the Netherlands - the homeland of Edward Akinyemi - by asking "Why the hell am I here?" in Dutch. Yes, there are obvious differences between living and traveling across Europe versus a Midwestern town, as Edward is often asked. But, he says, it's important to remember "we're all just human beings, just like any other place."  Click here to learn more about Edward's job with the North End Community Improvement Collaborative. 

This special episode of WTHAIH is due to the limited schedule of Bradley Cronenwett, who is only in Mansfield for a short period of time in-between touring with productions of Cirque du Soleil. These days he's traveling the world as the assistant head of lighting with Cirque, but he got his start pulling the curtain for a production at Shelby High School.  Click here for tickets to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Renaissance Theatre.  Click here to learn more about Cirque du Soleil.  Click here to learn more about New Year's Eve traditions in Brazil (yes, I looked up wave jumping). 

Nicholas Copley is all about holistic health - bringing together a well-nourished body with an emotionally intelligent mind. As the self-described "Leslie Knope of Mansfield," he hopes to bring his homegrown methods to his hometown.  Click here to watch the Foraged Feasts series.  Click here to watch Brittany eat a chocolate-covered cicada.  Click here to learn more about Lionheart Medicinal Gardens. 

First, she fell in love with a man. Then, she fell in love with the town. Now, Jessica Hiser is teaching others to love the place she calls home. Click here to learn more about Spherion. 

Damien Beauford knows the meaning of hard time - both inside and outside of prison. But driven by a personal prophecy and the love of his family, he's striving to tell his story as a way to serve others...and to create his own happy ending.  Click here to learn more about The Ridge Project.  Click here to learn about Storyside Church.  Click here to visit Damien at Barberz Inc. in Mansfield. 

Local artist Orie Rush connects the dots on his journey from Mansfield to Chicago and back to Mansfield, and not taking anything for granted.

In this episode we bid a bittersweet farewell to Jasmine Evans, formerly of Richland Source, as she heads on a missions trip to the Himalayas - something she's felt called to do for quite some time. Click here to follow along with Jasmine's journey on her blog. 

From Arizona to California to Ohio, Nikki Lewis discusses the twists and turns life takes to bring you where you are today. Click here for more information about Nikki's job at the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Meet Jake Penwell, a native of Shelby, Ohio and fully-involved community member with an unusual occupation and a fascinating perspective. Click here more information about Jake & Turner Funeral Home. 

Meet your host Brittany Schock as she discusses the mission behind the "Why The Hell Am I Here?" podcast and her own journey to get where she is today.