Podcasts about Kmart

Police in Victoria say they won't rest until they apprehend a fugitive on the run; A 12 year old girl who lost her life a school bus crash in Victoria is being remembered as a talented basketballer with an infectious personality; Olympic champion Jessica Fox has undergone surgery to remove a tumour from her kidney; Kmart owner Wesfarmers has reported a 14 per cent increase in net profit; and former tennis star Anna Kournikova is reportedly expecting her fourth baby at age 44. The Quicky is the easiest and most enjoyable way to get across the news every day. And it’s delivered straight to your ears in a daily podcast so you can listen whenever you want, wherever you want...at the gym, on the train, in the playground or at night while you're making dinner. Support independent women's media CREDITS Host/Producer: Sasha Tannock Audio Production: Lu Hill Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wesfarmers, the owners of Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks, will pay a special dividend to shareholders after a jump in profits today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday 29 August 2025 Qantas is back and flying high with a bumper profit. And more, including: The federal government axes 500 nuisance tariffs. Australia’s love affair with Bunnings and Kmart helps boost Wesfarmers. ChatGPT maker OpenAI is setting up shop in Australia. And the unfortunate way staff at ANZ found out they were losing their jobs. Join our free daily newsletter here. And don’t miss the latest episode of How Do They Afford That? - this week, saving on an irregular income. Get the episode from APPLE, SPOTIFY, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday 29 August 2025 The top five business stories in five minutes, with Sean Aylmer and Michael Thompson. Qantas’s bumper profit Bunnings, Kmart deliver for Wesfarmers Govt axes tariffs ANZ’s redundancy mix-up OpenAI to set up Aussie office Join our free daily newsletter here! And don’t miss the latest episode of How Do They Afford That? - this week, saving on an irregular income. Get the episode from APPLE, SPOTIFY, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.Support the show: http://fearandgreed.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Church Planting Podcast, host Greg Nettle welcomes Mark DeYmaz, founding pastor of Mosaic Church in Little Rock and a leading voice in the multiethnic church movement. Mark pulls back the curtain on how his church is thriving through missional vitality and church economics—generating revenue, leveraging real estate, serving the poor, and reaching their community with tangible expressions of the Gospel. Topics include: The three-legged church model (spiritual, social, financial). How Mosaic transformed a Kmart into a 100,000 sq. ft. center of ministry and enterprise. Why your church needs a nonprofit arm to access grants (including $80B in opioid funds available through 2038). The importance of long obedience in the same direction. Real stories of hope—including a homeless community preaching courage back to Mark. Helpful resources: Mosaix Network — conferences, coaching, and content Mark's books on Amazon Midtown Event Center – Mosaic's multi-use space This is a masterclass in leadership, sustainability, and Gospel innovation. A must-listen for every church leader looking to thrive in the 21st century. 01:00 - Mark's upcoming book on the Prayer of St. Francis 02:45 - Overview of Mosaic Church's mission and context 04:00 - Economic challenges of inner-city churches 06:00 - Transforming a former Kmart into a ministry hub 08:00 - “That is the church” — redefining what church looks like 09:00 - How to get started: shifting your mindset 10:00 - The 3-legged church model: spiritual, social, financial 12:00 - Creating a nonprofit to apply for grants 14:00 - Rethinking biblical stewardship 15:30 - Grants, real estate, and income strategies 17:00 - Opioid nexus grant: $80B available through 2038 18:30 - Mosaix Network and national conference 20:00 - Why it's the premier multiethnic church conference 21:00 - What excites Mark most about the future of church 22:00 - Matthew 5:16 and the power of visible good works 23:30 - Why sustainability takes 7–10 years (or more) 24:30 - Faith and tears: a homeless community encourages Mark 26:30 - Final thoughts and encouragement for church planters

Overnight, the S&P500 advanced at the same magnitude as it slipped the day before. Industrials led among large cap segments, gaining momentum while at the other end of the leaderboard, staples declined the most. All US equity benchmarks closed in the green, with the Dow Jones also gaining more than 140 points or 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 0.2%. US investors weighed the latest quarterly earnings results from Nvidia. In extended trading, Nvidia's share price fell almost 3%, despite its results beating expectations, which has seen the S&P futures move lower as the company makes up approximately 8% of the S&P500. And as we near the end of the month, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are each up more than 2%, while Dow is up more than 3% this month. European markets closed mixed overnight. The German DAX down 0.44% and the FTSE100 down 0.11%. While France's CAC was up 0.44% and the STOXX600 closed just 0.1% higher. Locally yesterday, the ASX200 advanced 0.28% with materials and healthcare stocks in the lead, while consumer staples and technology declined the most.  What to watch today: Following the rally on Wall Street overnight, the SPI futures are suggesting that our local market will open only slightly higher this morning, with a 0.03% gain. And while we're nearing the end of reporting season, a long list of companies are due to release their earnings results today. The most watched will likely be Qantas today (ASX:QAN) with the major airline set the release its results this morning and gold a press conference at 9am. Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) will also be reporting today, the conglomerate that owns Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and others. And other share prices to watch will be Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE), Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC), Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC), and Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) just to name a few. And companies going ex-dividend today include Beach Energy (ASX:BPT), Deterra Royalties (ASX:DRR), REA Group (ASX:REA) and Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS). Remember this often sees share prices fall as investors take their profits. In commodities, Crude oil has gained 0.78% to US$63.74 per barrel recovering from a more than 2% drop, after US government data pointed to stronger-than-expected inventory declines. Crude stockpiles fell by 2.39 million barrels to 418.3 million, more than markets had anticipated. So watch energy producers today. The price of gold is higher just 0.08% to US$3,396.35 an ounce, hovering at a two-week high amid concerns over the Fed's independence as President Trump signalled a legal fight after seeking to remove Governor Lisa Cook over alleged misconduct.And iron ore is in the green higher at US$101.59, so watch iron ore miners today. Trading ideas:Following the release of Woolworth's (ASX:WOW) results yesterday, Bell Potter maintain their Hold rating on the supermarket giant but have lowered their price target to $29.80, as the company reported NPAT outlook changes, down 2% in FY26 and down 8% in FY27. At the current share price of $28.51, this implies 4.5% share price growth in a year. And Bell Potter maintains their buy rating on WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), although FY25 revenue came in below Bell Potter's expectations and missed their guidance range. They have lowered their price target by 6% to $127.50. At WTC's current share price of $102.02, this implies 25% share price growth in a year. 

Earlier this month an Australian-based Uyghur group launched legal action against Kmart in the federal court. The case has put the retailer's supply chain under scrutiny for potential links to forced labour in China's Xinjiang province. Nour Haydar speaks with senior reporter Ben Doherty about the legal action against Kmart and the warnings that Australia could become a dumping ground for products linked to forced labour

Today's episode is for the scrappy, heart-on-fire entrepreneur who knows there's treasure hidden in places no one else dares to look. You see, I grew up learning to spot potential where most saw "junk." From yard sales with my dad to watching my mom transform discarded plants into a blooming garden, I learned that value isn't about what something looks like—it's what you make of it.And guess what? That's the SAME mindset I use to build my business.In this solo episode, I take you on a trip down memory lane—back to Kmart garden centers, tiny motorhomes, and our thousand-square-foot family home—to share the unexpected ways my childhood shaped how I show up as a CEO. I talk about what it means to “sift through the dirt” and why being willing to do what others won't is the ultimate business edge.We cover:The unexpected connection between thrifting and scalingWhy you need to embrace imperfect, slow growthMy 3-part content plan that gets me results (and it's NOT glamorous!)How to treat your “weeds” like potential bloomsThis episode isn't just about nostalgia—it's about real business strategy rooted in grit, consistency, and seeing what others overlook. So whether you're bootstrapping or bossing up, know this: the gold is in the dirt... you just have to be willing to dig.Click play to hear all of this and:[00:00] Why You Must See Opportunity Where Others Don't [02:52] The Dirt Kmart Tried to Throw Away [05:39] The Business Lesson in Cultivating What Others Discard [08:12] Why Posting Daily is ‘Digging in the Dirt' [10:47] The Secret to Standing Out? Doing What Others Won't

Acknowledgement of Country//Headlines//Footscray Safety Forum// CW: Police violenceWe heard a statement from three trans queer disabled people with a lived experience of homelessness in response to the footscray safety forum held last week on Thursday. Learn more by visiting crisis housing reform and footscray hospo on instagram.// Tiaki Teremoana - Stranger, Brother// Tiaka Teremoana spoke to Inez about starring in the moving and tender short film, Stranger, Brother. Currently premiering at MIFF, the 2025 short film drama showcases millennial manchild Adam who leads a self-absorbed life of partying and casual hookups – until his little half-brother is dropped at his doorstep. In our interview, we discuss trust exercise the director made them play, what it means to find community amongst the avoidance, and find a way back to yourself, and how Tiaki landed the role! // Freya Dinshaw - Human Rights Law Centre// CW: Modern slaveryWe spoke to Freya Dinshaw, the Associate Legal Director for Human Rights Law Centre following a report released by the UN Special Rapporteur for Contemporary Forms of Slavery published last week. Human Rights Law Centre has amplified longstanding calls on the Australian Government to take action on inadequate anti-slavery laws and increase safeguards for migrant workers. The report from the Special Rapporteur outlined previously known supply chain concerns flagged by the The Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association in their case brought against Kmart this month, read more about this here // Jacinta Masters - Fair Agenda//CW: Sexual Assault, and Court System Violence. For support you can call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 - 24 hour, 7 days a week. Jacinta Masters from Fair Agenda spoke to us about the campaign to allow sexual assault survivors to pre-record their testimony for trials. Pre-recorded testimony is already an option in QLD and NT and right now there's growing momentum for the standing council of attorneys-general to make this law across all states and territories, supporting survivor agency and reducing the trauma of testifying again and again in open court. To sign the petition and support the campaign, click here.// Maiy Azize - Everybody's Home// Lastly, we were joined by Maiy Azize, the National Spokesperson from Everybody's Home - a campaign to fix Australia's housing crisis made up of 500 housing, homeless and welfare organisations. On August 18, prior to the kickoff of the Albanese Government's Economic Reform Round Table, housing sector advocates, economists, and union leaders submitted an open letter urging for an end to unfair tax concessions. Maiy Azize helped us understand the social consequences of tax cuts for the rich and what needs to change.// Song:Thinking About You - Desert Mulga

Australska udruga Ujgurki "Tangritagh" pokrenula je pravni postupak protiv maloprodajnog lanca Kmart, tražeći da dostavi dokumente koji dokazuju da svjesno ne nabavlja proizvode iz tvornica povezanih s prisilnim radom. Kmart odbacuje optužbe i tvrdi da njihov Program etičkog nabavljanja radi na smanjenju rizika od prisilnog rada, no udruga ističe da dokumenti moraju biti predočeni kako bi se to potvrdilo.

The New Orleans rock band Zebra has always existed out of time. Despite having one of the fastest selling debuts in Atlantic Records' history, Zebra never really fit in with the glammed up ‘80s metal bands they were being lumped in with on the pages and airwaves of Hit Parader and MTV. But that apparent inability to fit in may be exactly what endeared them to hordes of avid listeners who would wear out their bare bones cassette of ZEBRA and eventually go to Kmart and stealthily rip open a vinyl copy of the record to steal the lyric sheet so he could figure out what Randy Jackson was singing. Okay. We may be talking about Scott here. ANYWAY — this week we're thrilled to welcome Mr. Jackson to the podcast to talk about the 50th anniversary of Zebra, recording with Jack Douglas, being a rock band in New Orleans, being a rock band in Long Island, befriending Twisted Sister, touring with Cheap Trick, seeing The Beatles live, being forced to talk about Bon Jovi, and the lyrical prowess of the Moody Blues. And more black beans.

Аустралијско удружење жена Ујгур Танг ри таг (Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association) покренуло je правни поступак како би приморало трговачког гиганта Kmart да достави документа која показују да свесно не набавља производе из фабрика за које се сматра да су повезане са искоришћавањем људи за присилни рад.

Ehhh kia ora e te homies! Here's what you missed on the show today: Fame is salty that people are leaving Nickson reckons Kmart queue is the worst, do you reckon? Where is the worst place you have broken down? The things we wanted to be growing up vs what we are now Eds tells Fame why he is HELLA zesty Tegs tippies on how to get ya steps in How did you get out of school? Shot for listening, From Eds (or Eric) xoxo

Australian Uyghur Women's Association නම්වූ සංවිධානය විසින් Kmart සමාගමට එරෙහිව නීතිමය පියවර ගැනීමට සැරසෙනවා. Kmart ආයතනය චීනයේ බලහත්කාරයෙන් සේවක ශ්‍රමය ගන්නා සේවකයින් අතින් නිමවෙන භාණ්ඩ ආනයනයට කටයුතු කරන බවට මෙහිදී චෝදනා එල්ල වනවා. කෙසේ වුවත් තමන් සදාචාරාත්මකව සම්මත ක්‍රමවේදයන්ට අනුකූලව කටයුතු කරන කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවලින් භාණ්ඩ ආනයනය සඳහා කටයුතු කරන බව Kmart සමාගම ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටිනවා. මේ පිලිබඳ වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු අද කාලීන විග්‍රහයෙන්

Hiệp hội Phụ nữ Duy Ngô Nhĩ tại Úc vừa khởi kiện Kmart, yêu cầu tập đoàn bán lẻ này phải cung cấp tài liệu chứng minh họ không cố tình nhập hàng từ các nhà máy có liên quan đến lao động cưỡng bức. Tuy nhiên Kmart đã phủ nhận điều này.

Avustralya Uygur Tangritagh Kadınlar Derneği, ülkenin en büyük perakendecisini insanların zorla çalıştırıldıkları fabrikalardan bilerek ürün tedarik ettiği halde, etmemiş gibi göstermek üzere belge oluşturmakla suçluyor!

انجمن زنان اویغور آسترالیا علیه فروشگاه بزرگ Kmart اقامه دعوا کرده است تا این شرکت را وادار سازد اسناد و مدارکی را ارائه کند که نشان دهد آگاهانه محصولات را از کارخانه‌های با پیوند به کار اجباری تهیه نکرده است. Kmart این ادعا را رد می‌کند و می‌گوید که برنامه "تأمین اخلاقی" این شرکت برای کاهش خطرات کار اجباری طراحی شده است. اما گروه اویغور می‌گوید این شرکت باید اسناد لازم را برای اثبات این ادعا ارائه کند.

The Australian Uyghur Women's Association has launched legal action to compel major retailer Kmart to produce documents showing it is not knowingly sourcing products from factories with links to forced labour. While Kmart denies the allegations and says their Ethical Sourcing Program works to mitigate risks of forced labour, but the group says they must produce the documents to prove it.

The Australian Uyghur Women's Association has launched legal action to compel major retailer Kmart to produce documents showing it is not knowingly sourcing products from factories with links to forced labour. Kmart denies this and says their Ethical Sourcing Program works to mitigate risks of forced labour, but the group says they must produce the documents to prove it.

Kmart defends its ethical sourcing program as forced labour allegations resurface, NSW government shuts down debate on charging protesters for police presence. Plus, Anthony Albanese pushes for more migration despite growing backlash.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wednesday Headlines: OceanGate Titan sub disaster was a 'preventable tragedy', DOJ orders investigation into Obama administrations Russian political interference probe, The Great Barrier Reef has recorded the largest mass bleaching event on record, Kmart denies sourcing products from factories linked to forced labour, and a Danish zoo is asking for unwanted animals to feed its predators. Deep Dive: ‘Go woke go broke’ is no longer true according to new research that found companies can embrace progressive values and pursue profit at the same time. The study examines campaigns like Gillette's take on “toxic masculinity” and Nike’s ad featuring Colin Kapernick, analysing the intersection of political agendas and what happens when brands tackle social issues, like racism, inclusion and diversity. In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by Dr Peter Underwood from Auckland Law School to unpack what woke capitalism is and how companies can find a middle ground in the market. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @thebriefingpodInstagram: @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @LiSTNRnewsroom Facebook: @LiSTNR NewsroomSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social interactions. National holidays and celebrity birthdays. Turbulence. Kmart. Most cherished life moments. Plus local news and sports.

A win for Kmart workers, whose union says it's secured an industry-leading deal. Worker First Union says it's ratified a two-year pay deal matching the minimum living wage - and rising alongside its increase next year. Deputy Secretary of Retail at Workers First Union, Rudd Hughes, says this deal is a 'gold standard' for retail workers - and he hopes other retailers can follow suit. "It's not that they can't afford not to do it, we've asked for the details of their finances and they've refused to give them to us. The Norman family themselves, since 2017, have gone from $500 million net worth to over $1 billion. The workers certainly haven't had that kind of increase in their wages." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hold on to your ba-ZOOM-bas, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for Part 5 of The Collectors, a limited series in which The Horror Avengers reveal their deepest, darkest secret love affairs with their various collections — especially their personal movie collections! In this fifth installment, Count Mackula interviews The Southern Gentleman, GregaMortis — the Head “Creepture” of Land of the Creeps. In an intimate and wide-ranging interview, Mackula chats with GregaMortis to journey through the decades of his collecting passion, starting with his childhood days of toyline preferences and fondly remembered visits to the legendary Kmart in Elkins, West Virginia. Greg shares stories of his earliest collecting obsessions, providing a glimpse into the roots of a lifelong pursuit that would be both challenged and reborn. Listeners will hear the dramatic and heartfelt account of Greg's personal “Burning” — a pivotal event in the mid-1990s when, under pressure from his former religious community, he was compelled to destroy much of his cherished media collection. But like any great collector with a resilient spirit, GregaMortis rose from those ashes, beginning around 2001, to rebuild a vault of cinema and memorabilia that now spans VHS tapes, laser discs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and modern 4Ks! Victory! GregaMortis has been keeping Horror alive ever since! You also get to hear about Greg's enthusiasm for collecting vintage TV Guides from the 1970s and '80s. He explains his philosophy on upgrading films across evolving formats — and what he gains (or loses) in the process. And of course, no collection is without its tragedies. Greg recounts “The Great Fall” — the unfortunate toppling of his homemade movie shelves. Episode 151 offers more than just a peek into a movie-lover's media treasures; it's a tribute to the emotional ties we form with the things we love, the resilience it takes to reclaim joy, and the communal bond that collectors like Greg and Mack share across generations with listeners like you! Don't miss this badass edition of “The Collectors Series” with the unforgettable GregaMortis! Listen, you'll love it! Also, in case you missed them, here are the first three installments of this series: Ep. 088: The Collectors – Part 1 and Ep. 094: The Collectors – Part 2 and Ep. 098: The Collectors – Part 3 and Ep. 102: The Collectors – Part 4. Make sure you're subscribed because there are more installments to come where Mackula interviews the rest of the Horror Avengers! Join us! Be sure to subscribe to Jay of the Dead's new Horror movie podcast on: Apple PodcastsSpotifyDeezer   You are welcome to email our show at HauntingYourHeadphones@gmail.com, or call and leave us a voicemail at (801) 980-1375. You can also follow Jay of the Dead'sNew Horror Movies on X: @HorrorAvengers Jay of the Dead'sNew Horror Movies is an audio podcast. Our nine experienced Horror hosts review new Horror movies and deliver specialty Horror segments. Your hosts are Jay of the Dead, Dr. Shock, Gillman Joel, Mister Watson, Dr. Walking Dead, GregaMortis, Mackula, Ron Martin and Dave Zee! Due to the large number and busy schedule of its nine Horror hosts, Jay of the Dead'sNew Horror Movies will be recorded in segments, piecemeal, at various times and recording sessions. Therefore, as you listen to our episodes, you will notice a variety of revolving door hosts and segments, all sewn together and reanimated like the powerful Monster of Dr. Frankenstein!

It's tax return season, which means "free money" for beauty products (even though it's definitely not free, but we're choosing to ignore that). This week, Kelly and Leigh are tackling your burning beauty questions while simultaneously questioning whether audits are worth celebrating with Mecca bronzer... they absolutely are! We're diving into the great fragrance debate – should Cassidy ditch her signature scent just because her friends think it's too heavy for summer barbecues? Plus, Jane's turning 40 and wondering if she needs to completely overhaul her makeup routine. Don't miss Leigh's crazy find... stick-on toenails from Kmart and Kelly's hack for side sleepers who want heatless curls without the discomfort. LINKS TO EVERYTHING MENTIONED: SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer $9.07 Rare Beauty Positive Light Under Eye Brightener $45 Revolution Beauty Conceal & Hydrate Concealer $12 Kmart Stick-On Toenails $5 Heatless Curl Tubes $2 FOR MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: Watch & Subscribe on Youtube here Follow us on Instagram: @youbeautypodcast Follow us on TikTok: @youbeautypod Join our You Beauty Facebook Group here For our product recommendations, exclusive beauty news, reviews, articles, deals and much more - sign up for our free You Beauty weekly newsletter here Subscribe to Mamamia here GET IN TOUCH: Got a beauty question you want answered? Email us at youbeauty@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP. You Beauty is a podcast by Mamamia. Listen to more Mamamia podcasts here. CREDITS: Hosts: Leigh Campbell & Kelly McCarren Producer: Mollie Harwood & Sophie Campbell Audio Producer: Tina Matolov Video Producer: Marlena Cacciotti Mamamia's studios are furnished with thanks to Fenton & Fenton. For more head to their website here. Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amye sits down with memoirist Karie Fugett, author of Alive Day. Karie Fugett is living out of her car in a Kmart parking lot when her boyfriend Cleve suggests “Maybe we could get married or somethin'.” Karie says yes out of love, but also out of convenience. As a twenty-year-old high school dropout who ran away from her family and recently lost her job, Karie has nowhere else to turn. Just months after they elope, Cleve's Marine unit is deployed to Iraq. Then Karie gets the news that Cleve's Humvee has been hit by an IED, and he's suffered severe injuries.“A searing, unflinchingly intimate memoir about one young couple caught up in the machinery of America's military system, learning to live and love through war and all that comes after.”You can buy Karie's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/666031/alive-day-by-karie-fugett/Follow Karie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kariewritesListen to my true crime podcast: Murder She Watched at www.murdershewatchedpod.comGet in touch with us:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/littlemissrecapFacebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/littlemissrecapInstagram: @littlemissrecap Voicemail: www.littlemissrecap.comEmail: amye@littlemissrecap.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

» Produced by Hack You Media: pioneering a new category of content at the intersection of health performance, entrepreneurship & cognitive optimisation.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hackyoumedia/Website: https://hackyou.media/Before Reebok became a global sportswear giant, it was just Joe Foster and a vision. One shaped in a small UK workshop and fuelled by persistence, not funding. In this episode, Joe breaks down the early days of building Reebok from the ground up: cold calls, missed opportunities, and the moment aerobics unexpectedly catapulted the brand into the mainstream.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:46 Turning 90, family history and surviving against the odds04:26 Brand building, luck and why fun matters most06:40 Why sports brands thrived through recessions09:27 The innovation that started with spiked running shoes11:48 Leaving the family business and starting from zero14:15 Launching Mercury Sports and the early branding struggle16:25 Losing the Mercury name and the birth of Reebok18:50 How a childhood dictionary led to the Reebok name22:23 The move from athletic spikes to casual sneakers26:55 Breaking into UK market through local clubs29:57 Club-level selling and dominating UK athletes31:56 Choosing white space over battling Adidas and Nike33:23 First trip to America and navigating early export failures37:47 The Runners World five-star rating breakthrough43:52 Choosing Paul Fireman over Kmart and scaling US reach49:28 Reebok's biggest challenge: the EVA foam failure52:15 Crisis with a UK distributor and surviving with direct sales56:05 The rise of aerobics and Reebok's pivot to women's fitness59:26 Becoming number one globally with an unexpected audience1:04:23 Expanding into tennis, basketball and new categories1:13:05 Going up against Nike, using celebrities, and staying innovative1:17:00 3D-printed AI shoes and what they reveal about new brand strategy1:24:03 Losing momentum, big changes and the need for reinvention1:31:53 Advice on building stories, visibility and modern branding1:37:29 UK vs Dubai: Entrepreneurial energy and global opportunity1:43:22 Final advice for founders» Escape the 9-5 & build your dream life: https://www.digitalplaybook.net/» Transform your physique: https://www.thrstapp.com/» My clothing brand, THRST: https://thrstofficial.com» Custom Bioniq supplements: https://www.bioniq.com/mikethurston  • 40% off your first month of Bioniq GO  • 20% off your first month of Bioniq PRO» Join our newsletter for actionable insights from every episode: https://thrst-letter.beehiiv.com/» Join @WHOOP and get your first month for free: join.whoop.com/FirstThingsThrst» Follow JoeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/founderrbk/?hl=enWebsite: https://www.reebokthefounder.com/

Craig Patterson and Tony Flanz, founder and CEO of Montreal-based brokerage Think Retail, discuss the 20-year journey of Think Retail, the Montreal-based brokerage firm founded by Flanz in 2005. Flanz shares the inspiration behind launching his business—a desire to provide a more personalized, white-glove service to clients—and reflects on his first client, Bizou, a relationship that blossomed into a deeply personal, multi-generational collaboration. His unwavering passion and client-first approach remain at the heart of Think Retail's success, which continues to grow through long-term partnerships and strategic leasing across Canada. They explore milestone moments, including the pivotal Fossil mandate, early deals like American Apparel at Yorkdale, and the emotional story of Flanz's philanthropic work with Autism Speaks. While building his firm, Flanz faced immense personal challenges—supporting a son diagnosed with autism and caring for a terminally ill wife—yet he continued to grow the business with resilience and optimism. He credits the brokerage as both a professional outlet and emotional anchor during these years. They also discuss how Think Retail is shaping the future of Canadian retail, from introducing international brands like Adopt, Kmart 24, and Morgan de Toi, to helping Crocs expand across Canada. Flanz emphasizes the enduring value of integrity, relationships, and local market insight in an industry increasingly shaped by online retail, entertainment-focused malls, and digital tools. Looking ahead, he sees vast opportunity for global brands in Canada, thanks to low market saturation, high-performing malls, and a strong national identity. Interviewed this episode:Tony Flanz, President at Think RetailThink RetailThis podcast is the audio version of the The Interview Series video podcasts by Retail Insider Canada are available through our Retail Insider YouTube Channel where you can subscribe and be notified when new video episodes are available. Subscribe, Rate, and Review our Retail Insider Podcast! Follow Craig:LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/CraigPattersonTorontoInstagram: @craig_patterson_torontoTwitter: @RI_EIC Follow Retail Insider:LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/Retail-InsiderFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/RetailInsider/Twitter: @RetailInsider_Instagram: @Retail_Insider_Canada Share your thoughts!Drop us a line at Craig@Retail-Insider.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!Background Music Credit: Hard Boiled Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In this fashion drop, Leigh Campbell quizzes Mamamia's head of content (and secret style genius) Eliza on how she nails that "did-she-just-step-off-a-Copenhagen-runway?" look. This former Vogue Scandinavia editor treats her morning wardrobe session like meditation to avoid all the chaos. Her style secrets? Scandinavian-inspired layering, tailoring of budget finds, and those game-changing bodysuits that work with everything from weekend shorts to boardroom suits. Forget trend-chasing as we find the perfect balance between high-end items and your go to Uniqlo or Kmart shirt. Mamamia studios are styled with furniture from Fenton and Fenton visit www.fentonandfenton.com.au EVERYTHING MENTIONED: Eliza's Budget: Kmart Long Sleeve Oxford Shirt in White Leigh's Budget: Billini Hazel Handle Bag Eliza's Boujee: Nagnata’s RYDELL SHORT 3.0 in Honeydew, Carla Denim Jean Leigh's Boujee: Motto Navy Faux Leather Pocket Pant Motto GET YOUR FASHION FIX: Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram Want to shop the pod? Sign up to the Nothing To Wear Newsletter to see all the products mentioned plus more, delivered straight to your inbox after every episode. Want more of this? Read this: 7 must-know Scandi brands to reboot your winter wardrobe. Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au CREDITS: Host: Leigh Campbell Guest: Eliza Sorman Nilsson Producer: Mollie Harwood Audio Producer: Lu Hill Video Producer: Marlena Cacciotti Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's show is the second in a mini-series on the changing face of business. On Friday's show we talked about how Google is keeping search traffic on the Google platform and is not sending organic search results to the source pages in the way it used to. Traffic to businesses is dramatically reduced. This will cause many businesses who relied largely upon organic search to either adapt to whatever will replace organic search, or they will face bankruptcy. This is also going to affect every aspect of retail. So much has been written about the retail apocalypse. There is no question that the footprint of traditional retail is changing. There is much less diversity in shopping experience today than when I was a teenager. In the US we had numerous department store chains including Bloomingdales, Macy's Sears, Kmart, Bergdorf Goodman, Filenes, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, JC Penny, Walmart Target Montgomery Ward, Ames, and countless others. Today, only a small fraction of those remain. We are all familiar with the e-commerce revolution and how Amazon and Walmart are increasingly dominating this space. Even major retailers including Home Depot and Best Buy have a larger online catalog with products that are only a couple of days away from your home. But the new revolution is in a form of shopping called social shopping. This has been in existence in China for more than 8 years and is still in experimental stages in the US on a limited basis with specific platforms. So what is social shopping?  It is a method of e-commerce that integrates the social aspects of human interaction into the online shopping experience. It leverages social media platforms and online communities to facilitate the discovery, research, sharing, and purchasing of products and services. Think influencers. Think buying events. -----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  

What does it really mean to “share your faith”? In the church I grew up in, it didn't mean storytelling or connection—it meant recruitment. Evangelism wasn't optional; it was expected, required, and tracked. In this episode of This Was Supposed to Be the Place, I unpack the intense pressure we felt to bring people to church, the shame tied to “not producing fruit,” and the way our relationships became tools for expansion. From Kmart training days to paintball invites to spiritual performance disguised as purpose, I trace how sharing faith got twisted into selling it. And then I share the moment it all flipped—sitting in a friend's truck, drinking a beer, having a real conversation with no script and no strings. It turns out, maybe that's what sharing your faith was supposed to look like all along. If this one hit close to home—if you ever felt like your worth was tied to how many people you “brought out,” or if you still carry that little voice saying, you didn't do enough—just know: you're not alone. And you're not crazy. Some of us were just kids trying to survive youth group politics and Kmart evangelism while pretending we were saving the world.  If you want to reach out in any way, you can do that at clemenzwithaz@gmail.com or DM me at the Clemenz With a Z instagram page.   As always, if you enjoy the podcast, please rate and review—it helps more people find these stories. And don't forget: I'm just a channel, I ain't the source. You can support the show by visiting clemenzwithaz.com, and grabbing something cool from the shop, subscribing to my Substack, or contributing to the GoFundMe here:  https://gofund.me/7ebb0524.  Every little bit helps keep this going, and I'm so grateful for it. Until next time, take care of yourself, stay grateful, and keep growing. Peace!

In this episode, I sit down with podcasting legend Jason Moore—host of the Zero to Travel podcast and one of the original voices inspiring adventure seekers across the globe.But this isn't just about crossing borders—it's about breaking the mold.From racing lawnmowers for charity in Kmart parking lots to living in Norway with his family, Jason shares the wild (and wildly honest) stories behind his travel philosophy—and why true transformation doesn't always require a passport.Together, we unpack the realities of long-term travel, how to build a business that aligns with your purpose, and what it means to live life on your own terms—even when that looks nothing like anyone else's.✨ Inside This Episode:Why your backyard might be your greatest adventure yetWhat 10 years as a nomad taught Jason about purpose, people, and pivotingThe surprising “pre-travel journey” no one talks aboutHow to use solo travel to become more self-aware and resilientThe trap of comparison (and how to travel without chasing someone else's dream)Real talk on burnout, podcasting longevity, and trusting the slow pathWhy intentional life design still needs room for magic and spontaneity

This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Joel Haashiim to discuss his vision for Detroit's future. This episode is the ninth in a series of interviews with candidates in the race to become Detroit's 76th mayor.Joel Haashiim believes that for radical change we must refocus our energy from fighting the old, to building the new. At 20 years old, he opened up his first store called brothers party store on 7mile and Hartwell. Afterwards, he opened two more stores. Later, he sold those stores and became a wholesaler and distributor. Throughout his career, he sold to chain stores like Kmart, Spartan, and Wynn Dixie.He has experienced and witnessed the many ups and downs Detroit has gone through. That's why he stepped up to the plate. He believes he understands what is needed for our city to come out of the mud and regain the crown we once had. For Joel, this is about us and making sure we Detroiters will have a say in the revitalization of our great city.To learn more about Joel Haashiim and his vision for Detroit, click here.Support the showFollow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

It's tax return season, which means "free money" for beauty products (even though it's definitely not free, but we're choosing to ignore that). This week, Kelly and Leigh are tackling your burning beauty questions while simultaneously questioning whether audits are worth celebrating with Mecca bronzer... they absolutely are! We're diving into the great fragrance debate – should Cassidy ditch her signature scent just because her friends think it's too heavy for summer barbecues? Plus, Jane's turning 40 and wondering if she needs to completely overhaul her makeup routine. Don't miss Leigh's crazy find... stick-on toenails from Kmart and Kelly's hack for side sleepers who want heatless curls without the discomfort. LINKS TO EVERYTHING MENTIONED: SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer $9.07 Rare Beauty Positive Light Under Eye Brightener $45 Revolution Beauty Conceal & Hydrate Concealer $12 Kmart Stick-On Toenails $5 Heatless Curl Tubes $2 FOR MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: Watch & Subscribe on Youtube here Follow us on Instagram: @youbeautypodcast Follow us on TikTok: @youbeautypod Join our You Beauty Facebook Group here For our product recommendations, exclusive beauty news, reviews, articles, deals and much more - sign up for our free You Beauty weekly newsletter here Subscribe to Mamamia here GET IN TOUCH: Got a beauty question you want answered? Email us at youbeauty@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP. You Beauty is a podcast by Mamamia. Listen to more Mamamia podcasts here. CREDITS: Hosts: Leigh Campbell & Kelly McCarren Producer: Mollie Harwood & Sophie Campbell Audio Producer: Tina Matolov Video Producer: Marlena Cacciotti Mamamia's studios are furnished with thanks to Fenton & Fenton. For more head to their website here. Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Live Show Tickets Here! Buckle in, Founding Freaks — it's an all-you-can-eat buffet of bizarre in this Inbox of Oddities episode! A 12-year-old safety patrol captain gets launched into an out-of-body experience so intense it features a white light, a mystery needle, and an Oprah-induced spiritual comeback. One listener's grandma may or may not have ripped open the fabric of spacetime in 1954 to snag a Paula Abdul cassette at Kmart. (Receipt allegedly included.) A mummy in Ohio is either haunted... or just sassy after hours. And a golden retriever develops a very strong opinion about Dutch naval portraiture. Plus: Doomsday clocks, boxing cat teeth, a shimmering rift to 1992, and an unexpected Jesus-themed roast.

Welcome to the Team Guru Podcast, where hosts Mary Walter and Brian Buford engage in insightful conversations about teamwork and leadership. In this episode, they are joined by Gordon Schmidt, an entrepreneur and recruiter at Quest Talent Solutions. Gordon shares his remarkable career journey, from starting in Kmart's fashion department to leading as a VP at Target, and eventually running his successful recruiting firm. Gordon offers practical insights from his vast experience in retail and recruitment, underscoring the importance of cultural fit and resilience in leadership roles. The discussion explores the nuances of career transitions, effective team development, and the evolving recruitment landscape in a remote-first world. Whether you're seeking to advance your leadership skills, understand the dynamics of career growth, or navigate the complexities of hiring and company culture, this episode provides invaluable guidance and inspiration.

Drat Vahder. The Spirit of K-Mart. I Don't Like Iceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! 1... 2... Krug is Coming for You. Antant. Draw Me with a Thicker Center Tentacle. Homophobia Zero. Hawk Milk. Keep An Eye on Your Tea Stain. Weird Meat Rollin'. House-Brand Sugar Drink. Business raccoon fleeing mule. The Podcast Boys! Banana ball coming to a city near you. Dan has gone away with Dan and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drat Vahder. The Spirit of K-Mart. I Don't Like Iceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! 1... 2... Krug is Coming for You. Antant. Draw Me with a Thicker Center Tentacle. Homophobia Zero. Hawk Milk. Keep An Eye on Your Tea Stain. Weird Meat Rollin'. House-Brand Sugar Drink. Business raccoon fleeing mule. The Podcast Boys! Banana ball coming to a city near you. Dan has gone away with Dan and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The title fits, but not necessarily for the reasons you imagine. Barbara Leigh grew up in Wisconsin where she attended college and had a successful career. She tells us about her life and discusses getting married, having two children and over time watching her life choices basically and totally destroy her self esteem.   Barbara tells us how she, while growing up, was constantly described as a “smart girl”. She helped many figure out answers and learned along the way how to observe and research to learn whatever she needed to know. In 1995 when the internet was just coming into our sphere of experience, Barbara learned about it and created web pages and websites for the nonprofit for which she worked. Even with all the technical knowledge she amassed it took many years before she realized that even with all her smarts she was becoming a person who was being reshaped by a partner with his own low esteem and who constantly blamed her for everything that went wrong.   Eventually Barbara realized that something was wrong and began to look in ernest at her life and behavior. She realized that she had to make choices and regain her own self confidence and constructive view of herself. She changed her life and outlook and began growing again emotionally. Barbara tells us about her journey and even includes lessons she learned and wants to pass on to others.   In 2024 Barbara wrote and published her book, “Why Smart Girls Get Into Bad Relationships and How Not To Do It Again”. She is quick to point out that the book is not just for women. It is for anyone who may be facing a “bad relationship”. Barbara shares nine conclusions and thoughts from the book that illustrate why her writings can be so important for so many.   This episode is full of many great life lessons and observations. I do hope you not only enjoy it, but that you also gain some positive life choice ideas from it.     About the Guest:   Barbara Leigh grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin and was considered in school to be a smart girl. She was not the type to get in trouble or make bad decisions. She was involved in lots of activities and did well in school.   She went off to Ripon College where she majored in Speech Communication and worked in the library. After graduation, she got a job in a library at a nonprofit. While working toward a Masters in Library and Information Science at UW-Milwaukee in 1995, she was taking an online searching class and was recruited to build a web site for her employer, being one of only a few employees that had even heard of the World Wide Web.   From there, Barbara built a career as a web developer and eventually moved to online learning and LMS integrations. In each career step she moved toward content, but eventually was directed back to the technical.   In the midst of all that, Barbara got married and had two children. She entered and contributed to bad relationships in her marriage, career and family until one day she decided to just stop. She has spent the last twenty years figuring out what it means to stop, how to continue living, and how to do it better. In 2024, she published a book, Why Smart Girls Get Into Bad Relationships and How Not To Do It Again, and in 2025, she took early retirement to get fully into content and do more writing. She currently writes the Helpfulmess blog which posts weekly. Ways to connect with Barbara:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbaraleighauthor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbaraleighauthor Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/barbaraleighauthor.bsky.social Website: https://www.barbaraleighauthor.com     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hello, everyone, wherever you happen to be today, around the world or in space, whatever the case happens to be, we're all in space anyway, so I guess that counts for something. But I'm really glad that you are here, and we're really going to have, I think, an interesting conversation today, because we, we have a person who has written an interesting book, at least. I think it's an interesting book. The title of the book is, why do smart girls get into bad relationships, and how to and how not to do it again. I think that's an interesting title. Smart Girls, I gotta say, though, Barbara, who is our guest, Barbara Leigh, I don't know. I think they're more than smart girls that get into bad relationships or just do dumb things. I don't know. Why is it that most people do dumb things, but that's a different story, and probably not what we're really going to cover today. But anyway, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset, and we're glad you're   Barbara Leigh ** 02:19 here. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate   Michael Hingson ** 02:23 it. Yeah, well, it is probably true. Why do, why do so many people get into challenges? Ah, but we cope with what we have to right? Yes, we do. Well. Well, I'm glad you're here. Thanks for for being here and being on unstoppable mindset. Really looking forward to having a chance to really chat. Why don't we start? If we can by you telling us a little bit about kind of the early Barbara growing up and all that. Alright, well, I grew up. How's that for a great way to start.   Barbara Leigh ** 02:52 That's a great, great way to start. I grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin. I had two brothers and a sister, mom and dad and, you know, cats and a dog and cows. I lived in a small community. Everybody knew each other. Nothing really exciting about my childhood. I was in 4h and I was in lots of activities in school. I did great in school, and I was wildly shy as a small child, but I managed to get comfortable enough with that by being a 4h officer and being in in leadership positions in the activities that I was in. I went to off to college in Ripon, and I been busy working on being me ever since,   Michael Hingson ** 03:56 well, so you, you, you don't sound like you're very shy today,   Barbara Leigh ** 04:06 like I said, I tried to get past that. I'm still wildly introverted, but I'm at least, you know, able to speak in public. That's a   Michael Hingson ** 04:15 start. Well, that's a good you know, I'm I've always been amazed, and I hear it so often that the top fear today is public speaking. And I've never really, I know it's me, but I've never understood why it is, because I've always been somewhat used to doing it, but I think that people approach public speaking oftentimes with kind of the wrong idea, because I find that if people fear it, what they're really saying is they're afraid of the audience and what the audience might do. But I find that audiences generally don't tend to really want to view a speaker as being bad. They want speaker. To succeed. So it's always been a puzzlement to be as to why people are afraid of public speaking.   Barbara Leigh ** 05:07 Yeah, that is true. I was a Speech Communication major in college, and had to take public speaking as a course, and we had a guy in there that was just shook. His whole body. Shook it when he started out, and he by the end of the course, he was the best speaker there. I think he just needed to practice doing it and find out it's not so bad.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 Well, what did he do? What do you have any notion of what what really eliminated his fear?   Barbara Leigh ** 05:41 I think he just got better each time. I think it really was just just getting up in front of people and finding out, yeah, they aren't gonna do anything. They're trying to do the same thing as me. They're trying to learn public speaking, and they're fine.   Michael Hingson ** 05:56 That's cool. Well, I know when I was a program director at our campus radio station at UC Irvine, I wanted everyone to listen to their their own shows. So we we wanted them to record the shows which they wouldn't do. So the engineer and I arranged for that to get done, and we made people listen to their shows, take the cassettes home and listen to them. And as I think about it, I think that probably more often than not, some of these people were in radio because they didn't have to stand up in front of an audience, and they didn't think about being in front of an audience and speaking so much. And so they did what they did, but when they were compelled, if you will, to listen to themselves, they got better. And they got better because they then heard what everybody else is hearing, and they taught themselves that they could really do better than than they thought they were doing, and that they thought that they could do. And I think that really makes a lot of difference. And some of those people actually ended up going into broadcasting as a as a career,   Barbara Leigh ** 07:01 that's great. Yeah, it really is. It's just a matter of getting used to your own voice. I mean, some people just really got annoyed, I guess is the word at their own voice, and they were like, I don't sound like that. Well, you don't sound like yourself inside your head. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 07:27 yeah. I know that when I hear myself talk, I do know that I sound different than I think I sound. And so again, that's part of what I work on. When I listen to recorded speeches, and I listen to what I say and how I say it, because I know what audiences like when they hear a speaker, so it gives me something to work toward. And that's a good thing. Yeah. So it is kind of fun. So you went off to school, you were in high school and all that and and did what? What people do in high school, I assume,   Barbara Leigh ** 08:07 yep, lots of groups. I was in library club and let's see Spanish club and music, musical and choir and various things. Yeah, normal stuff, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 08:23 yeah. I did some of that. I was in the science club, and there was a math club. Wasn't in too many clubs, but I was in those two and and had a lot of fun with that. So it's, it's a good thing. And then, of course, as many of us do, then you went on to college. Where did you go to college? Ripping College. I've never heard of that college,   Barbara Leigh ** 08:49 very small liberal arts college,   Michael Hingson ** 08:52 which is all the better I am. I'm a fan of smaller colleges. I read in the book David and Goliath, the guy who invented the tipping point, wrote this book, and he talks about the fact that if more people would go to small colleges, they would discover that they could actually be kind of a larger fish in a small pond, rather than being a fish that isn't necessarily as large a fish in a very large pond. So the value of people going to to places that are smaller adds a lot of value, and you do get a lot more attention. And that's why, one of the reasons I think I went to UC Irvine, we had 2200 excuse me, 2700 students when I went there. Now there are 32,000 freshmen. My gosh, I can't believe how large it is. No, it's University California, Irvine UCI, which they always say lovingly, really, truly means under construction indefinitely. They're always building new things on the college. So.   Barbara Leigh ** 10:01 Yeah, ripen is, is under 1000 students total. And   Michael Hingson ** 10:07 what did you major in? I knew all my professors. It   10:09 was great. And   Michael Hingson ** 10:10 that's, that's cool. And I did as well. I and I got to know some of them very well. Actually, a couple, one of them even came to my wedding when my wife and I got married. Some, seven or eight, well, eight years after I graduated, or, well, six years after I graduated, but he, we invited him, and he came to the wedding. So that was kind of cool. What did you major in   Barbara Leigh ** 10:33 speech communication with a religion minor? All right.   Michael Hingson ** 10:37 Wow, that's an interesting combination. Why? Why a religion minor with with that religion   Barbara Leigh ** 10:43 has always intrigued me. I guess it's I am interested in people, and religion has such a strong effect on people, and so I really just wanted to learn more about various religions and and how they work.   Michael Hingson ** 11:01 So what do you what do you think about religion and our world today, and how much of an effect it it has?   Barbara Leigh ** 11:11 It's probably very big question. Yes, yes, I have that's like, one of the ideas for one of my next books is to dig into that I'm I have several ideas of things I want to cover, and that's one of them. But, yeah, it just it floors me that there can be so much variation in people who seem to believe the same things.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Yeah, yeah. It is. It is fascinating. I I've said ever since escaping from the World Trade Center on September 11, that what happened, no matter what those terrorists say, was not a reflection on the whole world of Islam and the Muslim faith, those were thugs who decided that they wanted to try to make the world bend to their will, if you will, and and they they did a pretty good job for a little while, but it wasn't a religious war, because I think most Muslims are not that way. That's true, and we shouldn't demonize that religion as such, especially since we could always go back and talk about the crusades in, you know what, 1066, and so on. And if we want to talk about Christianity and what it did, yeah, the reality is, everybody tries to do things in the name of religion, and it just doesn't make sense at all. It doesn't. But people try to justify anyway, which is, which is truly unfortunate. Well, so what did you do after you got a degree?   Barbara Leigh ** 12:47 Oh, let's see. I went off to Well, I got married. There you go, after graduation, and moved to the town where my my husband was living, and we I started working at K Mart, and from there, I went to outlet mall. I was the retail store manager, and then I got my job at a nonprofit, and I've been at that nonprofit for 34 years, until I retired, just not too long ago.   Michael Hingson ** 13:24 Wow. What's the nonprofit? Or can you say   Barbara Leigh ** 13:28 it's the international foundation of employee benefit plans? Okay,   Michael Hingson ** 13:33 well, that sounds pretty useful. You were there a long time, huh? I was wow.   Barbara Leigh ** 13:39 I moved around to multiple departments, but I was able to keep growing later, so I stayed   Michael Hingson ** 13:46 so you you were there 34 years. Wow, that is a long time. What? What did you What did you learn about life being there for so long? Wow, I was out for a general question, yeah.   Barbara Leigh ** 14:06 Well, I learned, boy, so many things I have. The foundation is an Educational Association. So I learned the actual benefits. Part of it, I have a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation, but also I learned a lot about people and work environments and and getting along with people, and I learned a lot about technology when I started at the foundation the the World Wide Web was not public yet, and while I was there, I was going to graduate school at UW Milwaukee. I. For library and information science. And while I was doing that, I was taking a an online searching course. And my boss, well, I worked in the library, so my boss asked me if I would create a website for the foundation, because nobody else in the building really had even heard of the World Wide Web yet. Yeah. So I learned all about web development and programming and all of that, just because I happened to be the only one that   Michael Hingson ** 15:40 knew, and using tools like Netscape, remember Netscape? Oh, yes, absolutely,   Barbara Leigh ** 15:50 yeah, wow. So yeah, I learned a lot of that, and then from from the library, I went to it, and was in a web developer for many years, and then from it, I went to educational programs where I was working with our learning management system and the integration with with our association management system. So I was, I was doing integrations, basically and but the things that I learned in technology careers that have helped me thus far have been I was doing a lot of troubleshooting. So I would, you know, a lot of times, you know, if you're in technology, no garbage in, garbage out. So when I get to a problem, I say, you know, there's this, there's garbage coming out, or there's nothing coming out at all. And I work back word through the process to get to the source data. And learning that you finding the source data and making sure that the source data is correct is really important. So I learned about a lot about working my way through systems to find that and also making sure that the systems work. So that has helped me a lot in in my life, because when I got into the situation where I needed to write this book about I managed to work my way back to the source of of the problem. And so the the source of the problem was my beliefs about me, about relationships, about other people. And so it was really helpful for me to have that process already in place in my brain, that I could just work my way back to that and Okay, now I can start from better data.   Michael Hingson ** 18:13 Yeah, do you think that working a lot in technology and perhaps some of the other areas where you worked. Do you think that that taught you more about how to observe and look at things and better be able to analyze them and and remembering them? I just find that so often people don't observe things. And I think learning to observe is extremely important to do   Barbara Leigh ** 18:45 absolutely yes, yes, when that's that's like all of my career was observing and and like you said, analyzing, being able to put what I've observed into what I want to happen, or what I would I need to communicate with other people. I think a lot of my career was, was connecting the right people to the right either technology or the or the other people, or just get making those connections.   Michael Hingson ** 19:30 But you had to learn how to observe people and draw conclusions and get that information to make that happen.   Barbara Leigh ** 19:38 Oh yes. And, you know, it's a process, just in growing up and watching people in general. Like I said, you know, religion was, was my thing, because people fascinate me. So I I've always been a people watcher, not like, go sit at the mall and watch people, but, I mean, yeah. I just really try to understand where people are coming from. And I think once I was in a technology career, it was even more important, because a lot of times in those careers people don't expect the technology person to be able to do that, and for me, that was the most important part with understanding the people, understanding what they wanted, what they were actually saying was not exactly what they wanted, and to try to get it get to what they wanted, and then to work with the system to be able to get what they wanted to come out correctly.   Michael Hingson ** 20:53 How did you discover that? How did you discover that people weren't necessarily saying what they really wanted, or that somehow it wasn't being articulated on it. And I understand that's a really tricky sort of thing. I know in asking myself that I just kind of respond by saying, it's just something you gain from a lot of experience, but you have to think about it. But you know, what do you think   Barbara Leigh ** 21:21 exactly? It's trial and error. You keep having people ask you for one thing and then expecting something else, until you figure out that you know what that's really not what they want, and to get them to verbalize, okay, what is it you want coming out of this? Is it? It's tricky.   Michael Hingson ** 21:47 Yeah, yeah, it is and, and it is something where you got to be pretty careful about how you do it and, and to whom you you focus your attentions to make that happen. Or if you've got some people who are difficult to deal with, and again, I guess that that helps you stretch and grow and you learn how to even deal with those people a little bit better, so that they're comfortable in interacting with you.   Barbara Leigh ** 22:14 Yeah, absolutely. But a big part of my job is making people feel comfortable enough to talk to me and, you know, and a lot of times when I would get a project, I would go to the person that that's using, whatever it is, and ask them, okay, you know, where are you getting this data? What do you want it to look like? And, you know, and ask them deeper questions. And, and these are often the people who are, you know, low man on the totem pole, and don't ever get asked, but those are the people that I needed to get to to find out what you know, where things were coming from, to actually give them what was going to work for them.   Michael Hingson ** 23:10 And that's interesting. You're saying, like, the low person on the totem pole doesn't get asked, and they're the ones that would love to be asked to be able to offer their opinions, so that that opens up whole new opportunities when you convey that you're you're willing to listen, and of course, that also then deals with the whole issue of trust. Because if they tell you something and say, Well, I want this incompetence, and you have to keep it that way. Yes, absolutely, trust is, is such a fleeting thing today, even though it's all around us, everywhere we go And everywhere we look. I mean, we trust that the roofs on our houses aren't going to collapse while we're doing this interview, this well, this conversation, and we trust that the internet is going to continue to work. It might, we'll see. But, but we trust in so many ways, but yet, unfortunately, we also confront, or are confronted by situations that try to teach us not to trust and to be close to trust, which is too bad. Yeah, one of the things that, that, that I talk about, actually, in my latest book, live like a guide dog, is trust. I talk about the fact that, in general, the difference between a dog and a person is while dogs love unconditionally, and I think that's true, although they can be taught not to, obviously, but while dogs love unconditionally, they don't trust unconditionally. But the difference between a dog and a person is that dogs are much more open to trust because we have just learned, or we've drawn the conclusion that we can't trust people, and so we lose that skill of being open to trust and trust. Truly learning how to determine whether we can trust any individual or not, rather than just saying we're not going to trust   Barbara Leigh ** 25:07 Right, absolutely, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 25:10 which is, you know, which is so unfortunate? Well, I'm sure you've, you've encountered that a lot.   Barbara Leigh ** 25:17 I have, indeed, and you know that's that was part of my process, was learning how to trust again. And that's a slow, slow, hard process.   Michael Hingson ** 25:31 What, what caused you to start to learn not to trust? What? What happened in your life?   Barbara Leigh ** 25:38 Okay? Well, I want to talk about it, but, well, I won't go into too deep a detail, but yeah, I I was in a relationship where, you know, I was with a very a person has low self esteem, and because of that, I would get told that things were my fault, or things were if I hadn't done this, or if anything That happened really was was somehow brought back to me and as a person with higher self esteem, I took that as my personal responsibility, rather than looking at it as no, that's really Your choice, not, not something that I could cause, and that just kept eroding away at my confidence, and it ended up with me having no self esteem whatsoever. Wow. And then we, you know, I hit a point where an event happened, and I, you know, my brain went, nope, I don't deserve that. And that's where the light switch flipped, and I was to, you know, then I started looking around and going, you know what? I didn't deserve that, either or that, and that was not about me. And so then I started to measure against that, and go, Okay, I can set up boundaries now, because this is behavior that I won't accept anymore. And I was able to start making boundaries, and I was able to start standing up for myself. And, you know, as as that process went on, I was able to, I guess, it was motivate myself just by connecting, reconnecting with that higher self esteem person that I had been earlier. And so I would, you know, it honestly took a very long time, because I was at nothing, and at that point, I made a conscious effort to be gentle with myself and to be patient with myself and to accept myself and so with those being kind to myself thoughts, that's how I was able to move forward. And like I said, moving forward started motivating me, and I was able to bring myself back up to a higher self confidence.   Michael Hingson ** 29:02 Did you get? Oh, go ahead. Oh,   Barbara Leigh ** 29:04 but yeah. The the trust being gone was a trust for not just the person I was in a relationship with, but for so many things around me because I didn't trust myself. I didn't trust what I was believing about myself.   Michael Hingson ** 29:28 Did you hate yourself?   Barbara Leigh ** 29:31 I would not say that. I would say I just didn't understand myself. I would like I said, when I got to the bottom, I was able to say, I don't deserve that, so I wouldn't say hated myself. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 29:48 that's why I asked the question, because that was my impression of what from what you were saying. It wasn't a hate or a dislike, it was a recognition of what should be and what. And then how to deal with it?   Barbara Leigh ** 30:02 Yep, I was, you know, because I got there and, you know, the light switch went on, and I was like, how did I get here? How did this even happen? You know, it just, I couldn't understand.   Michael Hingson ** 30:18 But as you, as you progressed and as you learned about yourself, and that, of course, was part of it, is that you were learning about yourself and bringing yourself back the person you had a relationship with you weren't able to to, I gather, make positive steps to get them to to be a lot better than they were.   Barbara Leigh ** 30:43 That was not my focus. My focus was no boundaries, so that they couldn't hurt me anymore,   Michael Hingson ** 30:52 right, right? It wasn't a matter of you're trying to heal them, but setting boundaries and it would have it would have been nice if they had recognized what was going on. But that was the difference, is that you recognized and they did not right.   Barbara Leigh ** 31:06 And honestly, once I got to a place where I was back to being who I felt like me, he was able to look at that and take some motivation from that, and he actually went and got help through therapy as well. So it actually turned out way better than than expected, but   Michael Hingson ** 31:41 yeah, so are you guys still married? Yes, we are. Well, there you go. Okay, and that was what I was curious about. So he he did. It wasn't you can't, you can't fix everything because people have to fix themselves. But he was able to recognize that which was, which is so cool,   Barbara Leigh ** 32:02 yeah, honestly, I moved out twice. So, I mean, like I said, I set boundaries, yeah, but we made it work. I mean, like, like I said, when I first made the change I did. I was not strong enough to move to be on my own. I just wasn't. And so, you know, I just tried to be as patient with myself as possible, and and I just kept, kept those boundaries and okay, you can't talk to me like that. That's just not going to work. And as I moved forward, he kind of came along with me   Michael Hingson ** 32:47 well, and it sounds like you're both the better for it today.   Barbara Leigh ** 32:54 Oh, absolutely, yes, we've come a long way. I wouldn't say we're perfect for sure, but   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 it's a it's a process. Yes, it is. So what does he do for work or for a living?   Barbara Leigh ** 33:08 He is a sales person for a home improvement company.   Michael Hingson ** 33:11 Ah, ah, Home Improvement. Tim, the tool man, Taylor, but that's another story. Oh, gosh. Well, that's pretty cool. And does he do well at selling?   Barbara Leigh ** 33:25 Yes, he does that. He had his own business for for many years, and so it just comes pretty naturally to him.   Michael Hingson ** 33:34 Well, at the same time, if you're going to be good at sales, you have to learn to observe and and not take things too personally sometimes as well. I learned a lot about sales when I was confronted by needing to go into sales or finding another job, and then I took a Dale Carnegie sales course, and one of my favorite observations about sales is that the best salespeople are really counselors. They're teachers. They guide you in and help you make the right decision, rather than just trying to force something on you, which doesn't mean that they're not trying to make $1 and sell products, but you can also find that your product might not be what somebody wants, and if you push them into buying it, that's going to cost to cost you in the end anyway,   Barbara Leigh ** 34:24 right? And that's why he makes a good salesman, because he was he, he did the work for for 15 years, and at at his own company, and then he went, moved to sales, and just because his body was wearing out, and for because he knows how the product works, how it goes on the house or whatever, he can explain that to the customer, and that makes it so much easier for them to understand, you know, why they need what they need, and how it works.   Michael Hingson ** 34:59 Yeah. Yeah, and I have found that the better sales people really do understand how the product works, and they take the time to keep up with things, because that's going to make them better at what they do. Yes. So now you have children. How many children?   Barbara Leigh ** 35:16 Two, girl and a boy, and how old are they? 29 and 25   Michael Hingson ** 35:23 oh, they're just kids.   35:24 They're just kids   Michael Hingson ** 35:28 and and I know if they've gone into sales just checking no okay,   Barbara Leigh ** 35:36 and have no interest in doing that, what do they do? My daughter works in customer service, and my son is Air National Guard   Michael Hingson ** 35:47 member. Oh, okay, so it's hopefully it sounds like both of them have some really decent self esteem. Yes, they they learned that along the way from the two of you, which is good, which is a positive thing, which is, which is pretty cool, yeah. So you have retired from being with a nonprofit. You said you were there for 34 years, and what caused you to retire   Barbara Leigh ** 36:17 writing this book, I was, I'm looking at writing more and, you know, doing marketing and doing all the things book has been a lot to do and work full time, yeah, so I decided to give, give it my all.   Michael Hingson ** 36:35 Did you self publish or does the publisher publish it? Okay, yeah, which makes even more of a marketing responsibility for you. Although I think publishers are pushing more for most authors to do more to market their own books, rather than the publishers helping as much as perhaps they could. But nevertheless, well, tell us about the book. Then tell us, if you would tell us about that.   Barbara Leigh ** 37:01 Oh, it's why smart girls get into bad relationships, and how not to do it again. I started out with, well, basically the book is for people who want better relationships, not just women, but I. I started out with a smart girl title, because that is something I identify with. I think of it as an identity, because a lot of books on relationships are books written from the perspective of therapists or the perspective of people who have been abused or some kind of trauma or have addictions or something like that, and that's not, that's not who I am. And so I was trying to give a voice to, you know, average people have these problems too. So the smart girl identity is more about, really, like in high school, people would you know, who didn't know me? Well, what time I yearbook? You're so smart. Or people at work, thank you for fixing that. You're so smart, right? And I believed that. And what I believed was that reasonable humans make reasonable choices, and that's not always true, and so when I wrote the book here, or actually when I when I hit the bottom and I started looking back, I was like, I don't know how I got here. So how did I get here? I went through the process. I figured out that my beliefs weren't quite right, and they sounded good, but when I actually put them to action. They really didn't work. So the book is my process of of getting from bottom of the barrel self esteem back up to high self esteem, and looking at those beliefs and rewriting them.   Michael Hingson ** 39:23 So, um, how so like some of your beliefs that that didn't work. For example,   Barbara Leigh ** 39:28 I will read you a few of them if you don't mind. Okay, so, so you get the idea of where, where this goes. So Belief number there's nine of them. Belief number one, I can trust myself became, I can trust myself when I am being honest with myself, because I was lying to myself quite a bit of the time. It turns out, number two, I am a good helpful person became, I am a good helpful person, but that is not where I find my. Value, and that kind of blew me out of the water when I figured that one out. Number three, I'm smart, but I can't appear smarter than my partner. And that's where the focus on women comes in. It's kind of looks at the social oppression of women and how that affects your beliefs. You know, if you believe that stuff so, number three, became, I am smart and I don't have to hide it. Number four, I must guard my relationship, not only from outside, but from inside to became, I must guard my own boundaries to maintain my mental health and stay true to me. Number five, it is important to keep things steady and stable became keeping things steady and stable doesn't allow me to grow. Fear blocks my growth. Embracing the uncomfortable for a time helps me become better. That one was a hard one to learn how bad number six, self care is indulgent and not a priority. Became, self care is a high priority if I don't care take care of me, I can't be good at caring for anyone else. Numbers seven, I have emotional muscle, and I can muscle through anything became I have emotional muscle and I can use it to pull out of negative thoughts. I don't need to deny my emotions or wallow in them. Just recognize them, feel them, and continue to move all the way through them, and this one kind of hits home for my daughter. My daughter was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 20 months, and she used her emotional muscle to muscle through her pain, because she didn't want to see the reaction of people feeling sorry for her, and so she had a lot of of using that emotional muscle to just not show people her pain and and that has been something that we've had to work on for a long time.   Michael Hingson ** 42:33 What did she discover? What did she finally do?   Barbara Leigh ** 42:37 Well, it's been a process, but she's finally actually showing her pain. She because, like she's had a cyst that burst in it. It wrapped around some things, and she couldn't tell the doctor in charge that that she was having that much pain. She she didn't make it a 10 on the pain scale. So the doctor didn't think that she was that, that these complications had happened, because most people couldn't even walk with this pain, but she could, because she's super high pain tolerance. Yeah, and, you know, she learned that she doesn't need to hide her pain, which was, which was pretty life shaking for her, and she's learned that, you know, she can actually tell her doctors, yes, I'm, I'm actually having some pain, and I I really need to have you work on this or or give me medication for this, or whatever. But, yeah, she's she's really come a long way as far as being honest with herself and with other people. Yeah, let's see. Number eight, I can rely on my smartness to figure it out became I can rely on my smartness and problem solving ability. But life isn't always logical. Sometimes I'm starting starting from a faulty belief I don't have to be perfect. It's okay to ask for help when I don't understand and get stuck. And that one it, it seems very obvious, but that one was really ingrained and kept coming up in different ways. Number nine, partial is enough, I can and should fill in. The rest became I am a whole person with my own thoughts, emotions, talents, hopes, dreams and goals. So if I want to be in a relationship, my significant other should see me as a whole person and should be a whole person themselves.   Michael Hingson ** 45:10 Wow, some pretty deep concepts, needless to say, Yeah, but by the same but by the same token, you were willing to step back and observe and think about yourself, so you were able to to create these conclusions and make these changes, which is what it's really all about?   Barbara Leigh ** 45:36 Yeah, I think that's what's different about my book, is that it's not written by a therapist or somebody who's at the other side. It's somebody who's actually in it, um, digging through it and and feeling it and it makes the, you know, it. I pulled apart the process and was, you know, you have to hit all of the things that the you know, the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, all, all of the things to hold those beliefs out of all of the different places in your life where they stuck.   Michael Hingson ** 46:23 You think that people really have to, how do I say this? Go to the bottom or hit rock bottom before they can really start to learn?   Barbara Leigh ** 46:33 I hope not.   Michael Hingson ** 46:38 You did and I but I hear it a lot you really don't know until you hit rock bottom. And I'm not sure I totally buy that. It really depends on what you're able to learn and what you're able what conclusions you're able to draw. But a lot of times hitting rock bottom, if you will, maybe emotionally at least, brings people to where they need to be. But I am with you. I hope that it isn't always that way, and it doesn't need to always be that way,   Barbara Leigh ** 47:06 right? I think there's, there's different rock bottoms, you know? It's I got to the point where I needed to learn, and I learned, and that may not be what you and I would view as rock bottom to someone else, you know, but it's, you know, I finally, I finally flip the switch. And that's, you know, somebody else may have a switch at a different level than   Michael Hingson ** 47:40 or they may not see that there's a switch to flip which is, which is all about choice, yep. So what got you started down the road of writing the book?   Barbara Leigh ** 47:54 To be honest, I never thought I would write a book that was never, you know, a big goal in life for me, and I think it's totally a God thing, because I was, you know, my my daughter's been telling me, you need to write a book. You need to write a book for, you know, years. And I was like, yeah, yeah, sure, no product. And then all of a sudden it was time to write the book. And I was like, I don't know why it's time to write the book, but it's time to write the book. And honestly, it it flowed. I mean, I had all these great ideas for a book, and they went poof out the window when I wanted to start writing. I I just kind of sketched out an outline that was terrible, and showed it to a few people, and they're like, sure, you go. And I threw it away and just started writing. And once I started writing, it, it flowed. It actually just came out. And once I was in it a little, you know, a few chapters in, then I was able to organize it and figure out what I wanted to say and make an outline. But I couldn't do any of that until I just started writing. So I don't know, it was odd. And then I gave it to my son. I gave, like, the first two, two chapters, probably, to my son, and he read it, and he pushed it back over the table at me, and said big words. And I was like, okay, so I took it and I took out all the big words, and I made it more conversational. And now everybody who who has read it and and talk to me is like, you know, it just feels like a conversation with a good friend over a cup of   Michael Hingson ** 49:57 coffee. There you go for   Barbara Leigh ** 49:59 a glass of. Wine. So that's where it   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 got, yeah, it's, it's about not preaching, but presenting and teaching in a in a non confrontive way, which is what it's really about, which is what sales is about, Yeah, but that was very observant on his part to say that, yeah,   Barbara Leigh ** 50:24 you made it so much better.   Michael Hingson ** 50:28 When I wrote thunder dog, my first book I was I wrote it with someone. We collaborated. I had worked on it for a long time, or at least worked on ideas. And then Susie Flory called one day and she wanted, she was writing her own book, and she said, Tell me your story. And after I did, she said, You should write your own book, and I'll help you do it. And she did, one of the things that we had was that the book is about being in the World Trade Center, but it's also a lot about my life. And when we got it to the editor, because her agent, who became my agent, Chip McGregor, was able to sell it to Thomas Nelson publishing, which is now part of HarperCollins. But the editor said, My problem with this book is the transitions. And kind of said, well, what do you mean? He said, Well, you talk at the beginning of each chapter about an event on September 11, and then you you go back in your life, but you don't transition between the two. And then when you come back, you don't transition. And I get lost. And when he described that, it just immediately clicked what he was saying. And I actually then spent a weekend putting transitions in every chapter at the right places. And when he read that, he said, this is perfect. This is exactly what I was talking about. And when one of the major reviewers of the book, Kirkus, which reviews books for publishers and libraries and so on, when they reviewed it, they said one of the most powerful parts about it were the transitions. And so I appreciate what your son said, because sometimes the unexpected thing that someone says is what sends you down a road to make it a much better thought process and a much better book or a much better whatever than it would have been otherwise.   Barbara Leigh ** 52:22 Yeah, absolutely. I had a friend from college read it from an author perspective. So she's, she's written five books, and she gave me just, you know, really, she wrote fiction books so they weren't the same, but she gave me just really good authoring advice. As far as you know, you were used this word too many times, you know, things like that. And that was really, really helpful too to just, oh, okay, I get it. That would make it much more smooth. And you know, that was really helpful for me too, and it's just just to get feedback in any capacity is so helpful, I think,   Michael Hingson ** 53:12 well, and all of those comments that people give you help teach you how to write better. Yeah, absolutely. How has writing the book changed your perspective?   Barbara Leigh ** 53:24 Wow. Well, first thing, I had no idea about writing books or publishing or marketing or any of that, so that's been a whole big learning curve. But as far as you know, even even writing through the book helped teach me some things about the process as well. Just as far as relationships go, and talking through it with I had about a dozen people reading it at chapter by chapter as I got them done and and having getting that feedback from them, as far as you know, how it how it affected them, and it was really just so, I guess, helpful for me to learn what other people were were thinking when they're reading it. Because, you know, some of the things had never occurred to me, some of the things were for from friends who had been through some kind of childhood trauma. And I was kind of looking at, okay, I get what you're saying, and I think this that what you're telling me is you. This part is coming from your childhood trauma, but this other part is definitely something that I could add to my book, and I didn't want to make my book about trauma, because it really in my mind, was for the person that was just an average person, living an average life, having average relationship. However, my friends who have had childhood trauma have actually been the most affected by my book, which I find fascinating.   Michael Hingson ** 55:42 That's that's interesting, but it does make sense, because clearly you're trying to help people be more open about themselves, to themselves. And the people that that do that are the people that have been in situations where maybe they haven't, and they maybe intellectually realize that they need to grow and change, but they hadn't totally emotionally adopted that stance, and so you help them with that, which is cool.   Barbara Leigh ** 56:11 Yep, that's something I was expecting for sure.   Michael Hingson ** 56:15 No, understand. Now you have a blog also right, called helpfulness. Why is why is it called helpfulness? And what is it about?   Barbara Leigh ** 56:24 It is called helpful mess because when I was writing this book, I was writing about helpfulness and how that kind of steered me in the wrong direction, because that's where I was finding my value, and I had a typo that made it helpful. Mess, mess. Yeah, I said related to that mess. Yeah, it's like, that messy part. That's me. I So related to that that I ground onto that word. I was like, Okay, this word is mine,   Michael Hingson ** 56:56 well, and it really goes right along with the book and everything we've talked about today. Needless to say, Have you thought about doing things like starting a coaching program? Or do you do any of that?   Barbara Leigh ** 57:12 I do not. My daughter is, she is a life coach, and she has started a holistic nutrition program. So she's kind of doing that, that thing and, and I've never really been interested in doing that kind of thing. So I like you go. I will help you.   Michael Hingson ** 57:33 Okay, well, that's fair. I think we, we all do what we we feel we're best at, and it may come to the time where you'll suddenly discover that you're really better at it than you think, and that you could, you could coach people, or maybe not, but that's really something to look at.   Barbara Leigh ** 57:55 Yeah, I do want to focus on my writing for a while, but you know, when she's done with her program, maybe we'll get something   Michael Hingson ** 58:01 together. Well, there you go, and she lives close to you. Yeah,   Barbara Leigh ** 58:08 she's a half hour early, all right, so   Michael Hingson ** 58:10 Wisconsin home to everywhere, which is pretty cool. Well, so what would you advise? What kind of advice would you give to someone who's going through a lot of the things that you've gone through and so on? What would be the first thing that you would say to them to hopefully get them started down a different path of of life, rather than thinking so little of themselves and not really wanting to move forward,   Barbara Leigh ** 58:39 I would tell them they have options. You can leave your your value is not in how helpful you are, and be gentle and be kind to yourself and accept that you may not be coming from a belief that is true. And look, you know, try to see when you feel something that right, kind of off. Kind of look at your beliefs and you know, where is this coming from? Because a lot of times you can find it if you look hard enough, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 it's about teaching people to truly develop the skill of self analysis, if you will. Yeah, which is something that we, we all ought to do more of we, we tend not to really look at ourselves. And it goes back to the same thing as the whole concept of the fear of public speaking, if we, if we step out of ourselves and look at what happened, we beat up on ourselves rather than recognize. Amazing. This is a teaching moment, and we can learn from it, rather than allowing it to just be something that beats us   Barbara Leigh ** 1:00:07 up. Yes, absolutely,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:10 which makes a lot of sense. Well, I want to thank you for doing this. We've been we've been at this about an hour. Can you believe it? But I really enjoyed having you talk about it. Do you have any kind of last minute thoughts that you want to convey to people?   Barbara Leigh ** 1:00:30 Well, let's see. I guess if you think reasonable humans make reasonable choices, maybe rethink that. If you want to find my book, you can find it at my website. Let's see   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:48 and what's your website?   Barbara Leigh ** 1:00:51 Barbara Lee, author.com and Lee is l, e, i, G, H,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:56 so it's Barbara Lee, author.com, yeah, cool. Well, I hope people will find it, and we'll, we'll read it. Is it's available? Is it a hard copy or ebook, or both, or both? Okay,   Barbara Leigh ** 1:01:16 and available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Ingram, Apple, Google, not all the places   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:24 they're they're an audible version or an audio version,   Barbara Leigh ** 1:01:27 not yet something to work on asking, yeah, absolutely. I know I have two people that have been asking, and I well, I have to start making money before I can spend money on that.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:43 Yeah, I hear you well, unless you read it yourself, which cuts the cost way down.   Barbara Leigh ** 1:01:49 Yeah, try that. I have no idea how to do that either, so that, you know, has added to my my pile of things I need to learn.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:56 There you go. It's an adventure.   Barbara Leigh ** 1:01:57 Yes, absolutely, it's on the list. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:00 Barbara, thank you for being here. I really appreciate it, and I want to thank all of you for listening. I hope that this has been not only enjoyable, but educational and worth your time. Love to hear your thoughts. Love to get your your thoughts about this. So any of you who would we'd love to hear from you, please email me at Michael H, i@accessibe.com that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, wherever you're listening, please give us a five star review. We really appreciate those reviews, and especially we love five star reviews. We want positive reviews, but you give us your honest thoughts. We love that. We appreciate it, and we value your comments very highly. If you know anyone who you think ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset, please let us know. And if, by the way, you aren't sure how to review or whatever, or you want to find another place to hear more podcasts in addition to wherever you're listening to it, today, you can go to Michael hingson.com/podcast that's m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, o n.com/podcast, and all of our episodes are there, but we really value your time. We value that you like what we're doing. We'll always love to hear from people, so please let us know and keep the emails coming and again. Barbara, I just want to thank you. We really appreciate your time and are so glad that you came and spent this time with us.   Barbara Leigh ** 1:03:32 Thank you, Michael, it's been great. I appreciate   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:40 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott has competed on the world stage. So what did elite sport teach him about running billion-dollar brands like Kmart and Bunnings? Hear how Olympic discipline shaped his leadership style, why great teams (not great egos) matter most, and the investor advice he swears by: “When the horse is dead, get off.”This clip is from our previous episode 'The investment giant behind Kmart and Bunnings–Wesfarmers' Watch the full episode or catch more clips: http://linktr.ee/sharedlunchShared Lunch is brought to you by Sharesies Australia Limited (ABN 94 648 811 830; AFSL 529893) in Australia and Sharesies Limited (NZ) in New Zealand. It is not financial advice. Information provided is general only and current at the time it’s provided, and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. We do not provide recommendations and you should always read the disclosure documents available from the product issuer before making a financial decision. Our disclosure documents and terms and conditions—including a Target Market Determination and IDPS Guide for Sharesies Australian customers—can be found on our relevant Australian or NZ website. Investing involves risk. You might lose the money you start with. If you require financial advice, you should consider speaking with a qualified financial advisor. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Appearance on Shared Lunch is not an endorsement by Sharesies of the views of the presenters, guests, or the entities they represent. Their views are their own.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retail executive Ramon Marquez can point to virtually every store in a shopping mall and explain how he helped that brand grow. With a passion for retail dating back to his childhood, he's built a career as a leader in merchandising, product management and retail operations for major retailers like JCPenney, Abercrombie & Fitch, Old Navy, and is now shaping the future of Kmart and Sears. As a newly minted MBA graduate, Ramon gained not only a degree from Rice, but also a meaningful board appointment with Panama-based company, Effluz. After working with Effluz on his Global Field Experience, Ramon remained close with the company, which was founded by Taylin Luzcando and specializes in premature baby clothing and accessories. Ramon and Taylin join co-host Brian Jackson '21 to chat about Ramon's career journey from his grandfather's general store in Mexico to the C-suite of some of the biggest global retailers, as well as why he decided to pursue an MBA at Rice and how he's made an impact at Effluz. Founder Taylin also shares the personal origins of Effluz and why entrepreneurs should jump at the chance to partner with Rice's Global Field Experience program. Episode Guide:01:41 Ramon's Early Career and Rise in Retail06:05 Leadership and Adaptability in Retail07:41 Pursuing an MBA at Rice Business10:52 Joining the Board of a Panamanian Startup13:34 Insights on Retail and Future Plans21:03 Personal Life and Community Involvement26:10 Meet Taylin Luzcando, founder of Effluz31:11 Taylin's Experience with Rice's Global Field Experience ProgramOwl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.Episode Quotes:How one class changed Ramon's path19:14: [Ramon Marquez] Towards the end of the MBA... and one of the very last classes I took was Life of Meaning. It's an entrepreneurship lab. And what that class does is that it takes a look at where you want to be and how you fill the gap. And we did a lot of frameworks that helped me map out what is next. So, there were a lot of great things that came out of it. One was that I really didn't have a plan in writing or a roadmap to where I want to land. In the class, part of the frameworks will get you back to, like, what are you passionate about? What is it that you wanted to do when you were a kid? What are the things that you don't want to be left undone? And it helped me realize that, you know, there's an entrepreneurial side of me that I have never explored.Why Ramon says passion for your job matter14:37: [Ramon Marquez] I encourage everyone, whatever you do, position yourself in a place where you love it, that you're so intrigued and so inquisitive and so passionate. And a lot of people come to me and say, you know, “How do you get your job?” And I say, “Well, you have to be interested and passionate about retail. If you're not, don't get my job, because then it's too much pressure. It's too hectic. It's too fast. It's too vulnerable. It's too difficult right now. Retail is really difficult.” But if you think about the fact that, you know, merchants have been around for thousands of years and commerce has existed from the beginning of time, retail's not going to go away. It's just the way that we will get to know what it's like. And for that, I don't have the answer, in case you were wondering.Show Links: TranscriptGuest Profiles:Ramon Marquez | LinkedInTaylin Luzcando | LinkedInEffluz

In this powerful return episode, Chris G sits down with Orlando-based rapper, singer, and voiceover artist E-Turn — one of the most respected indie artists in the Southeast. With a deep catalog, multiple Florida tours, and voiceover credits for brands like Kmart, E-Turn shares her wisdom on building an independent music career with intention, grit, and grace. We dive into the realities of DIY touring, how she landed her first tour with Homeboy Sandman, tips for booking shows the right way, and the surprising overlap between voice acting and the music business. E-Turn also shares her pivot into voiceover work, managing burnout, and why aligning your craft with your purpose is essential for long-term success. Whether you're an artist, promoter, or someone navigating the creative industry, this conversation is full of gold — from tour booking strategies and energy management on the road to monetizing your voice in unexpected ways.

In this episode of "Discovering Grayslake," host Dave sits down with Alan, a local lawyer, to discuss life, law, and community in Grayslake. Alan shares heartfelt stories from his legal career, insights into family and criminal law, and his passion for giving back through local organizations. The conversation is filled with humor, personal anecdotes, and reflections on Grayslake's vibrant spirit—from favorite pizza spots to community events. With a warm, hometown feel, this episode highlights the importance of connection, kindness, and supporting one another in the Grayslake community. Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze Speaker 1 00:00:03  Looking for a car dealer that actually feels like your hometown. Welcome to City Chevrolet of Grayslake, where the vibe is friendly, the pressure is off and you'll always be treated like family. Meet Anthony Scala. He's just not the owner. He's a guy that grew up in the car business, worked his way from porter to owner. Anthony believes in people first. That's why City Chevy sponsors your kids teams, your town events. And matter of fact, this show, they give back every chance they get. Anthony thinks that the experience of buying a car should be fun. No pressure, just honest people who care whether you need a new Chevy, a quality used car, or just service you can trust. City Chevy is here for you. Come visit City Chevrolet of Grayslake right off of 120. And thank you for sponsoring Our town. Our stories, our voice. Let's get after it. Grayslake. Grayslake Rehabilitation Center is a community based private practice physical therapy provider. Do you know they have 13 clinical providers with various levels of specialties including orthopedics, sports, neurology, vestibular geriatrics, pelvic floor and aquatic. Speaker 1 00:01:05  What did I just say? They have a pool. Well they do. And it's the largest indoor warm water pool in Lake County. Featuring two underwater treadmills and swim currents and recently added clinical treatment specialties. In layman's terms. Shockwave. They have both radial and focus units that are the newest tool in regenerative medicine available to everyone. They pride themselves on the most current and up to date specialized care to keep you moving. If you're looking for physical therapy, make sure to see our friends at Grayslake Rehabilitation. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Discovering Grayslake. I'm so happy to be here recording again at Agora Co-working. Agora. As you know, if you've listened to any of these shows, Agora is on the corner of Centre Street and Atkinson. It's a co-working place, so if you guys are looking for a place to get your, your business out of the house for a day, for an hour, for a week or a lifetime home, Luke over here is a great dude, and I'll be happy to help you out. Speaker 1 00:01:58  So shout out to Agora for having us here. so I'm not going to mess up your name because you help me. So I'm here with Alan and Ziggy today. That's right buddy. Speaker 2 00:02:07  Hi, Dave. Nice to see you. And, Hello, internet. Speaker 1 00:02:09  Yes. So, actually, it's funny that we, Just as we sat down, we went over just a short thing of all the people from Grayslake that we just from just the Grayslake people that we know we have in common. Speaker 2 00:02:20  Right? I was living in Grayslake for the last 15, 20 years, and, my family lives in Grayslake. My mom does still, even though my dad passed away and I've been active in the Grayslake Exchange Club for a long time. So that's how I kind of got to know the people in that business community, stuff like that. Speaker 1 00:02:35  Right. Okay, so when I got arrested for the third time when I called you and then I called you, and I've not been arrested. Speaker 2 00:02:42  I would not be able to disclose the details unless you told me it was okay. Speaker 2 00:02:45  So just let me know, and I'm happy to. But we have attorney client confidentiality, which prohibits me from talking about it. Speaker 1 00:02:51  Which means all the fun stories that I want to ask you about to tell me today. You can't. Speaker 2 00:02:54  I can tell you stories, but I can't say like, hey, you know my client, Sergio. Guess what happened, right? I can't say that, but I can say I had this one guy and this one thing. I could do that, right? Speaker 1 00:03:03  He looked a lot like Mike Steiner, but. Speaker 2 00:03:06  Nobody looks like Mike Steiner. No, Mike Steiner is like Mike Steiner. Speaker 1 00:03:10  Doesn't even look like Mike Steiner. Speaker 2 00:03:12  He's like a ten. I mean, he's like, maybe mistaken for George Clooney from time to time. Speaker 1 00:03:17  He gets that a lot. I am. Speaker 2 00:03:18  Sure. Speaker 1 00:03:19  Shout out. Shout out to right at home. By the way, one of the sponsors of. Speaker 2 00:03:21  The show is an okay. Speaker 1 00:03:22  Dude. He's great. okay, so, Grayslake has changed, but what is your job? Speaker 2 00:03:27  Okay. Speaker 2 00:03:28  I am a lawyer. Speaker 1 00:03:29  Okay. What kind of a lawyer? Speaker 2 00:03:30  Okay, so my background is as a prosecutor. And when I was a prosecutor with the state's attorney's office. I guess I'll answer this in a long winded way. The easy question is, I tell people at Christmas parties. Like, what kind of lawyer are you? Divorces and DUIs. Okay. Okay. Because that's an easy way to break down family and criminal law. Those are my two specialties. I'm in a law firm called Johnston, Tommy Lansky and Goldberg. I'm one of the founding partners of that law firm, and we do everything collectively. I have a partner that does real estate. I have a partner that does business formation. I have a partner that does wills and trusts. We do probate litigation, foreclosures. We do all kinds of stuff. But my particular role at that law firm is family. So your divorces, child custody, child support type cases sometimes, and then also criminal cases. And, like, I have a murder right now. Speaker 2 00:04:20  So everything from murders down to traffic tickets and suspended licenses. Speaker 1 00:04:24  Is that normal for me? Because this shows how much I know. Is it normal for an attorney to have such a broad range of things like that? Speaker 2 00:04:30  So for me, I want two things, you know, so two things is pretty normal. If you're a guy that only, let's say only does criminal, it's I don't know you people do that, but I like to have a second sort of, type of case because sometimes it ebbs and flows in what you're getting. You know, the family law cases are hourly. The, criminal cases are a flat fee. Usually both are great. The family law cases are more, I guess intellectually and emotionally challenging sometimes. Which which maybe surprises some people. My criminal cases are usually a joy. Like family law cases can be tough. Speaker 1 00:05:08  Yeah, and that's one thing, because, it's no secret that I've been divorced twice. And, you know, for the for the people. And many people listen to the show, I mean, just from the, from the age demographics that I know that if people gone through these, like, heart wrenching, terrible parts of their life where they need someone like you to help guide them through and and hopefully make it as easy as possible. Speaker 2 00:05:29  Divorces are hard. I mean, a lot of you that are listening, have experienced it or your parents did or whatever. So, divorces are very difficult for people, and the plan with me would be just to get them done on time and under budget with a handshake at the end. Speaker 1 00:05:44  Okay. And I've never heard that before because I, I unfortunately, you know, I was spending a lot of time in courtrooms and seeing stuff like that, that it seems like, you know, the guys maybe that aren't doing well, or maybe they need to pay off their boat or something, string things along as long as they can. Speaker 2 00:05:58  They okay. I would never cast aspersions. I tell you, you might be surprised. The family law bar in Lake County is mostly fantastic people. Yeah. most of those lawyers I really like, I get along with the strength of our bench, you know, which means the judges in Lake County is good. Our bench is good. Our bar is good. there are a couple of lawyers that I'm like, oh, I got a case with her again. Speaker 2 00:06:21  Oh, I got a case with that guy. Right? because sometimes the law, just like any maybe more than some other, professions, can attract people with, like, a type of personality. That's annoying. I don't know, I don't want to. I'm not a psychiatrist or psychologist, so I can't say, like, all my clients come in and they say, oh, my husband, he's a narcissist. Or like, he's gaslighting me. People like those psychological sort of terms from today. Like the now times. Like we didn't know what narcissism and gaslighting was in 1997, right? Or I didn't, but now I do for sure, because all my clients are like, he's gaslighting me, he's a narcissist, he's a blah, blah. Speaker 1 00:07:01  One minute your world is normal, the next it's gone. A flood, a fire, a crime scene. Your home shattered, your business shut down, your life on pause. But in the darkest hour, when chaos knocks at your door, that's when Servpro of Northwest Lake County shows up. Speaker 1 00:07:20  Not just a company, not just a cleanup crew, but neighbors, parents, coaches, locals who care. Drake and his team aren't just restoring properties. They're restoring peace, restoring dignity, restoring lives. So when your worst day arrives, call the oh no guy who becomes your, thank God guy. Servpro of Northwest Lake County, locally owned, nationally known, unshakable and trusted from devastation to restoration. Duration. Servpro, northwest Lake County. Speaker 3 00:07:50  Hey, neighbors, this is Bill Mack with the Grayslake Chamber of Commerce. And if you're looking for a network of hardworking, customer focused and generally friendly local businesses who are dedicated to helping each other succeed, then I'd like to invite you to check out and consider joining our Grayslake chamber. We offer our members so many ways to advance their businesses through social networking events, special events, sponsorships, informative lunch and learns, and the ever popular after hours mixers. Come see why we say we're the new wave of business here in Lake County. Speaker 1 00:08:22  Well, at this time of day, everything needs a label, right? Speaker 2 00:08:24  They throw those labels around. Speaker 2 00:08:26  Which, I mean, there's there's nothing wrong with it. it helps me to identify, at least. Now, I don't know if the person saying he's a narcissist means that. Really, she's right and he is a narcissist. Or if it just is helping me to flag this case is going to be a little bit tougher than maybe some other ones. Truth, right? I could see that. It's like one. Okay. Like in internet. Now, I'm sure people are, like, watching TikTok. Like red flag. Red flag. Like I see, yes, red flags when those kind of cases walk in. Speaker 1 00:08:56  Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm sure things changed like that too. Okay. So I want to go back a little bit because you have a it's a very interesting that for me, if I was doing your job I would love it that you could do one day like you have a murderer thing. Totally. But but then you can have a family law case or maybe help a dad get, you know, custody of his child. Speaker 1 00:09:13  Like, yeah, at least there's a little variety for fun, right? Speaker 2 00:09:15  It's interesting. I mean, today I had a couple of DUIs up, you know? And DUIs are like a bread and butter type case for a criminal defense attorney. Because most people, especially in Grayslake, especially in Lake County, they're not murderers. They're not gang members, but otherwise good dude or an otherwise good lady who is not necessarily manifesting a criminal intent. Like I'm going to go shoplift. It's a guy saying, I've had too much to drink, I'm gonna drive. He's making a dumb choice to drive home, but he's not having the criminal intent. Like I want to endanger somebody tonight. Right. Right. And so a DUI is usually the first time that somebody that's a good person is in hot trouble. Speaker 1 00:09:55  Okay. Gotcha. And, you know, it's got to be nice to, some of these, I'm sure, having satisfaction to be able to to help people out and help them navigate through things they have no idea what they're getting into. Speaker 1 00:10:05  Right. Speaker 2 00:10:05  So. Okay, I used to work for a really fantastic attorney in Round Lake Beach, and I want to make sure to give a shout out to Round Lake Beach. That is an awesome town full of super awesome people. And this lawyer I used to work with, named Bruce Scotland. He taught me a lot. And he's still out in Round Lake. He's a competitor of mine, but I really respect him. And when I started working for him, he. He said, Alan, we love helping people for money. And I'm like, yeah, I love helping people for money. Right. Speaker 1 00:10:34  Well put. Right. It wouldn't be as fun as if you didn't get. Speaker 2 00:10:37  Paid for it. No, but I mean, and that, you know, it's a business. You want to help people? Yes. For money. Right. Right. So. And I'm not trying to sound cold, I do some pro bono. I know it's me, but I don't do pro bono divorces. Speaker 2 00:10:47  No way. They're too hot. They take too long. I'll do a pro bono traffic ticket. I'll give people. I used to volunteer at a safe place, and they have a, a battered women's shelter in Zion. And I used to go there, and I used to talk to the ladies about free legal advice. How can I help you? What do you. They have questions about everything, and I would just volunteer and talk to them. I love that, but, a really hot case to do pro bono is is a big mistake for attorney, in my opinion. Yeah. Attorney in my position, I'd say right. Speaker 1 00:11:16  Okay, so the one thing that really, that I found appealing when I was looking through, when we got connected and I went through your website and I was looking at things like places, like a safe place, like, those are people that really need help, right? Yeah. It's tough. I tip my hat to you for going in there and helping out, because I know there's a list of different things that that you do to give back, which is which is extremely generous of you. Speaker 2 00:11:39  Thanks. I just I just signed up to do the mock interviews at Libertyville High School. That's a cool program. Yeah. Cool. That high school has a really good program where they have these kids that are in the business class, and you give them mock interviews to, you know, improve their skills, to hone their hone their interviewing abilities. And I was blown away by how great the kids were. Really? I was like, you're really smart. You're really smart. Wow. You're what an active, wonderful person. And I was like a bump on the log. When I was in high school, I wasn't active like. Speaker 1 00:12:10  I would have loved to seen what my interview would have been like in high school. Speaker 2 00:12:14  I don't know, they were fantastic, but. So some of the stuff I do, yeah. In Libertyville, I was been active in Grayslake because I lived in Grayslake for many years. over there on West Trail. my mom lives in Harrison Farms and, yeah, that's we were living in Grayslake ever since about the turn of the millennium. Speaker 2 00:12:32  So that that wave of people that like third wave of of immigrants to Grayslake that began in the 90s when the, you know, when they started building the subdivision. Speaker 1 00:12:42  Farms, right? Yes. I think that I was one of the first off the Mayflower to when I landed at Avon on the Prairie, one of the first ones off of Atkinson. That was like one of the first things that wasn't in, you know, Grayslake proper. Right. So to say. Right. Right. That's what we showed up. But but so then how long ago is that? Speaker 2 00:13:01  So we moved here in like 2001. Okay. So my mom and dad bought a place in Grayslake on West Trail North in Harrison Farms. And I remember the first day we came to graze. Like, I'm from Florence, Illinois. Speaker 1 00:13:12  Okay. I was just gonna say. Where did you originally come from? Speaker 2 00:13:14  I'm from philosopher. I went to Homewood Philosopher High School. I was born in Harvey, at Ingalls. and, But that's why sometimes I get, like, a Chicago accent. Speaker 2 00:13:22  I don't know, whatever. It's like, it's a but but floss more is is a nice town in the 90s. I mean, it's like the lake bluff of the south side. Yeah. So we we had a good time growing up. Speaker 1 00:13:31  They should put that on their sign. Speaker 2 00:13:32  By the way. Yeah. Right. The lake bluff off. Speaker 1 00:13:35  The. Speaker 2 00:13:35  South side. I need the. Speaker 1 00:13:36  T. Speaker 2 00:13:36  Shirt. I mean, it is. I mean, it's kind of like being the tallest midget, you know? I mean, but no offense to people that are little people. I love them, too. but, you know, I don't know where I was going at that. Speaker 1 00:13:51  Time of growing up in Hollywood or more. Speaker 2 00:13:54  Grew up there. So then I came to, I lived in Champaign because I went to school down at U of I and Champaign, and it was fantastic. And my parents moved up to to Grayslake. So I come up to Grayslake, and on our first day, the restaurant they took me to was Bill's Pub North. Speaker 2 00:14:08  Yeah, right. Engages like and I just thought in my mind I'm like, I'm in the woods. My parents moved to Wisconsin, you know, where am I? I'm like, this is the woods. I mean, here in Wisconsin, there's a polar bear hanging there and there's fish every on, on the wall. And I thought, this is this is great. And it turned out Lake County's not quite Wisconsin, but it's close. It's an interesting. Speaker 1 00:14:29  Perception, I guess if you've never been here. And that's the place they took, I had to. Speaker 2 00:14:33  The only thing I had done with Grayslake before that when my parents moved here, Let's go to Prairie Crossing. Okay. Because my aunt and uncle lived in Prairie Crossing, which is a interesting. I wouldn't say the word weird, but it's an anomalous little part of the world. Prairie crossing is. Speaker 1 00:14:51  Absolutely. Speaker 2 00:14:51  I had never seen anything like that before, because I think that community at the time was novel and maybe still is. so I thought that all Lake County was like that. Speaker 2 00:15:00  And then I saw Bill's Pub and I went, oh my gosh, I'm in Wisconsin. Speaker 1 00:15:03  What's going on? You have no idea. Speaker 2 00:15:04  Where you're at. Am I at the U.P.? I mean, how is ten feet of snow? You know, this is I came from 708. You know, the land of good pizza and terrible baseball. Now, here I am. Speaker 1 00:15:15  The lake bluff on the south side. Speaker 2 00:15:17  Right, right. Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:18  That's awesome. okay, so, when you're studying law. So when you went to, you went to U of, I, law school? Speaker 2 00:15:25  No. So I went to I was an undergrad at u of I. Okay. and then I went to law school at DePaul. Speaker 1 00:15:30  We're taking a quick break just to say hello, because everybody knows Nano and Nano knows real estate. And actually I believe that's the name of her Instagram page. So if you're looking to buy a home, sell a home, or know somebody in the market for a home, contact nano from Baird and Warner. Speaker 1 00:15:44  She's a Grayslake girl helping out Grayslake people. And when you when you went to law school, did you know what you wanted to practice? Speaker 2 00:15:52  Yeah. So I don't mean to be, like, whatever, a little bit, emotional or emo in the, in the interview, but it was September 11th of 2001. Right. And you probably remember that day, but I could remember that day. I wanted a date with the girl. I looked in the sky and I saw there was no jet contrails. What a what a crazy day. And after that day, I thought to myself, I would like to be in law enforcement because I'd like to help our country for, I don't know, because America, I like America. Amen. And I was mad. Oh, I'm nine over 11, right? I mean, come on. Speaker 1 00:16:27  Everybody was. Yes. Speaker 2 00:16:28  So. But after that, I thought I'd go into criminal law. I thought I wanted to be a prosecutor, So then I got a job with Mike Waller, at the State's Attorney's office. Speaker 2 00:16:39  And I tell you, you know Mike Waller, I owe him everything. I love the guy. I know some people don't, but he's a politician. There's people that hate his guts, people that love and support him. He always was a gentleman to me, and I never. I just thought that, the decision making he made was good, and he gave me a job saving my bacon. You know, and so I got to begin my career as a prosecutor. And I was a line assistant state's attorney in Waukegan. They start you off as a DUI assistant. So, you know, brand new 25 year old kid. I was prosecuting DUIs. Misdemeanor DUIs. Right? Misdemeanor traffic cases out in the branch courts. And that was very good. Fulfilling. Fun work, I liked it. Okay. You know, you did. and then, they switched me to just misdemeanor stuff. And I was prosecuting your retail thefts. And back when weed was illegal, I was prosecuting your weed cases and your trespassing. Speaker 2 00:17:31  And here's your fights. And then they stuck me in the domestic violence division for a long time. Speaker 1 00:17:35  Okay, so how was that? Speaker 2 00:17:38  Okay. You know Lew Frank. Of course. Okay. Lew Frank is a fantastic Grayslake. And he would say felt like five minutes underwater, you know, to to be a line assistant in the domestic violence courtroom is hard. Speaker 1 00:17:55  I. Speaker 2 00:17:55  Bet. Because you have to look at the cases. And so, like, are you familiar with the cycle of violence? This is this theory. Speaker 1 00:18:02  I am not. Speaker 2 00:18:03  Okay. So it's a theory that's a big part of criminal prosecutions of domestic violence. And the cycle of violence goes like this. Right now we're having a fight, and I'm going to use the gender of he and she, you know, whatever. But sometimes women can be the victim of domestic violence. Sometimes guys can. But in a classic situation, let's say he slaps her. Okay. Then she calls the police. He's arrested. But then in a few days she's like, maybe he's not that bad or I need him out of jail so he can, like, work and pick up our kid from school. Speaker 2 00:18:35  Like you've been a parent, you know? And so maybe she takes them back and then they have a honeymoon period where it's, like, passionate, like we love each other, and then it can happen again, you know? And that cycle of violence. The State's Attorney's office was really keen to interrupt it. Right. But then that meant that lots of times you'd have the victims, I guess recanting, they'd say, hey, that didn't happen like that, or I'm not coming to court, you know? And so that was frustrating. And then sometimes you had cases, not all, sometimes you had cases where it was a situation where the family's going through a domestic violence thing. Maybe. But maybe what it really is, is a child custody thing. And somebody ringing the bell of domestic violence to get a leg up on somebody in a child custody type proceeding. Right. Like, like I'm going to get an order of protection against him. So I get our kid, which, I mean, I get that, but you need to really be careful about abuses of the system. Speaker 2 00:19:32  So as a line assistant with the State Attorney's office, as back then, I mean, things have changed a little bit now. They have had two different, changeovers between the state's attorney. but anyway, long story short, you still have to use your discretion to decide what really happened. And at least at the time I was a state's attorney, we were empowered with a good amount of discretion. It was awesome. Speaker 1 00:19:53  Really. Speaker 2 00:19:54  So. Speaker 1 00:19:54  Yeah. And and I'm sure with that, too, like, you probably get to be a really good read of people. but then sometimes you probably think you are and then people bamboozle whatever. And you probably don't even know. Speaker 2 00:20:06  I mean, you ever been lied to about your own kid, right? Speaker 1 00:20:09  I mean, you believe. Speaker 2 00:20:09  Him, and then you believe him, and you're like, I have egg on my face. I was lied to in kind. You know, so sometimes, you know, you just you don't have a, a lie detector that buzzes when she lies or he lies, you don't know. Speaker 2 00:20:25  So you have to do your best with what the facts are. But there was a good team at the time. But yeah, I did. Two and a half years as a as a domestic violence prosecutor. And then so when I left the State's Attorney's office, I thought to myself, well, I've been doing family law cases basically already. I may as well do them as a business. Sure. You know, so that's what I did. So now my practice is a hybrid. That's why I say divorces and DUIs. It's family law cases. And then it's criminal law cases too, because I've done all that. Speaker 1 00:20:52  Wow. So your resume is quite deep for all kinds of different things, right? Speaker 2 00:20:58  I guess. Speaker 1 00:20:59  Right. Speaker 2 00:20:59  You know, it's just like, I don't know how other people get through life. This is just what I did. Right. Speaker 1 00:21:05  Well, and everybody, you know, people look at different people, whether you're a doctor, whether you're a lawyer, whether you're a podcaster, where whatever you do that, everybody does something for a line of work that, you know, people are. Speaker 1 00:21:16  You deal with very delicate situations, people going through stuff. And especially the one thing about the family law stuff, it it must be hard for you to stay. You have to almost train yourself to not get emotionally involved in some of those things, right? Speaker 2 00:21:28  I sometimes. Speaker 1 00:21:28  Do. Speaker 2 00:21:29  I remember my first adoption. You know, we had a case that was a very ugly family law case, and it went on a long time. And then at the end of it, the dad, he agreed to put the child up for adoption. To the mom and her new husband. Okay. So the dad was making a very hard choice. Because, I mean, to give up your child, you know, and to look in the mirror and say, all right, I wasn't doing that good of a job. This new dude who's married my ex girl, he'll do better in the best interest of my child. It takes kind of like a man to do that. Speaker 1 00:22:06  Oh, that's a big decision, right? It's a big leap of faith. Speaker 2 00:22:08  But on the other hand, too, you know, maybe people are judging him about. You walked away from your kid, you didn't fight harder. So it's very tough, you know. And that's the type of case I remember I had, like, one manly tear going down my. Speaker 1 00:22:18  Face. Speaker 2 00:22:19  Looking into my steely eyed gaze. No it wasn't. I was bawling like a baby. I was so happy for them, you know? But also that's that's. Those are big moments. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:22:30  So you cool stuff too? Yeah, right. And to see people come through stuff that they deserve that the, the law can either work in your favor or against you. And it's nice when it actually works, right. Speaker 2 00:22:40  It's hard. I will say, okay. I was worried as a kid that I would come into the law and see a lot of weird stuff, like judges tossing cases in exchange for Cubs tickets. I have never seen any of that in Lake County. Really? I have never seen anything crooked or weird. Speaker 2 00:22:58  Everybody's been really professional. I mean, and I'm like, me that right? It's not just because I want to keep on working with these people. Most of them are fantastic. Speaker 1 00:23:06  Well, well, the Cubs have been doing that. Speaker 2 00:23:08  Well, no better than the White Sox, sadly. Speaker 1 00:23:11  Now, if somebody did something bad. Speaker 2 00:23:12  For White Sox. Speaker 1 00:23:13  Tickets, we really question what. Speaker 2 00:23:15  I heard. You could buy some chili at Wendy's and you get free season tickets to the White Sox, right? A cup of chili at Wendy's. Speaker 1 00:23:22  So well. In all seriousness, it is really good to hear you say that because, you know, everybody watches all these TV show, every law TV show and court TV show that people have this fantasy of things, how how they how they go along. Speaker 2 00:23:34  I don't ever watch any legal TV at all. Ever. I just don't. That's probably a good idea. The last legal movie was probably Liar Liar with Jim Carrey, which is a fantastic movie. Speaker 1 00:23:46  Very serious movie about the law. Speaker 2 00:23:48  I don't because I like do it for a living. And then honestly, at 502 when I'm at home, I'm like, I'll see you tomorrow. That sounds like a a modern day problem, al. Speaker 1 00:23:58  Right. Right. Speaker 2 00:24:00  So no, because otherwise you go insane. Speaker 1 00:24:02  No. Yeah, well, everybody needs a break from their job. Nobody wants to go home and do it. And that's why, you know, I've been self-employed for a very long time. That's why most self-employed people end up getting in office in hopes that when you go to the office, you can leave and leave your work there and go home. And if they can make that work. Speaker 2 00:24:20  That's why I don't work from home. Ever. Speaker 1 00:24:22  Yeah, well, good for you. Speaker 2 00:24:23  I mean, I guess ever is a word, I mean. I, I don't. Never say never. I don't like to work from home. And I very, very, very seldom. Speaker 1 00:24:30  Do. Speaker 2 00:24:30  It. Speaker 1 00:24:30  Right. Okay. That's good. Speaker 1 00:24:32  let's do something, because I have a couple other questions to ask you, but, you've said you've listened to a couple of podcasts. Sure. so we do something about halfway through. I call the Grayslake hot seat, where we have some rapid fire questions to get to know you just a little bit better. Speaker 2 00:24:45  I ain't scared enough. Speaker 1 00:24:46  Remember when you said, are these open ended questions, or is this an interrogation or whatever? I ain't scared, right? The Grayslake hot seat is brought to you by Joe Velez, JP financial. It's often said that those who fail to plan are planning to fail. Joe Velez and his team at GPB financial create unique financial plans that are some of the most difficult challenges that people might face as they get older, no matter what stage of life you're in. Having a proactive financial plan can help navigate some of the difficult decisions you'll face, helping you live your life by design, not default securities and investment advisory service offered through Mosaic Wealth, Inc. member Finra, SIPC. Speaker 1 00:25:26  Now for the Grayslake hotseat. Hey. Thanks, Joe. This is where we need the, This. We should have done with a surveillance camera to do this, I think would have been really good. Speaker 2 00:25:36  I've seen lots of those police interviews. I'm looking around for the mirror with the guy behind it. Speaker 1 00:25:42  It's just. It is behind there. We just have the, newer ones, so to say. okay. So, Grayslake. Casey, did you play a, a sport in high school in the lake bluff of the the swimming. Speaker 2 00:25:58  I was on my country club swim team. The floss. More flyers. Yeah. Wow. Speaker 1 00:26:03  Yeah, that sounds bougie as all good. Speaker 2 00:26:05  It was kind of bougie, but, I mean, at the time, I didn't think it was. And at the time, I thought I looked fat in that Speedo. But now I look at those pictures, I'm like, you looked awesome, right? Speaker 1 00:26:13  Well, you got to look back. Speaker 2 00:26:14  Were you wearing a Speedo and everything? It was the 90s. Speaker 1 00:26:17  Were you good? Speaker 2 00:26:18  I mean, okay. Okay. I didn't come in last place because I'm kind of tall, right? And they made me swim a lot. I mean, in the morning, they would say it's 7:00 in the morning, do a bunch of laps. And when you're 14, 15, 16, you do that a lot. You get to be fit. Speaker 1 00:26:32  Oh, absolutely. It's the best. Speaker 2 00:26:34  That was nice. I like that I played T-ball as a little kid. but no, swimming was my jam. And then I became a lifeguard. I was a lifeguard for the H.F. Park district. That was fantastic. Speaker 1 00:26:43  Yeah, that's not a bad gig to have. Awesome gig. Yeah. Nice. First car. Speaker 2 00:26:48  Well, Volvo 740, a blue baby blue Volvo 740. Speaker 1 00:26:52  Nice. I'm a Volvo. Speaker 2 00:26:54  It helped me get one of my first girlfriends who was, honest to God, a Swedish foreign exchange student at my high school. No way. Anne-Marie. Honest to God. Speaker 2 00:27:04  And she. Speaker 1 00:27:04  Got her with a Volvo. Speaker 2 00:27:06  Because they make them in Sweden. And she. She sees it and she goes, oh, she goes, what an awesome car. But I wish it was a Saab. Speaker 1 00:27:14  You did? Speaker 2 00:27:15  She did. Totally. Speaker 1 00:27:16  That's so great. And, folks, I want you to listen closely. Maybe. Hit the rewind button there, because that is the first and last time you'll ever hear on the show about how a guy got a girl because of a Volvo. Speaker 2 00:27:25  That was unlikely. Speaker 1 00:27:27  The only reason that it will happen, totally. Speaker 2 00:27:29  But it was it was. That was my Volvo. It was my in with the Swedish girl. I was fine by me. Speaker 1 00:27:34  That was hilarious. Yeah, and they don't make many blue ones like that either. So it. Speaker 2 00:27:38  Was cool. It was a baby blue Volvo. I mean, whatever, I don't think it was. No, it wasn't cool, but it got me from A to B and. Right. Speaker 1 00:27:45  Whatever, man. Speaker 1 00:27:46  Hey, I got 200,000 on mine sitting in the parking lot. Speaker 2 00:27:48  I had a Dodge Neon for a while. I love that Dodge Neon. Right. I can talk about cars. Speaker 1 00:27:51  Yeah. You were, Yes. The the, two of the hottest cars. I could think of. Hot stuff in my head. speaking of that. So this is what? Oh, maybe this would be a fun one for you. What's the fastest you've ever gone in a in a vehicle? Speaker 2 00:28:06  Well, I got, like, an airplane, like. Speaker 1 00:28:07  No, no, no, we'll leave that out. Speaker 2 00:28:09  Like in. Speaker 1 00:28:10  A car. In a car. Speaker 2 00:28:10  I don't know, a hundred. Speaker 1 00:28:12  Just a. Speaker 2 00:28:12  Hundred, you know. Yeah. Because, I mean, I was a kid and stepping on it. Right. And nowadays, if you do that, like, I never do that anymore. I don't speed anymore. I don't, because the consequences. And I don't mean like death and dismemberment. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:28:24  That happens. Speaker 1 00:28:25  That's all legal consequences. Speaker 2 00:28:26  Yeah. The cops light you up, you know, and the the cases are class A misdemeanors. and they're punishable by up to a year in jail and or a fine of $2,500. Speaker 1 00:28:36  Wow. Speaker 2 00:28:37  Back when I was a prosecutor, I became friends with some police. And maybe they don't say this anymore, but I used to hear nine year fine, 11 year mine. Okay. All right. Which is consistent with my lived experience. Speaker 1 00:28:49  Of going nine miles over. Speaker 2 00:28:50  Nine year fine 11 year. Mine is what the police would say. And and that bears with what I've seen during the time that I've, I've done lots and lots of traffic tickets as a, as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney. And you never see somebody getting pulled over for five over. Right? You know, they are looking at you for 11 to 15 starting at 11, maybe 15 now 20. They want you right? You know, but like I said, nine. You're fine. Speaker 2 00:29:15  11. Your mind. I think that's pretty good. That's the advice I give a lot of the kids that I represent. This is. Speaker 4 00:29:20  Bob Churchill. I know you are always there for your family, caring for your children, your spouse, and even your parents. But in critical times, will you be able to make decisions that assure the best result for your family? Power of attorney may be necessary if, on behalf of a loved one, you need to talk to a doctor, a bank, or the college infirmary. A power of attorney may sound daunting, but the lawyers at Churchill, Quinn, Hamilton and Van Dantzler can easily create this document for you. We are right here in Grayslake supporting the community for over 122 years. Reach out to us at Grayslake law.com or call us at (847) 223-1500. Whether you need a power of attorney, a will or legal help with your business, we'll take care of you so you can care for others. Go to Grayslake Law.com today for more information. Have a wonderful day. Speaker 4 00:30:09  And now back to the program. Speaker 1 00:30:11  Interesting. That's good advice, too. which is funny. I won't tell you how fast I've gone then, because I would not have been fine. Tell me something. Do you like to travel? You have not been. Speaker 2 00:30:25  So I've been like Johnny Cash. I've been everywhere, you know. I have been to lots of different places in this country because my wife is a maniac for travel. She loves it. And we have little kids and we take road trips. But we had little kids. Now they're getting old. my oldest is a sophomore in high school. Speaker 1 00:30:40  Oh, my gosh, it goes fast. It does it really. It just moves. It moves moves, moves so fast. And then I think I heard you have a ten year old too, right? Speaker 2 00:30:46  He's he's a wonderful guy. Awesome guy. but yeah, I have a of a 16 to 12 and a ten, and we've always done road trips around the country. you know, I don't know, early ones where? Tennessee and Kentucky, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, all through Wisconsin. Speaker 2 00:31:00  Indiana. Out to Maine. East coast, Florida. A lot of times we've flown out to California, Utah and Nevada. so around the country And then, like I used to, I lived in Europe briefly. I lived in London for a few years. Speaker 1 00:31:14  Did she really? How cool is that? Speaker 2 00:31:16  My mom, she was a lawyer at, Amoco. Right. The the gasoline company, you know, Amoco. They used to have that big white tower in downtown Chicago. The Amoco building, right? Absolutely. Formerly Standard Oil of Indiana. John Rockefeller's thing. And then they trust. Busted it. Whatever. Monopoly busted it. Right. So. But Amoco, if you remember, in the 90s, merged with BP, British Petroleum. So they moved my mom's job from Chicago to London. So we lived there for a while, and I was kind of in school in champagne and going to London in the summertime. That was awesome. Speaker 1 00:31:47  Oh yeah, especially at that age. But it was really cool. Speaker 2 00:31:50  I worked at a bar. I worked at a pub called the Prince Albert Stafford. That is the guy. It was awesome. Speaker 1 00:31:58  Folks, this isn't a real interview. Just so you know, I just brought one of my buddies in. Speaker 2 00:32:02  I worked at a at a pub called the Prince Albert, and it was in, Notting Hill. Right. You remember Notting Hill with the Hugh Grant movie? You've probably never seen that movie. Speaker 1 00:32:11  I've seen the movie poster. Speaker 2 00:32:12  I saw the poster. Yeah. So Hugh Grant, I thought he was good in the dad movie. But I never saw Notting Hill. But I worked in Notting Hill. so. Yeah, I don't know. Travel places. Speaker 1 00:32:23  There's nothing that you have, like a bucket list. Like I gotta. Speaker 2 00:32:26  Go. Like I don't need to go to Thailand. I don't know. I guess if I had infinite money, I'd travel Europe again, I like it. Sure. Speaker 1 00:32:32  You know, when the. The age of your kid. It sounds like you did your traveling and you did what you wanted to. Speaker 1 00:32:36  And your kids have got, like, some of the best education that kids can get is traveling all over the United States because the United States is cool. Speaker 2 00:32:43  It's fantastic. And like when you travel the United States, like the other day I was coming back from Florida on I-65. We stopped at the Bucky's in Athens, Alabama, which is, you know, a Bucky's is like a like a, you know, if you, you know, a Bucky's, of course. Yeah. It's a giant gas station in front of a giant Walmart, basically. You know, or maybe more like a Kmart. Speaker 1 00:33:03  But one of my favorite places, one of my favorite things, if anybody goes on TikTok right now, there's a woman that explains what Buc-ees is and is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen in my whole life. I love it. Like, if you want to feel like your true, true white trash, she explains exactly what it is. And because we all get excited to go to a Bucky's right. Speaker 2 00:33:22  My kids were stupid excited. They were. And I'm like, guys, it's a gas station that's in front of a K-Mart. What are you talking about? You know. Speaker 1 00:33:29  Exactly what. Speaker 2 00:33:30  It is. I mean, whatever. Back in the old days, Kmart used to have barbecue sandwiches, too. True. Speaker 1 00:33:35  You just couldn't get a puzzle. A sweatshirt and a, you know, corned beef sandwich? No. All at the same time. Speaker 2 00:33:40  It's a fancy dress I've traveled around. It's great. I like. Speaker 1 00:33:43  The train. I like the Bucky's. Was one of the highlights on your trip. Kept coming back. It kind of was. It's kind of. It's kind of fun. And we're getting one close to here now. I keep seeing the signs. God love. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:33:53  God love them. I hope that they take over. I'm ready for Bucky's to be the only employer in the United States. Speaker 1 00:34:00  Did we talk? What was your first job when you were. So you lifeguard was a lifeguard? Speaker 2 00:34:05  Yeah, I was a lifeguard. Speaker 1 00:34:05  Did we call that a job? Is that a job? Speaker 2 00:34:07  Oh, really? Man. Lifeguard. It could be my career. That is a fantastic job. Speaker 1 00:34:12  Maybe when you want to retire, you can go back and be a lifeguard. Speaker 2 00:34:14  My uncle, actually, he was like a car salesman and stuff. And then when he retired, he used to be a lifeguard at his, you know, apartment complex. Like, that's a great job, dude. Come on. Speaker 1 00:34:24  Wow. Maybe when I grow up, I'll look into that. Speaker 2 00:34:26  Be a lifeguard. Speaker 1 00:34:27  It's cool. I'm gonna. Speaker 2 00:34:28  It's cool. Speaker 1 00:34:29  I think it could be a. Speaker 2 00:34:30  Tad creepy. Speaker 1 00:34:31  If I applied at the Grayslake pool right now. Speaker 2 00:34:33  No, I mean, they need people that with with with maturity and experience. Yes. You know. Speaker 1 00:34:39  I have a shirt that says that that's for my requirements. Speaker 2 00:34:42  And it was nice. And I worked at Jewel. I worked at the library in summer. I mean, it was great. Speaker 1 00:34:47  So you had a lot of different jobs? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:34:48  So you actually were taught some work ethic as a as a child from your parents as well? Speaker 2 00:34:53  Well, they worked hard. My parents, they loved each other. They stayed together the whole time. They were both lawyers. They worked. And I just wanted to work. Right. Speaker 1 00:35:01  I don't know. They said very good examples, right? That's awesome. first concert you ever attended? Speaker 2 00:35:07  Man, I don't know. okay. It was, the World Music Center, right? Yeah. Q101 had one of those concerts that's like, not it wasn't, not not, Twisted Christmas. It's the one they did in the summertime. And I remember that garbage. Jamiroquai. Mighty, mighty. Speaker 1 00:35:27  Boston's nice. Speaker 2 00:35:29  Were there. I mean, that's, like, awesome. And I went with a Swedish girl. Really? So. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:35:34  Did you drive the Volvo. Speaker 2 00:35:35  There, though? Maybe I might have got dropped off by my parents, so. Speaker 1 00:35:39  Good, good. Good concert. Speaker 2 00:35:41  I saw the Smashing Pumpkins down there, but that was a different day. Speaker 2 00:35:44  Oh, nice. Billy Corgan, love that guy. Speaker 1 00:35:46  Yeah. He, Billy was at that because I had forever. I forget that where they're from, around North Shore. Yeah, right. And I was hanging out, and I was doing a daddy daughter dance, and a guy came up that looked a lot like Billy Corgan and asked for a song. And I had told him no. Yeah, because it wasn't really. It wasn't really appropriate. Yeah, right. And then somebody came back and one of the people said, well, Mr. Corgan asked for a song, and I guess you told him that you weren't going to play it. And I'm like, okay, well, it just didn't fit with what we were going to do, because I like to think that I do the right thing, right? You do the wood, you work music, you do the right thing for the party. You got to know your audience, unless it's Billy Corgan. And then you just say. Speaker 2 00:36:23  Do what he says. Speaker 1 00:36:24  Right? Speaker 5 00:36:24  Despite all my rage, he's awesome. Speaker 2 00:36:27  It was the best. Speaker 1 00:36:28  And it wasn't a pumpkin song, though. Speaker 2 00:36:29  Oh, that's too bad. Speaker 1 00:36:30  I wish I knew what the song was, though, to look back. Speaker 2 00:36:32  I would think that Billy loves putting on pumpkin songs. I would think that he lists the pumpkins all the time. Speaker 1 00:36:38  He's driving around right now listening. Speaker 2 00:36:40  To all these new stuff because his old stuff is for posers. He's like that old stuff. I'm over it. Only my new stuff. Only Billy and Machines have got to listen to right now. Speaker 1 00:36:48  Yeah. That's hilarious. if you had to have a superpower, what would it be? Speaker 2 00:36:54  Being the greatest golfer ever. Speaker 1 00:36:57  Really? Speaker 2 00:36:57  Yeah. Speaker 1 00:36:58  Come on. That would be good. But then you wouldn't have. Would it be any fun? Because then you beat everybody all the time. But yeah, you could play with people though. Speaker 2 00:37:05  Then you'd be good at golf. And that's what my dream would be. I would love to. Speaker 2 00:37:08  I'm not that good at golf. I wish I were okay. I practice and practice and the people that are naturally gifted, I look at them with such envy, you know? Speaker 1 00:37:17  Now, being a being an attorney makes you a better golfer, though. Doesn't like doctors and attorneys and like. Speaker 2 00:37:22  Yeah, yeah. And some of the attorneys really suck, which is great because I can just stuff them. You know, these old guys especially that that don't play that much. Oh, I'm way better than them. That makes me feel so good about myself just to stuff them. Yeah. Hey. Nice chat counsel. Oh. Speaker 1 00:37:38  That's fantastic. what do you wish you learned sooner in life? Speaker 2 00:37:43  Spanish. Really? Totally, dude. Speaker 1 00:37:45  It's a great answer. Speaker 2 00:37:46  Spanish. Speaker 1 00:37:47  Wow. Okay. So, you know, young people, people in high school, people go in and they're like. I have to tell them. It's probably one of the best things you can do. Right. As an education level, Just. Speaker 2 00:38:00  Your friends, your coworkers, your clients. You know, I mean, learning Spanish is awesome. I personally have a super awesome, legal assistant, and, she is bilingual and she helps me do so much. So I shout out to Crystal. Crystal, you're fantastic. But, like I said, if only I had paid more attention in school and I was better at Spanish, I wish. Right? Speaker 1 00:38:21  Yeah. No. And it's really. That's a great answer. I'm going to. Maybe I'll start learning a different language. have you ever eaten a roller dog from a gas station? No, really? With all the all the road trips you've taken. Speaker 2 00:38:34  I don't do that. Speaker 1 00:38:35  Maybe I'm smarter than me. Speaker 2 00:38:36  Because I'm worried about, like, dying from bacteria. Like it's. Guys, it's only ten more hours to Chicago. Stop 11. Speaker 5 00:38:43  Times. Speaker 2 00:38:43  Or having. Speaker 1 00:38:44  Explosive diarrhea on a. Speaker 2 00:38:45  On a road trip. You know, I don't either. I never eaten, I mean, I've bought stuff at gas stations, beer, I've bought smokes, I've bought lots of things. Speaker 2 00:38:53  if I'm gonna shop for food at gas stations, it's probably beef jerky. Speaker 1 00:38:57  They do have some coffee. Speaker 2 00:38:58  Beef jerky. Maybe some candy. Speaker 1 00:39:00  Okay, nice. what's the chance that, Bigfoot exists? Speaker 2 00:39:04  0%. Speaker 1 00:39:05  Really? Speaker 2 00:39:05  It's a hoax. Speaker 1 00:39:06  Really? Speaker 2 00:39:07  Yeah, I don't believe. I don't think so. Cryptids. Speaker 1 00:39:09  Really? Speaker 2 00:39:10  I'm not aliens. I'm not sure. Ghosts I don't believe in. Okay, okay. Speaker 1 00:39:15  All right. Okay. We were friends right up until. Let's see, what's the mark on there? 3605. Speaker 2 00:39:21  It's okay. You think that Bigfoot exists? Speaker 1 00:39:23  I. I think that the best, the best answer I ever got from it was from Doctor Terry Silky. our wonderful big. One of the biggest philanthropists in town. who's a orthodontic specialist for Lake County. Big shout out, Terry. he said that we think about all the things that we've gone through, like from history, from dinosaurs, to, like, all this thing. He's like, if you don't think it's a distinct possibility that we have a Bigfoot, maybe. Speaker 1 00:39:48  Maybe not today. Right. But maybe in the past. Like with all the things that we've had, he said. But, you know, this guy's been on 20 safaris and you've seen the whole thing. Speaker 2 00:39:58  You would think that there would be, like, Bigfoot heads mounted in the Smithsonian, you know. Speaker 1 00:40:03  Or at Bill's Pub. Speaker 2 00:40:04  Or Bill's Pub. Definitely. You know. I mean, there would be that. And I mean, the fact is, like, I know people lie and they sometimes lie for attention. So ergo, could it have been a hoax, too? Oh. Speaker 1 00:40:15  Maybe. Speaker 2 00:40:16  Right. Speaker 1 00:40:16  And actually, if anybody's watching, I just got this shirt as a gift. It's come from. It's from Logan, Ohio. And they have a, in the summertime. They have a Bigfoot festival there. Yeah. So my only thing is, if he doesn't exist, because this is this podcast is really about Bigfoot. It's not about you. Just so you know. Speaker 2 00:40:35  But I. Speaker 1 00:40:35  Hear you. But why or why is it such a big hoax everywhere? Then why do they have festivals for these? Speaker 2 00:40:40  Cute. I mean, like, people, you know? I mean, people, like, they think he's adorable. He's funny. He's like a meme. I think before memes. Speaker 1 00:40:47  Kill people, I think that might be. Speaker 2 00:40:49  What about Harry and the Hendersons? He was nice. Speaker 1 00:40:51  Yeah, that was just a. That's fiction. Like, he was nice, like Notting Hill. Speaker 2 00:40:54  He would always be like. He would always, like, hide bashfully in the closet. He's cool. Speaker 1 00:40:59  And John Lithgow, isn't that too? Speaker 2 00:41:00  He's nice. Right? He's always frustrated here. He does something. Speaker 1 00:41:04  Well, when I have evidence, I'm calling you. Speaker 2 00:41:06  Call me. I would love to be proven wrong about this, and I will. I would be happy to to to shake Bigfoot's hand. Speaker 1 00:41:12  Okay, good. Because now that we have these new phones that have better, you know, they focus better. Speaker 1 00:41:16  Now we'll get a clear picture of them, not just the fuzzy ones. Speaker 2 00:41:19  I only wish that Nessie was existing. The Loch Ness monster, that's my favorite cryptid. And I have never seen any good proof of that. That's a darn shame. Speaker 1 00:41:28  Yeah, well, hey, you never know. We're finding out all kinds of fun things these days. You never know. All right, so I think it's time we switch off of our hotseat. Questions that we've covered the really important stuff. Thank you. one thing I want to thank you for, because I know that you are a part of an organization, here, which is the Exchange Club. Yeah. so I know that, let's talk for people that aren't familiar with the Exchange Club. What is it? What is it based upon? Speaker 2 00:41:53  Okay, so the Exchange Club is cool. It's really an old organization. It's from, I don't know, 1913. And it is a group that I like in Grayslake because I just get together with my friends and have lunch. Speaker 2 00:42:05  Right. You know, so it's a bunch of business and community leaders. or not even, I mean, not at all. Some of them are just regular people. We have a, you know, like, I don't know, I want to say a retired teacher, not a community leader, but, you know, retired teachers come. And we had a retired accountant lady for a long time. And, you know, people that are just townies. Right. and, they come on, they have lunch where at first draft it's noon. if anybody wants to come to the Exchange Club, it's free lunch. Call me. (847) 549-0600. You can be my guest, but I like the Exchange club, because the main thing is that they plan big parties for the town. You know, they have the craft beer festival, you know, they do, stuff with, I got a taste of Grayslake downtown summer thing. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:42:46  And what did you change the name of all the time? Summer days. Speaker 1 00:42:48  Summer days, Summerfest. Speaker 2 00:42:50  They. but they they do cool stuff. They raise money and then they give that money away to kids in grades, like to go to school, right? Speaker 1 00:42:56  SIPs for scholarships. That's what the, the the craft beer festival is. Speaker 2 00:42:59  Yes. And then and it's good money. They're like, here's a thousand bucks, kid. And it's a Grayslake student that's a top student to go to college. You know, they do good stuff like that. They promote Americanism. you know, what is that? It is what? It's that Americanism is like liking 911 and being interested in our country and like. Right. You know, so it's a cool organization. Check it out. Speaker 1 00:43:21  Yeah. And I like all the nice things they do and the, the men and women that are involved in that. I happen to be fond of a lot of them. Yeah. I think the one day that I knew I knew nothing about the Exchange Club, and I think it was the day that you guys were doing your, you you had picked a couple of kids for scholarships. Speaker 1 00:43:36  You were giving them. And I saw these kids first. I was walking down to have an afternoon beer at the first draft or something like that. So I saw these two kids, like walking back to school and these big smiles on their faces. right? So I get to the bottom and a bunch of the Exchange Club members are hanging out, and to see these men that were standing there, and they were so blown away and so happy and so just straightforward, just happy about what they did. It was it made me really have a fondness for the organization. Speaker 2 00:44:05  And I just want to shout out to the Grayslake kids from North and Central. They're like really fantastic kids, you know? the some of the kids that are winning these awards, I mean, back when I was a kid, I tried to get good grades. I tried to do well in my tests, but otherwise I just went home. Speaker 1 00:44:22  How did I get so smart? Speaker 2 00:44:23  I don't, and they. And they have the energy, this boundless energy that is really. Speaker 2 00:44:27  It's admirable and kind of scary. So God level, I mean, whatever. Speaker 1 00:44:33  Which is. Speaker 2 00:44:34  Good. Don't you ever nap, you know, don't you ever eat too much pizza and then go to sleep, right, like me. So. Speaker 1 00:44:39  Right. Right. And especially as a high school kid. Right. And these guys are doing really, really well with things. Yeah. Speaker 6 00:44:44  Hey, Lake County, I know you know, a teacher out there that needs to be recognized. I'm Jodi, former educator, now realtor, and I'm here representing Educators Advantage. We want you to nominate a teacher of the month. Click the link in the show notes and nominate your favorite teacher. Make your favorite teacher feel appreciated and give them a shout out. Speaker 1 00:45:09  Cool! So I love to see people that get involved with organizations, especially like when going back, like the Safe Place kind of things. So explain this to me too. Are there more than one location for Safe Place? Because there's one in Zion. Speaker 1 00:45:21  Is there also one in Mundelein? Speaker 2 00:45:23  So okay, that is the family visitation center. Okay. Okay. That I believe has moved. Okay. So you'd want to check with Safe Place about the details for when I was involved in the organization. They had two places. They had a women's shelter. That was like a big apartment building in Zion, and it's tucked away. So you don't know about it, right? God love them. But then they also have a really important role that they play, having to do with, facilitating visitation or exchanges of parties that have, like ops against each other. Orders of protection. Yep. Okay. So you've got to go there. You, like drop off your kid in the front, and then dad comes in the back, and then they have like a meeting and they hang out for an hour and have pizza. And then there's people watching, like little child. Jimmy smiled when you saw dad. Right. And they take notes and they give that to the court and the safe place. Speaker 2 00:46:16  Like, honestly, so many exchanges, so much visitation just couldn't happen because of the acrimony between the parties. But for what a safe place does. So they're cool. They're they're fantastic. Speaker 1 00:46:27  I love them and it's nice. And I like places that are put together that look for the best for the children and to keep them safe to and keep, because sometimes just two people just don't get along. So that's a nice way to then get in there. Speaker 2 00:46:38  It's one of the toughest things about family cases is when you have a tremendous amount of acrimony, even like a good divorce, where it's just. I don't love him anymore. You know, you've got to co-parent the kid. But when it's a situation where it's like he raped me or he beat me up, or he right got 60 Y's or he. Whatever those cases, you know, the judges are very reluctant to totally shut out a parent. So they'll give him or her sometimes. Sometimes it's a her, you know, supervised visitation, wrangled by a safe place or supervised by perhaps somebody else, like a mom or grandma or whatever. Speaker 2 00:47:13  Okay. but those, those organizations that facilitate the, the best interest of the kid and the, the parenting time, the the courts. I don't know how they could function before that. That, safe place started doing that. Speaker 1 00:47:26  Yeah. No, it must be a really, really hard thing to do. well, one of the things that I really enjoy, I have to tell you, because I was having a conversation before we got together today, and a man was, who's potential, guest on another show was asking me my my, my motivations on why he wanted to come on. And the guy clearly, wanted to come out and just advertise his business. Right. And I was trying to explain to him that this these are the conversations you are having. You and I are having right now that I really like that. very soon, hopefully, we're gonna have Chief Myra chief of police on, because I really like humanizing. some people have jobs or positions that people don't really get to know, right? So if I had to hire somebody for a family attorney or a DUI attorney or a criminal attorney, I hope that I get to listen to the show so that they get to know your personality, to know that you're a human being, right? Speaker 2 00:48:16  My personality is is unique, but there are a lot of really good attorneys in Lake County. Speaker 2 00:48:21  I'm happy to help people. Whatever. Speaker 1 00:48:23  Yeah. Well, no. And I think it's nice. Speaker 2 00:48:24  I like to be humble. I'm not trying to. Well, you're very humble out there, right? I'm not. I'm not trying to be like. Oh, yeah. I'm like the only one around because I'm not, you know, and like I said, in Lake County, we're blessed with a strong bench and bar, right. You know, and honestly, I get along with just about all of them. Speaker 1 00:48:40  That's cool. Okay, so let's do this. because of people. So let's, to help our listeners out there listening. So let's talk. first of all, when starting to divorce proceedings like they're they know they're going to get divorced, maybe some advice on how they go about finding an attorney that would be right for them. Is that a hard question? Speaker 2 00:49:00  Yeah. So finding an attorney. I mean, a lot of people want to do word of mouth. They talk to their their cousin. Speaker 2 00:49:06  How you got divorced in Lake County. Tell me who you use and then call that guy. That's probably a good decision. Speaker 1 00:49:12  Not to tell you who not to use. Speaker 2 00:49:13  Right? Speaker 1 00:49:14  In their opinion, though, totally right. maybe the decision didn't go their way so it could be false information, right? Speaker 2 00:49:21  Totally. A lot of people just go to Google and they'll Google like Libertyville divorce attorney or Lake County divorce attorney or whatever. And you can get hits there. And you look at their Google reviews we have I mean, my law firm has fantastic reviews, but that's just because we try to just, I don't know, do a good job and then clear the case. You know, try to Because, like, if you take one guy's divorce case and you're like a vampire on his neck and you drain him till he's totally out of blood. Well, you know, that's one case, okay? I'd rather just, like, help a guy and then get a good review and help another guy and get a good review and help a guy and get a good review, and then just, like, kind of build it up that way. Speaker 2 00:49:56  That's way better, right? Speaker 1 00:49:58  And with integrity, when you're walking away, then you can sleep at night and make sure that you know that you can help people out. Speaker 2 00:50:04  I sleep. Speaker 1 00:50:04  At night. Right. That's good. Yeah. All right, so how about, DUI? Speaker 2 00:50:09  So. Okay. How to find a DUI attorney or. So same. Speaker 1 00:50:13  Thing. I know how to get one. Speaker 2 00:50:14  I know. Speaker 1 00:50:15  It's just not the. Speaker 2 00:50:16  Attorney. So, I mean, man, I use Lyfts now. Yes. You know, I, I really do I. Speaker 1 00:50:21  I cheapest thing to do. Right. Speaker 2 00:50:23  It's 20 bucks here and back and you don't have to worry about. Am I going to get in trouble. Right. You know, and you don't have to worry about. Am I going to hurt somebody or whatever? Speaker 1 00:50:32  So yeah, I heard somebody. Maybe it was another stupid social media thing I saw. But there again, like it was a $20 ride home, right? For, let's say I have to go from Grayslake up to Atkinson, like at the bar. Speaker 1 00:50:42  How many Lyft rides would it take to equal to a two? Would it cost to hire an attorney to go through the DUI process? Speaker 2 00:50:51  So I think it was NHTSA, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, one of those organizations, used to run a billboard campaign here in Lake County. And one of the billboards I remember was a picture of a kid blowing into a portable breath test. And there's the police cars, lights behind him, and it says, you just blew $10,000. Speaker 1 00:51:12  Most people have no idea what to do with their aging loved one who needs help. Well, there is a solution. A company that provides care and assistance to make your loved one feel right at home, at right, at home. Their mission statement is to improve the quality of life for those they serve. They offer extensive services personal and companion care, safety, supervision and transportation, fall prevention, dressing and bathing assistance. Medical reminders, meal prep, hospice support, ambulation support, stroke recovery, Parkinson's support, the list goes on and on and on. Speaker 1 00:51:43  If you have an aging loved one that needs help, call. Right at home. Most people prefer to age in their home rather than moving to an assisted living or nursing home. Right at home can make this happen. Contact right at home at right at home NHL.com or give them a call (847) 984-0103. Now back to the show. Speaker 2 00:52:02  You know, which I think is like not inaccurate. Speaker 1 00:52:06  Ten. Speaker 2 00:52:06  Grand right. Because like so the legal fees like, I don't know, cheap one 2500, you know, a hot felony DUI 568, whatever, $1,000. So that's good money there. But even for your first time misdemeanor DUI, you're spending 2500, $3,500 on a lawyer. And then you get the fines, the court costs. There are 3 or $4000. There's treatment that you must do, you know, so you do alcohol or risk evaluations and pay for the classes and then woo woo. It gets to be expensive. So yeah, you know,

In this episode of the Crack House Chronicles we discuss the murder of 18 year old Berit Beck from Sturtevant Wisconsin. Berit heads out of town for job training and disappears before she arrives. Two decades pass with no answers but soon after, that would change. https://www.crackhousechronicles.com/ https://linktr.ee/crackhousechronicles https://www.tiktok.com/@crackhousechronicles https://www.facebook.com/crackhousechronicles Check out our MERCH! https://www.teepublic.com/user/crackhousechronicles Sources: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2016/06/10/timeline-berit-beck-murder-case/85700072/ https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2018/02/11/reflecting-untimely-horrifying-death-berit-beck/320899002/ https://www.postcrescent.com/videos/news/investigations/2015/04/29/25900221/  

One teen is going viral for a weird prank he pulled...On an old guy in the underwear section of Kmart! Plus, a couple got their entire wedding for FREE all because of the grooms unique last name! Hear it all in a brand new TikTok Click Shock.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charlie is still giving JLR a ride to work. A mother in Kansas is suing multiple porn sites after her underage son was able to access their pages. Duji blames Rover for not having a commercial spot done. Controversy over Caitlin Clark fouling Angel Reese. Phoenix Suns CEO is accused of having an affair with a basketball player. Rover is freaked out by people not wearing socks with their shoes and Charlie ruined all of his shoes. During a House hearing Nancy Mace shares a nude photo of herself as she claims she was recorded without consent. Half of the New Orleans inmates who escaped have been caught. Would JLR have helped the inmates escape? Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. Adding your driver's license to your phone wallet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay.

Charlie is still giving JLR a ride to work. A mother in Kansas is suing multiple porn sites after her underage son was able to access their pages. Duji blames Rover for not having a commercial spot done. Controversy over Caitlin Clark fouling Angel Reese. Phoenix Suns CEO is accused of having an affair with a basketball player. Rover is freaked out by people not wearing socks with their shoes and Charlie ruined all of his shoes. During a House hearing Nancy Mace shares a nude photo of herself as she claims she was recorded without consent. Half of the New Orleans inmates who escaped have been caught. Would JLR have helped the inmates escape? Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. Adding your driver's license to your phone wallet.

Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back friends to our podcast, your World of Creativity. We're continuing our around the world journeys to talk to creative practitioners everywhere about how they get inspired, about how they organize ideas, and of course how they gain the confidence and connections to get our work out into the world.And today our creative passport is being stamped in Sydney, Australia. And we're talking to designer, creative director and founder of his own design firm, Ben Rennie. He is the author of a new book, Lessons in Creativity.Ben's Website @benrennie on Instagram Ben's book: https://www.wiley.com/LessonsinCreativity1. Your Creative & Entrepreneurial JourneyBen, you've worked with some of the world's biggest brands—Patagonia, Google, K-Mart, Canon, Nike, Adidas, American Apparel, Dolce & Gabbana, Ray-Ban, Chanel, Prada, and more. What sparked your journey into design and creativity, and how did it evolve into leading a global brand and UX agency?2. The Power of Creativity in Everyday LifeYour book, Lessons in Creativity, emphasizes that creativity isn't just for artists—it's essential to work, relationships, and personal fulfillment. Can you share a moment when embracing creativity transformed your approach to life or business?3. Unlocking New Horizons Through Creative ThinkingYou talk about creativity as a tool for forming new habits, crafting fresh narratives, and unlocking unseen potential. What strategies or mindset shifts help people break out of creative ruts and reimagine possibilities?4. Overcoming Creative Blocks and Taking the First StepFor those feeling stuck or disconnected, your book serves as a guide to reigniting creativity. What's one actionable step someone can take today to overcome fear and start engaging with their creative potential?5. The Intersection of Design, Technology, and PurposeAs Chair of Design Declares Australia and an advocate for sustainability, how do you see design and technology shaping a more meaningful and purpose-driven future?Special thanks to our sponsor, White Cloud Coffee Roasters—listeners can enjoy 10% off with the code "CREATIVITY" at checkout. Visit www.whitecloudcoffee.com.Listeners, don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!