Podcasts about Spring Hill College

BEYOND A DIAGNOSIS ( A JOURNEY THROUGH CANCER) by Grace BoykinA memoir of her son Weslee Sheaffer. His birth, head banging, and having to drive him around the neighborhood for him to sleep. His many creative talents. Travel to Japan as Rotary exchange student and stayed in many homes in south and Northern Japan. He loved to travel! Cancer diagnosis of Medulloblastoma brain cancer, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Later he had a Meningioma Brain Tumor, His last was a glio-blastoma brain tumor with tentacles which is very rare to have 3 different types of brain cancer. His Celebration of Life as he died at age 32. Author Grace Boykin a native of Mobile, Alabama, Clearwater, Florida. Received B.A. degree in Social Science and Secondary Education from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Studied Art in Europe with Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama. Debut in Mobile and member of the Mardi Gras Court. Employed at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Taught Geography at Dunedin Junior High School and History in several schools throughout Melbourne, Florida. Tutored Braille and worked with the Blind at the Florida School of Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Fl. Taught and created a Mass Media Curriculum for High School students and Directed the High school play “To Serve a Higher King”, in Palm Bay, Florida.Has published works of Poetry, Fiction books The Southern Hunt, and Deaf, Blind, and Tragedy. Autobiography of Grace Browder Boykin, A Turbulent Life ? ? ?, South Of The Hill, memoir about the Political Years 1930's to 1960's of Frank W. Boykin as a U.S, Congressman for twenty-eight years and his having over 20 jobs during his lifetime., Beyond A Diagnosis, (A Journey Through Cancer) memoir of son Weslee Sheaffer. Babies Swimming Class. Grace Boykin is resident of Milton, Florida after traveling and driving all the states on backroads when possible. Visited 25 national parks and 25 countries. Her passions writing novels and carrying a camera in hand to make the next great movie.https://www.amazon.com/Books-Grace-Boykin/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AGrace+Boykin  https://www.urlinkpublishing.com/http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/8824urlgb.mp3

fWotD Episode 2632: John D. Whitney Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Friday, 19 July 2024 is John D. Whitney.John Dunning Whitney (July 19, 1850 – November 27, 1917) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown University in 1898. Born in Massachusetts, he joined the United States Navy at the age of sixteen, where he was introduced to Catholicism by way of a book that accidentally came into his possession and prompted him to become a Catholic. He entered the Society of Jesus and spent the next twenty-five years studying and teaching mathematics at Jesuit institutions around the world, including in Canada, England, Ireland, and around the United States in New York, Maryland, Boston, and Louisiana. He became the vice president of Spring Hill College in Alabama before being appointed the president of Georgetown University.During his three-year tenure, a number of improvements were made to the campus, including the completion of Gaston Hall and the construction of the entrances to Healy Hall. The Georgetown University Hospital and what would become the School of Dentistry were also established. After the end of his term, he went to Boston College for several years as treasurer before doing pastoral work in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Baltimore, where he became the prefect of St. Ignatius Church. He continued to spend time at Boston College, where he died in 1917.John Dunning Whitney was born on July 19, 1850, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Descending from a prominent family, his father was Thomas G. Whitney and his mother was Esther A. Whitney née Dunning. Esther was a devout Congregationalist and John was raised in that faith. He was sent to several public and private schools, including Nantucket High School, before entering the United States Navy in 1866. While serving as a lieutenant aboard the schoolship USS Mercury, he had a religious conversion experience.Aboard the Mercury, he would often discuss religion with a shipmate, who argued that none of the Protestant churches were the one true church, and that either the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Catholic Church was the true church. Whitney was also able to compare the different practices of the Protestant and Catholic chaplains aboard the ship. His conversations with his shipmate convinced Whitney to consider "the claims of the Catholic church". In August 1870, the Mercury was in Newport, Rhode Island, to attend the America's Cup. The captain invited a newlywed Catholic couple aboard to return to New York City from the yacht races. While sailing through the Long Island Sound, the bride dropped a book overboard, and the executive officer had a dinghy lowered into the water to retrieve it. After disembarking in New York, the bride left the book behind, which Whitney discovered to be The Invitation Heeded: Reasons for a Return to Catholic Unity by James Kent Stone, who later became a Passionist priest known as Father Fidelis; the book was written in response to Pope Pius IX's call for all Christians to return to the Mother Church.Having read the book repeatedly, he approached one of the ship's chaplains, Dominic Duranquet, a Jesuit, and declared that if its contents were true, then he must become a Catholic. After being instructed to pray and study further, he requested to be received into the Catholic Church, with Stone as his godfather. On November 2, 1870 (All Souls' Day), Whitney was conditionally baptized by Duranquet in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.Whitney entered the Society of Jesus on August 14, 1872, in the Sault-au-Récollet neighborhood of Montreal, Canada, where he remained for two years. He went to Manresa House in the Roehampton district of London, England, in 1875 to study rhetoric for a year, and then to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire for three years to study philosophy. He taught mathematics for a year before returning to the United States in 1880, where he continued to teach mathematics at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City for four years.In 1884, he went to Woodstock College in Maryland to study theology. The following year, he was sent to Mobile, Alabama, where he was ordained a priest on August 15, 1885. He began teaching mathematics in 1886 at Spring Hill College, and eventually became vice president of the school. After four years at Spring Hill College, he went to Ireland in 1890, where he studied theology at Milltown Park in Dublin, before returning to Roehampton for his tertianship in 1892.Whitney then returned to the United States, and began teaching mathematics at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, from 1893 to 1895. He was transferred to the College of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans in 1897, and then to St. John's College in The Bronx, later known as Fordham University.Whitney was appointed president of Georgetown University on July 3, 1898, succeeding J. Havens Richards. During his presidency, a number of improvements to the campus were made. The Georgetown University Hospital was opened and the first patient was accepted. Gaston Hall was decorated and completed in 1901. That year, the university also received a donation from Anthony A. Hirst, a wealthy resident of Philadelphia and alumnus of Georgetown College and Law School, to construct Hirst Library inside Healy Hall. The main and center entrances to Healy Hall were completed, walkways were paved, and several campus buildings were renovated, including Dahlgren Chapel.In 1901, Whitney convinced the faculty of the School of Medicine to reconsider the proposal of a local dentist, W. Warrington Evans, to absorb his Washington Dental College as a department of the medical school, a proposal he had been tendering to the university since 1870. The medical faculty accepted the arrangement in May 1901, and the Washington Dental College became a department in late July. It would eventually become the university's School of Dentistry.On May 14, 1901, the university hosted Archbishop Sebastiano Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, upon his elevation to the College of Cardinals. The grand reception in Healy Hall was attended by the students and faculty in their academic regalia, as well as many dignitaries, including the Secretary of War Elihu Root, all the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, all the justices of the federal District of Columbia Court of Appeals (later renamed to a circuit court), most of the foreign ambassadors to the United States, many military and naval commanders, and the faculties of other local universities. While Whitney was popular with the students, the Jesuit provincial superior decided not to renew his term as president, believing he had placed too much emphasis on athletics and was spendthrifty. Whitney's tenure as president came to an end on July 11, 1901, and he was succeeded by Jerome Daugherty.Following the end of his presidency at Georgetown, Whitney became the treasurer of Boston College in 1902 and held this post until 1907. While in Massachusetts, he also worked closely with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a female religious order. He then left Boston to take up ministry at St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia, before becoming the prefect of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore in August 1909. He succeeded Francis X. Brady, who left to become president of Loyola College in Maryland, and Whitney was stationed at St. Ignatius for the remainder of his life.While at St. Ignatius, he directed the sodality of St. Ignatius Church, which administered the W. G. Read Mullan Scholarship. He spent the year of 1912 in Brooklyn, away from his parish. In May 1916, his health began to deteriorate, and he spent part of 1917 at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where he died on November 27 of that year. His funeral was held in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston and he was buried at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:33 UTC on Friday, 19 July 2024.For the full current version of the article, see John D. Whitney on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Joanna.

Sarah is the head coach at Spring Hill College. She spent her college days there playing and then transitioned smoothly into a coaching role. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-hobson4/support

Yolande Betbeze was a college student at Mobile's Spring Hill College when she saw an opportunity to help her get out of the South. She won the Miss Torch contest, which sent her to Miss Alabama and then to the Miss America Pageant, which she won in 1951. Miss America was just the start for Betbeze, as her reign created controversy and helped create a competing pageant that exists today. Listen to her story and hear what happened to her once her reign was over.Support the showSupport the Podcast The podcast is free, but it's not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us. Tell a friend about the podcast. Rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts Buy the book Alabama Short Stories, Volume 1 at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or other online bookstore. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at TeePublic.com.

Tamara Fowler has dedicated her career to babies, children, and their families. As Founder and CEO of Wiggle Giggle Playtorium, this indoor playground and event venue is just the latest of her pursuits to help children develop, and to support their families. With Bachelor's degrees in Biology and Nursing, and a Master's in Secondary Education, Tamara has done everything from teaching high school Chemistry and Physics, to Nursing in Labor and Delivery, and Fertility and Family Planning. As a wife and mom to a 3 year old, when she created Wiggle Giggle, Tamara did so with a vision of kids learning, growing, and playing all day, and parents in Marietta, Georgia having a safe place for their children to explore. Raised in Roswell, Georgia, Tamara was a student athlete in high school and attended Spring Hill College on a basketball scholarship. She also coached various sports when she taught at Stone Mountain High School, and was a leader for Black Girls Run in its early days. Thus, she knows first hand that children learn more than techniques of a game and use of motor skills through play. They're being exposed to community building, networking, empowerment, and mutual support in the time they spend interacting with newfound friends. Moreover, parents benefit from the same thing. While their kids imagine-up big adventures, they're exchanging stories and tips, and finding people who understand their lived experiences as parents. When Tamara and her partner returned to Georgia with an almost 2 year old, after spending 7 years away, living in California, Virginia, and then Maryland respectively during that time, these were the things they sought out. They would drive for miles, exploring places where their daughter could practice using her courage and social skills, and parents could engage in dialogue with one another, which meant they spent a lot of time commuting with a toddler. With Wiggle Giggle as the only indoor playground within a 10 mile radius, Tamara recognized and seized the opportunity to fill this need other parents in her immediate area seemed to share. With party bookings taking place before Wiggle Giggle's doors were opened by neighbors and classmates from their daughter's school, attendance of over 400 people at the facility's grand opening, a collaborative partnership with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, private event reservations from her Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. members, local public figures, and more, Wiggle Giggle has received an outpouring of support, the Fowler family is overwhelmed with gratitude for being embraced by the community.Riverside.fm A platform for podcast interviewingBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

103 million people. That's the United Nations' best estimate of how many have been forcibly displaced worldwide – some of the highest recorded waves of migration since World War 2. And for decades now, Father Michael Gallagher of the Society of Jesus and Spring Hill College class of 1973, has been on the front lines of those borders and those crises. From providing direct legal representation in El Paso to helping formulate global policy in Geneva, from the Caribbean to southern Africa to Latin America, Father Gallagher has embodied the ministry of accompaniment that defines the Jesuit Refugee Service. In episode 8 of Formative, we talk about the escalating danger that aid workers face on the front-lines; the scapegoating lies peddled about foreigners by polarizing politicians; and being adaptive to the surprises that God throws your way – like needing to identify the sound of a Kalashnikov rifle after you've passed age 60.

Todd and Ellen talked about Michael Warsaw's article on communicating truth in a post-truth world. Elise Allen discussed her article on Pope Francis's 10 year anniversary as Pope. Dr Mary Van Brunt shared about her mission as the new president of Spring Hill College. 

Azimuthal (Azimutal) by Gabriel Anthony LopezGeno and his friends embark on a journey inside the home solar system of Earth. Earth is currently experiencing seismic disruptions. Geno and his friends are currently based throughout the solar system, and Geno is at base with his father. Everything was good until the personnel on the base started to feel illDuring his training at the Planetary Defense for Geology and Geography, Geno and friends learned how to navigate the Planetary Defense for Geology and Geography computer systems, and have some fun. Geno in turn found out more about his father's life. Now, Geno must step into his shoes and potentially save Earth from a cataclysm.Gabriel Anthony Lopez qualified for the Olympics in the year 2000 and 2014 in swimming, and graduated from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama in 2006 with a Bachelor's of Science in International Studies. After qualifying for the Olympics in 2000 and graduating college, Anthony was off to teach in South Korea as an English as a Second Language teacher. He then took an around-the-world trip and started to act in Houston, Texas as a side job.https://www.amazon.com/Azimuthal-Azimutal-Gabriel-Lopez/dp/1638123837/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13J99EW8WAKRX&keywords=Azimuthal&qid=1668118201&s=books&sprefix=azimuthal%2Cstripbooks%2C429&sr=1-1http://anthonylbooks.com/home/https://www.greatwritersmedia.com/http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/3223glp.mp3    

Grant Benoit, Director of Education for Craft Alliance, stopped by to talk about some exhibits and the institution. ------  Grant Benoit (American, 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist who observes notions of memory through printmaking, sculpture, and craft methods.  In his practice, Benoit combines traditional printmedia with installation and sculpture to reinterpret the mechanics of memory in more human ways through the lens of the domestic space. Through printing wallpaper, he works through ideas of domesticity, place, and memory through a print practice that speaks to printmaking's industrial beginnings. ------ He received his Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Southern Illinois University in 2015, and his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts from Spring Hill College in 2012.  Benoit exhibits nationally and internationally, most recently being selected to exhibit work at the Printmaking Center of New Jersey, DEMO Project in Springfield, IL,  Williamson Museum in Wirral, England, and Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. Benoit was a 2016-17 Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and  the 2017-18 Community Artist at the Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts. He is a member of the 12 member collective, Good Children Gallery in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. ------ 

Washington Watches the Monk II is a sequel to Bob Grip's essay in The Merton Seasonal (available at: http://merton.org/ITMS/Seasonal/11/11-1Grip.pdf) revealing U.S. government files about Thomas Merton. Drawing on his decades as a journalist, Grip filed Freedom of Information Act requests to various agencies to explore the federal government's archives. He discovered everything from routine records to evidence of illegal surveillance, which he will illustrate. This session will also include comment from a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist on the surveillance of private citizens. Bob Grip devoted his entire professional life to journalism, most of it on the air in television news, including reports from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Middle East to Europe including a meeting with Pope (and now Saint) John Paul II. He also taught multimedia journalism for 25 years at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Grip earned his bachelor's degree from Boston College and a master's degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University. He is a former board member, treasurer and President of the International Thomas Merton Society.

“It's been an interesting, interesting time since early spring of 2020. And I think what we have learned are some lessons about how we can better provide service for both our students and our employees… Those folks on the front line really are the key to our success. We know that, and we're going to work really hard to make sure they understand that we understand that.” —Jeremy Biddy Jeremy Biddy is the new Executive Vice President of Operations at COCM. He began his professional career working to prevent shoplifting at Kmart before transitioning to an opportunity in student housing at Spring Hill College in July of 2002. In 2008, Jeremy joined the team at COCM, where he has served as Site Director, Regional Manager, Regional Vice President and Senior Vice President of Operations. On this episode of Student Housing Matters, Jeremy joins host Alton Irwin to share his journey from Kmart to COCM, discussing some of his mentors in student housing and what they taught him about putting students and staff first. Jeremy describes what he is most looking forward to in his new role, sharing his goals around applying best practices across the COCM portfolio and leveraging technology to work smarter, not harder. Listen in to understand Jeremy's commitment to delivering top-notch service and learn how he plans to support students and staff as COCM's new EVP of Operations! Topics Covered  Jeremy's first job out of undergrad as District Loss Prevention Manager for Kmart What inspired Jeremy to pursue an opportunity in the Housing Department at Spring Hill College Jeremy's many roles at COCM since he joined the team in July 2008 Some of Jeremy's mentors in student housing and what he learned from them about putting students and staff first What Jeremy is most looking forward to in his new role as EVP of Operations at COCM Jeremy's goals to apply best practices across the COCM portfolio and leverage technology to work smarter, not harder Jeremy's commitment to support sites in delivering top-notch service Connect with Jeremy Jeremy on LinkedIn Connect with Alton Student Housing Matters Student Housing Matters on Facebook Student Housing Matters on Twitter Capstone On-Campus Management Alton at COCM Alton on LinkedIn Email media@cocm.com  

This is a longer interview and could, maybe should, have been longer.  Brooke is my niece and I am very proud of her. Living her life and doing it while helping so many others. I was on the edge of my seat during this conversation, this is a topic that I have never addressed on the show, but think about.  Veteran suicides are at an alarming rate, suicides in general are at an alarming level. Brooke does a great job covering parts of the mental health conversation. I hope your takeaway from this  episode is to be more aware of your mental health, having grace for others that are struggling with various mental health issues. Brooke received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL in 2009. Her nursing experience has primarily been in mental health, and she has close to 10 years of experience working in residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient eating disorder treatment centers. She received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2018 and is a board certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. As a nurse practitioner, Brooke provided outpatient care at a community mental health clinic treating individuals struggling with mental illness across the lifespan prior to rejoining the McCallum Place team. Brooke has always been incredibly passionate about helping individuals struggling with mental illness and feels privileged to be a part of their journey towards recovery.In her free time, Brooke enjoys hiking, fishing, traveling, and spending time with her wife, three Great Danes, and a Pomeranian mix. National Suicide Prevention hotline- https://988lifeline.org/. Dial 988 in the US.Learn more about Mental Health- https://www.nami.org/homeSupport the show

What can Christian leaders do when radical change is needed in a ministry? Dr. Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Seminary, shares insights missionaries, pastors, and everyday believers from his new book Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices that Made It Happen. Watch the video version of this episode here. In addition to his seminary duties, Dr. Allen has served as pastor and interim pastor of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, as well as M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary. Currently, in addition to his responsibilities as president of Midwestern Seminary, he serves the church more broadly through writing and preaching ministries. You can access all of our For the Church National Conference exclusives here. Believe in our mission? Support this podcast. The Missions Podcast is a ministry resource of ABWE. Learn more at abwe.org. Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email alex@missionspodcast.com.

Originally from Louisiana, Elizabeth studied International Business at Spring Hill College in Alabama and Spanish in Latin America. She resides with her children in Marin County, California, where she combines her business acumen, love of design, sustainability, fashion, food and horses in her luxury lifestyle brand, Stick & Ball. On this episode, she talks with Emerald Carroll about the inspiration for Stick and Ball, and how she went about starting the business.

The Acadiana Advocate's Ken Stickney joined Discover Lafayette to share his life story as a career journalist. He is a man with a compassionate heart who truly loves what he does for a living. Ken is a native New Englander who grew up in Peabody, Massachusetts, just north of Boston. He moved to the Deep South more than 40 years ago to complete his education – and stayed. It was on a whim that he joined his brother to visit New Orleans one holiday on a fun road trip, and he became enthralled with our region. He ended up studying philosophy at a Jesuit university, Spring Hill College, in Alabama. He's always found the South a fascinating place, particularly Louisiana. He has since spent 42 years in the newspaper business, almost all of it in the Deep South or in Gulf Coast states, and has held almost every newsroom position from reporter to editor. He has worked for Louisiana newspapers in Monroe, Lake Charles, and Lafayette since 1999. Once he moved to Louisiana, he took a course in Louisiana history so that he could understand our state and its rich legacy. Ken's focus has always been on how the news he's reporting affects the people involved and their neighborhoods, as well as who they were. Issues such as zoning can profoundly impact people's quality of life and the value of their homes, and his reporting has reflected those realities. He recalled when the legendary Alabama coach, Bear Bryant, died in 1982 and he was asked to cover the burial; a highlight of that sad event was seeing Joe Namath at the burial ceremony. During his career, he has chronicled events in communities from McComb, Mississippi to Tuscaloosa (twice), from Atlanta to Port Arthur, Texas. He has handled news beats from public safety to higher education, business to religion. In a staffing pinch, he spent two weeks handling the recipes for a mid-South daily newspaper's society pages. He has written about murders and rescues, birth announcements, and obituaries. He spoke of how over his years of reporting the South has evolved from being a unique region, with its own mannerisms, customs, and politics, into a homogenous area more akin to the rest of the country. In 2009, Ken Stickney was awarded the American Society of Newspaper Editors' top national award for editorial writing, and he has won or shared national, regional and state news writing awards, as well as editorial and column writing awards across the South. He has worked for Louisiana newspapers in Monroe, Lake Charles, and Lafayette since 1999 and is currently with the Acadiana Advocate. A longtime “non-traditional” student, Stickney holds an associate's in liberal arts from North Shore Community College in Massachusetts; a bachelor's in philosophy from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama; a master's in communication from The University of Alabama, where he was a Graduate Council Fellow; and a master's in history from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He has been an adjunct college instructor in communications and history. Ken has written a thesis on World War II correspondent John Henry, the father of one of his close friends who was a sportswriter for the Hearst News service. Henry covered the Departments of the Army and Navy from five continents during WWII, a fete probably not matched by any other journalist. Among other places, Henry was stationed at Casablanca along with Walter Cronkite; his papers are now at the WWII Museum in New Orleans. Mr. Henry's life inspired Ken. With the funding awarded by a grant, Ken had the opportunity to tour Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1984 to interview Japanese civilians about the aftermath of the bombing, an experience of a lifetime. Ken also wrote a thesis on Unionist newspaper editor James G. Taliaferro of Catahoula Parish and has completed a draft of a biography on a Louisiana oilman, C. Paul Hilliard. He and former Lafayette newswoman Blue Rolfes are co-researching a book on the three sainthood causes being purs...

Dave Schultz and Stephen Root talk South Alabama Jags football with offensive coordinator Major Applewhite as well as Auburn football with head coach Bryan Harsin live and in-person from Spring Hill College. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wnsp/support

Dave Schultz and Stephen Root talk Auburn football with head coach Bryan Harsin and also have Baylor head coach Dave Aranda on live and in-person from Spring Hill College. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wnsp/support

How can Christian leaders make time to prioritize short-term missions trips? Jason Allen shares how he's built a missions culture inside of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which he leads as president. Also featured in this conversation is Paul Davis, president of ABWE. In addition to his seminary duties, Dr. Allen has served as pastor and interim pastor of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, as well as M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary. Currently, in addition to his responsibilities as president of Midwestern Seminary, he serves the church more broadly through writing and preaching ministries. You can watch the video version of this episode on the Missions Podcast Facebook page. Subscribe now to never miss an episode when it drops. Support this podcast and impact God's mission. Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

Fr Christopher Viscardi talks about the Summer Insitute at Spring Hill College. Fr Jim Cink shares about Francis in February at Blessed Seelos parish. Rob Carle discusses his article, "How China is taking over Hollywood"

WATCH VIDEO: https://youtu.be/MDHkFtG_FqgMeet Fr. Fred Boni. Daphne native. Grew up at Christ the King parish and school. Attended McGill-Toolen and then Spring Hill College. Was on the cusp of entering medical school and felt called to enter the seminary. Now pastor at St. Catherine of Sienna in mid-town Mobile. Listen in to Fr. Boni's heart for the unchurched and the creative ways he is employing to try to bring renewal to his very diverse parish.Dig In Further:What is the mission of a parish? Are their ways your parish could be more focused on “making disciples”…of reaching the unchurched…on evangelization?What is one idea you hear Fr. Boni talk about that resonated with you? Pray about it. See if it might be worth talking to you pastor about incorporating this idea into his vision for your parish.Is there a ministry in your Church for the “unchurched?” If not, might it be worth looking into “Alpha,” the program mentioned by Fr. Boni? If not Alpha, what can you and your fellow parishioners do to help people not in the pews feel welcomed at your parish and challenged to consider the beauty of being Catholic?

Tom Riello talked about the legacy of St Pope John Paul's legacy. Gary Zimak shared about giving up worry for good. Michael Cozart talked about the Trio Program at Spring Hill College. 

Craig Kennedy serves as the assistant athletic director and head men's basketball coach at NCAA Division II Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. He is a 38-year coaching and teaching veteran who has coached at Troy University, Georgia Southern University, Auburn University and the University of Winnipeg. Kennedy holds a Bachelor of Education in American History from the University of Winnipeg and a Master of Science in Sports Management from Troy. He is the father of two children who both received full academic scholarships to college. His information can found here: https://shcbadgers.com/staff-directory/craig-kennedy/57 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tim-rice4/support

In this episode, Amanda addresses the vital need to care for lactating mothers whose child did not survive.Amanda Alvarez, a graduate of the University of South Alabama and Spring Hill College, is an IBCLC, International Board of Lactation Consultant dedicated to helping families achieve informed, safe, and comfortable lactation and infant feeding goals.Amanda currently works at Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas as an Education and Enrichment Manager. She provides clinical lactation care, manages a multi-site Baby Cafe Cluster, and directs other educational programming for the organization.She represents Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas and Tarrant County Breastfeeding Coalition through leadership and participation in multiple local reproductive health coalitions, including Texas Breastfeeding Coalition, United States Breastfeeding Committee, and the United States Lactation Consultant Association.Amanda lives with her husband, their three children, and a menagerie of pets. She enjoys running, cooking, travel, and volunteer work in social justice.Support the show (https://healgrief.org/donations/)

Joe Niland serves as the athletic director at NCAA Division II Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. He was the head men's basketball coach at University of Mobile for 20 years, winning 347 games there (most all-time at UM) after serving as head coach at Spring Hill from 1993-1999, where he is the second winningest coach all-time (127-60). He won four conference titles as a head college coach and led his 2004 Mobile team to the NAIA Final Four. He also served as Mobile's athletic director for 11 years, overseeing 18 varsity athletics programs. He has a wealth of experience as an assistant coach at both the high school and college ranks, as well, and was twice named court coach for USA Basketball U18 National Team Training Camp. He is a native of western New York and comes from a family of basketball coaches. His father, the late Joe Sr., coached at Canisius College from 1947-54 and was later an NBA scout with the Buffalo Braves. His brother, Dave, is head coach at Penn State-Behrend College, while his uncle, the late Tom Niland, was coach and AD for many years at LeMoyne College. His cousin is John Beilein, the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and at Erie C.C., Nazareth College, LeMoyne College, Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, and Michigan. His contact information can be found here: https://shcbadgers.com/staff-directory/joe-niland/122 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tim-rice4/support

Fr Pat Driscoll answers the question, when is it ok to deny God. Glenn Moots discusses his article on new gun control efforts. Dr Steven Almquist shares about the new colleges of distinction programs at Spring Hill College.

Spring Hill College of Mobile congratulates Christopher Daffin of Jackson on earning Dean's List honors during the spring 2021 semester. To attain this distinction, students must earn at least a 3.5 average on a 4.0 grading scale.Article Link

Todd Zipper believes there will always be a place for a bachelor's degree. But don't think that will ever be enough. In this episode, The president of Wiley Education Services predicts a microverse of education institutions that will continually support lifelong education and points to a truly hybrid classroom of the future.“This pandemic has shed light on the importance of providing flexible, outcomes-focused learning experiences to students, while also proving the dire need for more jobs central to this crisis – specifically those in healthcare and social work,” said Zipper. Wiley Education Services, part of John Wiley and Sons Inc. (NYSE: JW-A) (NYSE: JW-B), recently signed five new university partnerships including University of Montana, New Mexico Highlands University, New York University, Spring Hill College, and – marking further momentum globally – Lebanese American University. Across these five new university partners, Wiley will support 27 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral online programs in a variety of high-demand disciplines like healthcare, social work, business, and computer science. “We look forward to partnering with each of these institutions to build online programs that clear the path to success in today's most vital and in-demand career fields,” says Zipper.Lebanese American University Lebanese American University (LAU), with campuses in Beirut and Byblos, Lebanon, has contracted with Wiley to launch eight graduate programs in business, computer science, engineering, nursing, and education disciplines. LAU will take advantage of a tailored approach with Wiley, utilizing a full suite of online program management services, as well as course development on a fee-for-service basis. “With COVID-19 and an unprecedented monetary and financial crisis in Lebanon, we see our partnership with Wiley as one of our most strategic decisions toward perpetuating LAU's mission in Lebanon and in the Arab world,” said Michel E. Mawad, M.D., President of Lebanese American University.University of MontanaUniversity of Montana (UM) located in Missoula, Montana, has signed with Wiley to launch a Master of Social Work (MSW) program in August 2021. As part of this partnership, UM will receive Wiley's full range of service offerings including market research, marketing, enrollment, instructional design, faculty support, and retention.“Here at UM, we aim to provide students of all types with broad access to a quality education,” Seth Bodnar, President of University of Montana shares. “Our partnership with Wiley allows us to further this goal. We look forward to working with Wiley to reach new students far and wide. Beginning with our online Masters of Social Work program, we are excited to give students access to programs that help our students do good in the world.”New Mexico Highlands UniversityNew Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) in Las Vegas, New Mexico, has tapped Wiley to launch 10 academic programs, including a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN-BSN), business programs, MBA, MSW and others. NMHU will take advantage of Wiley's full suite of offerings including market research, marketing, enrollment, and retention, including clinical placement support. “New Mexico Highlands has been a recognized longtime leader in social and economic mobility for our students, and we're excited to expand our reputation through our partnership with Wiley, offering a new and innovative portfolio of online programs,” stated Sam Minner, President of New Mexico Highlands University. “We are confident our partnership will positively change the lives of many more people across the country.”New York University – Wagner School of Public ServiceNew York University (NYU) Wagner, located in New York City, will engage with Wiley in a fee-for-service partnership to provide enrollment and retention services and customized 24/7 technology support for their online Master of Health Administration program. “NYU Wagner's inaugural online degree program, which launched only two years ago, is excited to enter its next phase,” said David Gastwirth, Director of Online Education of NYU Wagner. “We aim to build on the momentum achieved to date, growing enrollment while also enhancing program quality and impact. By working with Wiley, we are confident that we can recruit the most highly qualified and diverse healthcare professionals into our graduate program and provide them with an exceptional student experience.”Spring Hill CollegeSpring Hill College, located in Mobile, Alabama, has partnered with Wiley to launch 16 undergraduate and graduate programs in business, healthcare, education, and computer science and liberal arts – the first seven of which are launching in Fall 2021. As part of this partnership, Willey will provide a full array of student lifecycle and academic solutions including market research, marketing, enrollment, retention – including clinical placement support – instructional design, faculty support, and faculty development. Additionally, Spring Hill has contracted with Wiley on a fee-for-service basis to manage the redesign of their website. “Spring Hill College continues its focus on implementing new programs, technology, and partnerships that will help ensure success for students after graduation,” said Dr. Joe Lee, President of Spring Hill College. “Our partnership with Wiley brings our online academic programs to a wider audience, including working adults who aren't able to attend our in-person classes. This partnership just made sense as Wiley is as committed as we are to improve course quality, increase student engagement, and keep us true to our mission, culture, and tradition to educate leaders.”Wiley Education Services' continuous growth – coupled with its recent acquisition of training and job placement company mthree and launch of tuition benefits solution Wiley Beyond – demonstrates the company's strategy to deliver innovative, tech-enabled products and services that unlock human potential by enabling the success of the world's learners and professionals.For more information, please visit www.edservices.wiley.com/why-partner.

Reinventing CRM Richard Brock, Sales Talk   – The Sharkpreneur podcast with Seth Greene Episode 618 Richard Brock As a tech-savvy entrepreneurial software CEO Richard Brock spent 30 years building successful companies focused on industry-changing CRM Solutions, Marketing Automation Solutions, and patent-pending Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications. He is a Certified Public Accountant with an MBA from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Science from Spring Hill College. In 1993, Richard’s first company Brock Control Systems was the first CRM company to complete an IPO, and in 2002 they were recognized as the Best Performing Stock in the US by CBS Marketwatch.com. After this successful IPO they renamed the company Firstwave Technologies, becoming the leading provider (15% worldwide market share) of web-based Customer Relationship Management applications. Richard’s vision was achieved when Firstwave established an international presence and served over 20,000 users in over 20 countries. Richard took the best attributes of my earliest companies to my newest company, SalesTalk Technologies. He created SalesTalk to be a game-changing Sales Enablement Solution to increase sales performance through AI-Guided Relevancy. SalesTalk is a CRM plugin that creates AI Sales Call Blueprints to ensure sales reps are immediately and sustainably relevant to their prospects throughout the sales cycle.   Listen to this illuminating Sharkpreneur episode with Richard Brock about reinventing CRM. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week’s show: ●    How sales and CRM software show the importance of perceived value. ●    Why it’s important to be relevant while showing the value of your services. ●    How businesses have to evolve to stay relevant in a saturated marketplace. ●    Why making cold calls is a huge waste of time for salespeople. ●    How CRM is a record system, not a system that provides revenue.   Connect with Richard: Guest Contact Info Facebook facebook.com/salestalktech LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/Richard-brock-30a84 Links Mentioned: salesrelevance.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Game Day Routine, I'm talking to one of my good friends (and fellow Dallas Comedy House graduate), the ATX Concert Queen: Clarissa Cardenas. Clarissa is a digital creator and "source for need-to-know Concerts & Events in ATX + beyond." Before she was making waves in the Austin concert scene, Clarissa was dubbed C-Murda while playing basketball for Spring Hill College in Alabama. During her collegiate career, Clarissa shared her passion for music by creating warm-up CDs for her team and creating mixes for fellow students. Some things never change, and for Clarissa, that is being the go-to plug for music and the passion she has for it. So what skills and routines did she pick up along the journey? To keep going, be true to yourself, and never settle. To hear even more from Clarissa, head to her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbNiyZMWKbK2pH4J2rdj69Q And check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atxconcertqueen/ Of course, you can always find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robhowe21/

Fr Pat Driscoll talked about Redemptive suffering. Dr Norman McCrummen continued his series on the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. Dr Joseph Lee shared about Give Day at Spring Hill College.

Kevin Foster is the CEO of Business Ethics Advisors, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in helping individuals and organizations make ethical decisions. Kevin founded the company based on his own experience of ignoring ethical traps, which led to him spending 37 months in a federal prison. He now uses his business ethics expertise to train leaders to identify, assess and mitigate ethical risks while promoting ethical decision-making and risk management. Kevin has a Bachelor of Science-Commerce in Accounting and History from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He is an eSpeakers Certified Virtual Presenter and a former member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Michigan and Texas State Societies of Certified Public Accountants. In this episode… What do you deem as ethical in your workplace? Maybe your boss told you to do something that seemed questionable. Who do you go to with your concerns? Believe it or not, companies continuously struggle with crossing ethical lines, and when they do, the consequences can be life-altering.  Kevin Foster spent 37 months in prison for a crime he didn't commit but could have stopped. His company broke several ethical laws, and now he wants to help other organizations avoid “the ethics trap.” Kevin's consulting and training services have saved countless organizations from making significant lapses of judgment.  In this week's episode of Spill The Ink, Kevin Foster, CEO of Business Ethics Advisors, LLC, shares his advice on business best practices for avoiding ethical issues with host Michelle Calcote King. Together, they discuss how a person's ego can be the root cause of an ethical lapse, what it means to develop a zero-tolerance culture and how to reflect on your moral choices. Kevin also shares what prison taught him about family, ethics and relationships. Stay Tuned.

Released: 28 November 2020 Duration: 70 minutes, 39 seconds Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis engage philosopher Chelsea Haramia on the ethics of sending signals into space that might be received by intelligent beings in the cosmos. For more information about this episode, include a rich set of links, please see the blog entry for Episode 48 at: https://wowsignalpodcast.com Guest Bio Chelsea Haramia received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she specialized in ethics. She is now an assistant professor in the philosophy department at Spring Hill College. She is also co-editor of the online journal 1000-Word Philosophy, which houses a growing set of original 1000-word essays on philosophical questions, figures, and arguments aimed at an audience of philosophers and non-philosophers alike. She has published in the areas of normative ethics, bioethics, animal ethics, aesthetics, feminist philosophy, and astrobiology ethics. Her current work involves ethical and metaethical analyses of space exploration and of the search for intelligent life in particular.   Credits: Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniel De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Nest, Erika Lloyd.   The Wow! Signal is published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license.

Sartorial hosts J'Amy Tarr and Lisa Anderson Shaffer share over 30 years of experience in the fashion industry. Together they dish on the warm fuzzies, big wins, huge losses, and all the bad behavior (theirs included) encountered during their time in business. Stop by for the real juice on what it takes to run an indie brand in the big, badass fashion biz. In this episode, J’Amy and Lisa talk with designer, entrepreneur, and founder of the renowned equestrian inspired lifestyle brand Stick & Ball, Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn. Together they discuss making changes in the unpredictable climate of 2020 and Lisa and J'Amy share insider advice for moving forward with compassion and sustainability in mind. Elizabeth is a designer, single mom, entrepreneur and philanthropist. From Louisiana she attended Spring Hill College in Alabama, studied Spanish in Latin America. She resides with her children in Marin County where she combines her business acumen, love of fashion, food, wine and horses in her luxury lifestyle brand, Stick & Ball.www.stickandball.comInstagram@stickandballFacebookstickandballTwitter@stickandballcoPintereststickandballJ’Amy Tarr is a Bay Area designer and founder of J’Amy Tarr Outerwear. Lisa Anderson Shaffer is a Bay Area jewelry designer and founder of Zelma Rose. www.jamytarr.comwww.zelmarose.com Follow us on Instagram @biasedcutsWe are sponsored by www.mvcode.com

This week on The SavvyCast, Dr. Ben Pearce talks about breast cancer awareness and the many surgical options women have today. T Who is Dr. Ben Pearce? Dr. Pearce received his undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL, graduating manga cum laude from the honors college with a degree in Biology He attended medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, completing rotational years in Huntsville, AL.  Following medical school - he completed a 5-year surgical residency at Louisiana. State University in Shreveport, a Level 1 trauma center, which culminated in board certification.  Following general surgery training - he completed a 3-year fellowship in plastic surgery at Vanderbilt University.  While in Nashville - he trained under leaders in the field of plastic surgery. He is currently practicing at Reveal Beauty. Find more information here. Breast cancer awareness, prevention, and early detection. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so Dr. Pearce discusses various aspects of breast health~from the importance of early detection, self-exams, and mammograms. He delves into the factors of genetics and lifestyle, as well as the option many women choose for prevention~prophylactic mastectomies.   Key points discussed in the podcast. -How to feel your breasts for any out-of-the-ordinary lumps.  -When to begin getting mammograms if you are at an average risk -How to know if you are at a higher risk of getting breast cancer due to family history. -Habits that can increase breast cancer risk. -The different stages of breast cancer. -Information on the 5-year remission process. -Information about mastectomies and reconstruction surgeries. -Information about cosmetic procedures for women who want to increase or reduce their breast size. -An overview of breast lifting and breast augmentation.        Resources related to this podcast: For more information, you can schedule an in-person consultation with Reveal Beauty via phone (205) 408-9787 or online (link below).  In light of COVID-19, you can also opt to schedule a virtual consultation. You can find Reveal Beauty at revealbeauty.net or on Instagram @reveal_beauty_plastic_surgery. 

Fr Benedict Kiely talked about his article on the radicalization of the Gospel. Steven Mosher discussed the Vatican and China deal. Dr Joseph Lee, President of Spring Hill College, shared about the tuition reduction at Spring Hill College.

-Chase’s senior season -The monster stat lines -Overcoming injuries -Recognition -The half blind game -The process of signing to play professionally overseas -An ode to the Spring Hill College basketball Instagram account -Getting to know North Macedonia -Adapting new trash talk skills overseas -Staying in shape throughout quarantine -Chase’s advice on how to get where he is

The college football dominos are falling after the Big Ten's decision to go with a conference-only schedule. A conference-only schedule for all Power 5s will give you a look of a potential future as well as a glimpse of the past. Guests include AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese, former Sun Belt Commission Karl Benson, Nationals Special Assistant Dan Jennings, John Racciatti, President of Spring Hill College, Dr. Joe Lee, Tony McCarron and from Jags Jungle Doug Konkel. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/david-schultz/support

Travis's role at the TN Attorney General's Office, the form and function of government, the importance of involvement in local politics, the current political turmoil, the movie "Just Mercy" and a whole bunch more.    Travis Brown's Bio: Travis was born in Augusta, Georgia and raised in the Gulf Coast city of Mobile, Alabama. His life has been a glorious mixture of suffering and blessing. Despite growing up in a Christian family, Travis's faith was a nominal afterthought. After being diagnosed with lymphoma as a junior in high school, the Lord took hold of Travis's heart. The Holy Spirit then ushered Travis into a Gospel-loving church, and used faithful and dear Christians to help him start his walk with God. After attending Spring Hill College, Travis served as a youth pastor at his church before moving to Nashville to attend law school at Belmont University College of Law. Travis and his wife,  Jaimee, have two daughters, Ruthie and Tess. He currently works for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. Travis is a lifelong musician, bibliophile, and Red Sox fan. Travis can be reached at btbrown@protonmail, and can be followed on Twitter and Instagram at @trvsbrwn.   The Kent Lapp Podcast Show Links:       Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/vfv2vgw       Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/y8yd2gcc       Overcast: https://tinyurl.com/y8veuoxl       Castbox: https://tinyurl.com/y8vwheqt       Youtube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/vvp3n67       Podcast Trailer: https://youtu.be/TVFsBJlbUJ4       About Kent Lapp: http://kentlapp.com/about/       Subscribe for Email Updates: http://kentlapp.com/the-kent-lapp-podcast/       Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kentlapp       Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kentlapp/       Email: TheKentLappPodcast@gmail.com  

STAY PLUGGED IN! -- Subscribe and turn ON notifications to keep up to date with all new SPINCasts! -- Subscribe to our website: www.staypluggedin.com to be informed of all upcoming events and content here at SPIN! Keep Updated with Spring Hill College: Twitter: @SHCBADGERS Follow all SPIN socials here: Twitter: @Stay_Plugged_In Instagram: @stay_pluggedin Discord: https://discord.gg/hTfGbzt

Tom McDonald previewed 1917. Bob Grip shared about the Eastern rite Churches. Bob will be teaching a course on Eastern Rite Churches at Spring Hill College on January 30. Fr Andrew Jones provided our Sunday Gospel reflection for the Baptism of our Lord.

Chuck Russell is the chairman and chief knowledge officer at BestWork DATA, a company that helps businesses tackle everyday problems through assessing people-data. He is the author of several books, including No Bad Hires: Bad Hires Are Now Optional. Chuck is an international speaker who focuses on practical and pragmatic solutions to real problems through the understanding of people’s values and strengths. He has a BS in Economics from Spring Hill College and studied Physics and Industrial Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Chuck joins me today to discuss sales hiring and how to leverage data to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your sales team. He reveals what skills can and cannot be trained and how the data from assessment tests highlight job and role suitability. He highlights three traits that are essential for salespeople to possess and how assessment data can be used to steer career paths most effectively. Chuck also shares advice for hiring a manager and encourages everyone to be a student of what they do.   “Data gives you the ability to recognize the difference between the person who can go out and pioneer and capture new business versus the person who can manage and grow it.” - Chuck Russell   This week on Food For Thought Lunchbreak: Personality traits that can and cannot be trained or changed How sales skills are trainable Finding relevance in assessment tests How your personality traits dictate which sales environment you will be successful in Why data is essential for hiring the right person Positioning your sales team in the right roles Three critical traits for being successful in sales Using data to create valid career paths Advice for hiring managers   Connect with Chuck Russell: BestWork DATA Chuck Russell in LinkedIn No Bad Hires: Bad Hires Are Now Optional Right Person, Right Job: Guess or Know   It’s Time to Get More Sales Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Food For Thought Lunchbreak with Steve Bookbinder. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and share your favorite episodes on social media. And for more great content, news, and information on sales and marketing, be sure to visit the DM Training website. Food For Thought Lunchbreak with Steve Bookbinder is produced by Auxbus. You can create your own great podcast - faster and easier - at Auxbus.com

-Current Director of Basketball Operations/Video Coordinator at Eastern Kentucky University -2 Final Four Appearances with Bellarmine University (2012, 2015) -Former Assistant Coach at Aspire Academy & Spring Hill College

Upper Room talks about a cappella in a smaller college community, and spills the beans on just where that "Upper Room" really is.

Upper Room talks about a cappella in a smaller college community, and spills the beans on just where that "Upper Room" really is.

Recent Graduates. Changing paths. Taking a path in your career, heading for design. Emerging Designers, AIGA, AIGA Mobile, Working in Design, Moving up in desigin, Finding your place in the design industry. Work Life early in your career as a designer. Moving to a new city and what you need to know. Standing up for what you think should be done, even if you are new or young in the field. Creative career opportunities. EMERGE + AIGA Mobile // Scaling Your Design Career // WITH A LIVE AUDIENCE Episode 271. Aired September 26, 2018 @ 6pm CT / 4pm PT. I am teaming up with AIGA Mobile during the Emerge Month, where AIGA focuses on Emerging Designers. That means designers who have been working for 0–5 years. (Out of school or someone who has recently entered the design industry.) AIGA Mobile + Design Recharge Live and IN-PERSON! AIGA Mobile presents a special episode of Design Recharge to celebrate EMERGE awareness week! During this episode host diane gibbs will interview Jeffy Thomas (CUTT INK STUDIO), Phim Her (The Washington Post), and Abbie Bacilla (Frame.io) about their career journeys and ask them questions about how they scaled their design careers. This episode will be live streamed via Zoom Webinar with interactive Q&A PLUS for the first time Mobile area creatives will be invited to participate in person during the live recording on the University of South Alabama campus. Here is who we will be talking to: Abbie Bacilla Abbie Bacilla is a young professional who graduated from Spring Hill College in 2017 with a BA in graphic design. She is now a full-time motion designer at Frame.io, a video collaboration software, in New York City. Abbie is also a School of Motion alumni and a member of the NYC chapter of Punanimation, an animation collective for women. Website: https://abbiebacilla.com/ Instagram: abbiebacilla (https://www.instagram.com/abbiebacilla/) Twitter: @abbie_k Phim Her Phim Her is a creative disruptor. She dedicates her time to leveraging the best practices of design, art and business to build sociocultural change wherever she goes. On any given day she is juggling the titles of Marketing Solutions Manager for The Washington Post, Co-Chair of AIGA's National Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, Content Committee Lead for the AIGA National EMERGE Initiative and Planning Committee Member and Lead Facilitator for the DC Hub for the UN Global People’s Summit. DC Fem Tech has recently recognized Phim as one of their 2018 Power Women in Code, Design and Data, out of a nomination pool of 600 nominees. One of Phim's favorite quotes is: "We must move from talking about the world of design to talking about the design of the world." This is why you will see her talking about politics in a design meeting, and design in a meeting about politics and social impact. @phimher on Instagram and Twitter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phimher/ Jeffy Thomas Philadelphia based, Bahrain born, Indian national illustrator and paper-cutter, Jeffy Thomas, has been playing and honing his skills in creating images through the use of repetitive lines and a xacto knife since 2009. Having gone to college for Architecture, Jeffy blended his knowledge of drafting and hatching with his passion of illustration. The paper cutting was a happy accident that has allowed him to introduce another element into the mix and extend the range of his abilities further. Using lines, patterns, physical negative and positive space to tell stories and create compositions and play. @cuttinkstudio on twitter | dribbble | Instagram Recharging You helps freelancing creatives find and utilize their strengths and guides them how to grow their businesses. www.rechargingyou.com. Join us live each week and become part of the Design Recharge Family, subscribe and get the link to come to the live recording. Sign up at http://www.rechargingyou.com Connect on Instagram & Twitter: @designrecharge

Liz Gross leads the team at Campus Sonar, an agency which empowers colleges and universities to find and analyze relevant conversation, learning and engaging with them. She calls it social listening. The cost of not listening has led to public distrust of these institutions in the USA, and this distrust fundamentally undercuts tertiary education's mission of access to learning. It also carries a financial cost in slowed enrollments, and legal fees. Liz speaks about the importance of listening in a crisis situation. It's these moments when trust will be lost the fastest and will cost the most to repair, but good listening can mitigate these. Whilst it's tempting for Liz and her agency to bring new clients onboard as quickly as possible, she has found that taking the time to listen to potential customers leads to better outcome to both her and the client. Campus Sonar reveals that there's often a disconnect between owned and earned conversations about a college. Clients need to get on board with the conversations that are already happening, alongside looking for results of their own campaigns. Listen to hear about the example of Spring Hill College, and why 'family' was such a topic of discussion. Spring Hill College were able to embrace this and make it a key part of the college's identity; engaging everyone from parents, prospective and current students, to alumni decades out from graduation. Tune in to Learn Cost of not listening is financial, legal and reputation How to go from purpose-driven listening at work, to listening without an agenda How listening to your audience makes speaking to them more effective

 On this week's podcast, Marcus sits down and talks with Liz Garza of FOY Superfoods. Liz moved to Alabama from Texas to pursue grad school at Springhill and marry her now husband and co-owner of FOY, John. In pursuit of starting a new life here, they have now started many new businesses that all pertain to their passion for health. Tune in and listen or read on  and do yourself a favor by grabbing lunch at FOY! (You might even see us there…)  Liz: Hey guys. I'm Liz Garza, co-owner of Foy Super foods down here in Mobile on Dauphin Street in Bienville Square. Marcus: Awesome. Well, welcome to the podcast, Liz. Liz: Thanks for having me. Marcus: Yeah. We're big fans of yours. We ate there today. Liz: Right. Marcus: That is not just because you were coming on the podcast. That's a couple of time a week. Liz: Oh, for sure. Yeah, I see you guys all the time. Marcus: Yeah. I think I'm addicted to your acai bowls and the jerk, which is a very tasty bowl with chicken and, you can add chicken, with spinach, and rice, and sweet potatoes, and all kinds of there yummy stuff. Liz: Yeah, for sure. Marcus: I don't fall asleep after eating at Foy. Liz: Right. Marcus: I also don't feel like I'm destroying my body when I eat at Foy. Liz: Absolutely. Marcus: Yeah, but we're excited about having you on. So, to get started, why don't you give us some of the back story of who you are and where you're from. Where'd you go to school? High school and college, if it's appropriate. Liz: Yeah. Marcus: And tell us about John 'cause we know that he's a big part of this. So, give us some back story. Liz: Absolutely. I'm from a city in South Texas, right on the boarder to Mexico, it's called Laredo. Marcus: Cool. Liz: And it reminds me a lot of Mobile. It has a lot of that old town charm. Everybody knows everybody, that kind of thing. I'm real comfortable. I feel like I fit in well in Mobile, just growing up in Laredo. I am a first generation US citizen. Both my parents are from Monterey, Mexico. Marcus: Very cool. Liz: Yeah. I went to high school of course, at a school in Laredo and went to college at Texas A&M for my undergrad and then- Marcus: That's it? You just went to Texas A&M. Liz: Right. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Marcus: Underachiever. Liz: That little school, yeah. But yeah, I have a business degree with an emphasis in human resource management over from Texas A&M then went on to ... When I moved here, got my masters over at Spring Hill College in liberal arts. Of course, it's a liberal arts school, but I concentrated my degree in leadership and ethics. At the time in grad school, I was expecting our only son at the time. John and I were trying to navigate our way through, "Our we gonna go to Corporate America? Are you gonna get a job?" It was kind of slim pickings, really, moving to Mobile and coming out of grad school thinking, "Well, what am I gonna do?" Marcus: Yeah. Liz: We decided, let's start our own business. We saw a need for it and it just fit into our life in more than one way. John and I both have a background family history of obesity related disease, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, all of the above. John's actually a diabetic and so, at home we were wondering, or I was wondering, "How the heck am I gonna cook for this man and not make him sick?" Trying to figure out all that world out. Marcus: And not make him feel like he's wanting for more. Liz: Right. Exactly. Like he's lacking or like you said, wanting. That's when we started Balance, which was six years ago. It was a paleo meal delivery service and we did that for almost four years before we started Foy. Marcus: Does that still exist 'cause that's the first time I'm hearing of that? Liz: Yeah. So, now when you come into Foy, you're gonna recognize all my coolers are wrapped and they say Balance and stuff on them. The business was based on basically, prepping healthy meals, packaging them down. And what we did, we established partnerships with a ton of different crossfit gyms, yoga studios, that kind of thing. We furnished the coolers and we would go make these massive drops of food. We were eCommerce. People would go to our website, they would see our menu, we change every week, and they would order meals for the week. Instead of charging them a delivery fee, we would say, "We have a partnership at a gym in Spanish Fort, or in Fairhope, our in West Mobile. If you work, live, or exercise at this place or nearby, it's convenient for you at no charge to pick up your meals that you've already ordered online and prepaid for". We did this for a few years and it kinda just grew into this big monster that sucked our life away. It was constant. We had no weekend, we had a little one, and we kinda tried to balance home life and work life and it became a little too much. We decided, "Well, why don't we take all the things we know sell really well and open up an actual restaurant." Like a brick and mortar, right? Not having a restaurant background, not even a high school job that I worked at, like a McDonald's or anything. Just passionate about health food and seeing that there was a need for it in the city and just seize the opportunity and it just worked. We realized, "Okay, now we're running Foy." That allows me to have a life. It's a lot easier. I met super cool people. We're in a little niche area here downtown. Marcus: Yeah. Liz: That's just how things came about. We're already going into our second year, so far so good. Marcus: So, you closed Balance? Liz: We closed Balance. Marcus: Okay. Liz: And we have plans to- Marcus: That's really interesting 'cause we know, he was on the podcast so, full disclosure, Lorenzo was on the podcast a while back and he's got a really interesting idea, but he tries to deliver to everybody. Liz: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Marcus: That's gotta be so hard. Liz: It is. Marcus: Your idea of dropping to central locations and then having, especially when it comes to crossfit gyms are real big into paleo eating, which is what your menu typically follows. Liz: Exactly. That's exactly what it was. Marcus: Yeah. Liz: I met Lorenzo when he first got started. He actually reached out to us and just said, "Hey, can we meet? I need some pointers." There were a lot of things that we were able to share with him about lessons that we learned the hard way, and things to avoid, and all that good stuff. Glad to see that he's still doing it. For me, it's like hey, the more the merrier. I'm all about, "Let me help you out." If I have a great idea ... I just talked to a guy with a local up an coming gluten free bakery called Gunkel's. I just met with him right before I came here. Same thing, I was sharing with him that idea 'cause he works out of a commissary kitchen. I'm like, "Well." He's trying to retail his stuff out of different stores and he's like, "I just signed on with The Cheese Cottage and I would love for you to carry my stuff." I said, "What would really seal the deal is if you had a mini Gunkel's refrigerator, wrapped in your logo, to say "Hey, will you house this cooler for me. I'll make these deliveries and you sell my product out of my cooler, that way I have control of the inventory, of how clean the cooler is, of how things are packaged." You know what I mean? Marcus: It puts that on him, that responsibility. Liz: Right. Then you get more brand recognition with, "Hey, you have this super cool cooler wrapped in your logo. They spent all this money on an awesome logo design." So, I'm like, "Put it out there for people to see." If I have an idea, I'm not to shy away from letting anybody hear it. I know you asked about John. I started going off on a tangent, but John's originally from Mobile. Marcus: Okay. Liz: He went to McGill Toolen for high school. He went to Morehouse in Atlanta, which is an all boys school. They call it the Harvard for black men. It's one of those things that he's got generations of family that they've all gone through Morehouse College. Marcus: We did an interview with Carl Cunningham just recently. Liz: Oh, yeah. Marcus: One of his Kapa league guys, Paul Lockett, hopefully is gonna be doing an internship here this summer. Liz: Yes. Marcus: He's going to Morehouse. Liz: He's on a scholarship, right? Marcus: Yes, full ride. Liz: I've heard about that. Marcus: I tried to hire him and he said, "No, I'm going to college." And I was like, "No, you don't wanna do that." He's like, "I've got a full ride." And I was like, "Yeah, I can't argue with that." Liz: Yeah. I didn't know about it until I met John, but they put out a lot of really quality men. Marcus: [crosstalk 00:08:18]. Yeah. Liz: Yeah, they push leadership and they push innovation. Marcus: You're not biased at all. Liz: Right. No, I'm not. I'm not biased at all. But no, even my son, I have a Morehouse man in training. What do you know? Marcus: There you go. Yeah. Liz: He finished from Morehouse and we actually met in Atlanta. He went on to Nova Southeastern out in Fort Lauderdale for his masters. He's got a background in public health, which is totally, you would think the opposite of the realm we're in now, but it kind of opened our eyes to this possibility where ... On the flip side, we have Foy. We also have a mental health agency. We house individuals with intellectual disabilities. Yeah. Marcus: What? Where? Liz: Here in Mobile. Marcus: Wow. Liz: We did that before we did any of this other stuff. Marcus: What's the name of that? Liz: It's called Lifetime Healthcare. Marcus: Very cool. Liz: And they are residential facilities. So, it just looks like a house in a neighborhood. Marcus: Yeah. Liz: Through the department of mental health. We get managed by Altapointe and we're contracted through the state, medicaid funded. We house these individuals and basically rehab them in several ways, but diet is one of them. Marcus: One of them. Liz: Because people don't realize how big of a role food plays into behaviors, and disease, and all these things, right? So, we were working with dieticians getting, they call them PCP, person centered plans, to say, "Okay, well, we're gonna give this person the best quality of life doing all of these things." So, we were developing diets to say, "Okay well, this person has cerebral palsy or this person has epilepsy and so these are the foods that they should avoid." We were working trying to figure that out and we said, that's how balance came about. We were like, "Nobody here in this city that we can say "Hey, I suffer from Celiac." Or "I've got arthritis." There's special diets that you can adhere to. So we were like, "Why don't we do that?" It really was one of those conversations like, light bulb went off. We were like, "Okay, should we do this?" It happened and it grew. The crossfit community embraced us and that's how we went into the whole paleo thing. But that's how this all came about. Marcus: All right. Folks, I had no idea the onion that I was peeling back when we invited you on the podcast. Liz: Yeah. I know. Marcus: We know you from Foy and we obviously, we wanted to have you, but I had no idea. That is so cool. Liz: Right. Marcus: Yeah. Just to tag on, my parents are from Brazil and so I get that, the Latin and black communities both, that there's a ... Even a white community. There's not a whole lot of information given to people depending on your socioeconomic status on eating. It's amazing to me the ... I have friend who's a physician. He's a general practitioner in Washington D.C. Shout out to Terek is you're listening. I don't think you are. Anyways, he's more of a holistic doctor so he believes in eating as one of the ways he treats people. Liz: For sure. Marcus: Out of the blue one day, a couple years ago, he sent me Rob Wolf's book on paleo eating and he was like, "You have to read this." And the reason why is because he knew that my father, I'm 44 I think. Jerrod, come on. You're supposed to keep track of these things. I'm 44. My father had a heart attack when I was 16 years old, which would've been younger than I am today. Liz: Wow. Marcus: For years, I have gone in to get my blood work checked and I've read up on various articles of what's important and hey, news flash, if you're listening to this and you're still having your cholesterol checked, you're checking the wrong thing. Go in and get your C reactive protein checked. The reason why, I know you're kind of looking at me ... C reactor protein is actually an indicator for inflammation in the body and getting that checked will be a better indicator of whether you are at a high risk for heart disease because inflammation is actually the reason for plaque build up in your arteries and stuff like that. Not cholesterol. Liz: Wow. Marcus: That's why the paleo diet and all of these other diets that eliminate some of the things that ... They're all geared towards reducing the items that inflame our bodies. The reason they why they've been so successful is because they remove the gluten and all the other things that- Liz: Processed stuff. Marcus: Yeah, the processed stuff that inflame our bodies and so the doctors should be, those that are progressive in their thinking, should be prescribing these diets more because it will actually eliminate your problems with heart disease, and with diabetes, and with all these other things. Liz: Absolutely. Yeah. Marcus: Wow, I had no idea that we were gonna be having this conversation. Liz: I know, yeah. Marcus: This is so cool. I don't even wanna go ... I'm just so fascinated by this. Did you come here to go to get your masters at Spring Hill? Or did you move back for other reasons? Liz: Well, I came here basically, to be with John. We were in a long distance relationship. Marcus: So, he was here already. Liz: He was here, yeah. I was living in Dallas. Marcus: 'Cause you said you met in Atlanta and I wasn't sure. Liz: Yeah, we had mutual friends and met that way. Both of us had, well, he had already finished his masters and he was here starting the assisted living facility. So, he started that on his own and I kind of help him here and there, but that's solely John. That's his thing. He built that up and that really allowed us to start this business debt free. Marcus: Gives you some freedom. Liz: We didn't have to borrow a dime. We did it on our own and to this day, what I have I own and if I can't afford it, I don't get it. That's our mentality with it all, but thankfully he's done well. He was more established and I was kind of in limbo with my undergrad. I was working HR in Dallas. Living the life, of course. Living downtown with all my friends and my life. I just got to the point where four years into dating, it was one of those, excuse my french, "shit or get off the pot", you know, "What are we gonna do here?" And he thought, "Why don't you just come here and go to grad school?" He was more established, of course. We were heading that direction in our relationship and so I moved to Mobile. Of all places. All my friends were like, "Oh, my God. You're moving to Mobile." Marcus: "You're moving where?" Liz: Right. But it's been the best decision. Marcus: Who's laughing now? Liz: I know. Right. Exactly. Marcus: Those suckers are all working a nine to five and you've got multiple businesses that are up and operating. Liz: Yeah, I've got my brother in town and he's recently retired and he's like, "Man, you've got a really sweet gig." I sleep in a little. I'm like, it will be 8:30 and I'm like, "Okay, let me start getting moving." And I'm here for our little lunch hour and then we can go on to the next thing. It's allowed us a lot of freedom. At the beginning, like I said, it was a grind with Balance and everything. It still is. The restaurant industry is like a monster and it will eat you alive. There's so many elements that people quite realize that are involved in running a restaurant. Not coming from a background at all of food, it was a huge learning curve. We went through all sorts of growing pains, but not the dust has settled, we've developed our processes. We have things that we bring in, like when we hire people, customer service training things, we have checklists for all types of things. The ultimate goal is to franchise and so we're setting ourselves up, basically treating this like a project. In grad school, you've got this big project that you work on when you're in business school. So, we said, "Well, let's just dissect this. Treat it just like a school project and have everything that we could possibly need to franchise this place and Lord willing, it will happen." Marcus: Yeah. Forgive me, but I think every business owner should be looking at their business in that respect. Every business is a project. I think one of the things, I keep alluding to this 'cause I'm in the midst of it people, so forgive me, but I'm in the emerging leaders program here at the chamber and the small business administration. They call that a streetwise MBA, but the biggest thing about that program is they force you to actually work on the business and not just do the business, right? So, it'd be really easy for somebody in your situation just to say, "Well, I'm just gonna work on ordering the food and I'm just gonna work on serving the customers." But you're looking at it from a much bigger picture just like we're having to look at Blue Fish in a much different picture of, "Hey, where do we wanna be in there or five years? What does that look like? What's it gonna take to get there? How do we guide ourselves into a product spaced service business?" Liz: Absolutely. Marcus: I imagine that you're having to look at, "Well, how do we set up all the processes so that we can hand this off to somebody. And that when somebody walks in it's still the same experience?" And all that stuff. Liz: Absolutely. Yeah. The thing with it and in treating it like a school project is that you never stop learning. The industries are constantly changing. You've gotta adapt or die. Really. That's just what it is. Now, with people wanting fast food, they want it fresh, they want it cheap, they want it now. You have to get with the times in this industry. Really, my biggest takeaway from this whole experience is it's like a child. You have to nurture it, it takes a village and you have to know every single rule that you have. If you're hiring somebody, you had to have already done that job. You see what I'm saying? From the beginning up. I will mop floors, I will wash dishes, I will package food, I will chop chicken, everything. Marcus: You have to know what's involved. Liz: Right. To be able to tell somebody, "Well, this is how you're supposed to do it." And to develop the process say, "This is the most efficient way to do it." Because you've trial and errored the whole thing. Marcus: It's funny because here at Blue Fish, with the exception of video editing, there's not a job that I haven't done here. Liz: Yeah. Marcus: When I hire people, I can speak their language even though they're skilled in their roles. I can speak their language because I've already done all of those things. Liz: Yeah. Marcus: But I also, I go back to one of the very first jobs that I had was, I worked in a bagel bakery in Washington D.C. I will never forget that the guy, he was the main manager of the bagel shop. And he literally, I was mopping the floor one day and he was like, "No, that's not how you do it." And he showed me the right way to mop a floor. When you're in a bakery or in a restaurant situation where a lot of stuff gets thrown on the floor, the right action can really make the difference between just pushing stuff around on the floor and actually making things cleaner. It just blew me away that, here's this man who ... I think he had military background, too. So, there was probably some of that coming through. But it was like, I never forgot that, that he knew the right way to mop a floor. Anyway, I recognize what you're saying and when you're in that position you have to know all those different skill sets so that you can train somebody else up in that situation. Liz: Absolutely. Marcus: All right. Question number two. Twenty minutes in. What was your first job? Liz: Okay, I was a lifeguard. I'm a strong swimmer. It's my favorite thing to do. I started life guarding and teaching little kids how to swim when I was a junior in high school. It was an awesome summer job. It paid well. I had a tan. Marcus: Yeah. Liz: I did it with all my friends. Marcus: You're not flipping burgers, for sure. Liz: Right, yeah. It was cool. We worked at the city pool. I was the slide girl so I was up at the top like, "Go. Go."  Marcus: Yeah. Liz: That was cool. I did that for a few years. I actually did that even when I left off for college. I'd come home during the summer and do it just to make a couple extra bucks. Marcus: Where there any lessons from that first job that you still remember, to this day? I told you about my mop experience. Liz: Oh, gosh. Marcus: Was there anything similar to that early on in your career? Liz: I think that just ... That's a hard question. Marcus: That's okay if there wasn't. Sometimes there's not. I can see how lifeguard to where you are today, that might be a reach 'cause you're taking care of people and stuff like that. I assume that there's some level of that. Liz: Yeah. If anything, it just instilled in me that you've gotta work hard for anything that you want. I didn't necessarily get a job when I was a junior in high school. My parents weren't pressuring me to get a job, but I like the fact of having my own money. If I wanted to go and buy a shirt or whatever, I didn't have to ask for the money to go get it. Marcus: Preston, are you listening to this? Liz: Right? It's almost like a sense of empowerment. Like, "Hey, I've done this on my own." You just feel like you're- Marcus: There's a freedom there. Liz: Right, there's a freedom there with that. No matter how tired I was from staying up until two o'clock in the morning the night before and whatnot, I knew that hey, tomorrow morning rain or shine, I'm getting up and I gotta be there. Marcus: I gotta get up. Liz: Right. I think that's really important just all around with employees. That's something that you really can't train. You can't instill that in somebody. Either they have it or they don't. I deal with employees and in the restaurant industry there's a lot of turn around and that's one of the main things of just finding somebody who is reliable and somebody who takes pride in what they do. To say, "I don't care if all I'm doing is mopping the floor, I'm gonna mop it the right way and I'm gonna be here on time to do it." There has to be some sort of pride about what you're doing and just reliability, too. Marcus: There are lessons. So, I guess the point there, when I ask that question is, if somebody is listening to this and they're in that position, because not everybody's a business owner that listens to this podcast. But if they're in that position that knowing that there are lessons to be learned in something even as menial as scrubbing a toilet or mopping a floor, that it is like you're saying, the pride that you put into that because that will carry you way into the future. It's that effort that you put forward. You may not get it right, but that fact that you're trying, it will get noticed and will carry you a long way. Liz: Yeah, absolutely. Marcus: Now, if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, is there one bit of wisdom that you would impart in them? Liz: Don't be afraid. When somebody says no and one door closes, because that definitely happens, keep pushing. Don't get discouraged. There's gonna be times where you're probably just going to be sitting on your living room floor crying like, "What am I getting myself into? What's really going on?" But it's just one of those ... There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It does take time. YOu're gonna have to jump through hoops and do all sorts of things coming from trying to get the money, the capital together to start your business, trying to get somebody to come in and help you, that you can trust and work well with. There's so many different things, but my main, I guess, piece of advise would be, learn your business inside and out. Be able to do every single job that way, when Tommy doesn't show up in the morning, you can jump in and not skip a beat. Marcus: Right. Liz: 'Cause that's what's gonna happen. People will let you down. But on the flip side, for every person that lets you down, you're gonna have five or six more people to come in to bring you up, and to be there for you, and to support you. But it definitely, it's good to network, get out there, talk to people, find people that you have synergy with and join forces. For example, like what we did with the crossfit gyms like, "Okay well, we'll furnish the cooler. Now, you have an extra service to offer your customers that are gonna have all these healthy meals after they work they can just take home and eat. Marcus: Yup. Liz: Then, "Hey, as an owner or coach or trainer, we'll give you everything at cost that way you can be able to help sell the food, too. You know what I tastes like. You know what it's doing for your performance, that kind of thing. Marcus: It's also helping support their mission of helping make people healthier. Liz: Right. Marcus: I would imagine ... You're out of that business now, but even doing something like offering your services of coming in and actually talking about nutrition and paleo, the diet itself and the ins and out and stuff like that would've been extremely helpful to. Liz: Yeah. Marcus: Most gym owners or box owners are gonna know that anyway 'cause paleo's really big in the crossfit world. Liz: For sure. Yeah, and I do stuff like that now. I do, with the board of health and Franklin clinic, they bring me in about once a month. There's a support group for women with heart disease and we have lunch and learns. Every time I come in, it's a different group and they always ask, "Are you a dietician or nutritionist?" And I'm like, "No, not at all." Marcus: No, because they don't really ... I don't know. I don't know if I wanna say that. I'm not saying take it out of the podcast, but I'm just saying ... I've talked to a number of physicians that usually have one credit hour that they take on nutrition and most of it is geared towards the pyramid, the food pyramid. Liz: Yeah. Right. Marcus: And we now know that that was created out of an industry that wanted to push more grains than anything and that those grains are not necessarily the best thing for us. Liz: Right. Marcus: If you look back at ... Historically speaking, if you look back at even 50 years ago when people would wake up in the morning and they would have bacon and eggs. They would have a cup of coffee and that's how they started their morning. Those people tended to be smaller as far as body mass goes and we didn't have nearly the incidents of diabetes and all the other things that are prevalent in our society nowadays. It was because we weren't shoving a piece of bread into our mouth with every meal, or worse. Donuts, I love them. Don't get me wrong I'll eat a dozen or two. When I eat them, I know that they're not good for me and that I'm basically doing damage. Liz: Right. Just think about the amount of processed food that we have just available to us at convenient stores or at grocery stores. To me, if it's not rotting, what's going on? What kind of magic powder do you have on there to have it just last forever? Marcus: Looking at you Little Debbie. Liz: I'm all about, "Hey, in moderation." Yeah, every once in a while yeah, we order pizza. We go get burgers and fries or drink beers or whatever. Enjoy life. Don't restrict yourself to that point, but at the same time be aware of what you're putting in your body and what it's doing to your body. Be an example, too, to people who have children that kind of thing. Their gonna mimic what they see. Make it a point to instill that at a young age now, where, hey, you go to the school cafeterias and you see they're feeding them junk. Marcus: Right. Liz: At least they can get a quality meal for breakfast and for dinner 'cause at school it's like, it's just a lost meal right there. There's a ton of stuff that's just processed things that are at the grocery store that we really should just do away with altogether. There's other countries that I've heard just rumors, "Oh, in Europe, Cheetos are banned. They don't even sell them." Marcus: You can't even get them. Liz: Yeah, you can't even get them. I'm like, "Why are they on every shelf here?" What's going on? Marcus: There are other options, too. Now, if you were to look to the business world, is there a person or organization, or something that motivates you that you've kinda looked to? Liz: Yeah, gosh. That's kind of a loaded question, too. At the local level, there are a lot of entrepreneurs who I admire and I just follow and that kind of thing just because I feel like there's a movement going on right now. Marcus: In Mobile, definitely. Heck yeah. Liz: In Mobile, especially here downtown. There's so many doers. There's so many movers and shakers and everybody has an idea and everybody's like, it just lights a fire up under you to see other people doing it and making it. At the local level, there's tons of them. I follow Scott Tindle a lot. I love what he does. He's been able to reinvent himself over and over. Matt Lamon is another one that I admire, what he's doing. There's so many, gosh. Marcus: Both of them have been on the podcast, too. Liz: Oh, really? Marcus: Yeah. Liz: Yeah. Super cool down to earth people. They're always willing to help. I remember when we first started Balance, Scott came in was just like, "I wanna introduce myself to you and I wanna learn about what you're doing." Marcus: Yeah. Liz: And it just meant so much that it's like, "Hey, this person who's already established is coming, taking the time to figure out ... Like, "Hey, this is a new cool idea and I wanna know more about it." Marcus: Yeah. Liz: With no agenda or anything. Marcus: Matt is really big in crossfit so, I can imagine he really took to what you all are doing. Liz: Exactly. For sure, yeah. He was a customer of ours. It's funny to just see how over the years we've all just found our own way, but still have synergy with each other. Marcus: Absolutely. Liz: It's just cool. We're all in the same age group. It's an exciting time. Marcus: Anybody else? You looked like you were getting ready to say somebody else's name. Liz: You look to people of like, of course, somebody like Oprah or somebody who built this giant empire- Marcus: Nah, it doesn't have to be. I ask the question open ended. I'm appreciative actually, that we've done ... You're our third episode today. Full disclosure, we batch record these. We record four or five in a day. The previous two also mentioned ... One of them, it was his father, but his father's a business owner, a barber. The other one was mentioning some local entrepreneurs that were already doing business in the industry that she wanted to do business in. I think that's cool that people are looking ... 'Cause I'll be honest. Growing up, I was never big into idolizing celebrities or anything like that. So, I have a really hard time with that now, too. Although, I do have a deep appreciation for freaks like Elon Musk and these guys that are just literally changing the world that we live in. At the same time, I would much rather work with other business owners in the area, geographically, or within my own industry, and look to them and see what they're doing. There's a conference for agents and owners that I went to in February and there was a guy there that he had no intentions of building a large agency and as he sat on the stage he was saying, "I've got over a hundred employees." Liz: Wow. Marcus: He probably has one of the largest agencies, and it's a digital agency. So, they're very much like what we are. I was just blown away. Three years ago, I think he said, it was eight people. Liz: Wow. Marcus: So, he went from, it was a small number, it was like eight or twelve people to over a hundred people in just a couple of years. That's the guy that I'm just like, "Holy Cow. How in the world?" Liz: Yes. Marcus: How do you scale at that level and still keep the wheels on the bus? Liz: Yeah, I've got a friend that is, he's a dentist in Dallas. Came out of dental school, worked for one year for a dentist, and came up with a concept ... In a city like Dallas, it lends itself to opulence, valet, and red carpet, and all this kind of thing. Well, he started at a company called Mint where they marketed themselves in such a way that now, he has twenty Mints and they're all over the place, all over Texas. We all started at the same time. And John and I, when we visit, we go to their house and we're like, "oh, my God." They have this super cool, they're driving a Bentley, and we're like- Marcus: 8,000 square foot house in Plano, Texas Liz: Right. Yeah. How on earth did you manage to build this that fast? What's the secret sauce? What's up? What are you doing? I guess some people just have it in them and if we can just have small takeaways from what they do- Marcus: You know what's cool? People are gonna listen to this and they're gonna say the same thing about you. Liz: Hopefully. Marcus: Yeah. All right. Are there any books, podcasts, people, or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward? Liz: Off the top of my head, for sure, Leadership Mobile was very instrumental in moving us forward and Foy as a brand, downtown. I was a class of 2017 and it was such a diverse mix of people, but a lot of us were in downtown. This was during the process of, "Hey, Foy is gonna be opening." We were doing the construction and stuff. While I was in the class, that's when we opened Foy, and they were just so supportive. I had Todd Greer, who is another person who I just adore and follow. Marcus: He's been on the podcast. Liz: I'm sure. Marcus: Yeah. He's a good friend. Susan Shawl was in that as well. Liz: Susan, well, she wasn't in my class, but I love Susan. Love her, love her. We keep joking about we have a Susan button at Foy 'cause she comes in pretty much everyday and gets the same exact thing. Marcus: She's funny. Liz: Yeah. I love Susan. But there were a bunch of people in our class that were just super supportive. When we first opened, I remember, they all came to the grand opening. They were all sharing it on social media and most of them were people in the city like, "Hey, if you're having an issue with this permit. If you need this, call me." That's big. There's a lot of red tape involved in opening a business, especially a business in downtown Mobile. So, to have that network of people is priceless. Marcus: Yeah. Liz: That was a big organization that, for me, it helped put us on the map, for real. Marcus: Correct me if I'm wrong, 'cause a lot of people may not know what leadership Mobile is. Leadership Mobile is a program where you are meeting on a regular basis and you're also being introduced to various leaders in our community whether it be visit Mobile with all the CVV stuff, so the tours and stuff that's going on. Or people at the city, or just other leadership positions in the city. Liz: Yeah, University, at the hospital. You are meeting where the buck stops. They've got CEO's, CFO's. Marcus: Yeah, you're not meeting the person at the front door. You're meeting the person at the sea level. Liz: Yeah, and they get to tell you their story, which is always interesting. Then they get to talk about the good stuff that they're doing in the community. And you learn a lot, especially not being from Mobile, you learn the history of the city. We did a timeline at our first retreat. They do an overnight retreat out in Fairhope at Camp Beckwith and it's tons of fun. It's bonfire, we all bunk with each other, and they do this thing where they have a big ol' time line and you mark, "Okay, this is the inception of the city." So, you either were born this date or you moved here on this date. So, everybody puts a marker on when you moved here whether you left and came back. At that point, everybody gets to share their story of how they came in, what they perceived, will they stay. All things Mobile. You start to learn ... One of them, she's a city attorney, [inaudible 00:37:25]. What's her name? Marcus: It's okay. Liz: Can't think of her name. Anyway, you would think she was a historian or something. She knew everything about Mobile, but it was so cool coming from somebody who ... I didn't know much about the city, but it just opened up a whole new idea of the city. Thinking it's not a sleepy little old town. There's a lot going on here and there's a lot that has happened here. Marcus: I think as an outsider, and you can appreciate this, too, coming from Dallas. I came from D.C. One of the things that I love about this city is that the people that are doing cool things in this city are people, individuals that are just saying, "Hey, I wanna start this thing." And we're not really a city that larger brands look to. Which is kind of a bummer in some instances because it'd be nice to be able to get some clothes people and stuff like that 'cause shopping is a little bit difficult. Liz: Right. Marcus: It would be nice to have some more options there. Outside of that, it's nice because we do have small businesses that are here, that are providing services. It just makes for a different texture to the city. Liz: Absolutely. Marcus: Instead of D.C. where it's like, you've got an Olive Garden, a Maggiano's , and some other Italian place, I can't remember enough of the names. But three different choices and none of them ... Well, Maggiano's is good, but anyway, none of them are very good. Liz: Right. Marcus: But here we've got a lot of different business owners that have started restaurants. When I think of Foy, or I think of Vaughn's, or I think of Rooster's, or even El Papi, or Five, or all these different restaurants, it's like none of those are huge corporations with hundreds of locations. These are all just individuals that have started restaurants. It's just so cool to go to these places and you're always very friendly and so are all the other restaurateurs, they're always very friendly when you walk in 'cause they know the clientele is keeping them in business. Liz: Right. It's like Cheers. Marcus: Yeah, exactly. It's like where everybody knows your name. Liz: Yeah. It's funny 'cause we get a lot of people that are not from Mobile, Alabama at all. They're from all over, just coming in on the cruise ship, or coming in for a conference, or one thing or the other, 'cause we're near all the hotels. There's a common thread where they're like, number one, there's a ton of entrepreneurs. There's a lot of small business down here. It's so cool, it's just so quaint and all these things. Then they're like, "This is in Mobile?" It's like if we're just underestimated and then they come and see and it's like," [inaudible 00:40:03] pretty cool little town." Marcus: Just don't tell too many people. Liz: Right. Marcus: Not yet. Liz: Yeah, that's the thing. When they come in they're actually impressed. It's cool, I'm proud to be from here and I'm proud to, I have a business here. It's just cool all the way around from literally sourcing our ingredients locally, because we've got the perfect climate for everything as far as fresh produce is concerned. Marcus: You do get some of your stuff from- Liz: Everything. Well, all of our produce comes local. Marcus: Really? Liz: Of course, we have to outsource a lot of our specialty items like how we deal with hemp, and flax, and all- Marcus: You mean you don't get acai locally? Liz: No. We order that online and you'd be Marcus: I know. I joke because acai is actually a Brazilian fruit. I think it's very cool. I'm gonna say this, I very much love what you all are doing. I can literally like paleo pancakes is a favorite, the Thai chicken quesadilla absolutely love it, the jerk bowl is phenomenal, I love the acai bowl. I'm sitting here rattling this stuff off. I don't have a menu in front of me. Liz: I know. I'm like, "Hey." Marcus: She's like, "Hey, he knows my menu." Liz: I know. Marcus: What's the smoothie that I always get? Liz: PB and J? Marcus: No, it's the hummingbird. Liz: Oh, yeah. The hummingbird. Marcus: The hummingbird. See? Even the smoothie. No joke, give them a shot. Tell people where they can find you. Liz: On all social media outlets, we're at Foy Super foods. Foy is an acronym for the Fountain of Youth and we call ourselves the super food café. We of course, take pride in all of our ingredients. We have an open concept so you can see our kitchen, see all the stuff that we're using and putting out. We're in Bienville Square right on Dauphin Street. It's 119 Dauphin in the old Tom McCann building which I've heard was a shoe store that everybody used to shop at back in the day. Marcus: That's too cool. I did not know that. Yeah, that is cool. Liz: Yeah. Yeah, hopefully Foy number two will be right around the corner. We're looking and in negotiation for a couple different spots right now. Marcus: In general, you don't have to say exactly but in general, can you say where that might go? Liz: Yeah, definitely Airport Boulevard. Somewhere with a lot of traffic. Marcus: Over in that direction. Liz: Not too far west, but pretty central to make it easier for people to get to us. Definitely gonna have ample parking. We're shooting for a drive-through and we're trying to step it up a little bit because that's a lot of the feedback that we get from our customers now. Marcus: Nice. Liz: It's like, "Oh, my gosh. I would eat at Foy so much more if I could find a place to park." Marcus: Yeah, there's no parking down where you're at right now. Liz: Exactly, yeah. Marcus: But honestly, with as busy as you are normally when we go in, I don't know that you could handle ... 'Cause that is a true testament. You guys are always busy when I go in there. Liz: Yeah, busting out at the seams of the little place. We've got 1600 square feet and we've added some outdoor seating, but we're rocking and rolling. Marcus: If it's raining or cold outside. Liz: Well, that too. Yeah. When it rains, which is pretty much every day here. Marcus: Well, I wanna thank you again for coming on the podcast. Wrap up any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share? Liz: Well, just pretty much of course, I'm honored that you asked me to come here and share some of my stories.   Marcus: I'm glad we did. I had no idea. Liz: Yeah. Of course, we love seeing you guys. I know you guys come in all the time and definitely just appreciate the love and I love what you guys are doing. Any way that we can help each other out, I'm all about it.   Marcus: Yeah, absolutely. Liz: It's interesting to learn, even too, your background. I saw your face. I'm like, "He's got the olive skin." You've got this look and I was wondering are you from here? But it's cool to just find different people. Especially, of Latin decent here in the city. Marcus: Yeah, yeah. 'cause there's not that many. Liz: No, no there aren't many. Marcus: Not like Dallas or Laredo. Liz: Right. Yeah, Laredo, for anybody who doesn't know, is like little Mexico. Marcus: Yeah, I was gonna say- Liz: You can't even go to McDonald's and order in english. Nobody speaks english. Marcus: Right, yeah. "Hola, Buenos Dias." Liz: Right. Marcus: Well Liz, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It's been great talking with you. Liz: Cool, thanks a lot.

On this week's podcast, Marcus sits down with Jeri Stroade. From growing up in small farm town in Kansas to developing a heart for the displaced, she finds herself helping a special group of people right here in Mobile, AL. Tune in to hear about where she came from, her greatest life lessons, and her current role as the Executive Director at Dwell Mobile. Jeri: I'm Jeri Stroade, I'm the Executive Director of Dwell Mobile, it's a non-profit in Mobile that helps refugees. Marcus: Awesome. Jeri it's good to have you on the podcast today. Jeri: It's good to be here. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: Thank you. Marcus: Now, I've learned a little bit about the area in which you operate and so I'm glad that we're getting, this will be able to shine kind of a light on something that people may or may not understand. But before, we get into all of that as part of this podcast we like for people to know a little bit about the person behind the effort. And so, why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and where you're from, where'd you go to high school, college if you went, are you married? Just give us some backstory. Jeri: Okay. Well, I'm from Kansas, so the Midwest not the south. And I went to high school in a town called Pretty Prairie Kansas. Marcus: Gotta love Kansas for those names. Jeri: Yes, you do. Marcus: Yes. Jeri: And it was named after an old Mennonite woman who when she came through she said, "Oh my, what a pretty prairie." Marcus: Pretty Prairie Kansas. Jeri: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Marcus: I can imagine the graduating class was quite large at your high school. Jeri: Yes, yes. No, I think 27. Marcus: Oh my gosh. Jeri: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Marcus: Wow. Jeri: Yeah. So, the town was 600. Marcus: My graduating class had more people than your town had in it. We had I think close to 700 people in our graduating class. Jeri: Wow. Yep. Marcus: Our high school was close to 4,000 people. Jeri: Wow, yeah. Marcus: So, yeah. Jeri: Yeah, it was very small. Marcus: Anyway. Jeri: I moved around growing up and moved back there in high school and I was a little scared about how small it was, but I loved it. And went to college at Kansas State. Marcus: Very good. Jeri: University. From there got a degree in agricultural economics. Marcus: That's useful. Jeri: It is useful actually. It's very useful. I do use it all the time, you would never think that but I do. Marcus: Speaking as somebody who has an English degree. Jeri: Ha, ha. Marcus: So, I'm similarly useful. Jeri: Right, right. Yeah, you have people when you tell them that degree that everywhere from they don't have any clue what you do to, "Oh, you should know a little bit about everything because that sounds like a very useful degree." Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: I'm single, no family here, family back home. Marcus: Back home. Jeri: But, yeah. Marcus: Still in Pretty Prairie? Jeri: No, Manhattan now. Manhattan, Kansas. Marcus: Oh, wow. Okay. Jeri: Where Kansas State is. Marcus: That's a far stretch from Pretty Prairie. Jeri: Oh my goodness. Marcus: Manhattan? Phew. You gotta love it when states name a city or a town after like a major metropolitan area. I mean like Manhattan, you're like, "Oh, yeah they're in Manhattan but it's Kansas." You know, population 1,200. Jeri: That's right. Marcus: You know. So, how in the world first of all did you find yourself in Mobile, and then starting a non-profit? Jeri: Well, I never thought I would be in Mobile. You know, a funny story about Mobile. I came down here for a conference for Ag Economics. I had like a paper in it and it was down at the ... Marcus: Convention Center? Jeri: ... Convention Center. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: And I went down, presented, came back and somebody said, "How'd you like it?" And I guess, I do not remember saying this but I guess I said, "Oh, it was nice but I would never want to live there." And this girl reminded me of that when I decided to move here. She said, "Do you remember when you said this?" Which, no. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: My degree was in Ag Economics, International Development. Marcus: Okay. Jeri: Emphasis, and so I kind of thought I'd be overseas working with like a US Aid type of thing or something like that. And just sort of my path changed a little, I started getting interested in refugees before anybody really knew what they were, and even kind of myself. But I had always kind of had a heart for the poor, had a heart for different cultures, and it seemed to mesh that way. And then basically I came down here because friends of a friend had started this church and did this international student stuff down here. And so, I was looking at what they were doing and I liked what they were doing. I was ready to move away a little bit an I thought, "I'm going to go try that." And that was seven years ago. I didn't expect to be here this long. Marcus: Wow. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Yeah, no, it's funny how at times the very thing in which you don't expect to happen is exactly what happens. Jeri: Right. And I love what I'm doing. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else so it's funny to me because I would have never put myself here in doing what I'm doing. Marcus: Well, I mean you kind of answered what is normally my next question. So, I usually ask, what was your first job and were there any lessons that you still remember from that? And I guess that still applies. You talked a little bit about how you found yourself in Mobile and starting this non-profit, but go back in time to ... Do you remember your first job? Jeri: My first job ever? Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: It was probably babysitting. Marcus: Like, no, I mean your first job outside of the normal. Jeri: Like professional job? Marcus: I normally tell people, think of around when you were 15, 16, 17 years of age. Jeri: Okay. Marcus: And you were flipping burgers or making sandwiches somewhere, that job. Jeri: Okay. My job was I drove a wheat truck. Marcus: A wheat truck? Jeri: Yes. Marcus: In Kansas. Jeri: Because I was in Pretty Prairie Kansas. Marcus: Yes, I love it. Jeri: And everybody farmed. Marcus: No, that's cool. Jeri: So, I wanted a summer job and you could make a lot of money. You worked a lot because you had harvest and everything. Marcus: Right, yeah. Jeri: And there was this guy, he was like the head of our youth group sponsor or whatever and he said, "Yeah, you can come work for me." And so, I drove a wheat truck for him. Marcus: Very cool. Now, were there any lessons that you learned out of that first job that you've carried with you? Jeri: I mean, the typical one that I mean it's true, is hard work. There wasn't anything harder than sitting out there waiting. You would sit out there and then you'd work 12, 13, 14 hour days and come back and do it again the next day. I think overall I ended up working for him for like a full, that was just during harvest and then I ended up working for him for a full summer, and he was very gracious to me. I would sometimes drive through the wrong field or mess up his equipment, like hit it on the elevator when I went through, so I wasn't the best wheat truck driver. But he was always very ... I mean I think he got a little irritated but he was always very gracious and generous, and so patient. And so, I feel like I carry that with me now of even for myself being patient with myself when I mess things up. But also trying to be patient with other people I'm working with. Marcus: You know it's interesting because I don't know that I've ever explained why I ask that question. Well, one of the reasons why I ask that question is because of how you just answered. So, you talk about the patience and generousness of this man and how you still carry that with you, well that is the intention behind this. And also just to get business owners thinking about, well if you're hiring people they carry those lessons that you provide to them into their life. And how you impact their life can either be a positive impact or it can be a really negative impact because I think we've all worked for people where it's just like, "How was this person even born? They're just horrible individuals." So, I'm appreciative of how you answered because it is very true. Those lessons, they're oftentimes carried with us into our professional careers and into our adult lives. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Right? Jeri: That's good. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: It's good for me to remember at this point of I'm on the other end now where people are working for me in different capacities. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: So, it's good. Marcus: Especially anybody that's working with interns or young people of any kind. It is a testing of your patience to deal with young individuals because oftentimes they don't have the skill set and they're coming to you basically for on the job training. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Anyway. So, how did you get started as Dwell? And do you call it Dwell or Dwell Mobile? Jeri: Both. Marcus: Both? Okay, so I'll just refer to it as Dwell. Jeri: Yeah, that's good. Marcus: How did you get started as Dwell? Jeri: When I came down here I worked with a group of people called All Nations Community Church and they had an international church. And my question was, do you do anything with refugees? And they said, "Oh, we want to." So, I came down to help them start an outreach for refugees. And as I got into it I saw the guy I worked with was very wise and said, "Why don't you just go listen to them? Get to know them and listen to what they need." And so, I did that and I heard, "We need relationship." And so I started thinking, "How can this group of people, the church, build relationships with this group of people, these people coming as refugees?" And so, as I got into that I saw several things, one of them was it takes a lot to help one family who's coming here. They need a lot. The other one was, so many people I started meeting in Mobile, like outside of that little church, it was little, didn't even know there was refugees here, but they wanted to be involved. Marcus: So, pause there for a second, and I'm going to mess this up. From my understanding is that Mobile is one of x number of communities around the United States that refugees are regularly sent to. Jeri: That's right. I don't know the x number. Marcus: Okay, you don't know the x number either? I wanted to say that it was like one of 12 or 20 or something. I mean it's not a large number of communities that get refugees. Jeri: It's the only city in Alabama. Marcus: Okay. Jeri: I know that. Marcus: And so, I know a little bit about this in the sense that I know that when a refugee family is brought here there are cultural differences, how do they integrate themselves, how do they learn the language oftentimes? They don't know how to get around? You start thinking about if anybody's traveled overseas, that's just going for a vacation and oftentimes you have a lot of disposable income and you're going over and you can pay people to overcome your shortcomings as a member of their society. But when you're thinking about somebody who doesn't have a lot coming here. So, how do you all work with those types of folks to help them integrate? Jeri: Right. When they come they get resettled by an agency, there's nine different ones around the US that have said, "We'll resettle refugees." We are not one of them, it's like Catholic Charities is the one here in Mobile. And so, they get six to nine months of help through Catholic Charities. So, Catholic Charities sets them up with an apartment, gives them a case worker, helps them get a job, helps them get enrolled in school, things like that. We step in kind of at the end after that's over. And so, if you can imagine, I often tell people that too of just like going to a new place where you have to learn the language, any professional skills or training you've had in your former life don't apply here. And then you have to restart over, how long that would take you. And so, we're looking more in the development world. There's a relief and there's development. And sort of like Catholic Charities provides the relief and the start. We look more at trying to provide the development like helping them. And so, one of the things that we do see ... We do several things but a lot of what we do is based in the relationships, that we try to help people ... Marcus: Yeah, it can be very lonely thing to move. Jeri: Yes. And they're often coming from places were community is so much more important than here. So, that's what I hear a lot. Like I just heard, I don't know I got an email a few weeks ago and we had, had this cultural night. This guy emailed and said, "Thank you ..." He had just arrived in February and this was in March, he's from somewhere in Africa. And he said, "For the first time in my life since coming to Mobile I have been lonely. And I want to thank you for everything you're doing because for the first time in a month me and my family felt connected to people when we came to this event you guys had." Marcus: Yeah, that's amazing. Jeri: Yeah. And I think and I'm seeing this of if you ... We do some other things too, some other like practical things, but that relational network when they're come especially from those cultures, that provides a structure. And you're out there on your own, you left, you went through all these circumstances to get here and then you get here and you're on your own again. And so, if you can provide some relationship stuff, that helps them to feel like they have the network they need to try things. And helps with depression, it helps with a lot of things that in our society I think a lot of times we have a fear of some of these people. And so, one of the things that connection can help with, if there is a reason to be afraid of them being radicalized they won't. Marcus: Right. Jeri: If they feel connected to their community. Marcus: They have a familiarity and a connection then they're not going to go in that direction. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: I know that this is news now because for years refugees have been coming here and nobody really said anything about it. And granted at some level it was a little bit scary just because of the sheer number of people that could have been brought. And there have been some issues in other countries where you bring in so many people into one area and it changes the culture of that area. Putting all that aside, that's not happening here. Jeri: Right. Marcus: And so, doing our best as a country that has a good heart and has a lot to offer, whether it's welfare or education or whatever just being good stewards of that and sharing it with those people that we've brought here, it's cool that you guys have kind of taken on that mantle to kind of help onboard them, to borrow a technolgoy term, we're onboarding you into the American way. That sounds like such a horrible thing to say but hey, it fits, you know. So, anyway, that's very cool that you do that. Jeri: Yeah. And I think one of the things as you're talking about some of that, that I'm thinking about is so many of the people that we talk to and we help we hear from them that they know their lives will not actually be better here. You're talking about acclimating and everything, but they have hope for their children. Marcus: Right. Jeri: And so, they've come and they've left. And these are people who I think that it's important to make the distinction, they have come through the UN, they've been in a refugee camp for five to seven years, they've gone through in all total one and a half to two years of screening, you know vetting. Marcus: Right. Jeri: So they didn't just wander here. Marcus: Right. They didn't land here on a boat. Jeri: Right. And so many of them come because of they see that it's an opportunity, they have opportunities here for their children that they wouldn't have. Marcus: Yeah, and we're often times talking about doctors and lawyers and professional people that you're saying they know that their lives aren't going to be better off but they're hopeful that their children are. You know they're coming here and giving up often times what they fought so hard for as their livelihood and their accepting a lesser position in life because they know that the opportunities that their children are going to have. And interesting to me because I often talk about the immigrant mentality. My father came here with the Peace Corp in the 60's if I remember correctly. Jeri: He came here? Marcus: Came here with the Peace Corp in the 60's. And it's hard for me to recognize the difference in how he raised me because I was raised by him, so I don't know any different, but the truth is that there's something very different about the immigrant mentality when you come to the United States, there's all the acclimation and stuff like that. Now, he came to teach Portuguese to people that were in the Peace Corp because they were going to Brazil in order to help people. And so he had some ability in language and stuff like that, so he didn't have that issue but he did, I'm sure there was some periods of ... I've been to the town where he grew up, there ain't nothing there. Jeri: In Alabama? Marcus: No, so my father in Brazil. Jeri: Oh, in Brazil. Marcus: I've been to the town that he's from in Brazil and no offense Dad if you're listening to this but even I guess it was 30 years or so ... when did I go? It was like 1990, so it was like 30 some odd years later, there still wasn't anything there. Jeri: Wow. Yeah. Marcus: It's a little salt mining town in Brazil in the North Eastern tip. And so, I can only imagine what it was like for him to come to the states. I think he landed if I remember correctly in Upstate New York and then he kind of migrated to Ball State, went to school got his undergrad and part of his Master's degree at Ball State, and then ended up moving out to DC. But all that to say is, I have discussions with people and I very much can tell somebody who was raised by parents who are not of the United States versus somebody that was raised ... there's this scrappiness like this understanding like, you have got to ... And it's not all, I'm generalizing, but the immigrants often times they have sacrificed a lot to be here so there's a lot of pressure put on the children because there was so much sacrifice. Jeri: Right. Well, and I'm not first, second, third generation but I think about a lot of times, I think about the difference between a Mid West culture and a Southern culture. Marcus: Oh absolutely. Jeri: Because I moved here. But, in the Mid West there was always this pioneering type of thing that's going on because that's the people who moved there. Marcus: Right. Jeri: The people who had to go settle the land and all this stuff. And actually statistically like it's real the percentage of immigrants that start their own ... you probably know this. The percentage of immigrants that start their own business is higher than the percentage of native born Americans, and then also the percentage of refugees within that is higher. Marcus: Right. Jeri: And so, you think about there's a, yeah I guess that pioneering spirit because yes these people have left because they were forced in some ways to leave but there's people who stayed too. Marcus: Right. Jeri: And so, if they're forced to leave then they have that ... I mean it's probably sort of a make it or break it, you have to, but also just some of the people I've met and I work with is just like they're just always thinking, "Oh, you could do this. You could do this as a business. You could do this. You could do this." Marcus: Right. Jeri: And that's one of the things and reasons I'm doing what I'm doing is because even more so after I've gotten into it I see, like I feel like our society is missing out on the richness that they have to offer us, if we put them in this box and stick them over here. Marcus: Right. Jeri: Like our mission statement is providing opportunities for refugees to thrive. Like, if we don't do those things then our society I think is missing out. Marcus: Right. Well, and I think there's a lot to learn. I will say that the one thing that I have very much appreciated about the South is their focus on family. Jeri: Yes. Marcus: Right. And so, growing up in the Northern Virginia area it was a very transient area and often times people were moving there because of a job and they weren't moving there because their family was there. They were just passing through, they were going to spend three to five years and then they were moving on to wherever they were going to be stationed next. And so, there's not a big web if you will of extended family but here in the South there, and so, I very much appreciated that. So, what I'm about to say does not apply here but there's a lot to be learned from those other cultures and about the importance of family and the importance of that foundation. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: And so, I think it's cool that not being from the South but you're giving them, you're showing them the Southern hospitality that this area's known for. Jeri: Right. And one of the things ... I agree. And one of the things that has struck me about working here in Mobile specifically is how much of the focus is on family and so, there's several people I've worked with over the years, both refugees and Mobilians that you bring somebody to visit, which they love it when people come to visit their homes. But sometimes you get a family and you bring that American family to visit and you're bringing like 10 people because you have the kids and the sisters and the whatever. And there's been times that I sit there and I look at it in these little apartments and I'm thinking, "Oh, we're eating too much of their food," or, "Oh, we're really making a mess," or, "We're filling up their apartment, and it's probably too loud for them." And then I have to remember like, "No, they're from somewhere where they have seven sisters and you would visit them every day but they're not there anymore." And so I do think that's a very unique strength that Mobile and the South has as far as welcoming people is like, you bring the whole family and you welcome them as a family, and that's how they think. Marcus: Yeah, absolutely. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Alright so we're going to get back on track because I have these questions but I'm just so fascinated by what you really like. Yeah, I'm just wanting to dive into it. If you were talking to someone that wanted to get started and running their own non-profit ... Jeri: Okay. Marcus: ... what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them? Jeri: These are the hard ones. Marcus: Oh yeah. Jeri: The one bit of wisdom? As I have done this and gotten to know myself more, I know I'm the visionary person, which means I'm the person that's not the best at details. Marcus: Sure Jeri: So I think a bit of advice that I would say is, one, you can do it. You know if you're the visionary, if you find yourself like that, because sometimes I get paralyzed cause I think, "Oh there's this huge vision," and I don't even know how to start by making it happen. No, that's not true, break it down into little pieces and do a little bit of a plan and take that next step, and you will have something before you know it. The other thing would be to get a team of people around you, or one, or two people around you who agree with your vision who are good with the details, and then educate yourself. There's so many things when you start some thing that it's just like, "Oh, there's this whole other world of this or whole other world of this," and if you know a little bit you realize how much you don't know. And I think more and more going forward I need to find people who know those things more than, "Oh, I need to just know about everything." Marcus: Yeah, there's this as you're bootstrapping something, to borrow a business term, as you're bootstrapping something there's often times the necessity to go out and learn things because you don't have the ability to have somebody handle something. But as you grow it's more important, the velocity with which somebody else can just execute on something and you hand that off as a responsibility is much more important than you actually learning everything about it and executing it. It's a switch as an organization matures. And there was something else that you said in there about being a visionary. And often times in the business world the visionary is the CEO. Jeri: Right. Marcus: And so, your description is, well the Executive Director is really that role as the CEO of a company. And so, if somebody is a visionary then that's perfectly fine, as a matter of fact starting and running an organization is probably what God intended for you to do. But you also need to be cognizant of who it is that you are and find other people like you were describing that buy into the vision and have them help you execute on the details. Jeri: Right. Marcus: So, now it's perfect. Jeri: Yeah. And the thing I'm noticing now as we're growing, which I don't know if this is going to get into other questions, but, is the structure of it the more I don't get excited about structure, but the more I see that we can have some of that, that doesn't suck the life out of the organization, like a good structure that it will take stress off of me. Marcus: Exactly. Jeri: Because then it's not on your shoulders it's on the structure that you're building. Marcus: Right. No, most definitely. I even tell the team here when I hire people it's because I'm hiring them to take over something that I am just not having time to do. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Right? Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: And so, the more that you can kind of hand-off those pieces of responsibility, the more effective your organization becomes. Now, what are you all currently working on at Dwell? Any efforts or anything that you can talk about? Jeri: Yes. Yeah. Well we're finishing this up but we just started our big program is cultural acclimation classes sort of. Marcus: Okay. Jeri: And we partner with Spring Hill College, the Foley Center, and we have the classes actually there because they have English classes on the other nights. And so, we were thinking some of the people going there could also come to our classes. But we restructured them a little this Spring. So, we run them for eight or nine weeks, Spring and Fall, and a lot of it is built around building community and meeting people. And so, that's what most of our programs or events are structured like that. I tell people like you go in and it feels very messy or kind of chaotic, and sometimes it is really chaotic. Marcus: Embrace it if it exists. Jeri: Right. But there's life. There's lots of life to it. So, we meet one night a week, eat dinner and this semester we have changed them so they can pick from different tracks that they want to do. And so, they can pick English, GED, citizenship classes, driving classes. And then we have a whole nother program for the kids at the same time. Marcus: That's cool. Jeri: We're finishing that up and then this summer is going to be more just getting volunteers in homes and vising and stuff like that. And then some of that stuff happening organically. Marcus: Nice. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Very cool. Are there any books, podcasts, people, or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward? Jeri: Yes. Marcus: Okay. You're going to have to expand on that. Jeri: There's a lot. Books, podcasts, organizations, or people? Marcus: People, yeah. Jeri: I always go back to this book and this is not a business book but it was really helpful for me. One of the things that I look at is, I'm a person of faith so I think, how does my faith work out practically in my life? And that's what I'm talking about, how does it inform how I serve people? And there's a book called Pursuing Justice by Ken Wytsma who is a Creative Director at World Vision. Marcus: Okay. Jeri: And he writes about God's heart for justice basically. And so, that has helped me even in the thing that I call our organization is a value based organization, so we have these values we run off of and when we are looking at new things to do, does it match up to this value? And even in how we run things we have these values that we want to make sure get hit on and that we're operating from. And so, just that book has helped me see those things are legitimate. It's not just like a fluffy thing but it's ... I don't know if he would be listening to this, Todd Greer has helped me a lot. Marcus: Oh, don't do that. Jeri: Come on. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Todd can be an influential person. Jeri: Yes, he can be if he wants to be. Marcus: If he wants to be. If he so chooses. No, we love Todd. He's doing wonderful things now up at University of Mobile. Jeri: Yeah. Marcus: Now, what's the most important thing that you've learned about running a non-profit? Jeri: Wow. Marcus: I didn't tell you these were going to be easy questions. Jeri: I know, I was hoping you would send them to me before. Marcus: No, no, no, no. Jeri: So I can look smart. Marcus: I did that once or twice and you could feel it in the answers that the person gave. Jeri: Oh, yeah. Marcus: It was just too polished. Jeri: They were ready. Marcus: And I was like, "No, that's not how we're playing this game." I want everybody giving her a few more seconds here, so I want everybody that's listening to this podcast to know they have never seen these questions. Now granted the questions get asked often times on previous episodes but unless you've listened to these a lot you're not going to recognize that there's some repetition in the questions. Those of you that listen understand that there is a lot of repetition but she's never seen these questions before so she's over here in the hot seat. Jeri: So, the one most important thing? I also like to talk so I can tell you like five. I would say for a non-profit, especially I feel like the area I'm in, knowing when you need to rest is one of the most important things. Marcus: Okay. Jeri: Because I'm doing what I'm doing because I have a heart for helping people but if I don't rest then pretty soon I get bitter and I don't really want to help anyone. Marcus: Right. And giving yourself the freedom to do that. Jeri: Giving yourself the freedom to do that. And having little like ... this was actually a book I started reading that Todd recommended called Called to Create and the guy ... No, it was on something else, anyway. I heard somebody say once, "You get what you celebrate." And so, the idea is you have to celebrate the little things that happen are sometimes reflective of bigger things that are happening. So I always think ... And it's in one of our values of we're not going to meet every need and we can't, but it's more like what you're called to be doing. And so, I just have to remind myself, I can't jump if I see you need a car and a job and an apartment. Marcus: You can't just provide that. Jeri: I'm not going to be able to do all that stuff. Marcus: Yeah. But you can be a friend. Jeri: I can be a friend. Marcus: Right. Jeri: And so, if I can do that and then if I can have my limits of, "Okay, well that's great, sorry you need a car but, okay." Marcus: I'm not Daddy Warbucks. Jeri: Yeah. So, that gives me a lot of freedom to go ahead and then go be your friend. Marcus: Right. Jeri: And I think that's important otherwise I would be burnt out, I would not have any vision or passion left, and I would not be able to help others to do the things that I'm doing as well. Marcus: I think that principle applies in business too. So often times we talk on this podcast about how business owners have a tendency because it is their baby, they have a tendency to get wrapped around the axle when it comes to their business and that's all they want to focus on. And the truth is that you have to force yourself to not just focus on that but also to take time away because it's often times in those times away when you have your greatest visions, and your epiphanies about what it is that you should be doing. Jeri: Yes. Marcus: And you also start to see the weaknesses in your business or the strengths in your business. Anyway, that principle definitely applies in a number of different ways. Now, tell people where they can find you. Jeri: www. Marcus: You don't have to do that. You can leave off the www thanks. Jeri: You can see I'm a very technical person. ​ Marcus: Okay. Jeri: We're on ​. Marcus: Facebook. Jeri: We're on ​. Marcus: Okay, very good. Does your organization have any needs? Jeri: We do have needs, yes. Marcus: Okay, what are some of those needs? So, somebody out there is listening and they're so inclined, what would be the one or two things that you would ask them to do? Jeri: Well, we ... I mean I was just telling you we have a fundraiser coming up soon that's probably passed by the time people will hear this but we're always in need of funds. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: This is kind of what we tell people, we have a good base of starting of good programming, I like it. And we have great volunteers, we can always use volunteers. The thing about volunteering is I ask for certain levels of commitment to that because it's not helpful to hae somebody like float in and out a lot. Marcus: Good. Jeri: Because we're trying to build relationships. Marcus: Yeah. Right. Jeri: So, if you have the time and you want, volunteering is great. The fundraising part and the money part I feel like we're operating at this level right now, we're growing, it's good. We will not be able to operate at this level very long because I will burn out and so will other people if we do not get money raised. Marcus: Right. Jeri: So, that would be something people can do. Marcus: Yeah, funding and volunteering. Yeah, so if you have money and you're so inclined sometimes that's what you're called to do. Jeri: Right. Marcus: That gift of giving is definitely very strong in some people. And so, this is definitely a worthy organization. And if you just have a heart for people and becoming friends with those that are the disenfranchised of the world. They've been placed in a new place and don't really know anything about it, then this is a great organization to get plugged into. Jeri: Yes. Marcus: Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. Any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share? Jeri: I don't think so. Thank you for having me. Marcus: Yeah. Jeri: I appreciate it. Marcus: Absolutely. No, I love it. Jeri: It was fun. Marcus: We call ourselves the Mobile Alabama Business Podcast, but we also sit with people that we feel like have something great to offer and you are definitely one of those people with a heart and passion that you're pursuing the refugees in this area. So, thank you for what you're doing. Jeri: Thank you. Yep. Marcus: So, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a non-profit Executive Director, it's been great talking with you. Jeri: Yes, you too. Thank you very much.

This episode continues a short series of podcasts on the place ofMarxism in International Relations. Last episode, we had Bryant Sculos, of Florida International University discussing his piece “Marx in Miami: Reflections on Teaching and the Confrontation with Ideology,” co-authored with Sean Walsh, of Capital University. If you haven’t listed to that episode yet, check it out. We got into some great discussion about various techniques and exercises that allow us to use Marx in the classroom, and create space in students’ minds for thinking about the historically-situated nature of human consciousness. And I think what we took away from the conversation was this idea, simply, that while perhaps its not our role to ensure that our students buy into Marxism as a political program, there’s nevertheless a really worthwhile payoff if instructors are willing to take the time to model for students how Marxism can help us think historically about who we are. Where do our ideas come from? What is subjectivity? Marx offers a range of useful thoughts on all these subjects. Now, as a follow-up to last week’s episode, THIS WEEK we are joined by Sebastian Sclofsky and Kevin Funk, who have a piece in the latest issue of International Studies Perspectives, ‘The Specter That Haunts Political Science: The Neglect and Misreading of Marx in International Relations and Comparative Politics’ (free version can be found here). If last week’s episode was about the opportunities that Marxism offers, this week’s episode is about the rather weak state of Marxism in political science, these days. Sebastián Sclofsky is a PhD Candidate in the Political Science Department & Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the politics of criminal justice and urban policing — Looking primarily at South Los Angeles and São Paulo, he examines how negative encounters with the police shape residents' racial identities, local space, and sense of second-class citizenship. Kevin Funk is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Law and director of International Studies at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. And his main research focus right now is on the globalizing discourses of transnational corporations, and the emergence of micro-level zones of global-urban capital, like the “Sanhattan” neighborhood, in Santiago, Chile.

In it's third year of publication, Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine set' records for quality and inspiration. Dr. Todd Greer, editor shares his vision for starting this great resource and his vision for the future. Todd Greer holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership with a major in human resource development from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia; a Master of Science in ministerial leadership from Amridge University in Montgomery, Alabama; completed graduate work in communications studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan; and a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio. He has numerous publications to his credit, including journal articles and book chapters, and has presented at national conferences. He has served as lead instructor and board member with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce's Innovation PortAL and instructor for the Chamber's Young Entrepreneurs Academy for high school students. He is a board member for United Way of Southwest Alabama and Springboard to Success Inc. which, with the Downtown Mobile Alliance, operates the Urban Emporium retail incubator. He is an advisory board member with Veterans Recovery Resources. He was an instructor with University of South Alabama's Minority Business Accelerator and an adjunct instructor at Spring Hill College. Previously, Greer was executive director of the SynerVision Leadership Foundation in Blacksburg, Virginia; minister of administration for Glen Allen Church of Christ in Glen Allen, Virginia; and head boys' volleyball coach at Highlight Springs High School and assistant women's volleyball coach at Virginia Union University, both in Richmond, Virginia.   Interview Transcript   Hugh: Greetings, and welcome to today's session of The Nonprofit Exchange. Today, we have a very special guest. Russell, it's the first time you've met Todd Greer. Dr. Greer was the one who started The Nonprofit Exchange. He is the founding and current editor of Nonprofit Performance Magazine. Todd, welcome. Todd: Thank you so much, Hugh. Great to be with you. Russell, I've heard such wonderful things about you, and it is great to at least virtually connect with you here. Russell: This is great. I've done my best to bring out your inner English teacher. Todd: It's important. Gaps. Hugh mentioned I was the editor as we started out. Hugh is definitely the publisher. He is not the editor. It is good to have other folks around like you, Russell, to help keep him in check. Russell: It takes a village. That is why there is more than one of us there. Todd: There you go. Absolutely. Hugh: The vision for The Nonprofit Exchange is to interview experts in different fields and to bring really good leadership principles into charities and churches and synagogues, often from business leaders. Todd, in addition to having your Ph. D in organizational leadership, you are ordained as a pastor, and now you are a dean at the University of Mobile. Am I correct? Todd: That is correct. It has been an interesting transition. Hugh and I met in 2014. Hugh had this wonderful vision. SynerVision Leadership Foundation had the vision for a magazine and a community of nonprofit thought leaders that could help to build capacity and to help build and move things forward. I think it's been a beautiful vision to see it come to light, to be something that I've been a part of and that has touched me deeply. Over the past two and a half years, I have been able to move down to Mobile from Virginia where he and I met, start a business down here, see that grow, and see a community of entrepreneurship really raise up. Now I have the opportunity to get in and engage with university students and to work to encourage them for the world that we're inventing each day. Hugh: We're glad to have the academic connection. Even though you have gone on to do some other great stuff, you're still shaping editorial policy. What we have done with the magazine is separate the commercial part from the editorial part. What I do is I'm the champion, and I bring people into the funnel that we set up so brilliantly and around the editorial policy that you shaped so that we keep it really clean and really valid journalism for leadership. Thank you for that contribution to humankind and to SynerVision. You launched The Nonprofit Exchange, which we are doing at 2 pm on Tuesdays EST, and the podcast. We are hitting about 15,000 listeners on this particular podcast, and I have 10,000 on Orchestrating Success. We share some interviews in common, but they are helping people think through their skillset and organizational development and personal skills for developing their teams. Talk about three years ago in September that we launched that first John Maxwell edition. As you were shaping out the vision for this magazine, talk about your thought process. What was important about how you laid down the tracks, and what does that look like? Todd: One of the things that we consistently saw as we were looking at the nonprofit space is that there is good research, and then there is speakers. Then there are some books that are written. But there is a gap in the middle. What we wanted to do was come in and give nonprofit leaders, whether they are board members, staff, or executives, the opportunity to be able to engage with deeper thoughts around a holistic idea. What we started from that day forward is to create these themes within our magazine so that you could look at what we could consider an evergreen concept, something that is not based upon a specific time. It's something that whether you are looking at it three years ago or today, the points are still valid, the theme is still important, it is something that drives home a needed opportunity in that space. We really worked to say, This is not an infomercial. This is not a chance to sell your book. This is not a chance to get yourself engaged in a speaking environment. This is really about bringing the best thought leadership from all over. We have worked with the athletic director of Virginia Tech. We have worked with bestselling authors. We have worked with professors from a number of top-notch schools across the country. We have worked with nonprofit facilitators. We have worked with people that do some speaking across the space. We have tried to engage and bring together for our listeners, for our audience, for our readers as many different engaging and unique perspectives that can help them move it forward. And the reality is we wanted a place that would challenge you. It's one of those things that oftentimes it is very easy for us to become stagnant or to reach a plateau. If we are engaged with new people all the time, it helps. The cornerstone of each issue, there are a couple things we wanted to lay out. One is we wanted to have that big name at that cover that you can look at. John Maxwell was quite a name to be able to start with. You see others that have gone on to head the cover of the magazine. They have done an amazing job. We have wanted to make sure that each magazine touched on board relations. Each magazine touched on that sense of funds attraction. Each magazine talked about a couple things. The second cornerstone of the magazine to me was the Nonprofits that Work Section. It's great to be able to think about these huge nonprofits that have great budgets and are extremely well-known. But how do we seed this idea, this theme exemplified in the life of a nonprofit that is probably going to be one you have never heard of before? We have been able to show these organizations all across the country who are doing exciting things around that theme. It's been one of those pieces where I have learned so many new amazing nonprofits to be able to point to them later on. In fact, there was one that we worked with not that long ago, The Mission Continues. Hugh, I don't know if you remember them from the work that we did with them, but it's exciting right now because Aaron Scheinberg, who we worked with from there, he is running for Congress in West Virginia. He was somebody that we worked with not that long ago on that article. The Mission Continues was a veteran organization to work to continue to engage vets as they come back stateside to continue in that mission, working in the nonprofit community that surrounded them to engage in different missions. You get to see those kinds of things. It's a beautiful thing to be able to engage and think about how all of the good ideas in nonprofit spaces don't come from just nonprofits. They come from all over. Hugh: Good principles are good principles. Part of your inspiration was to have a different theme for each edition. One of the real fun editions I remember was one with Frances Hesselbein on the cover, who is in her late nineties and is expert on millennials. We did this whole issue on millennials. You had an interest in it, as did I. I'm a boomer, you're a millennial. My article was about how we have similarities in core values and principles. You had this really good interview with Frances. Those are the top downloaded interviews on the Nonprofit Exchange podcast. Todd: Hugh, it's a beautiful thing. Frances has now just turned 100 or 101. She is still kicking. I have seen a couple pieces from her recently. I was telling my daughter this last evening. My daughter is a Girl Scout. Frances was for about a decade and a half the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. I was telling her, You have to understand the legacy of those that have gone. My daughter is a third grader. I was explaining to her that what Frances has done, and I use Frances a lot when I am speaking to students, to be able to understand what it looks like that she is engaging, to never stop learning, to always open doors for others in the sense of when you find trustworthy people who are passionate, give them an opportunity. Open the door for them. They may be young or different from you. Whatever it is, understand that everybody needs a door opened for them. Hugh: Absolutely. You have crafted our submissions page. When you go to Nonprofitperofrmance.org, it will forward the URL to SynerVision's magazine page. Then there is a submissions page so people who want to contribute can go there and submit articles. There is very clear guidelines for submissions. The boardroom issue is being designed now, and it will be printed and distributed before the end of this year. Since people are listening to podcasts maybe at any time, it's important that the material on this podcast and in the magazine is timeless. Solid principle. I am going to let Russ insert some questions. Russ, you have been a contributor for the magazine. As you look at the guidelines Todd has crafted, and specifically the identification of the theme- Russ is a very gifted writer. Russ is one of our WayFinders. I don't know if you know that. He has gone through the certification. He is the first certified WayFinder, but we have some more in the chute. He is the guy forging the trail out there. Russ, how do the guidelines for writing and the description of the theme help you as a writer shape your contribution for that article? Russell: It's important to have a clear message that is direct, to the point, that has a lot of punch, and that forces you to really put your best thoughts on paper without any extraneous information. Also, it forces you to up your game because when you are looking at some of the people like Dr. Jeff Magee for example that are sending material into this magazine, you don't want to send a piece in there that is less than your best. People turn to this because they want to know what sort of things they can do to really enhance their performance. What are some of the best practices out there? What are some things that you can take away from this article and actually make it actionable? When I send a piece in, I ask myself what I want people to know, feel, and do. There should be one piece of actionable. If there is more than one, that's better. Sometimes people can get confused. I am trying to either put a sequence of actions or sequence of things to look for or some sort of actionable piece that somebody can take and implement today. It's important to be able to access, understand, and use that information. I was just surfing the Web today, and I came across a list from an organization called Giving Confidence, which points you toward nonprofit resources. It's five podcasts nonprofit people should listen to. I opened that in anticipation of seeing The Nonprofit Exchange. We're not there yet. We're going to make that list. They talk about why people should listen to that. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. At some point, we're going to end up on that list. I think that's a worthy goal for us to shoot for. Hugh: I'm glad to know about that. Russell, you weren't on the journey as we have gone forward. We are on our third year of the magazine, and it is hard to believe that we haven't talked about it on the podcast. We have three years of podcasts. Lots of episodes out there. From an outside perspective catching up, what kind of questions do you want to pose to Todd about the history of the vision or the future? Russell: One of the things I am interested in seeing, because you are in that university space, I was curious as to how many younger people like yourself are moving in to the space because they want to do work that matters and how many are looking at programs that focus on nonprofits and philanthropy. Are you seeing an uptick in that? Todd: That is a great question. If you go back to the work that we did on millennials, that's a huge issue. I don't have the stats in front of me, but the vast majority of millennials say they want to be part of a company and work that makes an impact, and they will do business with a brand that makes an impact. We see a greater sense of social responsibility in this generation than any other generation in quite some time. There is still that struggle of a gap between what I want and what I'm willing to do. So we know that that's not always something where that gap is closed. But we know that there is a desire. We do see it among our students. We happen to be at a university that is a private Christian institution. We have that faith basis in our students where they do want to go make impact. Across the community here in the Mobile area and across the state and the country, we are hearing more and more about programs like social entrepreneurship coming up. We are seeing people including the Beet Corp and other groups where they are saying they think there is a blurring of the line coming before us between the typical business and the typical nonprofit or charity. They do want to engage. They want to do something. The key right now that we are dealing with is how we make sure we are building the right capacity. I think that's to your point. Historically, one of the things we have consistently seen is that the people who come in to the nonprofit space are people who are passionate about a cause. Passion is extremely important. Books upon books upon books have been written of the last decade or so just on passion and why you should pursue your passion. One of the things we are very mindful of—this has been part of the lynchpin for us for the beginning—passion without guidelines, passion without the right framework or strategy or understanding, can be very dangerous. We are asking questions here about how we cross the line between our school of business and our school of ministry, between our school of business and education, between our school of business and music. We are asking those questions. It's already happening a lot in a lot of places, but you are going to see an increase in those. Folks like Businesses Mission is a concept that has really come up over the last handful of years. You have schools that are developing these centers. They are getting out there and serving. We have a great opportunity. I think it means a lot to our communities. I think going back to that millennial piece, and even touching into our current issue that will be coming out here in December about the boardroom. One thing that is important for our nonprofits is to make sure that they are engaging millennials and thinking about what it looks like to have diversity from an age perspective on their board as well. I think the younger generations are incredibly excited about the potential to make impact in the world. Russell: This is important. I have been engaged with my own church here in doing envisioning. We have been basing that on good to great for the social sectors. One of our local guys, Jim Collins, he is just up the road in Boulder. We started envisioning on that. One of the things that was said verbally was we really want to get young people involved. I dove into this process with him. I created a system to work with the faith-based community and created a coding system. What they say and what scores, there is a bit of a disconnect. This is something that is worth exploring further. We want younger people involved, but where are our actions leading us? There is an underlying- This wasn't done to scale to any scientific scale or with the thought of statistical validity in it. There is a lot of open-ended stuff that is my own interpretation of it. It's really interesting. I would love to share some of those codes with you, some of the coding idea with it. The other thing I wanted to say is we have a very strong Businesses Mission chapter. As a matter of fact, I am going tomorrow morning to the monthly meeting. Todd: That's great. What you said is spot-on. There are two pieces that have really stuck out to me. I don't know who said one, but I do know who said the other. Somebody said to me, “You will get what you celebrate.” Step back and think about it. In an organization, whether it's a nonprofit or for-profit, you will get what you celebrate. You say you want something. If you don't celebrate it when it happens, you're not going to get it. That is the reinforcement. When you celebrate something, you are reinforcing that this is the culture we are working to establish. Then the other piece is Chris Argyris. Chris was a theory guy. I want to say he was at Harvard Business School. One piece he brought to light is there is espoused values or theories, and there are values in action. There is often a discrepancy. You think about how many organizations you have come through. You see those values on the wall. You looked at those values and thought, I don't see those organizations. Hugh, you're laughing because you have seen it countless times both in a religious environment and in other nonprofit organizations. It's a hard thing. We set these ideals up, but we often don't create a concrete way to establish those throughout the organization. Going back to the celebration, we often don't celebrate when those things happen. Hugh: We forget that, don't we? I see Russell taking some notes. Russell grabs some sound bites in these that are very astute. Russell, when you were talking about how you construct an article, that was really good information. What do you want people to do? Todd, back to you. As we were putting this together back in the old days, was that part of our thinking? What do we want people to take away? You have a better recollection of some of this than I do. Your focus was on this more. What were some of the takeaways, the impacts, the results that we wanted people to have because they had the magazine? Todd: There are a couple things that really stuck out in the early days we were doing it. Russell, I think you said it great: know, feel, and do. I want people to know, to feel, to do what I want. One of the pieces we said is leading in a nonprofit organization can be lonely. One of the things we wanted to establish is you're not alone. You're not alone in this journey. The things that you're feeling are being felt all across the country by organizations big and small, by religious and those that are community-oriented in the nonprofit space. That was a big key for us because a lot of times when you are doing this on your own, who do you have to talk to? Can you share with your board these challenges? Can you share with your staff these challenges? Who can you talk to? A lot of times you are even afraid to share with other executives because you don't want to feel like you're the idiot in the room and you're the one who is falling short when other people, at least what they present, seem so strong. We want to be very real. These are issues that we're facing. That's one of the things that comes up in each one of these themes. The acknowledgement that we are all facing them. We have challenges we are facing. We need a variety of voices to encourage us moving forward. That was a big piece. Next to that is the big piece of we wanted to say this is more than just from the seat of our pants kind of framework. This is about how we work to establish real strategy in our organizations. I think that's one of the pieces that often gets lost. We do without thinking of the strategy. You go back to Stephen Covey's four quadrants. In the nonprofit space, because we are dealing with not an abundance of resources and staff, we are just going so fast through the things that become urgent or the things that flare up in front of us. We take care of those things. We don't step back to create that holistic strategy. The magazine and podcast were intended to encourage us to really step back and think about our strategy around these types of subjects. When we talk about leadership, what's your leadership strategy? How do you build a leaderful organization? I am going to go back to Joe Raelin; he was one of our guests about two years ago from Northeastern University. How do you create leadership throughout your organization? We have talked about succession planning. How do you make sure that when you're gone, the organization not only continues, but also thrives after you're gone? That was a big piece to this. We want you to think about that sense of strategy. What's going on? What's working? What doesn't work? When we talked with Frances and Joan, we looked at Peter Drucker's five most important questions. A lot of what they do is they want you to make sure you are periodically having that review process. For some time in our country, the after-action review was a pretty typical thing in certain types of organizations. In nonprofits, we don't do enough of that now. What worked, what didn't, how would we change it for the next time, and how do we continue to grow that to make sure that it's better fitting our mission and our customer moving forward? I think that's a really key issue that's often missing. Hugh, when you step back and think of all the organizations you've worked with, how many times do you see- In the for-profit world, we are talking about continuous improvement. Did you see a lot of that? Hugh: No. Todd: It's something that I think we do. When the thing is done, we go, Whooo. That was long and that was tiring and I'm so glad that we can put that in a box for a year. The next year, we'll pull that box out and regurgitate the same thing. We don't think about, Hey, this is something. Heaven forbid we ask, Is this thing necessary anymore? Do I need to do this anymore? Are we just doing it because it's what we've always done? Hugh: Absolutely. I was thinking about Caesar when he lost his wreath. He got off his throne and there it was. He said, “I have been resting on my laurels.” We want to get there and rest. We want to think we've made a plateau and we can stop. That's a dangerous place to be. I find that continuous improvement is the jargon in corporate America. What we work on in SynerVision is continuing improvement and personal development. The journey is never over. Part of crafting the whole process and the whole design of the magazine is there is different categories. I forget what you call them, different categories. There is Member Engagement, Strategy, Point/Counterpoint, Executive Office, Grants Corner, Academic Desk, Design Corner, Nonprofits That Work, Board Relations, and Systems Thinking. Talk about why those categories. We have had something in those categories every single issue. Todd: Those are big ones. We wanted to be able to really narrow in. One of the things that I think is way too easy when you are starting a magazine or any kind of medium is to say, “I'll accept this” and have it in this vague space. We wanted to give people a way to look forward to new things that were coming. Some of the pieces we referenced before that featured personality in the Nonprofit Works and the Board Relations—one of the things that we wanted to engage in this is Design Corner. One of the things in the Design Corner was always that idea that all too often, we tend to forget that things can look good and they can come together. In the church, for a long time, we lost our artists. We lost our designers and their input and their value. I think we are starting to see them come back again. The same thing is true in nonprofits. Just because you are a nonprofit doesn't mean that your website has to be ugly or that your engagement with your members or your engagement with your community has to be lacking thought. We wanted to make sure that happens. What this does is it gives us a framework that when we are going out to seek contributors or contributors are coming to us, they know that this is the target I am seeking. We want to make sure that the people we have are experts. They really are bringing their game to the table, and it's somebody that you can trust as you are hearing from them. I think that's a really important piece for us. Hugh, I want to touch on as well: We talked a little bit about this issue that is getting ready to go to print. I know some people will listen to this at some time in the future. One thing we have coming up is social media. Obviously, we don't live in a world where social media is a might. I might do social media. Whatever your organization is, social media is really important. Going back to strategy, you have to have a strategy for it. My wife and I were talking last night while watching an old episode of Madam Secretary. There is good and bad obviously about where we are in social media. Sometimes social media has created this perception of reality that is so far from it. It also has allowed people to get a platform that some people should never have. There are things that are going on where you think you never should have a platform. But nonprofits have a great opportunity to engage with their community, with their members, with their public through a very intentional strategy in social media. We want to make sure people are really conscious in thinking about it. Another tendency is that we look at whomever is the youngest person on our staff and we say, “You're in charge of social media,” just like we say, “You're in charge of graphic design,” just like we used to say, “You're in charge of web design.” We can't just throw it on the youngest person. They may be good, but you have to have a real consistent strategy for you organization. What does this social media strategy look like throughout? What are organizations that are doing it really well? We always want to find those people who are exemplars in our field. How does that impact the board? What's the board's role in that? Do you expect your board members to tweet out everything that is happening from your Twitter account? Do you expect them to engage? What does that look like? What are the expectations that you have? That one is coming up here soon. Following that is what Russell and I were hinting at: this future of the public/private partnership. We are going to continue to see growth in that area. The moniker “charity” is something that really has a bad connotation in our society now. What a charity does is it comes without strategy and without fiscal strategy and they come and say, “Please give to me so that I can give to others.” We love to give. But we are asking the ROI question. Just like we asked return on investment, we are asking what the return is on my impact, on my giving in the nonprofit sector. We really want to make sure that we are thinking strategically not only about where we are at right now, but also about what is coming down the pipeline. How do we make sure that we build the right partnerships with the corporate entities in our environment? If we care about this issue and you care about this issue, how can we collaborate to be able to make real impact in our community? Hugh: That's a word that most of our charities don't understand. Russell, we are rounding out to the final nine minutes of our interview. I am going to give you some more air time. You have some good questions. Is there one brewing for Todd? Russell: When it comes to social media, it was interesting. I was at the Socratic café at the University of Denver. Me and a few other guys get together on Saturday nights to do that. We had an ongoing discussion for eight weeks about isolation. Social media came up, and one of them pointed out, “You seem to be very comfortable. I haven't seen anybody your age that is that comfortable with social media.” I don't know everything, but we talked about being isolated even though people are on social media. There were a lot of things, pro or con, that were raised with social media. There is a balance to be struck, and it's not totally evil or good. We want to be able to have these face-to-face interactions. There is nothing like face-to-face interaction. Social media is a tool. I think a lot of people view it as some sort of mysterious scale of people. After you turn 25, your brain oozes out of your ears, and you have no clue what to do. You have to find your children and your grandchildren. That is not the case. What sort of things have you heard people talk about when you're talking with them about using social media to engage? Is there some resistance? Is there some people who think it's the Holy Grail? What are you hearing people talk about? I think it's a great thing to devote a whole issue to. Todd: Let me touch real quickly on something you said, and then I will come back to the questions themselves. You talked about isolation. That is a very big reality because it wasn't until social media really crept up that we had this acronym FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. I think what it does is it drives us deeper into that sense of isolation because we don't feel like we're part of something, so we withdraw even more. Social media is amoral. It's not moral or immoral. It's amoral. It's a tool. It's a medium. It's a channel. Yes. The question is how do we use this? That's really important. Yours, what kind of feedback are we hearing? In smaller, more traditional nonprofits that typically are led by older executives, there is a fear. How do I do it? How do I engage? What kinds of media do I put out there? Do I do it for my personal social media channels? I might have Facebook. Do I post about the organization on my personal page? Do I do it in the groups? How do I build a following? All of those are big questions. It's not an easy thing. There is not really a one-size-fits-all response to that. One thing that is important—and I know Hugh has done a masterful job in building that social media following. Hugh created a platform where he said I am going to focus on leadership. I am going to focus on how we empower people around leadership. When you see his messages, they are consistent. He is consistently posting about leadership and organizations, and he has built a following around a theme. In your nonprofit, that is a key thing for you. You have to own the space that you are in. You have to be mindful. It's quick and easy to go chase the shiny object. We have talked about chasing money in nonprofits before. That is something that gets a lot of nonprofits off track. They go and chase money. The same thing is true with social media about chasing the shiny object. Not everybody has to have a perspective on every issue that comes up. When LeBron went to Miami, your nonprofit didn't have to talk about LeBron going to Miami unless LeBron was the spokesperson for you in Cleveland. Then you might have something to say. It's being mindful about putting your blinders on when you need to and knowing what you are good at and what you should be talking about. That is a big thing. Your following will come out when you are consistent in what you are talking about, when you have a definitive framing to your social media messaging. We live in a world where the social media algorithms are consistently changing. It used to be photos, and now it is video. Video is the hot piece. Having opportunities. Here we are live on Facebook right? That is a really important thing. Whether it's video chats or small snippets, you want to be able to create bite-size visual media because it is attractive. It will engage more people. It is more likely to be seen by folks than I ate nachos for dinner last night. Nobody really cares, unless you have a great picture of your artisan nachos with your tofu on it or whatever. Then people might care. But I think that is to make sure that when you do post something, you're harnessing all that is available to you. That is another piece. We will talk about it in the social media issue of the magazine. Something a lot of people don't realize is there are very tangible ways for you and your nonprofit to be able to have good visuals. I know Hugh is an Apple guy. Apple made it very available for people to cut and edit simple but good, clean video. You have those more recently in a design perspective. I am blanking on the name here. Canva.com is an organization that came out. One of the pieces they wanted to promote was the idea that not everybody is a graphic designer and can afford a graphic designer, but everybody needs good design. They created a very simple free platform or premium platform where anybody can go in and create good design to be able to make sure that is consistent with their organization in the top-notch perspective. Hugh: That's great. We are doing the wrap here. We have had a really good session, Todd. Thank you for watching this with your vision that is continuing. I hope we continue to execute it faithfully. As you are sitting in this academic seat, you are still editor at this magazine and shaping the editorial policy in a really helpful way. Are there some points you want to leave people with before we end this information session? I want to encourage people to go to nonprofitperformance.org and at least click on the virtual edition. 15,000 people read it every month. It's a Flip file. Go in there and sign in. You can read the archive editions, and you can subscribe and buy issues. It's very reasonable. If a nonprofit executive or pastor were to get issues for themselves and their whole board, then some people are on the same page, and it gives you something tangible to talk about, especially the board issue. Todd, as we are exiting and wrapping up on this interview, what are some things you want to leave people with? Todd: Hugh, when you go back to the initial vision, it's the idea. How do we make impact in our communities? We really wanted to do that. When you talk about some of the download numbers for the magazine and the podcast and the video series, we started at zero. We started without subscribers. We started without followers. We started without any of that. If we can do it, you can, too. It's really important to make sure you have a good message, that you have something people want to listen to, to follow, to read. But you can do it. You can make great impact in your community. You can do great things. You can build it if you want a platform. The key is that you just have to continue. What ends up happening is we see people in our community who start something and they're not resilient enough when the challenges happen. Hugh, you know. Our core team that we started with, we have all gone through significant challenges, life changes, but the key is to continue through it and continue to work together. Truthfully, if you don't like the people you're working with, you probably won't continue. We have had a great group of people, both our core team and folks who have come around us and great new faces like Russell who are able to invigorate and continue to move things forward. I think that's really important for any organization. Make sure that you continue to invite new people in as you continue to hone what your message is. Have fun. Life is too short not to enjoy what you're doing. Hugh: Good, wise words. Russell, you can do it. We have fun. Todd, thanks to you. Thank you so much. Todd: Thank you so much. 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For the first podcast of 2013, Hedley has the pleasure to chat with Mollie McCarthy, the new head coach for the Mens and Womens rugby programs at Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. Mollie chats about her early playing days and her extensive coach career which included 4 years as the coach development manager with USA Rugby. Also get an insight into her move to Alabama and what her future plans are for the development of college rugby there.

Hello! Welcome to another episode of LIFE WORK BALANCES! Today I had the chance to chat with Adam Bernot, who is an Area Coordinator at Spring Hill College. I met Adam when he moved to San Diego to attend grad school, and also while he was serving as the PACURH Director, a national student leadership […]

Bishop Willimon's lecture at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, April 4, 2008

Christus Lecture and discussion presented at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, in April 2008.