Business. Casually.

PR Director for the Coal City Library, Cindy Starks, is back with our fastest podcast about the ongoings at CCPLD. Cindy highlights the upcoming events and programs for the month of October. You're in and out in under 8 minutes again! Check out and register for events at ccpld.org. 

PR Director for the Coal City Library, Cindy Starks, is back with our fastest podcast to date about the ongoings at CCPLD. Cindy highlightes the upcoming events for the month of September. You're in and out in under 8 minutes! Check out and register for events at ccpld.org. 

My friend, PR Director for the Coal City Library, Cindy Starks, is back with another quick  podcast about ongoings at CCPLD. Listen in for news about the new onlune chat on ccpld.org, what's happening for adults, events for kids, the CCPLD Card Rewards program, and more! 

My friend, PR Director for the Coal City Library, Cindy Starks, is back with another quick-hitting podcast about ongoings at CCPLS. Cindy does a great job highlighting the upcoming events and procedures the library has. You're in and out in 12 minutes that never slows down. Check them out at ccpld.org. She also talks again about the importance of taking the census. Please, please do that for your communities!

Today’s guest is Sarah Ezell. Sarah is a mental health therapist at Grundy County Health Department and an adjunct professor at Governors State University. Today we talk a bit about what she’s doing in quarantine, a little about teaching college students, mostly about her role at Grundy Health Department and available services, what the best part of being in a relationship is, and if she’d be a Jedi or a Sith.  And if you’d like a link...https://www.grundyco.org/health/services/#behavioralhealthhttp://namiwillgrundy.org/connecting-during-covid19?fbclid=IwAR1rKK9eHOMOQ2mocOYShXOM71vTcFC6s4GOPtqQdsD753i0io_-RsIoUCY

We're back for season 2!Our friend, PR Director for the Coal City Library, Cindy Starks, had a great idea to do a regular (perhaps monthly) quicker hitting podcast for the local library. This is the first of those episodes. It's a little overshadowed by news that the library will be closed for the next two weeks BUT Cindy does a great job highlighting the 24/7 materials that the library has. Check them out at ccpld.org. She also talks about the importance of taking the census. You're in and out in under 20 minutes with valuable info! 

This week's guest was Bill Bradley. And he showed up with his wife (the actual business owner). And then I freaked because I'm not really set up for a two person interview. And then we made it work. Anything we lack in audio quality (passing a mic back and forth) we make up for in awesome talk. These two talk about the path that led them to attend the same college (and meet there), marrying, joining the service, opening up a reptile business, and so much more. I'm 98% sure that Bill is a superhero and that he's barely trying to hide it. Give it a listen.

Today's guest is Sarah Peterson of Sarah R Peterson Photography in Morris. We chat about what led her to opening up a photography business and I ask a bunch of silly questions about weddings and couples fighting. We do a Disney World/ Disney Land comp and I tell my Disney New Year's story. Speaking of stories- she gives me a hard time about having only three that I recycle. I also find out a trait Sarah most values in a friend.

Today I chat with Brian Galbreath of Unpossible Mead in Dwight. Brian's a Coal City guy who went to school for radio and television, ended up substitute teaching and working on tow boats, and ultimately opened a really unique business. We chat all things mead....this is like a 101 course that might leave you with as many questions as answers. You find out that I don't know who wrote Right Field but DO know the bassist from Weezer (albeit a guess). Enjoy!

Denise Gaska is the Rapid Re-housing Director at Grundy Area PADS. We talk not only about the work she does helping place the area's homeless in safe, stable living situations, but also some of the instability she had in her youth, what she went to school to for, local speech rivalry, and I find out what she's absolutely unapologetic for. 

Matt Fritz is the village administrator in Coal City. We chatted on his beginnings in military school, his days in college at North Central, what he wanted to do after, his model United Nations experience, mosquitos, and more!

Jamie Frazier is a first grade teacher in Coal City. She's also a yoga and dance teacher at Broadway Dance Center, also in Coal City. We chat about her childhood in Coal City (and hobbit house). I was floored to hear that she didn't always want to be a teacher. I get majorly schooled on yoga- including for the second straight week trying to get to the bottom of goat yoga. And she makes me cry (well, technically tear up).

Blair Soto is a REALTOR with 2 Get Moving Realty in Minooka. 4 years ago she was Three Rivers Association's Rising Star, now she's just a star. We chatted about growing up in Campus, how a bet led her to cheerleading, how she got into real estate, yoga, fitness, and more!

Melissa Hansen is the owner of Hustle & Hunee Boutique in Coal City. Today we talk about her athletic background, her career in project management, and empowering women. We also nerd out (though not too badly) on data analysis stuff (saving most of that for the after-chat) and we spoil the Bachelorette finale.

Jack Micetich is a teacher at Coal City High School but also the founder of Small Town Theatrics. Jack and I are friends and former co-coaches with the Coal City Speech team. Today we chat about his latest production, Hairspray which OPENS TONIGHT, how he got into theater, what role I can play in a potential upcoming musical, but we also get a little deep as we talk about mental illness. Check out the episode- it's a can't miss.And check out Hairspray this weekend at the Coal City Performing Arts Center.  

Riley Nevin will be a Junior at Coal City High School where he plays football, runs track, and participates in Footnotes, Madrigals, plays, and musicals. He plays Link Larkin in the upcoming Hairspray and was recently cast as Radames in the 2020 All State Production of Aida. We chat on each of those roles, his dream role(s), and what he's planning to do after high school.

Josh Lacy is the youngest guest to date. I had the pleasure of coaching this young man in speech (though the episode will reveal that I’ve forgotten for how long). Josh has been in 8 Small Town productions to date. We talk about that, secondary math, his thoughts on the Beatles, and his amazing body transformation. And I lie to his face about the podcast not picking up trains (which it definitely did on this recording day).

Ann Gill serves on the Board of Directors for Small Town Theatrics. You may also know her as the Editor for the Coal City Courant. She talks about how she came to be a Small Town board member as well as a journalist (fun fact- it’s not what she started school to be). This is a great mini-Small Town Theatrics history lesson and we find out what Ann’s favorite musical is! …...we also get some of the loudest Coal City trains captured on the podcast to date and I try to take credit for the invention of live tweeting.

Cindy Starks is the PR director for Coal City Public Library. Today we talked about how she placed in the state shorthand competition in high school, how she got into and worked 28 years in the law field, many of the awesome things the Coal City Library has going on, and about her Cinder Ridge hole-in-one!

Gideon Blustein is the Member Outreach Manager and Local Governmental Affairs Director for our local association of REALTORS but more than that is a wealth of knowledge on so many things. He is vitally important to my career and an awesome, humble advocate of all of us (property owners and renters). In a new longest episode-to-date we chat about his beginnings, some of the unique jobs he has held, businesses he created, rehabbing homes, and so many other things. Gideon is someone you can talk to forever and never slow down. We chatted for over 2.5 hours.....here's a little less than half of that. Enjoy!