Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
A conversation with Rachel Flores, the Executive Director of Amarillo Art Institute . This nonprofit offers art workshops and classes all year long at Sunset Center, where Flores is helping spearhead the renovation of Arts in the Sunset. In this episode, she tells host Jason Boyett about growing up in Bushland, moving back to Amarillo as an adult, and beginning her job just a year before the passing of Ann Crouch , the artist and visionary who owned and managed the Sunset Center property. On the...
A conversation with Joshua Raef, the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A Georgia Street and Chick-fil-A Westgate Mall. Raef tells host Jason Boyett about growing up in Amarillo Catholic schools, how he got into the restaurant business and how his businesses have weathered challenges—from the pandemic to the chain's nationwide controversies related to politics and gay marriage, more than a decade ago. In 2015, Raef and his wife, Erica, also spearheaded the passage of House Bill 635, a state law that gu...
A conversation with Idella Jackson, who serves as the Constable Precinct 4 for Potter County. Jackson arrived in Amarillo as a young single mother—and a high school dropout—determined to provide for her children and build a career. She spent more than a decade at the William P. Clements Unit with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, then nearly eight years with the Potter County Sheriff's Office before being elected Constable in 2013. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Jackson exp...
A conversation with Kelli Bullard, who is temporarily retired after careers in publishing, communications, senior living and the nonprofit world (among other workplaces). Kelli recently authored an article in Brick & Elm Magazine about her journey to recover from multiple brain surgeries to treat a brain tumor, and the frightening complications that resulted during the process. In this episode, she and host Jason Boyett discuss her Amarillo work history, her illness, and Kelli's personal que...
A conversation with Kevin Carter , the President and CEO of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation. Kevin spent his early career in Plainview before arriving in Amarillo in 2019, and quickly realized he was here to stay. With the AEDC, his job is to sell Amarillo as a destination for primary businesses, with the goal of expanding industry and manufacturing in the city. In this episode, Carter tells host Jason Boyett how he ended up in this position, why he loves promoting Amarillo to outs...
A conversation with Gwen Hicks, the Executive Director of Amarillo Angels , an organization that provides community for children and families in foster care. Hicks founded the organization in 2016 after a long career in education, from teaching elementary school to serving as a junior high counselor to coordinating Head Start at Region 16. In this episode, she shares with host Jason Boyett how her education career cultivated a passion for seeing kids succeed, how the challenges of the foster car...
A conversation with the Rev. Jared Houze , Rector at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Jared is a 7th-generation Texan who grew up in Dallas but has spent most of his adult life in West Texas. He and his family arrived in Amarillo during the summer of 2020. He shares with host Jason Boyett about his ministry calling and conversion to the Episcopal tradition, his journey from rural churches to St. Andrew's, and what he is learning about community and diversity here in Amarillo. This episode is spons...
A conversation with chiropractor and voice actor Jeff S. Williams, who currently juggles two careers: He's the owner of Creek Stone Integrated Medical , which combines chiropractic work with acupuncture, a nurse practitioner, and massage and spa services. But he's also a voiceover artist in high demand , thanks to his folksy, working-man baritone and a side gig he experimented with during the pandemic. Williams shares with host Jason Boyett how each of these careers began and why, in Amarillo, n...
A conversation with Sister Elizabeth Ann Dockery of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and the convent known as Prayer Town Emmanuel. Located near Boys Ranch, Prayer Town is a Franciscan Charismatic Religious Community. Elizabeth Ann is an Amarillo native, former music educator and a past member of the Amarillo Symphony. She shares with host Jason Boyett about her music career, her conversion to Catholicism and the path to discovering her religious vocation. She also explains the role of Pra...
A special episode about the late Mike Boyett , the father of host Jason Boyett. Mike passed away a year ago this week, on December 16, 2021, at age of 73 after a brief journey with brain cancer. He spent most of his career as an Amarillo architect and was part of a close-knit community of friends connected to Paramount Baptist Church, where Mike volunteered in multiple capacities. In this series of interviews—both in-person and over the phone—Jason speaks to Mike Boyett's former colleagues, peer...
A conversation with Mary Bralley, the president of Los Barrios de Amarillo and a longtime marketing, public relations and business development professional. Bralley shares with host Jason Boyett about her early days as a single mother living in poverty, as well as the steps she took to receive help, gain stability, improve her education and become more involved in the community. In addition to her work with Los Barrios, her early struggles gave way to positions of influence, including service on...
A conversation with Andy Marshall, the President and CEO at FirstBank Southwest . Andy isn't originally from this area—he arrived here from Tulsa in 2017—and isn't original to banking, either. His first career was in the military, where he served in security forces for the U.S. Air Force and then, in the late 1980s, as an Army squadron border officer stationed in Amberg, Germany, at the height of the Cold War. Marshall tells host Jason Boyett how he ended up in banking, why he landed in Amarillo...
A conversation with Crystal Solis , a hair stylist at Braxton Paul Salon and 22-year veteran of the local hair industry. Solis' first introduction to cosmetology came from vocational classes at Palo Duro High School. More than two decades later, she found herself at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on location, styling the hair of the groom's mother right before the wedding of Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos. Solis tells host Jason Boyett how she ended up in that unique position and why Amaril...
A conversation with Pedro Limas, the owner of Sound by Design , a home entertainment installation company. Limas started the business in 1998 after earning what he calls a "6-year associate's degree." In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, he shares his story of entrepreneurship and why he's so passionate about volunteering, as well as his love of mountain biking in Palo Duro Canyon. Then Limas details how a recent heart attack—which happened barely a week before this podcast recording—cau...
A conversation with John Gamble , the senior principal cloud architect at Zillow. An Amarillo native, Gamble has spent the last decade living in Seattle and working in cloud infrastructure management for companies including Amazon, REI and now the Zillow Group. But last year, the reality of remote working allowed him to relocate his family back to Amarillo. He tells host Jason Boyett how his time at WT launched him into the tech world, how moving back to the Panhandle improved his quality of lif...
A conversation with Julie Granger, founder of the Sister-Bear Foundation , a nonprofit serving adults who've suffered spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, strokes and other trauma. In this episode, Granger tells host Jason Boyett about the accident that paralyzed her daughter, Kathryn, and how it led to the organization. She also shares about value of therapy in dealing with her own past trauma, including her mother's long-unsolved murder and why that cold case recently found resolution. (Trigg...
A conversation with Evan Guerrero, the WTAMU student and science educator behind the TikTok account @evanthorizon , which has more than 2.1 million followers. He is finishing up a physics degree, but this Amarillo native has already become a rising star in the astronomy world thanks to his fun, space-focused videos. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Guerrero shares how a telescope purchase set him on this unlikely path, how a gap year (or two) gave him perspective, and how he navigate...
A conversation with Tony Foster, executive director at Amarillo Area Mental Health Consumers , an organization most people know as the Agape Center. Foster has a lengthy history in mental health work, including authorship of articles on recovery and mental health stigma for prominent psychology journals. But he's also had his own struggles with mental health. Foster shares with host Jason Boyett about a season in which he was homeless in Amarillo, and how the Agape Center—which he now leads—ende...
A conversation with Emily Hunt, Ph.D. , Dean of the College of Engineering at WTAMU and the CEO/Founder of BTG Products . Hunt's research focus is novel nanostructured materials and has included work for the U.S. Department of Defense. In the process, she's also figured out commercial uses for her antimicrobial products, which you can now find at Lowe's and Home Depot. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Hunt shares about being one of few women in her field when she started, about the n...
A conversation with Todd McLees, the Managing Partner at Innovation Outpost , an innovative new learning center associated with Amarillo College. McLees came specifically to Amarillo to work for this initiative after several decades as an executive in the tech world. McLees shares with host Jason Boyett about his short career as the Milwaukee Bucks mascot, why Amarillo is becoming a hub for technical skills, and how Innovation Outpost helps individuals gain credentials that make a difference in ...
A conversation with Tim Oditt , Head of School at Ascension Academy. Oditt arrived in Amarillo in the summer of 2020 to guide this college-prep school, after having spent the previous decade at a private school in Ohio and a military academy in Virginia. Oditt is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne. In this episode, he shares with host Jason Boyett about his career in private schools, the role Ascension plays in the local education sphere, and why his famil...
A conversation with Skylar Gallop , a former TV news reporter and anchor who now serves as the Texas Panhandle Regional Advocacy Director for Raise Your Hand Texas. A WT graduate, Gallop spent several years in the San Angelo and Tyler media markets before returning to this area. She shares with host Jason Boyett about her TV news career—and why she stepped away from it. She also details her stint as the Communications Director for the Williams Group in Amarillo and why she now advocates for publ...
A conversation with Leslie Massey , a Farmers Insurance Agent in Amarillo and co-owner of The Shop , an event venue. After an early career selling online advertising for the newspaper, Massey changed careers after the 2008 financial crisis. She explains to host Jason Boyett how she built up her insurance business, the challenges the industry is facing today, and why she also helps manage an event venue. They also discuss her home, which was originally built by the legendary gambler Amarillo Slim...
A conversation with Donivan Blair, an Amarillo resident who lives here but travels all over the world as the bassist for the rock band The Toadies, which he joined in 2008. Over the past couple decades he has recorded 17 albums—several with the band Hagfish, which he founded—and performed in hundreds of venues. Doni also holds a first-degree black belt in Taekwondo, is learning Jiu Jitsu, and is the author of the memoir Even If It Kills Me , a book about martial arts, rock and roll, and mortalit...
A conversation with Rickie Johnson, a motivational speaker in Amarillo who specializes in financial literacy seminars. His family moved frequently when Johnson was a kid—he grew up in Pampa, Tulia, and various stints in Amarillo. He tells host Jason Boyett how his upbringing in a low-income household convinced him most families didn't struggle with a lack of income, but a lack of knowledge about how to handle money when it was available. Johnson's work in sales and exposure to colleagues making ...
A conversation with Lilia Escajeda, a retired banker and long-time community leader. Born in El Paso, Escajeda arrived in Amarillo in the 1970s. Upon being hired by Amarillo National Bank, she became the first female loan officer of any bank in Amarillo. She spent decades at ANB before retiring in 2010, after which she served elected terms as the first Mexican-American woman on the Amarillo College Board of Regents as well as the Amarillo City Council. Escajeda shares with host Jason Boyett abou...
A conversation with Randy Ray , Director of Broadcast Engineering at West Texas A&M University and a Canyon City Commissioner. A native of Pampa, Ray graduated from WT before spending the next 15 years in Nashville, where he ended up managing the huge Sunset Studios. He returned to WT in 2002 to help design the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex. Ray shares with host Jason Boyett about his stint in a prominent Christian rock band, the opportunity that brought him back to the Panhandle, an...
Lindsay Irwin shares her unique journey from itinerant traveler to co-founding the Amarillo Community Market and launching CannFusion Juice, a hemp-derived cannabis beverage. She discusses the personal growth from her nomadic years, the evolution of the community market, and the challenges and opportunities of the emerging cannabis industry in Texas, including its potential for social good. Irwin also reflects on her adopted hometown of Amarillo and its potential for creative growth.
A conversation with Eric Gomez, principal of the new West Plains High School in the Canyon Independent School District. Gomez is not only in the process of staffing the first new high school in the city in decades, but also helping establish its culture and personality. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, the former coach shares how he found his way into education, how a personal tragedy forged a powerful connection with the community, and how he feels with the first semester at West Pl...
A conversation with Kim May, the CEO/Founder at Nobox Creative , a strategic marketing firm. Kim grew up in Denver but arrived in Amarillo as a young adult after fleeing domestic violence. In Amarillo she found a place to start over and spent the next decade in the early cellular phone industry. She tells host Jason Boyett how she found her footing in telecommunications, shifted careers as the industry changed, and now applies her marketing mindset to businesses, nonprofits, and even political c...
