Most teachers don't get a unanimous vote of AWESOME from all their students. This one, however, does. Mrs. Pritchard appreciates that all kids learn differently, all kids ARE different, school should be fun and experienced through projects. Listen as this Chicago suburb transplants to our town of CU with her townie husband and young son. This mom found little outreach for NICU moms locally, so when she found The Nest Postpartum she quickly knew she'd found a place to get and give support to othe...
Jul 30, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 124
These two absolute shining stars taught me a lot. When they left Kitchen Table Studios, I was in a better mood than when we started. Wise beyond their years, these brothers should be so proud of their accomplishments. I'm excited to see them soar in the upcoming years. Listen as these Urbana brothers explain their parent's journey from the African Congo to the great state of Illinois, where they fall in a big family tree, Peace's transition from Urbana schools to Holy Cross Catholic School in Ch...
Jul 23, 2024•49 min
Disordered eating and eating disorders have changed in terms of language, scope and target demographic. What used to be a common topic in library books and after school specials is now talked about less as other mental health topics take center stage. However, more than ever with social media, weight loss drugs and misinformation, disordered eating needs to be a trending topic. Listen as this townie, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker talks about her persona...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Insurance is supposed to be dry. Not a lot of flair, color and charisma involved. Austin bucks that stereotype. His education in communications and creative outlets bring a fresh perspective to the industry, and sales, in general. Listen as this Southern Illinois boy meets even more southern girl and builds a family and a business here in C-U. By day he is a desk jockey selling insurance plans with a philosophy of fishing for clients over the sometimes off putting tactic of hunting for sales. By...
Jul 09, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 121
This pod is an oldie but a goodie. We pushed this episode back to release the Boston ep for timeliness reasons. When we have nothing left to talk about, we play a game. Art imitating life. We do this sometimes when walking or waiting impatiently for something. Listen as my husband and "Tales From Two Townies" segment star talk "bringing the funk, upping the energy and being a basic bitch," voice mocking and a Q&A game. Find out where we want to be in the future? What we want our legacy to be...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 120
Another That's What She Said cohort visits Kitchen Table Studios. She is smart, powerful, commanding and confident in her abilities and talents. Jen is no stranger to business, grief and going after what she wants. Listen as this Arizona born, Champaign raised, fixture in our community shares her opinion of our little-big community, her love of animals, losing her husband unexpectedly while gaining a flailing business, taking the business from the red to the black, removing one thing a day from ...
Jun 25, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 119
Unfiltered. He warned me. This sweet guy isn't afraid to speak his mind, speak the truth and raise a little hell once in a while. Please excuse the MIC sounds, we did our best with the remote location. Listen as this proud Villa Grove born-and-raised seasonal farmer, horseman and new business owner talks about his family farm, "Team Block," assisting horses when they give birth, living and loving a country lifestyle, starting his own arborist business, working for Champaign County, avoiding the ...
Jun 18, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Authentic, sweet, vulnerable and warm. She is everything you'd want in a teacher, her first vocation. She is everything you'd want in a realtor, her career now. Listen as this townie talks about switching careers, her ultimate purpose of helping people, building the life that you want, low level anxiety and spells of sadness turning into debilitating anxiety and depression, admitting you need help out loud, being uncomfortable with something new, pulling back instead of quitting, adding tools in...
Jun 11, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 117
Because of sound quality and the irreplaceable connection that comes with face-to-face interviews, I avoid Zoom and phone interviews at all costs. However, if something or someone’s message trumps those variables, I make an exception. That’s the case for Patrick Stokes and his son, Seán. Listen to a recall of May 17, 2024 when Patrick got a call no parent ever wants to get. His son, Seán, had been in an accident and was at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Patrick and his wife made the drive to rescue ...
Jun 04, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 116
I met SoeYun during the 2024 That's What She Said (TWSS) rehearsals. She was well spoken and full of good advice and thoughtful observations. Then came the humor. Her storytelling was second-to-none, sandwiched with takeaways and pearls of wisdom. Listen as this now midwesterner explains how she went from Seoul, Korea to the tiny town of Tolono! She retells what is was like for her family to immerse themselves into a majority white community, her "kicking a**" dad doing martial arts in the local...
May 28, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 115
I met Emily D. when I was an eager mom who has since peaked at parenthood. Sign up for all the things. Take all the notes. Fill up the calendar. She was president of our pre-k board and patient with my onslaught of questions. At this time, Emily was laid up and recovering from one of MANY surgeries to repair and reconstruct the bones that keep failing her. Listen as this Florida native, 4th generation in fact, talks about what brought her to the Midwest, her Certified Public Accountant backgroun...
May 21, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 114
What a pleasure it was to sit across from a professional in communications. I had a lot more in common than I expected with this old soul, wise-beyond-her-years, grounded girl. Listen as this Champaign native talks purity before marriage, leaving the popular ciLiving local lifestyle show, maintaining uncompromisable roots while being flexible enough to travel for her husband's professional baseball career, making your mess your message with her book "It's OK, Finding Peace in Unexpected Places,"...
May 14, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Big personality. Red hair. Red lip. Huge heart. Her life ballooned beyond blue collar expectations into a higher education in performance. A built-in family and a special needs child lead her to a life of nurturing, advocating and creating a new normal. Listen to this Pontiac, Illinois transplant talk operatic music, singing as a learned skill, big age gap in sibling dynamics, her stage partner becoming her life partner, marrying an older man with two little ones, struggling to get pregnant and ...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Electric. Energetic. Magnetic. He doesn't even drink caffeine anymore. He is high on life. Brett feeds off people, hard work, momentum and passion. New to his schedule and routine, is the hard-to-achieve concept of BALANCE. This is the only podcast I didn't have to edit and the only podcast guest that brought a professional videographer/photographer with them! Listen to this Champaign townie, Centennial graduate, and success, in every sense of the word, share his story. The loss of his mom chang...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 111
A farming family gave Nicole the foundation for a degree in agriculture, a husband in agriculture and a first job in agriculture. Two kids later, Nicole has traded in corn and soybeans for color analysis. This home-run business has kept her calendar full beyond her wildest expectations. Listen to this Ursa native, a town of 600 people, talk small town feelings at a big college like the University of Illinois, roommates and sorority recruitment, going from no fun to too much fun, cold calls to se...
Apr 23, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 110
My husband, Andrew Harrington, and I podcast from our Boston hotel room. Our third guest, the hotel housekeeper, makes multiple off-MIC cameos. We are in Massachusetts in an effort to follow the Illini Basketball Team through March Madness. This obsession (of Andrews) leads to an achilleas injury from overuse of the gas pedal during these 14-hour up and back drives. Listen as we discuss if the injury effect Andrew's marathon training? How did he fare in his past marathons? How did hernia surgery...
Apr 16, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 109
I had the pleasure of meeting weekly with Airiel Sadler during the 2024 rehearsals of That's What She Said. She was shy, then sweet, then vulnerable, then funny then articulate. Each time I listened to her speak, her words became more dynamic and more meaningful. She got 7 minutes on stage. Here is the full story of her glorious mess. Listen as this Champaign-born, Chicago-raised, Champaign-adulting sweetheart of a women talks about her formative years running around the streets of Chicago while...
Apr 09, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 108
It's not easy to follow your dream, to start something from scratch, to hustle and practice and hone your craft in the hopes that you are talented enough, or lucky enough, to one day be discovered for the gifts that you have to share. Listen as this local talks about her background in dance. This background would create a craving for the stage. She's a star. A funny star. A comedienne who has trained in Chicago, Australia, the West Coast and now she is back in our community! This funny girl hust...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 107
How did this once cubicle dwelling-ad salesman turn into the modern-day ice cream man? Listen as this local talks about his college days: the good, the bad and the ugly, how these days led to a need to prove himself, how my own good, bad and ugly days overlap with his, his full circle return to his fraternity house as a mentor to the younger guys, buying a literal fleet of Kona Ice Trucks and his dad's reaction when he told him about his idea, his most recent endeavor: Travelin' Tom's Coffee Tru...
Mar 26, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 106
This professionally trained chef, with wife Stef, fell in love with cooking food when he saw his cousin's face light up while eating his first solo dish. This passion won out over his second love, basketball, and would lead him to the pursuit of higher education at Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta. This militant environment would widdle a thousand students down to a few hundred by the end of the year. Listen as this Tennessee transplant talks about having three girls under two, cooking and eating the f...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 105
This retiree of the US Navy, changed his course entirely at the height of his military career. Move up or move out. He didn't opt for travel and noon naps, rather he chose steering a ship full of high school students. Listen as this Brooklyn-born New Yorker talks about meeting the woman that will get him to Heaven, being the Chief Operating Officer of the high school your teenage son attends, moving your family over a dozen times, negative press, dispelling rumors and negative connotations about...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Once upon a time at a local baby pool, a talkative, pretty, friendly mom with a 100-watt smile struck up a conversation with me. Almost a decade later, this mom and I would end up living in parallel orbits as our sons traveled through summers, sports and school together. Listen as this Chicago suburbanite talks about her life raising three boys into gentlemen, talking to kids about consent and sex, fighting your way back into the corporate world after taking time off to provide full-time car ser...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 103
I finally meet the multi-talented, teacher, musician, YMCA Body Attack King and hair God, Ryan Groff. Ryan has been on my potential list since the beginning of the podcast as a male "gotta" interview. Listen as this Southern Illinoisan talks about his crossover from jock to rock, teaching all musical abilities through tons of instruments over 60 lessons a week, the current status of the popular musical group, Elsinore, and the inception of the local Modern Drugs Band, building a backyard studio ...
Feb 27, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 102
I catch up with a current LA (former Urbana) couple while they visited family during the holidays. A sweet email from Steve's biggest cheerleader, wife Megan, brought the potential interview to my attention and ultimately my kitchen table. Listen as Steve talks about his former professional life in baseball, the current state of the sport, starting Steelo Sports, twin life, West vs. Midwest, showing initiative at a young age, the dichotomy of being both creative and athletic: music, fashion and ...
Feb 20, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 101
My husband, Andrew Harrington, and I podcast from our honeymoon spot 13 years and a lot more literal baggage later. In Maui we touch on a WIDE range of topics and Andrew tries not to mock my voice. Listen as these two townies talk about renovation PTSD, frozen poo in a bucket, our son calling incessantly from school, young love, my previous work bully and my current call out on social media from an old schoolmate. While Andrew tries to divert the conversation into safe waters—Emily dives right i...
Feb 13, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 100
I've met a lot of new people while building the podcast. This interviewee was one of the most approachable and friendly guests I've met. What used to get him in trouble, his "life-of-the-party" way of life, has now turned him into a successful event coordinator and venue owner. Listen as this Urbana boy and former college football player becomes an Amway Multi-Level-Marketing convert. This one career decision became a pivot point for his future and the choices and moves that followed. Dan talks ...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 99
I’ve had the privilege of working with and interacting with these two Champaign powerhouses during my That’s What She Said (TWSS) production prep. Kerry and Jenette are friends, colleagues and a perfect blend of business, theater, dreams and realistic goals. Listen as this duo explains the evolution of the popular, annual production of TWSS. With a full plate, Kerry hesitantly handed an eager Jenette the foundation of the production. Jenette took the baton and brought TWSS back from hiatus using...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 98
This Champaign girl and old friend used to be a social media fiend. She used to feel good only one week out of the month. The past two years have thrown curve balls and a lot of changes, but she believes she is now on the upswing of these recent challenges. Listen as this bubbly, everybody-knows-your-name, type talks about an event that hurt her business and confidence in ever again putting her entire life on social media, her recent (quiet) engagement, her life changing surgery and the physical...
Jan 23, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Champaign gal and fellow Central grad was feeling adventurous. She emailed me on a whim before visiting her folks over the holiday break. This now Austin resident prepped me with the chapters that made up her story, making my job easy and relaxed. Listen as this friendly, self-actualized, trained social worker talks relatably about the challenges that have put her on a path of healing today. Traumatic pediatric bone cancer, adult ADHD diagnosis, job burnout and the pressure of having to coach cl...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 96
Indianapolis transplants met as kids, but they didn't become a serious couple until Andrew rescued Brook from a traumatic relationship. This heroic foundation of care and love is ever present in this interview as Brook looks to Andrew for the medical details and Andrew looks to Brook for unconditional support. Listen as the parents of four explain their identical twin boys D-bifunctional protein deficiency diagnosis. Simply put, they can't digest long-chain fatty acids. Tragically put, they are ...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 96
