Austinites

Gerald Youngblood is the Founder of Tankee, a family-friendly entertainment platform that helps parents protect their kids from inappropriate online content while giving kids access to the gaming and entertainment videos they love.

Gerald got the idea for Tankee when he noticed that his young son and his friends were more likely to be on YouTube watching gaming content than watching Nickelodeon, Disney, or anything else. As a parent, this made him a bit nervous. He thought about all the non-family friendly stuff that his son could be seeing. Who knew what video or ad could pop up next on the screen.

So Gerald did some research. He started to look for the Nickelodeon of gaming content. But he couldn’t find anything. So he got an interesting idea. What if he built something himself?

To do this, he would have to leave a job that he loved and a career that was going really well. He decided to seek out the advice of his mentor. While they were talking, she asked him a question that really got his attention. In fact, it was a question he could never get away from. From that moment on, he knew he had to do it. Soon after, he launched Tankee.

In my conversation with Gerald today, he shares what that pivotal question was that his mentor asked him. He also talks about what happened on day one, when they flipped the switch and Tankee went live for the first time.

To learn more about Gerald and Tankee, check out their website below:

Bonnie Cullum, along with three fellow graduate students, started The VORTEX Repertory Company back in 1988. From the very beginning, the group wanted to make theatre in Austin that was new and different. They wanted it to be provocative, push the envelope, and tackle politically charged issues.

More than 30 years later, The VORTEX is still doing just that, inside their theatre off Manor Road in East Austin.

Bonnie still serves as the theatre’s Producing Artistic Director. In my conversation with her today, she shares why making new, provocative theatre was so important to her. Bonnie shares what some of the most memorable and shocking moments have been on stage. She also discusses her efforts to make theatre a more essential part of the community here in Austin.

To learn more about Bonnie and The VORTEX, check out their website below:

Randy Hester is a person who’s not afraid to make a big pivot in his life. It’s something he’s done over and over again since a young age.

For example, there was the time when Randy was working as a sales rep for Glazer’s, a large wine & spirits distributor, here in Texas. It was a job he was very good at. He was moving up the company ladder and being told by some customers that he was selling more of their wines than anyone else in the state.

But Randy started to get interested in something else. Instead of selling the wine, he wanted to make it. And so at the age of 36, he left his career and nice salary behind, and he moved to Napa Valley, California, so he could learn the winemaking craft.

After almost a decade there, Randy had made it. He had worked at some of the top cellars in Napa. He was working with winemakers that are revered as some of the best on the planet. He had even launched his own wine label, Lightning, that was being received really well.

But it was here that Randy made, perhaps, the biggest and most surprising pivot of them all. He decided that he wanted to make Texas wines. So he moved to Austin and he started a new winery, naming it after his great-grandfather C.L. Butaud.

So why did he do it? And how did he do it? And was it tough to leave everything behind, just as he was securing his place inside Napa Valley’s elite club of winemakers.

Well, Randy’s going to tell us. He’ll also explain what makes Texas wine unique and why the winemaking future of this state is so bright.

Jennifer Long is the Executive Director of Casa Marianella. 

Casa Marianella welcomes displaced immigrants and promotes self-sufficiency by providing shelter and support services. Their ultimate vision is that all immigrants arriving in Austin will have safe housing and access to the services they need to be successful.

Jennifer and I talk more about what Casa Marianella does and the residents that they serve. We talk about her background and how she ended up there in the first place. She’s been helping people in need for a good part of her life and has an interesting background.

What I enjoyed most about our conversation was the education that Jennifer gave me about immigration reform and immigrants in this country. This is something we hear a lot about on the news. It’s a pretty polarizing topic at times. However, Jennifer is someone who has been on the ground, working directly with immigrants for the better part of 30 years. I really valued her first hand knowledge and thoughts on the topic and I learned a lot about misconceptions we have as Americans about immigrants and immigration reform.

If you'd like to learn more about Jennifer and Casa Marianella, check out their website below:

Jen Grogono is the President and CEO at uStudio.

uStudio helps companies better distribute audio and video content to their employees. One example is an app they developed that allows companies to broadcast podcasts securely to their workforce. These podcasts could include content such as interviews with leadership, company news, or training. Employees can then use the app, much like they would use Spotify or Apple Podcasts, to consume this content through a modern, mobile first medium.

In our conversation, Jen shares more about what uStudio does and what led her to starting the company. She also talks about some interesting experiences she had earlier in her life such as living in Paris and working for the office of Senator Ted Kennedy.

You can learn more about Jen and uStudio here:

Chas Moore is the Founder and Executive Director of the Austin Justice Coalition.

Austin Justice Coalition is a Racial Justice Group that educates and builds community power for people of color who live in Austin, Texas that need support, community, and liberation during a time of systemic injustice in America.

Chas talks about why he started Austin Justice Coalition and what makes them unique compared to other organizations that are fighting for people of color. He goes through what some of their biggest accomplishments have been to date. He talks about what he would most like to see changed in Austin in the upcoming year.

Chas also talks about what it’s been like to get to know and work with various city officials, including Mayor Steve Adler.

If you'd like to learn more about Chas and the Austin Justice Coalition, check out their website below:

Alesia Lani is a singer-songwriter. She has three new singles out this year and we talk about the genesis of those songs and about the creative process behind her music. She’s known for writing especially personal songs that touch on various things happening in her life.

We also talk about her time with Project ATX6, which is an organization that selects six Austin musicians to travel together, live together, and perform together at international music festivals.

Alesia traveled around the world as part of that project and she shares a few of her favorite memories from the trip. You’ll get to hear what she thought about ramen in Japan and riding elephants in Thailand.

We also talk about how that project got interrupted by COVID and the impact that’s had on her life and music.

You can learn more about Alesia and her music here:

Patti Rogers is the Founder and CEO of Rallyhood.

Rallyhood is a platform for purpose-driven groups, causes and member organizations. It’s a platform that combines the best of social with the best of productivity and collaboration tools to make it easy for groups to come together, engage in, and support the causes they care about, in one place.

Patti is a cancer survivor and that ultimately led to her starting Rallyhood. She was a competitive swimmer and that had a real impact on her life. Both her parents were entrepreneurs and that, of course, was a driving force to her becoming an entrepreneur herself. She even worked with her dad in the first company she started and has some really funny stories about that.

You can learn more about Patti and Rallyhood here:

Mauricio Callejas is a musician and the founder of Centroamericanto. Centroamericanto started as a directory for singers and songwriters from Central America but has grown into an annual musical festival in Austin and a podcast, both of which feature musicians from Central America.

Mauricio is originally from El Salvador and we talk about what he loves and misses most from there. We talk about what Central American music is and how it differs from music in other parts of Latin America. We get into why he started Centroamericanto and what it’s grown into over the years. Mauricio recently released a new album, Crisis, and we discuss his creative process behind that.

Mauricio also shares where some of the best places are in Austin to experience Central American culture and food.

You can learn more about Mauricio and Centroamericanto at the links below:

https://mauriciocallejas.com/

https://centroamericanto.net/

Mobley is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

Mobley and I talk about his creative process for his latest album, Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme, and especially his newly released single, James Crow. We talk about his background and how he ultimately morphed into a one-man musical show. Mobley also shares his thoughts on the pandemic and the impact it's had on his life.