Be Bullish Podcast - Baltimore Be Bullish

 While eating excessive amounts of pizza at Zella's during the Sowebo Music & Arts Festival, we quickly decided further exploration of the Hollins Market area was necessary. We sent an email to our buddy Noah over at ToolBank, and a few clicks later, we had a date set up with Michael Seipp, Executive Director of the Southwest Partnership. The following week, we found ourselves standing at the corner of Hollins and Carrollton, just outside of Hollins Market, with Michael and he brought along JR Lee and Bif Browning. We quickly learned these guys are some of the neighborhoods most bullish and active individuals (every few feet they were chatting with and introducing us to another resident who was involved in the community). Before heading inside, we had some quick history lessons about the market (there's an old recreational center and basketball court up top and the market used to be fully open on both sides...something these guys hope to see again in the future). Bif also explained that the Hollins Market and Union Square area, home of many notable Baltimoreans, was the city's first innovation corridor; railroads, telegraphs and bicycle trails all found their origins in the neighborhood. Not to mention all the events, movies and concerts regularly happening in the area as well.  

Hollins Market is the oldest existing public market building in Baltimore and there are still longtime vendors with rich stories about their family history in the market (check out Johnnie's Seafood, Jack's Poultry, L&R Produce, just to name a few).  We could go on about the things we learned from Bif, Michael and JR and the other individuals we spoke to – but that’s why we have the podcast. The point is that being bullish on Baltimore is about engaging with our city and the people working to make it great. There are many of them. What we thought might end up as a quick chat with one person turned into a a morning meeting passionate new people sharing old stories and visions for the future…and of course some delicious tacos at JR’s spot, Mi Ranchito. When people are proud of what they have helped to create and continue to build, they are excited to share these stories. Finding these individuals and listening is especially fun.

In addition to the places mentioned, make sure to check out City of Gods, CUPS Coffeehouse and all the other places in the neighborhood we haven't even made it to yet. Then email us and tell us about it!

Huge thanks to our buddy Gio for capturing it all in his amazing photographs.

The suggested $1-15 dollars you donate for Geoff's community classes go right back to providing more opportunity for city youth. After school the gym is open for any kid who can find his or her way there. The goal is to "strengthen Baltimore's youth" but the way in which this is accomplished extends far beyond just physical fitness.

It took us a while to get the full story out of Geoff because, as we said, he's not one to boast. But Geoff, MissionFit founder Wendy Wolock and the rest of the Mission fit team are committed to creating a safe space for kids where it's possible for them to feel healthy and supported. Listen to the podcast to get the full story and then head to missionfit.org to learn how to get involved.

We met Geoff thanks to an email from someone who said we had to "check out this place called MissionFit." We tend to follow up on these suggestions, so keep them coming, we love it. 

Geoff Blake doesn't like to boast about the work he does, so we decided we had to do it for him. If you go to MissionFit.org  you'll see that Geoff is listed as a coach but that's an unbelievably modest description of what Geoff does for this non-profit gym. Geoff and his team have been providing free fitness classes for youth in the city for the past 8 months, along with donation based drop in classes for people of all ages. MissionFit's mission is to "build community among our city's youth" while "fostering self confidence and strength in our gym using physical fitness."

Most days the MissionFit gym, situated above an auto body shop in Remington, is filled with a broad spectrum of individuals. From middle school kids playing dodgeball to adults receiving personal training, all of the activities that go on in the gym go towards supporting the mission of the gym.

The Be Bullish Crew doesn't exactly facilitate an efficient work environment...but at least we amuse ourselves. However, once we actually sat down with Patrick and began to talk Baltimore and Bullishness, we produced some pretty sound, interesting audio. Nic, Patrick and the whole Startup Soiree community have a pretty damn bullish take on their city and we're happy to be a part of it. 

Stay tuned for the full audio from our interview with Patrick and make sure to check out some of the other great Startup Soiree interviews. Lots more guerilla-casting to come, and don't forget to listen in on  some of our most recent interviews!

As always, everyone have a Bullish Day!

Last week Patrick Rife of Pixilated and Startup Soiree had us in his own studio to record the Startup Soiree Podcast. Naturally, turning the reigns over to someone else isn't always easy, so the Bullish Crew indulged in a few minutes of what we're now calling "Guerrilla-casting." It's like Podcasting except you do it at inappropriate times and you largely talk about nothing. While we were recording 2 minutes of ridiculous audio where we speculate on time travel, what a real "fire-wall" would look like and our plans for our upcoming interview, Nic China and Patrick (co-owners of Pixilated and Startup Soiree) attempted to work diligently on their weekly calendar.

 At the moment he's using his background in design and advertising to help local businesses and non-profits, like the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation, brand themselves for success. It's definitely one of the highlights of this Audiobite, but in general Jermaine is an absolute wealth of knowledge and recommendations.  Listen closely  to learn about some of the badass events going on and local artists and thinkers Jermaine gets to run with. 

You can find Jermaine on social media as @JTBeezwax. You can also find some of his awesome prints on Etsy or this Friday night, May 20, at the SunSets event at Impact Hub. Check the man out!

Jermaine Bell has a deep passion for this city. Let's go ahead and call him Bullish. Jermaine is a Baltimore native, MICA graduate and one of those dudes who seems to know everyone and be involved in everything. Jermaine, a Baltimore Corps fellow, is the Program & Marketing Director at Impact Hub where he plays a key role in scheduling events and pulling in world class speakers with a range of expertise. We've attended several talks at Impact Hub and we can't recommend them highly enough. It was a privilege to get to sit down with Jermaine and learn about his approach towards booking speakers, his work in the community and his deep concern for the welfare of his city.

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Our interview with Noah Smock, the Executive Director of the Baltimore Community ToolBank, came together perfectly. We met Matt Williams when he reached out to us about our Be Bullish shirts. So of course, we invited him for beer at Butt's and Betty's. Then we interviewed him in an elevator shaft at Light City. Then Matt said, "I have someone I want you to interview."  A few days later, we were at the Baltimore Community ToolBank, talking trash grabbers, shovels and how the ToolBank, (one of only ten of its kind in the country) is helping to "amplify" community organizations all over the city (and beyond). In essence, the way we arrived at BCTB is exactly the way we envisioned Be Bullish working when we conceived of it. Word of mouth referrals & the best of Baltimore from the people that live here.

Noah is a wealth of knowledge about the hundreds of awesome community organizations throughout our city. The ToolBank works with many of those organizations to provide tools and materials for various initiatives all over town. Instead of charging expensive rental fees for tools (or worse yet, forcing organizations to purchase tools, elevating startup costs) Noah and his team have created an easy, affordable way for organizations to access the materials they need. Whether it's shovels, generators, tables or a megaphone,  Noah amplifies the potential of organizations all over Baltimore. We had the opportunity to tour the ToolBank and get the scoop directly from Noah.  Check them out here and check out our blog page for the extended photo album from our trip!

"We need you here".

That's been the recurring theme of many of our discussions lately. It's the first thing that came up when we met Zeke Cohen, our latest podcast guest, at High Grounds Coffee in Highlandtown.  

You, the intelligent individual who has ended up in Baltimore, for whatever reason, we need you here, and we need you to stay. It's easy to come to Baltimore as a transplant, and in the case of many of us, especially millennials, take your prestigious, well-earned (and expensive) degree and move on. But there are a million reasons not to do that. Baltimore needs young passionate individuals to stick around and invest in this city. 

Why? Last night, at a panel about the importance of "place" in Baltimore, B. Cole, founder of Brioxy and Dovecote Cafe, explained the potential and positive implications that result from homeownership. "It's like another step of adulthood...it's probably not that different from having a child, it forces you to think about everything differently". That makes sense. When you own a home, you have every reason to be concerned about what is going in the community and neighborhood around you; you've invested a lot of time and money into this new venture, and you can't up and leave tomorrow. So, all of the sudden you care a lot more. 

There are many factors that go into creating that link between transforming a transplant into a long-time resident, and one of them is having a foundation upon which you can build neighborhood and community ties. Grace's Acre, which we've mentioned before, is a tangible example of a community building space, and Grace's Acre is how we linked up with Zeke.

Zeke epitomizes why it's important to keep young, passionate individuals in the city. It's no surprise that, 30 seconds after walking in the door, our conversation focused on the importance of keeping young people here. Zeke came to Baltimore for school and never left. He's actively engaged with the city ever since, and is now running for a seat on City Council. 

Whether or not you agree with him as a political candidate, it's hard not to be inspired by Zeke's passion for Baltimore City. Early on in our conversation with him we posed the question, "what made you decide you needed to stay here?" His answer? The potential is here, he said, "If we can get it right here [in Baltimore] we can get it right anywhere." For young people looking to set up shop in Baltimore City that is a hopeful message. Of all the cities in all the world, Baltimore could be the one where we really get it right.

Listen in on this noisy (High Grounds is not a quiet place, but it's a great place and you should probably go there) bit of audio from Zeke and learn about his passion for the city. 

If you're here in Baltimore and you like it here, make sure to tell people. Make sure to remind people that they have a stake in their community. Remind people to vote and remind people, "we need you here."

Tomorrow, April 16, Zeke will be hosting an early voting brunch at Filippo's Pizzeria (418 S.Conkling Street). Stop in before heading off to vote.

*This is not a formal endorsement. Zeke's just a cool guy to grab some coffee with and we like that he's bullish on Baltimore.

So of course when Zeke Cohen posted in a neighborhood Facebook group about Always Sunny, a new Creperie in Highlandtown, we decided we needed to go check it out.  We could have carried on with our Sunday and continued binge watching Netflix...but then that wouldn't have been very Bullish of us now would it have been?

A few hours later we dropped in on Always Sunny and its lovely owner Ghadeer, who patiently whipped up crepes for us and all of our friends. This trip turned out to be dinner, dessert and a few minutes of golden audio. Ghadeer and the Bullish crew talk crepes, starting a business and why she and her brothers chose Baltimore. Enjoy and remember to Stay Bullish.

Check out Always Sunny's Facebook page here.

The great thing about Baltimore Be Bullish is that ultimately this entire project is about a change of mentality and it's that mentality that puts us in interesting places with interesting people. This isn't just an effort to expose people to greatness in Baltimore; it's really an effort to change how we all think  about and interact with our city

The main idea actually came from our own desire to say yes more often, see more of our town, meet exciting individuals and to encourage other people to do the same. If you never read this blog or listen to our #audiobites again that's fine. Our hope is that the few episodes you DID listen to will encourage you to explore a bit more and say yes more often.

Photo thanks to Chop Photography

In Baltimore, if you have an idea which you are passionate about, there is a strong community here ready to give you the support you need to make your vision a reality. The speakers at LightCityU reinforced this concept, and this is one of the many reasons we love our city.  Day 2 of the Social Innovation Conference, like day 1, was full of solid talks, great people, fresh ideas and a non-stop buzz of positive energy about the existing power and potential of our city. It’s also been nice to see some familiar faces day after day, which highlights the notion of “starting conversations” that we often hear about. There is definitely a community (bigger than we even know…and will probably ever know) dedicated to realizing Baltimore's potential, and making it the greatest city in America…and if you hang out enough and pay attention, you’ll start to see the same faces, and these conversations get richer.

I met Chris Wilson at an Impact Hub happy hour last Friday. Since then, I’ve run into him at least four times. Chris, founder of Barclay Investment Corporation, a “social enterprise that specializes in residential and commercial contracting work” spoke on yesterday’s panel, “Leadership and Place”. The panel was great and so was Chris; he highlighted the need to not only focus on the creation of jobs, but also support for job creators and the importance of continuing to tell the stories of those here in Baltimore. Chris is an all-around inspiring guy who chose Baltimore, a city on which he is clearly very bullish. We were very happy he gave us a few minutes to talk about his path to Barclay, what he’s up to and his favorite dish in the city.

(We came across Chris's Stoop Story when we were putting together the links for this post, and we recommend taking five minutes to listen.) 

We we're pumped to check out the first day of the LightCityU Social Innovation Conference today at the Columbus Center. Awesome panels with Rich May from Innovation Village, Rodney Foxworth and Michelle Geiss from Impact Hub, B Cole from Brioxy, Laurin Hodge of Mission:Launch, Fagan Harris of BaltimoreCorps, author Wes Moore of BridgeEdU...the list goes on...And we finally had a chance to meet our social media friends from Good News Baltimore, in person. Plus a wonderful librarian we hope to meet again soon. It was a great day and now you have many links to explore.

Matt Williams, part of the Startup Soiree crew, held things down all day, from making sure you got your Pixilated photo badge when you walked in, to all sorts of of behind the scenes things we didn't notice thanks to his perfect execution, to ensuring everyone had enough Natty Boh's before listening to the last talk of the night. In between all of this, Matt graciously spent five minutes talking to us in the only quiet place we could find...an elevator shaft. This dude is wise beyond his years, very Bullish on Baltimore and all about community. So listen up as he discusses his take on the day and our city.