bigcitysmalltown with Bob Rivard

This week’s guest is Dr. Lisa Campos, the Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director, at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a position she has held since Nov. 17, 2017. Listen as she discusses the extraordinary growth of UTSA Athletics since 2017 and looks forward to what's ahead.  

This week’s guests are part of the bigcitysmalltown family. First, Monika Maeckle, founder of the San Antonio Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival, and the author of the newly released book, “The Monarch Butterfly Migration, Its Rise and Fall,” published in August by the University of Oklahoma Press; and Ashley Bird, who now serves as the festival’s director in its 9th year and also is the founder of Blooming with Birdie, which connects children to nature by creating empathy-driven, immersive educational experiences, events, and digital content that is inspired by Ashley’s experience as a Montessori teacher. Listen in to hear about the upcoming Monarch Butterfly & Pollinator Festival on October 5th from 9am-1pm.  

This week’s guest is Ray Cantu, founder of a company called SIMMIE that until recently was known as ColdCALR. By either name Cantu, the consummate salesman, says his company is revolutionizing the world of sales with what he describes as an “AI-powered platform designed to train sales professionals faster, smarter, and more effectively.” 

This week we welcome a returning guest: Trish DeBerry, CEO and president of Centro San Antonio, the nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a better downtown for locals, businesses and visitors. Trish was a bigcitysmalltown guest last December, and in this episode she offers an update on exciting projects  on the drawing board, including the relocation of the San Antonio Missions and the San Antonio Spurs to new downtown venues. She also talks about closing Houston Street to vehicle traffic on Friday, September 20th for the annual Park(ing) Day event. Come on down for a cool evening of art, walkability and pop-ups! 

Have you heard of NukuDo, the cybersecurity training program located at Geekdom? Today’s guest is Michael Blair, an entrepreneur and NukuDo’s Managing Director. NukuDo pays its enrolled students $4,000 a month during their half year or so of training. Blair is joined by Jose Herrera, a member of NukuDo's first cohort.  Listen as we discuss how NukuDo came to be, and how their training program is sourcing exciting new talent to enter the cybersecurity workforce in San Antonio and beyond. 

This week’s guests are Vicki Yuan, an architect with Lake/Flato, and Libby Morris, a leader in  San Antonio’s design community and the principal of Morris Design. Vicki and Libby are with us to talk about their roles as leading organizers of PechaKucha San Antonio, the local chapter of a global entertainment and education stage production that was started by two Tokyo-based architects in 2003. The word "PechaKucha" is Japanese for "chit-chat" or "the sound of conversation". The next installment will take place at the Carver Community Cultural Center on September 4th.  

This week’s guest is Dawn White-Fosdick, the longtime president and CEO of Christian Assistance Ministry, widely known as CAM, which serves both the city's homeless as well as families who have housing but are experiencing crisis in their lives. For the month of August, the Wade Richmond Foundation is matching every dollar raised up to $100,000, so now is a great time to learn how you can help support the 70K members of our community served annually by CAM or learn how to access their services yourself. 

This week’s guest is Krissy Salinas, the director of Let’s Go Texas, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities in South Texas and the San Antonio metro area find gainful employment. Let’s Go Texas partners with the Texas Workforce Vocational Programs, and also has launched innovative programs in area public high schools where Krissy and her team work with students with disabilities to prepare them for the workplace, a service that has only grown in importance after the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or someone in your family or circle of friends has a disability and is struggling to seek employment, you’ll want to hear more.

This week’s guests are Naphtali Bryant, the Childcare Scholarship Coordinator at United Way of San Antonio, and Raylynn Hampton, a United Way Scholarship recipient. Raylynn is a 27-year-old student pursuing an online undergraduate degree in education at Southern New Hampshire University with the goal of becoming a teacher and starting her own nonprofit. While she pursues that degree, she is working fulltime as an administrative assistant to the principal at Oak Meadow Elementary School in the Northeast ISD. She also is the single mother of Amira, a three-year-old girl who happens to be in the studio with us today.

This week’s guest is Lea Rosenauer, president and CEO of Girls Inc. of San Antonio, an affiliate of the national Girls Incorporated organization that was established locally 20 years ago this November. Its mission is to inspire all girls ages 6-18 to be strong, smart, and bold, and to overcome barriers that prohibit them from achieving their personal, educational, and career goals.