Build Me Up

ARC Minnesota's Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson and ARC's Value Village Greg Rue join us to discuss ARC and its impactful work with people with disabilities. We discuss their services, how the Value Village thrift store is utilized as a revenue source for ARC Minnesota, favorite thrift store finds, and what makes Value Village "Minnesota's Best Thrift Store" (2021, 2022). This was a fun conversation.

Click HERE for volunteer opportunities.

ARC Minnesota Help Desk (Monday-Friday): 1-866-797-1122

Communities in Schools Twin Cities CEO and President Amanda Sappa and Program Director Colby Owens join "Build Me Up." We chat with the pair about the Communities in Schools program, its importance in the lives of youth, how organizations and individuals can get involved, and more.

Hunt Electric's Chief Operating Officer Keith Colvard joins "Build Me Up" this week to chat about the new facility in Hudson, Wisconsin, how the organization maintains a cohesive culture throughout its various offices, the company's plans for the future, and more.

In this episode, Dani and Laurisa join Chanti Miller and David O'Neil, co-founders of the Mosaic Venue in downtown Minneapolis, to discuss their new event space. They explain the story that led to their unique business plan, the design elements that make for a more inclusive venue, what they hope to see for the future of their business, and more.

In this episode, we're talking about health and wellness. A slight stray from our typical discussion topics, we look at one example of employee health and happiness through the eyes of Kraus-Anderson's Anne Grubish and former Profile employee Jasmine Nelson as we chat about Anne's health and weight loss experience. Recognizing that each individual is on his or her own health journey, we discuss how weight loss is not "one-size-fits-all," being comfortable and confident in your own skin, how happy and healthy employees make for a better workplace, and more.

Welcome back, Build Me Up listeners! We hope you had a relaxing holiday season and a great start to 2023. We're excited to kick off Season 5 with reoccurring guests Jay Bowman of FMI and Rich Jacobson of Kraus-Anderson. Together, we briefly discuss how 2022 played out for Kraus-Anderson, as well as the rest of the construction industry. Then, we jump into a "2023 Look Ahead" to talk about the possibility of a recession, popular market sectors, workforce development, technology, the value of relationship building/maintaining, and more.

It's the Season 4 Finale, so Laurisa and Dani chat about their favorite moments from the past 20 episodes and share their plans for the holiday season!

Thank you to all the guests who participated in Season 4, as well as to our listeners. It's fun to have a platform where inspiring stories that build up the community can be shared.

See you in the New Year!

Project managers Rachael Oelke and Megan Geiser, as well as Kathy Kuepers of Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County and Joni Olson of Gundersen Tri-County Hospital, join this episode of "Build Me Up." We chat with the group about their current hospital projects and how their collaboration benefits both teams and builds. We also discuss patient experience, building in rural versus urban settings, how the community benefits from the new facilities, and more.

National Adoption Day (November 19th, 2022) is this week, and Kraus-Anderson's very own Kevin Magstadt and his wife, Kris, are recent recipients of the Angels in Adoption award. The two join the episode to share their inspiring story about the adoption of their two grandchildren, Kaiden and Michaela.

Jaia Lent, the deputy executive director at Generations United, also joins the podcast. She shares how the nonprofit is a resource for families navigating adoption, as well as offers a wealth of knowledge about adoption overall.

While we know there is a variety of adoption stories and circumstances, our episode is primarily focused on "grand-families."

This episode, we're joined by Tiffany Orth of Move Minneapolis and Ben Shardlow of the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District. Tiffany and Ben, as well as their teams, are passionate about the city of Minneapolis and work hard to make the downtown experience a positive one for all. We chat about sustainable transportation practices, how their work plays a role in the revitalization of downtown, and more.