Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller

"I came to realize that I would never have the chance to work in an administration with somebody that I [am] so closely aligned with on issues. It makes it really easy to go to work." – Bob Mendes, speaking of his working relationship with Mayor O'Connell

Climbing the Charts was excited to sit down with Bob Mendes, Chief Development Officer for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, to learn about the future of Nashville's East Bank, the series of events and negotiations that paved the way for a new, $2.1+ billion dollar Titans stadium, as well as other challenges and opportunities Music City's new development director sees in his crystal ball.

And while the East Bank is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by a city, Bob wants Nashvillians to know that though he will dedicate time to the East Bank project, his focus is on development in and for Nashville as a whole.

"My whole mission is just to affect positive change with people, and housing is such a key component to people's health, well-being, and safety." -- Andrea Prince

According to Nashville's 2021 Affordable Housing Task Force, chaired by Mayor John Cooper, the city must create 52,498 new housing units by 2030—a daunting challenge, given that only 1,344 affordable units were being built annually at the time of the report.

Today on The Climbing the Charts Podcast, as recorded by our sister podcast The Real Estate Mailbag, we're joined by Matthew Wiltshire, President of Pathway Affordable Housing Corp. and former Chief Strategy Officer at MDHA, Andrea Prince, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Nashville, and Joshua Haston, Development Manager at LDG Development, LLC and Board Member of the Nashville Industrial Board. These leaders share their personal journeys and insights into tackling Nashville's housing crisis, discussing innovative city tools and divisive zoning proposals debated in Metro Council. They also explore the impact of Tennessee's new "home bond" bill on affordable housing.

Tune in to understand why affordable housing isn't just crucial for your future, but for the future of Music City itself!

"We're not building new roads (for the most part), so it's about trying to use that [existing] infrastructure in better ways that meet our modern needs." --Michael Briggs, director of mobility at Vanderbilt University's Transportation and Mobility Office, currently on loan to the City of Nashville as a director of transportation planning through 2024

On November 5, 2024, less than six months from today, Nashvillians will go to the polls to vote on critical issues and races, including who will serve as our nation's President. Locally, however, Nashvillians will also vote on a multibillion dollar transportation improvement program called Choose How You Move, the first transit referendum to appear on the local ballet since 2018.

Climbing the Charts sat down with Briggs to discuss why transit should be considered essential infrastructure, how this plan differs from the prior failed transportation plans presented to Nashvillians and explores how improving transportation addresses broader community needs (affordable housing being at the top of that list).

"I knew that if I had a Plan B, I would be 50/50. I would be one foot in and one foot out, and I had to be fully dedicated." - Derrick 'Moe' Moore

When the Climbing the Charts podcast first launched in 2022, the co-hosts created a list of dream guests – Moe Moore was at the top of that list, being a co-founder of Slim & Husky's. Almost two years and many amazing guests later, this is that episode, and it was fitting that the Tennessean was even on hand to take some photos!

Moe is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Slim & Husky's, a pizza concept that is more than pizza – it's pizza, art, and music. Moe shares how music and art are built into the DNA of Slim & Husky's, and shares his hard-earned life lessons about what it takes to make it as a successful entrepreneur (including the often unappreciated advantages of having no Plan B). He discusses the future plans and dreams for Slim & Husky's, and even gives an overview of the rich culture and community of North Nashville.

"What people don't understand about Juvenile Court is that literally two-thirds of the cases that we deal with are about the parents." –Judge Calloway

Judge Sheila Calloway, Davidson County's Juvenile Court Judge, and Lonnell Matthews, Davidson County's Juvenile Court Clerk, are two of Nashville's most accomplished individuals. They are an entertaining pair, but are serious about bettering the lives of "our kids." They discuss misconceptions about the work of the Juvenile Court, the Nashville Youth Campus for Empowerment (coming in 2027), and recent legislation that will dramatically impact the juvenile justice system. Spoiler alert: the TN General Assembly did not seek their input, but they remain open and ready to assist when asked…hint, hint.

Julieanna Huddle is the Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Julieanna explains the mission of CASA and how YOU can make a difference in the lives of all of our children who are in desperate need of an advocate.

"When you're in the middle of the battle, to be policy-driven is smart, to be politically-driven is dangerous." - Jeremy Faison

Few people have had a closer seat to the important issues, drama, and national and international garnering headlines involving Tennessee politics than Representative Jeremy Faison, Chairman of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus. Representative Faison discusses what drew him into politics and what it's like to be a leader of a party now enjoying a supermajority. In a Paul Harvey fashion, Faison weighs in with the "rest of the story" on the alleged complaint against him noted in the recent Chancellor Perkins opinion, his now infamous "pantsing" incident, what people fail to understand about Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton and even the recent "whistling" episode involving the high school girls' Picket County Bobcat Team. Beyond that, Faison, a libertarian, addresses many of the issues that have been presented during the current legislative session.

"It's already a presidential race and lots of people are going to come out and vote for the President…however, we know…that about 18% of the people who go into that booth don't keep going down the ballot… If you're in the voting booth, don't stop… Make your vote count all the way down." -Megan Barry

In a hotly anticipated interview, Climbing the Charts sits down with former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. Barry served as Nashville's seventh mayor and was the first woman ever elected to the office. Barry's tenure as Music City's mayor, however, was marked by almost Biblical highs and lows. Megan speaks to her time in the Mayor's Office, and catches us up on what she has been doing since leaving the Mayor's Office, including her decision to re-enter the political arena as the Democratic challenger for the 7th Congressional District of Tennessee. The incumbent, Congressman Republican Mark Green, announced he would retire, only to rejoin the race a few weeks later. Megan makes a compelling case for why she can win this race, and then tells us how she will do it.

Many astute observers consider Megan Barry to be one of the most charismatic and gifted communicators in the political arena in Tennessee today.

https://www.meganbarryforcongress.com/

"It's a diverse world. Companies sell products to consumers that are very diverse. Their teams and technical talent should reflect the communities that they sell products to." – Dr. Isaac Yao Addae

Dr. Isaac Addae is a man with many hats – first-generation Ghanaian American, computer engineer, strategist, business professor, entrepreneur, investor, and author of "Black Boy Fly: Embracing My Ancestry, Blackness, and Purpose in the African Diaspora." Isaac also served as the Treasurer for Freddie O'Connell's mayoral campaign, and now has agreed to wear yet another hat as the "Small and Minority Business Engagement Liaison" for Nashville.

Listen in as Isaac shares how he came to Nashville, why he will always spend a significant amount of time as an educator, how navigating two worlds as a Ghanaian American became his superpower, and why we should all care about diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in the workforce. Also learn why Isaac's new role will be one of his biggest challenges yet, and about how some of the plans being put into motion in the Mayor's Office are likely to move the needle for small and minority-owned businesses. Isaac also makes a unique, compelling case for how Nashville can adjust the lens that the rest of the world views Nashville through and emerge as an increasingly ascendant tech hub.

"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime. But if you teach a woman how to fish, she feeds the village for a lifetime. The ripple effect that women entrepreneurs have on communities and the global economy is phenomenal." — Sherry Deutschmann

Climbing the Charts sits down with Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, a serial entrepreneur, a sought-after speaker, a highly coveted board member, and the bestselling author of "Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in Your People." But it is Sherry's role as the founder of BrainTrust, which is empowering women entrepreneurs so they can 10X their companies and change the world, that is now changing the business landscape in Music City and beyond.

Former Mayor Karl Dean was known to ask, rhetorically and always in good humor, what Nashville would be without music (answer: Birmingham), but he could have substituted "the Ingrams" for music and arrived at the same punchline.

There are few beloved things in Music City without fingerprints, known and unknown, that in some way trace back or connect to the Ingram family. While Martha Ingram was the driving force behind, among many other things, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, her son John, who now serves as Chairman of Ingram Industries, is the driving force behind one of Music City's latest loves: Major League Soccer in the form of Nashville SC! The story of how John and his carefully assembled team brought MLS to Music City has been told before, but never quite like this.

A favorite part of the conversation with John involves his telling of why the green light at the end of Daisy's dock in The Great Gatsby has always spoken to him, "it's all about possibilities." When John sees the green light, "that's where [he's] headed." And, we think that's where Nashville is headed, as well.