Justin Gardner serves on the family board of Big Slick KC, a KC celeb-packed weekend of events raising money to support Children's Mercy KC. We're re-dropping this insightful episode in celebration of 2025's Big Slick weekend!

During an internship and short stint at WDAF-TV, Justin Gardner, a University of Missouri Journalism School grad, found out editing the evening news content wasn’t the life for him. I’m sure all the shouting, cursing and swearing coming from the sports department didn’t help. So Justin used his skills to create commercials and enhance brands for several media companies like AMC Theaters. He brought the film office back to KC and serves as the president of the Film Commission of Greater KC. He also created the Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund for aspiring filmmakers. And now that his younger sister, comedian Heidi Gardner, is making her mark on Saturday Night Live, Justin has joined the family board of The Big Slick Weekend.