Fluent in Floridian

He has served under Florida Governor Askew and with the New York Yankees, but over the past two-and-a-half decades, Doug Sessions has found the most success as President and CEO of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (preventchildabusefl.org), which works to end child abuse in Florida. His background in government made him an unlikely candidate for the position, but his overwhelming devotion to preventing child abuse in Florida makes him an obvious choice.

Doug is fluent in Floridian. However before he was fluent in Floridian, he was speaking Yankee as he served with the New York baseball team, he describes one experience with the organization, "I got a call one day from a marketing person, and she said, "I represent Miller beer, and we want to do a Miller Lite commercial with Mr. Steinbrenner and Billy Martin." So I said, "Well, I'll go check." And I visited with George and he said, "I'm not really inclined to do that." Then he started thinking, he said, "Well, are they going to pay me to do it?" And he said, "I'm sure they will." He says, "Well, if they will take whatever they're going to pay me and give it to this," there was an orphanage in the Bronx. And he said, "If they will give it to," I think it was called St. Mary's, "I'll talk Billy into doing it, and we'll do it." So I called the lady back and I said, "Here's the deal." And she said, "Well, that's great. We'll do it in a heartbeat." And they gave, I think it was like, $50,000 to this orphanage."

The sort of selflessness he saw while with the Yankee organization is matched by what Sessions says he learned from Governor Reubin Askew: lessons on ethics, humility, and ambition. According to Sessions, Governor Askew was once set to receive the King of Jordan at a space launch in Cape Canaveral, and not knowing how to address him at the time, simply said, "hello, king, how are you?"

A hopeful, hard-working, Boston-transplant, Philip Levine will be the first to say he wasn't a 'stellar student,' instead, he would probably attribute his ascension to the upper echelon of Florida politics to his convictions and mentality of hard work. His background in politics and history have led him to 'think big and act small,' which is why when he saw paralysis on the part of Miami Beach legislature to address climate change, he took up the fight and ran for mayor.

Philip is fluent in Floridian. Although his stint at the U of F was brief, he does have valuable advice for students, "I always say, "Study what you would enjoy the most. Study what you would wake up in the morning and be excited to go to class. Because if you want to go into business, you don't need a business degree. Matter of fact, I'll give you a business degree right now. You buy something for a dollar, you sell it for two. You write it down, it's called accounting. And it doesn't make a difference which business you're in.""

One innovative strategy that Levine employed during his campaign was his Living Room Speaking Tour. When he ran for mayor of Miami Beach, Levine knocked on over 6,000 doors, so in order to increase the efficiency, he has people invite over their friends and neighbors to talk with him about this issues in Florida. "They're the ones that kind of give you your PhD on Florida," he says.

A fifth-generation Floridian, still living on the same piece of property that she grew up on in Zolfo Springs, Denise Grimsley knows a thing or two about 'Flo-Grown.' Grimsley experienced a different childhood than most: her family's land included a 350-acre citrus grove, 100-acres of cattle, she learned to drive on a dirt road, and there were no neighbors to speak of. When her dad fell ill, she returned from her job as a registered nurse to take care of the family oil business, all while attending business school at nights and on the weekend. Her time in the Florida Senate has led her to running for Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture.

In a fertile ground for political careers, Brecht Heuchan took a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Florida State, an internship with the House Republican Campaign Committee, and turned it into a lengthy career as the founder of Contribution Link, a political data and fundraising company. Now, he faces the unparalleled pressure of sitting on a commission tasked with reviewing the constitution that governs the people of Florida.

Lucy Morgan is NOT your typical Florida retiree. A long-time veteran of the Florida journalism industry, Lucy has both reported news, as well as made news, while investigating corruption in law enforcement. The accolades are second to the stories she's collected, not that a Pulitzer Prize or an induction into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame and the Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame is anything to sneeze at, Morgan would probably equate these accomplishments to the prison sentence she received for protecting sources.

It isn't just Florida's enticing attractions and vast ecological diversity that make this state stand out. Florida is also the only state in the union to have an automatic Constitution Review Commission (CRC) which meets every year. Mary Adkins, a Master Legal Skills Professor at the University of Florida, joins us to discuss her research into the history of Florida's CRC, and her new book, Making Modern Florida: How the Spirit of Reform Shaped a New State Constitution.