Today we have Ellen Armour on the show. Ellen is a native of California's San Joaquin Valley, where she lived until attending UCLA. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition from the School of Arts & Architecture, and went on to work in project management for the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Google, Chevron, international consulting firm Turner & Townsend, and TETER Architects & Engineers before landing at the Fresno Philharmonic, where she currently serves as Director of Marketing & Development, developing relationships and marketing best practices for an outstanding non-profit arts organization.

Ms. Armour serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of California Symphony Orchestras and is the immediate past Board President and Marketing Chair for the Fresno Arts Council. Ellen is also a classically trained pianist, vocalist, and composer of 33 years and loves sharing the beauty and joy of music with others. You can find some of her music on Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms.

Ellen's Website

Books: 

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Charles Duhigg

The Midnight Library Matt Haig

A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 

Today, I have an interview with Alex Treas and Jenn Guerra. Both from the valley, they share a passion for the growing technology industry here and, after the fallout from Bitwise, are striking out with a new venture called Reclaim Technologies that aims to help businesses and organizations leverage technology to achieve their goals. 

Reclaim Technologies Website

Books:

Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works Ash Maurya 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones James Clear 

The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Brianna Wiest 

Today, we have Anna Covarrubias and Marcee Rodriguez of The Pie Mamas on the show. These two home bakers turned a passion into a thriving business and are baking some of the most beautiful pies in Fresno. Please enjoy our fascinating conversation about our favorite holiday dessert.

The Pie Mamas Website

Today, we have Timothy Yeager on the show. Yeager is the Chief Clinical Officer at Centria Healthcare which is the leading provider of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy to children with autism in the country. Our conversation is wide-ranging covering ABA, pragmatism, NY-style pizza, reducing burnout in the helping industry, diagnosis as determinism, and more.

Books

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Kim Scott

Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children Todd R. Risley and Betty Hart 

Brooke is spear-heading a campaign to bring a library to the Tower District of Fresno. As a librarian, the host of this podcast couldn't be more supportive of expanding library access to as many people as possible. Please support the project in any way you can! 

The Campaign's Website

Books: 

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 

Today's episode is a repost from my other podcast, History of California Podcast, with Katherine Blunt. Katherine Blunt is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America’s Power Grid. The book, a national bestseller, won the 2022 Golden Poppy award for nonfiction. Her coverage of PG&E, a collaboration with two colleagues, was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and earned a Gerald Loeb award, the highest honor in business journalism.

Today, we have Scott Miller on the show. Scott is the President of Chamber Commerce and the owner of Gazebo Gardens. Please enjoy our conversation! 

Today we have Arianna Chavez on the show. Arianna is the executive of Arte Americas. Born and raised in Fresno, Arianna attributes her passion for art to formative years spent at Arte Américas. She is returning home with a decade of experience in nonprofit arts organizations including the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and artist endowed foundations in New York. Thus far, Arianna’s career has been devoted to creating meaningful experiences and entry points to the arts with and for diverse communities. Arianna is an alumna of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) advocacy and leadership programs. She earned a BA in Art History and Arts Management at the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art History from Syracuse University in Florence, Italy where she studied sixteenth-century Mexican art in Italian collections. This is a wide-ranging conversation centered around art.

Books: 

Puritan Conquistadors: Iberianizing the Atlantic, 1550-1700 Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra 

Super Cilantro Girl / La Superniña del Cilantro Juan Felipe Herrera (Author), Honorio Tapia (Illustrator)

Today, we have the Jason Castro on the show. Mr. Castro is the Consul General of the El Salvadorian Consulate in Fresno. We talk about all things El Salvadorian, from the culture and history of the country to issues facing El Salvadorian immigrants in the central valley. 

Today we have Reis Thebault on the show. Reis reports on the American West Coast from Los Angeles for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2018 and has covered national breaking news, European politics and D.C. city hall. He previously worked on the local desks of the Boston Globe and the Columbus Dispatch. We have him on the show today because he wrote a front page story on the Bitwise situation and has done some excellent reporting on the subject, interviewing both former Bitwise employees as well investors and local political figures. Most of all, he is an outside perspective, less clouded by personal connections or vested interests to look at the whole situation clearly.

Link to the Washington Post Article discussed here.

Books:

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein 

On Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond 

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax