Good Neighbor Podcast: Tulsa

A lot of working families are doing everything right and still can’t find a starter home they can afford.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Rob Gardenhire of Green Country Habitat for Humanity to talk about what affordable housing actually looks like in Tulsa, why starter homes have become harder to find, and how Habitat’s model has changed to meet a very different housing market.

One of the first misconceptions Rob clears up is what Habitat actually does. This is not a homeless-to-shelter program. Green Country Habitat describes itself more like a nonprofit starter-home developer, helping working households who have been priced out of the traditional market.

And the numbers help explain why.

Rob says Tulsa home prices have increased about 63% over the last decade while wages have grown only about 31%. At the same time, many large developers have shifted toward more expensive homes with better profit margins, leaving a growing hole in the starter-home market.

Green Country Habitat is trying to fill part of that gap.

Rob explains how the organization now builds three-bedroom, two-bath starter homes and townhomes, often priced well below what buyers are seeing elsewhere in the new-construction market. Habitat also works with banking partners and donor-funded down-payment assistance to help right-size the mortgage around what a family can actually afford.

One of the most interesting parts of the model is what happens after five years of successful mortgage payments. That assistance can be forgiven, allowing the homeowner to keep the equity and begin building real generational wealth.

We also talk about the Habitat ReStores and why they matter much more than people may realize. Revenue from the stores helps cover organizational overhead, which Rob says allows about 90 cents of every donated dollar to go toward direct mission impact.

And there are a lot of ways people and businesses can help besides simply writing a check.

Rob talks about donating furniture and building materials, scheduling pickups, volunteering at ReStores, participating in the wall shop, Women Build and Blitz Build events, and sponsoring homes as a company.

One statistic near the end of the conversation may surprise a lot of Tulsa renters: Rob says the income range for Habitat’s homeownership program covers more than 65% of Tulsans.

So if you’ve assumed homeownership is completely out of reach, his advice is simple.

Check before you count yourself out.

Green Country Habitat offers free homeowner information sessions throughout the week and online.

Learn more about Green Country Habitat for Humanity:
GreenCountryHabitat.org

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

A business can be profitable, growing, and doing everything right, but still have a serious weakness nobody wants to talk about: what happens if the owner suddenly can’t run it anymore?

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Jamie Miller of J. Miller Law Firm to talk about business succession planning, estate planning, buying and selling companies, probate, and the legal problems business owners often don’t discover until something has already gone wrong.

Jamie explains that many of those problems actually start at the very beginning. Forming a business with the Secretary of State may be relatively straightforward, but that doesn’t mean the business has everything it needs behind the scenes.

That becomes especially important when there are multiple owners.

What happens if one partner dies? Becomes disabled? Wants out? Gets divorced? Or leaves their ownership interest to family members the other partner never intended to be in business with?

Jamie says the best time to answer those questions is when everyone is healthy, getting along, and nobody is under pressure.

We also talk about what should happen if a business depends heavily on one person. Jamie walks through the practical questions owners should be asking long before there is an emergency:

Who can run payroll? Who has authority at the bank? Who can contact the insurance company? Who knows how the day-to-day business actually works?

Some of that requires legal documents like operating agreements, bylaws, financial powers of attorney, trusts, and buy-sell agreements. But Jamie points out that documents alone aren’t enough. Someone else also has to know how to actually keep the business moving for a few days, a few weeks, or longer.

Another important part of the conversation is what happens when a business owner dies and the ownership interest ends up in probate.

Jamie has seen businesses temporarily stall because nobody has legal authority to run them. Employees don’t know who is giving direction. Payroll becomes uncertain. Vendors and customers are left waiting. And even getting the first probate hearing may take weeks.

For a small business, that kind of delay can be a real problem.

We also get into buying and selling businesses and why Jamie says people often bring an attorney in too late. Once the terms have already been negotiated, it can be much harder to go back and fix something that wasn’t structured correctly.

Her advice is to involve the right legal counsel earlier, especially when the transaction, partnership, or succession plan is important enough that getting it wrong could become expensive later.

And Jamie leaves business owners with one big question:

What do you want to happen to your business beyond you?

Sell it? Pass it to an employee? Leave it to your children? Keep it operating under someone else?

Whatever the answer is, succession usually takes longer than people expect.

Learn more about Jamie Miller and J. Miller Law Firm:
JMillerLawFirmPLLC.com

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

A bad knee, limited mobility, surgery, or simply feeling out of shape doesn’t automatically mean Pilates isn’t for you.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Holly Perry, owner of The Reformer Room in Tulsa, to talk about what reformer Pilates actually does, why it can be adapted for very different bodies and fitness levels, and how Holly’s own health journey eventually led her to open a Pilates studio.

Holly first discovered Pilates after being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing a double mastectomy. She had lost range of motion, was recovering from surgery and medication, and the ways she had previously stayed active weren’t working the same anymore.

So she tried something different.

She started with an introductory Pilates class and says she was hooked almost immediately. As her strength and mobility improved, that personal interest eventually turned into comprehensive instructor training and then The Reformer Room, an equipment-based Pilates studio using reformers, towers, chairs, and other apparatus.

We talk about what makes a reformer different from the workout many people picture when they hear the word Pilates. The machine uses body weight and spring resistance to create a low-impact workout that can still challenge the deeper muscles responsible for core strength, control, balance, and stability.

And Holly works with a pretty wide range of people.

Teenage athletes. Pre- and postnatal moms. Cancer survivors. People recovering from illness or surgery. People dealing with knee pain or limited mobility. And people who simply want to become stronger.

The same exercise doesn’t look exactly the same for everybody. Holly explains how she looks at a person’s goals, limitations, history, and current ability and then modifies the movement around the person rather than expecting the person to fit a predetermined workout.

One of the biggest misconceptions she hears is that Pilates is simply too hard.

It certainly can be challenging, but Holly says the difficult part for many beginners isn’t necessarily physical strength. It’s developing the mind-body connection. Slowing down enough to pay attention to breathing, movement, control, and what the body is actually doing instead of mentally running through tomorrow’s grocery list.

We also walk through what someone should expect during a first visit to The Reformer Room. And yes, Holly has one practical piece of advice:

Bring the grippy socks.

New clients learn how the reformer works, where the straps and foot bar are, how the equipment moves, and how to use it safely before being expected to simply jump into a class.

Toward the end of the conversation, Holly makes another important point: the place that hurts isn’t always the only place that needs attention.

Someone may assume a bad knee means they can’t exercise it. But Holly explains that sometimes strengthening another connected area can improve stability and support around that knee. Her broader philosophy is that the body is connected, which is one reason understanding anatomy is such an important part of Pilates instruction.

For Holly, Pilates doesn’t have to mean pushing through pain or keeping up with everybody else in the room.

It means meeting your body where it is and building from there.

Learn more about Holly Perry and The Reformer Room:
TheReformerRoomTulsa.com

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

Getting sober is a huge accomplishment. But learning how to live sober when nobody is telling you what to do anymore can be a completely different challenge.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Phillip Brotherton, founder of House 25:17, a Tulsa sober-living home created to help men bridge the gap between long-term recovery programs and everyday life. Phillip describes it as “the next step between recovery and real life.” 

Phillip knows that transition personally. He explains that long-term recovery programs can provide structure, accountability, routines, and a safety net. But eventually someone has to take everything they learned and start using it in the real world. Pay rent. Keep a job. Go to meetings. Rebuild trust. Handle pressure. And make good decisions when nobody is standing over them.

That’s where House 25:17 comes in.

The home has six beds and gives men more freedom than a treatment program while still keeping structure around them. Phillip meets with the men weekly, requires outside recovery meetings, church involvement and volunteer work, and uses drug testing and accountability to help them keep moving forward.

But accountability doesn’t mean expecting perfection.

Phillip talks openly about relapse and failure. A failed drug test doesn’t automatically mean someone is thrown out. He looks at honesty, willingness, remorse, and whether the person is actually ready to keep doing the work. His point is simple: people are going to make mistakes. What matters is what they do next.

We also get into something families may struggle with after treatment: helping versus enabling.

Phillip explains why immediately moving back into the same house, neighborhood, friendships, and routines someone had during active addiction may not always be the safest choice. Sometimes the place that feels most comfortable is also the place connected to old habits and old triggers.

His advice is to give recovery time to take root.

House 25:17 also builds service into the process. Men living there are expected to mentor someone else in recovery each week. Phillip says giving back is one of the habits that helped him build his own life over the last decade, eventually becoming a business owner and putting him in a position to open the home.

The conversation also gets into how House 25:17 started. Phillip and his wife converted property he already owned into the sober-living home after he felt called to create something for men leaving long-term recovery programs. The project is currently self-funded and operating as a for-profit while Phillip proves the model, with hopes of eventually growing the work further.

Faith is also central to Phillip’s approach. He credits Jesus Christ and Christ-centered recovery programs such as Hope Center Ministries, Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma, and John 3:16 Mission as major parts of the recovery community that helped shape what he is building.

And for someone who is early in recovery, Phillip’s message is pretty straightforward:

Keep at it.

There will be hard days. But keep using the tools you learned, keep building the right relationships, and keep moving forward.

Learn more about Phillip Brotherton and House 25:17:
House2517.com

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

Sometimes accessibility isn’t complicated. Sometimes the printer is just too high.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Vicki Haws, Associate Director of Ability Resources in Tulsa, to talk about disability, independence, reasonable accommodations, and the resources many people don’t even realize are available until they suddenly need them.

Vicki acquired her disability when she was 20 years old. Years later, while completing an internship, she walked into Ability Resources and found something she hadn’t experienced before: a workplace where people with disabilities weren’t the exception. She says it was one of the first times she felt like she was simply part of the group instead of the person who was different.

That idea is built into the organization itself. As a Center for Independent Living, Ability Resources is structured so people with disabilities have a direct voice in the services being provided. Vicki explains that at least 51% of the staff, board, and management are people with disabilities.

We talk about what Ability Resources actually does, including peer counseling, advocacy, independent living skills, accessible transportation and housing referrals, helping people transition from nursing homes back into the community, veteran-directed care, and helping young people with disabilities prepare for higher education and meaningful employment.

One misconception comes up quickly: a Center for Independent Living is not an assisted-living facility and Ability Resources does not provide housing directly. Instead, the organization helps people find the resources and support they need to live as independently as possible.

Then Vicki gives one of the simplest examples of what accessibility can look like.

At a previous job, her office moved and someone placed the printer too high for her to use. She had to formally ask for a reasonable accommodation just to have it lowered. Nothing expensive. Nothing complicated. Move the printer. Problem solved.

We also talk about hidden disabilities, why accommodations can’t always be one-size-fits-all, and something Vicki learned firsthand about the Americans with Disabilities Act. People assumed that because she had a disability, she automatically understood the ADA and her rights under it.

She didn’t.

Learning what those laws actually meant for her became one of the most empowering parts of her work.

And Vicki’s bigger message goes beyond disability services. Communities are stronger when people with different abilities, experiences, and perspectives are actually able to participate. Inclusion isn’t just about helping one group. It gives everybody more people, more ideas, and more opportunity to grow.

If you or someone you know needs help navigating disability resources, accessible transportation, housing, independent living, the ADA, or community support in Tulsa, this episode is a good introduction to a resource you may not have known existed.

Learn more about Ability Resources:
AbilityResources.org

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

What if the person targeting a child doesn’t start with the child at all?

Brandon Andres Green sits down with John-Michael Lander, a former elite competitive diver who later became an author, speaker, educator, coach, and survivor advocate. His work now focuses heavily on grooming prevention and helping parents, coaches, schools, and organizations understand how abuse can hide inside systems that appear completely legitimate.

John-Michael describes what he calls the “predatory grooming trifecta.” In his experience, the process began by gaining the trust of the organization first, then the parent or guardian, and only after those protections were in place did the attention turn directly toward the child.

He shares his own story of competing at a high level as a teenager when a lawyer approached his small-town diving program with what appeared to be an incredible sponsorship opportunity. New equipment. New uniforms. Coaching. Financial help. Professional connections. Even assistance for his family. From the outside, it looked like a group of successful adults helping a talented young athlete chase an Olympic dream.

John-Michael says the problem was what nobody thought to ask:

Why were these people doing all of this?

He explains how gifts, access, contracts, professional credibility, and the promise of opportunity can create layers of trust around someone before the child ever becomes the obvious focus. And once everyone believes the adults involved are helping, questioning them becomes much harder.

The conversation also gets into the unique pressure inside elite sports, where athletes may be told there is always someone else waiting to take their place. John-Michael describes how that environment can normalize things that would look strange anywhere else, especially when scholarships, national competition, or Olympic dreams are on the line.

But one of the most important parts of the interview is what he wishes adults had done differently.

Ask questions. Pay attention when behavior changes. And don’t assume a child who is succeeding must be okay.

John-Michael talks about becoming even more compliant and successful while he was struggling internally. He describes intentionally changing his behavior and hoping an adult would notice. Years later, one former teacher told him she had assumed he was simply under pressure.

He also explains why children may not walk up and clearly disclose what is happening. Fear, shame, loyalty, threats, confusion, and even the belief that what is happening is somehow “normal” can make that incredibly difficult.

So sometimes the opening may be surprisingly simple:

“What’s going on?”

John-Michael encourages parents and trusted adults to stay connected, notice body language, ask gentle questions, and create enough safety that a child knows somebody will actually listen when they are ready to talk.

The conversation eventually turns to John-Michael’s decision to speak publicly, the books and advocacy work that followed, and the personal connection he and Brandon have developed through their shared work with survivors.

His closing message is one of hope. A person’s abuse does not have to become the definition of who they are. His focus now is using what happened to him to help families recognize warning signs sooner and make trusted systems safer for the children inside them.

If you’re a parent, coach, teacher, youth leader, athlete, or anyone responsible for protecting children, this is an important conversation about looking beyond appearances and learning what questions to ask when something doesn’t feel right.

Learn more about John-Michael Lander and his work:
https://anathletessilence.com/

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

Reality TV may be called “unscripted,” but that doesn’t mean somebody just turns on a camera and waits for something interesting to happen.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Brent Henderson and Jonathan Goldman, founders of Freak Magnet Productions, to talk about what actually goes into turning real people, real events, and sometimes completely unpredictable situations into television people want to keep watching.

Between them, Brent and Jonathan have spent years working in unscripted television, documentary production, adventure programming, and true crime. They crossed paths while working at the production company behind shows like Deadliest Catch, and went on to work in the worlds of Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, Black Gold, and other large-scale unscripted productions.

They also have a personal connection to Brandon. His kidnapping story was one of the first major stories they began developing after deciding to build something of their own. What started as an investigation became a years-long process because, as Jonathan explains, the story was too complicated to simply shoot something quickly and pitch it.

That leads into one of the biggest questions in the episode: How do you make real life into a story without making the story fake?

Brent explains that the work starts in the field. Producers have to understand the world, the characters, the rules, what everyone wants, and what is standing in their way. Then everything comes back into the edit, where hours of real life have to be shaped into something an audience can actually understand and care about.

Jonathan adds what he believes is the ingredient that makes all of that matter: emotion. A truck driving across an ice road or a logger cutting down a tree may be impressive, but process alone only carries a story so far. Eventually the audience needs to understand why it matters to the person doing it.

And sometimes nothing goes wrong.

That might be a great day if you’re actually doing the job. It can be a terrible day for television.

Brent and Jonathan explain how producers watch for the small conflicts that naturally happen in the real world, whether it’s broken equipment, a missed goal, pressure at home, or something completely unexpected. The job isn’t necessarily to invent the problem. It’s to recognize the story when the problem happens and make sure the cameras capture why it matters.

The conversation also gets into something most viewers probably never think about: some unscripted television is far more scripted than others. Jonathan describes seeing productions enter the field with actual scripts containing dialogue and action lines. Freak Magnet takes a different approach. They may enter with a plan, a goal, and an idea of where the story could go, but they try to leave enough room for something real to happen.

Because sometimes the thing nobody planned for becomes the best part of the episode.

They also talk about earning the trust of people who never wanted to become television personalities in the first place. Whether they’re following roughnecks, loggers, truckers, crime victims, or ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, the producers have to convince them that the finished show won’t make them look foolish or incompetent.

And when a story starts getting lost, Brent says they return to two very basic questions:

What does the character want?
And what is stopping them from getting it?

If you’re interested in reality television, documentary filmmaking, true crime, storytelling, producing, editing, or what actually happens behind the camera, this is a fascinating look at how professionals take unpredictable real life and turn it into a story.

Freak Magnet Productions

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

What if the reason you can’t seem to get moving isn’t that you need more discipline?

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Erica Kesse of Your Goal Concierge, a licensed professional counselor who also works with entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs, and other leaders as an execution coach and what she calls a “leader’s healer.”

Erica talks about the people who already know what they need to do but still can’t seem to execute. Sometimes that shows up as procrastination. Sometimes burnout. Sometimes imposter syndrome. And sometimes, she says, there may be an old wound or trauma response underneath it that simply telling someone to “push harder” doesn’t address.

That’s where her approach gets different. Erica combines her counseling and trauma training with coaching and business support to look at the whole person. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and professional. Her argument is that leaders can’t keep pouring into everybody around them while completely ignoring what is happening inside themselves.

We also get very practical. Erica says some of the things high performers neglect the longest are often the most basic: eating lunch, sleeping enough, moving your body, getting outside, drinking water, and taking even 15 minutes a day to check in with yourself. Not exactly glamorous. But she says those habits help leaders respond to pressure from a healthier place instead of constantly operating from stress and old reactions.

One of the most personal parts of the conversation comes when Erica shares what happened after losing a child through an ectopic pregnancy. She had been the busy one. The strong one. The person doing multiple degrees, internships, and taking care of everybody else. Then suddenly she was the one who needed help.

That experience eventually led her to develop what she calls a Thrive Plan, a way of identifying what is happening during a crisis, recognizing automatic fight, flight, freeze, flop, or fawn reactions, and intentionally choosing healthier ways to cope and find support.

And that leads into one of the bigger ideas in the episode: who takes care of the person everybody else depends on?

Erica talks about building real support around leaders, learning to operate from what she calls “overflow,” and why caring for yourself first doesn’t have to mean caring about everyone else less.

If you’re a business owner, leader, entrepreneur, or simply somebody who keeps saying “I know what I need to do. Why can’t I just do it?”, this conversation may give you a different way to look at the question.

Learn more about Erica Kesse and Your Goal Concierge:
bit.ly/YGCHello

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

Most people know they probably need some kind of estate plan. The problem is that it’s easy to keep putting it off while everything is going fine.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with Laurel Carbone of Tallgrass Estate Planning to talk about what estate planning actually does, why so many families wait until there is already a crisis, and how a little planning now can prevent much bigger problems later.

Laurel explains some of the biggest misconceptions she hears. Estate planning isn’t the same thing as financial planning, it isn’t only for wealthy families, and having a will doesn’t necessarily mean your family avoids probate. In Oklahoma, a will may still have to go through the court process, which can take time, cost money, and create additional stress for a family that is already dealing with a loss.

We also talk about what happens when someone becomes incapacitated without the right documents in place. Laurel explains how powers of attorney and advance directives can give families clear instructions before they need them. Without that planning, the alternative may involve a guardianship proceeding and asking a court to decide who should have authority.

And that can get complicated fast. If family members disagree about who should make decisions, an already difficult situation can turn into a legal fight. Laurel’s goal is simple: make those decisions while you still can, so your family isn’t forced to make them for you later.

The conversation also gets into estate planning for business owners. Laurel explains why operating agreements, shareholder agreements, ownership transfers, and succession planning matter when a business depends heavily on its founder. She walks through an example where one child wants to continue running the family business while other children simply inherit equal ownership, and why “divide everything equally” may create problems nobody intended.

She also explains how tools such as trusts, beneficiary designations, retirement accounts, and key person life insurance can sometimes be used to create a more practical and fair plan for the next generation.

One of Laurel’s biggest takeaways is that there is no one-size-fits-all estate plan. Someone with a modest estate may only need a few foundational documents, while another family may need trusts or more detailed succession planning. The important thing is knowing what you want and understanding that those documents can often be customized around your actual life.

If you’ve been saying “I know I need to do that someday,” this conversation is a practical place to start.

Learn more about Laurel Carbone and Tallgrass Estate Planning:
TallgrassEstatePlanning.com

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com

Legal problems usually don’t get cheaper or easier the longer we avoid them. And when the issue involves your children, your marriage, your property, or your parental rights, not knowing what to do can make an already difficult situation even worse.

Brandon Andres Green sits down with family law attorney Jeffrey Hensley of Hensley & Associates to talk about what people should know when life suddenly gets legally complicated. Jeffrey works with clients dealing with divorce, child custody, paternity, child support, guardianships, and adoptions, and says one of the biggest parts of his job is simply helping people understand the process before making decisions that can affect them for years.

We talk about what happens when someone waits too long to get legal help, why representing yourself can be more complicated than people expect, and why understanding court procedure, local judges, and the rules surrounding your particular case can matter just as much as knowing what you want the outcome to be.

One of the biggest parts of the conversation involves unmarried fathers and paternity rights in Oklahoma. Jeffrey explains a misconception he sees regularly: being listed on a child’s birth certificate or signing an acknowledgment of paternity may establish a presumption of fatherhood, but he says that does not necessarily establish the custody rights many fathers assume they already have. He walks through why a father may still need to take action through the court system to have those rights legally established.

Jeffrey also talks about how Oklahoma custody law has changed for fathers, including the move away from the old assumption that young children should automatically remain primarily with their mothers. He discusses the current approach to joint custody and parenting time and why fathers may have more legal footing today than many people realize.

And if you don’t already have an attorney, where do you even start? Jeffrey explains why finding the right attorney matters, why it can make sense to speak with more than one, and how resources such as the Tulsa County Bar Association and Oklahoma Bar Association referral programs can help people find attorneys who work in the area of law they actually need.

If you’re facing a divorce, custody dispute, paternity question, or another family-law issue, this conversation is a good reminder that getting educated early can give you more options than waiting until everything has already gone sideways.

Learn more about Jeffrey Hensley and Hensley Legal Services:
HensleyLegalServices.com

Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa:
gnptulsa.com