Happy News Group

Join Anna-Vija as she talks with Alekz Londos, an international photojournalist, humanitarian, environmentalist, and activist. Alekz began a Micro Tiny Home project to help those struggling with houselessness in our communities and to set a positive example to also encourage our global transition toward minimalism and sustainability at the same time. Alekz is also the owner of Advanced Disaster Relief and has a history of providing first aid and international disaster relief.

Listen as Alekz talks about how the work he is doing here and around the world is impacting people and the planet in a positive way.

In this episode, Anna-Vija talks with Charlie Friedman, founder of Nashville Classical Charter School. This school is a k-8 public charter school in East Nashville. Their mission is to educate a diverse community through a rigorous, joyful classical curriculum and within a structured, intentional school culture, building a foundation of knowledge and habits for high school, college, and life.

Listen to Charlie as he talks about the three focuses of the school and the positive effect they are having on education and children in East Nashville.

"River people are super chill."

Join Anna-Vija for this episode where she talks with Kathleen Gibi, the Executive Director for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. This 501c3 nonprofit is the first Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river cleanup. Their mission is to educate and inspire people to take action to create a clean, healthy, beautiful Tennessee River for generations to come.

Listen as Kathleen shares all the ways they are fulfilling this mission, including by hosting river cleanups along the 652-mile river and its tributaries, rallying 1,700 volunteers to remove over 183,000 lbs. of trash since forming in 2016.

In this episode, Anna-Vija talks with Judith Hill, the owner of Judith Hill Photography. Judith recently found her own unique way to give back by completing a special photography art project for breast cancer awareness for the Keep A Breast Foundation's Nashville Breast Cast Gallery.

Listen in as Judith tells us about the inspiration behind the project and how she is using her medium as a photographer to fuel her mission of lifting up and empowering women.

In this first-ever double feature episode, Anna-Vija talks with two of her long-time friends and mentors, George Armistead and Joe White. Both George and Joe are leaders of the Nashville chapter of Kiwanis, a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. The club worldwide has dedicated more than 19 million volunteer hours and invested US$100 million to strengthen communities and serve children annually.

Listen in as George and Joe both share how they got started with Kiwanis and what the organization is doing to support and serve the Nashville community specifically.

Join Anna-Vija as she interviews Rachel Simmons who is the Recruiting Director at Waffle House, Inc. Rachel has been with Waffle House for over 35 years and in this episode, she shares with us how Waffle House pivoted during the pandemic including offering donated meals to first responders and meals on credit for the community.

Listen as Rachel talks about her role in all of this, the inspiration from the community helping each other, and the lessons that she has learned during this crisis.

In this episode, Anna-Vija talks with Juliana Stachurski. Juliana is on the board for a non-profit in the Middle Tennessee area called One Generation Away, whose mission is to wipe hunger off the face of America one bag of groceries at a time. Partnering with other organizations and businesses, the non-profit serves the community through a mobile food pantry, emergency food for schools, disaster relief, and more. Listen in as Juliana tells us about how the non-profit is helping the community, the impact their mission has had this year during the current pandemic, and the lessons she has learned from all of it.

Join Anna-Vija as she interviews Katey Preston. Before quarantine, Katey and some of her fellow stylists at Effortless Style partnered with Belk of Cool Springs to gift makeovers to women who have benefitted from the Mary Parrish Center, a charity that provides compassionate housing for women and children to heal and rebuild after domestic violence.

Katey tells the story of a woman and her two daughters who received the makeovers just before the shutdown happened in early March and the value of feeling comfortable and confident in your own skin.

In this episode, Anna-Vija welcomes uBreakiFix multi-franchise owner Susan Wright. After the Nashville tornado in March, Susan and her team were looking for ways to help the community. They decided to turn the company's electronic repair vans into mobilized charging stations to help those affected by the tornado. Then, taking it one step further, they began offering free electronic repairs.

Join us as Susan tells her story of the value of paying it forward and how it was an instantaneous decision to help because that is the Nashville way.

Join host Anna-Vija as she sits down with Lindsey Langley. Lindsey is the Executive Director of the American Cancer Society. Today, we are talking about the Hope Lodge, a facility that houses cancer patients during treatment, and its unfortunate closing due to COVID-19. Listen to how Lindsey and her team immediately pivoted to provide the lodge to healthcare partners on the front lines at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.