Get to know Halle Butvin and Diana N’Diaye from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Follow along as we recap the festival training sessions that took place in August that talked about finding our purpose, creating a festival concept, festival and event design, community engagement, marketing and promotion, and budgeting and fundraising. Learn what a curatorial concept is and why it is so important to find your purpose when creating a festival. Learn more about their partnership and work with UPLIFT here: https://folklife.si.edu/news-and-events/uplift-north-carolina-tourism and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Get to know Milena Nikolova! Milena is a specialist in traveler behavior and tourism market trends. She is passionate about capturing the most current insights from behavioral sciences to find answers to questions such as “What comes next?” and “How can we prepare for it?”. Milena’s international work includes projects with destinations and industry leaders in more than 30 countries across four continents. Learn more about Milena and her work here: https://behavior-smart.com/why-behaviorsmart/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Get to know Cathy Rhuberg, a member of the UPLIFT team! Cathy has lived in rural western North Carolina most of her life and has spent much of her career working to identify and address local needs. Her hope is to build up our communities economically and to build strong self-esteem in the residents through UPLIFT tourism, where she works as the Grants and Loan Technical Assistance Manager. Be sure to stay updated on what Cathy and the UPLIFT team are doing here: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Get to know Simon Jones! Simon is the founder and CEO of NatureScapes and a member of the UPLIFT team. He grew up in and around wildlife parks in England and the US and has 20 years of experience working with governments, NGOs, and businesses to plan and develop immersive and engaging nature and cultural tourism experiences around the world. Learn more about NatureScapes here: https://www.nature-tourism.com/about and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Olivia Collier has served the citizens of North Carolina by working with communities to improve their quality of life. She has had the opportunity to manage the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) program for North Carolina since January of 2007, whose goal is to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life for the people of Appalachia. Most recently, Olivia assumed the role of managing the newly created Southeast Crescent Regional Commission. In this role, she is working with the 69 eligible counties in North Carolina to make investments that will support sustainable communities and strengthen the economic potential of the region. Learn more about these programs here: https://www.arc.gov/ & https://scrc.gov/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Chase Conner serves as the Director of Travel and Tourism and Assistant Developer for Martin County, and through his job, he serves on many local boards and community groups. Currently, Chase is in his final year of his master's program in Parks, Rec, Sport, & Tourism Management at NC State and he hopes this knowledge will help him to continue developing Martin County into a great place to live, work, and play. Learn more about Martin County here: https://visitmartincounty.com/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Angela Sumner is the Executive Director of Lumberton Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit organization that positively promotes the Lumberton area to travelers. In addition to her responsibilities at the Lumberton Visitors Bureau she serves as Co-chair of the Main Street Lumberton Promotions committee, the chair of the Marketing Committee, and board member of Coast Host, SE regional tourism group. See what’s happening with the Lumberton Visitors Bureau here: https://www.lumberton-nc.com/events/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Get to know Terri Dennison, the Director of Communications and Marketing for the Town of Elizabethtown NC. As part of this role, she manages the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and serves as the tourism voice for Bladen County, also known as Mother Nature’s Playground. Learn more about Mother Nature’s Playground here: https://elizabethtownwhitelake.com/visitors/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Get to know David McRae, the ARC Assistant Program Manager for North Carolina’s Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Program. His primary role is to assist North Carolina’s ARC Program leadership in implementing the state’s policies to fulfill the ARC mission to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia. Learn more about the ARC Program here: https://www.arc.gov/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.

Join us for a happy hour episode as we get to know Russ Haddad! Russ’ connection to tourism spans more than 20 years, dating back to his time as tourism director in Elizabeth City, NC in the early 2000s. Currently, he is the business development manager for the NC Craft Brewers Guild since January 2022. He works with companies and organizations to build the craft beer ecosystem in North Carolina. Learn more about the NC Craft Brewers Guild here: https://www.ncbeer.org/ and be sure to stay updated on what UPLIFT is doing: https://www.uplifttourism.com/.