Main Street Moxie

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A life of making documentary films takes moxie, and Anne is proof of that. She has sought out people with moxie who do what they can to make lives better for themselves, their families, and their communities. Her films put real faces to issues such as social justice and marginalization, human rights, and the intersections of cultures. Native American history and contemporary life have also fascinated Anne. 

In this episode, Anne explores the quest for a good story but knows the story can take an arc she didn’t expect, and she needs to bend with it. She is also profoundly grateful to her subjects. Allowing her and her lens into their lives is an honor she does not take for granted.  

Anne immerses herself in every aspect of her award-winning documentaries–from conceiving ideas, finding collaborators and funders, building trust with her subjects, filming, writing, editing, and distributing the finished product. For over three decades, she has shown grit and determination in the lengthy and tenuous process of bringing an idea to life on screen.

She has received fellowships supporting her work from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and residencies at MacDowell, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, and the Blue Mountain Center. 

Anne’s films have been broadcast nationally on PBS, HBO, and Showtime and internationally on the BBC, Channel 4 (UK), ZDF in Germany, Arte France, and Australian, Norwegian, Dutch, and Swedish public television; they have screened at Sundance, the Whitney Biennial, and festivals worldwide, winning many awards, including a national primetime Emmy.  Most of her films have a strong presence in the educational market and are available for streaming on her website, MakepeaceProductions.com.

Her most recent feature documentary, Tribal Justice, aired nationally on POV/PBS and screened at more than 30 festivals. It won Best Documentary Feature at the American Indian Film Festival and the Charlotte Film Festival, the Rigoberta Menchu Grand Prix at the Montreal First People’s Film Festival, and the Directing Award at Cinetopia.  

Anne’s documentary We Still Live Here was broadcast on Independent Lens/PBS and won the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride MountainFilm and the Inspiration Award at Full Frame. 

She has also written many screenplays, including the feature film Thousand Pieces of Gold. 

Anne Makepeace Filmography contains a complete list of Anne’s films. For more information about Anne, visit her episode show notes on the Main Street Moxie website.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Hammertown and Thorunn Designs. 

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Lexi’s got moxie–and so do the characters in her romance and fantasy novels. Her lifelong dream of being a writer has been achieved through grit, trial and error, and a whole lot of imagination. 

In this episode of Main Street Moxie, Lexi explores the vicissitudes of the publishing industry, her thoughts on failure, the core story of “I love you as you are” that runs through all her work,  and her process as a discovery and patchwork writer.

For Lexi, building and sustaining a community of readers is part of her craft. She loves digging deep into her characters to find a connection and discover what makes them tick. 

Lexi sees the romance genre as feminist and empowering, helping readers discover their self-worth and that they deserve to be cared for and loved, including pleasure. 

In 2012, Lexi began her journey to full-time writing after a decade of teaching college English. After her first self-published novel, Text Appeal, was released, she could focus on her writing. 

She’s a #1 New York Times bestseller author of sizzling, emotional romance and sexy, action-packed YA fantasy. Lexi has been a Goodreads Choice nominee and recipient of the Romance Writers of America® RITA® award for Best Contemporary Romance: Long. Her novels have sold over a million copies in English and have been translated into many languages.

Lexi is happiest at home in Indiana with her husband and two children, where you can find her reading copiously, hanging out with her family, and thanking her lucky stars.

This year she released two new books. In July, the YA fantasy sequel These Twisted Bonds, and in October, the latest installment of her Orchid Valley series, Every Chance with You. 

This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Oblong Books and Thorunn Designs. For more information about Lexi, visit the episode's show notes on the Main Street Moxie website.

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Carita adores words, and much of her moxie is fueled by writing them, reading them, speaking them, and encouraging others to love them as much as she does. 

In this episode, Carita helps Main Street Moxie launch a new literary genre called Mox Lit. She came prepared with a moxie-filled reading list to share with listeners. Carita also offers her moxie secrets and advocates for small daily habits to advance toward one’s goals.

She reads widely, voraciously, and enthusiastically for enrichment and escape. In this episode, she confidently responds to the age-old teen question of why reading Shakespeare is valuable.

Carita is a master English instructor and class dean at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT. She’s also an aspiring author of romance and young-adult fiction. While pursuing her MFA in creative writing, she wrote a romance novel and has several other works of fiction in her creative pipeline. She also created her author website, caritagardiner.com, publishes a weekly Why Wednesday blog, and shows her abiding affection and respect for grammar through GrammarLove.

Carita walks her 110-pound Bernedoodle named after a hockey goalie (not from her favorite team–Go Blackhawks!); listens to podcasts on writing, science, economics, and romance novels–and moxie; plays old-lady ice hockey with the Salisbury Stingers; prolifically knits afghans and charity caps; devours romance novels and anything caramelly (not chocolatey); pushes anti-racism efforts; mentors new teachers; wears sparkly shoes; makes to-do lists; lifts small weights; walks with friends; and loves her husband, two daughters, and extended family.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Oblong Books (where all the books Carita discusses are available in-store or online) and Elyse Harney Real Estate.

Go to the Main Street Moxie website for the show notes to Carita’s episode and her exclusive Mox Lit reading list. 

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Rachel has a designer’s moxie. Her creativity and observation skills serve her in life and in her career in textiles. A college class field trip allowed her to imagine a professional path working with fabric and weaving, a craft she lovingly pursued as a child with her grandmother. She finds inspiration in the smallest places and sets her moxie sights always higher, one ladder rung at a time, building on what she has created for herself and her family. 

Rachel, the Design Director for Pollack, has textile design in her DNA. She created her first official textile pattern in third grade–splatter-painted curtains made from old sheets. Her high school graduation present—a new sewing machine—offers another clue to her early textile passions, as did the uniquely personal clothing it helped her create.

She studied printmaking and painting and even taught batik workshops when she first entered college at Umass Amherst. In the Textile Design department at the Rhode Island School of Design, she realized the practical application of her beloved woven and printed textile techniques. Rachel first worked in the fashion industry, including designing printed silk scarves at Echo before joining the Pollack Studio in 2000. In 2007, she was appointed Vice President, Associate Design Director. She took the helm as Pollack’s Design Director in 2012, overseeing the Studio and guiding the creative vision for each textile collection.

In the Studio, she and her team always begin a pattern by first creating artwork by hand. The studio’s designers are, first and foremost, weavers. They have degrees in textile design, having learned the architecture of cloth and how to build a fabric from the ground up. Rachel works with weavers worldwide to bring Pollack’s designs to life.

Rachel’s designs for Pollack have been featured in national magazines, including Architectural Digest, Interior Design, and Elle Décor. She has been profiled on such sites as Apartment Therapy and House and Home TV. Two of her creations, “Mod” and “Curlycue,” are in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

This episode of Main Street Moxie is sponsored by Elyse Harney Real Estate and North East Ford. For more information about Rachel, check out the episode’s show notes on our website.

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Tara has a set of moxie skills and traits that she packs up and takes with her in whatever professional or volunteer position she finds herself in. She uses her moxie for public benefit and to raise awareness of the history of the Hudson Valley and that we all have a role to play in making our society better.

She grew up on Byrdcliff in Woodstock, the first art colony in America, where she experienced a unique childhood surrounded by painters, sculptors, musicians, great craft artisans, and composers. Her first job was selling marzipan at the Turnau Opera House.

Much of Tara’s professional life has centered on working for New York State, translating its unique history to be relevant to those who live here. 

In 2021, Tara retired as the Chief Operating and Executive Officer of the New York State Bridge Authority, the Hudson Valley-based public benefit transportation authority. She was the first woman to serve in that capacity. 

Tara launched the Authority into the new era of all-electronic tolling. She initiated the largest capital project and financing plan in the Authority's 88-year history and significantly increased the use of minority and women-owned enterprises. She created a workplace safety culture change, which drastically reduced workplace injuries. 

Her additional project initiatives include Skywalk at the Rip Van Winkle Bridge--now a prominent New York tourism destination linking and interpreting the connection of the founders of the Hudson River School.

In 2009, she became the executive director of the New York State Quadricentennial, responsible for developing and implementing the statewide strategic plan for the historical commemoration of New York’s 400th anniversary. She coordinated all New York State Legacy Projects for the Quadricentennial, such as the Walkway Over the Hudson. As part of the Quadricentennial’s signature events, she oversaw River Day, the largest nautical event in Hudson Valley history.

Ms. Sullivan currently serves as chair of the Dutchess County Ethics Board, the board of trustees for Historic Bridges of the Hudson Valley, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site board of directors.

This episode of Main Street Moxie is sponsored by Elyse Harney Real Estate and North East Ford. For more information about Tara and our sponsors, visit the Moxie website.

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Here we are again. It's another rascally federal holiday that falls on a Moxie Monday.

Today it's Labor Day. According to the Department of Labor website, Labor Day honors the achievements and contributions of American workers to the social and economic vitality of this country. 

It started in the late 19th century as a holiday recognized by municipal governments and labor leaders. On June 28, 1894, it became a federal holiday. 

To honor Labor Day, we gave our guests the day off. Instead, Thorunn and Mary are hosting a Mini Moxie episode to talk about work and hacks to make work seem less like work.  They also explore how moxie is about putting in the work, keeping the larger picture in mind, and taking baby steps.

Enjoy! And on our next Moxie Monday in two weeks, we'll have another fab guest who will share their moxie story with us!

If you have the day off. We hope you're doing something that fills you up. If you're working--thank you!

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This episode of Main Street Moxie with Kathy Davies explores design thinking as a method for moxie. Life design is a way to get unstuck in your life by ratcheting up the curiosity, creating opportunities for incremental action, and understanding your life is a process that involves collaborating with others. There is a "team" in "I"! It also reframes failure into opportunities to learn. Oh, and did we say it’s super fun? What’s not to love?!

Kathy is the Managing Director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University. She leads a team of Fellows who teach the popular courses Life Design Courses to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students each year. Her team has trained 258 universities globally to use the life design processes on their campuses and will reach more than 300 schools by the end of 2022. Kathy founded and leads the DYL Consulting business, and beyond Stanford consults with universities and tech companies to bring product design tools and life design practices to their teams

She spent the first 20 years of her career as an engineer in Silicon Valley, leading technical projects and teams.  She has earned five patents through her ideation and technical problem solving. 

While working as an engineer, Kathy began to teach Product Design at Stanford. She later joined Stanford full-time as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and Fellow at the Life Design Lab. Kathy’s focus shifted from the use of design thinking as purely a product development tool to its use in human thriving. While she has used her engineering and teaching to build products and change lives, she uses design thinking and life design to build a better world.

This episode of Main Stree Moxie is sponsored by Hammertown and North East Ford. For more information about Kathy Davies and this episode, visit the Moxie website.

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We’re bringing the average guest age way down and amping up on the moxitude in this episode with Vemilo (he/him). He brings energy, wisdom, creativity, and love to his moxie. He talks about the power of chosen families and a good bargain, using performance to heal, the life-changing experience of summer camp, and the support he feels from his local community for his life, work, and art. 

Vemilo is a pop performance artist whose purpose in life is to break through boundaries and stigmas to bring people together through music, fashion & visual journeys. Legend has it that he is the artistic love child of Lady Gaga & Prince. 

Vemilo’s performances are an inclusive dance ministry of self-acceptance for all races, paces, cultures, and creeds. He is a homegrown Millerton, NY original. Whether vamping down Main Street in Millerton, healing guests at the Watershed Center, or divining on a concert stage, Vemilo’s courage, talent, and heart make magic happen and bring out the best in everyone he encounters.  

This episode is sponsored by Hammertown and Elyse Harney Real Estate. For more information about Vemilo, check out the show notes on the Moxie website.

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Laurie’s moxie is expressed through her writing. Through this creative medium, she has explored herself and others, tackling challenges, embracing change, understanding setbacks, and making sense of universal themes in the human experience. In this episode, Laurie shares her writer’s journey and provides insight into the creative process and the discipline required to make writing a career. It’s a deep dive into a writer’s brand of moxie.

Laurie, the author of six books, cultivated her curiosity about the lives of American women, digging for truth and understanding before examining her own life. 

Drawing extensively on her journals, most recently, she has written a memoir, Word for Word: A Writer's Life. Written with courage and grace, writing it was an extraordinary inner journey--full of memories, discoveries, and insights--which enriched her understanding of the past and the present.

She began writing as a young girl, almost always about what really happened rather than what she imagined. Her first job after college was working for The Providence Journal, where she got her first professional bylines for writing feature stories. After moving to New York City, she worked for Newsweek before writing her first book, the best-selling Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe. 

 She moved to a village in New England and wrote a biography about a sculptor, Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life. Then she began to write books drawing on her own experiences--like passing up motherhood, passionately tending a flower garden, and attending a traditional girls' boarding school in Connecticut.

She is a member of a long-standing academic seminar for biographers and memoirists, Women Writing Women's Lives, in New York City. Other memberships include the Authors Guild and PEN American Center. She has been awarded residencies at writers' colonies, including at the MacDowell Colony.

For more information about Laurie, visit her website and this episode's show notes on the Main Street Moxie website.

This episode is sponsored by Oblong Books and Elyse Harney Real Estate.

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Susan Gibson brings her moxie to the volunteer world, sharing her observations and advice so others can discover how international volunteerism and travel, as well as local involvement, can change the world, their communities–and themselves. 

She is the author ofHow to be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas, a guide based on her 35 years of experience in the NGO (non-governmental organization) world. During that time, she worked and volunteered in 70 countries. 

In our conversation, Susan describes her early work in microfinance as a vehicle to empower people, particularly women, through small loans. She explains how those experiences abroad shaped her view on what it means to help others and how to do it in a way that they build capacity–and moxie–for themselves. 

In 1992, Susan went to Bangladesh, where she got her training in microfinance at Grameen Bank from Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. From 1992-2001, Susan was a consultant providing technical assistance and conducting workshops in team building, communications, and microfinance principles for NGOs, UN agencies, and donor governments. 

This episode of Main Street Moxie is sponsored by North East Ford and Elyse Harney Real Estate.

For more information about Susan and links to additional resources, go to the episode's show notes on our website.

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