It's hard to come up with a succinct set of titles for Dereck Whittenburg. After playing basketball at one of the best basketball high schools in the country for arguably the best high school coach of all time, he helped NC State win its second national championship. After a brief international career, he went into coaching, had a broadcasting role at ESPN, produced several major documentaries, started a scholarship foundation, and returned to his alma mater to serve as an administrator.

In this episode, you'll learn about Dereck's winding path to where he is today, the importance of finding and listening to great mentors, and why scholarships and education are so important.

For more on Dereck's foundation or to buy his book, visit https://the-dereck-whittenburg-foundation.square.site/

You can also watch his films Survive and Advance through ESPN or Morgan Wootten: Godfather of Basketball through the links on the website.

Daniel Ayers grew up in a small North Carolina town, and after graduating college, came back to be a history teacher. He happened to meet Quinn Ray at political events, and the two formed a friendship that turned into one of the fastest growing North Carolina centered podcasts, The Hometown Holler.

In this episode, you'll learn about what it looks like to run a podcast, the importance of building relationships, and why coming back to your small town might not be such a bad idea after all.

See more of Daniel on his podcast, The Hometown Holler.

Greg Bohlen grew up on a farm, so it might not be surprising that he now runs a regenerative vineyard called Union Grove Farm. What's a bit more surprising is that between leaving his childhood farm and founding Union Grove, he got an MBA, owned a bank at 25 years old, became an investment banker, and then founded one of the most successful venture capital firms in the country.

In this episode, you'll learn about Greg's path from farming to venture capital and back, the importance of being willing to take risks and seize opportunities, and why Greg thinks regenerative farming is not just a key to environmental change, but can be more financially sustainable in the long run. As someone with one foot each in two very different worlds, Greg has important insights for anyone trying to figure out what the next step in their journey should be.

You can find out more about Greg's venture capital work at Union Grove Venture Partners' website, and you can learn more about his farming operation at Union Grove Farm's website.

Dane Jensen is in the world's oldest profession—no, not that one. He's a shepherd, but the sheep that he tends have a very particular job. They're used in the fields of Union Grove Farm, a regenerative farm in central North Carolina focused on producing a new variety of table grape in a sustainable way. Dane was born in California and spent years working in the wine industry in California while maintaining his own personal farm. His expertise in regenerative farming in the vineyards led to an opportunity to move to North Carolina to be Farm Manager at Union Grove.

In this episode, you'll hear more about Dane's journey, and how his fear of being homeless inspired him to pursue this line of work. You'll hear about the challenges of figuring out what to do next, of deciding to leave one great opportunity for another, and of having to adapt to a new climate and new culture on the other side of the country. 

Learn more about Dane's shepherding work at Union Grove's website

Abena Antwi grew up in Ghana, where she played by creating makeup with clay and the rich natural materials around her. She moved to the US and went to college determined to be a pharmacist, but discovered that she could use her passion and talent in chemistry to create cosmetics as well. After an internship at L'Oreal, she decided to pursue cosmetic chemistry, and eventually found a job at Burt's Bees, where she uses many of the same natural ingredients she grew up using to create internationally distributed and respected products.

In this episode, you'll learn about Abena's path from childhood all the way to the decision that defined her career, her challenges of balancing being a single mother as well as an innovative chemist, the importance of women in STEM fields, and her entrepreneurial spirit that led her to launch an award winning food brand.

You can find her on Instagram at both her personal account @abena77 and her jolloff sauce account @queensjollofsauce

Ray Williams burst onto the British music scene in the 1960s by discovering a young musician named Reginald Dwight, whom you might know better as Elton John. He introduced him to a poet named Bernie Taupin, who would go on to write the lyrics for many of Elton's most famous songs. He continued working for decades as a manager, producer, and "A&R guy" in the music industry before transitioning to the film and television industry, where he's won numerous awards including Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Grammy awards for the soundtracks he's worked on.

In this episode you'll learn all about Ray's path, the challenges he faced in getting into the music industry and transitioning to the film industry, and the advice that he would give anyone looking to work in a creative field.

You can find out more about Ray's work and story, and even reach out to him about music supervision and licensing at www.raywilliamsmusic.com