Philly Who?

In January 2018, Rebecca Rynhart was sworn in as the first woman City Controller in Philadelphia history. Before that, she served as Mayor Kenney’s Chief Administration Officer, and during the Nutter administration, she served as Treasurer and then Budget Director. This year, she is seeking re-election to continue her work.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Rebecca initially worked in Finance on Wall Street. After years of seeing governments being taken advantage of by the private sector, she quit - and took a huge pay cut - to enter public service. That decision to leave Bear Sterns in the spring of 2008 turned out to be pretty lucky, as the entire firm collapsed 3 weeks later.

She would become Treasurer of Philadelphia at the height of the Great Recession. And, as you’ll hear, she had to make some tough calls to get the city through it.

Eventually, she craved the ability to affect more change for Philadelphia. So, she ran for office and took on an incumbent. Despite heavy odds, she won.

This Episode is supported by Crossbeam.

Crossbeam is hiring! Check out their available positions here.

At the time of this interview, Sarah Schwab was the Senior Director of Marketing for the Philadelphia Flyers. As the Director of Marketing, Sarah oversaw the team’s branding, promotional, and media initiatives. A few years ago, her team was tasked with a huge undertaking: creating a mascot for the Flyers.

Much to her and the team's surprise, Gritty would become an overnight internet phenomenon, generating billions of online impressions, and appearing on Good Morning America, Conan O'Brian, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Currently, Sarah is transitioning into a new role as Director of Communications for Insomnia Cookies. Before working for the Flyers, she worked in PR and Marketing for UPenn and the National Constitution Center. Sarah got her Bachelor's degree in Strategic and Organizational Communications from Temple University.

This episode was recorded live at the PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference, hosted by the Public Relations Society of America.

This Episode is supported by Crossbeam.

Crossbeam is hiring! Check out their available positions here.

Philly Who? launched three years ago this week in May of 2018. Today we are celebrating by republishing our one-year anniversary live episode with Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook.

The pair are the chefs behind Cooknsolo, a collection of restaurants including Zahav, Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Goldie, and Abe Fisher.

At the time of this interview, Cook and Solo had together accrued 4 James Beard Awards for their restaurants and cookbooks. Just 5 days later, they took home their 5th, as Zahav won the award for Best Restaurant in the country.

In this episode, you’ll hear how these two restauranteurs came together to bring Israeli cuisine to Philadelphia. In doing so, they transformed the Philly food scene.

But, it wasn’t always sunshine and hummus. As you’ll hear, when Zahav first opened, it struggled mightily, and was in danger of failing thanks to the 2008 financial crash, an intimidating menu, and the revelation to Steve that Mike was struggling with addiction.

Hear the story of how Cook and Solo overcame these challenges, and in the 10 years since have built a restaurant empire!

Thanks to all who attended the live show - we raised $900 for Broad Street Ministry!

This Episode is supported by Crossbeam.

Crossbeam is hiring! Check out their available positions here.

Philly Who? is returning next week! We're taking nominations now for incredible Philadelphians who deserve to have their story told.

Let us know who you want to hear from here, via the nomination form.

Kevin Neghandi was watching a basketball game on TV when he was 15 years old. The announcers mentioned that one of the players was studying broadcasting, and that would one day be the player's career. Kevin's mind was blown. "You can do that? You can get paid for that?"

That night, as he went to bed in his home of Pheonixville PA, he made a vow: He would became the first ever Indian-American to anchor the legendary ESPN sports newscast, Sportscenter.

One day years later, in the summer of 2006, after years of grind and burnout, he got a call.

"We need an anchor for the 1am Sportscenter tonight."

Carlos Aponte is a history teacher at One Bright Ray Community High School and the creator of We Love Philly.

We Love Philly is an Out-of-school time program that provides an ownership based education through community service projects. Students volunteer for local organizations, interview the leaders of those organizations on their podcast, and learn how to edit and produce that podcast.

Carlos' journey to becoming an expert in helping Philly kids learn to love Philly was turbulent, as he moved around a lot and was on ADHD medication since the age of four. His own personal awakening came just three years ago, and in the time since he has already impacted hundreds of Philly youth.

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After serving families with disabilities at Easterseals for 17 years, state budget cuts left Kendra Brooks without a job. While she searched for a new one, she became a parent leader of her children's public school in the neighborhood of Nicetown.

When a local charter school made a bid to take over, she organized the school's parents to make their voices heard. This fight lead to national media attention, and gave Kendra a taste of what victory on behalf of her community feels like.

She had "taken the pill from The Matrix," and in 2019 ran for a Philadelphia City Council at-large seat. She campaigned as a member of the Working Families Party. Winning that election would mean that she would be the first at-large city councilmember in history to represent a party other than Democrat or Republican.

It would also mean that her and her family's life would be changed forever.

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Steve Charles serves on the Board of Trustees at Temple University, where he’s spent years providing scholarships and other financial resources to expand opportunities at Temple. His commitment to Temple is obvious as soon as you walk into the elaborate, cutting edge structure that is the Charles Library: named after Steve himself.

Before entering the world of philanthropy, Steve struggled, hustled, bounced around, and spent years trying to find the business plan that would transform him into a successful entrepreneur. His answer came in the form of immixGroup, a company Steve co-founded that distributes a tech products to different facets of the federal government.

That idea took years to develop, along with a lot of twists and turns.

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Over two decades ago, one wardrobe stylist had an ambitious dream to see her beloved hometown become the movie metropolis she always knew it could be.

Now, after more than $5 billion of economic impact to the southeastern Pennsylvania region, Greater Philadelphia Film Office Executive Director Sharon Pinkenson has successfully elevated the GPFO from the little-known permit office it once was to one of the most well-respected film commissions in the industry.

In doing so, Sharon has cemented Philadelphia’s reputation as one of the best media production centers in the country, and has helped Philly land such hits as Philadelphia, The Sixth Sense, and National Treasure, among countless other films, TV shows, and commercials.

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Venmo: @podphillywho,

Donate via Paypal,

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