Real Meet Podcast

When Karen Kelly's son couldn't get a place in after-school care, the CEO of Launch by Lunch found herself juggling afternoon parenting and late-night work. She chose her son, left her job, and turned a post in a local moms' group into a network of 500 parents that helped create two new after-school programs.

Solving the childcare problem uncovered something bigger: she barely knew the people in her own town. Brian and Karen explore suburban isolation, the small interactions that make a place feel familiar, and how practical support can give parents the breathing room to exercise, see friends, and enjoy their families.

Karen's search for connection led her to build Purposely Social, an app designed to help busy parents make plans. She shares the frustration of an expensive, delayed development process and how experimenting with AI tools opened a different path: Launch by Lunch, where she helps small businesses learn the tools and build useful internal systems.

Brian brings his perspective as a longtime software engineer who has seen other product owners get burned by poor social skills of some developers. They talk about explaining technical trade-offs, knowing when to bring in expertise, and why learning these tools together can be more useful than struggling through them alone.

For Karen, the goal is not to be consumed by AI as the end-all be-all, but rather, to let it lighten the load so there's more space for being human, and taking care of ourselves and each other. From organizing neighbors to helping a business team work through mixed feelings about AI, the common thread is making room for a more connected life.

In addition to founding Launch by Lunch, where she has helped hundreds of teams scale their businesses while saving money using AI tools, Karen is also a 3x founder and Top 100 Voice of the Mass AI Coalition. She speaks regularly on the intersection of AI, leadership, and human connection, including a TEDx talk that became a global Editor’s Pick, a Fox News feature on AI in Boston, and three appearances at Startup Boston. She is also part of Anthropic’s first cohort of non-technical builders to earn the Claude Certified Architect (CCAR-F) credential.

You can find Karen's company Launch by Lunch at launchbylunch.co

You can connect with Karen on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/karen-kelly-daring-greatly/

Betsy DeMann grew up in a big Utah family, where community was woven into everyday life. After more than a decade in physician recruiting, she found herself juggling corporate work and fitness coaching while feeling increasingly isolated in the mountain home she'd worked hard to build. Community publishing gave her a way to bring her journalism background, curiosity, and love of people into the same space.

Brian and Betsy explore why time in nature can be restorative while a life without human connection can become lonely. From early-morning runs to everyday conversations at the grocery store, they talk about the relationships that help us feel at home and the small choices that keep them alive.

Betsy shares how telling a former mayor's story of grief helped neighbors see the person behind the public role. She wants to know the story of EVERYONE, from grocery bagger, to the restaurant host, to ... the mayor.

The conversation also covers the business of local media: partnering with neighborhood businesses, telling the stories behind their brands, and building a network of writers, photographers, and videographers whose success is connected. Betsy and Brian consider the place of human stories in an increasingly digital, AI-shaped world, and how local publications, radio, and face-to-face encounters help a growing town stay connected.

You can follow Betsy's work at Best Version Media at

You can connect with Betsy on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/betsy-demann-7b73b1238/

Jill Manuel is a longtime newsroom leader and advisor turned media executive coach. She has spent more than two decades inside journalism, from the early days of Fox News Channel to serving as the ABC10 News Director in Sacramento, she helps media executives navigate the uncertainty of what she calls "The Trust Shift", where public trust is migrating from "logos" (e.g. the major television networks) to individuals (creator-journalists, individual personalities, etc).

Brian and Jill talk about why younger audiences often trust creators more than legacy news brands, and why the economics of local news make transformation so hard. Jill explains what happens when journalists who once borrowed credibility from a station, publication, or logo suddenly have to define their own voice, network, and value.

Conversation meanders between news avoidance, creator-led journalism, discernment, analog life, and the renewed importance of in-person connection. At the center is a practical challenge for media, creators, and anyone overwhelmed by information: choose the life you want to build, then seek out people and sources you can actually trust.

You can read Jill's newsletter, The Trust Shift, at the-trust-shift.beehiiv.com and connect with her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jillannmanuel.

David Spinks is the author of The Business of Belonging, co-founder of CMX, and a coach for community founders and leaders. His work sits at the center of a question that keeps getting more urgent: what does it actually take for people to feel socially healthy, connected, and held?

Brian and David talk about the many forms community can take, from online gaming clans and sports bars to concerts, neighborhoods, long friendships, and brief moments of shared emotion. David argues that loose ties, deep bonds, playful gatherings, and vulnerable spaces all matter because humans need more than one kind of connection.

The conversation moves through AI, social media, technological dissociation, Buddhism, poetic attunement, and the way modern life can make relationship feel transactional. At the center is David's invitation to look not only for belonging with other people, but also at the ways we learn to belong to ourselves.

You can follow David's work at davidspinks.com, read his Substack Enough Already davidspinks.substack.com, and learn more about his coaching for community leaders and founders. Lastly, you can connect with David on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/davidspinks

Lex Roman is the publisher behind Revenue Rulebreaker and the creator of the Legends network, a paid professional network for solopreneurs, small business owners, and creative operators. Their work sits at the intersection of publishing, community, and the kind of intentional connection that becomes more valuable as the internet gets louder.

Brian and Lex talk about how community organizing starts, why it often becomes real work, and what changes when that work becomes part of a business. Lex shares how their early service work, years in Los Angeles, and experience building professional spaces shaped their thinking about responsibility, justice, and the difference between a community and a network.

The conversation moves from event design to creator-led curation, information overload, AI, and the future of publishing. At the center is a practical question for anyone trying to gather people well: how do you create something valuable without turning human connection into another endless feed?

Subscribe to Lex's Revenue Rulebreaker newsletter at revenuerulebreaker.com/newsletter and curated professional "Legends" network at revenuerulebreaker.com/why-become-a-legend.

Shane Anderson is a musician, traveler, husband, father, and one half of Arbour Season. He and his family live part of the year on the road and part of the year on an off-grid property in Arkansas, where buses, vans, friends, musicians, and neighbors keep turning the land into a living experiment in community.

Brian and Shane talk about skoolie life, building a gathering place from raw land, and what it means to find home when you are always moving. Shane shares the beauty and the cost of mobility: the freedom to explore, the joy of meeting people in coffee shops and open mics, and the growth that only happens when you stay long enough for community to sharpen you.

The conversation moves through AI and art, the irreplaceable feeling of live music, the story behind Arbour Season's album Odyssey, and the strange night Shane and Brian met in Florida. At the center is a simple conviction: people have to come first, and real community asks us to be present, patient, and willing to pay the price that real relationship demands.

You can find Arbour Season on Spotify:

Nicole Stump works in venture capital, but her path there started in rural West Virginia, meandered through shelter work and high school teaching, and eventually became a study in how people find enough safety, structure, and capacity to show up for each other.

Brian and Nicole talk about what sustainable community actually looks like when people are busy and burned out from parenting, building companies, or simply trying to survive the season they are in. Nicole shares how nature, presence, birding, coffee walks, and low-friction local gatherings can help high-achieving people remember the "living" part of life-changing wealth.

The conversation moves from coal towns and Austin neighborhoods to classrooms, parent groups, founders, front porches, and communities that are allowed to end when they fulfilled their purpose. At the center is a practical invitation: you do not need permission to make something local, useful, and human.

Nicole on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleharbertstump/

Michael Kauffman is the founder of Catskill Crew, a local newsletter that has grown into a media company, events engine, product lab, and community platform for the Catskills. For Michael, the newsletter is only the beginning: a way to support local businesses, create reasons for people to gather, and build something that feels deeply rooted in place.

Brian and Michael talk about what it means to build a local media company that is community-led. Michael shares the winding path that brought him there, from startups and health tech to an existential reset on a fly-fishing trip that pushed him to stop chasing market opportunities and build something he wanted to run for the rest of his life.

The conversation ranges from rebuilding a Catskills town to matching venues with musicians, from seed swaps and local farms to the pressure of AI and screens. At the center is a simple argument: humans need nature, social life, and work that actually lights them up. One friend in the real world beats any number of connections in the metaverse.

Learn more about Michael's work at https://catskillcrew.com/ and https://thenewsletter.club/.

Tori Hanson has built her work around a simple but urgent idea: people need help finding each other again. After moving from the UK to New York and leaving a media career that included the New York Times, she found herself without the founder community she needed, so she started hosting co-working days for other entrepreneurs. Eight people showed up to the first one, and that small gathering eventually grew into The Knowledge Shop and the foundation for her event networking platform, Meet in 10.

Brian and Tori talk about how real community often starts through shared effort, whether that is working late shifts in a bar, moving overseas, building a company, or simply showing up to a room full of strangers. Tori shares why event hosts do some of the most stressful and underappreciated work, and how better tools can help people walk into events with more confidence, context, and permission to connect.

The conversation also explores why in-person experiences feel more valuable in an increasingly digital and AI-shaped world. Tori makes the case that events are becoming a kind of modern luxury: not because they are exclusive, but because choosing to be physically present with other people is becoming one of the most meaningful investments we can make.

You can connect with Tori on LinkedIn

And learn more about her passion projects at

Amanda Black is the founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network, a global community of more than half a million women saying yes to themselves, their dreams, and the kind of friendships that can form when people step into new places together.

Brian and Amanda talk about why travel creates such fast, deep connection: shared adventure, vulnerability, unfamiliar cultures, and the freedom to show up without the usual labels from back home. Amanda shares stories from her community, from women bonding around a table in Romania to an online network mobilizing across borders to help a traveler in danger.

The conversation also goes deeper into what community actually means. Amanda argues that community is not just a circle of friends or people who share your interests. It is often built through proximity, reciprocity, and inconvenience: taking someone to the airport, checking on a neighbor, showing up before there is anything to gain. In a world where so many connections are mediated by screens, Amanda makes the case for building communities that are safe, generous, and rooted in real life.

Connect with Amanda:

Instagram:

560k+ Facebook Group:

Website: https://thesolofemaletravelernetwork.com/

The Solo Female Traveler Network creates safe, culturally rich travel experiences for women, rooted in connection, curiosity, and shared moments that turn strangers into lifelong friends.

Instagram: @solofemaletravel

TikTok: @sofetravel

YouTube: @sofetravel