Shining Light on Minnesota

An Army medic who served in Iraq came home, became an American Sign Language interpreter, and then built the app she calls the Uber for interpreters, because the old way was burning everybody out.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Micah Jane, founder of Bridge Interpreting Partners, and Rodney, the developer who built the platform with her, to talk about accessibility, interpreter burnout, and giving deaf and hard of hearing clients a real say in who walks into the room.

In this episode:
☀️ How a tour in Iraq as a combat medic shaped the way Micah sees her profession
☀️ Why the standard agency model leaves clients with an interpreter they did not choose
☀️ Seeing your interpreter's photo, credentials and bio before they ever arrive
☀️ Interpreters setting their own rates, and mentoring instead of discipline
☀️ The workarounds Micah found for health insurance, PTO and retirement for 1099 contractors
☀️ Twenty interpreters at the Renaissance Festival, and the after action review that became a feature

Find Bridge Interpreting Partners: bipasl.com

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to Shining Light on Minnesota
0:29 Micah Jane, American Sign Language interpreter
0:49 Medic in the Minnesota Army National Guard and a tour in Iraq
1:21 Starting Bridge Interpreting Partners, BIP because it sounds magical
2:09 Why the standard agency model stopped working
2:43 When the wrong interpreter is in the room
4:27 Autonomy for interpreters and getting paid properly
5:00 How a booking works, the Uber for interpreters
5:38 Professional names, credentials and the bio section
6:50 Rodney on how the app came about
7:50 Driving for Lyft to understand the model
8:27 A private marketplace, not a directory
9:34 Drive time, travel fees and real scheduling
10:22 Transparent fees and how the money moves
11:41 Favorites and first right of refusal
14:35 Parent accounts for companies with deaf employees
16:48 Where interpreters sign up, bipasl.com
17:04 The Renaissance Festival, and doing it right
18:48 Grandma at the wedding, and why you get a photo
19:30 The BIP logo, a bridge with two shades of blue
22:51 Two rare syndromes and the five parameters of ASL
24:36 Sign language for autism and non verbal children
25:39 Interpreter rate plus twenty percent, and the plan to cut it
27:36 Twenty five hours is sustainable, forty is burnout
29:44 The pricing view that shows you where you sit
31:19 A rating system that runs both ways
32:19 Low ratings, and mentoring instead of discipline
38:59 The anti bully and harassment clause
41:39 Joanne Smith and Barbara Garrett
43:52 The health insurance workaround
44:41 PTO, retirement and profit share
46:29 The trauma tree, all but two
47:24 A soldier is a number, a medic sees a human
49:40 Interns, and catering it to the person
53:40 Mileage, drive time and the IRS at year end
55:48 The second job after certification, when the client died
56:25 Debriefing inside the umbrella of confidentiality
1:01:55 Boundaries learned as a soldier
1:03:16 What is next, and taking it national
1:06:42 Teaching a Humvee class while pregnant
1:09:18 Deaf heart, and what people are really paying for
1:10:41 How do you reset
1:11:44 Galen Lee, the violin and the disability tax
1:17:52 The Kickstarter, and paying interpreters on time
1:23:35 Be Dory and just keep swimming
1:24:46 Rodney's first sale of the day

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qmxCkeWu-aU
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Brought to you by Sun Control of Minnesota, Elite Tinting & Graphics and Bravo Protection Products. @suncontrolmn @elitegraphicsmn @bravoprotection

#ShiningLightOnMinnesota #MinnesotaPodcast #ASL #SignLanguage #VeteranOwned

Episode #104. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Andrea Wood started at the front desk of Kraft Mechanical, a mechanical contractor based in Woodbury, and now leads its St. Cloud division. She shares how she earned trust, stepped into rooms full of men, and learned that a no just means not right now.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Andrea Wood, division manager at Kraft Mechanical, to talk about growing a career and a community in mechanical contracting.

In this episode:

• ☀️ How Andrea went from answering phones at the front desk in 2013 to leading the St. Cloud division
• ☀️ Why she left high school headed for dental and never left mechanical contracting
• ☀️ Earning trust from coworkers who first knew her as the young girl at the front desk
• ☀️ Walking into a pre-bid meeting as the only woman in the room
• ☀️ The advice she would give her younger self about hearing no

Find Andrea Wood and Kraft Mechanical: kraftcm.com

Chapters
0:00 Career journey, front desk to controls
1:11 From dental plans to mechanical contracting
3:21 Earning trust as a young leader
4:51 Opening the St. Cloud division
5:56 Mentors and family
7:48 Building community trust
8:54 A woman in the room
11:52 Life outside work
13:52 Growing Kraft through relationships
20:02 Advice to her younger self
22:02 Travel and cooking
23:25 How to find Kraft Mechanical

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/@shininglightonminnesota
🔔 Follow Shining Light on Minnesota so you never miss a Wednesday.
📩 Guest and sponsor inquiries: [email protected]
🌐 ShiningLightOnMinnesota.com
📸 instagram.com/shininglightonmn

Episode #103. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Most hiring still runs on resumes, gut feel and staffing models that fail both employers and job seekers. Fletcher Wimbush explains how structured, fact based hiring and AI are changing who gets hired and why.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Fletcher Wimbush, CEO of Discovered.ai, to talk about talent assessment and recruitment automation.

In this episode:

• ☀️ How his father's business coaching shaped his belief in getting the right people on the team
• ☀️ Why traditional staffing and contingent recruiting fall short, and the case for defining the job before you hire
• ☀️ What resume embellishments mean for employers, and why AI skills are becoming a hiring requirement
• ☀️ Extreme ownership, the lessons he learned from his mentors, and why employers and job seekers should not settle

Find Fletcher: discovered.ai and FletcherWimbush.com

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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Episode #102. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Kyle Scott talked his dad into a website for the family construction company, built what he now calls the worst website he has ever built, then bought SEO for Dummies at Barnes and Noble to figure out how to make it work. The phone started ringing, and he saw marketing tied to revenue from day one. Today he leads Northwing Digital, a Minnesota digital marketing company with 28 full time team members, he says.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Kyle Scott, founder and CEO of Northwing Digital, to talk about building a digital marketing company from a first website, a first hire and a belief in helping businesses succeed with digital tools.

In this episode:
☀️ Buying SEO for Dummies and watching the phone start to ring
☀️ Hiring his first full time employee in 2019 and growing a team of 28
☀️ The most common problem Kyle sees: a lack of prioritization from a return standpoint
☀️ Why AI is quietly making marketing more complex, not simpler
☀️ Why search is spreading beyond page one of Google
☀️ Building a business intelligence dashboard with Claude
☀️ Growing alongside clients, from a pest control company to YMCA of the North
☀️ A Boundary Waters trip, a soaked log and a perspective check
☀️ Trust your intuition first, confirm with outside advice, and never give up

Find Kyle Scott: northwingdigital.com or Kyle Scott on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by Sun Control of Minnesota, Elite Tinting & Graphics and Bravo Protection Products.

Chapters:
0:00 Meet Kyle Scott of Northwing Digital
0:25 From his dad's construction company website to SEO for Dummies
1:59 The University of Minnesota, an agency job and starting Northwing
2:35 The first full time hire and growing to 28 team members
3:26 The biggest marketing mistake: a lack of prioritization
5:45 Cautious adoption of new technology
6:44 Search is spreading beyond page one of Google
8:34 Staying genuine instead of writing for the algorithm
10:18 Getting your house in order for AI and crawlers
11:42 Prompt based web design and Claude Code
12:48 A business intelligence dashboard built with Claude
13:41 Big world events and why face to face still wins
15:28 Biggest wins: a pest control company and YMCA of the North
17:32 Give and take with vendors and learning to delegate
18:49 Disconnecting: hunting, hiking and the Boundary Waters
21:00 Canada deer hunting and getting engaged in Ireland
22:16 Playing golf in Ireland with his father
23:09 Mentors and bringing in an outside EOS implementer
25:37 Going from solo to delegating
27:22 Advice: trust your intuition first
29:42 Never give up if you are on the right path
32:28 What he would tell his younger self
33:23 Where to find Kyle Scott

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/cOCdd4uqgGo
🔔 Follow Shining Light on Minnesota so you never miss a Wednesday.
📩 Guest and sponsor inquiries: [email protected]
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💼 linkedin.com/company/shining-light-on-minnesota

Episode #101. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Cherie Concannon, founder of RPO Global, flew in from the UK to record in Minnesota and share her story, from an Australian sheep farm to building leadership infrastructure for businesses. In this Minnesota business podcast episode, she shares how one plant went from 26th out of 27 to first.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Cherie Concannon, UK based founder of RPO Global, to talk about leadership infrastructure, human centered AI at work and why you should jump off the diving board.

In this episode:
☀️ How a benchmarking exercise took a plant from 26th out of 27 to first and gave RPO its name
☀️ Why AI should fill the leadership gap while people stay human
☀️ Eliciting discretionary effort, the effort you cannot buy
☀️ Running a fully flexible team across the UK, Minnesota and New Zealand
☀️ Advice for anyone ready to start a business: jump off the diving board

Chapters
0:00 Meet Cherie Concannon of RPO Global
0:29 An Australian sheep farmer's daughter
1:33 From secretary to national sales director
2:34 Going bankrupt and becoming an executive coach
4:50 The plant ranked 26th out of 27 and how RPO began
6:12 Digitizing RPO with her son
7:20 AI and keeping work human
8:26 Eliciting discretionary effort
11:05 Why feedback matters
14:37 Her mojo and her mission
19:26 "You cast a big shadow"
20:48 A fully flexible team
23:44 What brought her to Minnesota
25:06 Why her family left Australia
29:03 Her biggest obstacle
31:14 Women in male dominated industries
33:41 Who she would invite to the table
38:17 Advice: jump off the diving board
40:05 Her biggest successes
42:39 What is next for RPO Global
44:30 Walking, yoga and a trip to Japan
46:19 How to find RPO Global
46:53 Closing thoughts

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/@shininglightonminnesota
🔔 Follow Shining Light on Minnesota so you never miss a Wednesday.
📩 Guest and sponsor inquiries: [email protected]
🌐 ShiningLightOnMinnesota.com
📸 instagram.com/shininglightonmn

Episode #100. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

How do you bridge the gap between the next generation and the construction industry? Two members of the Knutson Construction team share how networking and being yourself open doors.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Ana Lowery and Aalayha Traub of Knutson Construction.

In this episode:

• ​☀️ The Knutson Alliance Program (KAP)
• ​☀️ The power of networking
• ​☀️ Why being YOU matters
• ​☀️ The latest in construction design and technology
• ​☀️ Bridging the gap with the next generation in the industry

Chapters:

• ​0:00 Meet Ana Lowery and Aalayha Traub
• ​1:15 The Knutson Alliance Program (KAP)
• ​2:20 Virtual design and construction
• ​3:45 Youth and technology as a gateway
• ​7:15 Youth, AI, and using tech as a tool
• ​9:30 Bridging the generational gap
• ​12:30 The BuildUp mentorship program
• ​14:30 Why mentorship matters
• ​17:55 Communication and learning from every bid
• ​22:35 Reaching youth in schools and the community
• ​24:15 Staying true to who you are
• ​30:35 The power of networking
• ​36:50 Safety, robotics, and the future of construction
• ​41:15 What's next for Knutson
• ​48:15 How to join KAP and connect with Knutson
• ​57:55 Leading by building leaders
• ​1:00:35 Advice for the next generation
• ​1:03:35 What they would tell their younger selves
• ​1:08:30 Be brave and go for it

Find Knutson Construction: facebook.com/KnutsonConstruction

Thank you to our sponsors: Sun Control of Minnesota, Elite Tinting & Graphics, and Bravo Protection Products.

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube🔔 Follow Shining Light on Minnesota so you never miss a Wednesday episode📩 Guest and sponsor inquiries: [email protected]🌐 ShiningLightOnMinnesota.com📸 Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

Episode #099. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Every scar has a story, and Jamie Mosley turns hers into something that helps other people heal.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Jamie Mosley, author of the upcoming book Shattered Unicorns and an advocate through her work with the Alexandra House and the Justin Center.

In this episode:

• ☀️ Jamie's life story and the road to where she is now
• ☀️ Her upcoming book, Shattered Unicorns
• ☀️ Her work with the Alexandra House
• ☀️ Her work with the Justin Center
• ☀️ Why this conversation matters for Mental Health Awareness Month

Find Jamie: jamiemosley.com

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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Episode #098. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

At 15 Carey James had already been arrested once and kicked out of school twice. A small town librarian told him what she saw in him, and that one conversation changed everything.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Carey James, a personal branding and thought leadership strategist who has worked in about 20 countries and is releasing his first book, Blind Spots: How to Unlock Your Hidden Genius.

In this episode:

• ☀️ The librarian who read his label back to him at 15 and changed the direction of his life
• ☀️ Why the smartest people in the room are often the worst at selling themselves
• ☀️ Over $30M in revenue closed with everyone from Facebook, McKinsey, Amazon and Bain to mom and pop shops
• ☀️ Why your identity is not inside you, it lives in the people around you
• ☀️ How to bring pen and paper business owners along on AI instead of leaving them behind

Find Carey: careyjames.co

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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🌐 ShiningLightOnMinnesota.com
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Episode #097. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Honest, unexpected, and the kind of conversation that stays with you.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Mondo Davison, who built a life in the high tech world before everything shifted. Completely surrendering, what he believes about life after death, and how he finally found peace on the other side of it.

In this episode:
☀️ Life in high tech
☀️ The moment everything shifted
☀️ Total surrender
☀️ Finding peace

▶️ Watch the video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@shininglightonminnesota
🔔 Hit follow so the next Minnesota story lands in your feed every Wednesday.
📩 Guest or sponsor inquiries: [email protected]
🌐 https://www.shininglightonminnesota.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shininglightonmn

Episode #096. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️

Setting the goal is one thing. Staying in it long enough is another.

Host Karissa Dunham sits down with Aaron Golub, former Tulane football player and now a speaker, coach, and consultant. Aaron talks about the obstacles he still faces every single day, how he stays optimistic anyway, and what it really takes to reach your full potential.

In this episode:
☀️ Playing college football legally blind
☀️ The obstacles Aaron faces every day
☀️ Staying optimistic when it's hard
☀️ What it takes to reach your full potential

Find Aaron Golub: speaker, coach, and consultant

▶️ Watch the video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@shininglightonminnesota
🔔 Hit follow so the next Minnesota story lands in your feed every Wednesday.
📩 Guest or sponsor inquiries: [email protected]
🌐 https://www.shininglightonminnesota.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shininglightonmn

Episode #095. Keep SHINING LIGHT ☀️