The Charlotte is Creative Podcast

Being on the frontlines of building a community take a relentless devotion to the work and unwavering commitment to the cause. Chef Ron Ahlert, Executive Director of Community Culinary School of Charlotte has been putting those values to work for more than two decades. Today, he's helping lead a kitchen program that's helping to get community workers back on their feet. 

In today's episode of The Biscuit Blitz, Tim Miner speaks to Chef Ron and Charlotte arts mainstay and CCSC Development Director Anne Lambert about the school's history, what drew Anne to work with Chef Ron, and what the team has in store for this year's Miracle on Monroe event, an event that gives the school's students a chance to serve more than 300 people during the holiday season.

Read more about Chef Ron here.

In the latest episode in our Who Built Me series, we talk to the founder of Heal Charlotte, Greg Jackson. Jackson, whose organization is working to provide affordable housing for families of need, named Otis Crowder as someone he wanted to pay tribute to. 

Jackson talks about meeting Crowder at a Rotary meeting where Jackson was speaking about Heal Charlotte, and them becoming friends quickly thereafter. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, Jackson and Crowder developed a deep mutual respect for one another, solidified in a shared vision of helping others. 

Click here to watch Jackson's Who Built Me talk at Creative Mornings Charlotte on November 6, 2020.

In a new series called Scratch Made, head biscuit bakers Tim Miner and Matt Olin sit down for a socially-distanced conversation on Tim's open air back patio. The two take turns answering each other's questions on five topics that are on their minds or happening in the Charlotte creative scene. Hear them talk about what they love and hate about Zoom meetings, the future of live events like Creative Mornings, how creatives can use this time, ways they've rediscovered the city, and takeaways from Latin American Heritage Month. Don't forget to subscribe to The Biscuit for your daily dose of creativity at biscuitclt.com.

One of the city's most versatile entertainers sits down in today's episode of the Biscuit CLT podcast with host Tim Miner. For the past three years, Aaron Dodge has dominated Instagram and now TikTok feeds alike, but in 2020 he's jumping into the show full time.

After working with renowned Charlotte video production team The Littlefield Company, Dodge is fulfilling a long-time vision of being a full time entrepreneur. Tim talks to Dodge about the work he did for The Littlefield Company, the content he'll be creating with his own brand, and the business philosophy that drives him.

The last few months have been a lot of things, but one thing they haven't been is boring. In today's episode of the podcast, producer Andy Goh talks to head biscuit bakers Matt Olin and Tim Miner about everything that's been happening since the pandemic took over in March.

Hear Matt and Tim talk about the reimagination of Creative Mornings, the Black Lives Matter mural, new funding for artists, and much more.

Visit InvestInCreatives.com to find out more about funding for Charlotte artists, creatives, and gig economy workers.

Henry Rock, founder of City Startup Labs, works to help build young men into entrepreneurs, so it makes sense that he knows a thing or two about the value of a mentor in building social capital. It's no surprise then, that he himself had several influential figures in his life that helped shaped him into the leader he is today.

In today's episode of Who Built Me, we talk to Henry about the lessons he learned from his great grandmother Ella, a suffragist and historian, his father and uncles who were pilots and engineers, and a professional influence who helped Henry built his foundation in Black-owned media. Find out more about City Startup Labs here.

For almost a decade, Molly Shaw has served as the President and CEO of Communities in Schools, a vital position of leadership where her work directly impacted students across Mecklenburg County. This summer, however, Molly has left her position to explore new opportunities.

In the very first edition of Exit Interview, Tim Miner sits down with Molly for a chat about the challenges she faced, the lessons she learned, and what she sees as the greatest needs schools are facing today. Read more about Communities in Schools here.

When getting started in any field, particularly one as unforgiving as journalism, having a mentor is essential. On today's episode of The Biscuit CLT Podcast, we've got another edition of our Who Built Me series, this time we're featuring the host and lead reporter of She Says and The List, Sarah Delia.

Sarah Delia talks about a mentor she had in college named Martha who worked at a radio station at James Madison University. Martha had no obligation to pay Sarah a moment of time, but after Sarah cleverly put herself in Martha's path, Martha began to take Sarah under her wing and helped to shape her into the journalist she is today.

Find more freshly baked biscuits at biscuitclt.com.

We spend much of our lives trying to be conscious of the effects our words have on those who receive them because you never really know how something you say can affect someone. Something that you may find casual might be wildly inappropriate or even harmful to someone else. In today's Who Built Me series, we talk to Meredith Dean, CEO and Founder of The Dean's List, about four men in her life whose words shaped who she became. 

The great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted said, "The enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue, yet exercises it, tranquilizes it yet enlivens it, and thus, through the influence of mind over body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigorating the whole system."

Every day, City of Charlotte Senior Urban Designer Rachel Stark looks at our city and works to create Olmsted's vision. Everything from the structure of public spaces to the Black Lives Matter mural down to the zoning code is fair game for Stark, and her efforts will quite literally shape the city. 

Get to know Rachel in today's episode of Who Built Me, brought to you by Foundation for the Carolinas. Rachel talks about the people who influenced her while at school at NC State, working in Cape Town, South Africa, and what she would pass on to the next generation of landscape architects.