The Crown City

Episode 32: My Zero Waste Store’s Cheryl Auger joins the show to talk about her upbringing and career in engineering, project management, and cybersecurity and how a chance conversation changed how she viewed plastic and recycling.

In the summer of 2020, Cheryl opened My Zero Waste Store to reduce our dependence on plastics and to offer customers a more sustainable shopping experience. As of June 2022, My Zero Waste Store has eliminated more than 3.1 million pieces of plastic and recently received a 2022 Sustainable Earth Small Business Award. In addition to owning My Zero Waste Store, Cheryl is an environmental activist and leader of BAN SUP, a group dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for local and statewide legislation to reduce plastic in our communities.

For more information and to support Cheryl’s shop, please visit www.myzerowastestore.com and her advocacy organization BAN SUP at www.bansup.net. My Zero Waste Store is located at 25 South El Molino Avenue in the heart of Playhouse District.

Special Guest: Cheryl Auger

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Audible, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

The Crown City Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Zencastr, an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives podcasters studio-quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

Go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code thecrowncitypod to get 30% off your first three months with a PRO account along with a 14-day free trial. Zencastr is the modern web-based solution for both the everyday and professional podcaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 31: Historian Bill Deverell joins the show to discuss his interest in the American West, the importance of studying our past, and his excellent podcast series Western Edition.

Bill originally considered following his father’s footsteps of being a doctor before dedicating himself to exploring the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Following professorships at UC San Diego and CalTech, Bill became a teacher at USC and then the Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and one of the founding directors of the Los Angeles Service Academy. In 2021, Bill and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West launched Western Edition, a wonderful podcast series that explored our relationship with fire in season one and Los Angeles’ Chinatown in season two.

For more information and to support Bill’s work, please visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/icw and https://laserviceacademy.org.

For information and to listen to the Western Edition podcast, visit https://apple.co/3S26pdk

Special Guests: Bill Deverell

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

The Crown City Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Zencastr, an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives podcasters studio-quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

Go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code thecrowncitypod to get 30% off your first three months with a PRO account along with a 14-day free trial. Zencastr is the modern web-based solution for both the everyday and professional podcaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 31: Historian Bill Deverell joins the show to discuss his interest in the American West, the importance of studying our past, and his excellent podcast series Western Edition.

Bill originally considered following his father’s footsteps of being a doctor before dedicating himself to exploring the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Following professorships at UC San Diego and CalTech, Bill became a teacher at USC and then the Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and one of the founding directors of the Los Angeles Service Academy. In 2021, Bill and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West launched Western Edition, a wonderful podcast series that explored our relationship with fire in season one and Los Angeles’ Chinatown in season two.

For more information and to support Bill’s work, please visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/icw and https://laserviceacademy.org.

For information and to listen to the Western Edition podcast, visit https://apple.co/3S26pdk

Special Guests: Bill Deverell

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

The Crown City Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Zencastr, an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives podcasters studio-quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

Go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code thecrowncitypod to get 30% off your first three months with a PRO account along with a 14-day free trial. Zencastr is the modern web-based solution for both the everyday and professional podcaster.

Episode 30: Tournament of Roses’ Senior Event Manager Mariela Spillari joins the show to talk about the impact of her hard-working family, how she got involved with large-scale event planning, and her favorite part of a parade.

Born in Guatemala and raised in New York, Mariela has built a successful career in one of the most stressful and demanding jobs imaginable. Before joining the Tournament of Roses to work on the most recognized parade in the world - The Rose Parade - Mariela was an event manager at Macy’s, where she worked on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Fourth of July Fireworks, among countless others. In 2019, she joined LA Pride as Producer of the LA Pride Parade, an experience that has had a tremendous impact on her personally.

For more information and to support Mariela’s work, please visit https://tournamentofroses.com and https://lapride.org

Special Guests: Mariela Spillari

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

The Crown City Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Zencastr, an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives podcasters studio-quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

Go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code thecrowncitypod to get 30% off your first three months with a PRO account along with a 14-day free trial. Zencastr is the modern web-based solution for both the everyday and professional podcaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PCC Board of Trustee Sandra Chen Lau joins the show for a conversation about the role education had in her early life, her work with non-profits and higher education, and why she ran for the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees in 2018.

Raised in Monterey Park after her family immigrated from China, Sandra attended Rio Hondo College before earning her bachelor’s degree from UC Riverside and a master’s degree from UCLA. As a non-profit philanthropy executive, she has worked to improve higher education while at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, UCLA, and USC. Sandra joined the PCC Board of Trustees to help bring some governing stability to such a storied institution and her mission continues as PCC faces new headwinds following Covid. Among other topics, we talk about falling enrollment, the rising cost of higher education, parenthood, and some of her favorite places around Pasadena.

To learn more about Sandra and her campaign, please visit www.sandraforpccboard.com.

Special Guest: Sandra Chen Lau

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lauretta Records’ CEO Katrina Frye joins the show for an in-depth discussion about her early involvement in the arts, the state of the music industry, why it was important to create an independent music label, and how she empowers artists to build long-term careers.

Born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Katrina has built her career in arts management with incredible experiences such as being a band manager, a successful entrepreneur, and now as the founder of Lauretta Records. Believing that music is currently in a renaissance, Katrina works to create a sustainable platform for Lauretta Records’ emerging artists by breaking them into what she calls the new radio - television and film.

For more information about Lauretta Records, please visit www.laurettarecords.com, follow them on all social media platforms and listen to the work of their amazing artists on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Special Guests: Katrina Frye

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

The Crown City Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Zencastr, an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives podcasters studio-quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how.

Go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code thecrowncitypod to get 30% off your first three months with a PRO account along with a 14-day free trial. Zencastr is the modern web-based solution for both the everyday and professional podcaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lindy Hop Dancers Ellie Jay and Mike Foncannon join the show for an enjoyable conversation about dancing, their passion for swing, how they came together as partners, and what brought them to Pasadena in 2021. Los Angeles and Pasadena have a rich history in Lindy Hop, and Ellie and Mike have brought their unique style to this energetic and artistic scene.

Ellie and Mike come from different backgrounds but share a love of dance. They are the creatives behind Sunny Side Syncopators, a social club and dance production company, teach swing and Lindy Hop at the Athletic Garage Dance Center and participate in competitions, such as the International Lindy Hop Championships (Check out their Open Classic Preliminary routine from 2019).

For more information about Sunny Side Syncopators, please visit www.sunnysidesyncopators.com and follow them on social media (including their YouTube channel) for details on all the fun trouble they get into, whether it be teaching a local class or just enjoying a night out dancing.

Special Guests: Ellie Jay and Mike Foncannon

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CivitasLA’s Dwayne Gathers joins the show for a discussion about his work in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors and why he launched the Los Angeles-focused podcast to uplift civic discourse and elevate emerging community voices.

Born and raised in New York, Dwayne worked at both the US State Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development before serving the state of California by building connections with South Africa. Since the summer of 2020, he has hosted the CivitasLA podcast to bring people together to discuss some of the most pressing issues we face and the opportunities to work together to build a stronger and more diverse Los Angeles.

For more information about CivitasLA, please visit www.civitasla.com, follow the show on social media and listen and subscribe to Los Angeles’ premier community conversation.

Special Guest: Dwayne Gathers

The Crown City Podcast can be found on most platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Semolina Artisanal Pasta’s Leah Ferrazzani joins the show to share how her love of food took her on a journey from drying pasta in her home’s laundry room to producing some of the finest US-grown organic fresh and dry pasta around.

Originally from New York, Leah left behind her career as a food and wine writer to launch Semolina Artisanal Pasta in 2014. Since then, she has expanded their wonderful pasta selections and are now featuring inspired sandwiches at their shop and “pasta lab” at 1976-1978 Lincoln Avenue in Pasadena.

For more information about Semolina Artisanal Pasta and to see where you can purchase it, please visit them at www.semolinapasta.com and follow them on social media for updates on what they are doing and to see some of the delicious things they are creating.

Special Guest: Leah Ferrazzani

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Councilmember Jessica Rivas joins the show to talk about growing up in a family of public servants, her early legal career, and why her family was drawn to Pasadena.

In February of 2021, Councilmember Rivas was appointed to the City Council to fill the vacant seat of now Mayor Victor Gordo. While having only been on the Council for a little over a year, she has a long record of public service. Councilmember Rivas was on Pasadena’s Commission on the Status of Women and the Northwest Commission all the while working as Deputy County Counsel with Los Angeles County and serving our country with the US Army Reserve.

In this thoughtful discussion, Councilmember Rivas shares her vision of serving the greater good, some of the critical issues facing Pasadena, running for public office, and several of her favorite places to visit in District 5.

For more information about City Council District 5, please visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/district5/ and follow on it Twitter and Instagram.

To learn more about Jessica and her campaign, please visit https://www.jessforpasadena.com/.

Special Guest: Councilmember Jessica Rivas

To support the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review on your favorite podcasting app or sponsor us at www.thecrowncitypodcast.com or www.patreon.com/thecrowncitypodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.