The Fort Builders Podcast

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Sherrie Ortiz, owner of 'Just One Day Travel, LLC', a Kansas City tour company and someone whose story is really about adaptation, reinvention, and staying curious.

Today, Sherrie spends her days leading walking tours, bus tours, food tours, ghost tours, and history tours throughout the Kansas City region. She helps people discover the stories hiding in plain sight—from gangsters and ghost stories to public art, architecture, fountains, and local history.

But that wasn't always the plan.

Before becoming a tour guide, Sherrie spent nearly 30 years in the bakery industry. She started decorating cakes shortly after high school, worked her way through grocery bakeries, and eventually built a successful home-based business called Sherrie's Cake Magic. For 18 years she created wedding cakes, custom birthday cakes, and specialty desserts while raising her children from home.

Then life changed.

While caring for her mother during a battle with ovarian cancer, her business slowed. After her mother's passing, Sherrie made the difficult decision not to rebuild the bakery business she had spent years creating.

What followed was a series of pivots.

An attempt to enter real estate appraisal that was disrupted by 9/11. A fascinating stint working for an online auction company during COVID. And eventually the launch of her current business, just before the world shut down.

Throughout the conversation, one thing stood out to me:

Sherrie never pretends she had some grand master plan.

She simply kept adapting.

When conference tours weren't producing enough business, she embraced walking tours. When one path closed, she explored another. When something wasn't working, she adjusted and kept moving.

We also talk about Kansas City itself—its growth, history, hidden stories, and the things most people drive past every day without noticing. Whether it's Harry Houdini performing a famous stunt downtown, the history of the City Market, or the changing face of neighborhoods throughout the metro, Sherrie has built a business around helping people see familiar places differently.

As we often talk about on The Fort Builders, building a life isn't always about following a straight line.

Sometimes it's about being willing to start over.

And trusting that the experiences you've gathered along the way might lead somewhere you never expected.

Just One Day Travel Tours, LLC

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In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Mike Akers, head women's golf coach at the University of North Texas and someone I've known since our days growing up together in Hays, Kansas.

Mike's story starts in western Kansas, where he helped lead Hays High to a state golf championship. Looking back, he now realizes just how unlikely that accomplishment was given the larger programs and resources they were competing against. But even then, the mindset was already there: preparation, belief, and a willingness to do extra work. Before that state tournament, Mike drove five hours by himself, stayed in a hotel alone, and played multiple practice rounds before the rest of the team arrived.

That mindset would follow him throughout his career.

After working as a golf professional, Mike moved into coaching and eventually built successful collegiate programs at Texas State and North Texas. When he arrived at North Texas, the program was ranked around 200th nationally. Today, it has become a nationally respected program with conference championships and victories over schools with significantly larger budgets and recruiting advantages.

What stood out to me in this conversation is that Mike doesn't talk much about talent.

He talks about people.

He talks about relationships.

He talks about culture.

Whether he's recruiting internationally from Thailand, Latvia, South Africa, or India, or evaluating players from Texas, he's looking for more than scores. He's looking for character, independence, work ethic, and people who genuinely want to improve.

We also discuss one of my favorite themes from the conversation: intentional practice.

Mike shares stories about athletes spending hours "practicing" while not really being present and explains why focused effort always beats simply putting in time. Golf provides instant feedback. You can't fake preparation for very long.

Throughout the conversation, another lesson keeps surfacing:

The details matter.

Whether it's club fitting, recruiting, relationships, culture, or leadership, success is rarely one big thing.

It's usually hundreds of small things done consistently over time.

As we often talk about on The Fort Builders, we're all building something.

Mike's story is a reminder that winning cultures aren't built overnight.

They're built through relationships, attention to detail, and a belief that where you start doesn't determine how far you can go.

Women's Golf - University of North Texas Athletics

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Dave McClung.

At first glance, this conversation starts with a recent trek to Everest Base Camp. Eight days of hiking, high altitude, Sherpas, tea houses, and standing nearly 17,600 feet above sea level beneath the tallest mountain on Earth.

But as we talked, it became clear that Everest is really just the latest chapter in a much bigger story.

Dave has spent a lifetime pursuing experiences.

In his 50s, he got serious about hiking and began tackling trails and adventures around the world. Since age 62, he's hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon more than 40 times, completed portions of the Colorado Trail, hiked to Machu Picchu twice, explored England coast-to-coast, walked the Camino de Santiago, climbed Mount St. Helens, and trekked countless miles alongside his wife Linda.

But hiking is only one part of the story.

Dave grew up in Louisiana as the son of a pastor before serving as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, flying more than 200 combat missions. Later he built a successful legal career, transitioned into executive leadership, turned around struggling construction companies, and eventually served as president of a college in Massachusetts.

What stood out to me is that none of these transitions seem accidental.

When we dug into his family history, Dave described generations of people who were always willing to move, explore, and pursue new opportunities. His great-grandfather left Arkansas for what was then Indian Territory. His family never stayed in one place very long. They simply kept moving toward what was next.

That same spirit still shows up today.

Whether he's revisiting Vietnam decades after the war, planning cruises through Southeast Asia, exploring India, or standing at Everest Base Camp, Dave approaches the world with curiosity and gratitude.

One of my favorite moments comes when Dave reflects on all the places he's visited. Rather than naming a favorite destination, he talks about being amazed by both the beauty of the world and the resilience of the people who live in it. From the Himalayas to Africa to Vietnam, he's learned that travel isn't just about seeing places—it's about understanding people.

As we talk about often on The Fort Builders, we're all building something.

Dave's story is a reminder that building a meaningful life doesn't stop at retirement, and it doesn't happen by accident.

It comes from staying curious.

From continuing to move.

And from always being willing to say yes to the next adventure.

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Mary Shannon, President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas, for a conversation about mentorship, resilience, leadership, and the life-changing power of relationships.

Mary’s story starts long before her leadership career.

Born in South Korea and adopted into Wichita at the age of five, she spent years in an abusive environment before eventually being removed from the home and placed in the Wichita Children’s Home.

Then, around age 13, something changed.

A couple entered her life and simply began showing up. They mentored her, invited her into their home, took her out for burgers, and gave her what she describes as “a seat at the table.” Most importantly, as Mary says:

“They SAW me.”

That investment changed the trajectory of her life.

Eventually, she found a forever family, gained U.S. citizenship, attended college, and built a nearly 30-year career in nonprofit leadership focused on helping others experience the same kind of transformation.

But what makes this conversation powerful isn’t just the story itself.

It’s how Mary has chosen to use it.

We talk about leadership, culture, mentorship, accountability, gratitude, and the responsibility that comes with helping people feel seen and valued. She shares lessons learned through both personal hardship and professional leadership — including why passion alone isn’t enough, why failure should be treated as courage, and why hope still matters even when it’s not a plan.

There’s also a strong thread throughout this conversation around people.

Building teams. Building trust. Building cultures where honesty and growth are possible. And helping others realize they don’t have to walk through life alone.

Sometimes the people who impact us most aren’t the ones with all the answers.

They’re the ones who show up.

Mary’s story is a reminder that relationships truly can change lives — and sometimes all it takes to alter someone’s future is for one person to see them.

In Part 2 of this conversation on The Fort Builders, Stephanie and I continue unpacking the experiences, responsibilities, and transitions that shaped who she’s become.

And what stands out in this part of the conversation is the honesty.

We talk more deeply about confidence — not as something that suddenly appears, but something built gradually through experiences, setbacks, responsibilities, and learning to trust yourself over time.

Stephanie reflects on the pressure many people feel to hold everything together while simultaneously trying to grow personally, professionally, and relationally.

There’s a tension there that a lot of people will recognize: trying to meet expectations while still figuring yourself out in real time.

This conversation also explores identity in a deeper way.

How life changes you.

How priorities evolve.

How certain seasons stretch you in ways you don’t fully appreciate until later.

And through all of it, there’s an important realization that surfaces repeatedly:

You don’t become who you are all at once.

It happens slowly. Through experiences. Through challenges. Through moments that force growth whether you feel ready or not.

What makes Stephanie’s story compelling isn’t perfection or a dramatic turning point.

It’s the reality of continuing to move forward while carrying responsibility, uncertainty, ambition, and growth all at the same time.

As we often talk about on The Fort Builders, most of the important building in life happens gradually — layer by layer, season by season.

This conversation is a reminder that becoming isn’t a destination.

It’s a process.

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Stephanie Bessent for Part 1 of a conversation that covers far more than career paths or accomplishments.

This is really a conversation about growth.

Stephanie shares the experiences, transitions, and challenges that shaped her — from early influences and expectations to navigating adulthood, leadership, motherhood, and the constant tension of trying to balance multiple roles at once.

What stood out to me throughout this conversation is that her story isn’t built around one defining moment.

It’s built through layers.

Through adapting to change.

Through learning confidence over time.

Through continuing to move forward even when things weren’t fully clear.

There’s an honesty in this conversation that I think a lot of people will relate to — especially the idea that growth often happens while you’re in motion, not after everything is figured out.

We also talk about identity and expectations.

How people evolve.

How priorities shift over time.

And how the version of yourself you become later in life often looks different than the version you originally imagined.

Stephanie talks openly about navigating responsibilities, leadership, family, and personal growth — and how those experiences gradually shaped the way she sees herself and the world around her.

This episode doesn’t feel like a conversation about arriving somewhere.

It feels like a conversation about becoming.

As we talk about often on The Fort Builders, most of us are built gradually — through seasons, transitions, and experiences we don’t always recognize in the moment.

Stephanie’s story is a reminder that growth rarely happens all at once.

It happens layer by layer.

And sometimes the process itself is the story.

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Ezra Vedral — linebacker for the Kansas Jayhawks and a civil engineering student — to talk about what it really takes to pursue two demanding paths at the same time.

From the beginning, Ezra made a decision: he wasn’t going to choose between football and engineering.

He wanted both.

And more importantly — he believed he could do both at a high level.

We talk about what that actually looks like on a daily basis. Early mornings, long days, constant demands — and the reality that balancing both requires more than just time management.

It requires a mindset.

Ezra shares how that mindset shows up in both environments.

On the field, as a linebacker, he’s responsible for reading the offense, communicating, and making decisions in real time.

In engineering, he’s working through complex problems, learning to push through when things don’t make sense, and finding solutions when there isn’t an obvious answer.

And while those worlds may seem completely different, Ezra sees the connection clearly.

The same approach applies to both:

Stay disciplined. Keep working. Don’t quit when it gets hard.

We also talk about the sacrifices that come with it — the time, the missed social opportunities — and why he doesn’t really see them as sacrifices.

Because for him, the payoff is worth it.

There’s also a leadership component to his story. Whether it’s on the field or in group engineering projects, Ezra has learned how to communicate, hold people accountable, and help move a team forward.

What stands out about Ezra isn’t just his ability to manage both.

It’s that he’s chosen not to compromise either.

As we talk about often on The Fort Builders, we’re all building something — through the choices we make and the standards we hold.

Ezra’s story is a reminder that sometimes the biggest decision isn’t what you choose.

It’s deciding that you’re not going to choose at all.

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with Coach Bryant Wright — a longtime cross country coach who built one of the most successful programs in Missouri.

But this conversation isn’t really about running. It’s about what he built through it.

Coach Wright didn’t start with championships. In fact, early in his career, he stepped away from coaching altogether before eventually returning and taking over a program with a simple goal — see what could be built over time.

What followed wasn’t instant success. It was a deliberate process of building culture.

We talk about how he approached leadership — starting with a question most people don’t ask:

Why would anyone listen to me?

From there, he built a system centered on character, effort, and accountability.

Every athlete mattered — not just the fastest ones. In fact, one of the most telling moments came when a college coach visited practice and wasn’t impressed by the top runners… but by how hard the slowest runners were working.

That didn’t happen by accident.

Coach Wright built a culture where:

• Belonging came before performance
• Effort was the standard for everyone
• And accountability traveled sideways — from teammate to teammate

We also talk about the idea of 100% — not just in performance, but in how athletes showed up as teammates, students, and people. And how those lessons didn’t always click until years later, when former athletes realized what they had actually been taught.

There’s also a deeper layer to his story.

Coach Wright shares how his upbringing — including watching his father go through a major life transformation — shaped his understanding of leadership, character, and what it really means to be a man.

And toward the end, we talk about what comes next.

After retiring, he’s now focused on how to take what he built locally and share it more broadly — helping other coaches and leaders impact more people beyond just one program.

As we talk about often on The Fort Builders, building something meaningful isn’t always about what you produce.

Sometimes it’s about who you shape along the way.

Coach Wright built champions.

But more importantly… he built people.

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I sit down with artist, author, and educator Stephen T. Johnson.

Stephen’s work spans more than just one medium or one audience. From award-winning children’s books like Alphabet City, to large-scale public art installations in places like New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, to gallery and museum exhibitions — his work shows up in ways people experience every day.

But what stood out to me in this conversation wasn’t just the scope of his work.

It was how he thinks about creating.

Stephen uses a simple framework — Subject. Transformation. Joy.

It starts with something ordinary. Something you might walk past without noticing. And through his process — whether it’s drawing, collage, mosaic, or sculpture — he transforms it into something that makes you stop, look again, and see it differently.

That idea of transformation shows up everywhere in his work.

In his children’s books, where everyday objects become something unexpected.

In his public art, where spaces people move through every day become something more meaningful.

And in his teaching, where he helps students not just learn technique — but learn how to see. But there’s also a more personal side to this.

Toward the end of our conversation, we came back and revisited a moment Stephen mentioned earlier — being called out in class. It’s a small moment on the surface, but the kind that sticks with you. The kind that shapes confidence, awareness, and how you show up moving forward.

We ended up digging into that a little more, and it turned into a meaningful reflection on how those early experiences — even brief ones — can stay with you and influence your path in ways you don’t always recognize at the time.

We left that in as a bit of bonus conversation at the end.

Because as we talk about often on The Fort Builders, the story isn’t just what you build — it’s what built you.

And sometimes those moments are smaller, quieter, and more personal than you’d expect.

Stephen’s work is about transformation.

But like all of us… that process started somewhere.

About Stephen T. Johnson:

www.stephentjohnson.com

Stephen T. Johnson’s visually arresting and conceptually rich body of work forges connections between words, objects and ideas.  His art spans a broad range of concepts and contexts and can be seen in site-specific public art commissions, gallery and museum exhibitions, and original award-winning children’s books such “Alphabet City,” a Caldecott Honor and a New York Times Best Illustrated book of the year.  

His drawings and paintings are in numerous private collections including those of musician Paul Simon and actress Cherry Jones, and in the permanent collections of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut, and the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.  

Among his public art is a 66-foot mosaic mural at the DeKalb Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn New York, a 58-foot mosaic mural at the Universal City/Studio City Metro Station in Los Angeles, California, and 33 glass panels for the Dallas Love Field Airport, in Dallas, Texas. 

In this episode of The Fort Builders, I got to sit down with Chad Dick with Fully Promoted in Lawrence, KS to talk about a path that wasn’t built on big moments — but on consistency.

Chad’s story isn’t about one defining turning point. It’s about showing up. Day after day. Doing the work. Figuring things out as he went.

He shares what it was like growing up with expectations to contribute early — where responsibility wasn’t something you stepped into later in life, it was just part of the deal. That mindset carried forward into how he approaches work, relationships, and opportunities today.

We talk about the difference between being given something and earning it. Chad has built his path through effort, not shortcuts. And there’s a level of ownership that comes with that — when you’ve had to work for it, you see things differently.

There’s also a grounded honesty in this conversation.

Not everything was mapped out. Not everything went perfectly. But the common thread is simple: keep moving, keep working, and stay consistent.

What stands out about Chad isn’t just work ethic.

It’s reliability. The kind of person who shows up. Does what needs to be done. And keeps going, even when it’s not exciting or visible.

As we talk about often on The Fort Builders, not every story is built on big swings. Some are built quietly — through discipline, responsibility, and doing the work over time.

Chad’s story is a reminder that consistency still matters.

And in a lot of cases… it’s the thing that makes the difference.

YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gJtZYFRn

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g4hkzdHU

Apple: https://lnkd.in/gcuFVdfn

For more info on Chad and his business:

https://lnkd.in/gCaWg4Ec

#showingup #doingthework #workethic #howwebecomewhoweare #thefortbuilderspodcast