This Town OKC

Her career is Oklahoma City. Starting at the Journal Record, then moving to the OKC Chamber of Commerce and now running Allied Arts, Sunny Cearly promotes This Town. From her small town upbringing in Gresham, Texas (look it up), she learned the value of community service. The rabbit-hole story of how she chose OKC is quite the fascinating sidebar of her education that includes Baylor and the University of North Texas. But it's at Allied Arts OKC where she is making her most biggest impact, and she credits two important women in her life for showing her the way.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponosred by Carpenter Square Theatre

Not many people get excited at the thought of stuffing envelopes, but Court Jeske did. As a sophomore, sports-loving business major at OU, Court badgered athletic director Joe C. until he relented. That led to a paid position of stuffing envelopes and much more. Starting his career with the Kansas City Wizards MLS soccer team, Court doubled his pay to stuff envelopes, and again, much more. Moving to Chicago to work for the U.S. Soccer national teams, he kept getting more and more responsibilities. Only one of three Americans accepted into a FIFA-run master's program in Europe, Court entered the international world of sport. Back stateside, he worked in Denver for the USA Rugby organization, then it was on to New York City and Major League Soccer. Recruited by folks in Nashville to start a pro soccer team there, Court is now duplicating his wildly successful plan to reimagine pro soccer in This Town.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

Marnie Taylor is the President & CEO of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, an organization founded many years ago by a formidable force of nature, Pat Potts. Marnie and I share our deep appreciation for Pat. Mine comes from her support of me in the classes I took at the Center when first starting to renovate the post-war warehouse that became the forever home of Carpenter Square Theatre. Without Pat's support, CST probably wouldn't exist today.

Marnie's story begins in Fort Bend, Indiana. She learned to swim in Lake Michigan, and switched from cheerleading to swimming in high school.  After graduating with a Journalism degree from  Notre Dame, she began her career in Chicago working for the Tribune. Her marriage to Clayton took her to exotic places such as Denver, Houston, Aruba, and Oklahoma City. Once settled in This Town, she immersed herself in the community eventually serving on about 30 boards of nonprofits before assuming her current job of helping nonprofit organizations statewide to survive and thrive. Marnie describes how much of her work now centers on advocacy for the nonprofit sector.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

The conversation with Lucas Ross continues following the Muppets' 50th Anniversary TV special where he provided the banjo music for Kermit the Frog. Lucas tells some stories about that before getting into how he broke into the business including his Donnie character in the Ferguson car spots, being a celebrity, working at KFOR & KAUT, and how that opened the door for him at the world's only banjo museum. And that led to his banjo-playing role in the movie Killers of the Flower Moon. He also shares some stories of the EMMY Award we share for the music and math instructional website AllyDogDepot.com along with his and his family's parts in my family's holiday radio play Who Cares About Christmas.  Excerpts of a song and the play are included!

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

These days Julia Kirt is known as a politician - the Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader, but her career started in the arts. She worked at a couple of important museums before becoming the first paid director of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. From there she moved over to run Oklahomans for the Arts. Then came the calling to run for office. Reelected once and up for reelection for one term, Sen. Kirt has some definite ideas to improve the state's 50th place ranking in education as well as ways to restore trust in the Legislature. And the best way to make your thoughts known to your legislator.

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Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

He's already made a name for himself as a proven leader, but as they say, "You ain't seen nothin' yet." Dr. Carlos Robinson  is now the President & CEO of the OKC Black Chamber of Commerce, a job he's most suited for with a history of recruitment, outreach, and workforce development. Carlos is the first to admit that it was hip-hop dancing that helped him survive "the streets." He says that dancing saved his life and college rescued him. He holds degrees from OCCC, OCU, and SNU including his EdD that he and his wife earned concurrently. From the "Everybody Has a Story Dept.": Carlos provided the inspiration for the "Hip Hop Nutcracker" choreographed by Hui Cha Poos that was later made into the Covid-era movie "Finding Carlos" by Lance McDaniel.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

Before Meg Salyer moved to This Town, she had already spent time in Europe, New York City, and much of the West Coast including Hawaii. Her up-close view of the Penn Square Bank debacle motivated her to leave banking as a career. Once permanently relocated here, she became quite the entrepreneur and even had plans to open a business at NW 7 & Broadway on May 1, 1995. Of course the Murrah Building bombing two blocks away delayed that, but it did open not long after and is still thriving today. Active in the community from her early days here, Meg even served on the OKC City Council for over 10 years. 

She's still active in her business and her community having served on numerous nonprofit boards including the OKC Museum of Art where she had a hand in guiding a certain Oscar-winning actor through an exhibit of art from ancient Pompeii.

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Post-production by Fred O. Bishop

Civil Engineer David Todd has run the MAPS office for the City of Oklahoma City since 2012. MAPS is the acronym for Metropolitan Area Projects that voters first approved in 1993. It was a series of capital improvements that began the renaissance of This Town with a one-cent sales tax. We're now in the MAPS 4 era that includes nearly a billion dollars worth of a wide variety of projects. 

While he was born in Tulsa, David is certainly a local boy. Schooled in Moore, attending OKC Community College and the University of Oklahoma, he's also  played rock and roll guitar since high school including 25 years at the Festival of the Arts. A graduate of Leadership OKC Class 18, he confirms that his was the best class ever.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

Her roots in philanthropy and community support go back 100 years. Mary Blankenship Pointer was destined for a career in banking when her grandfather put a hundred-dollar bill into her infant hand. In her first banking job after college, Liberty Bank offered greatly discounted season tickets to employees from their sponsorships of cultural events. That led to a lifetime of supporting local arts organizations and other worthy causes. Now heading the Red Andrews Christmas Dinner, Mary tells the story of its origin and shows why she exemplifies the label of Community Volunteer.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre

He’s visible on TV and films in a variety of roles: morning show co-host, doofus Donnie in car spots, and even as a banjo player in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” And you’ve probably heard his banjo playing without realizing who was behind the amphibious performer. Lucas Ross now supplies the music when Kermit the Frog plays. It’s a fascinating story how it came to be from a youngster first hearing the Rainbow Connection on TV to actually playing onstage with Willie Nelson. The kid from Minco, OK did good!

This podcast is a little longer than usual, and we didn’t even get to how our two careers have crossed. That will have to come later. Please stand by.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre