Anthony Pedro and Steven Greene both learned the trade of fire fighting while incarcerated. After being released Anthony applied to a local fire department and was lucky enough to interview with someone who decided to give him a second chance. Anthony’s story is unique as many individuals that come from non-traditional backgrounds and/or that have been in the prison system have trouble getting hired. In an effort to give hands on experience and job placement assistance to ALL individuals wanting to enter the fire service Anthony decided to start Future Fire Academy. https://futurefireacademy.org/

John Lobevero has been in the tree industry since the young age of 11. As a kid he would skip middle school to trim trees and hedge around his neighborhood. He started a DBA at 19, LLC at 22 then incorporated his company at the age of 27.

Jessica Henderson joins us in the studio and talks about her love for pine cones, tree care and tree education.

Jordan Cooper has been taking care of trees for 10 years now. Out of high school he worked for a friend's dad on a sign company where he first was able to experience working at height. After that company shut down he got introduced to the tree industry via a staffing agency and has been it ever since.

Bob Longo first got introduced to forestry in middle school via a neighbor. He attended a vocational high school which had a great forestry program and gave him the opportunity to compete in forestry through FFA. After high school he got into the industry and never looked back.

David White, TCIA CEO, joins us to talk about his experience joining TCIA and all the resources available for those owning and operating their own tree care business.

Mark Gaudet grew up with a mother who worked for the parks department. She often brought him to the office where he got to hang with forestry guys. After a few rides in the bucket truck a new interest had formed.

Rudy wanted to avoid cubicle life and decided to study Forestry at Virginia Tech. He really found his path during an Urban Forestry class which he thought was the perfect mix of biology and tree stuff without the isolation of only working in the woods.