Where and Why

Welcome to Where & Why, a podcast where we surface the origin stories of community leaders and influencers.

Science and Writing have always competed for space in the brain of Dr. Mark Murphy.

He is a noted gastroenterologist AND he writes a column for the Savannah Morning News. His first focus was on research, while his first book, Shadow Man, was a well-received thriller. He is now writing the second in a Young Adult/Fantasy trilogy.

Mark is almost a native Savannahian, having met his wonderful wife Daphne met at Calvary Day School. 

This conversation was recorded in Historic downtown Savannah, GA, where hotels are always 87% occupied and the rent is way too high.

It is produced by Garrett Zajac for ZipZap  Media and is a project of EBS Brain - where we study the Human Intelligence behind success. Find out more at ebsbrain.com/whereandwhy.

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Welcome to Where & Why, a podcast where we surface the origin stories of community leaders and influencers. 

Today we are in conversation with Wade Herring, whose day job is as an employment lawyer with the storied Savannah firm Hunter McClean. 

Wade, whose mentors included former mayor Malcom McClean, has served on and advised numerous community boards. But most people know Wade for when he stepped out from behind the curtain to run as the Democratic candidate for Georgia's First Congressional seat in 2022. He lost to incumbent Buddy Carter.

Wade's story begins in Europe where his father was serving in the military.

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Welcome to Where & Why, a podcast where we surface the origin stories of community leaders and influencers. 

Today our guest is Ivy Council. She is chairman of the board of Goodwill of Southeast Georgia, a member of the board of directors for the Savannah Book Festival and the YMCA.

Council recently retired from CitiTrends, a Savannah-based urban clothing retailer where she spent the last 16 years as EVP Human Resources and Chief Compliance Officer. Before that she was with Wendys, Ross Stores and AraMark.

She grew up in Philadelphia and went to Chatham University in Pittsburgh. So she knows about diplomacy, although she had to learn it …

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Welcome to Where & Why, a podcast dedicated to cultivating the science of conversation.

Today, our guest is Rexanna Lester. Rexanna's first job was as a tractor parts salesperson in Garber, Oklahoma. Her love of words led her to be a teacher in Germany, and her ambition led her to become the first woman editor of the Savannah Morning News. 

Since leaving the paper she has been an ESL teacher for SCAD, a long time board member of the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, and is now working on a long-awaited biography of Mills B. Lane.

Full disclosure, Dan worked for Rexanna until 2004. 

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Today we are talking with Molly Carrott Taylor, executive director of the Hidden Gem that is Savannah's Ships of the Sea museum. 

Taylor came to Savannah after growing up in Kansas, spending summers in Michigan, and going to school in the Northeast. Her love of museums and art traces back to her grandmother, of whom she has vivid memories. While Covid interrupted Taylor's professional journey, she is now gathering an impressive team to boost the prospects of Ships of the Sea. 

Where & Why is produced by Garrett Zajac for ZipZap Media and is a project of EBS Brain - a company that teaches companies how to work with the brain and not against it. Find out more at ebsbrain.com

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Today we are in conversation with Christi Hester, a certified massage therapist at Savannah’s Temple Day Spa. Hester comes from a family of well-known Savannah performers. Her mom and dad were Broadway actors before her father, Billy Hester, was ordained as a Methodist pastor and moved back to Savannah.

Christi started off wanting to be an opera singer or a dancer, then an injury caused her to switch to pursuing organic farming. She spent time in New England and California on a 10 year search for the right mix of massage, yoga, tantra, somatic intimacy, music, and art before returning to Savannah.

To learn more about Christi go to https://www.soulfedbodywork.com/ 

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Today we’re in conversation with Sidney Lance, the founder and CEO of Rhoot Man Beverage Company.

Sidney was a small town South Carolina boy who went out to see the world, first with his father the preacher and then serving in the U.S. Army.

Sidney was voted the city’s best bartender before branching out on his own as a maker of mixers, known in the business as shrubs.

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When a hurricane washed away her acupuncture practice in the Florida Keys, Candice Nelms followed her gut, and her partner, to Savannah.

It was yet another risky move that paid off for this Renaissance woman. Candice has followed “a feeling” throughout her life. She was born and raised in Texas and Florida. 

Became a nationally-ranked college tennis player, an oriental medicine specialist, an herbalist, as well as a sound engineer for Lily Tomlin, and a writer of screenplays. Her work, which we should start to see late this fall, will feature Savannah and some famous names.  

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Today, we are in conversation with Ariana Berksteiner, executive director of Emmaus House, which daily serves between 100 and 300 homeless people in downtown Savannah. 

When she moved to Savannah more than a decade ago, Berksteiner helped new restaurants get up and running. Today, she helps the city’s homeless get through each day by serving a meal, offering a shower and a place to do laundry and arranging for medical assistance. 

Berksteiner sees homelessness in many forms. Before the Pandemic, the city’s homeless was predominantly Male and African-American. Today, there are men, women, Black, White, Hispanic, young, old. Unfortunately, she says, every group is represented.

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Today, we are in conversation with A.L. Addington. He is former dean of the business schools at Valdosta State University. After a long and successful academic career at schools in Tennessee, Georgia, and Ohio, Addington worked with churches across Georgia matching congregations and priests. He is retired and spending time with family and God.

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