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Adriane shares the story of how her experience as a Canadian teen in Japan led to a life of bringing together exchange students from across the world with host families here in the US.

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Adriane Wagoner's experience with international exchange goes back nearly 30 years, when she left her native Canada as a high school student to study abroad in Japan for a year. For the last 18 years, she has worked professionally in student exchange. Over the years, she has come to know the ins and outs of international exchange and all it has to offer for everyone involved. She has also personally hosted a dozen or so students during that time. She enjoys serving the students, host families, and area representatives.

Adriane is a Special Project Manager for ASSE International, Inc.  ASSE is designated as an Exchange Visitor Program by the US Department of State, and maintains 38 offices in 31 countries where it accommodates more than 30,000 high school age students and host families in its programs in participating countries.

Armed with a refuse to lose sprit, the flexibility of Gumby, and some wise words from her father, Dee has raced to the top of several high performance organizations, including a stint leading revolutionary work at NASCAR.  She shares her story.

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Dee Jetton is the Chief Operations Officer for K2 Scientific, a medical refrigeration and cold-storage solution provider for the life science industry. The company has doubled its revenue year over year for the past 3 years and is one of Charlotte, NC's top 50 fastest growing companies for 2021. The company's mission is to disintermediate the life science cold storage market by selling directly to the end-user via e-Commerce avoiding traditional distribution channels.

Helping break barriers is a theme in Dee's 30+ year career. She founded Health & Sport Works, Inc in 1989. Starting as a sole proprietor, she, an exercise physiologist by training, was Charlotte's first official personal trainer. By 1991 her company had grown to more than a dozen trainers and became the first company to introduce health and fitness services to NASCAR drivers and their pit crews. Training the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, she and her team laid the groundwork for NASCAR'S transformation to a big-league, professional approach to health and fitness for drivers and over the wall crew members. Over the next 23 years, her company grew to more than 300 employees, and services expanded to broad scope wellness services to individuals, major industry, and government entities in multiple states.

Tammy tells her story of a life in aviation, from becoming a private pilot to being employee of multiple airlines, from ultra luxury to ultra-low cost.

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Tammy O'Neill describes herself as an aviation enthusiast, world traveler and music appreciator.

She took her first flight with her father at age 11, and decided to join her many family members in aviation, purposely earning her private pilots license before her driver’s license.

After completing college, she moved to Los Angeles and applied to all the major airlines at LAX, in person at each airline’s ticket counter.

She received multiple offers with several major mainline carriers and accepted her first offer, from TWA.  But, a few days later she received a letter from Braniff Airways offering flight attendant training with an earlier start date. So, she eagerly chose Braniff Airways and has since loved every moment of her aviation life, having flown "around the world with Braniff".  Along the way, she was fortunate to have worked and flown Concorde many times.

From there, she played an instrumental part in the launch of Skybus Airlines, an ultra-low cost carrier based in Columbus, Ohio, and then went on to fly for Delta Air Lines, where she was able to create inflight training materials, curriculum and FAA training, and she was part of the effort to merge 3 regional carriers, Colgan, Mesaba and Pinnacle into Endeavor Air, a wholly owned subsidiary for Delta's mainline flying under one certificate.

During her active flying years she was based at DFW, MCI, MCO, TPA, CMH, MSP and ATL.

Tammy can be reached on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as @TammyO'Neill

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Gina shares her journey of being a woman on the move.  She's been taking calculated risks her whole life that have paid off in personal and career success.

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What does it take to be creative? Well, according to Art, acknowledging you already are, and he is on a mission to bring out the creative in all of us.

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Art Henson lives by the mantra, "Creativity is Life." He began his creative journey as a curious kid who built robots, doodled in class, and wrote fantastical stories. He followed his passion for creativity into advertising, where he freelanced and then opened a strategic marketing agency in Portland, Maine. Art has worked to solve marketing challenges for clients in a broad range of industries such as government, technology, higher education, retail, manufacturing, and even organic bison farming.

One of Art's most interesting entrepreneurial ventures was starting a small manufacturing company, serving the under-bridge utility industry. He created a more affordable fiberglass product that shields pipes from the wear and tear of the hanger systems. He designed and built his machines and hired his teenage kids to work with him on the production line. The shields, purchased by one of the largest subcontractors in the industry, can be found under bridges in Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, and other cities around the country.    Currently, Art is the CMO for K2 Scientific where he has the challenging task of marketing vaccine refrigerators and freezers during a pandemic. Since joining the K2 Scientific team, the company has seen over 330% growth.

Art keeps his creative juices flowing in his spare time by volunteering with Innovate Charlotte and working on his first book - all about the creative process. He loves the outdoors, is an avid kayaker, photographer, mountain biker, runner, occasional fashion model, and has two other written works in progress.

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Julie shares a moving story of navigating through life as the mother of children with special needs, including one who is profoundly disabled, all while experiencing incredible love and loss, but never failing to stay strong for the entire family.

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Julie Callahan is a widowed mother of 3.  Her son suffers from Severe Autism that includes self-injurious and aggressive behaviors.  His need for health and safety has taken the family on a heartbreaking journey.  When government agencies are involved in your child’s health there are endless amounts of red tape, rules and headaches involved.  This story is follows Julies efforts to be a mother to her family and her work to not only help her son but children like him.  Despite the tragedies that have fallen on her family, they work hard to move forward and look forward to a bright future.  Julie’s goal as with all mothers is for her children to be healthy, happy and independent.

Julie recommends the following resources:

Michael shares his incredible journey from working in professional motorsports as a driver and team manager, to meeting and marrying his wife, who was a drag racer, to opening a coffee shop, to eventually helping lead an international non-profit.

Michael Rowley was born in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from Capital University. Michael has three children; Olivia, Isaac, and Asher and is married to Marcy. He brings a very diverse business background to the Significance of One including his involvement in professional motorsports and his current position as a project manager at The Ohio State University.  While working in motorsports Michael found a passion for travel and meeting and working with people from different cultures. Many years later, after his wife talked him into going on a mission trip to Haiti, his old passion was brought back to life. Through the relationships he established on these trips, his love for Jesus, his passion for education and his love of kids lead to the formation of a child sponsorship program through the Significance of One with his wife Marcy.

Cassandra gives us a window into her world as an intervention specialist in a school specializing in educating students with autism.  She shares how she enthusiastically takes on the challenge of getting to know the students and while using her intuition and musical talent to help that effort.  And later, she invites us to experience her latest obsession, water color painting.

Cassandra Hoagland has been a special education teacher for over 25 years.  She started her career teaching gang kids in Sacramento, and for most of her career, has taught the more severe and profound students.  She has been lucky to work with some outstanding teachers and outstanding paraprofessionals or classroom teaching aids.

She is passionate and expressive and "not really able to hold in my emotions or my facial expressions" which has quite possibly made her a better teacher.  She is the proud mother of Shannon who is 25, Robbie he was 20 and in his second year of college, and Thomas he was 18 in a high school senior.

She discovered a passion for painting less than a year ago, which almost equals her passion for singing, and she always tries to be positive and good because it is far easier than being nasty.

David loves to make you laugh, and he has found an amazing mix of ways to do that including comedian, emcee, game show host, and much more.  He shares his story of how it all came together, beginning with his love of magic.

From his bio: "David McCreary has been performing comedy and magic since he was twenty years old. Yes, while his friends were all in college or beginning respectable careers, David was learning magic tricks. Think about that. For over twenty-five years now, David (a full grown adult) has been doing magic.  There’s a fine line between awesome and sad, and David has chosen to walk that line all for your enjoyment. Combining rapid-fire quick wit and unbelievable sleight of hand, David will have you scratching your head one moment and holding your sides from laughter the next.  David takes pride in performing magic that’s not 'cheesy,' but magic you’ll be talking about for weeks and months to come. Otherwise, he has completely wasted his entire adult life."

Mat Hargett had it all according to the world’s standards: an executive traveling the world, living in a nice house with his wife and three kids, and financially secure. Then came depression and anxiety.

Refusing to acknowledge the problem and seek help, he lost it all: job, money, and family. Even after various types of therapy and medication, there was no breakthrough until he reconnected with God through meditation and journaling.

Mat now lives a life of peace, hope, and joy. He wants to help others have the same.

Stephen shares his story of adventures in the great outdoors, life as a river guide, and his recent trip of a lifetime.

Stephen Marshall is a data engineer by trade who sees himself as just an average guy, but he has a love for nature, and he's always looking forward to that next river trip.  He believes there's something for everyone to find outside, and he wants everybody to get out there to experience it for themselves, maybe even a river trip like the ones he has enjoyed.

Music for this episode included the following:

Lee has made some mistakes.  He has hurt others and he has made choices that at times have made his own life harder.  But, along with that, he has embraced adversity and the lessons that can be learned from it.  He also has had an awareness that he was "the creator of my own crap", and he needed to fix it.  And he shares his story of how that accountability has ultimately helped him to become a leader and a better man. 

Lee Smith is a corporate trainer and up and coming professional photographer by trade.  When asked to provide a bio for the podcast, he provided one aimed directly at you, the listener:

"Hi everyone! As you may have guessed, I'm Lee. Some of you may remember me, some may not, and that's ok. I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike over a year ago to talk about who I have become since leaving I-High almost 100 years ago.

Mike has titled this 'Lee Holds Himself Accountable.' At the risk of sounding like a self-help book, I do believe in self-accountability and do my best to ensure I'm doing the right things in life. If I mess that up (which I do on a regular basis), I make the attempt to fix things. For example, even in this podcast, I made a mistake. I live IN Lake Orion, not ON Lake Orion.

Tons of life changes have occurred since this recording, some great, some lows (not to mention an entire pandemic). Personally, I think Mike and I should record a part two :-)

Tim shares the story of how he was able to land a job that he now describes as "the greatest gig ever", stay at home dad.

Tim Toole is a self-described former chef, former juggler, former photographer, and former all kinds of stuff.  You see, when he and his wife Amy were younger, they decided early on that they would not be parents.  But life has a way of making plans change, and when kids came into the picture, the couple came to the conclusion that it would be best for Tim to be the parent that stayed home.  Today, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Tim and Amy now live in Central Ohio along with their teenage son and daughter.  Their family arrangement has allowed them to participate actively in their church and community, to travel often, and to enjoy a strong family bond.

Shawn Grey-Schulte shares the story of his life, death, devotion to charitable causes and the interconnectedness of humanity.

Shawn is an accidental adventurer whose path led from Central Ohio to a job as a deckhand in Alaska’s commercial fishing industry as a youth, inspired hikes all over the country and a few overseas, and sowed a life from the back of a bike into a tool to fight for charitable causes. A genetic thunderbolt left him dead on the Dash for Donation in 2014 and gave rise to a search for fresh ways to bring passions for exploring, art, tea, martial arts, and cycling into the means to bring hope to marginalized communities, motor neural diseases, and inspire his kids to a life of compassion, awareness, and action.

Dan is the CEO of a multi-billion dollar healthcare improvement company, but what sticks out about him is that he's one of the best examples you can find anywhere of a person who is able to love a fellow human being. Dan shares how he was able to come to know the timeless principles that guide his life, and how his understanding of the immeasurable value of every person on the planet influences his daily interactions.

Dan Burton serves as CEO of Health Catalyst, a healthcare data warehousing and analytics company. He became involved with Health Catalyst when it was a three-person startup. Mr. Burton is also the co-founder of HB Ventures, the first outside equity holder in Health Catalyst. Prior to Health Catalyst and HB Ventures, Mr. Burton led the Corporate Strategy Group at Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU). He also spent eight years with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) in strategy and marketing management roles. Before joining HP he was an associate consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised healthcare systems and technology companies. Mr. Burton holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was elected a George F. Baker Scholar, and a BS in economics, magna cum laude, from BYU.

In the episode, Dan mentions twelve habits he tries to achieve daily to help "keep his cup full":
Sleep – at least 7 hours
Prayer
Plan the day – specific tasks to accomplish that day
Prepare for and anticipate any particularly challenging elements of the day
Journal
One hour of gospel study
One hour visiting time with Sarah
Kindness – in every interaction, starting with immediate family
Service – pay attention to promptings and then act -- serve others multiple times each day
Exercise
Record Calories
Stay within Calorie budget (at or below calories burned)

Konan Stephens shares how he lives his adventure, from extreme faith to extreme sports, all in a quest to be the best version of what God created him to be.

Konan currently serves as the Lead Pastor for C3 Church in Columbus Ohio that he started in 2006.  He also serves as the Founder and President of the C3 Network, which has planted 30 new churches both in the US and across the world with a vision of planting hundreds more.  Konan also has another passion of adventure and pushing his limits.  Whether it’s climbing a mountain, running an ultra marathon or mountain biking across the country, his desire is to live life to the fullest.  Konan is married to his sweet Jennifer and enjoys doing life with their amazing children.

Konan's first book "Go Live Your Adventure" is set to be released in July, 2021, and will be available on amazon.com.  In it, he walks through four of his biggest adventures to date and the lessons learned, and hopefully inspire people to go live their life to the fullest.

Kenny Sipes is the owner of The Roosevelt Coffeehouse and Roosevelt Coffee Roasters, built to support organizations fighting the injustices of hunger, unclean water and human trafficking.  Kenny shares his story of making the transition from youth pastor to this social enterprise, which has impacted more than 11,000 lives, and contributed more than $100,000 since inception.

The Roosevelt Coffeehouse is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and has two company locations and one licensed location in the Central Ohio area.  Roosevelt Coffee Roasters supplies coffee to the shops and many other organizations in the region and beyond.

Ty Jones is an IT guy in his day job, but he is also a bit of an explorer.  He shares with us his quest to visit the highest natural point in every state in the US.  Then for something completely different, he gives us a look inside the world of competition cubing.

Kate Koch made a decision several Christmases ago to do something special for kids in foster care.  She wanted to give them bicycles.  What started out as a loving gesture took on a life of it's own, and has since meant thousands of bikes have been given away.  Kate shares her story of how she became the Bike Lady, and why she turned to local prisons to get help getting all those bikes made.

Kate is the founder of Bike Lady, Inc., which she formed in November 2008, as an impromptu holiday bike-a-thon.  Bike Lady, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable organization based in Columbus, Ohio with the mission to:

To enrich the daily life experience and expand opportunities of Ohio at-risk youth by providing new bikes, helmets, and locks to children who have a history of abuse, neglect, and abandonment, and are served by county child protective services (foster care placement). And, to provide Ohio inmate offenders a chance to give back through volunteer bike assembly and community service.

Chris Strefelt tells his story of how he became a magistrate in his home county court system.  From his early days as a prosecuting attorney to today, he shares the ups and downs of working in a job where the lives of so many families in his community are impacted by the actions they chose, and the decisions he has to make.  

Chris is currently the Chief Magistrate of the Licking County Ohio Probate-Juvenile Court.  He has been an attorney for over 25 years and has devoted his entire career as an attorney to serving the people of Licking County, first as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and for the last 14 years as a Magistrate in the Licking County Probate-Juvenile Court. 

Karrie Miller is a musician and worship leader, squarely somewhere in the middle of her journey to her dream career.  She shares her story of detours and snags along the way, both in the business and in life, and how she has gotten through those hurdles.  And she shares advice on how to continue to push forward and never stop pursuing your next "yes", whatever it may be.

Karrie is the owner of Karrie Miller Music, which is dedicated to bringing together the music community, especially in Christian worship, and is also a resource for showcasing Karrie's work over the years.

When Corey Winborn was in high school, he needed a way to stand out.  He and a friend decided the best way to be seen was through their choice in clothing, so Corey decided to start designing his own.  It worked, and before he knew it, Corey was being asked to design clothing for others.  Corey shares his story of his success and a reminder that we should all pursue our dreams, no matter whether those around us believe in us or not.

Corey is the owner of Designs By Winborn, a custom clothing, design, and alterations company, based in Columbus, Ohio.  In addition, he serves on The Ohio State University Fashion and Retail Studies Industry Advisory Board.  

Leo Garcia shares his story of growing up in a challenging environment, and how he found a way to change his own path into one that could change the Garcia name from this point going forward.

Todd Hansen believes that everyone has a great story, and he has spent years finding those stories, often going door to door and talking with people he never met before.  Todd tells us how he has been able to share those stories with you and me, and he gives us a peak into his own story.

Todd is the long time host of The Story Trek on BYUtv, has a podcast on YouTube called Trippin' with Todd, is a reporter for a political program called The Race, and has his own production company that does stories for hire.

Bambo Francis takes us on a story of love, work, faith, living in different countries, loss, starting over, and new adventures.

You can reach Bambo on Facebook.

Mory Fuhrmann is a 911 dispatcher by trade and shares some of his experience both behind the scenes and in the moment.  We also talk a little about his passion for serving the community, and how he believes each and every one of us have a responsibility to pitch in and help make our community a better place to live for all around us.

Mory can be reached on Twitter using his Ham radio handle, @kb8kkw

Cameron Williamson is taking on a new adventure as a drama teacher in a city school.  Even early into the process, his passion is inspiring students to think beyond who they are to who they could be.  We go into Cameron's background as an actor, DJ, lighting technician, and overall performer at heart, and then we get to see how a winding path ultimately takes him to where he is now.