No Filter Media Podcast

Often, people resort to a yelling contest to get their message heard. But advocacy isn't yelling. We talk about effective advocacy without resorting to who can be the loudest.

We sit and chat about new ideas for government that would yield better results for the people.

Up Close and Personal with The Kansas City Beacon

We talk about leaders and managers and what makes great leaders and what makes horrible managers.

In this episode, we're concentrating on the positives. We discuss about the things we're hopeful for and the positives that we see.

Dr Leigh Anne Taylor Knight with the DeBruce Foundation stops by the studio to chat about how the DeBruce Foundation focuses on developing and supporting products, innovation, and sustainability primarily in the spaces of education and workforce development to change how people pursue careers.

With the pandemic, work has forever changed. Many organizations have had to adapt and reimagine the workplace.

Our time in the Mayor's office provided some interesting conversations with people who don't understand how government works.

Today's episode has to do with the recent surge in stories about how certain communities want to ban certain books because they don't like how ugly our shared history can be.

How far does personal freedom go?

Why do so many leaders suck?

Is it possible to have your cake and eat it too? I guess that all depends on what your definition of "having it all" is.

Original Air Date: May 4, 2021

We're on a short break so we're re-airing a popular episode. We're changing things up a little bit today and spending time talking about Sly's book "A Passion For Purpose" and the events that inspired the book.

The difference between being an expert and having a perspective.

Fixed or Growth: What Mindset Are You?

Women Leadership and Advocacy

Mediation and Negotiations

Social media is everywhere. But is it helpful or harmful? Recently, a Pew study showed that Twitter users are more likely Democrat and younger than the general population. It also showed that 10% of the users create 80% of the tweets. Knowing how skewed the content may be, is social media helpful or harmful?

Link to article: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-users/

Recently, The Atlantic featured and article called "How America Fractured Into Four Parts" by George Packer and it talks about how the US no longer agrees on the nation's purpose, values, history or meaning. Joni and Sly share their thoughts concerning this.

Link to article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/george-packer-four-americas/619012/

Our dear friend Ryan Rippel joins us to share what the mission of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does and what projects he has been working on.

With COVID numbers spiking again in certain areas including Missouri, we wanted to talk about vaccinations and the facts and myths behind them.

Sly and Joni share their what they've learned being a parent and some parenting stories.

On this 4th of July week, we talk about one of our greatest freedoms...voting.

In the next three episodes, Sly and Joni talk about some issues that come up with aging.

Dr Jensen took some time out of his busy schedule as the Vice Chancellor and Director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center to chat with us and talk about his new role and the future of the Cancer Center.

We continue our thoughts about how the pandemic has affected our lives so far including how businesses transition back from working from home into working at the office and other things like mask etiquette now that mandates are being lifted nationwide.

Today, Sly gets to ask Joni anything he wants to...as it relates to her book "The Thin Line Between Cupcake and Bitch". 

Winston Fisher is part of Fisher Brothers Properties in NYC, a real estate development firm. He is also a person who has spent a lot of time devoting himself to philanthropic activities and to public service. Mr. Fisher is on the Board of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, and has been active through Team Intrepid Fallen Heroes in participating in extreme sports to raise funds to support our U.S. wounded troops. He also serves on the Board of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Welcome to a new season of No Filter Media Podcast. Last season we focused heavily on guests but we've been receiving feedback that we should share our thoughts more. So this season, there will be more episodes where we just banter back and forth about different topics. We'll still have guests, just not as often.

Today, we're focusing on the past year of the pandemic. All the good things that have happened, all the bad things and all the downright shitty things that happened.

Today we chat with George Burciaga of Ignite Cities. He is an international thought leader and architect within the smart city category. As a response to the needs of our cities during the pandemic, Burciaga has accelerated work specific to homelessness, education, safety, and municipal broadband. He is highly regarded for his technology deployments across cities, company acquisition in 2016 and current advisory partnerships with mayors across the country. Among his numerous accolades, Burciaga has been honored by two U.S. presidents for contributions to government and technology leadership.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Robbie Makinen has led the Kansas City region through a dramatic transformation aimed at bringing together five different transit systems under one umbrella called RideKC. Today, those transit agencies work together as one network to provide more than 16 million trips throughout the metropolitan area.

We're changing things up a little bit today and spending time talking about Sly's book "A Passion For Purpose" and the events that inspired the book.

Rika Nakazawa was recently on our podcast and she had so much knowledge to share that we wanted to have her back to finish our conversation. Rika is a senior executive, entrepreneur, tri-lingual and a huge advocate for advancing diversity leadership.

Fresh off of Forbes 30 Under 30 - Energy list, Sunny Sanwar joins us to talk about how his company, Dynamhex, can help cities both visualize climate change and act on it with measurable impact. 

We chat with Jeff Mazur, the executive director of LaunchCode, about their mission to fill the gap in tech talent by training individuals to meet the needs of tech companies across the country.

In this episode, we chat with Anne St. Peter, founder of Global Prairie, about women in business, especially at the C Suite level and as entrepreneurs.

Ralph Smith joins us to talk about educating children and challenges educators face presently when preparing children for jobs of the future.

In our final episode dedicated to Women's History Month, we talk with Rika Nakazawa. Rika is a senior leader, entrepreneur, investor, board director and frequent public speaker. She's also the CEO and co-founder of BoardSeatMeet, Inc.

Continuing with our Women's History Month series, we chat with Gabrielle Wyatt, founder of The Highland Project, and Cokethea Hill, Leadership Development and Research Director at The University of Kansas.

Continuing our Women's History Month theme, we speak with Susan Freeman, the CEO and Founder of Freeman Means Business, which helps professionals learn inclusive communication, and is also on the Board of BoardSeatMeet, Inc., which seek to accelerate gender equity in the boardroom.

We kick off Women's History Month with two special guests who are blazing their own trail. Wendy Doyle is the CEO at United WE and Jordan Fields is the Policy Coordinator in the office of Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto.

On today's episode, Howie Richards joins us to discuss his journey from growing up in Saint Louis, attending college at the University of Missouri, being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys and playing 7 years, to working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Celebrating Black History Month, we visit with a couple local community leaders Bob Kendrick of the Negro League Baseball Museum and Kiona Sinks of Black Excellence KC to talk about exciting upcoming news and how to make KC a better place.

Today, we switch gears and talk about the music industry and how COVID has affected music artists. Shain Shapiro, founder of Sound Diplomacy, talks about the the business side of the music industry while Jimmy Nutt, with Nutthouse Recording, shares the struggles the artists face.

In our inaugural episode, we sit down with former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander and former U.S. Senator Kit Bond to discuss a little bit of politics and what currently occupies their lives, from family time to serving veterans.