Hey Amarillo

A conversation with Joe Garcia III, the Chief Revenue Officer for eCatholic . Garcia lives in Amarillo and works remotely for this global tech company, which gives him the time and ability to serve the local community as " JPEG Joe ," a local portrait and sports photographer. He's also the managing partner of Press Pass Sports , an independent publication covering sports in the Texas Panhandle. Ga...

A conversation with Zack Wilson, executive director of High Plains Food Bank . Wilson's first experience with the Food Bank was as a communication intern when he was a WT student. More than two decades later, he's heading up this massive nonprofit, which serves the entire Texas Panhandle and distributes more than 8 million pounds of food a year. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Wilson...

A conversation with Mary Jane Johnson, the general and artistic director for Amarillo Opera . Before taking that role a few years ago, she was one of the world's great dramatic sopranos in the international opera scene. While based in Amarillo, she performed worldwide, from Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera in New York to the Sydney Opera House in Australia. She's been the subject of a PBS...

A conversation with Adrian Escobar, the Outdoor Recreation Planner for the  Cross Bar Management Area . Escobar is employed by the Bureau of Land Management—a federal agency. The only BLM land in Texas is located just a few miles northwest of Amarillo, and he's working to turn that historic property into a Special Recreation Management Area that includes campsites, trails and other outdoor activit...

A conversation with Angela Knapp Eggers, the Senior Managing Director of the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health in Amarillo. A former ballerina whose career has spanned both the nonprofit and for-profit spheres, Knapp Eggers worked for cattleman Paul Engler during the big Oprah trial in 1998 and guided the Lone Star Ballet through the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Since 2010, she's wo...

A conversation with Matt Griffith, the vice president of Rockrose Development , the company behind the development of Amarillo neighborhoods including The Colonies, Westover Park and Pinnacle . Griffith began designing houses in high school, worked in planning for the City of Amarillo, and has now spent nearly 30 years with Rockrose. He shares with host Jason Boyett about the role of developers in...

A conversation with Rachel Flores, the Executive Director of Amarillo Art Institute . This nonprofit offers art workshops and classes all year long at Sunset Center, where Flores is helping spearhead the renovation of Arts in the Sunset. In this episode, she tells host Jason Boyett about growing up in Bushland, moving back to Amarillo as an adult, and beginning her job just a year before the passi...

A conversation with Joshua Raef, the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A Georgia Street and Chick-fil-A Westgate Mall. Raef tells host Jason Boyett about growing up in Amarillo Catholic schools, how he got into the restaurant business and how his businesses have weathered challenges—from the pandemic to the chain's nationwide controversies related to politics and gay marriage, more than a decade ago. In...

A conversation with Idella Jackson, who serves as the Constable Precinct 4 for Potter County. Jackson arrived in Amarillo as a young single mother—and a high school dropout—determined to provide for her children and build a career. She spent more than a decade at the William P. Clements Unit with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, then nearly eight years with the Potter County Sheriff's Off...

A conversation with Kelli Bullard, who is temporarily retired after careers in publishing, communications, senior living and the nonprofit world (among other workplaces). Kelli recently authored an article in Brick & Elm Magazine about her journey to recover from multiple brain surgeries to treat a brain tumor, and the frightening complications that resulted during the process. In this episode, sh...

A conversation with Kevin Carter , the President and CEO of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation. Kevin spent his early career in Plainview before arriving in Amarillo in 2019, and quickly realized he was here to stay. With the AEDC, his job is to sell Amarillo as a destination for primary businesses, with the goal of expanding industry and manufacturing in the city. In this episode, Cart...

A conversation with Gwen Hicks, the Executive Director of Amarillo Angels , an organization that provides community for children and families in foster care. Hicks founded the organization in 2016 after a long career in education, from teaching elementary school to serving as a junior high counselor to coordinating Head Start at Region 16. In this episode, she shares with host Jason Boyett how her...

A conversation with the Rev. Jared Houze , Rector at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Jared is a 7th-generation Texan who grew up in Dallas but has spent most of his adult life in West Texas. He and his family arrived in Amarillo during the summer of 2020. He shares with host Jason Boyett about his ministry calling and conversion to the Episcopal tradition, his journey from rural churches to St. And...

A conversation with chiropractor and voice actor Jeff S. Williams, who currently juggles two careers: He's the owner of Creek Stone Integrated Medical , which combines chiropractic work with acupuncture, a nurse practitioner, and massage and spa services. But he's also a voiceover artist in high demand , thanks to his folksy, working-man baritone and a side gig he experimented with during the pand...

A conversation with Sister Elizabeth Ann Dockery of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and the convent known as Prayer Town Emmanuel. Located near Boys Ranch, Prayer Town is a Franciscan Charismatic Religious Community. Elizabeth Ann is an Amarillo native, former music educator and a past member of the Amarillo Symphony. She shares with host Jason Boyett about her music career, her conversion...

A special episode about the late Mike Boyett , the father of host Jason Boyett. Mike passed away a year ago this week, on December 16, 2021, at age of 73 after a brief journey with brain cancer. He spent most of his career as an Amarillo architect and was part of a close-knit community of friends connected to Paramount Baptist Church, where Mike volunteered in multiple capacities. In this series o...

A conversation with Mary Bralley, the president of Los Barrios de Amarillo and a longtime marketing, public relations and business development professional. Bralley shares with host Jason Boyett about her early days as a single mother living in poverty, as well as the steps she took to receive help, gain stability, improve her education and become more involved in the community. In addition to her...

A conversation with Andy Marshall, the President and CEO at FirstBank Southwest . Andy isn't originally from this area—he arrived here from Tulsa in 2017—and isn't original to banking, either. His first career was in the military, where he served in security forces for the U.S. Air Force and then, in the late 1980s, as an Army squadron border officer stationed in Amberg, Germany, at the height of...

A conversation with Crystal Solis , a hair stylist at Braxton Paul Salon and 22-year veteran of the local hair industry. Solis' first introduction to cosmetology came from vocational classes at Palo Duro High School. More than two decades later, she found herself at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on location, styling the hair of the groom's mother right before the wedding of Tiffany Trump and M...

A conversation with Pedro Limas, the owner of Sound by Design , a home entertainment installation company. Limas started the business in 1998 after earning what he calls a "6-year associate's degree." In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, he shares his story of entrepreneurship and why he's so passionate about volunteering, as well as his love of mountain biking in Palo Duro Canyon. Then Li...

A conversation with John Gamble , the senior principal cloud architect at Zillow. An Amarillo native, Gamble has spent the last decade living in Seattle and working in cloud infrastructure management for companies including Amazon, REI and now the Zillow Group. But last year, the reality of remote working allowed him to relocate his family back to Amarillo. He tells host Jason Boyett how his time...

A conversation with Julie Granger, founder of the Sister-Bear Foundation , a nonprofit serving adults who've suffered spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, strokes and other trauma. In this episode, Granger tells host Jason Boyett about the accident that paralyzed her daughter, Kathryn, and how it led to the organization. She also shares about value of therapy in dealing with her own past trauma,...

A conversation with Evan Guerrero, the WTAMU student and science educator behind the TikTok account @evanthorizon , which has more than 2.1 million followers. He is finishing up a physics degree, but this Amarillo native has already become a rising star in the astronomy world thanks to his fun, space-focused videos. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Guerrero shares how a telescope purch...

A conversation with Tony Foster, executive director at Amarillo Area Mental Health Consumers , an organization most people know as the Agape Center. Foster has a lengthy history in mental health work, including authorship of articles on recovery and mental health stigma for prominent psychology journals. But he's also had his own struggles with mental health. Foster shares with host Jason Boyett a...

A conversation with Emily Hunt, Ph. D. , Dean of the College of Engineering at WTAMU and the CEO/Founder of BTG Products . Hunt's research focus is novel nanostructured materials and has included work for the U.S. Department of Defense. In the process, she's also figured out commercial uses for her antimicrobial products, which you can now find at Lowe's and Home Depot. In this conversation with h...