Shut Up and Listen: Small Town Stories

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Part of our job is to support the region through workforce development. In doing so, we hear from professionals and entrepreneurs all the time, and we've found they all have similar questions: What do I need to know about tax law? What happens after onboarding a new employee? What are the key points in developing a b...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. "Enroll, employ, enlist - I want kids to know there’s a reason they’re at school and everyone there is going to hold them accountable because we care." @fostoriasuper a.k.a. Jason Longbrake nailed his first podcast interview.  Originally he had dreams of being a wildlife specialist out west, but started his educ...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Aaron Smith and Weston Reinbolt take a seat on the couch and it was honestly hard to keep a straight face, at times… Maybe it was because we learned that Weston shops for Aaron’s shoes for him, or perhaps it was the point in our conversation when Aaron took an opportunity to reference the phone book. Sarah&Renee did g...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Here he is - a blast from our not-so-distant past! Matt Kibler is the Director of Business Development for Custom Training Solutions which is a division of Northwest State Community College. Those who interact with us during our day-jobs may remember that Matt used to work for the Learning Center, but he took an opportuni...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Well, this interview has certainly been a long time coming! And she's possibly our most reluctant guest, yet. Ashley Barger has been the woman behind the scenes of this podcast since it began in February of 2022. We've relied on her to capture each and every moment, but just this once we wanted to share her with...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Whoopsies… it’s been a minute! Hello, 2024!  Sarah and Renee revisit and recap their annual meeting which took place last month and encompassed the collective results of their economic development, chamber of commerce, and convention + visitor’s bureau offices. This year, the meeting addressed more of the organizational c...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We're sharing Fostoria Economic Development Corporation's video podcast series, ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕖.  In each episode you’ll meet some of the business leaders from the area. Join the adventure as Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, meets up with a weekly guest for a driv...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. We came, we laughed, and we closed a chapter. At the same token, we introduced a new chapter for our community. "Former Mr. Mayor meet the NEW Mr. Mayor!" It's true, our time on the couch with Eric Keckler is officially coming to a close. There were so many projects he saw to fruition during his twelve year...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. For this episode, we had the sincere pleasure of hosting Ryan Wichman, meteorologist for WTOL11 (Toledo), who is also the founder of Wood County Plays. Wood County Plays is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that designs, fundraisers, and builds fully inclusive play spaces that allow children of all abilities to play side...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Fostoria, Ohio Mayor, Eric Keckler, has made another appearance on the couch for Episode 32. This may, in fact, be one of his last-hoorahs as mayor, and so he gets right down to business by sharing more about details his capstone project: the Splash Pad.  Eric confirms the splash pad's location, discusses the evoluti...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Michele Cochran is the Executive Director of the Greater Fostoria Community Foundation. She wears a multitude of hats in her role and in her community, but today we're talking about the direct impact she's both seen and had on Fostoria. Michele is a recurring guest on the podcast and has met us (and our micropho...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. A new day, a new era... Jocelyn Reinhart grew up in Fostoria, did some of her college work in the city and then settled back in with the family business before recently getting married. And on August 1st, she started her new position as chamber director after having been appointed to the position by the chamber's boa...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. If you thought Sarah&Renee were the most dynamic of duos, just wait til you hear from Chase Eikenbary, V.P. of Project Management for Regional Growth Partnership of Ohio. You will instantly see she's a necessary component to the team and, dare we say, accomplice to this triple-threat in local female prowess. Chas...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. You've heard it from us multiple times on this podcast and we're finally interviewing the lady who got us hooked on the program! Please help us welcome Rebekah Marr, CO.STARTERS to our virtual couch! CO.STARTERS is a 10-week accelerator program that takes idea-stage entrepreneurs through business basics, laying...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Our guest, Roberta Streiffert, joins us on the couch to give us some background on her role as Sr. Rural Development Specialist for the Great Lakes Community Action Partnership, as well as more details on the road that led her to this role. At times, she's been one of Fostoria, Ohio's greatest advocates and has...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. This is a very vulnerable and enlightened episode because it showcases one small town story that truly has impacted dozens of lives and will impact so many more lives in the years to come! It was our pleasure to meet with Ashley Reinhart and learn more about all of the amazing ways she supports students with special needs...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Do you feel like the art of communication is lacking in 2023? Are you a target for negativity because of your work or job role? How do you deal with it, or not deal with it?  Sarah&Renee discuss their ‘Facebook diet’ and the disheartening fact that those who ‘poke holes’ behind the wall of social media are not necessa...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. Turn-about is fair play... Our 2022 guests joined us for our first birthday party where THEY got to ask US all the questions.  And, we kept the mic hot through all the anecdotes in between. Some questions were exact replicas of what we had asked our guests and others turned out to be super philosophical! All-in-all, it wa...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. There's so much to say as we kick-off 2023 ... And it's time for us to start hitting on the bigger issues: Workforce is potentially an international issue that we focus on daily.  How do we support our community by, essentially,  ‘creating more people’ without teleportation and cloning? Jason Yoakam joins us on...

Got feedback? Maybe it's our turn to Shut Up and Listen! Send us a Text. There may be two things that differentiate the first half of 2022 from the second half: Renee got just a little bit sassier. Sarah really started getting to all those hard hitting questions. Overall, there were definitely more laughs! In case you missed it, enjoy some of our favorite parts of these episodes. Episode 11: A...