Austin Community Capital

Can a dance floor actually save your life? This week, we sit down with the incomparable Beth Coffey , Austin's own "Ambassador of the Texas Two-Step." After a catastrophic car accident in 2004 left her with a broken neck and a shattered identity, Beth Coffey found redemption in the neon glow of Austin's most iconic dance halls. From coaching Sylvester Stallone to teaching the two-step in Amsterdam...

Is there dignity in the "dirty" jobs? Brandon Downer, co-founder of Pink’s Window Cleaning, joins Austin Clemens to discuss why he traded a corporate trajectory for a squeegee and a bucket. In the heart of Austin, where the "cowboys and hippies" find common ground at Barton Springs, Brandon Downer is crafting a legacy built on clarity. As the co-founder of Pink’s Window Cleanin...

What does it mean to "pour into people" when the stakes are high? This week, Austin Clemens sits down with Ana Ruelas , the powerhouse Managing Partner of The Agency Austin and co-owner of Austin Woman Magazine . Ana shares her raw journey from moving 10 times in 10 years to sacrificing her own income to save her team’s jobs. You'll learn the secrets of her "Circle" philoso...

They say it’s lonely at the top. Phyllis Snodgrass is here to make sure it doesn’t stay that way. Phyllis Snodgrass has spent her life building things that actually matter. While most of Austin was busy obsessing over valuations and tech exits, Phyllis was in the trenches of the real world—running Austin Habitat for Humanity during a housing crisis and leading Chambers of Commerce across the state...

Ben Wolff is a study in contrasts. He is a guy who cut his teeth in the chaotic, bass-thumping world of nightclub promotion, only to trade it in for the sharp suits and sharper spreadsheets of a McKinsey consultant. Most people pick a lane; Ben paved a new one right through the Texas Hill Country. He is the co-founder of Onera and Oasi , brands that are effectively rewriting the script on what a h...

Megan Mrazek used to run toward the fire. As a corporate "fixer" for global behemoths, her office was the war room, her currency was crisis, and if you saw a disaster on the evening news, chances are she was the one behind the curtain, smoothing the edges. She was the person you called when things fell apart. But then, she did the hardest thing imaginable: she walked away. She traded the adrenalin...

Catherine Woodiwiss isn't just planning parties; she is waging a quiet war on the numbness of modern life. In a world where "connection" usually means a double-tap on a screen, Catherine is an "experience architect" who demands you feel something real. By day, she runs design research for Texas’ most beloved brand, H-E-B. By night, she is the orchestrator of Austin’s most i...

Meet Brian Cronin. He's a "deep end" operator who sees the world differently than the rest of us. Before he was the Vice President of NOVO Construction, shaping Austin's physical skyline, he was a traveler who backpacked through 65 countries, selling lollipops in the schoolyard and painting houses to fund his education. He's kind of a guy who gets a job offer while standing i...

Bob Pearson isn’t just an executive; he’s a cartographer of the human spirit in a digital age. Today on the Austin Community Capital Podcast —we're bringing in a titan. Bob's the guy who walked into the fire of massive corporate crises at Dell and Novartis and walked out with a simple, radical philosophy: do the right thing. He’s a global healthcare titan, a tech visionary teaching the nex...

Cherie Werner is not just an Austin icon; she is the force of gravitational love that grounds this city's electric, high-velocity startup scene. Often dubbed the "Startup Mama of Austin," Cherie embodies hospitality maybe more than anyone you know. But the path to becoming Austin's premier tastemaker of community was forged in a childhood longing for home and belonging. In this raw and wholesome c...