Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller

"When you're in the middle of the battle, to be policy-driven is smart, to be politically-driven is dangerous."  - Jeremy Faison Few people have had a closer seat to the important issues, drama, and national and international garnering headlines involving Tennessee politics than Representative Jeremy Faison, Chairman of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus. Representative Faison discusses what dr...

" It's already a presidential race and lots of people are going to come out and vote for the President…however, we know…that about 18% of the people who go into that booth don't keep going down the ballot… If you're in the voting booth, don't stop… Make your vote count all the way down. "  -Megan Barry In a hotly anticipated interview, Climbing the Charts sits down with former Nashville Mayor Mega...

"It's a diverse world. Companies sell products to consumers that are very diverse. Their teams and technical talent should reflect the communities that they sell products to." – Dr. Isaac Yao Addae Dr. Isaac Addae is a man with many hats – first-generation Ghanaian American, computer engineer, strategist, business professor, entrepreneur, investor, and author of "Black Boy Fly: Embracing My Ancest...

"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime. But if you teach a woman how to fish, she feeds the village for a lifetime. The ripple effect that women entrepreneurs have on communities and the global economy is phenomenal." — Sherry Deutschmann   Climbing the Charts sits down with Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, a serial entrepreneur, a sought-after sp...

Former Mayor Karl Dean was known to ask, rhetorically and always in good humor, what Nashville would be without music (answer: Birmingham), but he could have substituted "the Ingrams" for music and arrived at the same punchline.  There are few beloved things in Music City without fingerprints, known and unknown, that in some way trace back or connect to the Ingram family.  While Martha Ingram was...

In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra famously proclaimed Jack Daniel's the "nectar of the gods."  Sales doubled, the warehouses emptied, and Mr. Daniel's "nectar" was on allocation for the next twenty-five years.  In 2013, a state law in Tennessee established a legal definition of "Tennessee Whiskey" for the first time, better known as the "Lincoln County Process."  While a few whiskey nerds followed the a...

In this episode, Climbing the Charts sits down with Republican Representative Todd Warner (District 92) and Democratic Representative Aftyn Behn (District 51). Aftyn, increasingly described as the "AOC of Tennessee," the youngest woman elected to the Tennessee House, is poised to be a fearless advocate for progressive values. Todd, by contrast, is the "Unapologetic Conservative," a successful busi...

On July 21, 2006, the New York Times published an article entitled: "Creating Demand for City Living in Nashville."  The piece's author, Lisa Chamberlain, noted that at that time, the frenzied pace of downtown residential development was slowing in major cities like New York and Chicago, but in cities like Nashville, "where no residential population had existed, people are suddenly hungry for an u...

On this new episode of   Climbing the Charts, we sat down with Jon Michael, who after 15 years of toting the metro zoning code under his arm in various roles as a lawyer with Metro, joined the local Nashville law firm of Thompson Burton PLLC to create his own land use practice. If you have ever listened to a conversation about development, attended a Metro Planning Commission meeting, or have even...

For the launch of Episode 1 of Season 3, Climbing the Charts sat down with Sam Davidson, who on June 28, 2023, was announced as Jane Allen's successor as the next CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC).  Sam hit the ground running in this high visibility, high impact new role, which he describes on his Linkedin profile as: "Working to make Nashville the most entrepreneurial city in America....

Early voting begins 20 days before an election and typically ends 5 days before Election Day.  Translated to the current election for Nashville Mayor and other local runoff elections, that means early voting started August 25th and will run until September 9th, with Election Day being September 14 th . In the general election, which took place on Thursday, August 3 rd,  101,245 votes were cast.  C...

Early voting begins 20 days before an election and typically ends 5 days before Election Day.  Translated to the current election for Nashville Mayor and other local runoff elections, that means early voting started August 25th and will run until September 9th, with Election Day being September 14 th . In the general election, which took place on Thursday, August 3 rd,  101,245 votes were cast.  C...

In the recently released Travel + Leisure rankings of "The 24 Best New Luxury City Hotels Around the World," readers likely nodded at Xenodocheio Milos in Athens.; however, #2 was likely to come as something of a surprise: Four Seasons Hotel Nashville.  In the words of Travel + Leisure, "It wasn't that long ago that a pairing of the Four Seasons and Nashville would've seemed unlikely.  But times h...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Vivian Wilhoite, a former two-term member of the Metro Council (District 29) and current Assessor of Property for Davidson County (since 2016).  And on April 28 th , 2023, she formally announced that she would be auditioning for her biggest role yet:  Mayor of Music City.    Among the top ten candidates vying to become Nashville's 10th mayor since the consolidatio...

On this very special episode of Climbing the Climbs, we are joined by John Cooper, Music City's 9 th Mayor (since the consolidation of the Metro Government in 1963).  One of the few things Mayor Cooper's champions and critics can both agree on is that he served a term that was almost Biblical in nature.  His first week on the job, the city was threatened with receivership by the State of Tennessee...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Meg Epstein, Founder and CEO of CA South.  Meg launched CA South in January 2016, and despite being just 7 years old now, CA South has over a billion dollars in projects and related real estate assets under its belt, notching a place as one of the leading real estate businesses in Music City.  Meg has garnered numerous accolades along the way,  including being a N...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Fran Bush, a former Metro Nashville School Board Member and owner and director of Model Kids Learning Academy which, provides childcare services to some of Nashville's neediest families in growing communities. While some might say that running for Mayor is Fran's biggest challenge yet, it's hard to agree with that after she shares her life story, which is both fas...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Senator Heidi Campbell – a Nashville native, former Mayor of Oak Hill, the first Democrat to flip a Tennessee State Senate Seat since 2006, and now a leading candidate to become Music City's next mayor!   Heidi shares her thoughts with us about what it takes to lead in a fiscally responsible, data-based, and compassionate way.  She can boast being the only former...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Alice Rolli, a serial entrepreneur, a teacher and former special assistant to then US Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander.  Alice has now worn many hats in the private and public sectors, with the common thread among those roles being education and technology, and is currently auditioning for her biggest role yet as a candidate for mayor of Music City.  A...

Climbing the Charts sat down for an engaging, and wide-ranging, conversation with Tennessee State Senator Jeff Yarbro (District 21) who is now running to become Music City's next Mayor.  In this episode, we find out wh y Senator Yarbro is running for Mayor, catch up on some important legal developments (mini-spoiler alert—the State bill to eliminate runoff elections in Tennessee has been successfu...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Natisha Brooks, a retired educator and former Republican candidate for the fifth congressional district of Tennessee, who recently entered the 2023 race for Nashville mayor. Natisha has occupied various teaching roles but is best known for her position as the owner and director of Brooks Home School and Tutoring. We learn about Natisha's decision to enter the mayo...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Metro Council Member Sharon Hurt, the current Executor Director of StreetWorks, the retired CEO of the Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (JUMP) and a recently announced candidate for the 2023 Nashville Mayoral race. Council Member Hurt shares some of the fascinating history of Jefferson Street (including tales of Jimi Hendrix's visits when he was stati...

Climbing the Charts sat down with Jim Gingrich, a Nashville Business Journal Newsmaker of the Year and former COO of Alliance Bernstein.  Jim gives an insider's account of what attracted both he and Alliance Bernstein to Music City, and offers thoughts about the importance of civic engagements and what is so special about Nashville's nonprofit sector.  Jim also shares his thoughts on productivity...

Climbing the Charts sits down with Gray Sasser, Executive Director of The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and Democracy, and TJ Ducklo, Chief Communications Officer and Senior Adviser to Nashville Mayor John Cooper and former National Press Secretary for the Biden 2020 Campaign and Deputy Press Secretary to the President. Listen in as these two gentlemen share why writing well is one of the most impor...

Climbing the Charts sits down with Bob Freeman, a buzzed about 2023 Nashville mayoral candidate, the current Tennessee House Representative for District 56 and the Executive Vice President of Freeman Webb Co.  Bob shares his advice for young entrepreneurs with no capital or connections, his advice on how to stay motivated in Nashville real estate even in a tough market and shares his perspective t...