Fresno's Best

Today, we have Scott Miller on the show. Scott is the President of Chamber Commerce and the owner of Gazebo Gardens. Please enjoy our conversation! 

Today we have Arianna Chavez on the show. Arianna is the executive of Arte Americas. Born and raised in Fresno, Arianna attributes her passion for art to formative years spent at Arte Américas. She is returning home with a decade of experience in nonprofit arts organizations including the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and artist endowed foundations...

Today, we have the Jason Castro on the show. Mr. Castro is the Consul General of the El Salvadorian Consulate in Fresno. We talk about all things El Salvadorian, from the culture and history of the country to issues facing El Salvadorian immigrants in the central valley. 

Today we have Reis Thebault on the show. Reis reports on the American West Coast from Los Angeles for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2018 and has covered national breaking news, European politics and D.C. city hall. He previously worked on the local desks of the Boston Globe and the Columbus Dispatch. We have him on the show today because he wrote a front page story on the Bitwise situ...

Today we have Kiel Lopez-Schmidt on the show. Kiel is a trained architect and the Executive Director of the South Tower Community Land Trust. In this conversation, we discuss affordable housing, planning commissions, AirBnB’s effect on the housing stock, homelessness as a housing problem, historical preservation, and more. Link to Sign Up for the Queer Housing Summit  Books:  Pleasure Activism: Th...

Renee Delport is the director of communications at the Central Valley Community Foundation, an organization that does a lot to steward and direct resources to support our community. Drawing on her experience working in a variety of contexts, Renee has a deep love for community service, articulating a strong message, and recruiting others to join causes. This interview is chocked full of insight an...

Welcome to Fresno’s Best podcast, I’m your host Jordan Mattox. Today we have George Scott on the show. Scott is the co-founder of the Sinister Boxing MMA Academy and a highly experienced coach with over 25+ years of expertise in various martial arts and a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education. With his vast knowledge and passion for coaching, George is dedicated to helping his clients take the...

Today, we have two representatives from the WET Center at Fresno State: Benjamin Francis, Growth Operating Partner and Samuel Fairbanks, Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist. Francis’s key experience includes investment analyst functions, establishing a successful accelerator program, working one-on-one with ventures to secure funding and growth opportunities. Francis has successfully deve...

Today, we have Joseph Rios on the show. Joseph is the newly minted poet laureate of Fresno. He’s also the author of the claimed poetry collection, Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations, which won the 2018 American Book Award. This was a fun, all-over-the-place style conversation, with deep insights about the connection between poetry and Fresno, but then also reminiscences about bars, living in...

Today we have Wilma Hashimoto on the show. Wilma is the Executive Director for CASA of Fresno and Madera Counties. She has dedicated her career to positively changing the trajectory of at risk children. Before becoming the Director, Wilma had a long career as an educator. Our conversation will give you a broad overview of what CASA volunteers do, their impact, and what we need to keep supporting a...

Today, we have Manpreet Kaur on the show. Manpreet is the city council representative for Ward 7 in Bakersfield. Growing up in Bakersfield, Manpreet is intimately familiar with the beauty and challenges of her hometown. After graduating with two master degrees from UW Madison, she decided to return home and run for local office. Books: The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs  The C...

Today we have Paola Soares on the show. Paola is the CEO of Camarena Health, the community health clinics that are an integral part of our community health ecosystem. We cover a lot in this conversation, including the history of Camarena Health, care deserts, preventative care approaches, ways to support various demographics, medical expenses, labor challenges, and more. Books Think Again: The Pow...

Today, we have Vice President of City Council Annalisa Perea on the show. Perea represents District 1 on the Fresno City Council and is a former trustee on the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees. Annalisa was born and raised in Fresno and attended Fresno City College. She graduated with a B.S. in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She is an Accredited...

Today we have Dr. David Jeffcoach. Dr Jeffcoach is a Trauma and Critical Care surgeon who grew up in the Central Valley.  After completing medical school at UC Davis, surgical residency in Tennessee, and trauma fellowship at UCSF-Fresno, he moved with his family to Sodo, Ethiopia where he was the Chair of Surgery and general surgery residency program director for four years at Soddo Christian Hosp...

Vincent Catalina is an actor, writer, and filmmaker and his film that he wrote and played a central role in is called Wild Boys, which was shot locally, and it is going to be available on streaming later this year. Additionally, Vincent is planning a number of screenings in the central valley near you. Books:  The Name of the Wind: Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1 by Patrick Rothfuss  The Land by Aler...

In this episode, we have a wonderful bike conversation with Julie Congii, from Fresno Bike Station, a wonderful non for profit bike kitchen here in Fresno. Please enjoy our conversation!  Books:  Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens

Today, we have a crossover episode from History of California Podcast featuring Dr. Ben Madley. Benjamin Madley is a historian of Native America, the United States, and colonialism in world history. Born in Redding, California, he spent much of his childhood in Karuk Country near the Oregon border where he became interested in relations between colonizers and Indigenous people. Educated at Yale an...

Today, we have Dustin Maddox on the show. Dustin is the lead pastor at North Fresno Church. A gifted pastor and preacher, Dustin enjoys creating hospitable spaces for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience God’s love, to be transformed, and equipped to join God’s healing activity in our city and world. He enjoys reading broadly with a cup of coffee, meeting new people, spending time with...

Today, we have Ethan Chatagnier on the show today. He is the author of SINGER DISTANCE, the novel that came out in the fall and is the focus of this conversation, and of WARNINGS FROM THE FUTURE, a story collection that came out in 2018. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of literary journals and have won a Pushcart Prize and been listed as notable in the Best American Short Stories and t...

Today we have Talia Lakshmi Kolluri on the show. Talia recently published an amazing collection called “What We Fed to the Manticore,” a series of nine stories all written from the perspective of animals. The book blew me away and, as you’ll hear in our conversation, we have a lot of thoughts about the inner lives of animals. Please enjoy this wonderful and thoughtful conversation.  Books: The Gre...

Today, we have Eric Washington on the show. Eric is a life coach and a podcast host with an amazing story. I know you all will love this episode! I Am Enough Marisa Peer The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct  Thomas Szasz  Rich Dad Poor Dad: 20th Anniversary Edition: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!  Robert T. Kiyos...

Today, we have Julianne Burk on the show. Burk is the creator of a new Armenian cooking show called Jul’s Armenian Kitchen. Originally from Fresno, she moved to the east coast to work as consultant, but when family circumstances brought her home, she made it her mission to preserve the culinary traditions of her family and community. This episode was a lot of fun to produce because we were able to...

Today, we have Bill Cummings on the show. Bill is a Merced-based real estate developer and CEO of Legacy Construction which is focused primarily on healthcare and mixed-use development projects. At Legacy Construction, Bill serves as the visionary for the company and manages the day to day operations. Bill moved from Washington, D.C. to Fresno, California in 2006 and created Legacy Construction. I...

Today is a special episode focused around Measure E which is a proposal to raise a small tax to build to improve infrastructure at Fresno State. We have David Tangipa, an advocate for Measure E, a Former Fresno State Student-Athlete and 3-Time Fresno State Graduate, who has been campaigning for the measure and is here to share why he thinks you should vote yes. I raise some of the concerns that ha...

Today, we have Lisa Smittcamp on the show. Lisa has been the Fresno County DA since 2015 and has worked in the DA’s office since 2001. This was a fun interview and Lisa definitely pushed back hard on some of the assumptions in my questions. My objective with this conversation was to work hard to understand Lisa’s worldview and I think by the end of this conversation, you will have a clear understa...