I Am Northwest Arkansas®

About the Show: "We want to make Fayetteville the best place it can be, especially from the vantage point of creating awareness for visitors.”  - Sarah King Experience Fayetteville is an organization that promotes the city as a destination for tourists, conventions, and sporting events. Sarah King, Vice President of Marketing and Communication at Experience Fayetteville , moved to the city wi...

About the Show: "I always tell people that we are the sum total of our experiences.”  - Dana Neely Dana Neely's passion for barbecue brought her back to her home state of Arkansas after years spent in Seattle. She had been perfecting her unique barbecue recipes on the West Coast, but it was the sense of collaboration within the Northwest Arkansas culinary scene that attracted her to establish...

About the Show: "I think there's a lot of opportunities here in Northwest Arkansas for businesses, especially outdoor businesses, to collaborate and grow.”  - Justin Macedo Have you heard the myths about buying an existing business versus starting from scratch? That it’s too expensive, that you’ll be inheriting too many problems, or that it’s simply not a viable option? Don’t worry, Justin Ma...

About the Show: "Owning a business and doing something you love and getting up every day to do that is not working, it's doing something you love." Bill Fox, Forge Meet Bill Fox, a small business champion with a proven track record in Northwest Arkansas. As the Director of Technical Assistance at Forge , Bill has made it his mission to help entrepreneurs access the credit and resources they need t...

About the Show: "We want people to come, but we want them to stay." Aron Shelton, Northwest Arkansas Council Aron Shelton and Justin Stewart were drawn to the unique challenges and opportunities of attracting and retaining a skilled workforce in Northwest Arkansas. As the director of Finding NWA, Aron applies his passion for the region to help others discover and appreciate the rich blend of cultu...

About the Show: “I think that when we take any kind of classical art form and make it more difficult to get involved with, we take so much of the creativity out of it.”  - David Sanders, Ozark Ballet Theater David Sanders, a skilled ballet dancer, found his passion for the art form at the age of 16, after discovering a nonprofit ballet school in his hometown. He later embarked on a journey wi...

About the Show: "We really wanted the community to appeal not just to painters or woodworkers or potters, but also musicians or writers or anybody who just feels like they're creative." Bo Dutton/Shelley Mouber Bo Dutton and Shelley Mouber never imagined the impact their small idea would have on the creative communities in Northwest Arkansas. Through the NWA Makers Club , they have built a thrivin...

About the Show: Irvin Camacho is a passionate community leader, organizer, and founder of the highly acclaimed District 3 Podcast .  Since 2009, Irvin has dedicated his life to advocating for immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health awareness within the Latin American community. Through his podcast, Irvin has successfully created a bilingual platform that discusses critical issues w...

About the Show: Victor Dover returns to Northwest Arkansas to find a new great American small town emerging but must question whether the old values of placemaking can be maintained in order to sustain its prosperity. He is part of the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Future is Now Speaker Series .    "If you're trying to figure out, and you're scratching your heads trying to figure out wher...

About the Show: Take the "Oops!" Out of Unexpected Periods with femPAQ, and Let Women everywhere Feel Empowered and Comfortable in Every Space. A conversation with Founder April Roy. "I always told people I would rather read a book any day than have to push out five garments by the end of the week. It was brutal. It was so brutal that when I graduated, I was like, I don't want to see another sewin...

About the Show: In this podcast episode, we sit down with Danny Collins as he leads an international roster of adventure racers through the breathtaking Ozarks to compete in the Adventure Race World Series and discover the hidden beauty of his backyard. "The outdoors is what we have here, and so what better way to connect with it, even for your corporate groups. We see the value in the outdoors as...

About the Show: Be part of the band and join NextUp to advance women in business and the workplace through the power of community. "It's important to see people that not only look like you but have had some of the same shared experiences, as it helps validate the path you're on and strengthens your voice."  - Kimberly McGee Lela Davidson is a 19-year Northwest Arkansas resident and co-chair o...

About the Show: Taryn Mead is an assistant teaching professor for the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation (SEVI) Program at the University of Arkansas . Matthew A. Myers is the program manager for the Masters of Science in Product Innovation program . Two inspiring individuals, Taryn Mead, and Matthew A. Myers had a chance to share their story of how they are enabling a burgeoning e...

About the Show: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”   Maimonides Carol Silva Moralez is the president and CEO of Upskill NWA, a workforce development program that provides low-income wage earners with access to education and high-wage, high-demand jobs in healthcare. She has 25 years of experience in Walmart, including 18 years...

About the Show: Are you an entrepreneur looking to start, build, and run a business? Are you sick of hearing generic advice and tips that don't work? If your answer is yes, then this podcast episode is for you!  Mark Zweig, Founder of Inc 500/5000 companies and a business savant is here to share his knowledge and experience discussing his book, Confessions of an Entrepreneur: Simple Wisdom fo...

About the Show: Newly married Neil Greenhaw embarks on an inspiring journey from small-town Arkansas to the global stage, only to return home to find his true calling in cultivating a vibrant music and entrepreneurial culture in Northwest Arkansas with collaboration, passion, and purpose. "Always be in the room with people that are better than you because it'll make you better." - Neil Greenhaw. N...

About the Show: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein When Chris Thompson hit rock bottom on Thanksgiving Day 2018, he realized that alcohol was his only solution and that his best thinking had gotten him there. Faced with overcoming his ego, Chris took a leap of faith and launched a sobriety support app to help others, transforming his...

About the Show: We have been toying with the idea of creating an episode Hall of Fame for the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast. We figured we would start keeping track of the most downloaded episodes we’ve shared and the episodes that impact the host and listeners most.   While we are excited to share the first entry into our podcasting hall of fame, we are equally saddened by the reason...

About the Show: "I didn't want to do business unless I did it right. And I love nature. It's a big part of my life. I grew up in it, and I just strayed away from it for all those years that I was in the city. And now that we moved out here, we're in the mountains. Fayetteville is huge on sustainability and the environment. I really loved that. And I thought it was a great opportunity for me to imp...

About the Show: Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but greatness because greatness is determined by service.  - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This episode featured Lindsey Leverett Higgins, the President of the Northwest Arkansas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Council. Lindsey shared how the Council was established in 1996 by the late Reverend J. Aaron Hawkins to bring a large celebr...

About the Show: “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie Alex Howland is a passionate advocate for women's empowerment, having worked with women for the past ten years. She is the founder of Dovetail, an event in January 2023...

About the Show: Northwest Arkansas Has Acres of Diamonds… “Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard if you but dig for them.” Russell B. Conwell We can’t believe that this is episode 200 of the podcast. Who would have thought that going around the Northwest Arkansas community with a digital recorder and a microphone to interview people and org...

About the Show: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift.” - Steve Prefontaine When Lakisha Harper Bradley, a former Walmart employee, is propelled by a spiritual download to leave her comfort zone and start her own business, ' My-T-By-Design ,' she embarks on an inspiring journey to use art as a therapeutic tool to empower others to embrace their inner Picasso and uncover t...

About the Show: What is a cryptocurrency, and why is it gaining popularity? "Blockchain is the tech. Bitcoin is merely the first mainstream manifestation of its potential."  Marc Kenigsberg Carol Goforth is a law professor at the University of Arkansas and a cryptocurrency expert. She has written over a dozen law review articles and two books and is a regular speaker on the topic. In this epi...

About the Show: “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Thomas Alva Edison Elliot Hunt is the chef of Atlas The Restaurant, a French revivalist-style restaurant in Northwest Arkansas. His love of cooking was ignited at age nine when he went on a trip to France with his parents, and he has since traveled the world, taking inspiration from global cuisine to...