Make a Difference (MAD) Podcast

Joe Buckner is the Founder and Visionary of Fort Collins’ only boutique boxing studio, Beautifully Savage: The Art of Pugilism. Born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, Buckner has a passion for the community and helping others to reach their goals and dreams.  Buckner spent his youth as a multi-sport athlete and later went on to play college football. After a series of unfortunate events though...

Darius met Alicia by complete happenstance at a cemetery, of all places. They made a connection and now we get to share her story with all of you! Alicia  has decades of high-level experience in the customer service, insurance and financial services industries. Because of this, she found her true passion and purpose in entrepreneurship and launched Alicia Squared, LLC in March of 2020 (yes, at the...

Madisen “Mattie” Golden serves as the WomenGive Director at United Way of Larimer County and has been with UWLC since 2016. She received her Bachelor’s degrees in Business Marketing and Spanish from Colorado State University, and transitioned to a front line fundraiser after several years in international sales and customer service. Her dedication to serving the community and elevating opportunity...

Jen DeKorte grew up in a small town with a big family and quickly learned the value of serving and savoring time with people over home cooked meals and fresh baked pastries. It's no wonder that Jen now owns a very successful bakehouse, The Sweet Petite, and supplies 47 Whole Foods stores with delicious gluten free and vegan cakes and pies.  Learn more about Jen and The Sweet Petite Bakehouse...

Happy Summer! Darius and Farra here. Just checking in without a guest this week to say what's up! We'll be back next week with a guest. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

A Fort Collins, Colorado native, Dr. Troxell is a proven innovative leader in the public, private and research sectors. He is the former mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado and on the faculty in engineering at Colorado State University. Additionally, he is the past Associate Dean for Research and Economic Development for the College of Engineering at Colorado State University and is a Fellow of the Am...

Welcome to episode 40! Kizzy Parks, Ph. D., is the CEO of KPC, GovCon Winners, AmPar, and AdultFluent - a definite serial entrepreneur. Kizzy told us that from a very young age, she always knew she would be an entrepreneur. Fun fact, she is also a Guinness world Record title holder...but you'll have to listen to find out what that title is! Find Kizzy at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kizzy htt...

Adam Weber is no stranger to entrepreneurship, and as the Co-Founder of a few successful startups, Adam is also no stranger to leadership. Recently, Adam's company, Emplify, was acquired by San Francisco performance management platform, 15Five, and he now serves as their SVP of Community. Prior to that, Adam co-founded Bluebridge Digital, which he sold in 2016.  Adam is an expert and speaker...

Justin Mahaffey is no stranger to making a difference. As a wildland firefighter of 13+ years, Justin understands the importance of taking risks the right way, and that risks look different to anyone. To tackle any challenge successfully, you have to be smart about it. You have to have community to back you up, and that is how WildFitLife805 was born.  It’s a place full of people who are not stran...

Zeke Cortez, owner and founder of Super-Natural Eats, is on a mission to change the old and outdated ways of the western diet that our economy has suffered from and bring a new and healthy dynamic to “convenient food.” Check out Super-Natural Eats https://supernaturaleats.com/ https://supernaturaleats.com/instagram https://supernaturaleats.com/facebook

After a long a prosperous career in the financial industry, Bill felt called to make a difference in people's lives in another way. He went back to school and obtained a Masters of Science and started his own counseling practice, Whole Counseling. Bill still works in the financial industry by day, but by nights and weekends, he helps people work on themselves so they can improve the dynamics...

Nick was born and raised in San Diego, CA and grew up spending most of his time at the beach and in the outdoors. He joined the Army in 2009 and spent the next 5 years as a Motor Transportation Operator with The 1st Infantry Division Big Red One and The 82nd Airborne Division All Americans. Nick has a great passion for serving others, and a love for all things health promotion, and that's why...

“MoneySmartGuy” Matt Sapaula is a United States Marine Corps combat-veteran who transitioned into the insurance industry. He began his post military career working at a large brokerage firm in southern California in transition from active-duty service in the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, Matt's dedication to his country, his unit, and his duties propelled him to become a decorat...

Haydee Sperling left her successful corporate career to  follow her calling and start ProAmerica360 - A movement designed to help proud Americans discover proud, American owned businesses and organizations. Check out ProAmerica360 at: https://proamerica360.com/ https://www.instagram.com/proamerica360/ https://www.facebook.com/ProAmerica360 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLVI_LXtcDXQSOXMSnGicjg h...

Konrad Schlarbaum is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Office of Sustainability at Pikes Peak Community College, the only sustainability office for the entire Colorado Community College System! Not only does Konrad have a passion for sustainability (which started at a very young age) and protecting our Earth, but he is also an Army veteran, father of 2, and an extremely active member of his c...

Darrell Fick, a former competitive swimmer and University of Texas alumni, has had a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, but mentoring students is where he really enjoys spending his time.  In episode 31, we talk to Darrell about leadership, careers, being a student athlete, managing family time and a busy work schedule, and maybe just a touch of the critical feelings that many peopl...

Darius and Farra take a short break from guests to talk about the first quarter of 2021, plus they play a little game. 

B - Bold - This is not only the name of Rustin Hughes' organization that helps individuals with disabilities through adaptive sports, but it's also the way that this adaptive athlete and experienced MMA fighter lives his life. Rustin is no stranger to adversity, and we are so excited to share his inspiring story with all of you. 

Volt Mobility, by REEVAAS, is on a mission to deliver affordable, renewable energy-powered transportation globally. Not only that, but they believe in people and planet over profits, so their entire model promotes local living wage employment, local business ownership, and widely distributed wealth and income benefits to their employees, owners, and shareholders.  We got to chat with Volt Mobility...

Heather Bohlinger is the Founder and Executive Leadership Coach of Fiorii. She has been working with professionals in a variety of contexts for over 22 years as they strive to achieve their business and personal goals.  Some of her passions and expertise are business strategizing; leadership development; increasing emotional IQ;  goal-setting; healthy work and life integration; time management; re...

Stephanie Maslow Blackman was stuck in a boring job and desperate for a creative challenge, so she went to a local art school and signed up for the only class that was still available, metalsmithing. She never looked back.  Now, Stephanie owns NYC based Metalicious, an environmentally friendly and ethically minded fine jewelry business, and in this episode, we talk to her about it all. Find Metali...

Thompson Tindall knows first hand what it's like to come home from war and all the difficulties surrounding that. Using motorsports as a vehicle to tune the mind and soul of our returning veterans, Thompson created War Eagle Garage. Check out all the amazing things Thompson is doing: https://wareaglegarage.org/ https://www.facebook.com/WarEagleGarage/

What treat it was to chat with Toby and Brett from Altitude Integrations. In this episode, we talk all about corporate responsibility, the Pledge 1% program, and what we think the future generation of workers will want to see in a company. Check out Altitude Integrations at: https://www.altitudeintegrations.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AltitudeIntegrations/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/altitu...

John Fitch, Co-author of the international bestseller, Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic and Finding Success Without the Stress , was such a pleasure to talk to! We talked about how important rest and leisure time is, as well as John's own recovery from being a workaholic. Enjoy the episode! https://www.john-fitch.com/

Welcome to episode 22! Donny Mcintyre shares the inspiration behind his 2 product inventions, Tossits and HEROBOARD, and reminds us that people will always remember how you made them feel.  https://heroboardfitness.com/ https://www.instagram.com/heroboardfitness/ https://www.facebook.com/heroboardfitness https://www.tossits.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tossitsinc/ https://www.facebook.com/tossit...