Champions of the Lost Causes

Latest Episodes:

Episode 41: Sharon Chapman Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

Host Marvin Stockwell talks to Sharon Chapman, executive director of the Next Step, at the Ft. Smith, AR shelter for people experiencing homelessness. What began as a church outreach serving a daily meal in the 1980s has grown into a multifaceted nonprofit that provides not only emergency shelter, but also transitional housing and other services aimed at helping people become permanently housed. Marvin and Sharon talk about why Sharon feels called to this work, and how her circuitous path and unique mix of professional gifts prepared her well to lead the organization in this phase of its growth.

Episode 40: Steve Foutch Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Host Marvin Stockwell talks to Steve Foutch at Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City. Steve bought the historic Kemper Arena for $1 and set out to do what many people said was impossible – save and repurpose the building. After he and his team solved many structural and engineering challenges, the building was relaunched in 2018 as the multi-use Hy-Vee Arena. Steve also weighs in on the fate of Memphis' Mid-South Coliseum. There are many correlations between the two arenas and several shared lessons learned.

Episode 39: John Rash Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Host Marvin Stockwell talks to John Rash at the Champions of the Lost Causes home studio in Memphis. John is the creator of the Southern Punk Archive, a growing physical and digital repository of videos, photos, fliers, music, films, and oral histories that document the South's many thriving DIY punk scenes. Before now, the contributions that southern punk scenes have made to the national conversation on free expression has been underreported and underappreciated.

Episode 38: Jen Frank Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

People champion all sorts of causes, but the uber-cause that we can sometimes miss is that of our own precious lives. This is where Jen Frank uses her gifts as a career and life coach to help the people she coaches. Our lives and how we make contributions in the world is a multi-faceted equation in which we balance the things we yearn for with other competing priorities. Jen helps people get unstuck and on to living lives of deeper fulfillment.

Episode 37: Erin Barnes & Dawn Arrington Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

IOBY is a crowdfunding site that helps people make positive changes in their communities. We discuss how Erin and her founding partners discovered their niche in helping smaller neighborhood-level actors make change. We also chat with Dawn about her development from being a project leader in Cleveland to her role as IOBY's Place-Based Strategies Manager, with national responsibilities.

Episode 36: Svitlana Muzychenko Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

Svitlana Muzychenko, founder of UA Brokers Without Borders, works with Ukrainian grassroots organizations to address emerging humanitarian needs that stem from the ongoing war with Russia. We’ll discuss Svitlana’s early life in Ukraine, how she moved to Brazil and started her own technology firm, and how she has used her professional skills and network to help her fellow Ukrainians survive.

Episode 35: Mia Henley Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

Mia Henley is the executive director of Creative Aging, a nonprofit that makes music and arts programming more accessible to older adults in Memphis. Everyone needs community to live a healthy, fulfilled life, but family and work connections often fall away as we age. The arts have the transformative power to build skills, confidence and community, and in doing so, the arts can improve physical and emotional health among seniors.

Episode 34: McKrell Baier Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

McKrell Baier is the director of the BridgeUp, GiddyUp nonprofit program. Through her unique and compassionate approach to horseback riding and Equestrian sports, McKrell and her team work with children ages 11 to 18 to help them become more confident, responsible, empathetic and goal-oriented. With wealth and privilege often associated with Equestrian sports, McKrell is also working to make the sport more accessible to all through her free program.

Episode 33: Tina Sullivan May 16, 2022

Show notes

Tina Sullivan, executive director of the Overton Park Conservancy, played a pivotal role in resolving the decade-long fight over the Memphis Zoo parking cars on the park's Greensward. Today's hard-fought wins are built on the activism of Overton Park's past, including the landmark Supreme Court court case in 1971 that kept Interstate 40 from bisecting the park. Tina's passion for the park's rich history is matched only by the excitement she has for the park's future, in which the Overton Park Conservancy will work with stakeholders at the Overton Park Shell, Metal Museum, the renovated golf course, Memphis Zoo and old growth forest to collaborate on future programming at one of Memphis' crown-jewel signature parks.

Episode 32: John Michael Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Media consolidation in the 1990s forced John Michael off the 96X airwaves in Memphis and on to a successful career in radio that included a stint at the vaunted KROQ in Los Angeles. John found that his varied experiences taught him a lot about what worked in radio. Those experiences also showed him how radio was broken and disconnected from the audiences it once served, and he began to think about how to reinvent it. John recently rebooted 96X and plans to involve the Memphis music community to make the station all it can be.

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