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Philly Who? — Society & Culture
Philly Who?

Telling the stories of the doers, thinkers, and performers of Philadelphia. From up-and-coming game-changers to well-known legends, you’ll dive into their past, present, future, and how it all contributes to The City of Brotherly Love. Hosted by Kevin Chemidlin.

Latest Episodes:

Keith Wallace: Creating The Wine School of Philadelphia Oct 10, 2018

Show notes

Keith Wallace is the founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia, which for almost 20 years has offered wine education courses for casual drinkers and seasoned sommeliers alike. In this episode, you’ll hear how Keith started his adult life as a journalist in Baltimore, but one seemingly average morning commute with his fiancee would change his life forever. After spending a few years recovering, he decided to abandon journalism and move to Napa to pursue his passion of winemaking, all while keeping his condition a secret. He would become a renowned wine expert, consulting clients in California and Italy, and one day, he was asked to teach a class. He would fall immediately in love with teaching, and thus the Wine School of Philadelphia was born.

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Judy Wicks: Pioneering Farm-to-Table at White Dog Cafe Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

Judy Wicks is the founder of the White Dog Cafe, a restaurant in University City that she started in the first floor of her house in 1983. What started as a muffin shop quickly grew into a renowned 200-seat restaurant that was among the first to feature farm-to-table local food.

In this episode, Judy will share how before starting White Dog, she and her then-husband opened Free People, a general store specifically for people under 30.

The store would find quick success, but, as a woman, she wasn’t being taken seriously, so she left the business and her marriage and literally crashed the restaurant industry.

She would become a community and sustainability leader for four decades, and here she’ll share what we can do to ensure a happy, healthy Philadelphia.

Judy's Memoir: Good Morning, Beautiful Business

@jwicks333 on Twitter

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Steven Grasse: Inventor of Hendrick’s Gin and Sailor Jerry Rum Sep 27, 2018

Show notes

Steven Grasse is the founder of Quaker City Mercantile, a Philly branding agency that focuses on spirits. He and his company have invented tons of products and brands, including Hendrick’s Gin, and Sailor Jerry Rum, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

In this episode, you’ll hear how before settling down in Philadelphia, Steve started out in the advertisement industry by creating ad campaigns while living all over the globe. Not long after that, he would create Gyro Worldwide, an ad agency that would quickly establish itself with in-your-face, controversial campaigns that garnered national attention.

And, we’ll talk about how some of Quaker City’s biggest spirits brands came to be, and how they made their way into pretty much every bar of the western world.

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Nick Stuccio: Creating the Philly Fringe Festival and FringeArts Sep 19, 2018

Show notes

Nick Stuccio is the President and Producing Director of FringeArts, and the creator of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, an annual city-wide celebration of thought-provoking progressive performance arts. In this episode, you’ll hear how Nick started his performance career as a ballet dancer, and how despite the fact that he didn’t take ballet seriously until he was 18, he quickly found himself thrust into a dance career.

He’ll share the moment his perspective on performance was totally turned upside down, and how he went from valuing tradition and technique to becoming obsessed with contemporary art .

And, you’ll hear the story of how FringeArts went from a small weekend of performances in 1997 to one of Philadelphia’s biggest and most well-known art organizations, featuring a 3-week festival, world-class performances, and a year-round beer garden.

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Christopher Wink: Technically, Journalism Isn't an Industry Sep 12, 2018

Show notes

Christopher Wink is the Publisher and CEO of Technically Media, which publishes local tech news network Technical.ly and nonprofit news site Generocity.org. He’s a lead organizer of Philly Tech Week and Baltimore Innovation Week, and in 2017 Folio magazine listed him as one of the 100 most innovative media leaders in the country.

In this episode, you’ll hear how in 2008, right as the economy collapsed, Technically started as a tech blog between 3 friends who were looking to get experience in an industry that wasn’t hiring. Chris will share how they would weather the storm, and how over the past 10 years they’ve built a company that not only reports but also offers events, conferences, and a hiring platform.

And, we’ll dive into the mindset of an entrepreneur, and how the line between huge success and catastrophic failure is often invisible.

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Chrisotomos Argerakis: The Real Life “School of Rock” at Andrew Jackson Elementary Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

Chrisostomos Argerakis is the head of the music program at Andrew Jackson Elementary school, a K-8 public school in South Philly. With no curriculum and no funding in place when he took the job, Chris managed to crowdfund enough money to purchase 30 guitars. The kids loved it so much that some started coming to school early to play. It wasn’t too long until this group started to evolve into something bigger.

That group would become a real-life School of Rock band, which plays shows year-round, has been featured in a documentary, and has even played cover songs alongside the original band.

Stay tuned for the story of how ‘Home,’ an elementary school rock band, became internet famous and gave an invaluable musical outlet to inner city kids.

Support Philly Who?

Donate via Paypal,

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William Tyrone Toms: Giving Resources to Every Creator at REC Philly Aug 29, 2018

Show notes

William Tyrone Toms is the Founder and Head of Strategy at REC Philly, a creative agency and incubator for local artists and creative entrepreneurs. In this episode, you’ll hear how Will and his cofounder, Dave Silver, would make a name for themselves throwing concerts as Broad Street Music Group. That is, until Will started to see a bigger need: artists could put on a great show, but had no idea how to network and market themselves.

What follows is the story of how REC Philly would be born to provide creatives with the tools and network they need to build a business around their creative craft. The community quickly grew to serve over 200 creatives, some of whom would immediately find life-changing opportunities.

And, for the first time, you’ll hear how Will has recently opened up about his troubled family past, and how he looks to set an example for those like him who are born into adversity.

Support Philly Who?

Donate via Paypal,

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Brendan Lowry: Creator of Peopledelphia and Social Media Influencer Aug 23, 2018

Show notes

Brendan Lowry is the founder of Rory Creative and one of the biggest social media influencers in Philadelphia. He is best-known for the Instagram account he created, Peopledelphia, which has over 85 thousand followers.

He is also a part of the founding team of Curalate, one of Philly ’s fastest growing startups. In this episode, we’ll chat about his beginnings at Curalate, which originally was an “AirBnb for parking and storage” called Storably. But after that idea failed, Brendan and the Curalate team found a much more successful business in social media marketing services.

We’ll also talk about how Peopledelphia began, and how, as it grew, Brendan had to find ways to ensure it actually represented all Philadelphians.

We also discuss his departure from Curalate, what he's doing now with Rory, and what life is like as one of the internet's sought-after "influencers."

Support Philly Who?

Donate via Paypal,

Venmo: @podphillywho,

Become a Monthly Patron,

Purchase a T-Shirt or Hat,

Become a Sponsor

Alex Hillman: A Founding Father of Coworking at Independents Hall Aug 17, 2018

Show notes

Alex Hillman is the cofounder of Indy Hall, one of Philly's first ever coworking spaces. Indy Hall today features around 350 independent entrepreneurs and freelancers. But, back in 2006, when Alex was a freelancer himself, freelancing wasn’t so common and could be pretty lonely. Alex loved the independent life, but he missed the camaraderie found in the workplace. So, he set out to find his peers.

In this episode, you’ll hear how his group of fellow independents grew, and how they had the crazy idea to actually do their work in the same place. Alex will share how he and the community built Indy Hall from the ground up, and how they lead the coworking revolution.

Support Philly Who?

Donate via Paypal,

Venmo: @podphillywho,

Become a Monthly Patron,

Purchase a T-Shirt or Hat,

Become a Sponsor

Lindsey Scannapieco: Repurposing Bok into South Philly's Creative Hub Aug 09, 2018

Show notes

Lindsey Scannapieco is the Managing Partner of Scout, an urban design collective that specializes in repurposing vacant and underutilized spaces. Their claim to fame so far is the Bok building, a giant, 8-story vocational school that takes up an entire city block in South Philly.

The Bok School was closed in 2012, but in 2014 Lindsey bought the building with a grand vision - she would lease pieces of it to creatives, who would use the building’s maker spaces for their original purpose, rather than just turning the building into condos.

Today, Bok has 130 businesses operating out of the building, but, the most famous one is Bok Bar, the rooftop beer garden with an unmatched view of the skyline. Bok Bar opened to a bit of controversy in 2015, but since then has become a Philly summer staple.

Support Philly Who?

Donate via Paypal,

Venmo: @podphillywho,

Become a Monthly Patron,

Purchase a T-Shirt or Hat,

Become a Sponsor

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