The Chicagoland Guide

Latest Episodes:

Mitchell Kahn-Greenhouse and Curaleaf Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Mitchell Kahn, the owner of Greenhouse, which is a recreational cannabis store that is brand new in Skokie. Mitch is also the founder and former CEO of Grassroots Cannabis and is now a board member of Curaleaf. We talk about the cannabis industry, the development of the Skokie store with its distinct architecture, the recent sale of Grassroots to Curaleaf, and marijuana in general. We talk about changing public perceptions and how to learn more about the products.

Greenhouse is located at the corner of Skokie Boulevard and Old Orchard Road. It is open Monday-Saturday from 10AM-8PM and Sundays 10AM-7PM. Greenhouse has several other locations throughout Illinois. More information can be found on their website here: https://www.greenhouseil.com/

Inside the Skev is a one stop shop for all things Skokie and Evanston hosted by Aaron Masliansky. Be the first to know about local events, new podcast episodes, real estate and the latest stories about the great people in these towns by going tohttp://www.skevanston.com. Sign up for the newsletter and reach out to Aaron Masliansky at aaron@skevanston.com with any questions or suggestions. Be sure to also follow Inside the Skev on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Erlene Howard and Mary Beth Schaye-Collective Resource Compost Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Erlene Howard and Mary Beth Schaye from Collective Resource Compost. Collective Resource Compost is a woman-owned compost and food scrap pickup service based in Evanston. They collect all food waste and compostable products from homes, businesses, and institutions and take them to a commercial composting site. The food scraps then become a nutrient-rich soil amendment instead of sitting in a landfill.

Commercial composting is different from backyard composting, because anything that was once alive (including meat and dairy products) can be composted. In addition to hauling compost, they educate the public about the importance of reducing landfill use. Ontop of that, they have municipal franchise agreements for Skokie and Evanston!

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Ross Gordon-Catch Co Aug 16, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Ross Gordon. Ross is a serial entrepreneur who has taken Skevanston by storm. Ross is the founder of Catch Co, a digitally native sport-fishing brand that began as a subscription service called Mystery Tackle Box in 2012. Today Catch Co. sells millions of fishing lures every year through their Mystery Tackle Box subscription, ecommece platform, and retail partners like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Ross also previously founded Evanston’s own CraftJack, a marketing and SaaS company for home improvement contractors.

CatchCo is famous for their marketing which includes:

Karl VonDibble, Chief Fishing Officer: https://shopkarls.com/

Unchartered (A content series centered on exploring fishing, and friendship.): https://catchco.com/project/unchartered/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CatchCo/videos and https://www.youtube.com/user/MysteryTackleBox

Make sure to follow Mystery Tackle Box and Catch Co on social media for a good laugh and to get hooked (pun intended) on fishing!

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Len Joy-Author of Everyone Dies Famous Aug 09, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Len Joy, the author of the new book Everyone Dies Famous. Everyone Dies Famous is a story from the heartland about the uncommon lives of everyday people—the choices they make, how they live their lives, and how they die. Len is an author of several novels, a Skevanston resident and a nationally ranked triathlete and competes internationally representing the United States as part of TEAM USA.

More information about Len can be found on his website which can be found here: https://www.lenjoybooks.com/

Everyone Dies Famous can be purchased from Bookends & Beginnings here: https://www.bookendsandbeginnings.com/book/9781945448720

Everyone Dies Famous is published by BQB publishing, an imprint of Boutique of Quality Books.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

The League of Women Voters of Evanston Jul 31, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Kathy Tate-Bradish and Michelle Jordan, both members of the League of Women Voters of Evanston. In this episode we discuss the history of the League, its role in American Democracy and its interest in seeing the Fair Tax in Illinois passed in the November elections. The Fair Tax is a graduated income tax for the State of Illinois based on income level.

Several links were referenced in the episode and they can be found here:

League of Women Voters of Evanston

League of Women Voters of Illinois

League of Women Voters-National

Illinois Online Voter Application

Cook County Vote by Mail

Chicago Vote by Mail

Vote Yes for Fair Tax

Other topics discussed were the state of the Illinois budget, the role of civil service, the potential delay in national elections and voter suppression.

Kathy Tate-Bradish has been a member of the League of Women Voters of Evanston since 1988 and is on the League of Women Voters of Illinois Fair Tax committee.

She has been teaching sex education in rural Kenya since 2004, and is the co-founder and Executive Director of The ABCs of Sex Education: Kufanya Uamuzi Bora (making wise decisions), an international NGO based in Kenya, which trains Kenyan farmers to teach HIV prevention, early pregnancy reduction, and comprehensive sex education in their own rural communities. She spends 1-2 months a year in Kenya.

Michelle Jordan is a lawyer and community activist. She has spent decades working for reform in Illinois politics. She spent 4 years as the Judicial Reform Issues Specialist on the Issues Board of the League of Women Voters of Illinois and was later elected to the board of the League of Women Voters of Illinois. She is a longtime board member and served 2 years as Secretary Treasurer of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, now rebranded as Reform for Illinois. She was the Illinois Counsel for Legal Community Against Violence, a gun safety organization in San Francisco. In 2018 she was awarded the Loda Award by the Democratic Party of Evanston, later she was elected to serve a 2-year term as President of the Democratic Party of Evanston.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Elan Mosbacher from Spothero Jul 19, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Elan Mosbacher, the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Operations at Spothero, and a Skokie resident. Spothero is the #1 downloaded parking reservation app. They provide an easy way for consumers across North America to reserve the best parking with the best rates, before heading to their destination. They also use artificial intelligence to make the parking industry more efficient, and partner with cities to improve their transportation system with partnerships with apps like Waze and the City of Chicago. In this conversation we discuss the dynamics of the parking industry and where it is headed.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Aina Gutierrez from Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse Jul 13, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Aina Gutierrez, the Executive Director of Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse, an Evanston-based non-profit organization that promotes the reduction of waste in landfills through sustainable deconstruction and renovation building practices. Reclaimed building materials are sold at their warehouse at low cost to the community and the proceeds support their education, job-training and job-development programs which foster individual, community and economic growth in Evanston and beyond.

Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse is planning a move this fall, into a new and larger facility one block from their current location in Evanston. There is a crowd funding campaign to raise money for the space through July 24, 2020 that will be matched by a generous donor. You can donate by clicking here. You can also shop and learn more by stopping by the current warehouse located at 2101 Dempster Street, Evanston IL 60201.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Jill Bishop from Multilingual Connections Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Jill Bishop. Jill is Founder & CEO of Multilingual Connections, an Evanston-based company that helps you understand, engage and grow your multilingual audience through translation, transcription and multimedia localization in over 75 languages. They are a woman owned business (WBENC) and a member of the Association of Language Companies, GALA and the American Translators Association. Click here to learn more about Multilingual Connections.
Jill's PhD in Linguistic Anthropology focused on speakers of obsolescing languages, and her work experience includes UX research for Sapient, implementing language, culture and diversity training programs for 130 Chipotle Mexican Grill locations and language teaching at the high school, university and corporate levels.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Linda Darragh from Northwestern University May 26, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Linda Darragh. Linda is the The Larry Levy Executive Director and Clinical Professor Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative at Northwestern University. She is leading a program that is partnering Northwestern with the City of Evanston to help local businesses navigate the pandemic. To help Evanston's small businesses weather this current crisis, local Kellogg alumni and students will provide pro bono consulting to Evanston business owners in high-demand areas, including digital marketing and social media, public relations, financial planning and analysis, and human resources management. The program can be found by clicking here. In this conversation we also speak about her background in entrepreneurship, the program at Northwestern and how businesses are adapting to the pandemic.

Inside the Skev is a one stop shop for all things Skokie and Evanston hosted by Aaron Masliansky. Be the first to know about local events, new podcast episodes, real estate and the latest stories about the great people in these towns by going to http://www.skevanston.com. Sign up for the newsletter and reach out to Aaron Masliansky at aaron@skevanston.com with any questions or suggestions. Be sure to also follow Inside the Skev on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Lena Kim from niceLena & Friends May 24, 2020

Show notes

This week, on Inside the Skev, we sit down with Lena Kim from niceLena & Friends. niceLena & Friends is a crafts shop located at 1235 Chicago Avenue in Evanston, in the Main Dempster Mile. Lena makes incredibly innovative and custom crafts including prints, candles, mugs, cards and so much more. We talk about her innovative and engaging marketing efforts including the fairy door project, crafting parties in the store and her fun social media posts. We also talk about Lena’s background as moving to America as a 10 year old from South Korea and how that has taught her to be so creative.

This episode was recorded prior to the stay at home order being put in place. The physical store is closed to the public but the online store is open and Lena is offering curbside pickup, delivery or shipping. Please support her!

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

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