Lance Garza
January 3, 2022
To start the year, Jason interviewed Lance Garza, owner of Bitter Buffalo Records and one of the partners of Caliche, a new retail space, art gallery and counseling collaboration. Garza left Amarillo in high school only to return at the height of the pandemic. Coming from Chicago, he was met with a thriving local creative scene. “I think Caliche is a really unique concept for Amarillo, and I wanted to hear about that,” Jason says. “But I also wanted to learn why Lance left a vibrant, urban setting like Chicago. What did he see in Amarillo that convinced him to uproot, move here, and start a business?”
Suzanne Talley
January 10, 2022
Suzanne Talley spent 17 years as the executive director of Coffee Memorial Blood Center, guiding that organization through the first year of COVID-19. Then, in 2021, she left to take the helm of a smaller—but just as important—nonprofit, The 100 Club of the Texas Panhandle. “As Suzanne explains in this episode, the 100 Club fills in the gaps, financially speaking, after a first responder is killed in the line of duty,” Jason says. “A family might wait months for the government’s benefits to kick in, so Suzanne and her board members hand-deliver checks to these grieving families.”
Charles D’Amico
January 17, 2022
Brick & Elm readers first encountered D’Amico in our November/December 2021 feature about Little Free Libraries. He’s the author of several thrillers and the founder and president of Blue Handle Publishing, an indie book publisher. But in addition to that career, D’Amico is also the owner/operator of Amarillo’s three Jimmy John’s locations. “Charles is originally from Detroit,” says Jason. “We talked about how the franchise opportunity brought him to this area, but also about his approach to problem-solving and how that’s made him a serial entrepreneur.” Few podcast episodes give equal time to the worlds of sandwiches and books, but this one does.
Marcie Steward
January 24, 2022
“Sometimes I do a deep dive into a guest’s history to prepare for an interview,” Jason says. “But sometimes I don’t, just to see where the story goes. And those surprises can be really fun.” This was the case with Marcie Steward’s interview. She dropped out of high school and spent a few days as a homeless single mom before getting back on her feet thanks to Martha’s Home, a local nonprofit. “You can hear the surprise in my voice when we get to this part of her story,” Jason reveals. “We talk about those days as well as the depression that accompanied it. Marcie’s resilience and entrepreneurial spirit are so inspiring.”
Trevor Caviness
January 31, 2022
Amarillo loves homegrown success stories, and few are as prominent as that of Caviness Beef Packers. Despite being a private, family-owned business in a world of corporate giants, Caviness is still one of the largest beef packers in the world. In this interview with Trevor Caviness—the third-generation president of the company—listeners learn the Caviness origin story. “I was really pleased that Trevor was willing to discuss some of the big challenges in his industry, like sustainability and food safety,” Jason says. “You can tell those things are important to him. They’re important to consumers like me, too.”
