Rob knows a thing or two about the need for workplace mentoring involving our kids.

Listen as he and I discuss programs he has seen and why the need is greater than ever to connect our kids' present to their future!

Rob O’Brian, CEcD has nearly forty years in local and regional economic development. During his more than 20-year tenure as president of the Joplin (MO) Area Chamber of Commerce, he led the development of the largest business park in Southwest Missouri, created a small business innovation incubator, and collaborated

with the local community college and Workforce Investment Board to establish an advanced manufacturing training center. Rob also developed a seven-county

economic development partnership, including counties in the adjoining states of Kansas and Oklahoma. Rob was also instrumental in the effort to bring a new 600-student medical college to Joplin, the first new medical school in Missouri in more than fifty years!

Sarah and Joyce were the first Spencer County match for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Indiana back in 2000!

Join the 3 of us as we discuss how life was like when their match began, their favorite memories and how BBBS changed their lives.

Be prepared to get emotional!

Matthew is a current Big with us at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Indiana. As a retired military man, his brings a strong sense of purpose for improving the community in which he lives with his wife and children.

Join us as Matthew discusses why he chose to be a Big, what that typically looks like and why others should join our ranks as a defender of potential!

DJ Quinn is a two-time Big Brother / Big Sisters volunteer, having been matched from 1980-1984 with a Little Brother in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He currently assists with mentor programs in the Pierce County Juvenile Court system. His honest and humorous writing style was developed in previous editing and writing jobs for airline labor unions, lifestyle magazines, and real estate advertising. Quinn retired in January 2023 from a 16-year career as a Real Estate Broker. Prior to his real estate career, he worked as a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines from 1979 to 2005, flying both domestic and international routes from the Minneapolis and Seattle crew bases. The second oldest of nine-children raised in Helena, Montana, he currently resides in Gig Harbor, Washington.

What if I told you there is a crisis right with our boys? What if I told you that our boys aren't doing well??

Join Hal and I as we discuss an issue that noone is talking about: the boy crisis!

After spending over 2 decades in the classroom, Hal Bowman has been crisscrossing the United States, helping tens of thousands of teachers and school leaders understand and shift classroom and campus culture. His work around school culture and its importance in creating the most effective environment for student success and teacher retention is unmatched.  Hal’s programs include Teach Like A Rock Star, Be The One, Change a Kid’s Life, and Culture Shock.

Due in part to Hal’s masterful delivery and the programs’ next-generation, envelope-pushing content, these research-based events for educators, administrators, and students have remained highly sought after by schools and districts across the country for over 15 years.

 Hal is also the founder of Men in Education - a private Facebook group that empowers men in education with support, personal growth, professional development, and community. Additionally, his books, Dear Teacher: 100 Days of Inspirational Quotes and Anecdotes and Thank You, Teacher are #1 best sellers and available everywhere books are sold. 

Connect with Hal online at HalBowman.com or on social media @HalBowman on all platforms.

Chip Baker is a fourth generation educator. He has been a teacher/coach for over twenty four years. He is a multiple time best-selling Author, Youtuber/Podcaster, Transformational Speaker and Life Coach. He is the Greater Houston Area Ambassador for Hartwell University. Chip Baker is the creator of the youtube channel/podcast Chip Baker - The Success Chronicles where he interviews people from all walks of life and shares their stories for positive inspiration and motivation.  Live. Learn. Serve. Inspire. Go get it!

Ginger Healy MSW, LCSW is a clinical social worker with experience as a non-profit case manager, child abuse investigator, hospital social worker, and school social worker. She spent 15 years as the social service supervisor at an international adoption agency and was able to travel to provide support for orphanages all over the world.

She is currently the director of programs for the Attachment & Trauma Network where she co-anchors the podcast “Regulated and Relational” and speaks nationwide on trauma-informed schools, therapeutic parenting, and community engagement.

Ginger is the author of Regulation and Co-Regulation: Accessible Neuroscience that Brings Calm into the Classroom and has a companion workbook set to release in February! Her greatest teachers about developmental trauma and neurodivergence are her four children.

Join Ginger and I as we discuss how Big Brothers Big Sisters focus on creating and supporting one to one mentoring can literally save the lives of kids!

In her two decades as a consultant on education and economic class, Ruby has published more than a dozen books and spoken extensively around the globe.

Ruby empowers educators and community leaders to address issues of poverty in classrooms, communities, businesses, hospitals, churches, and social services. Through aha! Process programs and conferences, Ruby has certified thousands of trainees in her Framework for Understanding Poverty and Bridges Out of Poverty models. Her book Emotional Poverty won an IPPY Award from the Independent Publishers organization, which named it one of the best educational resources of the year.

Over her distinguished career, Ruby has worked as a teacher and principal, written K–12 curriculum in all subject areas, and assisted in strategic planning and staff development programs for multiple organizations. Ruby’s work guides educators and community leaders through her extensive library of resources. She aims to equip everyone she meets with the tools to write a future story full of hope.