Host Dave Fiore speaks with Ja'Baree Allen, founder of Phusion AI, a Tallahassee-based tech company helping small businesses put artificial intelligence to work in practical, meaningful ways. Ja'Baree grew up in Perry, Florida, navigating racism in a divided small town, being the smart kid on the bus who learned early that standing out can cut both ways. He had a gift for words, a photographic memory and an entrepreneurial instinct he couldn't quite explain. Music gave him a voice and a professor at FSU's Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship gave him something he had never had before — someone who truly believed in him. These days Phusion AI is an Anthropic and NVIDIA partner bringing serious technology to local businesses that would not otherwise have access to it. Ja'Baree will tell you God opened every door and that he continues to walk in faith right through them. Dave and Ja'Baree talk about opportunity, community and what it really means to build something bigger than yourself. Contact Information Phusion AI Website LinkedIn _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube  

Host Dave Fiore speaks with Sue Semrau, the winningest women's basketball coach in Florida State history. Coach Sue will tell you the wins were never really the point, but they gave her the capital to keep doing what she was really passionate about – teach. She grew up in Seattle, the daughter of two schoolteachers, and arrived in Tallahassee in 1997 to take over a program that had gone 5-22 the year before. Twenty-four years, 492 wins, three Elite Eights and a National Coach of the Year award later, she retired in 2022 — partly because the game had changed and partly because her mother needed her. Both were enough. Along the way she turned down opportunities to leave, including a chance to go back home to Washington, because Tallahassee had become something she wasn't willing to walk away from. Since retiring she has helped found the First 12, a local initiative built around one simple idea — get the people and organizations serving the city's most vulnerable neighbors into the same room and let the relationships do the work. They talk about coaching, community and what it looks like to build something that outlasts the final score. Contact Information LinkedIn _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Host Dave Fiore sits down with Jim Hunt, founder of Serve Strong and a familiar presence in Tallahassee's business and civic community for nearly three decades. Jim will tell you he is a relationship person first. The job titles just kind of followed.  Jim grew up a military kid, moving every four or five years before his family settled in Melbourne Beach. He came to FSU planning on law school and took a part-time teller job at Capital City Bank that turned into a career that lasted two decades. Then one thing led to the next — the commercial internet before most people knew what a website was, time in marketing at the Moore Agency and 223, and even a stint helping bring cloud computing to Tallahassee. Along the way he chaired United Way of the Big Bend, led Leadership Tallahassee and served on boards across the city. Not because it was good for business, but because he watched his parents serve their community growing up.  Last year he launched Serve Strong, a leadership and strategic advisory, and landed his first client before he had told anyone what he was doing.  Dave and Jim talk about service, community and what it looks like to build a career around other people and then figure out what comes next.  Contact Information Serve Strong Website LinkedIn _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube  

On this mini-episode of How I Got Here: 5 Years Later, host Dave Fiore catches up with Episode 21 guest Mike Goldstein. At the end of each original episode, Dave asks his guests the same question: Where do you think "here" will be for you in three to five years? Mike and Dave listen to his answer from 2020, and he thoughtfully shares how his predictions compare to life today. If you have not already, please also listen to Mike's original episode. It will put some context to this conversation and add additional insight into his journey. Thank you for supporting this podcast and connecting with your community. _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Host Dave Fiore sits down with Nicole Everett, creator and host of "Conversations with Nicole" — a Tallahassee-based show on YouTube that started as a series of weekly lunches with photos posted on Facebook. It grew into a platform with a Roku channel, a local TV run and an audience that has followed her through every evolution. Nicole has spent most of her adult life in rooms where people needed someone to really listen. Fifteen years at the Tallahassee Lenders Consortium helping first-time homebuyers get mortgage-ready and into their first homes. Seven years at Florida Housing Finance Corporation overseeing three statewide foreclosure programs. And a decade of sit-down conversations that have a way of going places guests never quite expected. She grew up in North Dade County — the first Black family on her block in a neighborhood that turned out to be as diverse in culture as it was in cuisine. FAMU brought her to Tallahassee, but her career and the community she experienced here made it home. "Conversations with Nicole" found her during a quieter season — after her son left for college and she started exploring, taking classes, going to poetry shows and just figuring out what came next. The answer was 10 seasons of the show and counting with episodes that impact the dialog in our community. Dave and Nicole talk about community, mental health, homeownership and what it really means to hold space for people — because for Nicole, the show was never really about production. It was always about the conversation. Show Notes Website LinkedIn YouTube Facebook Spotify Apple Podcast  _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube  

Host Dave Fiore sits down with Jon Jopling, owner of Real Talk 93.3, Tallahassee's only locally owned FM radio station. Jon has had a lot of different jobs – jazz musician, instrument repair tech, wedding band owner and radio salesman. None of them were part of a plan, and somehow they all connect. He grew up in Miami, met his future wife in band at 14, and earned a jazz performance degree at FSU. He spent years building an entertainment company before a chance conversation with a wedding client opened an unexpected door into radio sales. A few years later he was running the station. A few years after that, he bought it. In between, he and his wife navigated her cancer diagnosis early in their marriage, years of IVF, and his own cancer scare at 37. Life kept interrupting, and they kept going. Dave and Jon talk about music, marriage, what local radio is actually for, and how you end up buying a business you never set out to own. Show Notes Learn more about Real Talk 93.3: realtalk93.com Facebook Instagram Take the Listener Survey: hightlh.com/survey _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube  

On this mini-episode of How I Got Here: 5 Years Later, host Dave Fiore catches up with Episode 19 Guest Skip Foster. Skip shares about the origins of Red Tape Florida, his unchanged thoughts about growth in this community and creating a new lane advocating for opinions he views as underrepresented.  If you have not already, please also listen to Skip's original episode. It will put some context to this conversation and add additional insight into his journey. Thank you for supporting this podcast and connecting with your community. _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast:  How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Host Dave Fiore talks with Tasha Pizarro, owner of Momma P's Ice Cream — Tallahassee's only old-school neighborhood ice cream truck. But as Tasha will tell you, she's about a lot more than ice cream. Her mission is simple: bring joy, create memories and build real relationships in the community she serves.  Tasha grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota, raised by a single mom and shaped by early lessons in hustle and responsibility. From delivering newspapers in blizzards at 10 years old to working at one of the busiest McDonald's in the Midwest, she learned systems, discipline and the value of showing up. That foundation carried her into a 12-year career in education that eventually led her to Tallahassee.  After a difficult school year stripped the joy from the classroom, Tasha made the unexpected decision to walk away from teaching and finally pursue an 18-year-old dream: a super cute, polka-dotted ice cream truck. What followed was a crash course in entrepreneurship — navigating Florida's commissary laws, cold-calling businesses and schools, surviving a blown engine and even pivoting during COVID to keep the business alive.  They talk about resilience, faith, relationships and what it really means to serve people, because for Tasha, the ice cream is just the vehicle. The real work is connection.  _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube    

Host Dave Fiore speaks with Bill Schack, founder of Inclusion Café and Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering people with intellectual disabilities through job and life skills training. Bill grew up in New Jersey, where early responsibility and exposure to both hard work and opportunity helped form his values. After coming to Florida State University, he built a 20-year career in the restaurant industry, opening stores, leading teams, and learning how to motivate and care for people. Along the way, Bill became deeply involved in this community, helping build and lead the food program at the Kearney Center, serving hundreds of meals a day to people experiencing homelessness. Following a life-altering battle with COVID, Bill returned to his work with a renewed sense of purpose that included serving as a chef with Social Kitchen. He has run for public office, was a longtime Special Olympics volunteer and has been named regional high school golf coach of the year. Bill brings the heart of a servant leader and mentor with the vision to create opportunity and belonging for others. Program Note: Bill started a new job between the time we recorded this episode and its release date. He has joined the team at the new Flying Biscuit Café.  _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube  

Host Dave Fiore speaks with Lashawn Gordon, executive director of United Partners for Human Services. Lashawn grew up in Pensacola as a big sister to four boys with lots of responsibility but also support from extended family and a caring community. She saw that education and work could also lead to other opportunities, which she took full advantage of. She came to Tallahassee to finish her undergraduate education at FAMU and got connected to the Pace Center for Girls, where she would serve the young women in our community for 16 years. Lashawn has the heart of a counselor and mentor with the vision for leading an organization and finding innovative solutions to serve our local human services agencies and those who depend on them.  _________________________________ Thanks for listening to Tallahassee's Podcast. Enjoying the conversation? Please share this episode. Love the show? Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.  About the Podcast: How I Got Here is hosted by Dave Fiore and features Tallahassee leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers sharing the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped their journey. The show is produced by Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee-based strategic marketing firm that helps businesses build trust with the audiences that matter most. Visit hightlh.com for more great episodes and to suggest a guest or sign up for email updates.  Connect with Dave Fiore: LinkedIn Explore more local podcasts: Tallahassee Podcast Network Follow or Subscribe to How I Got Here Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube