Eric Woolridge is the President of Destination by Design, a Boone-based planning and design firm that helps small towns across the U.S. plan, build, and market themselves as destination-quality communities. With over 20 years of experience and work across 150+ local government jurisdictions, Eric and his team blend land use planning, civil engineering, landscape architecture, and place branding into one shop.In this episode, we talk with Eric about what it actually takes to transform a small town — how tourism tax dollars get prioritized and deployed for projects like greenways, mountain bike parks, and downtown revitalization. We get into the business of running a firm like Destination by Design, the gap between a town's potential and its execution, and what the High Country of North Carolina gets right (and could do better) when it comes to planning for growth.🔗 ⁠⁠DBD🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Amy Lowrey is the owner of Tiny Hands Pottery, a handcrafted ceramics studio based in Boone, NC. Amy calls herself an accidental potter — she spent her adult life in the nonprofit world, building homes in Mexico, traveling to 40+ countries, and helping underserved students access college funding. Then in 2015 she took a pottery class, fell completely in love, and eventually made the leap to full-time artist.In this episode, we talk with Amy about that pivot — what it takes to walk away from a life of service work and bet on yourself as a creative. We get into the realities of building a handmade goods business from scratch: selling wholesale, doing shows, teaching lessons, and finding your people. Amy shares what she's learned about making things with intention and why she believes beauty and creativity have the power to light the world up.🔗 ⁠⁠Tiny Hands Pottery🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Singer/songwriter John Lucas has built the kind of career most musicians only imagine—over 40 million Spotify streams, songs licensed by Google, MTV, and Freeform, and a loyal following grown over more than a dozen years. Now putting down roots in Boone, NC, he joins us in the High Country of North Carolina for a honest conversation about what success in music actually looks like from the inside.We get into the numbers most artists won't say out loud—what Spotify really pays per stream—along with the rise of AI-generated music and what it means for working songwriters. And underneath it all, the more personal question: how John feels about the music he's made, and what it's like to keep creating when the industry keeps changing the rules. It's a candid look at art, money, and meaning from one of Boone's most accomplished creatives.🔗 ⁠⁠John Lucas⁠🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Carrington Doolittle Pertalion is a Certified Nurse Midwife at AppHealthCare in Boone, NC, and has been caring for women across the High Country of North Carolina for more than 25 years. In this episode, Carrington walks us through her unlikely path to midwifery — dropping out of high school at 16, working in commercial fishing, and finally discovering her calling the day her daughter was delivered by a nurse midwife. She talks about going back to school, the risk of opening her own private practice straight out of midwifery school in 2002, and what it means to come full circle back to public health at AppHealthCare, where her very first nursing job in Boone began. We get into what most people misunderstand about midwifery, why healthcare should be about the person in front of you rather than the clock on the wall, and what 25 years of caring for women in the same community actually feels like.🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Coy Baker, Founder and CEO of Baker Forge & Tool, joins us to talk about building one of America's leading Damascus steel manufacturers in Boone, NC. Coy started his blacksmithing journey in the mountains of Western North Carolina in 2016, engineered his own 25-ton hydraulic forging press, and in 2020 developed a method for fusion welding copper to carbon steel — the breakthrough behind the brand's signature CopperMai and BronzeMai laminated steels.In this episode we cover manufacturing in the High Country of North Carolina, what it takes to run a family-owned operation alongside his brother Jay (Shop Manager) and father Bruce (CFO), the innovation behind proprietary steels like Mosaic Damascus and Stainless SanMai, and how Baker Forge supplies knife makers, artisans, and major knife companies from a single shop on Waterstone Drive — with steel shipping to Asia, Australia, Europe, and across North America.🔗 ⁠Baker Forge🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Description: Jacob and Melina Daniels are the husband-and-wife co-owners of Common Good Co., an artisan gallery and fine art space on King Street in Boone, NC. In this episode, you'll hear how two App State art students went from selling their work at traveling markets to owning and restoring a 100-year-old historic building in the heart of downtown — and what it actually took to build something from nothing. Expect a candid conversation about creative entrepreneurship, the risks of betting on your craft, and what it means to create a space that serves both artists and the community.

Dalton George is the Mayor of Boone, NC and the youngest mayor in North Carolina. Before the title, he's a kid from Midway who came to App State and fell in love with the mountains. In this episode, we get to know Dalton — who he is outside of politics, what shaped him, and how he ended up running a town at 26. We also get into what the job actually looks like day to day, how Town Council works, and what it's like leading a college town where students outnumber year-round residents. We talk housing affordability, student voting, the Howard Street project, and where Boone is headed over the next five years.Support local stories from the High Country—follow and share!🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Chris Grasinger is the High Country Regional Manager for Mountain BizWorks and a co-founder of Center 45 Climbing and Fitness in Boone, NC. He's a Blowing Rock native, App State MBA grad, and has spent the last decade deep in the business development world — from co-founding Startup High Country to managing lending and coaching for small businesses across Western North Carolina. In this episode, Chris talks about his own path into entrepreneurship, what Mountain BizWorks actually does for local business owners, and the work he's leading now through Mountain BizWorks Market Advisors — helping people buy and sell businesses in WNC. The big topic: the Business Buyer Accelerator, a new program designed to help entrepreneurs purchase existing local businesses as Baby Boomer owners prepare to retire. If you've ever thought about owning a business in the High Country, this one's for you.Support local stories from the High Country—follow and share!🔗 ⁠⁠Market Advisors🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Tina Houston is the owner of Reid's Cafe & Catering, The Beacon Butcher Bar, Betty's Biscuits, and Pearl's Kitchen + Tiny Market — four restaurants across the High Country of North Carolina built over 25 years. In this episode, Tina shares how she went from launching a catering company in 1999 to becoming one of the most recognized names in Boone's food scene, what it means to cook with local ingredients and pay livable wages, and how she kept going through COVID and Hurricane Helene. Named the 2024 Citizen of the Year by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce.Support local stories from the High Country—follow and share!🔗 ⁠Betty's Biscuits🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]

Max Rünzel is the CEO and Co-Founder of HiveTracks, a Boone-based tech company using bees as biosensors to track hive health and biodiversity across 150+ countries. Originally from Germany, Max left a dream job at the United Nations in Rome when two beekeepers from the High Country convinced him to join them in building something new. In this episode, he shares the wild story of how HiveTracks came to be, the science behind using bees to monitor our planet, and what it's like to build a global company from rural North Carolina.Support local stories from the High Country—follow and share!🔗 ⁠Hive Tracks🌐 ⁠⁠Real Boone Studios⁠⁠📸 ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠💬 ⁠⁠[email protected]