The Baked-In podcast is presented by Busey Bank who also happens to be the guest on this week’s episode. Emily Pickel, Busey’s head of charitable relations for the Gateway Region, joined Josh to dive a bit deeper into their community giving, you know, the stuff Josh is always talking about with Busey. Emily has a Masters in Social Work from Washington University and spent a number of years in smaller non-profits before joining the team at Busey.

Josh and Emily discuss not only the ways in which Busey gives back but also how they incentivize their teams to volunteer and support their initiatives through paid volunteer hours and Pay it Forward Fridays to further the organization’s commitment to the positive progress of the communities it serves. They talk about how it’s hard for small and medium size businesses to put these efforts together when it’s usually done by folks wearing multiple hats. Emily has some great thoughts on how to make it work for all sizes of businesses. Lots of aspirational stuff in this one for all leaders. Let’s go….

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh is joined by Dr. Jody Sowell, president and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society. Jody came to St. Louis in 2003 to pursue a doctorate in American Studies at St. Louis University and fell in love with our town. Eighteen years ago he took a small, temporary position at the History Museum and the rest is well…Under his leadership, the museum has been focused on community engagement and leaning hard into a cross cultural, multi-layered look at St. Louis history. He’s overseen 8 of the 10 most visited exhibits in the history of the museum. Josh and Jody talk about their shared appreciation for the power of an American Studies degree, the upcoming 1904 World’s Fair exhibit and building culture through communication and cheerleading. Lots of great leadership lessons in this one. Let’s go…

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the chance to sit with Curtis Francois, owner and CEO of World Wide Technology Raceway. Located just a few minutes from the Gateway Arch and covering over 700 acres, the Raceway draws fans from all over the country. Only a decade since purchasing the facility, Curtis has created the only venue in the U.S. to host the elite series from each of the three major race sanctioning bodies - NASCAR, INDYCAR, and NHRA, in addition to 300+ additional events per year. Josh and Curtis discuss the state of racetrack in 2011, the complexity of managing, operating and scaling such a sprawling facility and the community engagement that is a big part of his organization. Rev your engines and let’s go…

On today’s episode, Josh sits with Chris Hansen of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. Founded in 2006, the Foundation focuses on the development of artistic venues, studios and workspaces, short and long-term residencies, and community-based programming, to provide essential infrastructure for the arts to thrive in the St. Louis region. Chris and the Foundation take a very unconventional approach – via real estate development – to support a diverse artistic community. Chris has been with the Kranzbergs for over 10 years as the executive director driving the organization’s continued growth. This past summer, Forbes magazine named the Grand Center Arts District as the most exciting emerging arts district in America. Chris and Josh discuss the Forbes recognition, the venues that make up the bulk of his work and Music at the Intersection, the civic-led effort presented by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, that encompasses multiple stages set up in streets and green spaces throughout the neighborhood every year in September. Grab a lawn chair and let’s go…

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the opportunity to talk with Mitch Meyers. Mitch is a creative icon – from Spuds McKenzie to The Zipatoni Company to Cannabis. Widely recognized as the Mother of Bud Light from her early days at the Anheuser Busch companies, to working with plenty of Fortune 100 companies as the co-pilot of the famed Zipatoni, she has immense experience building brands and building cultures. They talk the Spuds campaign that really propelled Bud Light, building a culture of creativity in the 350 employee Zipatoni, retirement and unretirement, along with her new career leading BeLeaf, a medicinal and recreational Missouri cannabis company. Good stuff in this one. Let’s go…

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh drops a line with Shalie Dahl Moore who recently opened Wheelhouse Fish Co. – a sea to plate fish company providing products that she and her family catch on their own boats out of Petersburg, Alaska. She’s an incredibly passionate person launching into her business with a real focus on simply sharing her love for the people and the products from her hometown. Josh and Shalie talk about growing up on a boat, her journey to the Midwest on a basketball scholarship and how she brings her product to market. Wheelhouse Fish Co.’s items are currently available at Urban Eats in South City and the University City Farmer’s Market with lots more on the horizon. Grab your net and let’s go…

This week’s episode presented by Busey Bank is a celebration of St. Louis and 314 day! Josh catches up with Jeff and Randy Vines from STL-Style - a hub of civic pride, providing original St. Louis-inspired apparel and stuff and hosting a number of special events throughout the year at their incredibly bustling shop. They are unapologetically all about St. Louis. Self-described, their flagship shop on burgeoning Cherokee Street is a gathering spot for local politicos, historians, writers, musicians, filmmakers and artists from all walks, who coalesce there regularly to discuss the current state of affairs in the City of St. Louis and beyond. Josh, Jeff and Randy have the chance to discuss their 2008 cover story in the Sunday NY Times that preceded the 2010 opening of their shop, the art of distilling a neighborhood down to a simple t-shirt graphic, and their steadfast belief in non-expansion.

Be sure and check out this weekend’s special events celebrating 314 Day. More info can be found at stl-style.com

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh sits down with Matthew McGuire – the landmark restauranteur behind two fabulous St. Louis dining destinations. Matt and Josh go way back. They discuss Matt’s journey from his first successful endeavor after college – King Louie – through his days with Gerard Craft’s restaurant group and Central Hall Food Table in the Central West End. Matt is a true hospitality professional with an incredible eye for detail and is really good at making spaces and food and service impeccably understated and delicious and comfortable.

Josh dives deep to understand the intentionality behind Matt’s approach to everything he does. How does he build a staff and a culture? What is he doing differently now then he did as a young restauranteur? It’s great to hear the secret sauce from someone who clearly knows how to create a successful organization.

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh Allen talks with Charli Cooksey, the dynamic leader of WEPOWER St. Louis.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”

Charli and her organization are doing that work in St. Louis by re-examining the local economy. She focuses on early childhood education, business acceleration and support and lots and lots of policy work. She has a strong vision for the future of the St. Louis and is mobilizing help from a variety of resources in order to get there. In the conversation, Josh and Charli catch up on sharing the TEDx St. Louis stage in 2021, her upbringing in North St. Louis and how it led to her commitment to advocacy and the power of a sabbatical.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the opportunity to talk with Rebecca Van Bergen of Nest. Nest is a nonprofit supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of the artisan & maker economy to build a world of greater gender equity and economic inclusion. She founded Nest in 2006 after graduating with a Masters in Social Work from Washington University and winning a business/social enterprise competition which provided seed money for Nest. Over the years, she has garnered a tremendous reputation and numerous accolades for her work including being named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Levi Strauss & Co. Collaboratory Fellow, a PBS Changemaker, a CNN Young Person Who Rocks and one of the White House’s Top 100 Entrepreneurial Enterprises led by a young person.

Nearly 18 years later, Rebecca leads an organization that is partnering with brand leaders such as Etsy, Madewell, Patagonia, Target and West Elm to continue to improve transparency, social wellbeing, and economic opportunity for handworkers which includes both artisans and less skilled manual laborers, often working from their homes.

She is super inspirational. Josh and Rebecca talk about both starting businesses at 24, the challenges of leading a 100% remote workforce and Nest’s initiatives to assist makers in addressing the growing number of climate change issues.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh catches up with entrepreneur and fellow-baker, Jason Bockman – the man behind Strange Donuts, Up Late, IDK Ad Agency and a whole host of things we’ll probably never know about. He’s also a tremendous advocate for the City of St. Louis and actively involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Children’s Heart Foundation and Girls on the Run. He’s a guy that works tremendously hard to put himself in position for opportunities to present themselves. And then he dives in head first.

They talk about a lot including Jason’s upcoming second location opening of his overnight dining concept, Up Late, on February 17, celebrating 10 years with Strange Donuts and the power and the importance of being a dad. Jason brings an unparalleled energy to everything he does – including podcasting. The hustle is real folks.

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh sits down (remotely) with some wonderful folks – Johanna Hartzheim and Ismail Salhi – the team behind Wildgrain. Wildgrain is the first bake-from-frozen artisan bread, pastry and pasta subscription box. Founded in early 2020, Wildgrain has grown exponentially in the last 3 years, has 15,000+ 5-star reviews and was recently voted the #1 subscription box in the country (a pretty crowded field) in USA Today. Full disclosure, Josh’s bakery – Companion – is one of many artisan shops across the country that are vendor/partners baking products for Wildgrain’s nearly 60,000 active members. They talk about the challenges in scaling a business that relies on outside manufacturers, the power of non-traditional marketing, and their aggressive plans for continued expansion. They’ve passed through milestones of growth in a matter of months that many businesses take years to experience. So many lessons to learn for all-sized companies in this one and their honesty and transparency is super refreshing. If you’re interested in a monthly subscription, be sure to check out all of their offerings at Wildgrain.com

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had the opportunity to sit down with Steve and Will Smith, the father-son development team at New + Found – the folks behind the City Foundry and lots of other projects in the St. Louis metro area. While the firm works around the country, the Smiths clearly have a strong personal desire to change how St. Louis works, lives and plays. They discuss the back story of the ideation of the Foundry concept that began as simply a food hall and has grown into a multi-dimensional gem for the city, how it brought Will back home to work with his dad, and the future development on the property. It’s really one of the many great things happening in St. Louis. Let’s go…

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had a chance to catch up with Tara and Michael Gallina of Take Root Hospitality – who in less than 7 years have opened 4 distinct restaurant concepts in St. Louis and given the community dining and hospitality experiences on par with the best the town has to offer. They talk about the challenges of scaling their roles and their organization and how they define success after years in the industry. The restaurant business is never easy and their honestly and candidness is what makes these conversations so powerful.

Can a hotel be more than a hotel? Can it profoundly impact a neighborhood and a community? On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh sits down with the creative forces behind St. Louis’ newest boutique hotel – 21C Museum Hotel a multi-venue contemporary art museum, coupled with a hotel and chef-driven restaurant. GM JP Roberts, Director of Community Impact Christopher Randall and Executive Chef Matthew Daughaday all share their insights on what makes this place special and why they’re excited about their future in Downtown STL, specifically Downtown West. They discuss the vision for the hotel, the importance and focus on being great stewards and supporters of the neighborhood and attracting not only travelers but also locals to all the great things happening down on Locust street. The intentionality behind what they’re doing to drive more than simply “heads in beds” is certainly inspiring.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with world renown inspirational speaker, podcaster and best-selling author John O’Leary. John just wrapped on the film adaptation of his 2016 book - On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. The movie will tell the story of O’Leary, who was burned on 100% of his body at age nine in a house fire. While this conversation could have gone in a million different directions, they spent the time together discussing the challenges of bringing this movie to the starting line and especially to St. Louis, the on-set culture John helped to foster with his daily presence and the lessons learned on set that had nothing to do with movie making. His infectious positivity is incredibly inspiring. For more on John, be sure to check out the Live Inspired Podcast with John O’Leary wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh celebrates episode 30 with his Companion co-founder and sister, Jodi Allen. In the midst of all of the holiday craziness, they took a few minutes to look back on the 30-year history of the bakery and the lessons learned from family, the value of failure and, most importantly, the role their mom has played in their success. It’s the right time of year for a conversation like this one.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the pleasure of catching up his former professor from Stanford University in the Bay Area. Patrica Ryan Madson taught acting and improvisation at Stanford for many years and she had an incredible influence on his life as an entrepreneur.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh chats with Michael Dorf of City Winery. Founded in New York City in 2009, the urban winery, restaurant and intimate music venue has more than a dozen locations across the US with plans to keep expanding.

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the immense pleasure of talking to Andy Cohen – TV personality, best-selling author, award-winning producer and his cousin.