An Army of Normal Folks - An Army of Normal Social Workers (Pt 1)

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Dr. Rhonda Smith has assigned the podcast to over 400 of her social work students at the University of Southern Mississippi. In this episode we meet 7 of them, who are sure to inspire you about this rising generation! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the reasons that I like for the students to listen to an army of normal folks is so that they can see that they can really do what we're talking about. Like it's not just some idea that they have that will never come true, but that they can see that real people, normal people, can really make these things happen. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband. I'm a father.

I'm an entrepreneur. And I've been a football coach. And somehow that last part, well, they made a movie about it. And that movie is called Undefeated. Guys, I believe our country's problems are never going to be solved by a bunch of fancy talking people on CNN and Fox, where nice clothes using language nobody ever uses, but rather by an army of normal folks. That's us guys,

just you and me deciding, hey, you know what, maybe I can help. Dr. Rhonda Smith is a past guest who's assigned the podcast to over 400 of her students and today we're going to meet some of them. I can't wait for you to hear the passion of this rising generation right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players.

Like, you're building a team from scratch and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier and we watched Paraguay against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that gonna be my game, but it was gonna be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow. Now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In sitcoms, when someone has a problem, they just blurt it out and move on. Well, I lost my job and my parakeet is missing.

How was your day? But the real world is different. Managing life's challenges can be overwhelming. So what do we do? We get support. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have mental health resources available for you at loveyourmindtoday.org. That's loveyourmindtoday.org.

See how much further you can go when you take care of your mental health. Adventures should never come with a pause button. Remember the movie pass era where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9? It made zero sense and I could not stop thinking about it.

I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines. Like the visionary behind MoviePass, Black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of MoviePass, the company that he founded. His story is wild and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong, those kids are wearing

Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me, and they're not going to describe someone who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then, over a hundred years later, we take a second look.

I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. to shoot squirrels. They're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern. You know, it's like, well, he's the last one

who saw our life. So how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be, an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry, where we're breaking down why open AI along with other AI companies are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job.

I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better Offline on the iHot Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts. costs. Last year we did an episode with Dr. Rhonda Smith who is gleefully joining us. Hey Rhonda, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm great.

I've been on the road probably 17 of the last 20 days and I'm really glad to be home and I'm looking forward to this chat. We did an episode with Rhonda, Dr. Smith, on her life story, including her family being chased out of Mexico because her father didn't like a kid leaning his bike on a car. Let's see. I remember the story Rhonda. Rhonda's difficulty with past relationships with her ex-husband's struggle with drug addiction and how she overcame that abuse, which led to her escaping that situation with a daughter and ultimately choosing a career of social work which led to her being a professor now at the University of Southern Mississippi.

What's coolest, not coolest, there's a lot of cool things about Rhonda, but for our perspective, one of the coolest things about Rhonda is she is assigned listening to an army of normal folks to over 400 of her students, her poor unsuspecting students at the University of Southern Mississippi, which we're really honored by that our podcast has struck her enough that she is chosen to utilize it as part of her text in many of her classes. So that's a little bit about Rhonda, but today's interesting because now we're gonna meet several of her students from some of her classes

last semester and we're gonna talk about how they in their own right are an army of normal folks and what they've learned. And hopefully the inspiration they've gotten from the show and the things that they want to do possibly in their lives as a result of some of the work they've done with Rhonda and hopefully some of what they've learned from our re-enormation. So Rhonda, what is this class and what is it about and why are you signing a podcast as part of the syllabus? Well, several of the students that are here today, I've taught a couple of times.

And so they may have had this assignment more than once. I taught a couple of y'all in undergrad, isn't that right? Yep. And then I had them again in graduate school. And so I think the first class that maybe they listened to the army of normal folks was in social policy, where we talked about policy making and making changes on a bigger level. And then the most recent class that I had them in is social entrepreneurship and it's where they got to work on an actual business plan

project and the army of normal folks, that's what we hear a lot about, is people actually taking social projects and making it happen, right? And so one of the things, one of the reasons that, like for the students to listen to an army of normal folks is so that they can see that they can really do what we're talking about. Like it's not just some idea that they have that will never come true, but that they can see that real people, normal people can really make these things happen.

And so that's one of the reasons that I like them to listen to at least one of the episodes of an army of normal folks so that they can see that it's attainable, that it's possible. What are the reasons I love here what you say, what you're saying now is One of the reasons I love hearing what you're saying now is, candidly, there's a vast ocean, oftentimes, between academia and reality. So much of what we learn in school, while it's applicable and important and part of our development, much of, you know, Rhonda, not to be, I don't want to be, I don't even know what the word is.

I don't want to come off ugly, but there is an old adage, those who don't teach. And in business, people often say, those who don't make it happen end up teaching. And I think that's a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that oftentimes what's taught in the textbooks and the prevailing thought that is running around in academia isn't always necessarily applicable in the real world. But it seems like, at least in social entrepreneurship,

you're really working hard to bridge that gap. Absolutely. Many of us that are teaching in the social work arena, we have done. And we're teaching so that we can pass that knowledge on to the students that are coming through the program now because we do know what's out there and we do know, you know, what has to happen to keep these kids going and motivated.

And, you know, we want to keep the momentum going. And so that's one of the reasons that I got into teaching was because I do know what it takes to, you know, help the people out there street level. We've got to encourage the new social workers that are coming through the program just because it's a hard job. Would you say so guys? I mean, they're just getting started in their careers now and so they're seeing

now that, yeah, it's not always what we think it is. And so. So let's briefly, very briefly be introduced to some of these students. So starting with Laura, you're at the top of my screen. Just tell me your name, who you are, what your degree or degrees are in, and just kind of introduce yourself real quickly and then we'll get to kind of the work that you all have done. Well, I'm Laura. I- McNeil.

McNeil, Laura McNeil. I got both of my degrees from Southern. They're both in social work, Bachelor, undergrad and Masters. My social work experience is kind of all over the field. My undergrad internships or internship was at CPS, Child Protective Services, and I was in safety and investigations. And then my grad school internship was at a nursing home. So very both opposite sides of the playing field, loved them both. Yeah, and I hope to do, I think I want to work with like hospice,

geriatrics, that kind of stuff. Cool. Amy? Hey, I'm Ailey Evans and I got my bachelor's in sociology, philosophy, and nonprofit studies and I got my master's in social work. During my bachelor's, I was actually able to do a really cool research project on women's addiction and recovery experiences. That's the population I work with. I am currently the director of therapeutic programming at a residential

women's addiction recovery center. Very neat. Bailey. Hey, my name is Bailey McElwain. I got my undergrad and graduate degrees in social work from Southern Miss. I had Dr. Smith for both of them. For my undergrad internship experience, I was working with the homeless population in Hattiesburg.

And then in grad school, I worked with adolescents, teenagers with intellectual disabilities. And I also participated in a program through the University of Arkansas for medical sciences called LEND, Leadership and Education and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, but I think I want to bear more towards working with kids. You know, now that I've had all these experiences, I love them all, but I love my kids a lot. William. My name is William Elijah Woodward and I did my undergrad at Louisiana State University.

I'm from New Orleans originally. That's where I want to be long-term. I love this city. And I did my master's at University of Southern Mississippi in social work. My undergrad experiences were in school, working with troubled adolescents. We're in school working with like troubled adolescents. And then for my master's, I worked with the homeless population in Hattiesburg. Is it Sasha? Sasha. Sasha, I apologize. Hi, my name is Sasha Fluker.

I got both of my degrees from Southern Miss as well, my undergrad in social work and my master's in social work as well. And I had Dr. Smith all the way through. I was also a graduate assistant, so I spent extra time with Dr. Smith as well. I did my undergraduate internship at the Children's Center for Communication and Development that worked with kids who have disabilities.

And then I had my master's internship with the geriatric population. So kind of like Laura, we were on two different ends of it. But my goal is I wanna have some type of program to advocate for kids with autism. Tara. Hello, my name is Tara Dunn-Ney-Bee. I got my bachelor's and master's in social work

from the University of Southern Mississippi. For my undergraduate internship, I interned at Kids Help Child Advocacy Center. I worked with children that were abused and their families. And then for graduate school, my internship was at the Institute for Disability Studies at Southern Miss. Bailey and I actually interned together. So I worked with adolescents with disabilities and then I also participated in the LEND program. And last but not least, Juliana.

So my name is Juliana Stevens. I got my undergrad at Mississippi State University in social work. I worked a couple of years in the field in special education, child advocacy, and inpatient psych. I did that and then was like, well, I need to get my master's. So I went to Southern Miss and got my masters in social work and just graduated like everybody else here. So it's been good.

I've never considered myself a scholar, but rarely do I feel like I'm the dumbest person in the room. And when I hear all these undergraduate and graduate degrees and everything else, I'm struck by two things. One, I feel like a dummy. graduate degrees and everything else. I'm struck by two things. One, I feel like a dummy. And two, how encouraged I am to see so many young faces

who are inspired to spend so much time learning a craft that is intended to better society. So one, thanks for making me feel like an idiot. But two, I applaud you all for working so hard and developing a skill set that hopefully betters our culture. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors, but first a thought or two from yours truly. At least two teachers, Dr. Rhonda and Jenny Manguno

Dr. Rhonda and Jenny Manguno organically decided to use the podcast in their classroom without any encouragement from us and candidly any knowledge until we found out later. But what if there was encouragement from us? It could be a great resource for service clubs and all kinds of classes, social work, oral communications, English history, religion. of classes, social work, oral communications, English history, religion. If you're a teacher and decide to do this or share it with teachers in schools you know for their consideration, let us know. And also if you have any questions, email me at bill at normal folks dot us and I'll respond. We'll be right back. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players.

You're building a team from scratch, and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier, and we watched Paraguay against Chile pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life.

Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow, now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens or exclusive professional networks or stereotypes. Don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars beyond it.

Find out how you can make stars part of your talent strategy at tearthepaperceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Adventure should never come with a pause button. Remember the movie pass era, where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9? It made zero sense and I could not stop thinking about it. Remember the MoviePass era, where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9?

It made zero sense and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the Tech Podcast, There Are No Girls on the Internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind MoviePass, Black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of MoviePass, the company that he founded. His story is wild and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong,

those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me, and they're not going to describe someone who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then, over 100 years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases.

Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern. You know, it's like, well, he's the last one who saw our life.

So how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be, an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. you get your podcasts. with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you happen to lot of time. And then this goofy Dr. Rhonda Smith says, Okay, you've paid to go to school and learn and now I'm going to assign you to listen to a podcast. I got to I got a wonder when you first heard that

you had to go listen to some goofy podcast as part of your your class experience, what was, what were your first thoughts? A podcast for social work? Anybody? I didn't know what to expect. I kinda did. When she said to do it, I'm not like a pancaster. I don't like listening to podcasts.

Me neither. So when she said do it, I was like, I don't know listening to podcasts. Me neither. I was like, I don't know what to expect. But then I found some, I kind of scrolled through to see like what it was about. And then one that popped out was to me about, I think it was about, I think his name was John or something, C.O.D. He had something about prisoners and the system. He got them to get a bachelor's degree for juveniles or something, and it popped out, and then I watched it, and then I started watching them,

and then I went down a rabbit hole and started watching others. So, I think that would be my response. If I was going to school, I gotta listen to a podcast, what this is about. So, as a class, I know you've watched some videos about cornbread hustle, which is Che Garcia, who's amazing.

And with Chad Hauser with Cafe Momentum, which I think is interesting that it's a class you watched. Rhonda, I'm curious as you noticed your students starting to, um, listening to episodes. Did you see the episodes help them form some of what they were thinking they were going to do with their education or maybe I shouldn't even lead that way, maybe I would say, what was your goal? The goal was to help the ideas become more concrete because at the very beginning of this assignment, you know, it was very, they weren't sure what

they, what they were going to create. It was a, you know, they had to come up with a business plan. They had to come up with an idea. What are you, what are you passionate about? It was a, you know, they had to come up with a business plan. They had to come up with an idea. What are you passionate about? First of all, what, y'all help me remember. What population are you going to work with? What kind of an idea do you think the community that you're working with need?

So we go through all of these exercises to decide what their project is going to be for the semester and then to kind of figure out that it's doable. That's when I introduced the podcast. I want you to know that these things are possible. And so I also wanted them to go through and pick out an episode, maybe that is similar to what they are looking at doing. I mean, maybe it's a, if someone is interested in working with juveniles who are incarcerated. You know, go through and find an episode of someone who has

already done some work in that area. And then I encouraged them also after they listened to the episode, reach out to whoever the person is that has already done that work for ideas. Reach, use the resources that you'd have in front of you. That, that's really cool. So who here listened or found an episode that fit or aligned closely with a project that not only they were completing for coursework but may actually be something you want to do beyond? Can someone tell me that? Did anybody align with one of the episodes and something you actually wanted to do that was close? Oh, well, we were given this assignment.

That's Bailey. Yeah, Bailey, go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. I wasn't quite sure exactly which direction I was going with my business plan assignment and all. But like I said, when I introduced myself, I have a big heart for kids, huge heart for kids. And especially like kids in like adoption and foster care and things like that.

And so the episode that I listened to was the one with Monica Kelsey, the Safe Haven Baby Boxes. And I was driving home from How to Spark one day, I'm from about an hour and a half away. And I was like, oh, you know, I gotta do this assignment for Dr. Schmeier. Uh, let me just turn it on and listen, you know, while I'm driving. You know, not thinking that, yeah, it would really, I guess, like touch me the way that it did. It was like, it was encouraging to say the least, like moving

into the business plan and all. I was like, just thinking to myself, like Monica, like, you know, she took this thing that happened to her that could have, I guess, ruined a person, like, could really like have sent her life in a completely different direction as she used it for better, you know, not only, you know, to help people like her, but to make this impact nationwide. And I was talking to my mom after I listened to the podcast about it, you know, she was telling me about like safe haven baby boxes and this, and she

had never heard of it. And I mean, she's telling me about like safe haven baby boxes and this. And she had never heard of it. And I mean, she works in healthcare, but she had never heard of it. But I had heard of it, you know, before I'd seen it on TikTok. That's where I get a lot of my information from is TikTok. But yeah, it was just again, like kind of like what Dr. Smith said, ready to go. Like, you know, just giving us this idea, like, if we take this seriously and this

assignment seriously, like this is something that we can do and this is something that we can use to make an impact. Like Monica Kelsey has made an impact and make a difference and make a change. So it wasn't, you know, directly related to what I ended up doing with my business plan, but it was such like a confidence boost of like Bailey, like take this serious and like you can for real do this one day. I love that.

One of the things we, one of the things we talk about all the time on an Army normal folks is look, it's entertainment, right? So we always have to try to make the music fit and the breaks fit and hopefully make people laugh and smile and think because ultimately if you don't entertain nobody's going to turn in a listen. But the side benefit to that is hopefully if you listen long enough you're going to hear an episode if you're in it if, if it's entertaining enough, you'll keep tuning in weekly. But if you listen long enough, not only are you going to be entertained, but eventually you're going to find something that aligns with your interests and your passions and your disciplines and abilities that then it in turn hopefully inspires you to do something.

I think classical music is amazing, but I can't hammer out happy birthday on a piano, much less play any kind of beautiful instrument. Therefore, although I'm passionate about classical music and think it's beautiful, it's nothing I'm going to ever engage in with anyone. So while I'm passionate about it, it's not a discipline I have. Both your passions and your disciplines have to collide and that's when opportunities happen. And if you listen long enough, hopefully there's a varied enough stories that

sooner or later, something you are passionate about that you have an ability in will inspire you to get involved that's kind of the whole idea then the second part is if you want to get involved the show itself is a blueprint of how and you have the very architect of that blueprint available to you to contact which is something Rhonda said Dr. Smith said hey if something's there reach out so I'm curious did any of you reach out to anybody that was on one of the episodes just curious any of you No one did it Dr. Smith. I know they're two chicken. And they're two chicken.

Yeah, they're two chicken. OK, someone else tell me what they listened to and why and how it interacted with what your coursework was. Anyone? Oh, I want to say. Amy Lee, Amy Lee popping up here. Let's go, Amy. What you got?

Oh, even though I didn't contact anyone, I will say I go back and look at the organizations that those individuals have built, and I look at their framework, and I look at that type of things, and I utilize that when I'm working in an administrative capacity in my organization currently. So that really opened a door for me. I also say, you know, I was in the social entrepreneurship class and,

you know, I have a unique story. I grew up at a rehab. So my family, I'm a third generation. My family has run this recovery center for 20 years. So I grew up around women going through the hardest season of their life. And just like you're talking about an army of normal folks, like when I listened to your intro, I'm like, this is what I feel on a cellular level. It's just, this is what it takes.

I've worked with an army of normal folks my whole life. So I thought it was funny when you were like, you guys with all your degree. I went back as eight years later as a non-traditional student. So I've done, I've been, I know that it takes an army of normal folks. And, um, I think we all know it takes the village, you know, to help any of the people that we're helping, not just people with degrees, but like to me, one of my favorite episodes of yours now, it was actually, um, your shop talk on, I think it was like, what counts as helping others.

What, what? What counts as helping others. Oh yeah. Gosh, that was an early shop talk, I think. When did that look? I think it was in March. Okay. Now the reason that one resonated with me the most is I've spent my whole life

on every side of helping others and the heartache and the BD that comes with that and watching people transform their lives. And I love how in that episode you talked about, we can help people write down the hallway that that's how we start with our family, because I see all these like women and men who rehab like a hundred residents that we serve at this point. And they didn't have people who helped them down the hallway. Right. And I see that being a big reason why they end up in our, in our care.

Right. And I think that if I can take that one step further and I'll end with this, I think not only as an army of normal folks, do we start by helping people down the hallway and our families, just like you said. I think what I'm realizing, especially from podcasts like yours

and for professors and mentors like Dr. Smith is that, we actually start in our heart and then we go the whole way. Because when I take care of me, I can take care of my family. And when I take care of me and my family, I can help take care of my community. And I have a lot more clarity about how I want to do that in a simple way so much I can do that. So that's how you've impacted me.

I really appreciate it. Well, that's awesome. I wasn't fishing for adulation, but you just, you guys can keep heaping it on it's fine. I grew up fat and redheaded. So the more you want to heap on me, the better, the better I do. William LSU guy, a Bayou. Oh, tiger.

Yeah. Oh, tiger. I know. Tell me what episode you listened to and, and how it fit. I know. Tell me what episode you listened to and, and how it felt. The main impact, the episode I listened to, I was about listening. I listened to like one, I listened to two, but the one that had a bigger impact on me was also one of the workshop ones, I think, and it was about

listening to older people in your life. Um, and, uh, and I think really at the time I was working with homeless individuals and the impact that that had on me was y'all talked about. Not only is it good to go to your elders and listen to them for their sake, it's also good for your own sake. And we forget about that. listen to them for their sake, it's also good for your own sake. And we forget about that.

I had been reflecting recently on how much I was learning from the homeless people I was working with. I think these are people we often overlook and we don't think they have anything to offer us. But many of the times when I slowed down and just showed the stories of my client, I found that it was impactful on me and I had things to learn from them.

And it really just gets back to that overall idea of not dehumanizing people, not overlooking people and wanting that human connection no matter the circumstances people are in. I love that. Yeah, that was actually a shop talk as well, I believe. It was brought to us from a listener who challenged us to just spend a little time with some older folks and what she got out of it was not the time she spent into it, but what she learned from the wisdom that poured out of folks that oftentimes didn't have anybody to share that wisdom with, which I think is awesome. We'll be right back.

Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players. Like you're building a team from scratch. And so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community.

When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier and we watched Paraguay against Chile pouring rain. Just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow, now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't let biased algorithms, or screens or exclusive professional networks or stereotypes don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars beyond it. Find out how you can make stars part of your talent strategy at tearthepaperceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Adventure should never come with a pause button.

Remember the movie pass era where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9? It made zero sense and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Richard Todd, host of the Tech Podcast, There Are No Girls on the Internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind MoviePass, Black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of MoviePass, the company that he founded.

His story is wild and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong, those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me, and they're not gonna describe someone who looks like you.

I created There Are No Girls on the internet because the future belongs to all of us. So listen to There Are No Girls on the internet on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens, the case goes cold. Then, over 100 years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator.

And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern.

You know, it's like, well, he's the last one who saw our life. So how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be, an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry, where we're breaking down why open AI along with other AI companies are

dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better Offline on the iHot Radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts. And Juliana, tell me about an episode that resonated with you as it pertains to your coursework. Right. So with our coursework, we have to go through an internship while we're in school.

So we do like three days of internship and two days of class. So it's part of our curriculum. But one of the episodes I watched was with Jessica Lam, where she was doing tattoo cover-ups with survivors of human trafficking, gang violence. I gotta interrupt you to catch everybody up on that one because Jessica Lam is one of the bravest young ladies

I've ever been around, but her, for those who hadn't heard the episode, like Juliana was explaining, is many young women was explaining is many young women who are victims of human trafficking get branded, stamped, tattooed by their pimp, who is ultimately their captor and who has complete control over their lives. And they brand them, they stamp them, they tattoo them, that basically says, you belong to me.

And girls that are fortunately rescued out of trafficking and go through therapy and all kinds of work to break not only the literal physical chains, they have emotional chains. And as they're going through this therapy and working so hard to to refine their individualism and their freedom and to break both the figurative and the literal chains that bound them to this horrific existence of of servitude, sexual servitude.

Every time they wake up in the morning, look in the mirror after a day of therapy, trying to get over it, they're reminded of what they were by physical branding or tattoo on their neck or their face or their arms or whatever. And so to aid in breaking from this, Jessica Lam started free tattoo removal for women who were bound

and she is dealing with some of the girls who have been the worst of the worst and the worst of the worst and sometimes she does this risking her own peril because oftentimes the people that she helps are not that too long away from their captors who desperately want them back. So to hear that you listen to Jessica Williams' story is awesome because I think she is, you talk about somebody nobody knows about doing unbelievable work. There's one. So I'm sorry. Go ahead. I wanted to catch everybody up on that.

No, that was great. While I was listening to this, I was interning at a domestic abuse shelter, where we also helped and served survivors of human trafficking. And so whenever people come into your office or come into shelter, you kind of, you don't hear a lot of the, the gritty details. You don't really know exactly what they've experienced. You just meet them where they are and you serve them how you can. But I guess hearing her story and everything that she has gone through and

like the really nitty gritty of it all, it gave me a lot of insight into the, the people coming into shelters and able to serve them better and to be more trauma informed about some of those things that they'd experienced before they've walked into our doors. So that was the thing. That's really, really awesome. Did you find curiously, did you find young women that had branded tattoos? And did you ever, were you able to ever discuss that with any of them?

So none that anyone showed me or came out and told me about. I'm sure that somebody has come in with something similar. A lot of it is just emotional baggage. A lot of it is emotional sorry, but I never saw one specifically. But knowing that that does happen and that is real and more real than we think it is. Always to be on the lookout. Okay.

I don't think I've heard, who else had not heard from Tara? You're one. Tara, tell me about your experience with an Army of Normal Folks as it pertains to your coursework. Yeah. So similar to Bailey, I listened to Lauren while driving in the car. So I kind of like scrolled through and I clicked on one and I listened to, I find the name, therapists aren't the only option or only, hold on, therapists aren't the only answer. And I found it interesting. I come from a long line of military family from both sides. So I know firsthand of how much mental health support is important for people

with a military background. And this going along with the project, our business plan in class, I feel very lost trying to decide what I should do my business plan on. I feel like I have so many passions, but I do my projects on all like the same passions. So trying to find something different to do this business plan on was like really working me up, I guess. And so after listening to the podcast, while I did not do my project on military families, I did stick with the mental health. And in the actual description of the episode itself, it talks about how therapists aren't the only people that can help others.

They have us and it's like serving one another, pure support. It kind of made me realize within my business plan, just at our university, at the University of Southern Mississippi, that we need to lean on each other and support each other more, especially through mental health crises. And so I took that idea and I ran with it to create my business plan on creating an app to serve students with mental health crises. Oh, that's cool. And that actually kind of sums up the whole idea

is that an army of normal folks supporting one another is the way to go. Okay so Wanda, I'm sorry I keep calling you Rhonda, Dr. Smith let me give you your credit where it's due. That's okay because we're all colleagues now they're all graduated. That's right. They can call me Rhonda now. That's all cool. That's right. They're on the now. That's all cool. That's good. So she shared with and I hope some of you are here. And if not, maybe Rhonda, you can comment. You said that one student wants to start an equine therapy nonprofit for those dealing with substance abuse or family already has a form. She's well versed in courses, a good example of passion and skill

set meeting at opportunity. She's actually thinking about genuinely pursuing that idea. Is that person here? No, she's not here. She couldn't be here. She's, she actually is working already. So that's Abby Donahue. And so she is working right now.

What do you want to know about her project? Yeah, I just want to know. It says she's actually thinking about pursuing it. Is she? Yeah. Yeah. No kidding. No kidding.

Yeah. They have the property and the horses and she had done a lot of research on equine therapy, it's still, and plans on becoming more versed in that mode of therapy. And so I hope that she does that. She's up in the Jackson area. That is a beautiful example of what we always talk about where passion and discipline meet at opportunity. She's clearly passionate about horses, she has a discipline, she's

passionate about people's substance abuse and she's using what she knows, where she has it with what she loves to make a difference. It's very very cool. Another wants to start a community garden with different gardens all over the city for folks who might not get enough food and healthy food. And people in the neighborhood can then volunteer at the garden and get food. Is that person here? Oh, it's Laura.

Hey, Laura. Yes, yes, that is me. Tell us about that. Are you doing this? What's going on here, girl? This old gardening in the city and free food and what are you, some kind of save the world person? What's up with you, Laura? So my thought process when doing the community garden kind of all started...

So first off, I was having Dr. Smith contest. I was having a hard time like with like the loose directions of just like, follow your passion. And I was like, I don't know, because I had like Tara, I had so many things I wanted to do or that I was interested in or passionate about. So I guess when I really thought about thinking, like really thought about it, I wanted to do something different that I didn't see really in this city specifically. Maybe Hattiesburg. Are you in Hattiesburg? Yes, I'm in Hattiesburg. Okay. Yes.

Okay. And I think I really thought, started thinking about it when I thought back to like my, my days at CPS, and you saw that a lot of families that were struggling to provide for their children was not out of like lack of care, it was out of lack of resources. So then I started researching, um, and I've done a couple of projects on like, like food stamps and, um, food banks and stuff like that. And a lot of them only accept food that has a high shelf life, which makes sense.

But when you, when families go to receive those, they don't get any of that fresh, leafy, like, vegetables, produce that you need every day. And then Robert St. John actually came and talked to our class, and he is the founder of Extra Table. And their mission was kind of similar of that, like cherry pie filling and tomato sauce isn't like a meal. Like you can get that from a food bank, but it's not a meal. You know, like, cause a lot of times those things have high shelf

lives and that's just what they're able to accept. And a lot of time, the more organic foods or fresh, fresh foods are more expensive on food stamps as well. So sometimes when you want, it would be if you have a bigger family, you have to get different kind of foods to be able to feed everybody on that certain amount of money. So my thought was that there would be gardens around Hattiesburg that community members could volunteer at and then families that needed the produce could also volunteer there and access have access to free food as well.

Are you doing it? I might. I might. Not right now but I might in the future. Don't be a weenie. Go for it. I know. I know. Go out, raise some money and get after it. It's a great idea. It's a great idea. Thank you. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Dr. Rhonda Smith's class and you really

don't want to miss part two. It's now available to listen to. Together guys, we can change this country, but it starts with you. I'll see you in part two. have connected fans with the heart of women's sports. In just one year, the network has launched 15 shows and built a community united by passion. Podcasts that amplify the voices of women in sports. Thank you for supporting iHeart Women's Sports and our founding sponsors, Elf Beauty, Capital One, and Novartis. Just open the free iHeart app

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Buried Bones is a podcast about the forgotten crimes history tried to leave behind. A common misperception about serial predators is that every single time they commit a crime, they commit it the same way. The past is a way of talking if you know what to listen for. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. same way. Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be, an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry,

where we're breaking down why OpenAI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also gonna be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you happen to get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts.