More Coffee, Please! | Podcast in RSS.com

More Coffee, Please!

More Coffee, Please!

di Austin T. Qualls

Design Imprenditoria

Stagione 2

The Weight of the Kitchen with Chef Michael Jarzenski

MORE COFFEE, PLEASE! Episode Notes — Michael Jarzenski Background Owner and chef of Merriman Valley Pizza in Akron & Food Truck, Feel Good BBQ. A true mom and pop shop, known for a signature thick and fluffy crust and rotating weekly features. Chef-inspired artisan pizza, everything made from scratch, down to the in-house seasonings. How This Episode Came Together Michael reached out directly, unprompted, saying he’d been listening to the podcast and loving it. His words: he’d love to possibly join for an episode and talk restaurants, and maybe even get into the topic of burnout and how hard this industry actually is. That message is the spine of this episode, not just an aside. The Craft Everything from scratch is a point of real pride, not a marketing line. Worth digging into why that level of detail matters so much to him personally, and what actually makes a pizza good in his eyes versus what makes it popular. The Weight of It Burnout is the emotional core of this conversation. This industry is brutal in ways most people never see. Give real room to what almost made him walk away, what it costs to keep showing up, and how he protects himself while still running the shop every day. Tone Notes This isn’t a food segment. The craft questions are the entry point, but the real conversation is about what it costs a person to keep a small restaurant alive, day after day, in an industry that chews people up. Let the burnout thread carry as much weight as the passion-for-food thread. Don’t let one crowd out the other.

Righteous Cloth, A Story of Sobriety and Second Chances

Here are the episode notes for Frank Miller III’s episode: MORE COFFEE, PLEASE! Episode Notes — Frank Miller III Background Frank L. Miller III, streetwear designer from Akron. Owner of R Cloth, also known as 7th Floor Clothing, started in 2016 with childhood friend Preston Clark as a t-shirt project during the NBA Finals. Goes by the handle “CLOTH,” which stands for “Choose Love Over The Hate.” The Turning Point A felony earlier in life forced him to become an entrepreneur, not by choice but by necessity. He’s said nothing hurt his soul more than knowing his worth and having to accept less. Credits the Akron Urban League’s TRANSITIONS program, built for first-time felons, as the place where everything started to turn. Mentorship Met his mentor Ace Epps through TRANSITIONS, someone who believed in him before he believed in himself. This connects directly to Q’s own relationship with Ace, worth acknowledging in conversation if it comes up naturally. Sobriety Lives a sober life. This is a defining part of his story and should be treated with the same weight as the entrepreneurship arc, not as a footnote. The Business Today Navigating real business pressure, including tariff changes affecting overseas vendors, while trying to protect customers from price increases. Real, current, ongoing stakes, not just a past-tense success story.

Internship Turned Into a Career Move at Uninterrupted, & What's Next?

An internship turned into a career at Uninterrupted. And then it ended. Kenny Paramore worked brand partnerships inside Uninterrupted, LeBron James and Maverick Carter's media company, before moving into grassroots basketball media with MADE Hoops. Then Fulwell Entertainment came into the picture, and Kenny was let go. In this episode we talk about what that world actually taught him about athlete storytelling, what it felt like to lose a role he'd built a career around, and what's next now that chapter has closed. No performance. No polish. Just Kenny telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. 🎙️ Full conversation now live everywhere you enjoy meaningful conversations.

Just A Pastor From Akron, The Servant Leader, and The Remedy Church

Just a pastor from Akron. A servant leader. The man behind The Remedy Church. Pastor Deante Lavender leads The Remedy Church in Akron. Before any of that, he was a kid living in shelters in Cleveland while his mother battled addiction. In this episode we talk about that chapter of his life, the moment he was told God wanted him to have Akron, and what it's meant to lead a church born out of one of the most chaotic years in recent memory. We talk about what he said after Jayland Walker's death, and what it costs him to stand in Cascade Plaza and call out the names of gun violence victims, one by one. No performance. No polish. Just Pastor Lavender telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. 🎙️ Full conversation now live everywhere you enjoy meaningful conversations.

A Ph.D. and a Breathwork Practice. Logic and the Sacred, In One Person.

Mary Laske Bell holds two worlds most people never put together — a Ph.D. and a breathwork practice. She's the founder of The Breath Chamber, built on the idea that the body already knows how to heal itself. In this episode we talk about how those two worlds live in the same person, what breathwork actually changes, and the parts of her story she doesn't often say out loud, including a season of motherhood that nearly broke her before it built her back up. No performance. No polish. Just Mary telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended.

From Akron to International Baller, and Back Again.

Darius Carter is a professional basketball player out of Akron, Ohio, by way of Firestone High School and Wichita State. His career took him overseas into more than a decade of professional basketball, far from the city that made him. In this episode we talk about the road that got him there, what it cost to build a life across the world, and what it means to carry your city with you no matter how far the game takes you. No performance. No polish. Just Darius Carter telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended.

The Story of a Survivor, Mother, and Professional Life Survivalist

Genevieve is a breast cancer survivor, a mother, and an author who calls herself a "Professional Life Survivalist." In this episode, she takes us through the moment she found out, what the fight actually cost her, and what it gave her that she never expected. We talk about motherhood in the middle of survival, about finally writing the book she wasn't sure she was ready to write, and about what it means to keep going when going wasn't guaranteed. No performance. No polish. Just Genevieve telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended.

His Eye Captured His Calling, The Founder of Media Beyond Frames.

Season 2 starts here. Mike B is a filmmaker, photographer, and founder of Media Beyond Frames. Husband, father, and creator, he's spent years building a craft around authentic visuals and compelling narratives. In this episode we talk about the eye behind the lens, what it took to go from picking up a camera to building a business around it, and what it costs to stay independent and creative in a world that wants to commodify everything. No performance. No polish. Just Mike B telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. Also available on YT for the visual experience! https://youtu.be/-E41eAjD_uA?is=TAQLRCQ23W0j5_ue

Stagione 1

More Coffee, Please! Presents: Romeo Travis

Romeo Travis is an Akron native, former professional basketball player, assistant coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, and entrepreneur. He spent 14 years playing professionally across more than 10 countries, winning championships, earning MVP honors, and living a life most people only read about. Then he came home. We sat down to talk about what those 14 years actually did to a man, what it feels like to come back to the city that made you, and what it means to pour into the same young players who remind him of himself at that age. This isn't a basketball story. It's a story about identity, loyalty, and what home really means. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. 🎙️ Full conversation now live on YouTube Connect with Romeo Travis: 🔗 The Lodge Approach Overnight Success Coffee Co. ☕ overnightsuccess.co 📱 @overnightsuccessco Music by Katori Walker & Nyck Caution PODCAST DESCRIPTION Romeo Travis spent 14 years playing professional basketball in over 10 countries. He won championships. He earned MVP honors. He lived the world. And then he came home to Akron and started doing the quieter, harder work of building the next generation. In this episode we go past the highlights. We talk about identity, loyalty, the journey abroad, and what it actually felt like to come back to the city that made him, as a coach, as a man, and as someone with something real to pour into young people. No performance. No polish. Just Romeo Travis telling the truth. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. LINKEDIN POST For Episode 10 we invited Romeo Travis — Akron native, former professional basketball player, assistant coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, and entrepreneur. And so much more. Through 14 years and 10 countries, Romeo built a life most people only dream about. Then he came home. We sat down to talk about what that journey actually did to a man, what it means to pour into the next generation at the same school where it all started, and what home really means when you've seen the world. This is a conversation about identity, loyalty, and the quiet work of coming back. This is what happens when two people from the same city make time to actually talk. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended. 🎙️ Full conversation now live on YouTube Connect with Romeo Travis: @rometrav Overnight Success Coffee Co. ☕ overnightsuccess.co Music by Katori Walker & Nyck Caution

More Coffee, Please! Presents: Rob Buchwald

Rob Buchwald is the founder and CEO of Akron Innovations and the AI Catalyst Institute. He spent over 25 years as a CIO in legal and financial sectors before dedicating himself to making sure AI works for everyone, not just the organizations already at the table. In this conversation we talk about what artificial intelligence is actually doing to our infrastructure, our water, our energy grid, and our communities. The questions are big. The answers matter. And this is only the beginning. Pull up a seat. Cold brew recommended.

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