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Join The Urban Rez for an exciting journey that dives into the intersections of culture, sports, and lifestyle with a fresh, global, inclusive perspective. Each 30-minute episode brings a unique blend of conversations, stories, and interviews that explore the passions and experiences that define our lives.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Marcus White 0:14
The urban RES is underwritten by Southwest gas. Since 1931 southwest gas has been committed to serving the communities we live in. Employees actively volunteer for and support organizations and initiatives that make our communities better places to live. For more information, SW, gas.com,
Music 0:42
you urban dance show.
Marcus White 1:14
Good morning. Dr, B, how are you feeling
Dr. B 1:16
today? Hey, Marcus, I am feeling really good. We're here at the
Marcus White 1:20
sports entertainment innovation conference here in Las Vegas, partner with Syracuse University and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and
Dr. B 1:29
let's not forget, United natives will be a partner next year to this conference, as we will bring in a Native American element, as this sports and innovation conference excels. Love
Marcus White 1:41
it. Love it. So we broke this out to two parts. So part one, we have Christine madela, who is the co owner of Storyville road, and we have
Dr. B 1:53
Dr Timmy Foster who is from Seattle, Tacoma, Washington area, who does a lot of work centered around mental health, youth sports, family engagement and ex professional player engagement as well.
Marcus White 2:07
Awesome. We hope everyone enjoys this part one of a two part series. So we're with Christine modella. She is the surreyville Road managing partner and owner and Emmy award winning storyteller, video and virtual production specialist, media and public speaking coach and a brand strategist. Christine, this is awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show with us. And so question that we have for you is being a story. Storyteller. How do you help businesses and and let alone sport businesses like the Raiders, for example, and give us information about that and to tell a story.
Christine Madella 2:47
Stories are our shared humanity, and the power of storytelling is a great one. And we see we've seen that throughout history, the power of story, the power of spoken word, and then in the digital age, the power of content and sports are certainly no exception. There are so many different streaming shows and social media sites and broadcast platforms highlighting the stories in sport, whether it's an individual athlete, whether it's overcoming challenges, whether it's their family background and that content in the storytelling creates fan bases. It creates fan engagement. It creates team unity. It's the possibilities are endless when you can rally around a story, and that's for any industry. But then when you talk about the sports and entertainment industry, there are so many wonderful stories to tell, because everyone has a story to share, and that is how we relate to others. That's how we find empathy, that's how we we share in each other's experiences and learn about each other. Is through story. So at Storyville Road, that's at the center of everything we do, and we're a full service video production company, a communications coaching company, and the Raiders are one of our biggest clients. We are also, separately, the only women owned production company contracted by the NFL. We work with the aces, we work with Allegiant stadium, and we did a lot of work with the Las Vegas Super Bowl host committee and the Super Bowl when it was here, Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas. So we have a whole sports division at our company, and those are some of our favorite stories to tell.
Dr. B 4:25
Wow, always love women, especially women in sports. So how did your story begin? And how did you become this storyteller and utilizing
Christine Madella 4:37
sports? You know, it's it's funny. And I shared this. I spoke at a panel today, and I I said, up until about the age of 10, I told everyone that I was going to play in the NFL, and my dad could have easily broken the noose, you know, or even in a loving way, he could have told me that might not happen, but instead, he took me to the park and we practiced, and we ran routes, and. I he would, he would punt the football, and I'd run kickoff returns and and that even instilled confidence at a young age, and especially now as an adult, reflecting back on that, and just my dad's investment in my interest in sports showed me, he didn't. He never told me. He never sat me down. Said, You know what you can be anything you want to be. He never said that, but he showed me through things like that, that, what are you interested in? I'm going to invest in that, and I'm going to believe in you. And of course, did I go on to become an I'm the only women owned production company contracted by the NFL. So I made it in a different way, in a different path. I went on to play volleyball, and I was a journalist for many years. So I was a news anchor, national correspondent all over the country, and so I've been a storyteller my entire career, and then I took that experience and now put it to work for my clients with my own company.
Dr. B 5:56
Wow. Well, I'm also a girl dad as well. So kudos to our fathers for taking the time and investing in our love of sports. My question to you as well is, what is one story that hits closer to your heart, that you recall, of all the stories you did when it comes particularly to sports, is there a story that stands out the most?
Christine Madella 6:23
You know, once I left the journalism industry, I wondered, going out on my own, if I could make it, you know, could I start my own business? The questions always come and, you know, you're Marcus, you're a business owner. It's not an easy task. So I wondered if I could create my own thing without the backing of a news organization or a network. Because I throughout my career, I had been backed by a network, and I've worked for all the network, NBC, CBS, ABC, and when I got that contract with the NFL, and my stories started airing on NFL network that was personally really inspiring to me, to know I created this on my own, without the backing of someone, without having to work for someone, I was able to create A lane and still be able to tell impactful stories we work under the entertainment and initiatives division of the NFL. So crucial catch those are their cancer stories. Salute to service. Those are their veteran stories. Inspire change social justice. So things I really care about impactful storytelling under that sports umbrella, and being able to do that in my own space was really rewarding.
Marcus White 7:42
That's awesome. So let's talk about the innovation, you know, so we're here at the conference. What do you see coming down, moving forward, in the future when it comes to storytelling, and how can we use AI, for example? And then are there any other innovations that you are aware of that you know some organizations may or may not, may be looking at to use,
Christine Madella 8:09
AI is a freight train, and it is here people, I still hear people saying, oh, maybe in the future. No, it is moving. It is plowing through every industry, every single industry, and so we have to find ways constantly to integrate AI to make our processes more efficient, or find ways to be able to monetize that, to use it effectively and use it to your benefit. We just can't be scared of it. So already in my industry, when we're talking about content creation, video production, we've already seen a democratization of that industry. Because it used to be the only people who could have an audience were the major broadcast networks, because they're the only ones that could create a platform. Now with streaming sites, with social media, with all kinds of vlogs, everything. There's an audience for someone out there, and there's high quality content. At
Dr. B 9:07
an earlier panel, we also discussed about keeping the human element there as a significant aspect. And I know that there might be reluctance of AI is taking over, or can has the capability possibly taking over that human element? In your vision, how do you plan to sustain that human element? And you spoke about a little bit, but just moving forward, about that human element, and still how important
Christine Madella 9:41
it is absolutely and like I said when we first started this, stories are our shared humanity. And so the human experience, even though it may look different and technology has infused a different avenue. Kids growing up now are surrounded by them, surrounded by technology. G that older folks didn't grow up with, but the human experience, suffering, pain, love, challenge, loss, all of those things are very real, and we need to be able to share that in an authentic way that goes beyond a robot's assessment of what the human experience is. Those are two different things. What, what a large language model can come up with, because it's gathering information from the World Wide Web. You have the whole internet. It can scrub and it can tell you and write out a story about the human experience and what it is. But it's a whole other thing to be able to honor that human experience in an authentic way, through content, through interviews, through reaching out, touching, having empathy for others, that is still where the magic happens. There are things that these large language models can create. There are ways to create efficiencies, for sure, but if we are able to tell and reach out and affect people, affect our communities in ways that matter. Make the world a better place for real humans and real experiences, there will always be a place for that.
Marcus White 11:10
Last question for you, what advice would you give to young people who are listening to the radio show and podcast who are looking to get into this space,
Christine Madella 11:23
reach out to businesses, to film studios, to industries who are really doing it. I have partnered with the Clark County School District here in in the broader Las Vegas area, as well as Nevada workforce connections to try to shape that curriculum, because as things move so quickly, what we're seeing is traditional curriculum through the educational space can't keep up, oftentimes, with the technological developments, and what I'm seeing in real world is students who come out even after getting their higher education degrees without the experience needed for me To be able to hire them immediately and put them to work, so we need to fill that gap. So I would tell them to really look and see, how can I get skills today to supplement, to complement, the education I'm learning in a classroom, if I'm not learning hands on video editing. If I'm not learning hands on how to operate a drone, getting my drone license and how to operate this camera, how to effectively conduct interviews, those are skills I need to be able to get a job tomorrow, and as long as we can get that hands on experience, there are so many ways to learn these days, and we invest a lot at Storyville road. We'd invest, invest a lot in our teams, but that is something that we need to be able to this is one of those industries where reading about it or learning or gathering knowledge about the video production industry is one thing, but practically being able to execute is another. And so we need, I would tell the young people, to make sure you have that practical ability as well.
Dr. B 13:05
Marcus lied. That wasn't the last question. I have to ask this because I love to ask every female, especially if they're engaged in sports, can you talk about maybe one of the challenges that you felt like you had to overcome. And then any advice to women in particular, in general,
Christine Madella 13:28
women in any industry face obstacles to overcome, for sure, but I think a mindset shift is one of the most powerful things we can do, because we can certainly look at obstacles and any obstacle for for women, for people of color, for you know, first generation college students. There are so many different folks who face different obstacles, but we can look at them as obstacles, or we can look at them as opportunities to find our people. My NFL contract came from LinkedIn. When I reached out to people on NFL who work for the NFL on LinkedIn, and one responded to me, and she was a black woman, she's the one who gave me that opportunity. That is where we see things evolve and we see things change, is when that one person takes a chance and that one person knows that representation matters and reaches back for the next one. So that's something. Can we do that for each other? Because that's where it's powerful. Instead of banging my head against the wall in an industry or a company or a team, whatever it may be that doesn't want me and taking that rejection, there may be different factors at play. Find your people, find your allies, and the more we can promote, the more we can have women, people of color, LGBTQ community, veterans, differently abled people in decision making roles, the more we can create in an equitable space and. Doesn't just mean equity for equity sake. Any research will show that the more diverse a company is, the more diverse the decision makers are, the better the bottom line, absolutely, it's good business. This is not philanthropy, this is not political correctness. This is not a check the box exercise. This is good business. And even though it's become very divisive to talk about these issues. That is what it is point blank period that diversifying your ranks makes you a stronger organization.
Dr. B 15:30
Absolutely agreed and diversity is not a bad word.
Marcus White 15:36
I know that's right. Well, thank you again. So much for speaking with us. We wish you nothing but success, and thank you again for having us or being on the show. Thank you. Yep, thank you. The urban RES is underwritten by the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada's premier sports venue, hosting two NASCAR and NHRA race weekends and the largest annual electronic music festival in North America, the Electric Daisy Carnival. NASCAR will be in Las Vegas October 10 through 12th for tickets and more information. Lvms.com
Dr. B 16:07
Dr Timmy Foster is from Seattle, Tacoma, Washington area. Dr Timmy is a 2023, City of Tacoma, lifetime service awardee, an unsung hero, awardee with a major news network. Dr Foster has over 20 years as a public educational leader and has 15 years of experience in strategic consulting and business and program development, public relations and community stakeholder outreach and engagement. Additionally, Dr Foster has served in government agencies for over 10 years, increasing the systemic delivery of state and education grants and separately, the consultant work highlights social enterprise, economics and social responsibilities. Welcome. Dr Timmy, that
Dr. Timmie Foster 16:47
sounds good. You make me sound good. Thank you. Thank you for being here. My work is really focused on two kind of core things. One thing is the human element of people, right? So social enterprise is very big for me. I'm looking at not so much of only psychology, only sociology or human behavior, but just how we interact together and find success within that work. And so that's big, broad kind of viewpoint, but that's how I look at life and kind of live through everything that I do in that way. The second element of my work is around innovative collaborations. And so because the core, I guess, human element of our work is, I guess, to me, it's youth and building and empowering young people, I really look at what are the connections that we can put together to provide the best return on investment in supporting our future through the lens of youth and all the other systems that can come together to support youth, saying a lot and saying a little, but essentially just looking at putting everything that I do into empowering young people and increasing the quality of life for young people, that again, projects onto to those of us who are living, you know, in this world together.
Marcus White 18:04
That's great. So we're here at the sports entertainment innovation conference. So with your work, how would you apply that when we're looking at, let's say, for example, youth doesn't matter what sport it is, but how would we apply what you do into the sports world. That's
Dr. Timmie Foster 18:21
a really good question. Marcus, thank you for that. So what I am highlighting in my work here the sports innovative conference is actually a sports series that I produce. And so the series is called social emotional learning, and sports learn from the pros. And we essentially have a government contract, a $5 million government contract that went into youth sports paired with curriculum that focuses on teaching coaches and student athletes about the importance of wellness sports and health and community partners, nonprofit organizations that are working together for the same cause, all coming together in addition to pairing those series with professional athletes and mental health professionals. So it's a little gumbo of conversations coming together for the exact topic about wellness and about social enterprise and about empowering young people through increasing their social emotional learning, which is a relatively new term, but essentially focuses on social wellness, on mental health, wellness and a sense of belonging in anything that that you do. So it's a gumbo series of innovative collaborations coming together in that way. That's how we activate that work and practical. Make the work practical. Well,
Dr. B 19:39
I'm very intrigued by your work, and I have a million questions, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna go back some what made you interested in this line of work to begin with? Thank
Dr. Timmie Foster 19:49
you. That's a really big question for me. How I got into the line of work, and specifically it's focused around innovative collaboration, was actually through some sports. Work that I started 10 years ago in the Seattle area with the Seahawks families. So you know, 2020 12, I believe we started a really big project, working with Seattle Seahawks families and helping them in their community. Work. My background is education,
Dr. Timmie Foster 20:18
government, philanthropy and the combinations of things.
Dr. Timmie Foster 20:23
And so when I started working independently as a consultant with the families, I started thinking of everything that I could do with the level of influence that I was seeing in real life and in real time. And so that project ran for 10 years, and then essentially it was around some of the major LLB players, and as they started to move retire, go different places, I kind of thought my work in sports was over, and then got approached by the Seattle storm, which is the women's WNBA team, to do similar work. And that kind of took on his own life. And I was also recruited by Northeastern University in their pilot program for sports education as well. And so the combination of those things all happening together really launched my work in the collaborative efforts around using everything you have to serve kids and families.
Marcus White 21:15
That's great. So as an ex athlete, you know, a lot of times mental health plays a big, tremendous part of the sport. And reflecting from me being a kid, you know, my parents wouldn't allow us to play contact sports like football until high school, but looking at for one, you know, dealt with racism as a kid playing baseball in Southern California, and I remember, I quit so I didn't communicate with my parents what was going on. And mind you, this was Little League. This is my last year in little league. And you know, I'm the only black kid on the team, and so, you know, now I'm old, I reflect that, man, I should have opened up and had that discussion with my parents, to talk with them. And again, I don't know what would have happened, but I that made me lose the love of the sport. Yeah.
Dr. Timmie Foster 22:00
And you know, the thing you bring up a couple really important dynamics. One thing is it's hard at every stage, and I would say equally, is difficult for young people who don't have the words, don't have the terminology, and may not even be able to articulate or really create words around what they're experiencing right at that age, literally, you're mostly feeling emotions, and the breadth of what's there, the depth of what's in those emotions are, you know, you're not, you're not in that level of maturity. Yet to do that, and that doesn't change, even as you know, you see, the professional athletes have very similar experiences. We heard today in one of the panels where one of the university professionals were saying that a lot of the athletes are struggling with sharing their mental health experiences because of the vulnerability and the risk so mirrored, on top of not having the knowledge or information mirror that now, as people matriculate and there's a lot of risk and stigma and taboo associated with mental health, the innovative portion of What I'm seeing and what I'm doing around the collaborations in the series, it's been really instrumental, because we're diffusing some of that risk. I mean, obviously you can never eliminate risk anytime you're sharing right in any way, and that's really important to know, especially with digital media, social media camps or cancel culture, the online bullying like these are all really, real risks that you have to be mindful of at any stage when you're sharing but I think educating everyone in the process. So what we do is, not only do we build a specialized program for the youth, we build a specialized program for the mental health professionals, the athletes that are participating, the professional athletes. We're building programming for coaches as well as parents and those all look very different. They're very different systems and pathways. And it's about the education, but it's also about really building the conversation and the skills and the tools and normalizing, you know, the conversation as much as possible, to establish, like a culture of healing. So that's, that's kind of the pathway. There's a lot of everything around all of it, right? But just those are some of the first things that come to mind. And thinking about your story, I was
Marcus White 24:10
able to take and hone that energy and into going into doing track, and then, you know, being able to play football in college and run track in college. So I
Dr. B 24:19
just want to do a quick shout out to Seattle Seahawks, specifically Zach charmont And Jake Bobo, who have did free football camps for our Native youth. So just want to give a shout out to them. Since you're talking about Seattle Seahawks, major shout out. What are some positive outcomes that you've seen in the work that you're doing? I think
Dr. Timmie Foster 24:37
the biggest return that I've seen an impact, I guess, for me, has been seeing the actual professional athletes go through this healing process in our series. And so we've had, you know, some of the biggest names, Sean, Kent, Gary, Payton, you know, Supersonics, right? I don't know Charles who WNBA first. WNBA legend, legend. Right? So having some really big legends, the true font families, really endorse this series and this work, seeing them talk about their experiences, and some of them have not been public, publicly talked about before, and seeing them really heal through the series has been powerful, because they're the pros and they're the specialists and they're the subject matter experts, and so we're looking to learn from them, and it's almost been like, literally across the board, they've been learning through the series. I think that's one the other element, and my research talks about this as well, too, is just the impact on families and youth. When you bring in certain elements, there's an engagement there, and it's a high quality level of engagement, so being able to see people who would normally participate in conversations around anything, nevertheless, something as sensitive and taboo as like mental health has been amazing, like we've been the way we set it up is really like a live podcast style. And so we've sold out every seat, every engagement, and then have been able to really build an online community and a playback community as well, which has been it's been great. One
Marcus White 26:05
thing that we don't really talk about, especially when it comes to mental health, is a support system. So when we're talking about family, as you mentioned a moment ago, share with us how important family is when it comes to, you know, mental health and and into your your sphere of when you're working with athletes, do you bring in like family together to do a session in regards to the family? Because, again, athletes go through but a lot of times that outlet, you know, family, is so much, so important to really have that communication. And again, when I was going through my my issues, even in college, I didn't share anything with with with my with my family, my parents, or what I was going through. When we talk
Dr. Timmie Foster 26:47
about innovative collaborations, we can't talk about coming together without families, right? That is a central element of who we are. As I mentioned, we are doing some specialized programming for parents and for guardians or, you know, respected adults that are in the lives of young people, and really talking to them about providing them curriculum, but also talking to them about like how and ways that they could be more supportive or learn more things about how to engage with their their students, their their families and empowering them as well. To watch the signs you know, if you're seeing you disengage some of the things you might hear, some questions you might be able to ask them specifically, you know how you feel, and then build from that kind of thing. And so we're really doing that work, and then connecting the families to mental health specialists as well. So therapists that are coming to help and the social workers that are coming to help do have access to the families and vice versa. So you were seeing some of the families say, hey, I really made a connection with this therapist. Can we get connected? We also have a partnership with black mental health law, and it's a nonprofit organization where they provide free mental health services. They're being supported through grant funding and other philanthropic efforts, but they're providing complimentary mental health services to youth and families as well. So there's an access portal in that way as well too. So again, just really holistic approach of providing information, sharing, partnering, walking alongside families ills. It's pretty comprehensive, but it is a different exchange. Obviously, what your coach might need, what your teacher might need, is maybe very different than what your family might need to support you.
Marcus White 28:26
Well, great. Thank you so much for being on the show with us. We greatly appreciate you and continue doing the awesome work that you're doing in the community, and because we know it's definitely needed, we have to have this conversation with our youth, especially in our minority communities for them to, you know, grow up and be stand out citizens, even if they don't make it to the professional athlete level. So again, thank you so much. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for for having me. So how can people learn more about your work? Thank
Dr. Timmie Foster 28:57
you. I appreciate that you good old LinkedIn, they can find me on LinkedIn. That's a really good spot. Dr Timmy Foster, MDR, period, and then t i m, m i e Foster, and then I also have a website. Dr Timmy foster.com Timmy foster.com but fine. All of them will get you to the right places. But thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity
Marcus White 29:21
Absolutely. The urban RES is underwritten by global wave consulting, international specializing in IT solutions from network penetration testing and vulnerability management to SAP basis support and web application security. Global wave helps businesses stay secure and efficient in a digital world. For more information, global wave ci.com you.
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