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Hi, I’m Tammy. I collect big ideas like some people collect shoes (and maybe I do both ☺️). I’ve always been curious about how people build amazing things, solve big problems, and make communities better. I love asking questions, connecting dots, and discovering ideas that make me wonder, “Why aren’t more people talking about this?” So I created The PLUM Hub. This isn’t your typical podcast. It’s a place for real stories, practical ideas, bold conversations, and the occasional “Huh, I never thought about it that way” moment. My goal? Every episode leaves you with one idea you can put into action — and maybe makes you laugh along the way. If you believe innovation should actually matter, ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and sometimes the best way through the tough stuff is to laugh… you’re in the right place. We take the work seriously. We just don’t take ourselves too seriously. Welcome to The PLUM Hub. Let’s connect the dots!
Tammy (00:00.77)
Hey friends, welcome to our very first Plum Hub Live. Now it's a little misleading, it's not actually live, but we thought the name was really fun because what you're about to experience, every month we are going to launch a new Plum Hub Live episode. And it's really to help give you a little bit of a taste of what the rest of the team is like that makes up the Plum Catalyst, because we have an absolutely fantastic team of people.
Who work behind the scenes, some of them you see on a regular basis, some you don't. And I really wanted you to be able to meet them. And so hopefully you will enjoy this very first episode of Plum Hub Live where we get to show you a few of our other team members and really allow them to share a little bit more of what interests them. So enjoy. Hey, I'm Dr. A and this is the layered look.
And I am a researcher at heart and one thing I love, love, love, love is maps and mapping. And so the layered look is all about exploring how our maps shape our world.
And specifically our transportation and mobility in our country. In my experience here at the Plum Catalyst, we have always looked at how maps shape projects like GoMarty or other projects where we look at employment heat maps or even where we can find corridors of collaboration across the country. And so I'm really excited to bring the Layered Look to the Plum Hub Live so I can talk about all the different ways that maps show and share our life as realistic.
Testability, as it relates to data analytics, as it relates to quality of life, all the different ways that maps are showing the things that we do. I believe that maps are a powerful tool for storytelling, and here at the Plum Catalyst, it's in the DNA of the work that we do. We do things like building employment heat maps, looking at corridors for collaboration, and prior to joining the Plum Catalyst, I looked and used maps to explore how autonomous vehicles could integrate with public.
Tammy (02:00.79)
transit, the economic impact, the equity impact, and things like that. And so the point of the Layered Look is to look at maps we use every day, the ones that we use to navigate our world and we add different layers whether whether it's policy or transportation or anything else that's the topic du jour and see how it impacts the way that we live and folks around us. I can't wait to dive in with you and share my love of mapping on the Layered Look.
Hi, I am Trisha. Welcome to Trailblazing with Trisha. We're gonna blaze some trails. And I'm gonna ask a fun question to some random people that we run into today and it's gonna be fun. So come with me. We found our first trailblazer! Hey, how are you? My name's Trisha. If your career was a road sign, what would it say?
I saw this road sign that was just an exclamation point. That would be my road sign if I could pick just one. Exclamation point. I love it. Excitement. Let's go. If your career was a road sign, what would it say? I think it would be dangerous curves ahead. Like my career has had all these different curves just to get me here. Okay. Blaze and trails. Fleas and trails. She looks like fun. Ma'am. Hi!
If your career was a road sign, what would it say?
Bear Crossing. care to elaborate. I'm scary and feisty like a bear. Blazing some hot trails over here. Excuse me, sir. How you doing today? Hello. How are ya? Great. If your career was a road sign, what would it say? Caution, migratory toads. Migratory toads. You're one with the toads or like I feel their energy. Yeah, we are one.
Tammy (03:49.73)
Beautiful day outside, it's hot. Let's see if we can find some more fun people in the streets here. If your career was a road sign, what would it say? The intersection sign. Okay. Right? IT and management is what I'm doing. And you'd think you gotta go one way or the other, but you kinda got all four ways there. So we can get one more in. All right. And bam, sir. If your career was a road sign, what would it say? Buckle. it's awful.
Buckle up. Any specific stories on that? No. No. So as you can see, so many different people in the community are are blazing trails, right? So that's what we're here for. Thank you for joining me on this fun segment of Trailblazing with Trisha. Hey guys, I'm Sarah. I am the accessibility expert and your friendly neighborhood reality check girl.
because if something's not working, chances are I'm gonna notice it and I am definitely gonna say something about it. Because honestly it's 2026 and we should know better by now.
One of the things I've learned through my work and just everyday life is that, you know, thing things are not as accessible as you might think and it's just not gonna work for everybody and it's important that everything works for the people it's intended for. One of the things I've learned through my work and throughout my life is that accessibility is not just about ramps. It's about making it accessible for everyone that's and the people who are actually going to participate in that specific thing. I have some stories.
One of the first times I came to Minnesota to work on the Go Marty project, I was really excited. It was my first time in Minnesota and I wanted to go to the Mall of America. So I found an accessible transportation place and I ordered a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Mind you, it's very cold, snowy, and freezing, and so we're, you know, waiting for it to come. And what rolls up but a van that is not wheelchair accessible.
Tammy (05:49.45)
why? I specifically asked for a wheelchair accessible vehicle. How did this happen? This is like this is really simple stuff, but that's the kind of things that I encounter. Not on a daily basis throughout my life though.
so simple like that. Shouldn't be we should not be here in this fact. So when most people hear that story, you know they're like, that really sucks. But I'm here thinking, like said before, is like, okay, how are we still in these situations? How is this still happening? And
So simple as requesting a wheelchair accessible vehicle is that hard to deliver. I'm going to share things that make me stop and think, how are we still getting this wrong? Why are we still here? Sometimes it'll just be something I noticed that made me say, make make sense. Because sometimes we need to just get real for a minute. Alright, everyone. Thanks for joining us for our very first Plum Hub Live. If today's conversation sparked a new idea.
challenged your thinking, inspired you to take action, or hopefully just made you laugh a little bit along the way. We'd love to have you comment and join us at another episode. Remember, this is gonna happen about once a month that we'll have a new Plum Hub Live episode dropping where you'll get to meet more members of the Plum team and maybe hear from those you already heard from. So until next time, keep moving, do some good, and remember you got this.