Pack Health

This week on Birmingham Shines my guests are Uma Srivastava, who is the product development manager for Pack Health, and M’kayl Lewis, health adviser manager for Pack Health.

Pack Health is a Birmingham startup founded by Mazi Rasulnia & Will Wright with a mission to help individuals suffering from chronic medical conditions take ownership of health and achieve positive outcomes through health advisers and condition management kits.

Episode Sponsor

Episode 39 of Birmingham Shines is sponsored by Vulcan Security Systems, a Birmingham company that offers customized commercial IP video surveillance services in the greater Birmingham metro area.

Owner Jason Maddox and his team offer video surveillance system sales and installation and monitoring through an IP-delivered video system for commercial property, churches and daycare facilities, private schools, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and related commercial/industrial enterprises.

If you are a business owner, facilities manager, church trustee, daycare operator and would like more information on how video surveillance can be an added part of your risk management program, visit https://birminghamshines.com/vss to learn more about Vulcan Security Systems and schedule your free consultation today.

Happy 1-Year Birthday

And I also want to mention that this episode is coming out on the 1-year anniversary of the launch of Birmingham Shines. So Happy Birthday to the podcast!

 

KultureCity – Seeing the Potential In Autism

Dr. Juliana Maha, founder of Kulture City, was the guest on episode 34 of Birmingham Shines podcast released March 3, 2016

This week’s episode of Birmingham Shines features a conversation with Dr. Julian Maha, an emergency medicine physician and co-founder of KultureCity, an impact driven and award-winning nonprofit that is based in Birmingham but with a global presence.

Dr. Maha and his wife conceived the idea for KultureCity after their oldest son was diagnosed with autism several years ago.

KultureCity is designed to be a real community of volunteers and supporters who work to help families directly and to be advocates for the types of systemic change that will help individuals with autism achieve and live out their full potential as human beings.

The teasers tell you a little bit about what Julian and I talked about, but he also shared two specific stories of how care and the right interventions helped two young men with autism move from being essentially ignored by society to valuable contributors. One of these young men earned a Ph.D. in physics. The other is now well-adjusted and working at Panera Bread, even though he’s still non-verbal.

We also talk about some of the research that’s being done to better understand the causes of autism, including the role of environmental factors as genetic triggers.

You’ll find links and full show notes to this episode at http://BirminghamShines.com, where you can also sign up to get email updates, subscribe to the show or even download it for your audio library if you want to keep a copy. 

A special thank-you to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for letting us record this conversation outside on a beautiful day last week.

Connect with Kulture City: http://www.kulturecity.org/

Isn’t it awesome to hear the stories of nonprofits right here in Birmingham who are working hard to bring about positive change to our city, state and world and to make life better for everyone, through service and caring. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll go back and listen to episode 32, which features Jason Carroll of Red Mountain Grace, another nonprofit that’s working to help families who are facing medical challenges. But they offer an entirely different type of service. And episode 28 features a conversation with Nelson Brooke about the work of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper to protect one of Birmingham’s main sources for drinking water and a major economic engine in west central Alabama.

I hope you’ll do something this week that makes you shine–and that makes the world a brighter place for everyone.

Red Mountain Grace

Jason Carroll, a co-founder of Red Mountain Grace nonprofit, is the guest on episode 32 of Birmingham Shines, released February 18, 2016

My guest this week is Jason Carroll, one of the co-founders of Red Mountain Grace, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that offers residential space to out of town families in need who must be in Birmingham on an extended basis to receive medical treatment.

Episode released February 18, 2016.

As is often the case, the really good part of this episode comes in the last 5 minutes. Before that, Jason and I talk about the organization, the type of hospitality provided by Red Mountain Grace, and how you might get involved. Near the end of our conversation, I asked Jason to share a story about a family served by Red Mountain Grace.

The 38-year-old husband had just been diagnosed with metastatic cancer and the family was among the first to receive residential assistance through Red Mountain Grace. Jason shares a poignant conversation with the couple, who asked why Red Mountain Grace existed.
That family did not get the blessing of a cure, but Jason said that if they had only been able to assist one family, ever, it would have made it all worthwhile.

“If you can be a light for a short time for a family, it’s worth it.” — Jason Carroll

I hope the big takeaway from this conversation is that everyone can make a difference in some way, large or small. If you listen to many episodes of Birmingham Shines, you’ll often hear that it’s the people who make Birmingham shine.

I think this episode of Birmingham Shines really proves that point.

Find out more about Red Mountain Grace at http://www.redmountaingrace.org

https://birminghamshines.com

Clean Green with Rebecca Davis

Birmingham mother, wife and green cleaning entrepreneur Rebecca Davis is the guest on episode 26 of Birmingham Shines.

Rebecca owns a cleaning business that uses only green cleaning products Rebecca makes at home. One of her clients suggested she begin selling the green cleaning products and that led Rebecca to the Co.Starters program offered through Create Birmingham.

In this episode, released October 2, 2015, we talk about Rebecca’s journey to green and clean, in cleaning and in eating.

This episode (#26) marked the end of season 1 of Birmingham Shines.

Season 2 will  begin in November.

Rebecca’s line of cleaning products are free of the typical synthetic chemicals we find in industrial cleaning products. Rebecca uses things like vinegar, baking soda, herbs and fermentation to create her products, which she sells at Pepper Place Saturday Market.

In today’s episode we mainly talk about Rebecca’s journey into the realm of green entrepreneurship and what triggered her decision to give up the traditional American diet to return to what I call whole real foods, but I’ll let her tell you that story.

During November and December 2015 only I’m offering a limited number of opportunities for nonprofits and local businesses to be a part of Birmingham Shines through sponsored content episodes.

I’ll be offering my services to host, interview and produce special episodes of Birmingham Shines to promote a seasonal event, year end fund raising campaign or holiday message.

The starting price is just $500 for the promoted episode (limits apply) and you, the business owner or nonprofit, will be able to use your audio file in other contexts beyond the Birmingham Shines podcast feed. If you’re interested in learning more about this , visit birminghamshines.com and click the link to 2015 sponsored content or simply email sheree at shereemartin dot com and say tell me more.

You can find links to her website and Facebook page in the episode post at BirminghamShines.com. And you can find Rebecca at Pepper Place Saturday Market each week for the rest of the 2015 season.

If you’re a small business owner or event planner with a special event or message to promote through on-demand audio, don’t forget to visit BirminghamShines.com to learn more about the limited time offer for promoted episodes.

Thank you so much for listening to Birmingham Shines. I hope you’ll share the show with your friends. See you soon!

You can find the links and full show notes at http://BirminghamShines.com

Scott Doty – The Power of Design

Industrial designer Scott Doty is the guest on episode 25 of Birmingham Shines.

We talk about the power of and importance of design in all facets of life and business.

We also get into tips and resources to help boost creativity and innovation, regardless of skill or experience.

Episode 25 was released October 15, 2015.

August 2018 Update: Scott and his wife, Jess, moved away from Birmingham in 2017.

Please support Birmingham Shines podcast and all of the Shinecast® resources and media content through Patreon. Visit https://birminghamshines.com/support to go directly to the Shinecast Patreon page.