Folk Stories
Kevin S Lin
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Top 10 Folk Stories Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Folk Stories episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Folk Stories for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Folk Stories episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
13: Creating Film and Community with Vivian Hua
Folk Stories
03/25/19 • 59 min
Vivian Hua is the director of the Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) , a non-profit film and arts center dedicated to public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. Prior to NWFF, Vivian was Communications Manager for ICANNWiki, a collaborative resource dedicated to simplifying the complex issues, policies, and players in the sphere of internet governance. Vivian was also editor in chief of REDEFINE Magazine, a print and web magazine focused on music and the arts.
Vivian got a BA in sociology focused on Law, Society & Justice. Social justice has been a central theme in Vivian's life and is reflected in the work she pursues. In 2017, Vivian released Searching Skies, a narrative short film about a Syrian refugee family. The film was screened in 50 venues across the US and accompanied by a discussion series where people could meet a Muslim person, sometimes for the first time, and ask questions.
In today's episode, we talk about Vivian's vision for the NWFF, Vivian's sudden decision to pursue film upon turning 30, and exploring social justice with film.
Quote
When I turned 30, I had a personal revelation. I spent my entire 20's supporting other peoples art ... So how do I work on my own now and had a calling to do film
– Vivian Hua
Notes
- what is NWFF
- getting started in film
- divination and following signs
- typical day
- hosting film discussions
- searching skies
- current projects
- routines to recharge
- vr and film
- community and diversity at NWFF
- marketing art
Closing
- inspiration
- being inspired by the person that you're with
- surprising fact
- used to be a huge raver and gamer
- principles
- be authentic to who you are
- closing
- anyone who has a cool idea, reach out to Vivian and the NWFF
- open to random emails
Links
- NWFF
- REDEFINE
- Searching Skies
- Tessa Hulls
- Vivian's Website
- The Seventh Art Stand
- Katamari Damacy
- Searching
- Bandersnatch
Contact
- Email: [email protected]
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/13
5: Love, Math and Design with Janet Galore
Folk Stories
10/08/18 • 78 min
My guest today is Janet Galore, Creative Director of Amazon's Retail Experience Concept Lab. The Concept Lab is a department that looks 3-5 years ahead and explores potential retail experiences that could be possible in that time.
Janet is all about working at the intersection of emergent technologies and design and her past gigs include being an executive producer at Zombie VR Studios where they made the first VR exclusive computer game called Locus and as Speech Director of Microsoft's Advanced Strategies and Research where she worked on long term strategy for the company.
In 2015, Janet and her husband bought "The Grocery", a historic building in the Beacon Hill district of Seattle that started its life as a grocery store in 1929. They have turned the space into a creative space where they regularly host events, exhibits and performances (I first met Janet at one of these events).
Today, we talk about Janet's path into technology and design, we talk about the creative process and what it means to evaluate art and we talk about The Grocery and why staying small can be awesome.
Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org
Notes
- history and interest in mathematics
- early work in tech
- the life of a creative director at Amazon
- showing your work in design
- notes on managing creatives
- learning from mistakes
- evaluating art in context
- the grocery: past, present and future
- managing panic
Links
- Euler's Identity
- Gödel's incompleteness theorems
- Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
- Locus
- The Yes Men
- Arts Corps
- The Grocery Studios
- Mechatronics Art Exhibition @ The Grocery
- Getting Better by Being Wrong: My Conversation with Poker Pro Annie Duke
- Annie Duke: Thinking in Bets
- White Fragility
Contact
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/5
4: Celebrating the Century with Hallie Kupperman
Folk Stories
10/01/18 • 73 min
Before introducing today's guest, I like to setup a bit of context. Within the last two years, I wanted to get out of my regular circles and do something that didn't involve technology (for people unfamiliar, my day job is a software engineer at Amazon). I ended up picking up salsa dancing - little did I know that this decision would lead to some of the most significant relationships that I have today.
Most of these encounters took place within the Century Ballroom, an incredible dance studio in the heart of Capitol Hill Seattle.
Hallie Kupperman is the owner of the Century Ballroom and the Tin Table Restaurant adjacent to the ballroom. She's created an incredible community at the Century which is something I and many others here are incredibly grateful for.
Hallie moved to Seattle over two decades ago and learned to swing dance after arrival. She started teaching swing to the LGBT community not soon after which soon expanded into teaching all forms of dances when she signed the lease on the Century Ballroom. Hallie has been managing and teaching at the Century Ballroom for over two decades and has overcome many hurdles in the interim, including a dramatic rent increase after the building was sold to a new developer that drove out all other tenants and a steep dance tax levied by Washington.
With the Century Ballroom, Hallie has created not just a great dance hall but an incredible community, one that comes together in times of hardship. Examples include events such as "Dance Your Pants off for Lorraine", a fundraiser held for fellow dancer Lorraine which raised money for her cancer treatment and another fundraiser held in 2013 that raised over $90,000 to help keep century afloat after the dance tax.
Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org
Notes
- Hallie's swinging start to dancing
- origins of century ballroom
- perseverance through hard times
- mission and community
- a day in the life of Hallie
- everyone can learn to dance
- future plans for century ballroom
- Hallie's suits
- experiences of being a female lead
Links
- The Century Ballroom
- TimberLine Spirits
- What Color Is Your Parachute?
- Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/4
3: Taking No Shortcuts with Colm MacCárthaigh
Folk Stories
09/24/18 • 67 min
Colm MacCárthaigh is a Principal Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS provides on demand cloud computing services to individuals, companies and governments around the world.
If you're a customer of AWS, Colm has probably had a hand in the services you use - his past projects include Route53, Cloudfront and Elastic Load Balancer. If you like open source software, Colm was heavily involved in the original Apache HTTP Server and more recently was the driving force behind the release of s2n, a popular open source C99 implementation of the TLS/SSL protocol. If you're a fan of Irish folk music, Colm is part of several bands of such sorts and plays both in Seattle and on the road. If you're concerned about privacy and human rights, Colm is the founding director of Digital Rights Ireland and remains active on issues concerning privacy and immigration.
I could go on but I think suffice to say, Colm is a man of many talents and interests. I'm super excited to have Colm on the show, not just because he's a great person to have a conversation with but also because he was my very first guest in my internal podcast at Amazon. Colm was kind enough to talk to me some two years ago then and is repeating that kindness once again by coming on to Folk Stories.
A note that this talk does get slightly technical in a few places (what happens when two engineers talk about engineering) but I would consider the majority of this talk to be accessible regardless of your technical background. There are also show notes for everything we talked about if you want to find out more.
In today's episode, we talk about what its like to be a principal software engineer at Amazon, why Colm went back to school despite having a good job and solid technical skills and matters of music and activism.
Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org
Notes
- a day in the life of a principal software engineer
- blockchain and being unburdened from the man
- prioritizing projects and themes in past work
- going back to school: motivation and learnings
- thoughts on dev ops
- thoughts on engineering and healthy team dynamics
- juggling writing code with principal responsibilities
- activism and digital rights
- Irish folk music and finding inspiration
Links
- Some tech projects Colm has been involved in
- Amazon CloudFront: Highly programmable, secure content delivery network (CDN)
- Elastic Load Balancer: Scalable load balancing for L4 and L7 applications
- Amazon Route 53: Highly Available DNS as a service
- Apache HTTP Server Project: the most popular web server on the internet since 1996
- s2n: s2n is a C99 implementation of the TLS/SSL protocols that is designed to be simple, small, fast, and with security as a priority
- Links to technical concepts discussed
- Blockchain: open distributed ledger that can record transactions between multiple parties
- Dev Ops
- Introduction to Computer Networking: self paced Stanford class on computer networking
- Cryptography: practice and study of techniques for secure communications
- Regions and Availability Zones: Concepts relating to how AWS places and isolates its services
- Everything else
- Travel Ban: executive order issued by Donald Trump that limits immigration from a number of Muslim-majority countries
- Digital Rights Ireland: dedicated to defending Civil, Human and Legal rights in a digital age
- Tulip Mania
- Prince: American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and filmmaker
Contact
- Colm's Twitter: @colmmacc
T...
19: Hospitality and Community with Alex Mondau
Folk Stories
09/27/19 • 68 min
Alex Mondau is the Community Ambassador at the Collective. The collective is a co-working space located in Seattle's South Lake Union, and is described by its founders as an urban basecamp for the mind, body + soul. Alex started The Collective Seattle one and a half years ago with business partners Tommy Trause and Scott Barber in order to create a diverse community where people can build genuine relationships as well as find refuge from life outside the walls.
Prior to founding The Collective, some of Alex's former roles included selling sustainable real estate and working tables at the Agua Verde Cafe. As a kid, Alex wanted to be an adventurer and spent time in the mountains of Nepal trying to be a mountain guide in the Himalaya.
In today's episode, we talk about hospitality and its tight feedback loops, we talk about The Collective and its origins, and we talk about community and ways of fostering it.
Quote
I fell in love with hospitality industry. You could succeed or fail every five minutes...for hours in a row and your feedback loop was so tight that you really get to know whether you were meeting that customer's expectations.
– Alex Mondau
Notes
- childhood growing up in Olympia and wanting to be an adventurer
- selling sustainable housing and green real estate
- feedback and the hospitality industry
- The Collective Seattle and its origin
- building community at The Collective Seattle
- lessons and challenges of community building
- next steps for The Collective Seattle
Closing
- inspiration
- spontaneously going paddle boating at night to appreciate nature
- surprising fact
- good plumber
- principle
- look for opportunities to be generous
- closing notes
- recognize Native American tribes and communities that stewarded this place
- figure out to be good stewards of this place
Links
- Agua Verde: Don’t miss out on the new Rockfish Tacos with Mango salsa and the Carnitas now served on house made tortillas
- The Collective: An urban basecamp for the mind, body and soul
- wework: Starbucks of co-working spaces
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/19
18: Leaps of Faith with David Mays
Folk Stories
07/08/19 • 71 min
David Mays is Senior Public Relations Manager at Amazon where he oversees multiple high impact initiatives. I actually worked with David in my former life at Amazon but we never had a chance for an extended conversation. But as they say, better late than never and today's conversation makes me wish I'd done this earlier. Turns out we have much in common, besides the common employer and the pathological need to run long distances. Prior to Amazon, David has had an expansive career across multiple industries, including public news, the department of defense, and healthcare.
David's father was a Methodist minister and David remembers moving frequently from small town to small town as a kid. He came across a group of runners in one of these towns and insisted on joining them which led to him running his first marathon at the age of 13. This initial catalyst has sparked a lifetime of running, coaching, and the ability to deal with adversity. David has an amazing ability of coaching civilians into champion runners in just about all the places he's worked - this includes coaching his now wife and clinical psychologist Janice Alley who won her age group during her first half marathon race and continues to race competitively today.
In today's episode, we talk about David's childhood and how it sowed seeds for his current narrative, we talk about success as it relates to running and mentorship, and we talk (corporate) talk and explore how David has helped some of the world's biggest corporations shape their own narrative.
Quote
"Running as a discipline has always been something that has prepared me for adversity, for always having two or three option plans when things go wrong , [for] failure and the ability to overcome failure, [and for] the desire and ability to mentor and coach and help others"
Notes
- childhood stories and frequently moving
- overcoming obesity and running first marathon at age of 13
- thoughts on running, mentorship and facing adversity
- inviting and coaching non-runners into competitive athletes
- taking leaps of faith and working across different industries (public news, defense department, oil, healthcare, consumer, etc)
- supporting the CEO of Kaiser Permanente and defining corporate communication strategy
- making decisions in short and long time frames
- "davy gravy" and work under Bush administration
- vision for the future
Closing
- inspiration
- long distance mentee, captatain in US army, and competitive runner and triathlete suffered medical condition with unsuccessful surgery
- seeing her handle situation with calmness and resiliency
- surprising fact
- used to play the violin
- principle
- treat other people the way you want to be treated
- closing notes
- kind words about the podcast and interviews within (thank you David)
Links
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/18
05/06/19 • 82 min
Robert Sweeney is CEO of Facet, the premier platform for hiring senior contract software engineers.
Before becoming a founder, Robert was a senior software engineer himself at companies such as Netflix and Microsoft. Robert knew from an early age that he wanted to be an entrepreneur from working at his grandpa's grocery shop. Robert left Netflix with a friend to start a software development studio with an initial verbal contract from Western Digital.
In 2014, Robert founded Numetric, a SaaS based analytics startup. After working on the company for close to four years, hiring over 40 employees, and raising over $16 million in venture capital, Robert was fired from the very company that he founded.
Today, Robert is working full time on Facet and helping other engineers make the leap from full-time work to doing their own thing.
In today's episode, we talk about negotiating contracts, hiring and firing friends, and that time Robert's house almost burned down.
Quote
We had to make the decision that day... That didn't give us enough time to sign the contract. So we quit our jobs on a verbal yes.
– Robert Sweeney
Closing
- inspiration
- being fired from my startup - changed my perspective on startups and venture capital and also provide extra motivation
- surprising
- deal with anxiety
- principal
- complete transparency
- anything else
- successful entrepreneurs out there don't have anything that you don't have
Notes
- working at grandpa's grocery store
- early years at Microsoft and Netflix
- first startup and quiting Netflix on a verbal agreement
- working with western digital and communicating expectations
- hiring and firing friends
- that time when the house almost burned down
- keeping a family together while doing a startup
- Numetric, working with family, and getting fired from a company that you founded
- facet, how it came to be and where its going
Links
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/16
12: Feeding Ghosts with Tessa Hulls
Folk Stories
02/15/19 • 68 min
Tessa Hulls is an artist/writer/adventurer whose work spans a multitude of genres and whose travels have taken her across all 7 continents, much of it on bike. She is the daughter of two first generation immigrants and is currently working on a graphic novel about her grandmother titled "Feeding Ghosts".
Tessa describes herself as a compulsive genre hopper who has worked in some capacity as an illustrator, cartoonist, editor, interviewer, writer, performer, chef, muralist, conductor of social experiments, painter, teacher, and researcher. She is fascinated by the concept of home. Outside of working on her graphic novel, Tessa is also focused on public speaking about little known women at the turn of the century and social activism.
In today's episode, we talk about Tessa's current project and its origin, we talk about Calvin and Hobbes and being either totally engaged in or out of work, and we talk about the feelings that come with home and solitude.
Quote
I'm completely convinced that serendipity is a muscle that gets stronger the more you exercise it... I just like to sling myself out in the universe and see what happens.
– Tessa Hulls
Notes
- history and start into genre hopping
- Feeding Ghosts and origin of Tessa's current project
- reading habits
- Calvin and Hobbes
- a day in the life
- combining work and hobbies while avoiding burnout
- cooking professionally
- lifestyle and trade-offs
- concept of home
- solitude and what it means
- artists residency
- coddiewompe: "to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination"
- feminism and activism
- getting to know America by biking across it
Closing
- inspiration
- overwhelming canon of women in the 20th century doing things that they shouldn't have been able to do
- surprising fact
- professional cook and how it started with rugby, whisky and pie
- principles
- piece by Jim Dodge: "They can do whatever you cannot stop them from doing. You can do whatever you can pull off and still live with yourself"
- closing notes:
- lookout for Guided by Ghosts, Tessa's upcoming project to be exhibited in Santa Cruz, which weaves together her current family history with the Chinese history of Santa Cruz
Links
- Feeding Ghosts
- Rage Becomes Her
- 2019 PEN Northwest Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency
- Tessa's Piece on Bike Travel and Feminism
- Coddiewomple
- Tessa's Talks
- This Is Home Project
- Couchsurfing
- Jim Dodge
- Guided by Ghosts
Contact
Feeding Ghosts Notebook
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/12
8: Not Living on Automatic with HB Siegel
Folk Stories
11/12/18 • 73 min
H.B. Siegel is Prime Minister of Ideas at Amazon and also one of a very select group of people who have been at Amazon now for almost two decades. In that time, H.B. has been the Director of Media Technologies, the CTO of IMDB (an Amazon subsidiary), and helped launch the "search inside the book" feature for Kindle.
H.B. graduated with degrees in computer science and electrical engineering with a focus in computer graphics. Prior to Amazon, H.B. worked in a series of animation related companies including Wavefront, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and Pixar. At Wavefront, H.B. helped developed Maya, a premier 3D animation platform used to create animations for games and films that is still widely used today. At ILM, H.B. worked on the special effects for now iconic film series such as "Star Wars" and "Men In Black".
In today's conversation we'll talk about pranks and not living live on automatic, we'll discuss H.B's career and what he's learned, and we'll talk about investing in ideas versus people (and techniques for telling apart the good from the bad).
Notes
- cocktail party introductions
- star wars and industrial light and magic
- pranks and not living life on automatic
- the department of ideas
- catalyst and the university of washington
- investing in ideas and people
- trends in film making and animation
- early work at wavefront and developing Maya
- experience from nearly two decades at amazon
- peccy
- removing inefficiencies
- werewolves
- unexpected productions and improv
Links
- Companies
- Film Series
- Books
- Other
- The Uncanny Valley
- Catalyst Program
- The Dutch Reach
- Maya
- Werewolf
- Peccy
- Unexpected Productions: Nonprofit Improv Theater located at Pike Place Market, next to the gum wall
- GISHWHES: Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World has Ever Seen
- Jay Hitt
- UP Christmas Show
- H.B. IMDB Page
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/8
15: Domain Expertise with Jay Westerdal
Folk Stories
04/22/19 • 68 min
Jay Westerdal is a CEO, founder, board member, and investor of a wide multitude of companies.
Jay first got interested in technology at an early age after witnessing early demonstrations of the internet in middle school. His first job out of college involved creating systems to help manage domain names, a field that Jay has stuck with ever since. Jay founded his own domain company, DomainTools, in 2001, which provided information about the history and ownership of internet domains. Jay also started the Domain RoundTable, a conference dedicated solely to the topic of domains. Jay later sold DomainTools in 2008 for an eight figure exit and continued to work with domains as well as technology ever since.
Today, Jay is CEO of 800.com, .Realty and Top Level Spectrum. 800.com is a company that provides companies with toll-free 800 numbers, .Realty is a domain registrar for real estate professionals, and Top level spectrum manages various top level domains like .feedback and .forum.
In today's episode, we talk about what domains are and why they matter, we talk about Jay's current day ventures and where he's going, and we talk about the systems Jay has put in place that lets him focus on so many different priorities.
Quote
I like to build a rocketship and ride it to the stratosphere but [exit] before it becomes a spaceship just sitting there doing nothing collecting whatever that status quo income is. – Jay Westerdal
Notes
- Jay's initial interest in technology and the internet
- web domains and domain registration
- new top level domains and trends in the industry
- domaintools, what it was and how it was sold
- organizing a domain conference
- Jay's current businesses
- prioritizing tasks
- what Jay looks for as an investor
- investing in yourself
- how to recharge
Closing
- inspiration
- travel and looking at other people's concepts and ideas
- surprising fact
- take vacations seriously
- principle
- body is a temple, trying to live healthier and healthier everyday
- closing notes
- would love to do more philanthropic stuff in the future, especially addressing homelessness in Seattle
Links
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/15
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FAQ
How many episodes does Folk Stories have?
Folk Stories currently has 21 episodes available.
What topics does Folk Stories cover?
The podcast is about Tech, Society & Culture, Film, Aws, Marketing, Athlete, Management, Art, Design, Mental Health, Community, Theater, Startup, Running, Carpentry, Author, Improv, Storytelling, Humor, Adventure, Nonprofit, Podcasts, Dev, Business, Dance and Esports.
What is the most popular episode on Folk Stories?
The episode title '20: Nick Hughes and Building a Global Community of Entrepreneurs' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Folk Stories?
The average episode length on Folk Stories is 70 minutes.
How often are episodes of Folk Stories released?
Episodes of Folk Stories are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Folk Stories?
The first episode of Folk Stories was released on Sep 10, 2018.
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