Most people struggle to do one job well. Bessye Adams is a City Councilwoman for Grand Prairie, the Financial Controller for DeSoto ISD, an entrepreneur, and a community advocate , all at the same time.

In this conversation, she breaks down what it actually takes to manage public money in education, why she ran for city council, and what community leadership looks like when it goes beyond the title. She also speaks to her involvement with the National League of Cities and what local leaders can teach the rest of the country.

This is what service looks like when it's built on purpose, not politics.

New episodes every other Thursday, follow so you never miss one.

Emmy winner. Presidential Leadership Scholar. Dallas 500 Most Powerful.

Jerry L. Hawkins has spent his career making sure Black history doesn't disappear. As the leader of Dallas Truth Racial Healing & Transformation for nearly seven years, producer of the PBS/KERA documentary Recovering The Stories, and now writing A People's History of Dallas, dropping in 2027, he's not just preserving the past. He's building the archive the future will learn from.

This conversation goes deep into what racial healing actually requires, why most cities get it wrong, and what it takes to make Black history permanent in a city that's always changing.

New episodes every other Thursday, follow so you never miss one.

She renamed a city. Now she's putting it on the world's biggest stage.

Noelle LeVeaux is the marketing strategist behind the Dallas "BIG" campaign, the rebrand that changed how the world sees Dallas. Named one of Skift's Top 50 Travel Marketers in the World, she's spent three decades shaping the city's identity through brand strategy, civic leadership, and purpose-driven marketing. Now, with FIFA World Cup 2026 bringing a global audience to Dallas, she's doing it again.

In this conversation, she breaks down what it takes to brand an entire city, what the World Cup means for Dallas's future, and how co-founding Dress for Success Dallas turned her platform into impact.

She also talks about her cancer diagnosis and how it quietly changed everything about the way she leads.

New episodes every other Thursday, follow so you never miss one.