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    <description>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, a members-first network for the people quietly building the next version of Seattle. Each episode is a short, honest conversation with one member: who they help, what the rest of us keep getting wrong about their world, what they can give the room, and the one introduction that would change everything for them.

It lives inside the membership first, so members can get to know each other before they ever shake hands. Walk into the room already knowing who you want to meet. The conversations our guests choose to share, we release here for the whole city.

Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week.</description>
    <copyright>Vantage Network 2026</copyright>
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    <pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:52:41 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>Vantage Voices</title>
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    <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
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    <itunes:summary>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, a members-first network for the people quietly building the next version of Seattle. Each episode is a short, honest conversation with one member: who they help, what the rest of us keep getting wrong about their world, what they can give the room, and the one introduction that would change everything for them.

It lives inside the membership first, so members can get to know each other before they ever shake hands. Walk into the room already knowing who you want to meet. The conversations our guests choose to share, we release here for the whole city.

Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week.</itunes:summary>
    <itunes:subtitle>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, a members-first network for the people quietly building the next version of Seattle.</itunes:subtitle>
    <itunes:keywords>Seattle, networking, entrepreneurs, founders, business networking, membership community, curated introductions, leadership, small business, Seattle business, professional networking, community</itunes:keywords>
    <itunes:owner>
      <itunes:name>Rachael Barclay</itunes:name>
    </itunes:owner>
    <itunes:complete>No</itunes:complete>
    <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    <item>
      <title>S1E12 | Kim Pelham, Lean First to Understand</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>12</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>12</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E12 | Kim Pelham, Lean First to Understand</itunes:title>
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        <![CDATA[<p>Kim Pelham sells houses she can also fix. Her husband Brian is a general contractor, the two businesses run side by side, and between them they will do a little or a lot: paint the front door, remodel the whole house, or handle the downsizing, the estate sale and the move.</p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE</strong></p><p>Why a free pre-purchase walkthrough with a contractor is the business model, not a perk.<br>Senior Move Specialist work, where the hurdle is never the house, it is the stuff.<br>Which repairs a lender actually cares about, and which are money you are about to waste.<br>Empathy first, achiever second, and why that order matters.<br>Tulalip: waterfront with a view under nine hundred thousand, on land you own.<br>Everett, three places she takes people first.</p><p><strong>QUOTES</strong></p><p>“One of my clients said Brian is my secret weapon.”</p><p>“You cannot get a contractor to come out and speculate with you. He will gladly do that, at no charge, for my clients.”</p><p>“My number one strength is empathy and number two is achiever. I always lean first to understand.”</p><p>“Snohomish County is home. There is more room to breathe, more room to grow.”</p><p><strong>WHAT KIM GIVES</strong><br>Empathy first and action second. A contractor who will walk a house with you before you buy it. Honest budget guidance on which repairs matter to a lender. The whole downsizing handled. Snohomish County knowledge nobody gets from a search portal.</p><p><strong>WHO SHE WANTS TO MEET</strong><br>Subcontractors, and one urgently: a crawl space specialist who works in Granite Falls. More broadly, trades she can trust across Snohomish County, and the estate attorneys, elder-care advisers and senior living communities who meet those families before she does.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH KIM</strong><br>The Pelham Group NW: <a href="https://thepelhamgroupnw.com">thepelhamgroupnw.com</a><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimpelham/">linkedin.com/in/kimpelham</a><br>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pelhamgroupnw">@pelhamgroupnw</a></p><p><strong>LISTEN EVERYWHERE</strong><br>This episode: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/kim-pelham">joinvantage.co/podcast/kim-pelham</a><br>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604">Vantage Voices</a><br>Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH">Vantage Voices</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE</strong><br>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, where introductions happen on purpose. Every episode ends with the same two questions: what can you give this room, and who do you want walked up to you. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
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        <![CDATA[<p>Kim Pelham sells houses she can also fix. Her husband Brian is a general contractor, the two businesses run side by side, and between them they will do a little or a lot: paint the front door, remodel the whole house, or handle the downsizing, the estate sale and the move.</p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE</strong></p><p>Why a free pre-purchase walkthrough with a contractor is the business model, not a perk.<br>Senior Move Specialist work, where the hurdle is never the house, it is the stuff.<br>Which repairs a lender actually cares about, and which are money you are about to waste.<br>Empathy first, achiever second, and why that order matters.<br>Tulalip: waterfront with a view under nine hundred thousand, on land you own.<br>Everett, three places she takes people first.</p><p><strong>QUOTES</strong></p><p>“One of my clients said Brian is my secret weapon.”</p><p>“You cannot get a contractor to come out and speculate with you. He will gladly do that, at no charge, for my clients.”</p><p>“My number one strength is empathy and number two is achiever. I always lean first to understand.”</p><p>“Snohomish County is home. There is more room to breathe, more room to grow.”</p><p><strong>WHAT KIM GIVES</strong><br>Empathy first and action second. A contractor who will walk a house with you before you buy it. Honest budget guidance on which repairs matter to a lender. The whole downsizing handled. Snohomish County knowledge nobody gets from a search portal.</p><p><strong>WHO SHE WANTS TO MEET</strong><br>Subcontractors, and one urgently: a crawl space specialist who works in Granite Falls. More broadly, trades she can trust across Snohomish County, and the estate attorneys, elder-care advisers and senior living communities who meet those families before she does.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH KIM</strong><br>The Pelham Group NW: <a href="https://thepelhamgroupnw.com">thepelhamgroupnw.com</a><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimpelham/">linkedin.com/in/kimpelham</a><br>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pelhamgroupnw">@pelhamgroupnw</a></p><p><strong>LISTEN EVERYWHERE</strong><br>This episode: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/kim-pelham">joinvantage.co/podcast/kim-pelham</a><br>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604">Vantage Voices</a><br>Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH">Vantage Voices</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE</strong><br>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, where introductions happen on purpose. Every episode ends with the same two questions: what can you give this room, and who do you want walked up to you. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:52:41 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
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      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXzJdMKXytQ">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
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      <itunes:duration>946</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Kim Pelham sells houses she can also fix, and her first strength is empathy. The second one is getting it done.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Kim Pelham sells houses she can also fix, and her first strength is empathy. The second one is getting it done.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>real estate, Snohomish County, Everett, senior move specialist, downsizing, estate sale, home staging, general contractor, Tulalip, Mukilteo, Mill Creek, American Dream TV, Vantage, Vantage Voices</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
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    <item>
      <title>S1E11 | Bob O'Brien, You Bring the Vision, I'll Bring the Blueprint</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>11</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>11</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E11 | Bob O'Brien, You Bring the Vision, I'll Bring the Blueprint</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Fractional CTO and strategic advisor Bob O'Brien on what actually kills companies, why distribution beats product, and the AI data center problem nobody in local government is planning for.</p><p>Bob founded ThirdWave Advisors after a career that ran from mainframes to cloud, including more than twenty years at Microsoft and time at AWS. He helps founders and CEOs get ready for a big change before they have to react to it.</p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE</strong></p><p>The four things an advisor sees that a founder cannot: the plan, the team, the data, the buyer.<br>Why most founders build a one year plan to survive instead of a five year plan to win, and what five of those in a row does to a company.<br>First time founders focus on product. Second time founders focus on distribution.<br>How to tell what business you are actually in. She thinks she runs a cooking app. She runs a store with an app as the front window.<br>The paperwork nobody reads until an investor asks: the NDA, the noncompete, the contractor who never signed over the code, the privacy promise that limits your data years later.</p><p>Empty AI data centers as the new empty steel factories, and who pays for the retrofit.</p><p><strong>QUOTES</strong></p><p>“First time founders focus on product. Second time founders focus on distribution.”</p><p>“It is the classic emperor’s new clothes problem. Everybody can see it, but nobody wants to say it.”</p><p>“I only introduce people I have actually worked with. And even then, only if there is a fit. It is not me being picky. It is what makes the intro worth something.”</p><p>“You bring the vision and I will bring the blueprint.”</p><p><strong>WHAT BOB CAN GIVE</strong><br>An honest outside read from someone who speaks both tech and business. How a buyer or investor will see you before you walk in. Turning a one year plan into a five year plan. What your data is actually worth.</p><p><strong>WHO HE WANTS TO MEET</strong><br>A leader who can feel a big change coming. A CEO a few years in who has realized they have run five one year plans in a row. And a city council member or planner about to approve a large AI data center.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH BOB</strong><br>ThirdWave Advisors: <a href="https://thirdwaveadvisors.com">thirdwaveadvisors.com</a><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobobrien/">linkedin.com/in/bobobrien</a></p><p><strong>MENTIONED</strong><br>Ted Jacob, his mentor at Nordstrom. Roei Ganzarski of magniX on building without constraints. John Maxwell: if you do what you always did, you get what you always got.</p><p><strong>LISTEN EVERYWHERE</strong><br>This episode: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/bob-obrien">joinvantage.co/podcast/bob-obrien</a><br>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604">Vantage Voices</a><br>Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH">Vantage Voices</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE</strong><br>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, where introductions happen on purpose. Every episode ends with the same two questions: what can you give this room, and who do you want walked up to you. The answers go into the app, and the introductions follow. The directory is free, forever. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Fractional CTO and strategic advisor Bob O'Brien on what actually kills companies, why distribution beats product, and the AI data center problem nobody in local government is planning for.</p><p>Bob founded ThirdWave Advisors after a career that ran from mainframes to cloud, including more than twenty years at Microsoft and time at AWS. He helps founders and CEOs get ready for a big change before they have to react to it.</p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE</strong></p><p>The four things an advisor sees that a founder cannot: the plan, the team, the data, the buyer.<br>Why most founders build a one year plan to survive instead of a five year plan to win, and what five of those in a row does to a company.<br>First time founders focus on product. Second time founders focus on distribution.<br>How to tell what business you are actually in. She thinks she runs a cooking app. She runs a store with an app as the front window.<br>The paperwork nobody reads until an investor asks: the NDA, the noncompete, the contractor who never signed over the code, the privacy promise that limits your data years later.</p><p>Empty AI data centers as the new empty steel factories, and who pays for the retrofit.</p><p><strong>QUOTES</strong></p><p>“First time founders focus on product. Second time founders focus on distribution.”</p><p>“It is the classic emperor’s new clothes problem. Everybody can see it, but nobody wants to say it.”</p><p>“I only introduce people I have actually worked with. And even then, only if there is a fit. It is not me being picky. It is what makes the intro worth something.”</p><p>“You bring the vision and I will bring the blueprint.”</p><p><strong>WHAT BOB CAN GIVE</strong><br>An honest outside read from someone who speaks both tech and business. How a buyer or investor will see you before you walk in. Turning a one year plan into a five year plan. What your data is actually worth.</p><p><strong>WHO HE WANTS TO MEET</strong><br>A leader who can feel a big change coming. A CEO a few years in who has realized they have run five one year plans in a row. And a city council member or planner about to approve a large AI data center.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH BOB</strong><br>ThirdWave Advisors: <a href="https://thirdwaveadvisors.com">thirdwaveadvisors.com</a><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobobrien/">linkedin.com/in/bobobrien</a></p><p><strong>MENTIONED</strong><br>Ted Jacob, his mentor at Nordstrom. Roei Ganzarski of magniX on building without constraints. John Maxwell: if you do what you always did, you get what you always got.</p><p><strong>LISTEN EVERYWHERE</strong><br>This episode: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/bob-obrien">joinvantage.co/podcast/bob-obrien</a><br>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604">Vantage Voices</a><br>Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH">Vantage Voices</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE</strong><br>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage, where introductions happen on purpose. Every episode ends with the same two questions: what can you give this room, and who do you want walked up to you. The answers go into the app, and the introductions follow. The directory is free, forever. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
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      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU0wXKHqY9Q">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/OAdMMvp-5h_9GE56P6RcEh1Qg7zj7pjxI72UOJ70Ubg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8xNGQz/NzhiODNmNzVlZGJh/ODYxNTc1ZjkyMGE4/ZTBlOS5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1440</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>What kills a company is almost never the thing the founder thinks it is. Bob O'Brien has watched it happen from the inside of every generation of computing.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>What kills a company is almost never the thing the founder thinks it is. Bob O'Brien has watched it happen from the inside of every generation of computing.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>fractional CTO, startup advisor, founders, five year plan, distribution, data strategy, data privacy, AI data centers, Seattle, Microsoft, AWS, ThirdWave Advisors, Vantage, Vantage Voices</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
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    <item>
      <title>S1E10 | Sarah O'Sell, The Startup Gardener</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>10</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>10</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E10 | Sarah O'Sell, The Startup Gardener</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Sarah O'Sell helps entrepreneurs grow their business and reach the right people. Her day title is long: she leads partnerships at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub and manages the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator. Her community title is shorter. Startup gardener. She trademarked it.</p><p>She started in startups and worked her way up to GE, hired to advise on sustainability solutions. Then the company announced its split and the sustainability work was put on ice. So she used the customer data she had access to, proved customers actually wanted it, and helped bring the budget back for a solution that launched and won an award. Patient is the right word for that. Not quiet. Patient.</p><p>Her career took the long way round, and she tells it straight, including the day she needed to stop. Sustainability leaders have an incredibly hard job, she says, and sometimes you are just worn out. What she does now: notice when you are mad, don't dismiss it, and turn it into a path to change. And her tip for everyone else: whatever job you have, even HR, you can move sustainability. It doesn't have to be in your title.</p><p>Then the question people fight about. AI or the planet? Sarah has a foot in both. Data centers are a built environment, made of materials, run by algorithms, tied to the grid, using water, and every one of those is a problem we can solve. It is a tool, and we get to choose how we build it. Her incubator just formed a partnership with Microsoft and E8 for a data center incubator program to do exactly that.</p><p>What she gives the room: she listens for what you value, and she builds triangles, because the triangle is the strongest shape. If someone is quiet in a corner, she goes and says hi. The introduction she wants is to VC firms, consulting firms and business turnaround firms that need excellent operators and partnership people. Plus: Ghost Alley in Pike Place Market, and a book called Bad Data.</p><p><strong>BUILDING A CLIMATE STARTUP?</strong><br>Sarah runs the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub. Its new data center cohort, backed by UW, Microsoft and E8, holds an information session on October 15, and applications close November 15. Details: <a href="https://comotion.uw.edu/startups-incubation/comotion-labs/comotion-labs-climate-tech-incubator/">CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator</a></p><p><strong>CHAPTERS</strong><br>00:00 The open<br>00:27 Welcome, Sarah<br>01:05 Who she helps<br>01:43 Startup gardener: her two titles<br>02:28 GE, the split, and the budget she brought back<br>04:28 What the world gets wrong about emissions<br>07:31 The long way round<br>10:26 AI or the planet: data centers<br>13:29 What she gives: the triangle<br>14:58 The introduction she wants<br>16:07 Quick fires: coffee and Ghost Alley<br>16:41 The book: Bad Data<br>17:26 Washington's economy and more startup gardeners<br>18:36 How to connect with Sarah</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH SARAH</strong><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahosell">https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahosell</a><br>Website: <a href="https://www.sarahosell.com">https://www.sarahosell.com</a><br>Sarah is a Vantage founding member. Ask for an introduction: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell">joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE VOICES</strong><br>The room behind the room, on the record. Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Vantage is a members-first network in Seattle; the directory is free forever. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Sarah O'Sell helps entrepreneurs grow their business and reach the right people. Her day title is long: she leads partnerships at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub and manages the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator. Her community title is shorter. Startup gardener. She trademarked it.</p><p>She started in startups and worked her way up to GE, hired to advise on sustainability solutions. Then the company announced its split and the sustainability work was put on ice. So she used the customer data she had access to, proved customers actually wanted it, and helped bring the budget back for a solution that launched and won an award. Patient is the right word for that. Not quiet. Patient.</p><p>Her career took the long way round, and she tells it straight, including the day she needed to stop. Sustainability leaders have an incredibly hard job, she says, and sometimes you are just worn out. What she does now: notice when you are mad, don't dismiss it, and turn it into a path to change. And her tip for everyone else: whatever job you have, even HR, you can move sustainability. It doesn't have to be in your title.</p><p>Then the question people fight about. AI or the planet? Sarah has a foot in both. Data centers are a built environment, made of materials, run by algorithms, tied to the grid, using water, and every one of those is a problem we can solve. It is a tool, and we get to choose how we build it. Her incubator just formed a partnership with Microsoft and E8 for a data center incubator program to do exactly that.</p><p>What she gives the room: she listens for what you value, and she builds triangles, because the triangle is the strongest shape. If someone is quiet in a corner, she goes and says hi. The introduction she wants is to VC firms, consulting firms and business turnaround firms that need excellent operators and partnership people. Plus: Ghost Alley in Pike Place Market, and a book called Bad Data.</p><p><strong>BUILDING A CLIMATE STARTUP?</strong><br>Sarah runs the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub. Its new data center cohort, backed by UW, Microsoft and E8, holds an information session on October 15, and applications close November 15. Details: <a href="https://comotion.uw.edu/startups-incubation/comotion-labs/comotion-labs-climate-tech-incubator/">CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator</a></p><p><strong>CHAPTERS</strong><br>00:00 The open<br>00:27 Welcome, Sarah<br>01:05 Who she helps<br>01:43 Startup gardener: her two titles<br>02:28 GE, the split, and the budget she brought back<br>04:28 What the world gets wrong about emissions<br>07:31 The long way round<br>10:26 AI or the planet: data centers<br>13:29 What she gives: the triangle<br>14:58 The introduction she wants<br>16:07 Quick fires: coffee and Ghost Alley<br>16:41 The book: Bad Data<br>17:26 Washington's economy and more startup gardeners<br>18:36 How to connect with Sarah</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH SARAH</strong><br>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahosell">https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahosell</a><br>Website: <a href="https://www.sarahosell.com">https://www.sarahosell.com</a><br>Sarah is a Vantage founding member. Ask for an introduction: <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell">joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell</a></p><p><strong>ABOUT VANTAGE VOICES</strong><br>The room behind the room, on the record. Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Vantage is a members-first network in Seattle; the directory is free forever. <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:45:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/7abbecad/aab1b005.mp3" length="19490148" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZe2emOcyv8">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/PuIIddGqK6ec1wueMQERBQde-ovYM1dqbGYFFBHHYYk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yZDIy/MGFkZGZjMDRjMmYy/MDM0Yzc0ODZiYWUw/MjhjZC5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1217</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Sarah O'Sell calls herself a startup gardener. She runs the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator in Seattle, brought a sustainability budget back to life at GE, and says AI and climate don't have to be opposites. It's a tool, and we choose how it gets built.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Sarah O'Sell calls herself a startup gardener. She runs the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator in Seattle, brought a sustainability budget back to life at GE, and says AI and climate don't have to be opposites. It's a tool, and we choose how it gets bui</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Sarah O'Sell, startup gardener, climate tech, Seattle climate tech, CoMotion Labs, Seattle Climate Innovation Hub, climate tech incubator, AI and climate, data centers, AI energy, sustainability, GE, Microsoft, E8, Seattle startups, economic development, Vantage Voices, Rachael Barclay</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
      <podcast:transcript url="https://share.transistor.fm/s/7abbecad/transcript.srt" type="application/x-subrip" rel="captions"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E9 | William Herbert, I Want to Find My People</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>9</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>9</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E9 | William Herbert, I Want to Find My People</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/30628184</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[William Herbert's application said he is not building anything, and that being in a circle with great people matters to him. This episode opens on that sentence, because it turned out to be the whole conversation.

He has his day-one brothers, fourteen of them, all married now, all leading households. He has family. He has work. And he has the space in between, which he calls the village, and which he is still trying to figure out. He has goals; he just does not know what they look like anymore. What he does know is that he wants to help other people reach theirs, and that somewhere in that, his own will show up.

The community work is the spine. Mentorship groups for middle and high school students through his fraternity, one of the Divine Nine. The Rescue Mission two Saturdays a month. Food banks. Blood. A scholarship luncheon every spring that the Divine Nine organizations have hosted for more than 20 years, and a Masquerade Sneaker Gala every other year. What he wants from a room like Vantage is specific: people who want to serve and do not know how, and people who know grant writers. He went to an HBCU because of A Different World; he saw a village of people who looked like him and wanted that.

The quick fires get a recipe (golden milk: turmeric, homemade almond milk, salt, pepper, cinnamon, sometimes ginger) and a reading list he listens to in the gym: The Let Them Theory, Olaudah Equiano, W.E.B. Du Bois, Black AF History, Jesse Rhodes Jr.'s book, and Atomic Habits for the fourth time.

The best room he ever walked into had John Lewis in it. William was a government fellow for him. Lewis walked up, gave him the fraternity grip, gave him a hug, and William burst into tears. Elijah Cummings and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men were in that room too, all fraternity brothers. And then the Central District: the Urban League, the Breakfast Club, men in their 70s, 80s, and 90s still fighting, and William, at 50, walking in, taking a deep breath, and listening. His mother taught him you can say everything you need to say by keeping your mouth shut, and that the difference is knowing when. Discernment, and integrity. Not as plentiful as you would imagine.

What he gives the room: a door into community work most people say they want to do and never start, a network from the Urban League to the elders of the Central District, and a man who knows when not to talk. What he is looking for: his people, grant writers, and people who want their giving to land somewhere real.

CONNECT WITH WILLIAM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/william_shilo2024/
William is a Vantage founding member. Ask for an introduction: https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/william-herbert]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[William Herbert's application said he is not building anything, and that being in a circle with great people matters to him. This episode opens on that sentence, because it turned out to be the whole conversation.

He has his day-one brothers, fourteen of them, all married now, all leading households. He has family. He has work. And he has the space in between, which he calls the village, and which he is still trying to figure out. He has goals; he just does not know what they look like anymore. What he does know is that he wants to help other people reach theirs, and that somewhere in that, his own will show up.

The community work is the spine. Mentorship groups for middle and high school students through his fraternity, one of the Divine Nine. The Rescue Mission two Saturdays a month. Food banks. Blood. A scholarship luncheon every spring that the Divine Nine organizations have hosted for more than 20 years, and a Masquerade Sneaker Gala every other year. What he wants from a room like Vantage is specific: people who want to serve and do not know how, and people who know grant writers. He went to an HBCU because of A Different World; he saw a village of people who looked like him and wanted that.

The quick fires get a recipe (golden milk: turmeric, homemade almond milk, salt, pepper, cinnamon, sometimes ginger) and a reading list he listens to in the gym: The Let Them Theory, Olaudah Equiano, W.E.B. Du Bois, Black AF History, Jesse Rhodes Jr.'s book, and Atomic Habits for the fourth time.

The best room he ever walked into had John Lewis in it. William was a government fellow for him. Lewis walked up, gave him the fraternity grip, gave him a hug, and William burst into tears. Elijah Cummings and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men were in that room too, all fraternity brothers. And then the Central District: the Urban League, the Breakfast Club, men in their 70s, 80s, and 90s still fighting, and William, at 50, walking in, taking a deep breath, and listening. His mother taught him you can say everything you need to say by keeping your mouth shut, and that the difference is knowing when. Discernment, and integrity. Not as plentiful as you would imagine.

What he gives the room: a door into community work most people say they want to do and never start, a network from the Urban League to the elders of the Central District, and a man who knows when not to talk. What he is looking for: his people, grant writers, and people who want their giving to land somewhere real.

CONNECT WITH WILLIAM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/william_shilo2024/
William is a Vantage founding member. Ask for an introduction: https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/william-herbert]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/30628184/f9b7d806.mp3" length="21674826" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2uiDmaqXgk">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/kgu-o5oakpUXl1kJgZJp_Gh_fayhPuJR75ejTVQXoC4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hYTIz/ZjljN2E4YzUxNzI5/NjQ5ZGYxOTUyNzY4/MmQyNC5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1353</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Twenty-one years a soldier, three years at King County, and a founding member who joined Vantage the afternoon he found it, because he is looking for his people.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Twenty-one years a soldier, three years at King County, and a founding member who joined Vantage the afternoon he found it, because he is looking for his people.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, William Herbert, King County, Divine Nine, mentorship, community, Seattle, Central District, Urban League, public sector, veteran, John Lewis, founding member</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
      <podcast:transcript url="https://share.transistor.fm/s/30628184/transcript.txt" type="text/plain"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E8 | Amanda Armstrong Sava, The People Are Always the Work</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>8</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>8</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E8 | Amanda Armstrong Sava, The People Are Always the Work</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">9d073ec8-83db-4ab7-8e2c-028ace62320f</guid>
      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/f43a0bfd</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Amanda Armstrong Sava will tell you she is not a talker and not a connector. She is a helper. If you need a service, she knows a person. If she does not know the person, she will find one. And if you need a cat moved from Tokyo to Seattle, she has done that too. (The niece was in town for the Taylor Swift concert. The cat came in a backpack.)</p><p>She runs the Seattle branch of Neil Kelly Company, a design-build remodel firm founded in Portland in 1947: four branches, still owned by the Kelly family, and a certified B Corp, which is part of what drew her there. She was a designer for 25 years (kitchens, interiors, interior architecture) and moved into the general manager seat about two years ago. Same job, she says, fulfilling in a different way. She used to bring clients' dreams to reality. Now she helps her team do it.</p><p>Her psychology degree sat unused until she went into sales, and design, in her words, is sales. The drawings are not the hard part. The people are always the work. Somebody sees a thing on HGTV that will never fit their space. Somebody sees drywall for the first time and thinks the whole remodel has gone wrong. Amanda's job is to walk them down into the low point and back up the other side, marriage intact.</p><p>She is an introvert disguised as an extrovert, and she is honest about what that costs. A room like Homecoming fills her cup and empties it at the same time. Her method for building community anyway: quietly and slowly. Stop, read the room, find the one other person doing the same scan. They are out there. She promises.</p><p>And the room everyone gets wrong? The living room. Ninety-nine percent of people put the TV front and center, and the one space in the house where people could gather without electronics never gets built.</p><p>What she gives the room: an ear, a shoulder, a wide "I know a person" network, and a very good trivia partner as long as the category is not music. What she is looking for: she has been in Seattle seven years, half of it during COVID, so she is still building her people. A lawyer she can point a client to. A financial planner for her kids. Someone for her retired husband to golf with. And an introduction to Carmen Best. She said it first.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH AMANDA</strong><br> Neil Kelly Seattle: <a href="https://www.neilkelly.com/seattle/">neilkelly.com/seattle</a><br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandasava/">linkedin.com/in/amandasava</a><br> Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/asavakd/">@asavakd</a><br> Neil Kelly on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/neilkellycompany/">@neilkellycompany</a></p><p><strong>LISTEN + SHOW NOTES</strong><br> <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/amanda-armstrong-sava">joinvantage.co/podcast/amanda-armstrong-sava</a></p><p>Vantage Voices is hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week. Vantage is a members-first network; the directory is free forever. <a href="https://joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Amanda Armstrong Sava will tell you she is not a talker and not a connector. She is a helper. If you need a service, she knows a person. If she does not know the person, she will find one. And if you need a cat moved from Tokyo to Seattle, she has done that too. (The niece was in town for the Taylor Swift concert. The cat came in a backpack.)</p><p>She runs the Seattle branch of Neil Kelly Company, a design-build remodel firm founded in Portland in 1947: four branches, still owned by the Kelly family, and a certified B Corp, which is part of what drew her there. She was a designer for 25 years (kitchens, interiors, interior architecture) and moved into the general manager seat about two years ago. Same job, she says, fulfilling in a different way. She used to bring clients' dreams to reality. Now she helps her team do it.</p><p>Her psychology degree sat unused until she went into sales, and design, in her words, is sales. The drawings are not the hard part. The people are always the work. Somebody sees a thing on HGTV that will never fit their space. Somebody sees drywall for the first time and thinks the whole remodel has gone wrong. Amanda's job is to walk them down into the low point and back up the other side, marriage intact.</p><p>She is an introvert disguised as an extrovert, and she is honest about what that costs. A room like Homecoming fills her cup and empties it at the same time. Her method for building community anyway: quietly and slowly. Stop, read the room, find the one other person doing the same scan. They are out there. She promises.</p><p>And the room everyone gets wrong? The living room. Ninety-nine percent of people put the TV front and center, and the one space in the house where people could gather without electronics never gets built.</p><p>What she gives the room: an ear, a shoulder, a wide "I know a person" network, and a very good trivia partner as long as the category is not music. What she is looking for: she has been in Seattle seven years, half of it during COVID, so she is still building her people. A lawyer she can point a client to. A financial planner for her kids. Someone for her retired husband to golf with. And an introduction to Carmen Best. She said it first.</p><p><strong>CONNECT WITH AMANDA</strong><br> Neil Kelly Seattle: <a href="https://www.neilkelly.com/seattle/">neilkelly.com/seattle</a><br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandasava/">linkedin.com/in/amandasava</a><br> Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/asavakd/">@asavakd</a><br> Neil Kelly on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/neilkellycompany/">@neilkellycompany</a></p><p><strong>LISTEN + SHOW NOTES</strong><br> <a href="https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/amanda-armstrong-sava">joinvantage.co/podcast/amanda-armstrong-sava</a></p><p>Vantage Voices is hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week. Vantage is a members-first network; the directory is free forever. <a href="https://joinvantage.co">joinvantage.co</a></p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:14:38 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/f43a0bfd/4f748d68.mp3" length="17949985" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtam3JiaClY">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/QE3P-GrC8v1z52ZTrdMqvz0x5WxDSXUalpWNCfn8uh8/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS84YWI4/NGUzNzNjZWZhOTI0/ZjQ5NjJiZTVjODA4/Njg5MC5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1121</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>An introvert who plays an extrovert for a living, 25 years of remodeling, and the room in your house everyone gets wrong.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>An introvert who plays an extrovert for a living, 25 years of remodeling, and the room in your house everyone gets wrong.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Amanda Armstrong Sava, Neil Kelly, Neil Kelly Seattle, remodeling, design build, kitchen design, interior design, B Corp, introvert, Seattle, home remodel, family business</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E7 | Charles Finkelstein, Embracing AI with a Clear Conscience</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>7</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>7</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E7 | Charles Finkelstein, Embracing AI with a Clear Conscience</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">5d805052-40df-4721-9a6f-ff8373e0dcd3</guid>
      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/881898de</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Charles Finkelstein (Finkel-stein, like Einstein, a correction his father delivered when Charles was in high school) grew up in a house that made the part instead of buying it. His father was a tool and die maker. When the kitchen oven shot flames, his brother pulled the eroded gas jet, walked down to the shop, and machined a new one out of brass stock in twenty minutes. Popular Science on the table, a Corvair engine built at twelve, and a first car Charles sanded to bare metal himself, before YouTube existed to show him how.</p><p>That instinct became a forty-year career. A computer science degree in the 1980s, work on the internet before most people knew what it was, and then Microsoft in the early 1990s, where he covered Northern California as the technical half of the sales team, specializing in email and connectivity. Eighteen years there, time at Salesforce, and a stack of patents across AI, cloud, and privacy.</p><p>Now he is asking the question the industry keeps deferring. He is enthusiastic about the compute, but the data centers are hungry: the power, the cooling water, the land. His own utility bill has doubled in eight years, the heat domes keep coming, and he is blunt that it does not matter who you blame, it costs lives and it costs businesses. So he invested in ChatGPTree, where the price of a latte a month plants trees to offset your burning tokens, and he filed the paperwork for AI for Ecology, now a 501(c)(3) working on efficiency benchmarks, tooling, and the events where like-minded people find each other.</p><p>When Rachael said the only way to embrace AI with a clear conscience is to do what he is doing, Charles claimed the line on the spot as his new bottom line. It fits. The Vantage assessment pegged him a meaningful connector, and he agrees: a techie who is also an empath, who feels people in a room and wants their light to shine.</p><p><strong>What he needs right now</strong><br>He is building the AI for Ecology board and needs help: people who know nonprofits, grant writing, and the AI infrastructure supply chain. The work is volunteer until funding lands, and he is explicit that it is a place to build real skills in a hard market.</p><p><strong>Connect with Charles</strong><br> AI for Ecology (learn more, volunteer, or donate): <a href="https://ai4ecology.org">ai4ecology.org</a><br> Email: charles@ai4e.org<br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasf">linkedin.com/in/chasf</a></p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Charles Finkelstein (Finkel-stein, like Einstein, a correction his father delivered when Charles was in high school) grew up in a house that made the part instead of buying it. His father was a tool and die maker. When the kitchen oven shot flames, his brother pulled the eroded gas jet, walked down to the shop, and machined a new one out of brass stock in twenty minutes. Popular Science on the table, a Corvair engine built at twelve, and a first car Charles sanded to bare metal himself, before YouTube existed to show him how.</p><p>That instinct became a forty-year career. A computer science degree in the 1980s, work on the internet before most people knew what it was, and then Microsoft in the early 1990s, where he covered Northern California as the technical half of the sales team, specializing in email and connectivity. Eighteen years there, time at Salesforce, and a stack of patents across AI, cloud, and privacy.</p><p>Now he is asking the question the industry keeps deferring. He is enthusiastic about the compute, but the data centers are hungry: the power, the cooling water, the land. His own utility bill has doubled in eight years, the heat domes keep coming, and he is blunt that it does not matter who you blame, it costs lives and it costs businesses. So he invested in ChatGPTree, where the price of a latte a month plants trees to offset your burning tokens, and he filed the paperwork for AI for Ecology, now a 501(c)(3) working on efficiency benchmarks, tooling, and the events where like-minded people find each other.</p><p>When Rachael said the only way to embrace AI with a clear conscience is to do what he is doing, Charles claimed the line on the spot as his new bottom line. It fits. The Vantage assessment pegged him a meaningful connector, and he agrees: a techie who is also an empath, who feels people in a room and wants their light to shine.</p><p><strong>What he needs right now</strong><br>He is building the AI for Ecology board and needs help: people who know nonprofits, grant writing, and the AI infrastructure supply chain. The work is volunteer until funding lands, and he is explicit that it is a place to build real skills in a hard market.</p><p><strong>Connect with Charles</strong><br> AI for Ecology (learn more, volunteer, or donate): <a href="https://ai4ecology.org">ai4ecology.org</a><br> Email: charles@ai4e.org<br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasf">linkedin.com/in/chasf</a></p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/881898de/ebb602d3.mp3" length="18461989" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as2D7ZHtgU0">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/-1oac6DEQhf9eUjspUgFiFmopTdwjULYjBzxi8Gfctk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zZmM0/N2U1ZGJjZjBiNWM5/MDUxZjQ2N2M5NWI4/YTA2My5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1153</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Forty years in tech, a stack of patents, and a nonprofit built so the AI boom does not cost us the planet.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Forty years in tech, a stack of patents, and a nonprofit built so the AI boom does not cost us the planet.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Charles Finkelstein, AI for Ecology, sustainable AI, data centers, Microsoft, climate, nonprofit, Seattle, technology, carbon offsets</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E6 | April Vian, A Normal Zebra Not a Weird Horse</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>6</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>6</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E6 | April Vian, A Normal Zebra Not a Weird Horse</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/cb26fcd7</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>April Vian spent 15 years working with neurodivergent kids, and kept watching them age into adults the world quietly stopped helping. The assumption is that you either lean on your parents forever or somehow have it all figured out by 22. Most people live in between: independent and capable, but never taught the skills that make work and life click. So April built Bridging the Gap, a social benefit corporation (one that can never put profit above purpose) that teaches those skills to individuals, and coaches the companies that employ them.</p><p>In this one: why "we have to be inclusive" is the wrong starting line, the difference between a rule that matters and a rule we just never questioned (everyone needs to be on time, versus you need to meet your deadlines), and why so many capable people get stuck in a contributor-only lane for lack of the soft skills nobody ever taught them. Plus April's favorite reframe for the adults she works with: you might be a normal zebra, not a weird horse.</p><p>What she can give the room: connecting people (especially across healthcare and mental health), parenting and IEP advocacy, and adult ADHD and autism clarity assessments. </p><p>The introduction she is looking for: decision-makers and speaking stages, to reach more employers and more neurodivergent adults.</p><p><strong>How to work with April</strong></p><p>The front door is a Discovery Call, a short exploratory call to find where she can help. From there the paths are:</p><ul><li>Individual coaching: executive functioning, social and leadership skills, the things that actually get people promoted.</li><li>For employers: inclusivity and HR behavioral coaching, plus executive-functioning and social-skills workshops for your team.</li><li>Clarity assessments: for adults wondering if they might be ADHD or autistic. Not a medical diagnosis, a clarifying one.</li><li>Speaking: April speaks to teams and audiences on neurodivergence at work.</li></ul><p>As a social benefit corporation, Bridging the Gap also offers discounted or free trainings for small, family, and minority-owned businesses, and accepts donations.</p><p><strong>Connect with April</strong><br> Book a Discovery Call: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/appointments">bridgingthegapwa.com/appointments</a><br> Services: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/services">bridgingthegapwa.com/services</a><br> Speaking: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/speaking-1">bridgingthegapwa.com/speaking-1</a><br> Resources: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/new-page-1">bridgingthegapwa.com/resources</a><br> Website: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com">bridgingthegapwa.com</a></p><p>Book she recommends: The Mastery of Self by don Miguel Ruiz Jr.</p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>April Vian spent 15 years working with neurodivergent kids, and kept watching them age into adults the world quietly stopped helping. The assumption is that you either lean on your parents forever or somehow have it all figured out by 22. Most people live in between: independent and capable, but never taught the skills that make work and life click. So April built Bridging the Gap, a social benefit corporation (one that can never put profit above purpose) that teaches those skills to individuals, and coaches the companies that employ them.</p><p>In this one: why "we have to be inclusive" is the wrong starting line, the difference between a rule that matters and a rule we just never questioned (everyone needs to be on time, versus you need to meet your deadlines), and why so many capable people get stuck in a contributor-only lane for lack of the soft skills nobody ever taught them. Plus April's favorite reframe for the adults she works with: you might be a normal zebra, not a weird horse.</p><p>What she can give the room: connecting people (especially across healthcare and mental health), parenting and IEP advocacy, and adult ADHD and autism clarity assessments. </p><p>The introduction she is looking for: decision-makers and speaking stages, to reach more employers and more neurodivergent adults.</p><p><strong>How to work with April</strong></p><p>The front door is a Discovery Call, a short exploratory call to find where she can help. From there the paths are:</p><ul><li>Individual coaching: executive functioning, social and leadership skills, the things that actually get people promoted.</li><li>For employers: inclusivity and HR behavioral coaching, plus executive-functioning and social-skills workshops for your team.</li><li>Clarity assessments: for adults wondering if they might be ADHD or autistic. Not a medical diagnosis, a clarifying one.</li><li>Speaking: April speaks to teams and audiences on neurodivergence at work.</li></ul><p>As a social benefit corporation, Bridging the Gap also offers discounted or free trainings for small, family, and minority-owned businesses, and accepts donations.</p><p><strong>Connect with April</strong><br> Book a Discovery Call: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/appointments">bridgingthegapwa.com/appointments</a><br> Services: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/services">bridgingthegapwa.com/services</a><br> Speaking: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/speaking-1">bridgingthegapwa.com/speaking-1</a><br> Resources: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com/new-page-1">bridgingthegapwa.com/resources</a><br> Website: <a href="https://bridgingthegapwa.com">bridgingthegapwa.com</a></p><p>Book she recommends: The Mastery of Self by don Miguel Ruiz Jr.</p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/cb26fcd7/7bc514d0.mp3" length="15583909" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlerZDi1pXw">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/rftQnyGaQ-fQi7zPk-Bab99hUPh7EHqs3kDOZZqb2Ds/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9iOGFm/YjE5Nzg3MDBlODM3/ODk4NjMwNGZlZjU4/NzZlYi5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>973</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>April Vian builds the bridge the system forgot: teaching neurodivergent adults the skills no one taught them, and coaching the companies that hire them. Her reframe for a hard day, you might be a normal zebra, not a weird horse.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>April Vian builds the bridge the system forgot: teaching neurodivergent adults the skills no one taught them, and coaching the companies that hire them. Her reframe for a hard day, you might be a normal zebra, not a weird horse.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, April Vian, Bridging the Gap, neurodivergence, neurodiversity, ADHD, autism, workplace inclusion, Seattle, social benefit corporation, executive functioning, IEP advocacy</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E5 | Katrina Romatowski, Blowing Up the Brick Wall</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>5</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>5</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E5 | Katrina Romatowski, Blowing Up the Brick Wall</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/ce4a4b46</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Katrina Romatowski is, in her own words, a curious human being, and she has spent 30 years in real estate unable to stop building. Everything she does lives on one continuum: if it involves the dirt under your feet or the roof over your head, she is in it. That continuum is three ventures. </p><p>Katrina Eileen Real Estate, her brokerage. reSpace, her co-homeownership company. And Level Up, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2019 with Frank Shankwitz, a founder of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, that pairs housing with mentorship for men coming out of re-entry and recovery.</p><p>reSpace was born from an uncomfortable question. Katrina built two infill homes in a backyard, put one on the market, and watched it sell in days for $950,000. Who can afford that? Around the same time she saw fractional ownership being used to hand wealthy families a slice of multimillion-dollar second homes. Her reaction: who cares about rich people getting a second home, how about the everyday person being able to afford one? reSpace meets people where they already are and turns it into real ownership: every bedroom a private primary suite, the kitchen and living and outdoor spaces shared, and for a fraction of the cost of the whole house you own a piece of it. The first home, a yellow Victorian mansion in Leschi with five suites, is live now.</p><p>This is the third episode in a row about doors. Jesse took his off the hinges, Roger held his open, and when Rachael asked Katrina who she builds doors for, Katrina said a door is not what she sees. She sees a big brick wall, and nobody even tells you there is a world on the other side of it. Her answer: stop looking for the door. Either build what you want right where you are, or get some dynamite and blow up the wall. Where she comes from there was no permission to do much of anything, so she never waited for it.</p><p>Her north star: a rising tide raises all ships. What she can give the room is connection, she remembers everyone and refuses to gatekeep. What she needs is capital: reSpace is gaining traction and investment is the one thing holding it back, Level Up needs mentors and volunteers and capital to add homes, and Katrina Eileen Real Estate, the brokerage that funds the mission, is ready for anyone buying or selling.</p><p><strong>Connect with Katrina</strong><br> reSpace (co-homeownership: invest, co-own, or live in one): <a href="https://respace.co">respace.co</a><br> Katrina Eileen Real Estate (buy or sell a home): <a href="https://katrinaeileen.com">katrinaeileen.com</a><br> Level Up Seattle (volunteer, mentor, or donate): <a href="https://www.leveluphome.org">www.leveluphome.org</a><br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaeileen">www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaeileen</a></p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Katrina Romatowski is, in her own words, a curious human being, and she has spent 30 years in real estate unable to stop building. Everything she does lives on one continuum: if it involves the dirt under your feet or the roof over your head, she is in it. That continuum is three ventures. </p><p>Katrina Eileen Real Estate, her brokerage. reSpace, her co-homeownership company. And Level Up, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2019 with Frank Shankwitz, a founder of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, that pairs housing with mentorship for men coming out of re-entry and recovery.</p><p>reSpace was born from an uncomfortable question. Katrina built two infill homes in a backyard, put one on the market, and watched it sell in days for $950,000. Who can afford that? Around the same time she saw fractional ownership being used to hand wealthy families a slice of multimillion-dollar second homes. Her reaction: who cares about rich people getting a second home, how about the everyday person being able to afford one? reSpace meets people where they already are and turns it into real ownership: every bedroom a private primary suite, the kitchen and living and outdoor spaces shared, and for a fraction of the cost of the whole house you own a piece of it. The first home, a yellow Victorian mansion in Leschi with five suites, is live now.</p><p>This is the third episode in a row about doors. Jesse took his off the hinges, Roger held his open, and when Rachael asked Katrina who she builds doors for, Katrina said a door is not what she sees. She sees a big brick wall, and nobody even tells you there is a world on the other side of it. Her answer: stop looking for the door. Either build what you want right where you are, or get some dynamite and blow up the wall. Where she comes from there was no permission to do much of anything, so she never waited for it.</p><p>Her north star: a rising tide raises all ships. What she can give the room is connection, she remembers everyone and refuses to gatekeep. What she needs is capital: reSpace is gaining traction and investment is the one thing holding it back, Level Up needs mentors and volunteers and capital to add homes, and Katrina Eileen Real Estate, the brokerage that funds the mission, is ready for anyone buying or selling.</p><p><strong>Connect with Katrina</strong><br> reSpace (co-homeownership: invest, co-own, or live in one): <a href="https://respace.co">respace.co</a><br> Katrina Eileen Real Estate (buy or sell a home): <a href="https://katrinaeileen.com">katrinaeileen.com</a><br> Level Up Seattle (volunteer, mentor, or donate): <a href="https://www.leveluphome.org">www.leveluphome.org</a><br> LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaeileen">www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaeileen</a></p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/ce4a4b46/73cdc6cb.mp3" length="26949057" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGRBEbFOW7I">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/ncOQHumhoY_8kca90bCo1RYMWgGbmbd3jEVawwUmOxE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wZThk/MGY0Y2I5YmEwOGE2/ODllZDBiOGJlZTUy/MjQ5Ni5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1683</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Katrina Romatowski on co-homeownership, betting on yourself, and why she stopped looking for the door and started blowing up the wall.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Katrina Romatowski on co-homeownership, betting on yourself, and why she stopped looking for the door and started blowing up the wall.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Katrina Romatowski, reSpace, Katrina Eileen Real Estate, Level Up, co-homeownership, co-ownership, Seattle real estate, housing affordability, homeownership, women founders</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E4 | Erica Carraway, Sharing the Spotlight Is a Power</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>4</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>4</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E4 | Erica Carraway, Sharing the Spotlight Is a Power</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/e23a1237</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Erica Carraway is the CEO and founder of Key Wellness, and Vantage's own strategic partnerships and marketing lead. </p><p>Key Wellness is an umbrella over a whole ecosystem, and every business is named for a key on a keyboard: <br>Alt (the herbal coffee alternative she built to reverse her own diabetes), <br>Escape (retreats that heal through astrology and the elements), <br>Shift (her marketing agency), and <br>Control (a creative marketplace where talent trades for equity instead of one-off contracts). The thread is refusal: she will not do one thing forever just because it worked. </p><p>She is a brand developer, and the most important part of that is making square one un-scary, for herself and everyone she builds with. Her superpower is partnership, and she does it give-first: she shows up as a social consumer, supports people first, and lets the business manifest from the relationship. </p><p>The heart of the episode is her daughters, and the one lesson she wants them to inherit: that sharing your spotlight is a power that only ever fuels you. </p><p>CONNECT WITH ERICA CARRAWAY <br>Website: https://yourkeywellness.com <br>Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanodior <br>Alt (herbal coffee): https://www.instagram.com/alt_xcoffee <br>Email: support@yourkeywellness.com </p><p>Every member gets a seat in this chair. Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. </p><p>Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co</p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Erica Carraway is the CEO and founder of Key Wellness, and Vantage's own strategic partnerships and marketing lead. </p><p>Key Wellness is an umbrella over a whole ecosystem, and every business is named for a key on a keyboard: <br>Alt (the herbal coffee alternative she built to reverse her own diabetes), <br>Escape (retreats that heal through astrology and the elements), <br>Shift (her marketing agency), and <br>Control (a creative marketplace where talent trades for equity instead of one-off contracts). The thread is refusal: she will not do one thing forever just because it worked. </p><p>She is a brand developer, and the most important part of that is making square one un-scary, for herself and everyone she builds with. Her superpower is partnership, and she does it give-first: she shows up as a social consumer, supports people first, and lets the business manifest from the relationship. </p><p>The heart of the episode is her daughters, and the one lesson she wants them to inherit: that sharing your spotlight is a power that only ever fuels you. </p><p>CONNECT WITH ERICA CARRAWAY <br>Website: https://yourkeywellness.com <br>Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanodior <br>Alt (herbal coffee): https://www.instagram.com/alt_xcoffee <br>Email: support@yourkeywellness.com </p><p>Every member gets a seat in this chair. Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. </p><p>Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co</p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/e23a1237/d69845aa.mp3" length="28453713" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqAXWwjhDos">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/C2nRp_huKe5HtUvsOYEW5M7HHZmC-xVtnlm6psuh4Lw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYzQ1/OTM4ZTVlY2JhNDlm/MmJjYjViYzE5ZDU5/OTcxOS5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1777</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>The brand developer behind Key Wellness on ecosystems, partnership as give-first, and the lesson she wants her girls to inherit.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>The brand developer behind Key Wellness on ecosystems, partnership as give-first, and the lesson she wants her girls to inherit.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Erica Carraway, Key Wellness, Alt Coffee, Seattle, wellness, brand development, marketing, partnerships, creative marketplace, entrepreneurship, women founders</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
      <podcast:transcript url="https://share.transistor.fm/s/e23a1237/transcript.txt" type="text/plain"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E3 | Roger Starkweather, Holding the Door Open</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>3</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>3</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E3 | Roger Starkweather, Holding the Door Open</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">2a74fae7-6538-4717-8884-c1e62fcd9829</guid>
      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/60fb21e0</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Roger Starkweather is the Chief Experience Officer of ANEWbrand, the branding and marketing agency he built with his best friend of fifteen years, Steven Picanza, for what they call do-good organizations. </p><p>Before that he spent years inside the giants: Nordstrom, Starbucks, REI, L'Oreal. The turn came when two pathways collided. Roger and Steven were frustrated with big-agency models that took advantage of clients, and at the same time Roger was in his own personal transformation: coming out. He chose to be raw and honest about who he is and tie it to what he wanted to do in life, which is give back. Then the club handed him something he never went searching for: the board presidency. </p><p>Five general managers in seven years, COVID, no clear direction. His answer was to consistently show up, so consistently that people called him the mayor. And as the first openly gay chair of the Columbia Tower Club, he became fully visible himself right as he was helping the community do the same. </p><p>Jesse talked in episode two about taking the door off. Roger walked through his, and then held it open. He leaves the episode with the three words he lives by, inspired by his three kids, all artists and creators out in the world: create, learn and love. </p><p>CONNECT WITH ROGER STARKWEATHER <br>Website: https://www.anewbrand.co <br>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerstarkweather<br>ANEWbrand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anewbrandconsulting <br>Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anewbrand.co <br>Substack: https://allaboutbranding.substack.com </p><p>The Good Gathering (nonprofit programming Roger chairs at the World Trade Center) is August 12 and open to all. Every member gets a seat in this chair. </p><p>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co</p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Roger Starkweather is the Chief Experience Officer of ANEWbrand, the branding and marketing agency he built with his best friend of fifteen years, Steven Picanza, for what they call do-good organizations. </p><p>Before that he spent years inside the giants: Nordstrom, Starbucks, REI, L'Oreal. The turn came when two pathways collided. Roger and Steven were frustrated with big-agency models that took advantage of clients, and at the same time Roger was in his own personal transformation: coming out. He chose to be raw and honest about who he is and tie it to what he wanted to do in life, which is give back. Then the club handed him something he never went searching for: the board presidency. </p><p>Five general managers in seven years, COVID, no clear direction. His answer was to consistently show up, so consistently that people called him the mayor. And as the first openly gay chair of the Columbia Tower Club, he became fully visible himself right as he was helping the community do the same. </p><p>Jesse talked in episode two about taking the door off. Roger walked through his, and then held it open. He leaves the episode with the three words he lives by, inspired by his three kids, all artists and creators out in the world: create, learn and love. </p><p>CONNECT WITH ROGER STARKWEATHER <br>Website: https://www.anewbrand.co <br>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerstarkweather<br>ANEWbrand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anewbrandconsulting <br>Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anewbrand.co <br>Substack: https://allaboutbranding.substack.com </p><p>The Good Gathering (nonprofit programming Roger chairs at the World Trade Center) is August 12 and open to all. Every member gets a seat in this chair. </p><p>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co</p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:30:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/60fb21e0/032a7d25.mp3" length="18011831" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHYC0LqkiDM">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/UxvTFR9-RaD2Oh5MiOcSJCkuQviHVg5O-DR43YRM7Dg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYmJh/NmI0MzBkNDgwYzc3/YjM0ODA4MDRhY2Zi/YWUyMi5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1124</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>The first openly gay chair of the Columbia Tower Club, on visibility, community, and connecting the dots.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>The first openly gay chair of the Columbia Tower Club, on visibility, community, and connecting the dots.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Roger Starkweather, ANEWbrand, Steven Picanza, Seattle, branding, brand strategy, LGBTQ, coming out, Columbia Tower Club, nonprofits, do good organizations, community</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E2 | Jesse Rhodes Jr.: Create Possibilities, Not Excuses</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>2</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>2</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E2 | Jesse Rhodes Jr.: Create Possibilities, Not Excuses</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
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      <link>https://share.transistor.fm/s/ed32d181</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>The first member of Vantage takes the mic. Jesse Rhodes Jr. is a keynote speaker, a University of Washington professor, and a self-described cultural architect whose whole purpose is to work with humans to create possibilities, not excuses. In episode two of Vantage Voices, Rachael Barclay turns the questions back on the man who interviewed her first.</p><p>We get into humanity as a discipline, the "door" (the invisible barriers that stop people before they start), the five-minute embrace that made his whole day, the 25 fellows from 20 African countries he promised to visit for a cup of tea, and his message straight to the Columbia Tower Club community he chaired when it closed.</p><p>CHAPTERS<br>00:00 Turning the mic back on Jesse<br>00:38 One word: humanity<br>01:16 What a cultural architect actually builds<br>03:01 Keynotes, UW, and 20 countries<br>04:30 Humanness vs. the hustle<br>04:53 The door: the barriers we do not see<br>07:29 Who Jesse invites into the room<br>09:44 The one introduction he is looking for<br>13:28 A message to the Columbia Tower Club<br>15:42 Relationship capital</p><p>LISTEN EVERYWHERE<br>Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604<br>Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH<br>All platforms + full show notes: https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/jesse-rhodes-jr</p><p>ABOUT VANTAGE VOICES<br>The room behind the room, on the record. Short, honest conversations with the people building the next version of Seattle. Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week.</p><p>Vantage is a members-first network, and the public business directory is free forever. Learn more or apply at https://www.joinvantage.co</p><p>#VantageVoices #SeattleBusiness #Leadership #Community #Podcast</p>

CONNECT WITH JESSE RHODES JR.
Website: https://jesserhodesjr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesserhodesjr/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesserhodesjr/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JesseRhodesJr
X: https://x.com/jesserhodesjr_
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MisterRhodes
Book, Leadership Unlocked: https://jesserhodesjr.com/product/leadership-unlocked/

Every member gets a seat in this chair. Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>The first member of Vantage takes the mic. Jesse Rhodes Jr. is a keynote speaker, a University of Washington professor, and a self-described cultural architect whose whole purpose is to work with humans to create possibilities, not excuses. In episode two of Vantage Voices, Rachael Barclay turns the questions back on the man who interviewed her first.</p><p>We get into humanity as a discipline, the "door" (the invisible barriers that stop people before they start), the five-minute embrace that made his whole day, the 25 fellows from 20 African countries he promised to visit for a cup of tea, and his message straight to the Columbia Tower Club community he chaired when it closed.</p><p>CHAPTERS<br>00:00 Turning the mic back on Jesse<br>00:38 One word: humanity<br>01:16 What a cultural architect actually builds<br>03:01 Keynotes, UW, and 20 countries<br>04:30 Humanness vs. the hustle<br>04:53 The door: the barriers we do not see<br>07:29 Who Jesse invites into the room<br>09:44 The one introduction he is looking for<br>13:28 A message to the Columbia Tower Club<br>15:42 Relationship capital</p><p>LISTEN EVERYWHERE<br>Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/vantage-voices/id6791746604<br>Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033QGptiCILHJLC4NmPWqH<br>All platforms + full show notes: https://www.joinvantage.co/podcast/jesse-rhodes-jr</p><p>ABOUT VANTAGE VOICES<br>The room behind the room, on the record. Short, honest conversations with the people building the next version of Seattle. Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Two new voices a week.</p><p>Vantage is a members-first network, and the public business directory is free forever. Learn more or apply at https://www.joinvantage.co</p><p>#VantageVoices #SeattleBusiness #Leadership #Community #Podcast</p>

CONNECT WITH JESSE RHODES JR.
Website: https://jesserhodesjr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesserhodesjr/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesserhodesjr/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JesseRhodesJr
X: https://x.com/jesserhodesjr_
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MisterRhodes
Book, Leadership Unlocked: https://jesserhodesjr.com/product/leadership-unlocked/

Every member gets a seat in this chair. Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Learn more at https://www.joinvantage.co]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG-AXtr5ZCg">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/jRE1BITS3riUv5vMCG5gP9Zz0j2l4AOOXVaub0E1m7k/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9lZjQ1/ZjAyY2U0YWU5ZTg3/YmU0ZDY1ZTdlMTNk/OWFjZC5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1092</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Possibilities, not excuses. The cultural architect on community, humanity, and taking the door off.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Possibilities, not excuses. The cultural architect on community, humanity, and taking the door off.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Vantage Voices, Jesse Rhodes Jr, Rachael Barclay, Vantage Network, Seattle, cultural architect, community, keynote speaker, leadership, human centered leadership, Columbia Tower Club, networking</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
      <podcast:person role="Guest" href="https://www.jesserhodesjr.com">Jesse Rhodes Jr</podcast:person>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>S1E1 | Rachael Barclay, The Founder's Episode</title>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <itunes:episode>1</itunes:episode>
      <podcast:episode>1</podcast:episode>
      <itunes:title>S1E1 | Rachael Barclay, The Founder's Episode</itunes:title>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">a1b13bec-aa57-4168-a0f4-7345893efc11</guid>
      <link>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvFDTD36jV0</link>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[<p>Episode one, and Jesse Rhodes Jr. opens with a curveball. He came with his own questions and turns the mic around on Rachael, because before anyone hears from the members, the audience should hear from the person who built the room.</p><p>Rachael was general manager of Columbia Tower Club for almost two years, left in 2025, and came back as a member. She watched the club fight through COVID, and she never could shake the question: it is not the space, so what is the thing? When the news landed in April, the answer stopped being theoretical. Time to accelerate.</p><p>What Vantage actually is, in three parts. First, the public directory: free to list your business, your nonprofit, or your client's nonprofit, free forever, with every page built to be found by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI. That is the give-first economy, out loud. Second, the network: access to the other members, on your terms, protected on purpose. Third, proactive introductions: three people you did not know, inside your first 90 days, starting with the Vantage Type assessment.</p><p>Also in this one: who the room is for (people who do things, who create, build, and operate) and who it is not for. Why the filter is not your resume but "evidence that you show up for people when there is nothing in it for you." What the clubs taught her, from hostess at seventeen to Invited Clubs, and why hospitality is a discipline and not a vibe. And the real why: an entrepreneurial streak she calls highly unemployable, plus the family time she says she would not trade back for a million years.</p><p>Jesse's framing is worth the listen on its own: Vantage from the vantage point. The value is not only the new introductions, it is finally seeing the opportunity already sitting inside your own network.</p><p>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━</p><p>List your business free: https://www.joinvantage.co/get-listed<br>Browse the directory: https://www.joinvantage.co/directory<br>Take the Vantage Type assessment: https://www.joinvantage.co/vantage-type<br>Apply to join: https://www.joinvantage.co/join</p><p>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Every member gets a seat in this chair. CONNECT WITH VANTAGE Website: https://www.joinvantage.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevantagenetwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560489763262 Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Every member gets a seat in this chair.</p>]]>
      </description>
      <content:encoded>
        <![CDATA[<p>Episode one, and Jesse Rhodes Jr. opens with a curveball. He came with his own questions and turns the mic around on Rachael, because before anyone hears from the members, the audience should hear from the person who built the room.</p><p>Rachael was general manager of Columbia Tower Club for almost two years, left in 2025, and came back as a member. She watched the club fight through COVID, and she never could shake the question: it is not the space, so what is the thing? When the news landed in April, the answer stopped being theoretical. Time to accelerate.</p><p>What Vantage actually is, in three parts. First, the public directory: free to list your business, your nonprofit, or your client's nonprofit, free forever, with every page built to be found by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI. That is the give-first economy, out loud. Second, the network: access to the other members, on your terms, protected on purpose. Third, proactive introductions: three people you did not know, inside your first 90 days, starting with the Vantage Type assessment.</p><p>Also in this one: who the room is for (people who do things, who create, build, and operate) and who it is not for. Why the filter is not your resume but "evidence that you show up for people when there is nothing in it for you." What the clubs taught her, from hostess at seventeen to Invited Clubs, and why hospitality is a discipline and not a vibe. And the real why: an entrepreneurial streak she calls highly unemployable, plus the family time she says she would not trade back for a million years.</p><p>Jesse's framing is worth the listen on its own: Vantage from the vantage point. The value is not only the new introductions, it is finally seeing the opportunity already sitting inside your own network.</p><p>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━</p><p>List your business free: https://www.joinvantage.co/get-listed<br>Browse the directory: https://www.joinvantage.co/directory<br>Take the Vantage Type assessment: https://www.joinvantage.co/vantage-type<br>Apply to join: https://www.joinvantage.co/join</p><p>Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Every member gets a seat in this chair. CONNECT WITH VANTAGE Website: https://www.joinvantage.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevantagenetwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560489763262 Vantage Voices is the podcast of Vantage. Every member gets a seat in this chair.</p>]]>
      </content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:15:29 -0700</pubDate>
      <author>Rachael Barclay</author>
      <enclosure url="https://media.transistor.fm/9214b894/8a52492e.mp3" length="18591538" type="audio/mpeg"/>
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      </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
      <podcast:contentLink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI3r7JeY50k">Watch on YouTube</podcast:contentLink>
      <itunes:author>Rachael Barclay</itunes:author>
      <itunes:image href="https://img.transistorcdn.com/gQ5WlvKKHVtzMYGLjRuwyHwZDgs2L8tUzoUz_YLBi44/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS85YmVh/NTM5OTM3NWFmNjRl/M2E3YTYzZTQxNWQy/MmZhYS5wbmc.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>1161</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:summary>Jesse Rhodes Jr. flips the script on episode one. The GM who watched the room go dark, on why she is building the next one.</itunes:summary>
      <itunes:subtitle>Jesse Rhodes Jr. flips the script on episode one. The GM who watched the room go dark, on why she is building the next one.</itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:keywords>Seattle, networking, entrepreneurs, founders, business networking, membership community, curated introductions, leadership, small business, Seattle business, professional networking, community</itunes:keywords>
      <itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
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