Community Episodes

Perry Stancato is the founder and CEO of Signature Sauces and a third-generation operator of the beloved Cleveland institution, Stancato’s Italian Restaurant. This conversation with Perry explores the entrepreneurial journey ...

Kaitie and Kyle Nickel are entrepreneurs, storytellers, and community builders based in Cleveland. They have grown beloved brands such as Cleveland Vibes, The Cleveland Market, and Cleve or Leave to reach hundreds of thousand...

Nearly a year and a half after our conversation first aired in 2024, Lost & Found in Cleveland is ready to make its way to theaters nationwide on November 7, 2025. When I first sat down with Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman,...

On this special episode of Lay of the Land, I’m joined—for the first time—by the two co-founders of The O.H.I.O. Fund, Mark Kvamme and Ray Leach, as well as the fund’s two founding partners, Jill Meyer and Mike Venerable, to ...

Jim McCarthy Jr. is a filmmaker and the director of the new documentary Mr. Football , and David Conwill is the Executive Vice Chairman and former CEO of Redwood Living as well as an executive producer of the film. Dave’s car...

Ryan Kelly is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and partner of Substance, a film and television production company based in Cleveland. What if Northeast Ohio had the infrastructure to support large-scale film productions? That quest...

Carey Jaros joined GOJO in 2014 as a board member, later taking on executive roles as Chief Strategy Officer—where she oversaw Marketing, Product Management, and Innovation—and as Chief Operating Officer, before becoming Pres...

I’m very excited to welcome Umberto Fedeli back for his third conversation. In our first two conversations — episode 135 and episode 171 — we explored Umberto’s remarkable life journey, deep-rooted wisdom, and how he's master...

Sonia Winner is the CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In July 2018, she became the 10th director of the Museum in its more than 100-year history, dating back to 1920. Since then, she has spearheaded a $150 milli...

Carl Walz is an astronaut, a pioneer of space exploration, and a proud Clevelander! As an astronaut, Carl is a veteran of four spaceflights, logging a total of 231 days in outer space and performing three spacewalks during th...

Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute—a media, event, and online education company that he started back in 2016 to make AI accessible, approachable, and actionable for marketers and bu...

Robert Marks founded Fidelity Voice and Data in 1999 with just a $600 investment, which he grew into a business generating over $30 million in revenue, making it one of the largest telecommunications and cloud services compet...

Stephen McHale — a long-time Cleveland serial entrepreneur with a 40-year career founding, investing in, and building companies. Most notably, Steve served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Explorys, whi...

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Lay of The Land podcast. Today, we're doing something a bit different as I take on the role of guest on other podcasts to discuss recent developments in my journey and offer a glimpse...

It is with a heavy heart that I honor Bob Sopko’s memory by revisiting Lay of The Land 's 12th episode . While no conversation could ever fully capture the breadth or depth of his legacy, I hope this episode relays an essence...

Joe Pulizzi is a serial entrepreneur and deeply passionate about all things content marketing and entrepreneurship — he is the bestselling author of seven books including Content Inc. , selling over 500,000 copies worldwide w...

John Vickers , Founder & CEO of Blue Abyss. John is building one of the most ambitious and inspiring projects I’ve encountered while exploring what people are building in Cleveland! After spending eight years in the British A...

Dan Nitowsky, Chair of TIGER 21 Cleveland. Dan, like me is a native New Yorker who has made Cleveland his home & has spent 30 years here in Cleveland as a highly accomplished executive with a proven history of success in dist...

My guests this week are my friends and partners over at Impact Architects —who many of you will note are the longest-time supporters of Lay of The Land and the community building work we’re doing together — Kris Snyder and Ji...

Sandor Gyerman and Jared Anderson , the dynamic co-founders of Andor Creative. Founded in 2018 when they were Sophomores at Cleveland State University, Andor Creative was born to find more innovative ways to produce advertisi...

Joshua Edmonds , CEO of DigitalC. The digital divide — this gap between people who have access to the internet and those who do not — is something you may have heard me bring up a few times before on this podcast — while not ...

Mike Malley, President and CEO of Malley's Chocolates . If you grew up in northeast Ohio it’s very likely you know of Malley’s Chocolates, a staple of this community, providing delicious chocolate candies & treats for over ei...

Craig Hassall , CEO of Playhouse Square Craig is a mainstay in the international theater community, with decades of experience operating and curating the most prestigious venues across Europe and Australia. Over his career, i...

Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman — Founders @ Double G Films This is a truly special episode — I always love exploring the parallels between entrepreneurship and art and in our conversation today, we get to explore the fasci...