A Work in Progress

Episode #11: Big Things Have Small Beginnings w/Mayzer Muhammmad

Hello everyone, this is A Work in Progress, the official podcast of Busy Bee, and I’m Jeffrey Langan, your host. On this episode I had the pleasure of talking to Mayzer Muhammad. At the time of this interview Mayzer was the president of Undergraduate Student Government at the University of St. Thomas, however, he was due to appoint his successor soon after. So, as of this recording, Mayzer has graduated. On this episode we went all the way back to his humble and shy beginnings, to being the big man on campus that he became. I know that some of our audience did not attend UST, but I think what Mayzer has to say can inspire all.

Episode #10: Just Do It w/Meghan Sharkus

When we sat down for this interview, Meghan Sharkus had just come from her choir class, would be heading off soon to a dress rehearsal for a comedy show, was gearing up for final exams, and was celebrating the success of a kickstarter campaign for her company, ExpressionMed. ExpressionMed, a labor of love for Meghan, produces and distributes adhesives for children with diabetes. These adhesives are used to keep infusion sets (that work with pumps to deliver insulin) and continuous glucose monitors (that measure glucose levels) in place. Traditional adhesives have notably been of poor quality, coming off in the water, and simply not doing the job. ExpressionMed adhesives not only stay secure, but also come with the fun twist that the adhesives have special designs on them. This company has sent adhesive to over 200 people in 24 states and 4 different countries and, is absolutely a game-changer. Meghan Sharkus herself will undoubtedly make her mark on the world, as she already has before she's even hit twenty years old. Oh shoot, did I forget to mention that? She’s just about through her first year of college. Let's get to Meghan and hear what she has to say.

Episode #9: Learning from and Analyzing Pop Culture w/Zander Tsadwa

Sorry about the delay in episode releases. Home/work life just got significantly more busy. On this episode I interviewed Zander Tsadwa. Zander is the founder of the site Across the Culture. Across the Culture functions as a crowd source hub dedicated hosting user opinions on global popular culture phenomena. Whether it be a twitter trend, or global politics, thinkpieces abound can be found, and Zander prides himself on publishing content regardless of ideology or viewpoint. In this episode we talk about where Zander gets his ideas from, the difficulties that come in writing original thinkpieces, and what role culture plays in our day to day lives. Stay tuned for the end of the episode, where Zander and I discuss how the beginning of any journey can be difficult when it comes to building momentum, but the plethora of resources nowadays make it easier.

Episode #8: Busy Bee Co-Founder Tells All (Or at Least Some) w/Zachary Hurdle

Busy Bee is a handyman business based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where members of the surrounding community post about odd jobs they need done on the busy bee website (raking, cleaning gutters, painting, anything you need to get done at affordable rates). Busy Bee is staffed by local college students, who will respond to these postings and go out and do the jobs. Sounds pretty great doesn't it? Well today on the show we're lucky enough to get Zachary Hurdle, a co-founder of Busy Bee and the current Operations Manager. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who love Zachary, and those who've never met him. So if you know him only by reputation, hopefully this episode will give you a little taste of what you're missing out on. Being the head honcho at Busy Bee is a satisfying and challenging feat for Zachary, because it allows him to give back to the community, but he's also balancing this with being a senior at the University of Saint Thomas, and working at Tori Ramen. There's a dozen other tasks that he handles in his day to day life, and as you'll learn in the episode, if he doesn't have a million things going on, he doesn't really know what to do with himself. But that's enough from me, let's get to Zachary, and hear what he has to say.