EP #100: ...100 Episodes Later! with Stacey Risley & Kiana Wagner
Jun 14, 2024
Ever wondered how a dedicated mother and veteran teacher can transition to thriving in medical sales and publishing? Join us as Kiana Wagner flips the script and interviews our usual host, Stacey Risley, offering a rare glimpse into Stacey's incredible journey. From her 19-year teaching career to being recognized as Dunwoody's Small Business Person of the Year, Stacey's pivot to podcasting was fueled by a desire to uplift local businesses during the pandemic. With the one-year anniversary and 100th episode milestone on the horizon, this episode is a testament to the power of resilience, community support, and genuine passion.
Stacey's story is one of overcoming initial imposter syndrome to become a relaxed and authentic podcast host. In this engaging session, she shares the importance of highlighting local North Atlanta businesses. The synergy between Stacey and Kiana shines through, reflecting the trust and teamwork that have driven their shared success. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of local enterprises and the vibrant stories behind them.
Ever wondered how a dedicated mother and veteran teacher can transition to thriving in medical sales and publishing? Join us as Kiana Wagner flips the script and interviews our usual host, Stacey Risley, offering a rare glimpse into Stacey's incredible journey. From her 19-year teaching career to being recognized as Dunwoody's Small Business Person of the Year, Stacey's pivot to podcasting was fueled by a desire to uplift local businesses during the pandemic. With the one-year anniversary and 100th episode milestone on the horizon, this episode is a testament to the power of resilience, community support, and genuine passion.
Stacey's story is one of overcoming initial imposter syndrome to become a relaxed and authentic podcast host. In this engaging session, she shares the importance of highlighting local North Atlanta businesses. The synergy between Stacey and Kiana shines through, reflecting the trust and teamwork that have driven their shared success. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of local enterprises and the vibrant stories behind them.
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, North Atlanta, where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Risley. Hello friends and neighbors, Welcome to North Atlanta's Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm Kiana Wagner Now. Usually I'm behind the scenes working hard as our production manager, but today we are switching things up a little. We are here interviewing our host, Stacey Risley. Hi, Stacey.
Speaker 2:
Hi Kiana. This is a pleasure to do it this way.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's so fun. It's nice to be on this side of things, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, you have been such an integral part of this whole process for the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta, so it is a pleasure to have you, you know, on this side of things, like you said, just to switch things up a bit and have you ask him the questions and put me in the hot seat.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Stacey. Well, let's dive right in. Tell us about yourself. Who is Stacey Risley?
Speaker 2:
Well, let's dive right in. Tell us about yourself. Who is Stacey?
Speaker 1:
Risley.
Speaker 2:
Oh my goodness, there's a lot of layers to Stacey Risley, but I am a mother of two. I've got two amazing daughters. One is 23 and my youngest is 21, almost 22. Their names are Lauren and Ansley their names are Lauren and Ansley.
Speaker 2:
Hi Lauren, hi Ansley, I am a publisher of North Buckhead Neighbors Magazine and also Dunwoody Neighbors Magazine. I was a schoolteacher for 19 years, got into a brief stint of medical sales, which I just didn't find very fulfilling, and then COVID hit and that, you know, changed the whole trajectory of my career, and that's when I moved into publishing and I moved to Dunwoody actually to be closer to my Buckhead publication, and then fell in love with the Dunwoody community. I live here and I absolutely love it. And that's when I launched in 2022, I launched Dunwoody Neighbors, my second magazine. So, and then now we're doing podcasting as well.
Speaker 2:
So a lot on my plate, but it's you have been just like an integral part of all of this, and I knew, when the podcasting opportunity presented itself, that I couldn't put one more thing on my plate and do it. Well, because I'm one of those if I'm going to do something, I want to do a good job at that, and and you were the answer to that I found you and you and I. You've now become like a daughter to me as well, so I feel like you're my my oldest by a year, right.
Speaker 1:
Well, thank you so much for the kind words, Stacey. You have helped me just as much as I have helped you. I feel like we have developed a really good partnership. You know, we're just a really good team. We have really good synergy.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. Synergy is a great word for that and and I couldn't do this if I didn't trust you, like just implicitly. You know, like I, I absolutely know that you're going to do a good job. I can put it in your hands and know it's going to get done. The listeners may not realize that Kiana is also my content coordinator and editor of. She started with Dunwoody Neighbors and then now she is doing that role in both publications. So when we say we work together and we have a great synergy, it really is a crucial element to that Finding the right people to build your team, and you have just really exceeded all expectations. I love you and I'm so glad you're here doing this with me.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh, Stacey, you're going to make me blush.
Speaker 2:
Good thing, it's only all of you right.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Well, as you know, Stacey, we are actually about to have our one year anniversary here in June with the Good Neighbor podcast North Atlanta. It's crazy to think of that. So can you tell us a bit about your journey?
Speaker 2:
this past year in regards to the podcast. So this has been a new adventure for sure. You know, I had been a guest on Matt Weber's what's Up Dunwoody podcast one time when I was suddenly the host of a business podcast for North Atlanta, and so I had very little experience and was very nervous about it. I used to pick apart each episode and worry if I said, um, or you know, you know my two common go-tos, but I just don't do that anymore and it feels way more natural. I really enjoy the being able to give businesses a voice. You know, in the community, I, I.
Speaker 2:
What kind of pivoted me to to take on this is, you know, besides the opportunity presenting itself, but I won um dunwoody's small business person of the year in 2023 and, uh, I felt like 2024 as well. Right, yeah, well, yes, congratulations, thank you. Consecutive title holder, um. But. But I felt like you know, if I have that title, you know, and that it's very, very honored, but I felt like I needed to do something to help other small businesses and this was a great means to do that, and also it serves as a voice for them to have their stories told. There's, you know, quick interviews with prepared questions and then also to figure out who is a good candidate to be a part of the publication. You know sponsors in either publication, so it's really all come together really well it.
Speaker 1:
That's pretty nice, stacey. Some people, anyone, can say something or hold a certain title, but it's completely different when you walk the walk. And this is what you're doing You're walking the walk.
Speaker 2:
And I am not walking it as well as I want to.
Speaker 1:
I still want to continue.
Speaker 2:
I want to continue to grow this. I feel like we you know, a hundred episodes in almost a year. You know this is our. This is our hundredth episode, you know, and that's pretty good when you're looking at the grand scheme of things. We kind of started out of the gate really quickly and then we kind of lulled a little bit and now I'm ready to kind of amp that back up again. You know, getting multiple episodes every week.
Speaker 2:
We're finding our footing, that's right, that is right and and I I just feel like it really is, I mean, I'm doing it truly. It's free, you know, to the pod, to our, to our guests. It's a free tool for them to be able to get their story out and how they, in the way they choose, to do that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and just to add this in there I know we've had multiple conversations over this it's just nice to meet different types of people from different walks of life, see how they got into their profession in the first place.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. I mean, people really do want to do business with people they know, like and trust, and that's what the mission of this podcast is to build that know, like and trust factor with the residents that they serve, you know. And so I think and I'm going to kind of ask my own question here, the misconceptions question you know that people think it is a. You know that they're going to have just this huge following based on this podcast you know, and that's not the case.
Speaker 2:
I am not in this to grow my audience personally, you know I, I I do this for the businesses and it's, you know, it's a tool for them. They can, you know, put it, push it out on their social media. They can, you know it's. It is on our website, but the goal isn't to for me to become this popular podcast host.
Speaker 1:
That's not.
Speaker 2:
that's not what this is about for me, you know. It's about what the you know it's about giving the businesses a tool and what they do with it, you know, is their own, you know, prerogative. They can do what they want If they want to push it out, if they want to just share it with friends and family, if they want to. You know our episodes have a wide range of listenership. You know some of our episodes are listened to a lot and those are by the business owners who are pushing it out, you know, and and putting it on their website and doing all of it because we give them the tools to be able to do all of that. But we don't do that for them because we are free. We are.
Speaker 2:
I do not make money from the podcast, but I can honestly say it is our recording days. We record on Mondays and Wednesdays and those are my favorite days of the week. You know it is fun. You're meeting people you wouldn't otherwise meet, from all kinds of industries. You're getting to know the person behind the business, which is kind of the purpose of this interview, you know. So you guys get to know me instead of me just asking the question. So it's been a fun journey and I'm ready for it to continue.
Speaker 1:
Okay, well, we have just discussed how fun it is podcasting and meeting these businesses that serve our community. But tell us, what are you doing for fun when you're not working, when you're not podcasting? What do you like to do?
Speaker 2:
Well, I have some interesting hobbies. I guess I could say I am. People don't assume this about me or they find it hard to even imagine me doing this, but I love to primitive camp.
Speaker 1:
What is?
Speaker 2:
that so primitive, meaning there's no electricity, there's no water, there's not like a shower station. You know it's off of service roads and typically we do this in North Georgia and bring my dog sunshine, and sometimes I go literally by myself and with my dog, other times with friends or my boyfriend. So it's, it is a really it's fun to me. You get out there with nature. I feel very grounded there, I'm able to unplug because I so much of my job is talking to people, you know, and which I love. But it does also wear on you a little bit. You know, like you, I pick up energy from other people really easily, you know, and I just it's good, I'm just like to I don't know clean the plate just to unplug, disconnect and then reconnect with my authentic self and nature, and that's just the best way I've found to accomplish that.
Speaker 2:
And that's just the best way I've found to accomplish that.
Speaker 1:
That sounds so liberating.
Speaker 2:
It really is. It's not for everyone, and I get that, you know. Like I have people like I'll make a post about it and there's people like aren't there hotels in Georgia? And I'm like, yeah, but that would defeat the purpose for me. So I get that it's not for everyone and not everyone's cup of tea, but it's really grounding for me. I feel very centered and I kind of am ready to come back in, you know, because I do also live in a high rise. You know I live in the Manhattan building in Dunwoody. I'm on the 21st floor, so I'm surrounded by concrete really, you know, and the hustle and bustle of the city, which I love. But then getting into nature and unplugging and really like I'd like that. I don't even have cell service there, you know. So it's just I really do unplug and that helps recenter and ground me for the week to come.
Speaker 2:
Helps recenter and reground you so that whenever you come back to work, you can be back and better than ever, that's right and I really do feel that, like I don't go every single weekend, but when I haven't gone in a few weeks and I feel like that, longing to get back into nature, you know. So I think that that was my happiest childhood memories, was being outside and being. You know, I I don't. It's how I was able to reconnect with my authentic self, you know, as getting into nature and and getting out of the hustle and bustle, Just out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite places to go camping?
Speaker 2:
So most the vast majority of times that I've gone. So I just this was just a new hobby per se. I was very regularly going to Vogel State Park in Blairsville. That's where we went, as in my childhood, every year for a week and it was just magical for me. And then, just in early last year is when I started you know the primitive camping piece and and I had a really great friend that we did that together and we learned I learned a lot from him and we were just just great friends and able to to learn that and and then be able.
Speaker 2:
You know, I was really just trying to find a way to to kind of find myself again, not that I was lost, but that I just, you know, I wanted to reconnect with that part of myself. And and so North Georgia is you know almost always where I go, and the Blairsville area, you know, on some service roads down near Vogel, and then also we went to see the solar, and then also we went to see the solar, the total solar eclipse, and we went primitive camping in southern Illinois.
Speaker 2:
Quite a long drive, but we wanted to be in the totality zone for the eclipse, and so that was a great trip. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:
I love that, stacey, and I love knowing that about you. It was a lot of fun. I love that, stacey, and I love knowing that about you. You know, sometimes, like you said, not everybody thinks that when they see you, you know they, you live in this condo, you're beautiful, you know you are to the unknowing person, maybe even a girly girl you know, yeah, but you are, you're very grounded.
Speaker 2:
And I like that about you. Well, thank you, and I am kind of a girly girl and it's so weird, you can do both yeah absolutely, because I definitely am all about, you know, getting dressed up and feeling like I look nice and pretty.
Speaker 2:
You know I want to do that. That's a part of that's a very big part of me. You know, is the girly, girl side, but I've also, you know, I was always very sporty and athletic as a kid and was a kind of a tomboy in some ways too. So I'm kind of a. I'm kind of a contradiction. Yeah, that works. I'm a jack of all trades, except any trade. I'm like don't ask me to fix anything. So maybe jack of all trades doesn't work, but I'm well-rounded, that's perfect.
Speaker 1:
Okay, well, speaking of well-rounded, back to our podcast Now. We have already established we've been doing this for the past year and with that comes ups and downs, so can you tell us about any challenges that you have faced as far as the podcast goes and how it's made you a better host, or how it's made our podcast better?
Speaker 2:
Well, I think all of it just kind of came together with experience. You know, at first, like I said earlier, I'd only been a guest on one podcast. Once you know, it went really well. But like I had no, I almost felt unqualified. You know, like imposter syndrome for lack of a better word Like I was like gosh.
Speaker 2:
Do I really am I qualified to do this? And of course I am. You know the answer now yes, of course I'm qualified to talk to people and ask them about their businesses. You know, like that's not a, it doesn't take a special degree or you know, but it took me a little bit to kind of get out of my own way into. You know I can. My favorite episodes are are repeat guests. You know the ones that we really do get to know because they're a part of the publications as well and so when they submit expert articles they get to come back on and those episodes aren't as scripted. You know it's not the same questions, because we've already introduced them in their business.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely. And those, those kind of like this interview you know, this is just us talking and I really enjoy those. You know it doesn't work for all of our episodes because it is the introduction, you know, for most of them. But I feel like once I kind of accepted hey, I'm not an imposter, I am the host of this podcast and and doing a pretty good job. An imposter, I am the host of this podcast and and doing a pretty good job. You know, once I got out of my own way and got out of my own head with it and picking apart, you know, there you go, see, you know, but it's okay for me to say, you know, it's not that big of a deal, but I did. I at first I wanted to like, edit out everything and, and you know, make it sound perfect and that's not real, you know. So it's not um, I, I've embraced the, you knows, and the ums and um and um and just go with it, and it feels much more natural that way.
Speaker 1:
Exactly. And you know they say um, practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make better. You know they say practice doesn't make perfect but it does make better and with every single episode you have just been able to have that practice and have that time to cultivate. You know what kind of host you want to be and, just like you said, be well-rounded, be the best that you can be.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, best version of myself right stacy.
Speaker 1:
what is one thing you wish our listeners knew about?
Speaker 2:
the good neighbor podcast north atlanta well, a couple of things actually, so, one one being that I, we really are about business owners in Atlanta. You know, in North Atlanta specifically it's, we get some guests who are, who work remotely and they can do. You know, they service the whole country but they're locate, they live in Atlanta. So that's really not the best fit for us. You know, we are looking mostly for businesses that have, you know, they live and have a state here, yeah that's right, they're not just.
Speaker 2:
You know, initially we got a lot of business coaching businesses, which is great, you know, but they're servicing everyone and it doesn't feel as local, if that makes sense. I just, I really am in this to help local North Atlanta businesses. Then the second thing is that, like it's not about our listenership. You know people, you know this isn't a sales tool. This is. You know this is a. You know you get added bonuses if you are a sponsor in the magazines because you get to come back on.
Speaker 2:
But that's not what this podcast is really about. You know this is about introducing local businesses to the local community that they serve and what they do with that is their own prerogative. You know we are free. We do not cost. It does not cost people to come on to the podcast, so we can't be focused, you know, on revenue generation. You know we're not looking for to make money from this. So our listenership is not our priority, you know it's. It's giving those businesses a tool and and I think that there's because I'll get questions sometimes Well, what's how many people listen to your podcast?
Speaker 2:
I'm like, well, that depends on what the business, on what the business does with the podcast. You know that we've got some that have a huge listenership and then we'll have episode that, you know, maybe 10 people listen to. You know, and that's that is. You know, if we were in, if we were a profitable company, if we were, you know, making money from this, then that would be different, because that would be our job. To then push it out, you know. But that's not what we do.
Speaker 1:
And it is always cool to see how the businesses end up choosing to display their podcasts. We've had people who put it on their website. We've had people who put it on their website. We've had people who just post it to social media, like you said, some people who don't post it at all. They just have it for their friends, families and maybe their coworkers. So, it's always cool to see kind of what people are doing with the podcast and their why behind being on here.
Speaker 2:
It makes me really excited as the host and I know you as the production manager and like it makes us excited when a business is using it to their advantage. You know, cause that that is my ultimate goal. You know. If you want to do it with your just your friends and family, that's fine, but I want to see this podcast making an impact and that's the way. That's the impact we're trying to make is to help grow businesses.
Speaker 1:
You're getting to see the fruits of your labor blossom.
Speaker 2:
Yes, there you go. Look at that.
Speaker 1:
Well, speaking of our fruits of labor. How can our listeners learn more? How can these local businesses get on our podcast?
Speaker 2:
Well, it's free and you can register on our website and that is GNP for Good Neighbor podcast, gnpnorthatlantacom. So if they just visit GNPNorthAtlantacom, there is a book, your free interview bouncing button that you'll see and you can book right there on the site and we record on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's super easy and laid back, you do get the questions ahead of time. We ask the same questions too. I mean the different conversations go in different directions, you know with that. But but you it's, you're prepared. You know it's not a high pressure situation. You know we're not in a big production company. It's super easy and there's no reason not to do it. So visit our website and come. Let me ask you a few questions.
Speaker 1:
Come on the show. Well, thank you so much, stacey. That is really it for our interview, and thank you for making my first podcast so comfortable. It's really nice just to be able to sit here and talk to you, I agree. And we do that.
Speaker 2:
Well, you and I, we do lots of talking, we do lots of talking. No, and again, I cannot reiterate enough just how crucial you are to this team. I mean, we're a very small team, the two of us. We have a bigger team with the magazines, but with the podcast, it really is just us, and I really appreciate all that you've done and your investment in this as far as your time and sharing my vision, and I am really just honored to have you beside me.
Speaker 1:
And I'm honored to be a part of that team. So, thank you for sharing your vision with me.
Speaker 2:
Well, thank you for jumping on board.
Speaker 1:
Well, that is all for today's episode. Atlanta. I'm Kiana Wagner with the Good Neighbor Podcast. Thanks for listening and for supporting the local businesses and nonprofits of our great community. Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta. To nominate your favorite local businesses, visit GNPNorthAtlantacom. That's gnpnorthatlantacom.
