A Good Pour: Conversations About Good Work

Growing without losing your identity is hard for a town and for a business. Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown has worked on that question from the chamber of commerce and from city hall, and she knows what she wants her hometown to keep.

Paige graduated from high school early so she could leave Gallatin, and she planned never to come back. She hosted a TV show in Tallahassee at 17, worked as a reporter and anchor, and came home to Middle Tennessee for a job at The Nashville Network. After the 2006 tornado hit Gallatin, she left television, led the...

Two or three times a week, somebody asks Daniel Starr to connect AI to their work email. He doesn't say no. He asks what they're about to hand it.

Daniel is Managing Partner at Lightwire Solutions, a managed IT provider with offices in Decatur, Alabama and Hendersonville, Tennessee. The company has been the team small businesses call when something breaks since 2012, and lately the calls have changed shape. People want a chatbot in the inbox and Copilot across the files, and they want it on by Friday.

He and Kathryn work through what has to...

Every new volunteer driver for older adults in Sumner County shortens a wait list that's 72 names long. Christine Martin, executive director of Community Life Bridge, joins Kathryn Good to talk about what happens when someone gives up their car keys in a county with no public transportation.

Christine came on seven years ago as program manager to get Community Life Ride off the ground, a volunteer ride program for older adults in Hendersonville and the rest of the county. She stepped into the executive director role in 2025. She's watched the driver team grow to...

Using AI for tax questions works best when you know which parts to hand to AI and which parts stay with your CPA. Jamie McMurry has spent his career on the second half of that sentence, and he's clear about where the line sits.

Jamie moved to Sumner County from the Memphis area in 1998 to work for his uncle, whose Hendersonville practice dates to 1973. He grew it into McMurry Fox, added a Gallatin office, and in November 2025 joined national firm Doeren Mayhew. His uncle, who is 91, still comes in most days as a consultant.

Kathryn...

United Way of Middle Tennessee becomes official on January 1, 2027, and the woman leading it has lived in Sumner County for 20 years.

Erica Mitchell grew up in Blount County with bare feet, dirt bikes, and cow pasture. She went to NC State and built a career in policy, then realized she missed people. So she took a grant contract at United Way with six months left on it. Her husband asked if she was kidding. Early on she called a meeting of state officials, business leaders, and nonprofits, and everybody came. Nobody in the room knew her name...

AI can help almost anyone build something now. But what happens when the thing you built starts handling customer data, running part of your business, or growing beyond what you actually understand?

Kathryn Good sits down with Jesse Lilly, longtime software developer and co-founder of Cambron, to explore how AI is changing software development and what businesses need to consider as they begin building with it.

Jesse shares why he's optimistic about the opportunities AI creates while cautioning against confusing a working prototype with a secure, reliable system. He and Kathryn discuss data security, backups...

AI isn't something we need to fear, but it is something we need to understand.

Kathryn Good sits down with Misty Phillip, author of The Trojan Horse of the Digital Age and COO of Trilogy Works, to explore what responsible AI use looks like for businesses, families, and the next generation.

Misty brings a unique perspective from her work in AI and cybersecurity. She and Kathryn discuss why AI isn't neutral, the importance of privacy and governance, protecting kids from unintended consequences, and what we should have learned from the rise of social media.

What does it look like to prepare the next generation for AI without teaching them to outsource their thinking?

Kathryn Good sits down with Vicki Davis, educator and creator of Cool Cat Teacher, for a thoughtful conversation about AI, education, integrity, and staying human in a rapidly changing world.

Vicki uses AI in her own classroom, but believes responsible use requires more than knowing how to prompt a chatbot. Students need to understand how these tools work, where they fall short, and when AI begins replacing the learning it should support.

Kathryn and...

AI doesn't fix chaos. Sometimes, it just creates more of it.

Kathryn Good sits down with AI coach, strategist, and builder Nicole Noonan for a practical conversation about moving beyond individual AI tools and building systems that actually work for your business.

Drawing from more than a decade in advertising and experiential marketing, Nicole shares how she went from using AI to support her own lean team to helping businesses integrate it into real workflows. She and Kathryn discuss why good processes need to come before automation, how to decide what work AI should—and sh...

How do we embrace AI without outsourcing the parts of work, and life, that make us human?

Kathryn Good sits down with Lisa Kennell, founder of Amplifi Marketing and an AI strategy advisor to leadership teams, for a conversation about using AI with wisdom, responsibility, and purpose.

They dig into the intersection of faith and artificial intelligence, from maintaining discernment and authenticity to ensuring people of faith participate in the ethical conversations shaping AI's future.

Lisa shares her human-first approach to AI, including how businesses can automate repetitive work while protecting the judgment...

What happens when you try to build an AI-powered business before you've built the business itself?

Kathryn Goode welcomes leadership strategist and founder Dori Etter for a thoughtful conversation about founder identity, business systems, and the role AI should actually play inside a growing company.

Rather than chasing every new tool, Dori encourages leaders to step back, clarify what their business truly needs, and build a strong foundation before layering on technology. Together, they discuss why AI should support your strategy, not become your strategy, and how thoughtful leadership creates better businesses, stronger teams, and...

Victoria Livingstone spent almost twenty years teaching writing and literature. In the fall of 2024 she quit, largely because of ChatGPT, and wrote about it for Time. The article went viral: educators recognized themselves in it, and Victoria heard from readers who felt like someone had finally said the quiet part out loud.

This episode is about AI and critical thinking: what happens inside a person's head when a chatbot fills in the blank for them. Victoria explains why she sees writing as a way of thinking, not just a way of recording thoughts already formed, and why...

Keeping up with AI has a lot of good business owners running just to stay in place, and Dr. Stephanie Thrower says the answer was never moving faster.

Dr. Stephanie Thrower is a vocational psychologist who became a business coach almost by accident. She opened her own practice after her first child arrived, noticed that career psychology was missing from the business coaching world, and now helps therapists, coaches, and experts turn deep knowledge into courses, programs, and custom AI tools that sound like them.

Kathryn and Stephanie get into why smart practitioners freeze up...

Sustainable AI for small business isn't a contradiction. It's a practice, and Madalina Buzdugan has spent years helping companies figure out what it actually looks like.

Madalina came to AI from 15 years in startups and corporate sustainability, where she spent most of her time making the business case for environmental responsibility while simultaneously doing the work itself. When generative AI hit the market, she saw the same pattern forming. Rapid adoption, almost no structure, and a conversation that put all the pressure on individuals instead of the systems driving the decisions.

In this episode, Kathryn...

AI in public education isn't failing because the technology is bad. It's failing because most schools adopted tools without ever naming the problem they were trying to solve.

David Adams has spent his career inside public schools, working on the parts of education that don't get fixed by good intentions alone. As a leader at The Urban Assembly in New York City, he's built two AI tools that start where most tools don't: with a specific, bounded problem. CounselorGPT helps students understand their post-secondary options before they make expensive, uninformed guesses about their futures. Project Cafe gives...

If your AI-generated content sounds like it could belong to anyone, there's a reason. You haven't given it enough of you.

Kinsey Soderberg spent years building an audience around authentic storytelling before she ever touched an AI tool. Her first reaction to ChatGPT was somewhere between "ew, gross" and "a robot is not writing my emails." Then a long car ride and a podcast episode shifted something, and she started asking a different question: what if you could use AI in a way that actually sounds like you?

She went on to build Authentic AI...

Responsible AI use starts with a decision most people skip: thinking first, before the chatbot does it for you.

Matt Mundt has spent 25 years in digital marketing, running Google Ad Grants and Meta ads for nonprofits and Christian artists. He's also a YouTube creator building a channel called Kid Intern with his 11-year-old son, and co-founder of the God Made creator community in Nashville. He's watched AI show up in every corner of his work, and he's got a clear-eyed view of what it costs when people hand over their thinking too fast.

In this...

The Skeptic on the Team: Terra Milo on Why Every AI Business Needs Someone Asking Hard Questions

Terra Milo is anti-AI. She's also been on the Good Circle Marketing team for nearly a year, managing the human side of an AI-forward content operation. That tension is exactly what makes this conversation worth your time.

Terra talks about what she actually thinks when a workflow goes too far, the moment she had to tell her boss she didn't love AI and what happened next, and why she believes having a...

Molly Mahoney was using AI tools for content creation two years before most people had heard of ChatGPT. She didn't start there by accident. She started there because she saw what happens when business owners use AI without a brand foundation: the output looks like everyone else's. She built a framework to fix that, and she's been teaching it ever since.

In this conversation, Kathryn and Molly get into the AI brand blueprint Molly built to train any AI tool to write in your voice, not the generic version of it. Molly shares the "...

AI is moving fast. Cyber threats are evolving even faster. So how are businesses supposed to keep up?

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with cybersecurity entrepreneur Chad Sizemore of LW Secure to talk about the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, leadership, and business growth in a rapidly changing world.

From phishing scams and employee training to the risks of unsecured AI tools inside organizations, Chad breaks down why cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue, it’s a leadership issue. Together, Kathryn and Ch...

What does it look like to follow a calling, even when it leads somewhere you never expected?In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Elizabeth McGlathery to talk about her journey into adoption, motherhood, and the unexpected path that reshaped her life.

From feeling called to adoption as a young child to raising three boys adopted from South Korea, Elizabeth shares the beauty, grief, and complexity that comes with building a family through adoption. She opens up about the emotional transition for children leaving everything they’ve known, the re...

This one is special.

In the 100th episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good takes a step back from business and community conversations to reflect on something deeper; legacy, faith, and the people who shape who we become.

To mark the milestone, Kathryn sits down with someone who has influenced her life more than anyone else: her dad.From surviving helicopter crashes and serving in Desert Storm to recently becoming cancer-free, his story is one of resilience, perspective, and unwavering faith. Together, they talk about what it means to...

What if one of the biggest gaps in the foster care system isn’t awareness, but support?

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Anthony Poteet, founder of Foster Families Assistance Network, to talk about the real, day-to-day challenges foster families face and how his organization is stepping in to help.

Anthony shares his personal journey into foster care and adoption, the hidden realities of the system (including the thousands of uncounted kids in kinship care), and why many families feel isolated and unsupported. He...

What does “good work” look like when the need is as big as housing?

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Michael Bates, Executive Director of the Gallatin Housing Authority, to talk about the reality behind affordable housing and why it matters more than most people realize.

Michael shares his unexpected path into public housing, the purpose that has driven his 30+ year career, and the tangible impact his team has made, growing affordable housing in Gallatin by 65% since 2013. But even with that progress, the need...

What is the next education revolution? In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Mel Sawyers, principal of Hendersonville High School, to talk about the evolving challenges students, teachers, and leaders are facing right now.

From the impact of social media to the pressure of college expectations, Mel shares how education is shifting, and why it’s more important than ever to give students multiple paths forward. Whether it’s college, trade work, or technical programs, today’s students need clarity, exposure, and real opportunities to discover what they’re built fo...

What if the clutter in your home is connected to something deeper?In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Heather Shingleton, founder of Clutter Company, to talk about the emotional, psychological, and spiritual side of the things we hold onto.Heather shares her journey from nurse to business owner, and how a season of exhaustion, overconsumption, and asking the simple question “Am I happy?” led her to completely reimagine her relationship with stuff. What followed was a decade-long transformation that now helps others find peace, clarity, and purpose in their homes.Together, they unpack why...

This episode of A Good Pour is a little different, and a little more personal.

As Good Circle Marketing celebrates 5 years in business, Kathryn Good reflects on how it all started… not with a perfect plan, but with uncertainty, job loss, prayer, and a willingness to take the next step.Walking back through her 2021 journal, Kathryn shares the early days of building the business, from landing the first clients to shaping the foundation of what would become “do good work for good people.” What started as small, faith-driven steps grew into a team, a podcas...

AI is everywhere right now, and most organizations are trying to figure out how to use it without losing what makes their work human.In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good introduces “The Good AI Way,” a practical framework for using AI responsibly inside an organization. Instead of chasing tools or reacting to headlines, Kathryn explains how businesses can build clarity around AI through four key elements: standards, skills, systems, and support.

When these pieces are in place, AI stops creating confusion and starts saving time, helping teams focus more on strategy, rela...

In Part 2 of this AI-guided conversation on A Good Pour, Kathryn Good and life coach Amy Gleaves continue the experiment, asking AI not just to analyze Amy’s past words, but to predict what’s next.

After letting artificial intelligence generate last week’s interview questions, they dive into what happens when AI reflects your own voice back to you. From owning your work publicly to finding confidence in your literal voice, Amy opens up about growth, leadership, narrowing her audience, and shifting from “helper” to truth-teller.

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Welcome to "A Good Pour...

In this special Part 1 conversation on A Good Pour, Kathryn Good welcomes back life coach and podcast host Amy Gleaves, but this time, they do something different.Using AI to analyze Amy’s previous interviews and podcast transcripts, Kathryn walks through how Amy’s voice, message, and leadership have evolved over the last year. Together, they unpack themes of self-trust, accountability, rest vs. avoidance, divorce, identity shifts, and what it really means to grow in the “middle” of life transitions.

This episode is raw, thoughtful, and deeply practical—especially for women navigating change, rebuilding after disr...

In this colorful episode of A Good Pour, host Kathryn Good sits down with intern Alyssa Trias and business owner Kim Baker to tell the story behind Kimfetti, Gallatin’s "pink store".

Together, they unpack how Alyssa, a first-time intern, helped shape the brand identity and marketing strategy for this joyful new business. Kim shares the heartfelt origin of her dream, from childhood celebrations to opening day, and how the store became a family-powered labor of love. Alyssa reflects on what she learned about marketing, storytelling, AI, and how the purpose behind a business is...

In this episode of A Good Pour, host Kathryn Good sits down with Addison Brown, a Beach High School senior and Good Work Project intern, to talk about what it really means to do meaningful marketing work before even graduating high school.

Addison shares how he helped rebrand and create a marketing strategy for Sumner County Fire Buffs, a small nonprofit supporting first responders with on-scene care and unseen support. From field trips and client meetings to designing an AI-powered marketing tool, Addison reflects on what it’s like to go from classroom theory to real-world purpose, an...

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Tara Wyllie Assistant District Attorney for Sumner County, to talk about the unseen emotional weight and quiet wins behind the courtroom. Tara shares what it really means to seek justice, not just convictions, and opens up about serving victims, supporting recovery programs, and navigating the hard stories that come with growth in the county.

She also reflects on her family roots in Gallatin, her early travel adventures, and the importance of getting involved in the community to see the good that's still happening all around...

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good welcomes Sarah Grace, a standout high school intern, and Zach Covington, owner of Tintology Nashville, to talk about what happens when students and small businesses collaborate to do good work.

Sarah Grace reflects on what she learned through the Good Work Project, from exploring branding and SEO to understanding how AI can serve mission-driven marketing. Zach shares how Tintology protects cars, homes, and schools with cutting-edge window films, and how this project gave him a fresh perspective on his own business.

Together, they explore how marketing...

In this special Good Work Project episode of A Good Pour, host Kathryn Good sits down with intern Cole Elizondo, a high school senior, and Blake Parks, Executive Director of Gallatin Cares, to unpack the real-world impact of mentorship, nonprofit branding, and student-led marketing strategy.Cole shares how he created a new brand identity and marketing plan for Gallatin Cares, from logo redesign to SEO-driven strategy, all while learning how AI can be used to tell stories that matter. Blake reflects on the tangible needs in the Gallatin community, the explosion of food insecurity, and how partnerships like this...

In this powerful New Year’s episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with her friend Ray Carman for a deep, honest conversation about spiritual growth, family life, personal calling, and what it means to “be steady” in 2026.Together, they reflect on 2025’s word of the year—“Follow”—and how it led Ray from coaching football to speaking inside a maximum-security prison.

This episode also explores themes of stillness, obedience, grief, faith, and building rhythms that sustain good work in hard seasons. Whether you're setting new goals or trying to hear God’s voice for the year ahead, th...

In this special compilation episode of A Good Pour, we reflect together on past conversations with some of our guests who are living out loud what good work means to them. From teachers and pastors to entrepreneurs and public servants, these voices share stories of purpose, sacrifice, alignment, and impact in the places that often go unnoticed.

We hope you have a wonderful and blessed holiday season with your family and loved ones.

- Happy Holidays from A Good Pour

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Welcome to "A Good Pour: Conversations about Good Work in Business."...

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good sits down with Toby Ellis, Road Superintendent for Sumner County, to talk about what good work really looks like, especially when it’s built on service, integrity, and grit.Toby shares what it’s like to manage over 800 miles of county roads, lead a team of 50+ workers, and respond to everything from potholes and flooding to litter and community trust. From infrastructure upgrades and storm recovery to teaching school kids about littering, this conversation is a behind-the-scenes look at the heart and hustle behind public service.If you’ve ever wonder...

In this episode of A Good Pour, Kathryn Good welcomes Chris Taylor, CEO of Forward Sumner, for a compelling conversation about what smart growth really looks like. With decades of experience in law enforcement and economic development, Chris shares how Forward Sumner is helping build a future for Sumner County through career pipelines, infrastructure planning, and community alignment.

They discuss the new Career Pathway Portal, a powerful tool that connects students, and parents, to real-time data on career options, training programs, salaries, and long-term job forecasts. Chris also unpacks the challenges of workforce housing...

In this heartfelt and powerful return to A Good Pour, Kim Baker—President & CEO of the Gallatin Chamber joins Kathryn Good in the very podcast studio she once dreamed about. Together, they reflect on vision, growth, and the sacred work of building a space where people and stories can thrive.Kim shares the behind-the-scenes reality of launching The Station, the new Gallatin community hub, while running a chamber of nearly 200 events a year. She opens up about the leadership cost, her bold sobriety journey, the spiritual voice that said “Stop. Stay. Pray,” and how she’s learning to lead loudly w...