Orlando Water Hole Podcast

Now celebrating it's 10th anniversary, Otronicon at the Orlando Science Center is bigger and better than ever with exhibits from Lockheed Martin, Electronic Arts, Walt Disney Imagineers and more. Public Relations Specialist for the Orlando Science Center Mark Schaub shares with us: What exactly is Otronicon, where the name Otronicon came from, what's new this year at Otronicon - and returning favorites, how to maximize your visit to Otronicon, great events for adults at the Orlando Science Center all year round and the newest exhibit Mark spends his lunch breaks on.

In 1933 during “The Great Depression”, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the Civilian Conservation Corps (“CCC”), a nationwide project to which enlisted young, unemployed men to preserve and improve our Nation’s lands by paving roads, constructing bridges and establishing the grounds of several of today’s National and State Parks. For Shaun Trout, Producer with Concrete Lion Productions, the CCC has a deeply personal connection to him and he's just launched a kickstarter campaign to solicit funding to film the stories of these important individuals. Shaun shares with us: How he got the idea for The Men, The Work, The Legacy, Why he is so passionate about this documentary and details on the Kickstarter Campaign.

We know the biggest question you have is "Why does Se7en Bites Bakery have a 7 in it's name?" Wonder know more, we asked Bakery Owner Trina Greogry that very question in our latest episode. She also shared with us how Se7en Bites got it's start, the inspiration behind all their recipes, what it takes to bake 11,000 pies in one year, the importance of branding and the role small businesses and local residents have in developing their community. 

Chances are, Orlando Restaurant Critic Scott Joseph has influenced you one time or another with his honest, timely and entertaining reviews of Orlando's new and favorite restaurants. Today, we chat with Scott about his career writing restaurant reviews, how the media landscape has changed now that anyone can share their own reviews through social media, his personal opinion on Orlando's culinary scene and of course, his top restaurant picks.

If you're a follower of the arts and culture seen, there's no doubt you've seen the work of Urban Sketch Artist Thomas "Thor" Thorspecken. He's best known for his sketches of some of Central Florida's biggest arts and cultural events. We had a chance to talk with Thor this past week at Stardust Video and Coffee to learn: Where Thor got his idea for Urban Sketching Orlando, How Thor got kicked out of the Millennia Mall for sketching Santa, How Thor captures the story behind each sketch, Frankenstein Sketches, Thor's most interesting sketching experience, Thor's favorite memories from sketching, An invitation to sketch a divorce, Thor's book: Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques, The Ivanhoe-Fringe Mural Project, Thor's first Urban Sketch of Orlando.

Hawkers Asian Street Fare on Mills Ave. is one of my favorite "go to" restaurants when entertaining friends from out of town or to satisfy my craving for Pad Thai. I really wanted to learn the story of this popular dining spot and so on a rainy Monday in the back, storage room of Hawkers, I chatted with one of it's co-founders, Kaleb Harrell. Kaleb shares with us: where the idea for Hawkers Asian Street Fare came from, the story behind the "Hawkers Secret Recipe Notebook", must-have plates for your first time dining at Hawkers, the food scene in Central Florida, online ordering and new, upcoming menu items

Today's show takes a more serious tone as we talk about homelessness in Central Florida. Our guest, Joshua Johnson, is the Lead Advocate for ReThink Homelessness, an initiative to raise awareness of homelessness in Orlando. Joshua's work can be found online under the #ReThinkHomelessness hashtag and offers a moving insight into the homeless community we all walk by downtown… but often ignore. Joshua talks to us about: Putting a face and a story to the statistics behind homelessness, Why homelessness is often an ignored issued by society, A sense of the daily struggles the homeless community faces in finding work, securing a new home and simply survive and how you can help the homeless community. 

Diana Rodriguez Portillo needed a change. She packed everything up, moved to Orlando and started volunteering as a way to discover her new community. Since then, she's embraced giving back and volunteers all around the the city, especially at arts and cultural events. A frequent volunteer at the Mad Cow Theater, Diana's enthusiasm towards volunteering is enough to inspire all of us to give back to our community. Diana talks with us about: Packing up everything and moving to Orlando, How volunteering helped her to discover Orlando, The importance of volunteering to help Orlando make a better place, Why arts and culture are important to Orlando, Mammograms, and her PechaKucha Presentation on The Power of Participation.

Matt Broffman is the founder of Bungalower.com a hyperlocal news site that focuses on Downtown Orlando's Bungalow neighborhoods. But don't mistake this online site for yet another Orlando blog. Matt has a vision to develop the next generation of newspaper and Bungalower is his attempt to find a scalable, financially sustainable model for local news. Matt talks to us about this bold step into the future of publishing and also give us a discount code to his membership program.

PechaKucha is a unique presentation style where speakers may share no more than 20 slides in under 20 seconds per slide. This Japanese-originated art form was brought to Orlando by Eddie Selover and has been recognized by Orlando Weekly, The Daily City and The Mayor's Office. On Friday, June 13th (purchase tickets) Eddie will be hosting the 13th PechaKucha event at The Orange Studio. Eddie explains with us: What is PechaKucha? Life-size chocolate models, How to prepare for PechaKucha, What to expect at a PechaKucha Event, details on Orlando's 13th PechaKucha Event, where you can purchase tickets to PechaKucka Orlando, a PechaKucha Presentation by a Mermaid, what makes a great PechaKucha presentation and his TedxOrlando Presentation: How PechaKucha Changed My Life.

When Emerald Barnes turned 20 she was impacted by a genetic disorder that gave her a disability. As a fashion blogger, she shortly noticed an industry who valued her in the past, suddenly become disinterested in her… because of her disability. Emerald is on a mission to change the fashion industry's perceptions of people who have a disability. They are beautiful too. 

If you caught our last episode with Lisa Wilk, you may have noticed that our regular segment, "10 Questions With" was missing. We were enjoying the wine too much that we had to edit it out for time purposes. Instead, we have an entire episode dedicated to just that. Links to all the places Lisa mentioned are included in our show notes online. Enjoy!

Lisa Wilk has spent over a decade educating Central Floridians about appreciating and pairing wines. And on May 1st, Lisa will be partnering with Quantum Leap Winery, La Femme du Fromage and Peterbrooke Chocolatier of Winter Park for a special wine, cheese and chocolate pairing (Buy Tickets) at East End Market.  Lisa sat down with us this past Saturday at Quantum Leap Winery to talk about this tasting event, what wine pairing really means, where you can find great wines in Central Florida, what to pair with a gewerstemeiner (and how to pronounce it), a review of The Coop, a brand new restaurant in Winter Park and gives us a preview pairing of Quantum Leap Winery's Kaley's Rescue Red and Peterbrooke Chocolatier's Milk Chocolate Covered Bacon.

This year, The Food Truck Bazaar - a traveling culinary event with rotating food trucks each month - is scheduled to host over 100 events around Central Florida. We were fortunate enough to sit with the Mark Baratelli, Producer of The Food Truck Bazaar and publisher of the Orlando Blog The Daily City to get a glimpse into the growth of this cultural event. Listen as we discover: the link between Mark Baratelli & The Anacomical Players, where the idea for The Daily City came from, what it feels like to rent your first Port-a-Potty, how the Food Truck Bazaar got it's start, where the future of Orlando's Food Trucks could go, why Mark loves Farmer's Markets and why locals need to stop hating I-Drive.

Adam Avitable is a comedian, author and blogger who's not afraid to speak his mind, bare it all and make you laugh while doing so. Adam can be found performing around local Orlando Comedy Clubs and is a published author. We're talking with Adam today about writing, Playgirl parodies, interviews with dead celebrities, how to write for comedy, details on the writing workshop FLBlogCon*tent and Bars Against Humanity.

Elizabeth Kruckemyer  Creator of Panaroma, the Collaborative Photogrpahy Project at the City Arts Factory in Downtown Orlando talks with us about her idea to give strangers disposable cameras and ask them to photography their daily life.

We were thrilled when owner Joey Conicella agreed to meet with us early in the morning, just as the delivery truck arrived with the morning's supplies to talk about operating one of Orlando's most iconic brands for locals. So grab yourself a cupcake and listen as Joey shares with us:  How the Yum Yum Cupcake Truck got started, why the bow ties, cupcake flavors that just didn't work out, what is takes to run a food truck business, a preview on the next business opportunity for the Yum Yum Cupcake Truck, how a cupcake gets it's name, how you can still enjoy your favorite, retired cupcake flavors and how to make cupcakes look beautiful.

We had so many listener questions on our last show we had to bring Bess Auer from FLBlogCon back again to answer them all. Bess talks about tips for blogging and asks for your help to select a deserving Central Florida Non-Profit to be the recipient of the "Power of Blogging" in her annual conference's give-back event, Blogging for Good.

FLBlogCon Founder Bess Auer speaks to us about FLBlogCon EDU for teachers and students, Blogger Pitch Day, FLBlogCon and Advice for Becoming an Entrepreneur.

Alex Lenhoff is the founder of TheOrlandoan.com an Orlando blog that covers art, entertainment, events and the communities in Orlando. You may have seen their #OrlandoDoesntSuck Shirts around and we wanted to ask him why! Alex shares with us: Why Orlando doesn't suck, the one thing Orlando is missing, an Urban Planning perspective on Orlando and why Orlando is in a unique position with regards to it's growth and community Plus… we test Alex's knowledge about The City Beautiful with an Orlando History Trivia Challenge!