MoxieTalk with Kirt Jacobs

The blues is music for all time—past, present, and future—and few artists simultaneously exemplify those multiple temporal moments of the genre like North Mississippi’s Cedric Burnside.

The Mississippi Hill Country blues guitarist and singer/songwriter contain the legacy and future of the region’s prescient sound stories. At once, African and American and southern and Mississippian, these stories tell about love, hurt, connection, ...

Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Liz Cooper never dreamed she would be the Folk-Blues Singer-Songwriter she is today, with her distinctive voice — and androgynous, salty, caramel drawl — captivates one’s soul it has been said.

Still, the interplay with bandmates Grant Prettyman on bass and Ryan Usher on drums fascinates.

In fact, from a young age, everyone believed she was going to be a professional golfer.

Golf was just a hobby ...

A native of rural western Kentucky’s rolling hills and coal mining communities, Grayson Jenkins is a singer-songwriter who now calls Lexington, KY, his home. After attending the University of Kentucky and working there for four years, Grayson walked away from his salaried job in 2017 to chase his dream as a full-time musician.

With his recent ‘Cowboy Dream’ EP, Grayson is poised to reach even more ears and hearts in the coming y...

Samantha (Sam) Fore is a first-generation Sri Lankan-American from Lexington, Kentucky. She started her pop-up restaurant in 2016 after traditional Sri Lankan brunches in her home outgrew her dining room. Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites™ pop-up menus include Sam’s spin on Southern classics and riffs on her mother’s time-tested recipes. Tuk Tuk is one of the few representations of Sri Lankan cuisine in the United States and reflects Sam’s ...

Being Master Distiller is something Brent Elliott says is hard to call a job because, to him, “it’s a privilege and a passion to be a part of Four Roses.”

A native of Owensboro, Kentucky, Brent became Master Distiller at Four Roses in September 2015. He is uniquely qualified for this role… after all, he’s been involved in Producing Four Roses premium Bourbons since he began with the company in 2005.

As the Distillery’s Director of ...

Leah graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science & minor in Nutrition from Miami Univ. in Oxford, OH. She skated on the Varsity skating team & qualified for Team USA representing her country in Croatia, Prague, & Switzerland. After graduating, Leah became a professional figure skater with Holiday on Ice touring in Europe, a make-up artist & even a medical sales rep., she even continues to skate for pleas...

Tawanda is the System Director Business Intelligence, Clinical Value & Healthcare Analytics at Norton Healthcare, with oversight of a team of analysts that use business data, computer techniques & statistical methods to provide insight into business performance & suggested areas of & methods of improving operations. Tawanda joined Norton Healthcare in 2015. Before joining Norton healthcare, he helped implement the E...

Adria embodies hope, integrity, humanity & has focused her career on lifting some of society’s most vulnerable populations & being of service to others. She is a dedicated & well-respected servant leader with more than 26 yrs. of hands-on experience in both the public/private sectors. Her proven ability to lead efforts toward reform & work collaboratively across a wide range of stakeholders has served her well in he...

Tom is a member of the KY. law firm of Stoll Keenon Ogden, where his legal practice focuses on mgt.-side labor & employment law.  Multiple times he has been recognized as 1 of the top 50 lawyers in the Commonwealth of KY. by Super Lawyers. Tom was a funder of Restorative Justice Louisville. He has also served as Pres. of the Louisville Bar Assoc. & Bd. Chair of Leadership Lou. being recognized by that organization as 1 of L...

Her professional & legal accomplishments are vast, BUT that is only part of her origin story.  You see, Rebecca was diagnosed, JUST WEEKS before her daughter’s 1st birthday, with a VERY rare blood cancer called Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm, better known as (BPDCN)-an acute form of Leukemia. This disease is SO RARE & SO AGGRESSIVE; there is NO standard recommended course of treatment. RARER STILL, is the fact...

As a U.S. Army Combat Veteran of Iraqi Freedom, he served honorably for 9 yrs. & was a Non-Commissioned Officer before getting out of the Army in 2008. After leaving the Army, Jeremy went to school at Mid-Continent Univ. studying Bus. Mgt. & started a career in Oper. Mgt. in the Manufacturing & the Supply Chain Logistics Industry. As a man with an Entrepreneurial heart, he wanted to do more to support the Veteran commun...

Having grown up in Texas, Jarrod played many organized sports all such as football, baseball, golf, track, & tennis. He then graduated from Meridian High School in Meridian, TX., & joined the US Navy obtaining an SSBI-(which stands for Single Scope Background Investigation, for a Top Secret Clearance-serving 4 years & did a combat tour in Iraq/Persian Gulf…not TOO shabby!

Jarrod then got out of the Navy & started at...

As an entrepreneur, business owner, professor, and active community member, his story is one of survival, determination, & service.

In other words, MOXIE!

You see, Tran’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam in March 1995. They came with very little, so he had to work hard. He did not know how to speak English when he arrived in 1995.

His personal goals have been and are to champion small business ownership and success by...