Radio Maine with Dr. Lisa Belisle

Scott Budde, financial services executive, art collector, and steward of a quietly thriving peony farm in Alna, joins Radio Maine to reflect on the intersections of finance, creativity, agriculture, and place.

After a career in mainstream banking and responsible investing, Budde came to Maine to help launch Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union, a mission-driven institution focused on supporting small farms and food businesses. Alongs...

With a background spanning city government, integrative wellness, radio hosting, and coaching, Adams reflects on the pivotal moments that led her to leave stable career paths in pursuit of more meaningful work. Dra...

Jaclyn Janis, a nurse, public health researcher, and emerging Portland Art Gallery artist, joins Radio Maine to share how science, illness, and landscape converge in her printmaking practice.

With a background spanning nursing, ICU care, and health outcomes research, Janis brings a deeply analytical lens to her creative work—one shaped by her own experience living with a rare lung disease. After years away from art, she returned to...

Natalie Miller, writer, creator of Eat, Stay, Wheel, and disability advocate, joins Radio Maine to share how she is redefining what it means to live fully and visibly.

With a background in corporate leadership and more than two decades in Maine, Miller reflects on how a breast cancer diagnosis and lifelong mobility challenges reshaped her perspective—leading her to create a platform that celebrates accessibility, adventure, and eve...

Kim Case, a longtime Portland Art Gallery artist, returns to Radio Maine to reflect on the evolution of her painting practice and her deepening exploration of abstraction. Trained in photography and art history at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts, Case began with a focus on realism but has increasingly embraced abstraction as a way to express emotion, energy, and the subtle presence of human experience in nature.

In ...

Cameron Kelly Rosenblum, young adult author with HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share her journey of resilience, creativity, and finding her voice later in life. After years of teaching and navigating personal challenges—including raising a son with significant special needs and processing the loss of a close friend to suicide—Rosenblum reflects on how writing became both a refuge and a for...

Victoria Zurkan, licensed marriage and family therapist and painter based in Portland, Maine, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how the impulse to understand people and the impulse to make art are, at their core, the same. With roots in animation studios in San Francisco and Budapest and graduate training in psychology in London, Zurkan reflects on the winding path that brought her to Maine and to a body of work enti...

Annie Kloppenberg, professor of performance, theater, and dance at Colby College and director of the Lyons Arts Lab, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how movement, curiosity, and collaboration shape contemporary artistic expression. With roots in New England and a career spanning performance, teaching, and choreography, Kloppenberg reflects on her early influences in dance and the moment that transformed her underst...

Jennifer Acker, author, founder and editor-in-chief of The Common and director of the Amherst College LitFest, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how place, storytelling, and personal transformation shape both literature and life. Raised in rural Maine, Acker reflects on how her early experiences—family reading traditions, small-town culture, and global travel—deeply informed her commitment to place-based writing. She...

Tobias Parkhurst, Head of Business Development for Cushnoc Brewing Company and a longtime Maine entrepreneur, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share an unconventional journey from professional skateboarding to revitalizing community life in central Maine. Growing up in rural Maine, Parkhurst found identity and resilience through skateboarding, eventually traveling widely before returning home to help run his family’s glass ...

John Kuehnle, CEO of Partners for World Health, brings a global public health perspective to Maine through his leadership of an organization that transforms surplus medical supplies into lifesaving resources for communities locally and around the world. In this episode of Radio Maine, Kuehnle joins Dr. Lisa Belisle to reflect on a career shaped by service—from four years in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua to more than a decade working...

Beryl Cui is a Cross-Cultural Communication Trainer and English Instructor who moved from Beijing to Maine to begin a new chapter. In this episode of Radio Maine, Cui joins Dr. Lisa Belisle to share her journey from corporate language training in China to building connection and community in Portland. For over a decade, she has coached CEOs and business leaders to communicate with clarity, confidence, and cultural awareness—teachin...

Dr. Eric Brown is the executive director of the Maine Irish Heritage Center and a scholar whose background spans Renaissance drama, poetry, and even insect studies. In this episode of Radio Maine, Brown joins Dr. Lisa Belisle to explore how Irish heritage, literature, and imagination intersect in Maine today. Raised in Dover-Foxcroft with deep Irish roots, Brown reflects on rediscovering his ancestry during the pandemic and how tha...

Aubrey Calaway is an audio producer and the director of Foghorn, a Portland-based audio collective and coworking space dedicated to storytelling, listening, and community. In this episode of Radio Maine, Calaway joins host Dr. Lisa Belisle to explore the deep human roots of audio—from oral tradition and NPR influences to the evolving world of podcasts and documentary storytelling. Trained at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studi...

Brian Petrovek is a longtime community leader and former sports and entertainment executive whose career spans elite athletics, business leadership, and civic engagement. In this episode of Radio Maine, Petrovek joins host Dr. Lisa Belisle to reflect on his journey from high-level hockey at Hotchkiss and Harvard to decades of leadership in professional sports and live entertainment. Known in Maine for bringing elevated sports exper...

Sara Schiller, co-founder of the Sloomoo Institute and Bowdoin College alumna, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share how curiosity, resilience, and joy shaped her unlikely path from rural Maine to a national cultural phenomenon. Raised in Winterport, Sara credits her Maine roots—and the confidence she built at Bowdoin—with fostering a lifelong curiosity that led her into art, business, and entrepreneurship. After early wor...

Liz Kovarsky, founder of the Electric Cottage Collective in Brunswick, Maine, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore a new model for creativity, wellness, and community connection. A trained social worker, artist, and educator, Liz created Electric Cottage Collective as a shared, embodied space that brings together creative coworking, arts practice, and wellness—challenging the ways modern culture often separates mind fro...

Jeff Mao, founder of Knead and Nosh, educator, author, and former statewide leader in educational technology, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to reflect on a career shaped by curiosity, adaptability, and community. A Bowdoin College graduate, Jeff began as a teacher and coach before becoming a central figure in Maine’s pioneering one-to-one laptop program, which helped transform how students and teachers across the state enga...

Marnie Girado, Fair Manager, Exhibitor Relations; for Affordable Art Fair NYC & Boston, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to talk about making art more accessible—without sacrificing depth, quality, or curiosity. With a background in art history from Bowdoin and advanced training in Victorian and Edwardian art, Marnie brings a sharp eye and deep love of context to contemporary art spaces. From transparent pricing to thought...