The Backpocket Podcast

Mark Dowdle is a great friend, reoccuring guest, and ultra marathon athlete. Mark discusses his recent accomplishment running 484.5 miles and raising $53k in 9 days during his Love Like Laurie Legacy run, his enthusiasm behind his recent “Run and Plunge” events he’s been doing with Embrace North, and we look ahead to the big ideas to come for 2023. Enjoy! Please donate and support our mental health fundraiser HERE - https://crow...

Emily Rooney is a dear friend we met freezing our asses off together when we took plunges in the ICE COLD Cedar Lake with Embrace North in Winter ‘22. We talk to Emily about her career working in professional sports with the Vikings, Seattle Krakken and now THE Big Ten Conference. We gain fruitful insight on her mental health journey and touch on how the conversation of mental health has changed so drastically. Thank you to Emily f...

The boys of BP have officially launched their $50,000 mental health fundraiser with the Masonic Childrens Hospital in the Twin Cities. They catch everyone up to speed on how the fundraiser came to be and how it is going. They also reflect on the accomplishments this year with the DNP and spill a little tea about the MASSIVE things coming in 2023 - stay til the end to hear some exciting intel! Enjoy! Please donate and support our me...

Jeff Cole is a renowned pop culture artist who is the cofounder of Ikonick (a motivational canvas wall art company backed by Gary Vee & Scooter Braun) and creator of Sneaks of Nature (a web3 sneaker inpspired franchise). Jeff is a from the suburbs of Chicago and knew he was going to be a artist as early as the age 5 or 6. Decky sits down to discuss Jeff's come up to being one of the most impactful pop culture artist in todays a...

Don Liimatainen is the CEO and founder of the Best Christmas Ever organization, a local Minneapolis nonprofit that helps families in need have an amazing Christmas. Last year Backpocket and Straight Candid worked with the Best Christmas Ever organization and the community raised over $10,000 for a local family in need!

Ben Zaver is the founder of Seeq, a brand new protein powder that is a clear, crisp and refreshing alternative to traditional thick and milky protein shakes. Throughout the quarantine of 2020, Ben spent countless hours working on creating the product as well as establishing his brand. We have fun throughout this podcast creating content ideas and hearing the details of Ben's story. By the end of this podcast you'll be Seeqing ...

Chad Heegaard is the founder Cheegs Apparel - A sustainably sourced, ethically made business apparel for the modern man. Chad's hunger for adventure drove him away from the corporate world and eventually led him to Athens, Greece where he biked around the Balkan countries. Shortly thereafter he made his way to China to teach English and ultimately start Cheegs. By the end of this podcast you'll be whispering to yourself "Fuck colla...

Sam Harper is the co-founder of Hippy Feet, an eco-friendly sock brand that donates a pair of socks for each pair purchased. He is celebrating his 5 year anniversary! With well-over 20,000 pairs of socks donated, Hippy Feet also helps the community by employing 16-24 year olds who are experiencing homelessness. Hippy Feet wears the title of "tree-hugger" with pride and it is their mission to not only provide environmentally friendl...

Hannah Perez is the founder of Awake Social, a marketing agency focused on helping small businesses. She recently returned from living the van life on a trip from Minneapolis to Yellowstone seeing Sioux Falls, the Badlands, Rapid City, and the Devil's Tower along the way. She discusses everything she experienced from the trip and about other life experiences that set her up to succeed with Awake Social. Hannah believes it is import...

Jordyn Woodruff is an assistant strategist at Hearts & Science and a TikTok guru. In the midst of the pandemic last year, Jordyn started creating TikToks on entertainment news around unconventional celebrity TikTokers, AKA "U-listers". It wasn't always easy, as the growth was slow at the beginning, but she stuck to it and continued to chop wood until it paid off after 6 months of consistent posting. Sustainable growth isn't eas...

Patrick is the founder of The Harrier, a running culture apparel brand and former founder of the infamous, short-lived "Too Good for the MIAC" apparel brand. He is also a long-time listener of the Backpocket and has been listening regularly for almost 300 of our episodes. He first tuned in while he was in Bulgaria where he was teaching at a foreign language high school as a fresh, Luther college graduate. Patrick is a passionate en...

Austin is a good friend and founder of Jochum Strength, a strength and conditioning facility focused on training athletes across the greater Twin Cities area and online across the world. Austin recently just moved into his brand new gym after spending his first 3 years in a 400 square foot gym that most nights he slept out of (he can now admit this as he's no longer bound by a lease there lol). We had to keep this one short due to ...