Month: December 2021

Mike & Angelique De Luca join the podcast today. Angelique is from Fort Worth Texas, but she left at an early age to pursue a career in Hollywood, which is where she met her husband Mike. The two of them share stories from Hollywood, adventures they’ve had together, and what ultimately brought them back to Fort Worth.

Jessi Sheldon is on FORTitude this week and she has a truly fascinating job. She works on movies to make the action scenes you see happen. She started on The Tooth Fairy movies and worked her way up from there. She talks about how she ended up in a job like this and the challenges and successes she’s had over the years and shares some really fun stories.

Opal Lee is an American retired teacher, counselor, and activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday. Lee campaigned for decades to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. She has promoted the idea by leading 2.5 miles (4.0 km) walks each year, representing the 2.5 years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. At the age of 89, she conducted a symbolic walk from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., leaving in September 2016 and arriving in Washington in January 2017.

On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed Senate Bill S. 475 making Juneteenth the eleventh federal holiday.

Alex Snodgrass stopped by the FORTitude Pod this week and she was awesome! She shared her journey into the food influencer world, where her love of cooking comes from, and the wins and challenges she faced in publishing her first cookbook. Join the guys as we get to know Alex and prepare to be inspired.

Jon Bonnell visits the guys at FORTitude this week and they talk all about food. Jon talks about how he developed his love for cooking and how that led him to eventually opening his own restaurant. He’s had a wild journey and this episode will leave you excited for your next meal.

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Chef Jon Bonnell grew up hunting, fishing and cooking with his parents and family. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1994, Jon taught science and math for two years before pursuing his love for cooking and enrolling in the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont.

Amanda Micallef, the founder of Arsenic, joins the guys at FORTitude this week. She talks to the guys about how she went from Fort Worth to LA right after high school and never really looked back. She shares some of her wild moments working in the movie industry and how she went from working on films to creating Arsenic to ultimately leaving LA and the movie business altogether to return to Texas. Her story is one you really don’t want to miss.
Prior to founding Arsenic, Amanda Micallef spent 12 years as a producer of over 20 films, music videos, and commercial productions, where she was responsible for all aspects of projects from inception through distribution. Amanda is a board member of Jamak (the largest privately owned silicone manufacturing company in the nation with offices in the US, UK, China & Hong Kong,) Reata Restaurant Management Group as well as four other boards with holdings in real estate, manufacturing, and automotive.

This week we have a futurist on the podcast. David Treichler spends his time researching the past to try and predict the future to help companies plan for major future events, like the pandemic. David talks about his process and shares some amazing insights into things like social media, climate change, and automated driving. You really don’t want to miss this episode.