Episodes

Today’s returning guest is Gloria Lucas. Gloria is the author of an upcoming full-length novel and she’s one of fifteen authors in the upcoming anthology, Fiesta Nights, which is going to be released on September 15th. The release date of Fiesta Nights also just happens to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month. Are you ready to preorder Fiesta Nights? You ought to. Also, if there is a local Hispanic Heritage month event going on where you live, I encourage you to go to it and explore the people...

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is Noemi from Creative Souls. I came across Noemi’s Instagram page and was instantly hooked on her positive message. And since that’s what this podcast is all about, I had to invite her to come on the show, so I sent her a message. She answered me right and away and we got it set up. I think she came up with a fantastic idea of collaborating with others to create something that just one person couldn’t create by themselves. Our world ...

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is my friend and former RPD co-worker, Jose Cartegna. Jose was a Richmond Police officer for seven years and the last few of those years served as a detective in the Youth and Family Services Unit of the Major Crimes Division. Jose and I talk about how he came to Richmond from Connecticut to be a Richmond police officer, his time in Patrol, and the cases that he investigated while he was a detective. Jose was also on the Crowd Manageme...

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is retired NYPD detective and bestselling author, Vic Ferrari. I’m a huge fan of independent authors and Vic’s books popped up on my Amazon recommendation page. His books looked interesting so I bought one. After I read about 20 pages, I bought ALL of his books. As you can clearly tell, I’m a big fan of Vic and his books. Vic writes like he talks and talks like he writes. Head on over to his Amazon page and check out his books. If you...

Today’s guest is Officer Brenda Ruiz, the inspiration for the The Giving Notes Project song written by Emily Roig. Brenda and I talk about how her life experience became the subject of Emily’s song, what major event led her down the path to becoming a police officer, and the challenges that she faced as a woman and Hispanic officer in the City of Richmond. I can’t tell you the amount of respect and admiration I have for her and the rest of the CMT officers who stood on the front line during the...

Today’s guest is Mark Brown, the founder of The Giving Notes Project. On a previous episode, I spoke with Emily Roig who is one of the musicians associated with the amazing group. She suggested that I talk to Mark for more information so I sent him an email and asked if he’d like to come on and talk about his creation. He readily agreed and here he is. If you follow the news, or politics or the majority of the entertainment industry (which I try to avoid at all costs), there’s so much ‘me, me, ...

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is singer and songwriter, Emily Roig. Emily and I crossed paths when she tagged me in an Instagram post about a song she’d written about a Richmond police officer. I reached out to her and asked if she’d like to be a guest on an episode and she agreed, so here she is. I know I say it all the time when I interview singer-songwriters, but it always seems like what they do is magical. I mean, she interviewed Brenda Ruiz for an hour, then...

Today’s guest it Johnnie Calloway. Johnnie’s YouTube page showed up in my feed one day, so I checked him out. I was hooked after listening to him for probably less than two minutes. His contact information was on his page, so I emailed him and asked him if he’d like to be a guest on the podcast. He replied and wrote, “Positivity is contagious”, then he agreed to come on the show. So here he is. I hope you enjoy his episode. Once you finish with the episode, you have got to check out his YouTube...

Today’s guest is former Richmond Police dispatcher Demetria Ross. Ms. Ross was a dispatcher with the City of Richmond for fifteen years, and was a Petersburg dispatcher for four years before that. Ms. Ross and I talk about the incident that sent her down the dispatcher path, as well as various significant events that occurred while she was a Richmond dispatcher. Whenever I called communications and Ms Ross answered the phone, I knew I’d better come correct. Her voice instills respect and admira...

Today’s guest is Vee, from VeeTellsTales on Instagram. I came across Vee’s page and was immediately fascinated by the artwork on the cover on her books as well as her photos. I reached out to her to see if she’d be interested in doing a podcast episode and she agreed, so here she is. I’m always in awe of authors who manage to put together such a complex and wonderful universe in their mind, then transfer it to the written word. I can’t even imagine writing a novel with over 130,000 word count, ...

Today’s guest is musician Kari Smith. Kari writes, produces, and sings her own music. Oh yeah, she also plays the guitar, piano and is bilingual. Kari talks to me about growing up in Richmond, planning a trip to Austin, then winding up in Nashville for a decade. How many folks out there have the courage to pack everything up, move to another state and follow a dream? Kari’s got lots of guts and drive, and she’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Make sure you head over to her website to che...

Today’s guest is Bri Stokes, a poet I came across on Instagram. Bri’s page fascinated me because of the artwork that she uses as the background for her poetry. I reached out to her and asked if she’d be willing to come on the podcast and talk about the art, her poetry and her outlook on life. Luckily, she agreed and here she is. After you listen to our conversation, you have to go and check out her Instagram page; her poetry will amaze you. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I am alw...