Raeann Wilson was born in Cabot, AR. As a breast cancer survivor, IV therapy was an integral part of Raeann’s recovery, and she became passionate about giving the same level of care to other post-operation patients. As the surgical coordinator at Shewmake Plastic Surgery, Raeann has extensive knowledge in surgical processes and patient care. This all gave her the skill and inspiration to create Zen Infusion, offering mobile, on-demand IV infusion therapy that serves a number of needs for the people of Central Arkansas. Kris Shewmake, M.D., FACS was born in Pine Bluff, AR. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Hendrix College in Conway and a master’s degree in natural science from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He received his medical degree from UAMS, where he also completed a residency in general surgery. He was president of his class and elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society (top 10% of the class). His eight years of surgical training after medical school included a General Surgery residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Medical Center and a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery residency in Dallas at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Shewmake entered private practice in 1996 and was named Best Plastic Surgeon in Arkansas by his colleagues in 1999 and 2009.

Since starting Cooking in Bloom back in 2018, Denise Albert has given thousands of children hands-on cooking experience and nutritional education, imparting life skills contribute to their ongoing health and well-being throughout their lives. Even back in her days working in cardiac rehab, Denise knew that food is a powerful tool for learning. She started a nutrition education program that involved cooking meals with her patients, engaging taste, smell, and touch to great effect. When she and her family moved to Little Rock, she brought her pedagogy with her, founding Cooking in Bloom when she realized school curricula had gaps with regards to nutrition and sustainability. Denise's multi-sensory approach has since been put to use immersing pre-K through 12th-grade students in learning, using cooking to connect to many academic subjects like math, art, science, and history. The pandemic hit Denise's family-oriented business as hard as any, but she rallied and restructured to a mobile model, connecting through Zoom classrooms, allowing her to teach students in their own kitchens! Introducing people to thrilling new foods is the highlight of her job. When not in the classroom (virtual or otherwise), Denise likes to do outdoor activities with her family, such as gardening, biking, and taking their dogs to the park. Denise has an undergraduate degree in dietetics and a master's degree in public health.

Chelsea Wakefield, Ph.D., LCSW is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, couples therapist, dream worker, and workshop/retreat leader who works with individuals, couples and groups. For over twenty years, she has helped people move beyond the wounds of the past, access their archetypal potential, and live more vibrant and meaningful lives. Chelsea draws from a depth of training in clinical and transpersonal methods, helping people to integrate the insights of inner work into daily living. She has a passion for supporting women in developing their luminous potential.

Bemis Family Farms is a family-owned and operated holding company for three Bemis Family businesses. In 1992, Tracey and Donna Bemis purchased a tree farm and established Bemis Tree Farm with their two sons, Nathan and Jeremy The tree farm specializes in a variety of residential and commercial shade trees, evergreen trees, ornamental trees and shrubs. In 2012, the family business expanded into professional stump removal with the purchase of Stump Busters which then became known as Bemis Stump Busters. What started as five hives and a means to pollinate their family's existing commercial tree farm, Jeremy and his wife Emily quickly realized there were no beekeeping suppliers in their area and very little sources for information. Not wanting other new beekeepers to have the same difficult experience in getting started, Jeremy and his wife established the Bemis Honey Bee Farm in 2013. As the bee farm’s number of colonies began to grow, so did their business and the demand for more education. Bemis Honey Bee Farm now provides honey bees and offers a wide variety of beekeeping supplies, resources and educational classes. The informative classes are offered year round and range from beginner to queen rearing. The classes are hands-on and taught by qualified and experienced instructors. Two admission free events are held at Bemis Honey Bee Farm each year that are geared to be educational and entertaining for all. Bee Day is held in the spring and focuses on teaching and bettering beekeeping practices. This is also the day that packaged bees are picked up. The day is filled with food, fun and information for all ages. The number of people attending the event has doubled each year. The Arkansas Honey Festival is held in the fall and focuses on products from the hive, as well as honey production. A honey contest is held and tastings are open to the public. Free classes and activities are offered along with food and information. Both events feature many live demonstrations in the bee yard. With three generations of farmers and entrepreneurs, Bemis Family Farms looks forward to providing Arkansans with quality products, quality supplies and exceptional services. All three companies are run with the help of friendly and invaluable employees, family members and friends. We invite you to take a drive through the tree farm, visit the Bee Store to pick up a few supplies, and meet new friends in the tree and beekeeping industries.

This week, Kerry sits down for an interview with Nate Coulter, the Executive Director of Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) to find out all about the public library system, and what makes it such a pillar to the central Arkansas community!

Hank Kelley grew up in Heber Springs, AR. He received his Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he graduated with honors. In the late 1970s he went to work in the northwest Arkansas real estate market and during that time met and married former Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey’s sister, Stephanie Dailey. In 1980 they moved to central Arkansas and Kelley got his MBA in Finance and a Commercial Real Estate Brokerage License. He has instructed Real Estate courses at University of Arkansas at Little Rock and created the Endowed Scholarship to enable students to attend the U of A. Kelley is the CEO of Flake and Kelley Commercial Real Estate firm and over the past 35 years has represented clients that include AT&T, Panera Bread, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Acxiom, City of Little Rock Parks & Recreation and the Pulaski County School District.

Born in a small delta town in Mississippi, Percy Malone has lived and understands the problems of the poor; those often overlooked and forgotten. That is why, while serving in both Arkansas houses (first as a representative and later as a senator) Malone sponsored no less than 50 bills with a focus on protecting children, caring for the sick or incapacitated, and helping those living below the poverty line. He is a successful businessman who in 1975, founded the first AllCare Pharmacy in Arkadelphia, AR with a #2 pencil, ledger book, and a typewriter. Today he has over 17 community pharmacy locations across Arkansas. At a time when monopolies and big business are bankrupting smaller companies, Percy has stayed true to himself. Over the last 5 decades he has seen radical change in the pharmaceutical industry: From mom-and-pop drug stores with soda shops in the back to "big pharma"; from pencil and paper accounting to computer pharmacy tracking systems. Percy Malone has successfully led his company, AllCare Pharmacy, through the ever-changing complexities of business and consumerism in the 21st century.

Paul Allen Smith Jr is the oldest of four children, was born on March 12, 1960, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He grew up in McMinnville, Tennessee, in the Cumberland Mountains, where his father’s family had farmed for several generations and also operated an ornamental plant business. Smith calls himself a fourth-generation nurseryman and horticulturist. The family moved back to Little Rock when Smith was twelve due to a career opportunity for his father, who unexpectedly died just three months later. To cope with his grief, Smith planted a small garden in the backyard and began raising chickens. After graduating from Little Rock’s McClellan High School in 1979, he attended Hendrix College in Conway to major in biology, with plans of becoming a veterinarian. After graduation in 1983, he earned a Rotary International scholarship to study ornamental horticulture, garden design, and history during an eighteen-month stay at the University of Manchester in England. After returning home to Little Rock, Smith entered the nursery and garden design business with his family. He also became a private tour guide to European gardens and began teaching gardening workshops at the nursery. Regular appearances on local radio led to a weekly gardening segment on Little Rock television station KATV’s Daybreak show in 1989. It soon led to a syndicated program starting in 2000, P. Allen Smith’s Gardens, which was largely shot at Smith’s historic home in Little Rock’s Quapaw Quarter. The original Garden Home is a 1904 Colonial Revival cottage surrounded by a series of garden rooms designed by Smith. He purchased the house for one dollar and relocated it to a 15,000-square-foot vacant lot. Smith divides his time between that home and his 650-acre Garden Home Retreat at Moss Mountain Farm in Roland, Arkansas, which overlooks the Arkansas River Valley. At Moss Mountain Farm, Smith promotes the local-food movement, organic gardening, and the preservation of heritage poultry breeds. Smith founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy in 2009. Smith is a Certified Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and a board member of the Royal Oak Foundation, the U.S. affiliate of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. His awards and recognitions include the 2009 Arkansas Cultural Enrichment Award from the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the 2011 4-H Celebration of Excellence Award, the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America, Garden Communicator Award from the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA), Horticultural Communicator Award from the American Horticultural Society (AHS), and the Odyssey Award from the Hendrix College Board of Trustees honoring the achievements of Hendrix College alumni.

This week Kerry sits down for an interview with Mr. Tommy Foltz, editorial writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Tune in to hear about the big business of natural gas, Tom's pivot from sports to politics to writing, and about the rocky journey of recovering from personal tragedy.

Today on Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy I sit down for a conversation with a power couple that has deep roots in Arkansas: the 2019 Farm Family of the Year, Jamie Anderson and his wife Elizabeth Burns Anderson. There are not many businesses that last past the second generation, and certainly not the third. But Anderson Farms, a fish hatchery, and Farmers Bank and Trust in Magnolia are the exception. Founded in 1949 by his great grandfather, Jamie Anderson became the fourth generation to run their fish farm, made up of 3,300 acres of water with an 11,000 square foot fish hatchery. This makes them the largest producer of bait fish in the world. Elizabeth Burns Anderson is the fifth generation to run her family business, Farmers Bank and Trust, founded over 100 years ago by her great, great grandfathers. Listen for some fish and finance talk. Learn farm folklore: about how the Anderson Fish Farm began from fish caught in the Bayou Meto, the different types of bait fish available, and a debate over farm raised vs wild caught salmon.

In 2015, before Dr. Sybil Hampton’s mother died, she said to Sybil, “Your whole life has been being in these places that people don’t expect you to be.” Never truer words spoken about my guest Dr. Sybil Hampton, whose first unexpected claim to fame (and she has many) is being among the second group of African American students to integrate Central High School, on the heels of the Little Rock Nine. You would think such a traumatic experience at such a young age would have soured Ms. Hampton on any type of organized schooling. But No! Ms. Hampton has scores of higher learning degrees and has dedicated her life work to the field of education. Hearing glass ceiling breaker Sybil’s firsthand accounts will inspire you, broaden you, and forever change you for the better. Listen as we celebrate black history month and get a history lesson from this educator along with stories of hope from a woman with profound experiences.