Art, History, and Life Lessons with Trey Oliver of Lupercalia Art Society
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Release Date: 03/16/2026
Healthspan and Wellness: Insights from Blake Martin
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Blake Martin, director of coaching and performance for Telomere (parent company of Connexus Clinic), shares his Mobile, Alabama roots and explains why he started Connexus Clinic nearly four years ago after leaving a stable career. He describes the clinic’s mission as helping people feel good and enjoy the time they have left by focusing on “health span,” not just extending life with pills. Blake emphasizes taking time to talk with patients and prioritizing human-to-human connection, especially as more people come in with questions or concerns about peptides they’ve ordered online. He...
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From Skating Rinks to Bail Bonds: The Chris McNeil Story
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Chris McNeil, owner of Metro Bonding, Outlaw Bail Bonds, and Mobile Bonding, shares his Mobile, Alabama background, early jobs at a restaurant and Skate World, and how he entered bail bonds in high school. He explains a bail bondsman’s core role, posting bonds and guaranteeing defendants’ court appearances, along with the realities of tracking fugitives across states and working with law enforcement. McNeil discusses how the industry has evolved in Alabama with new licensing and education requirements, his leadership as president of the state association. He recounts his...
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Silicon Ranch CEO Reagan Farr on Solar, Rural Economic Development & the Stockton Project
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Reagan Farr, co-founder and CEO of Silicon Ranch, shares his background from Louisiana to Nashville, early lessons working at a Baton Rouge drugstore, and how his tenure in Tennessee state government led to founding Silicon Ranch in 2011. He explains what shaped the company’s strategy as they started during the 2008–2010 downturn. Farr addresses community concerns and pushback around the Stockton, Alabama project, citing a similar experience in Bacon County, Georgia and emphasizing safety, wetlands avoidance, tax benefits, local jobs, and agrivoltaics with sheep and cattle. **...
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Navigating Life's Turns: Joe Carlisle's Story of Comedy, Adventure, and Business
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
In this podcast episode, Joe Carlisle, founder of Vision Handyman and Window Tinting, shares his life story and entrepreneurial journey. Born in Oxford, Mississippi and raised partly in Dallas, Joe worked in his dad’s restaurants, then spent years with Best Buy in retail and home theater installation, learning hands-on skills that later shaped his career. After his younger brother died, he moved to Mobile to be near family, later bouncing between Hattiesburg, New Orleans, Dallas, and even New Zealand. He pursued standup comedy seriously in Austin before returning to Mississippi later...
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Water, Work, and Wisdom: A Conversation with Thomas Irving
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Thomas Irving, owner of Pool and Spa Superstore, joins the podcast to share his background and how he entered the pool industry, helped grow a distribution/retail business, bought the retail business, and built a customer-focused company centered on education and stress-free pool ownership. He discusses treating “sales” as educating customers, and emphasizes building relationships because Mobile runs on word-of-mouth. He also highlights the importance of a strong team, consistency, and shares personal interests like cooking and travel.
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Art, History, and Life Lessons with Trey Oliver of Lupercalia Art Society
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Trey Oliver, co-owner with his wife Laura Kennedy of the Lupercalia Art Society, shares his background growing up in Jackson and Mobile, serving four years in the Coast Guard in North Carolina during marijuana-smuggling days, and completing a 47-year public safety career culminating as warden of the Mobile Metro Jail before retiring three years ago. He recounts early jobs, joining the junior volunteer fire department, and working nights as a dispatcher and jailer in high school. Oliver explains how walking the beach Dauphin Island and seeing the driftwood inspired him to create driftwood...
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Behind the Scenes with Sock Cop: A Decade of Puppetry and Creativity
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Jason Cooper, is the Mobile native behind the sock-puppet character “Sock Cop.” Jason shares his background growing up in Saraland, graduating with a degree in communications, earning a master’s in digital marketing during the pandemic, and working in local news and marketing. Now a stay-at-home dad to a six-year-old, he explains how Sock Cop began as a solo creative outlet using a sock, police hat, sunglasses, and green screen, evolving into a live, community-driven act focused on “catching speeders.” as Sock Cop likes to put it. Jason discusses perfectionism, the...
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Success Behind the Lens: A Conversation with Jon Jeffress
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
Jon Jeffress, owner of Deep South Focus Photography, shares his background from Tampa to Mobile, attending Davidson High School, starting college with plans for architecture, and choosing entrepreneurship instead. He reflects on his first job at Little Caesars, and discusses lessons about leadership and client service. Jon explains how Deep South Focus began in 2012 with automotive photography at car shows using an on-site mobile print and framing setup, then expanded into real estate media in 2019 and commercial work. He emphasizes the power of professional photos and video in home marketing,...
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Entrepreneurial Journey: A talk with OpenTruck's Founders Cole Howard and Camp Campbell
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
In this podcast episode, Cole Howard and Camp Campbell, co-founders of Open Truck, share their backgrounds and how they came to start OpenTruck. Cole and Camp discuss early job lessons, and reflect on entrepreneurship as a discipline built through effort and failure. They explain Open Truck’s origin: a need for one place to find any food truck that is located near you. It will also tell you their hours, menus, and specials and you won't have to rely on scattered Facebook posts. The iOS app launched January 27 and reached nearly 800 local users in about a week, with an Android version...
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Building Dreams: A Conversation with Chris Cockrell of Cockrell Contracting
The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast
This week on the podcast, we sit down with Chris Cockrell, owner of Cockrell Contracting, LLC, to hear how a Mobile, Alabama native went from studying civil engineering at Auburn to finding his passion in construction through insurance restoration work. Chris shares lessons from early mentors, why fighting insurance estimates pushed him toward home building, and what he believes new entrepreneurs need most—bulletproof contracts and a strong team (including bankers and attorneys) before problems arise. He also talks about the importance of disconnecting from work to prioritize family,...
info_outlineTrey Oliver, co-owner with his wife Laura Kennedy of the Lupercalia Art Society, shares his background growing up in Jackson and Mobile, serving four years in the Coast Guard in North Carolina during marijuana-smuggling days, and completing a 47-year public safety career culminating as warden of the Mobile Metro Jail before retiring three years ago.
He recounts early jobs, joining the junior volunteer fire department, and working nights as a dispatcher and jailer in high school. Oliver explains how walking the beach Dauphin Island and seeing the driftwood inspired him to create driftwood assemblage art. He describes Lupercalia as an art society with a gallery that is focused on providing top notch customer service.