S5:E7 - Building Possibilities in Small Towns with Deb Brown
Release Date: 03/24/2025
S5:27 - Cattle, Creativity, and Community with Tesa Klein
The Growing Small Towns Show
This episode dives into the amazing creative journey of Tesa Klein, the cowgirl-turned-entrepreneur behind Wildflowers, who rebuilt her business after years in the rodeo world and rediscovered her spark. She’s deeply rooted in rural (she lives in a NoDak town of 50!) but has had her share of big-time viral moments. It’s an inspiring look at trusting yourself even when your dreams don’t seem to match your zip code, and we love hearing her take on balance and dreaming big from her tiny ND town. About Tesa: Tesa is the owner, operator, and creative artist behind Wildflowers, a western and...
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S5:26 - Generational Perspectives in Small Towns with Jackie Knutson and Lisa Schulz
The Growing Small Towns Show
In this episode, we sit down with “Oakes Folks” Jackie Knutson and Lisa Schulz, a mother–daughter duo who represent two generations deeply invested in their hometown. They talk about leaving and returning, building belonging, showing up for community, navigating change, and why small towns need to both embrace the future and remember the past in order to thrive. It’s a heartfelt, grounded conversation about loving where you live, even when it’s not perfect. About Jackie and Lisa: Jackie Knutson and Lisa Schulz are a mother–daughter pair deeply rooted in GST’s hometown of Oakes,...
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S5:E25 - Rural Housing Data with Ben Winchester
The Growing Small Towns Show
One of our favorite guests is back! Ben Winchester is a rural researcher who digs into the intersection of housing, demographics, and community vitality. In this episode, we’re going over some of his latest research and the trends he’s seeing, and why now is the time to make plans for growing our small towns. There are tons of opportunities, but we have to go out and grab them! Our favorite thing about Ben is that he provides context and action around data (even tough data!) and provides communities with real options for addressing some of their most pressing concerns, like housing and...
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S5:24 - Learning As We Go in Economic Development with Ashley Geigle
The Growing Small Towns Show
This week, we’re chatting with an amazing human about amazing stuff. Okay, fine, every week we talk with amazing humans about amazing stuff, but this episode is a great one. Rebecca visits with Ashley Geigle, Economic Development Director for Murdo, South Dakota, about how she built a brand-new role from scratch. (Like, from scratch, like growing and milling the wheat for the flour level of scratch, not box mix scratch.) Ashley talks about learning through challenges, building trust, and finding beauty in small progress. She, like Justin Neppl, has reimagined what economic development...
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S5:23 - Reimagining Economic Development with Justin Neppl
The Growing Small Towns Show
In this episode, Rebecca talks with longtime friend and former economic developer Justin Neppl about what it really means to reimagine economic development for small towns. For years, economic development has focused on the same things, but the future looks different. This episode is about collaboration, trust, and people-centered leadership and how they can come together to update traditional models to make futures brighter for our small towns. About Justin: Justin Neppl is a community-focused entrepreneur from Breckenridge, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife, Jamie, and their three...
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S5:E22 - Love Notes to the Lonely, Uncertain, or Scared with Rebecca Undem
The Growing Small Towns Show
Sometimes things are rough, whether it’s for a little bit, a season, or longer. This episode is straight from our founder and leader, and she’s sharing reflections and encouragement for anyone who’s felt exhausted, uncertain, or overwhelmed by the weight of showing up for their community or business. It’s lovely work, but it can also feel heavy and lonely, so if you’ve ever felt that way, this episode is for you. In this episode, we cover: That your energy is a limited resource. Why it helps to stay in alignment with your internal values/beliefs/deeply held truths. Why...
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S5:E21 - Innovative Community Childcare Ideas with Alexandra & Tyler Rupe
The Growing Small Towns Show
Childcare is a huge challenge for many families, and this is of course true for small towns. When Alex and Tyler’s daycare closed their small town of Ottertail, MN (pop. 500), Tyler half-jokingly said, “We should just start our own daycare.” Well, that’s pretty much what that did. Two days later, he had a plan and three years later, they’re opening a nonprofit daycare to serve their community that could change how rural communities approach childcare. And we are so here for it! About Tyler & Alex: Tyler and Alex Rupe have been married for nearly a decade, bringing together...
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S5:E20 - Would College Kids Return to Our Towns? with Jaci Praska
The Growing Small Towns Show
One of the most common concerns we hear from small-town leaders and residents is the idea of the “brain drain,” or the fear that young people will leave and never return. This is a very valid fear, but there is so much we can do about it! We are so excited to welcome one of our very own, Jaci Praska, who grew up in our small town of Oakes, ND, to talk to us about just how we get to keep people like her! About Jaci: I attend the University of North Dakota, where I am double-majoring in Accounting and Public Affairs. While attending UND, I also work as a Peer Mentor in the Nistler...
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S5:E19 - Small Town Talent Attraction with Alissa Henriksen
The Growing Small Towns Show
We’ve heard it, and you probably have too: “People don’t want to move to rural communities.” Or, “Talented people don’t want to live in small towns.” Well, we’re happy to say we know that’s not true, and so does Alissa Henriksen. This episode is all about attracting talent to our small towns, how not to write people off, and why sometimes it’s good for a business to run on vibes. About Alissa: Alissa Henriksen is the co-founder and co-president at Grey Search + Strategy, where she leads the community-centric team culture and drives revenue goals for the...
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S5:E18 - Being a Developer with a Heart with Dylan Cinti
The Growing Small Towns Show
Housing development is a key focus for many small towns, and for good reason: we need places for people to live! But, sometimes development can bring gentrification and sameness, which is not what we want for our small towns. Dylan Cinti combines construction with stewardship to restore and update small-town properties while keeping their heart and charm. About Dylan: Dylan Cinti is co-founder and Head of Operations at Yarrow, a real estate firm dedicated to creating a better renting experience in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Working with local tradespeople, Yarrow buys, remodels, and manages...
info_outlineDeb Brown is one of our favorite people in the world, and we’re so glad to have her on the show with us to share her words, her new book (!!!) and all the work she’s doing to help small-town dreamers just like you. This episode is all about approaching big problems in small towns in idea-friendly ways and starting small to build big.
About Deb:
Deb Brown is a dynamic small-town advocate and community development expert with a wealth of experience empowering rural communities. As the co-founder of SaveYour.Town, she has been working alongside Becky McCray for a decade, providing practical advice and innovative solutions to shape brighter futures for small towns.
Deb's background is diverse and practical. She served as a Chamber of Commerce Executive Director for 4 years, holding certification from the Institute for Organization Management. Prior to that, she was a Tourism Specialist for 4 years. Her varied business experience includes roles as a foreign casualty insurance underwriter, retail manager, and bartender.
Deb specializes in addressing common rural challenges, including:
- Revitalizing empty buildings
- Downtown rejuvenation
- Youth retention
- Marketing and promotion for small towns
- Business development and economic growth
- Innovative rural business models
Deb excels at building connections, storytelling, and active listening. She guides people in taking small steps toward their ideas and helps them find the resources and connections needed to bring those ideas to fruition.
Her presentations are interactive and engaging, designed to provide attendees with actionable ideas they can implement immediately. Deb has spoken at local and national conferences, addressing chambers, economic developers, tourism specialists, museum experts, volunteers, residents and business groups.
Deb is the author of "From Possibilities to Reality: Save Your Small Town with these Uniquely Do-able Ideas, Projects, and Success Stories," a comprehensive workbook filled with practical strategies and real-world examples for small-town revitalization.
Through her work with SaveYour.Town, Deb provides weekly newsletters focused on small-town challenges and offers exclusive video content to Megaphone Members.
Deb Brown's passion for community development and her ability to provide real-world, practical solutions make her an invaluable resource for small towns looking to create positive change and build a thriving future.
In this episode, we cover:
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The process of writing and publishing her book
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Who and what her book is for
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Why you don’t need permission to do cool stuff
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Her favorite stories and concepts from the book
Links + Resources Mentioned:
From Possibilities to Reality: Save Your Small Town with these Uniquely Do-able Ideas, Projects, and Success Stories
SaveYour.Town - Practical steps your rural community can take now
Free Newsletters - Get your tips to address rural challenges
Deb's Speaking Site - Take a look at how Deb can help you
Andrew Laddusaw’s YouTube Channel
Trolls in DL website (from Small Town Shout-Out)
Episode 49 with Becky and Deb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMo32Jzm5aM
Small-Town Shout-Out!
The biggest shout-out to Becker County, Minnesota’s Project 412. They had the audacious goal of bringing world-renowned Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo to the area--and it happened!
“Trolls in DL” is one of 130 permanent art installations around the world. We love a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) and we’re proud of you, Project 412. Thanks to Cody Piper for sharing this big freaking deal with us.
New Segment Alert!
We think some of the best parts about radio shows and podcasts are listener call-ins, so we’ve decided to make those a part of the Growing Small Towns Podcast. We really, really want to hear from you! We’re introducing two new parts to the show:
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“Small town humblebrags”: Call in and tell us about something amazing you did in your small town so we can celebrate with you. No win is too small—we want to hear it all, and we will be excessively enthusiastic about whatever it is! You can call in for your friends, too, because giving shout-outs is one of our favorite things.
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“Solving Your Small-Town People Challenges”: Have a tough issue in your community? We want to help. Call in and tell us about your problem, and we’ll solve it on an episode of the podcast. Want to remain anonymous? Totally cool, we can be all secretive and stuff. We’re suave like that.
If you’ve got a humblebrag or a tricky people problem, call 701-203-3337 and leave a message with the deets. We really can’t wait to hear from you!
Get In Touch
Have an idea for a future episode/guest, have feedback or a question, or just want to chat? Email us at hello@growingsmalltowns.org
Subscribe + Review
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Growing Small Towns Show! If the information in our conversations and interviews has helped you in your small town, head out to Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver relevant, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more small-town trailblazers just like you!