Mortgage lender opens up about losing his oldest son, the blood drive he runs in his memory, and why donated blood gave their family 21 years.

He grew up a sports nut, became a church league legend, and tried to walk on at Western Kentucky before reality hit. Then he had his first son at 20, walked into the hospital one person and walked out a different one. He learned mortgages in 1995 by getting handed a phone book and told to start calling, ran batting cages in La Vergne before the timing was right, coached a dead-last team to beating the Tigers, and eventually started his own branch.

The heart of this one is his son. When his boy was born, his mom's placenta separated, and he lost so much blood he looked like a Smurf. Two transfusions kept him alive. He had AB negative, one of the rarest types, and Vanderbilt happened to have two units ready in 1994. Donated blood is the reason the family got 21 years with him. After he passed in 2016, the Red Cross expected the memorial drive to shrink and need a school or church to fill it out. Ten years later it's still standalone, and one of their largest. He also gets into the 18 year old who told them "I'm not going anywhere" after the loss, and the families who show up wearing a different color shirt from every year.

FAQ's

1.When and where is the blood drive?

August 1st at the Fountains in Murfreesboro.

2.Why does he do a blood drive?

His son needed two transfusions to survive at birth, and donated blood gave the family 21 years with him.

3.How long does giving blood actually take?

About 45 minutes once the needle is in.

4.How can I get involved?

Contact him or his wife to sign up, or just show up that day.

5.What does he do for work?

He's a mortgage lender in Murfreesboro who started his own branch at CMG.

Give blood 4 Ryan on August 1st at the Fountains, or reach out to Jamie to find out how!

Where to find Jamie?

Website: http://jamiestillman.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mortgagesbysteelman/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-steelman-1512209

Give Life 4 Ryan,

Register online at: https://www.givelife4ryan.com/ or via Jamie Steelman, (615) 238-7426

Spread The Positive

website: spreadthepositive.net

Socials: @spreadthepositive

Chase Hartwell left a 10-year Google career to build a Nashville photo and video company with nearly 500 clients.

The business started with him photographing 13-inch Star Wars figures in front of his TV to wake his passion for photography back up. That turned into real estate gigs on Fiverr, then restaurants, then food, then video, then filming Chris Kirkpatrick from NSYNC for American Dream TV. Along the way he learned to run a cinema camera in a week for a documentary gig, talked his way into being the only photographer invited to a 2,000-person food event, and figured out that email and word of mouth book more work than any ad he's ever paid for.

FAQ's

1. How did Chase Hartwell get into photography?

He started shooting Star Wars figurines during the pandemic, then took real estate gigs on Fiverr.

2. Did he really work at Google?

Yes, for 10 years, mostly on Google Fiber and the residency training program.

3. How does Chase Hartwell Productions find clients?

Mostly word of mouth and email campaigns, rather than paid ads.

4. What does the company shoot?

Restaurants, commercials, drones, and video work for clients.

Where to find Chase?

website: https://www.chp.media

socials: @chasehartwellproductions

Where to find Spread The Positive?

website: spreadthepositive.net

Socials: @spreadthepositive

Lindsay Fitz spent 20 years crushing it in TV, won an Emmy at the Beijing Olympics, and now gets to do her dream job running celebrity partnerships at Best Friends Animal Society.

She grew up in Oklahoma, went to Oklahoma State, and chased the New York dream right after graduation. She landed the legendary NBC Page Program, hung with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, covered politics during one of NBC News' biggest eras, and spent 10 incredible years at NBC Sports helping launch Sunday Night Football. From there she jumped to Discovery for the Alaska shows, then built something amazing at A&E for 8.5 years.

Two years ago a single phone call opened the door to Best Friends Animal Society, and she hasn't looked back. She now connects huge names like Sabrina Carpenter, Myles Turner, Trisha Yearwood, and Warner Brothers to the save them all mission. She shares the Sabrina Carpenter tour that brought puppies backstage at every stop, the Superman partnership that drove a wild 500% spike in adoption interest, Myles Turner holding cats at the sanctuary, and the NYC Gala in October honoring Trisha Yearwood for quietly giving to a shelter in every single state for five years running.

FAQs 1. What is the NBC Page Program and why does it matter for a career in TV? I

t's the legendary 80+ year old NBC program that gets you in the building and sets you up to work on shows like SNL, The Today Show, or The Daily Show, which is exactly how Lindsay's whole career started.

2. How does celebrity partnership actually work for a nonprofit?

You start with no agenda, find out what the celebrity actually cares about, and build something custom around their passion that also moves the mission forward.

3. What is Best Friends Animal Society and what does no-kill mean?

Best Friends is a 41 year old national nonprofit with 5 lifesaving centers, a huge sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, and 6,000 network partners working to get every shelter in America to a 90% save rate.

4. How do you pivot from corporate TV to nonprofit work?

Lindsay leaned into the cause work at every job she ever had, and when the right phone call came, she said yes.

5. What's the easiest way to support rescue if I can't adopt right now?

Foster, volunteer at a local shelter, donate to a Best Friends network partner, or just share rescue stories on your own platforms.

Best Friends Animal Society: bestfriends.org

Go follow Best Friends Animal Society and check out the Supergirl partnership campaign launching this June.