Voices of OKC

Les Thomas Sr., Urban Bridge's Executive Director of Community Engagement and Oklahoma State's Hype Man of Hope, shares what it took to move from anger without a blueprint to a life of mentorship and service. The conversation explores fatherhood, emotional growth, afterschool access, and why Oklahoma City must see potential before problems in its young people.

What this conversation explores:

- The personal cost behind a public lif...

An apartment fire can take a home in minutes. Recovery takes much longer.

Sabrina Smith joins Jed Chappell to talk about losing her home, business equipment, and irreplaceable family memories in a devastating apartment fire. With her daughters depending on her, Sabrina moved into crisis mode before she had time to process what had happened.

She shares the practical and psychological realities that can follow a disaster, including t...

Caitlin Ferguson spent years trying to understand where she belonged.

Growing up biracial, navigating different faith traditions, and later surviving sexual assault, addiction, and mental-health crisis, Caitlin often felt unseen and uncertain about her identity.

In this honest conversation, Caitlin shares how faith, healthy relationships, and serving others helped her begin rebuilding her life. She also describes the encounter duri...

Lydell Rhodes is 33-9 with 17 knockouts. He fought a world title eliminator his opponent's own coach told him he'd won, watched the fighter ranked seventh skip past him to the belt, and came home to Oklahoma City to build the thing he never had growing up. This is a conversation about obsession, being robbed, and what you do next.

What this explores: - The Pepsi warehouse job at 4 a.m. that turned him into a fighter - Getting kicke...

Lee Roland led a school turnaround through relationships at Tulakes Elementary - starting with trust, adult culture, and the belief that families had already sent the best children they had. He says the school's final two years under his leadership saw one student suspended, stronger achievement, and teachers waiting for openings.

Lee sits down with Jed to trace the roots of that leadership model: growing up in Spencer duri...

Zack Davis — OKC realtor, investor, and host of the Keep Going Podcast — is a direct descendant of Quanah Parker. He shares the story of his first Comanche gourd dance, two years after losing his grandfather, and the $300-paycheck low point that nearly ended his real estate career before it started.

What this conversation explores: - Growing up in Del City and Moore with a single mom and "a lot of alone time" - Basketba...

Blake Raney expected aviation to be about flying. Over time, it became a way to serve people who often feel unseen. Blake, founder of SPAIRROW, joins Jed Chappell for a conversation about aviation, calling, business as service, prison ministry, fatherhood, and building a foundation before the storm. He shares how an unexpected appointment to Oklahoma’s aerospace and aeronautics work challenged his confidence, ...

Kristina Mills did not apply for Survivor because she loved camping.

In fact, she had never been camping before.

She applied because she felt stuck. After walking through postpartum depression, losing her mother to a fentanyl overdose, and realizing her kids could see the sadness she was carrying, Kristina knew something had to change.

So she recorded a simple 60-second audition video and sent it in.

That decision eventually took h...

Most people see after-school programs as activities, games, and homework help.

Christian Matthews sees something deeper.

As Program Coordinator at City Center, Christian spends his days helping students navigate challenges that often have nothing to do with academics. Behind many behavioral issues are stories of loneliness, bullying, family struggles, anxiety, and a longing to be understood.

In this conversation, Christian shares h...

Brooke Freeman never planned to become a farmer.

After years working as a NICU nurse, she found herself wrestling with a simple question: How do we truly help people become healthier?

That question eventually led to the creation of Natural Freedom Farm, a nonprofit farm dedicated to growing fresh, nutrient-dense produce for families who might not otherwise have access to it.

In this conversation, Brooke shares the story behind the ...

There’s a line Daniel Haynes says in this conversation that quietly captures the entire heart of the episode:

“When something is led by love, no one gets left behind.”

Daniel is the founder of Skyward Financial Solutions, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and co-founder of Live Full alongside his wife, Raven. But more than titles, Daniel is someone deeply committed to stewardship, integrity, family, and serving people w...

Some students are carrying pain they do not yet have words for.

They may not know if they are angry, sad, scared, overwhelmed, or simply tired. They just know something feels off. And too often, the adults around them rush to correct behavior before they understand what is underneath it.

In this episode of Voices of OKC, Jed Chappell sits down with Jordan Miller and Stuart Bennett from Generation Why, a mental health advocacy team ...

Some people feel behind before they have even had a fair chance to begin.

Behind in their career. Behind financially. Behind relationally. Behind the version of life they thought they were supposed to have by now.

Carey Conley hears that often from young adults. And in this episode of VOICES of OKC, she talks with Jed Chappell about why vision matters so deeply in that season of life.

Carey is an author, speaker, and vision leader ...

What does peace look like before it becomes a headline?

Sometimes it looks like a phone call before a fight turns into a shooting. Sometimes it looks like a trusted person sitting down with two families. Sometimes it looks like fixing an air conditioner because the heat in a house is adding fuel to somebody’s grief.

In this episode of Voices of OKC, Jed Chappell sits down with Jabee Williams — artist, Emmy Award winner,...

Some conversations are really about more than the topic on the surface. This is one of them.

In this episode of Voices of OKC, Adam Coury joins the conversation to talk about AI, but what emerges is really a deeper reflection on discernment, responsibility, and leadership. As technology moves faster into daily life, work, and education, the question is no longer whether it matters. The question is whether people are willing to unde...

Bryan Fetzer has spent years around elite performance, but this conversation is not really about sports. It is about people. About what pressure reveals, what success can conceal, and how leadership often fails when it becomes too focused on outcomes and not enough on transformation.

In this episode, Bryan reflects on his own evolution as a coach and leader. He talks honestly about the tendency to become transactional, the importan...

There are careers, and then there are callings.

For over five decades, Dr. David Kallenberger lived a life defined by both. As an OB-GYN and fertility specialist, he helped deliver more than 22,000 babies, walking alongside families in their most hopeful and most fragile moments.

But what stands out most is not the number. It’s the posture.

A quiet humility. A deep belief that no life is more important than another. And a con...