Podcast

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Susan L. Kelsey is an author and documentary filmmaker.  Her current project is a historical feature documentary called The Negotiator: Billy Caldwell. The film examines Chicago Native American Billy Caldwell's life as a Great Lakes fur trader and his negotiation of the 1829 and 1833 Treaties which ceded over 5 million acres of land in the Chicago area. Partnering with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, Kansas, the film interviews Native American Tribal Leaders, subject matter experts and their thoughts about that time. Susan is co-producing the film with Michelle Simon (Prairie Band Potawatomi) and Joe Mitchell (Prairie Band Potawatomi) A short film about Billy Caldwell has won a Telly Award and several other filmmaker awards. 

Susan has authored four historical books: Downtown Lake Forest, West Lake Forest, Legendary Locals of Lake Forest and Billy Caldwell (1780-1841) Chicago and the Great Lakes Trail.  Previously, Susan was the Economic Development Officer for the City of Lake Forest for ten years where she worked with commercial property owners to recruit businesses to Lake Forest.  Susan and her family have lived in Lake Forest since 2006.  Prior to moving to Lake Forest, Susan lived in the Sauganash neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.  She was involved in Chicago politics for two decades as the 39th Ward Committeeman and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago.  It was living in Sauganash, the land that Billy Caldwell received in the 1829 Treaty, that sparked the interest in Billy Caldwell and began the research that has lasted over 33 years. Susan is currently President of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston

Matthew Montgomery, Superintendent of Districts 115 and 67 and John Noble, President of the District 115 School Board.  Dr. Montgomery and Mr. Noble first appeared on this podcast last November. We’re having them back today to catch up on recent events at Lake Forest High School.

Paula Turelli is the Executice Director of Mother’s Trust Foundation provides immediate assistance during times of crisis to low-income children living in Lake County.

Peggy Talbot was an early supporter and former Board Chair for Beacon Place a neighborhood community center in Waukegan, IL with programs for children and families that focus on academic growth, improved health, and building the skills needed for a bright future.

Anne McAveeney is a founder of Fill A Heart for Children, a group that works with teachers & social workers to help the most vulnerable children in our area.

Rick is a native of Peoria, Illinois and a graduate of Northwestern University where he was an All-Big Ten cornerback and a two-time All-Big Ten Academic selection. He graduated in 1971 with a B.A. in English Literature, and after a brief shot at the NFL he began his writing career.

Rick has written for newspapers and magazines as varied as Esquire, National Wildlife, Premiere, TV Guide, Playboy, Men’s Journal, PTA Magazine, American Libraries, Baseball Digest, Outside, and others. In 1972, Sports Illustrated published his first national article. It was about the jolt of being done with football, and being forced to, as Kansas City head coach Hank Stram advised him, “get on with your life.” That article would eventually become a book and later be made into a film.

Rick was a Special Contributor for Sports Illustrated for eight years, before joining the magazine full time as a Senior Writer in 1981. In 1995 he left SI to become the senior sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, a position he holds to this day. He has written nine books and has had his articles collected in over two dozen anthologies. His work was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. He has been named Illinois Sportswriter of the Year eight times and has had eight stories named to the Best American Sports Writing anthology. In 2018 he received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a series he wrote on violence in inner city Chicago high schools and the saving force of sport. In 2020 he received the Dan Jenkins Excellence in Sports Writing Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Texas. And in 2021 he was voted into the National Sports Media Hall of Fame.

If being a college athlete and award winning writer wasn’t enough, Rick is a musician and part of a band, the Del-Crustaceans, that started when he was a senior in college with buddies from a poetry class. They are still performing to this day.  He is also an artist with his work ranging from pen and ink drawings, to sketches, Day-Glo signs, and even spray-painted graffiti on urban walls. In 2018 he had his first showing at the Adventureland Gallery in Chicago

Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo is one of the country’s most influential experts on stress—and the impact it has on peak performance, mental well-being, and living a full, purpose-fueled life.

Dr. E, as she’s known by audiences around the world, is a sought-after keynote speaker, author, and coach. She helps people identify how critical moments of high stress, what she refers to as “The Red Zone”, is shaping their behaviors, decisions, health, and overall performance.

Dr. E has helped teams at many Fortune 500 companies unleash performance, profits, and untapped potential by showing them how to make sure stress gets the best from them—and not the best of them.

Dr. Lombardo is also a well-known media expert with hundreds of TV and radio appearances on shows like Good Morning America, Dr. Oz, The TODAY Show, CNN, Fox Business News, and others. She also regularly contributes to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, SUCCESS, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Forbes, and other respected publications. She is also the author of several books: “Get Out of The Red Zone”, “Better Than Perfect” and “A Happy You”