C-10 Mentoring & Leadership Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this engaging episode 169 of the C-10 Podcast, Kathy Nelson, President and CEO of Visit KC and the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation, joins CYITML Executive Director Matt Fulks for an insightful conversation recorded live at Music Theater Heritage. Speaking in front of C-10 students and mentors, Kathy shares her inspiring journey from her early days in media to leading major sports and tourism initiatives in Kansas City. She discusses the challenges of dealing with "failure," the triumphs of securing events like the NFL Draft and the 2026 World Cup, and the lessons learned along the way. Kathy's story is a testament to resilience, leadership, and the power of community engagement.

LINKS:

To see our 2025 Holiday Gift Catalog to give a gift with meaning this season, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring and to help families in crisis, visit our secure donation page.

To learn more about First Federal Bank of Kansas City, our Student Spotlight sponsor, visit their site.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

In Episode 168 of the C-10 Podcast, we sit down with Melesa Johnson, the trailblazing prosecutor for Jackson County, Missouri. Recorded live at Music Theater Heritage, this episode features insightful questions from our students, offering a unique perspective on Melesa's leadership journey.

Melesa shares her experiences growing up in a challenged area, her path through Columbia University and the University of Missouri School of Law, and her rise to becoming the first Black prosecutor for Jackson County. Her career highlights include serving as a law clerk, working in private practice, and leading violence prevention initiatives as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas' Director of Public Safety.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Melesa's dedication to community service shines through her involvement with organizations like the KIPP Academy School Board and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City. As prosecutor, she is committed to fostering a safer, more equitable community through balanced justice.

Join us for this inspiring conversation that highlights the power of perseverance and intentional leadership.

LINKS:

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring and to help families in crisis, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Episode 159 of the C-10 Podcast welcomes former Kansas City Chief and current Chiefs Radio Network color analyst Danan Hughes for a special live recording at Music Theater Heritage in Crown Center. In front of our C-10 students and mentors, Hughes shares his fascinating journey from New Jersey to becoming a two-sport star at the University of Iowa, where his athletic prowess caught the attention of both the NFL and MLB.

After being drafted by both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Milwaukee Brewers, Hughes chose the gridiron, spending five seasons as a wide receiver with the Chiefs during a transformative period for the organization. His insights into those years provide a unique perspective on a crucial chapter in Chiefs history.

Following his playing career, Hughes has built an impressive second act in Kansas City's financial sector, currently serving as a senior business development officer and mortgage originator with Community America Credit Union. Now in his fifth season alongside Mitch Holthus as color analyst for the Chiefs Radio Network, Hughes continues to impact the Kansas City community both on and off the air.

LINKS:

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring and to help families in crisis, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

As we mention from time to time, this week's episode is a little different. But just as powerful as the others. And this is one week you may want to share with others.

In fact, a college president was listening when we recorded this, and asked for the link to this podcast episode so he could share it with his team. 

Here's why: this week you'll hear most of the webinar we did with three outstanding leaders to wrap up the Crown Town Challenge: civic and business leader Karen Daniel, Chiefs president Mark Donovan, and Royals president/CYITML founder Dayton Moore. As a bonus, you'll hear from the NFL Network's Jeffri Chadiha, who moderates this week's chat.

It's a little different week, but we hope you enjoy hearing from some tremendous leaders in our community.

 LINKS:

For more info about the Crown Town Challenge campaign to thank your mentor AND provide mentoring for high school students in Kansas City, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

To find out more about this month's presenting sponsor, Stepp & Rothwell, visit their page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

This week’s episode is a little different than any other since we launched about 17 months ago. We're biased, but we think it’s going to be really cool.

Going into this school year we decided that we wanted our students in the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program to dive deeper into leadership. To be more intentional about how they think about leadership.

With that in mind, and feeling that the guests we have on this podcast offer great leadership lessons, a few weeks ago we told the students about a new project they’re taking on this year. We asked them to pick an episode of the C-10 Podcast that they wanted to listen to, pick a segment that spoke to them the most, and then prepare a short talk about that segment...or be interviewed by their mentor about that segment. (All five students in this first group chose to be interviewed.) And then we opened it up to questions from the other students and mentors.

So, this week, five students from our C-10 program are going to be the stars -- the experts, as we told them -- for this episode.

Keep this in mind: we typically have about 40-45 people at each session, and the five students you’ll hear from in this episode all volunteered to be in the first group. They volunteered to get up in front of the group and speak. Take charge of this. That alone speaks to their leadership now and in the future. This group includes two new students -- a sophomore and a junior, two more juniors and a senior. Two of the students in this group are actually siblings.

We'll introduce each student and mentor along the way, but here's who you'll hear:

-- Alissa and her mentor Jen Fescoe after a clip from Olympic gold medal swimmer Shannon Vreeland.

-- Dawson, who’s regular mentor was not there, so pinch hitter Todd Donoho will interview Dawson after a clip from two-time Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics, Terin Humphrey.

-- One special person our students have heard from a couple of times during their weekly sessions is Carl Jemison, who grew up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights movement, and knew Martin Luther King Jr. Second-year student Trey and his mentor Stann Tate will talk about Carl.

-- First-year student Norman and his mentor, Andrew Kreiling, will talk about a segment from one of our other mentors, George Norton, who spent the bulk of his career in the Army.

-- Finally will be Andrew's other student and lone senior this week, Sidney, who selected a clip from KMBC meteorologist Bryan Busby’s episode. 

It's a little different week, but we hope you enjoy hearing from some of our students.

LINKS:

We're currently in the Crown Town Challenge campaign to thank your mentor AND provide mentoring for high school students in Kansas City. For more info, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Our “C” word for this week is COURAGE. In the “C” You In the Major Leagues vernacular, COURAGE in leadership is someone who wants the opportunity to decide the outcome; someone who’s not afraid to fail; and someone who fears no one.

This week's guest definitely fits that.

Whether you live in the Kansas City area or not, you’ve undoubtedly seen his company’s work out there somewhere. That t-shirt with the heart and KC in the middle that have been worn on national TV by the likes of Rob Riggle and Paul Rudd? They came from his company.

The Crown Town shirts that are part of fundraisers for “C” You In The Major Leagues to support mentoring and leadership development for high school students? Those came from his company, also.

And, by the way, earlier this summer his company, Charlie Hustle, was selected as the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Mr. K Small Business of the Year Award winner.

He, of course, is Chase McAnulty, founder and CEO of Charlie Hustle apparel here in Kansas City.

In this episode, Chase takes a swing at our Pregame Batting Practice, discusses the importance of the Mr. K Award and the importance of giving back to the community, the COURAGE it takes to fail as an entrepreneur, and much more.

 LINKS:

A gift of at least $100, which is DOUBLED until Oct. 15, gives a student more than five weeks of mentoring AND you get the Crown Town T-shirt designed exclusively by Charlie Hustle. To do that, click here.

For more about the Charlie Hustle brand, visit their website.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Our “C” word for this week is COMMITMENT. In the “C” You In the Major Leagues vernacular, COMMITMENT in leadership is someone who has a strong work ethic, is not easily distracted, prepares accordingly, and prioritizes.

This week’s guest certainly embodies that.

Dr. Elbie Loeb, who grew up in Junction City, Kan., and then got his degree from Kansas State University, spent much of his career as a doctor here in Kansas City -- an internal medicine specialist, to be exact. In 2009, he began a stint as a doctor for the Kansas City Royals  -- until, after the 2014 World Series season, an infection took his eyesight in a matter of hours and forced him to stop doing something he loved to do.

This interview was conducted in front of our C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program students and mentors at Musical Theater Heritage.

LINKS:

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Our “C” word for this week is COMPOSURE. In the “C” You In the Major Leagues vernacular, COMPOSURE in leadership is someone who is calm in the eye of the storm, slows the moment down, is poised and under self control.

When you’re leading efforts to put on a big event or launch a new program, you need that COMPOSURE. That leads us to this week's guest.

A couple of weeks ago there was an event here in Kansas City called the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Summer Classic. The organizer of the event happens to be a past guest of the C-10 Podcast and one of the mentors in our C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program, the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Menorah Medical Center, Stann Tate.

Before joining Menorah in April 2014, Stann was the Marketing Director for the Community Blood Center of Kansas City, the Director of Community Relations for AMC Entertainment, the Director of Public Relations for the Kansas Speedway, and the Assistant Director of Championships at the NCAA. (And, during this episode, he explains what each of those jobs has in common.)

On the side, Stann is a for-hire DJ by the name of DJ Stann.

LINKS:

To learn more about the NLBM Summer Classic, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Our “C” word for this week is COACH. In the “C” You In the Major Leagues vernacular, a COACH in leadership is someone who is an independent thinker, understands the big picture, is a good self-evaluator and offers enthusiasm.

With the fall high school sports season upon us, we thought this would be a great time to chat with John Dehan about that word COACH. No, John isn't a coach -- at least not in the sense you’re expecting. Since 2004, he’s run an organization called Call the Game, which assigns officials in the Kansas City area.

LINKS:

To learn more about Call the Game, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.

Our “C” word for this week is COMPETITOR. In the “C” You In the Major Leagues vernacular, a Competitor is someone who has a desire and ability to compete; has high expectations; is tough-minded and has the ability to overcome obstacles; and brings out the best in teammates.

This week’s guest certainly fits that. Although the Olympic Games in Tokyo are over, we wanted to bring you one more guest who’s medaled in the Olympics and definitely fits the word Competitor.

Terin Humphrey helped the U.S. gymnastics team win its first gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championships in 2003, and then won two silver medals a year later at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

She then went to the University of Alabama, where she was an 11-time NCAA All-American, and won the national championship in the uneven bars in 2005 and 2007. Unfortunately, she had to retire from competitive gymnastics in 2008, during her senior year, shortly before the NCAA national meet.

She’s in the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame, where she was inducted as part of a team in 2008, and then individually in 2015.

As if all of that’s not enough, she competed on American Ninja Warrior twice, she’s a former police officer, and she was on the selection team for USA gymnastics for the 2012 and ‘16 Olympic Games.

This interview was recorded at the end of July in front of our C-10 students and mentors at Musical Theater Heritage inside Crown Center in downtown Kansas City. As is the case with these conversations that we record in front of our students, some of the chat has been deleted to keep some of the conversation private between Terin and the students.

Before we introduced Terin that night, we showed the video of her silver medal performance on the uneven bars, and you can find that link in this week’s show notes. We open the conversation by asking Terin about the nervousness she felt before and during that routine.

LINKS:

To watch Terin's silver medal performance at the Athens Olympic Games, click here.

For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.

To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.

For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.

If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.