Since this episode of Fluent in Floridian was recorded, Ken Lawson was tapped as the Director of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.Bringing with him his Marine background and homegrown Florida story, Ken Lawson has taken VisitFlorida in a bold, refreshing, and transparent direction. Appointed by Governor Scott to right a sinking ship, Lawson has been fundamental in revitalizing the state’s tourism bureau, however he still has to fight against hurricanes, national and international competition.

Ken is fluent in Floridian. Ken takes advantage of social media to innovate the way tourists are ‘sold’ on Florida, he informed us, “We have a program called Share A Little Sunshine where people send their video clips of their experience. And when you see it on Facebook, on Instagram. It’s like, “No. No one’s selling me anything. They’re sharing with me.” And then I’m going to put myself in the shoes of that person and it’s just after the hurricane for a live camera showing that, “Hey, it’s 1:10 here in Destin and the sky is clear. The air smells good. Feel the sand underneath your toes.” In fact, Facebook told us that after the hurricane our campaign on Facebook was basically the second most popular, successful campaign they had and this is after Visa.”

As one of Florida State’s three Heisman trophy winner, Charlie Ward left Tallahassee to play professional basketball with the New York knicks as their starting point guard, only to return to the city that saw the birth of his two-sport superstardom as the newest head basketball coach at Florida High. But if you ask him, it’s all about the love of the game. His star-studded journey has brought high, lows, and lots of lessons.Ward is fluent in Floridian. Winning his Heisman as FSU’s quarterback, his life outside of sports holds a deeper meaning, “I want to be known as a giver, whether it’s giving back to a high school, giving to a charity, whether financial or time, just want to be a giver.” One way he practices giving back is by having his Heisman trophy on display at the Thomasville Public Library for the children of his hometown.During his time in New York, Ward had the chance to learn under the tutelage of NBA legends such as Derek Harper, Herb Williams, and even Doc Rivers. Rivers has his own Florida story, beginning his coaching career with the Orlando Magic, he maintained residence in Central Florida after leaving the Magic, raising his children there, including son Austin Rivers. Austin went on to play basketball at Winter Park High School, and eventually under his father’s coaching for the Los Angeles Clippers.

A journalist for four-decades at the Tampa Bay Times, Jeff Klinkenberg has the kind of job that most people dream of. His column, Real Florida, began in 1986 and documented the arts, culture, nature and way of life of Floridians. Faced with cave diving, mosquitos, hurricanes and alligators, Jeff would still classify the drive from Tampa to Daytona Beach on I-4 the most dangerous thing in Florida.

Jeff is fluent in Floridian. Jeff got his start in Miami covering the sports beat, but it wasn’t ideal, he describes, “so I was covering the Miami Dolphins and I got tired of it. I was looking for a way to write about interesting people. I volunteered to be the outdoors editor. A lot of people thought I was crazy because I was 22 years old. I had the best beat, according to some people, on the whole newspaper. I’m traveling across the country. I’m talking to the Miami Dolphins when they’re the world champions. I just found it boring. I wanted to talk to real people who might be a little colorful.”

One thing Jeff loathes nowadays is the narrative description of Florida as the ‘weird capital’ of the world. “I don’t think of that as Real Florida,” Jeff states plainly, “Real Florida tends to be somewhat timeless.”

He has served under Florida Governor Askew and with the New York Yankees, but over the past two-and-a-half decades, Doug Sessions has found the most success as President and CEO of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (preventchildabusefl.org), which works to end child abuse in Florida. His background in government made him an unlikely candidate for the position, but his overwhelming devotion to preventing child abuse in Florida makes him an obvious choice.

Before Doug was fluent in Floridian, he was speaking Yankee as he served with the New York baseball team, he describes a touching experience with the organization where Miller Lite donated to an orphanage in the Bronx as payment for George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin to be featured in a commercial.

The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida wants you to know that everyone plays a role preventing child abuse and neglect. Simple, everyday actions like teaching new parents about healthy child development, donating goods and services to organizations that serve families and advocating for children’s causes can all help support families so they can thrive. And while the focus of the month is on helping families before problems arise, you should also know how to report abuse and neglect if you suspect it. Make a confidential report by calling the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE.

A hopeful, hard-working, Boston-transplant, Philip Levine will be the first to say he wasn’t a ‘stellar student,’ instead, he would probably attribute his ascension to the upper echelon of Florida politics to his convictions and mentality of hard work. His background in politics and history have led him to ‘think big and act small,’ which is why when he saw paralysis on the part of Miami Beach legislature to address climate change, he took up the fight and ran for mayor.

Philip is fluent in Floridian. Although his stint at the U of F was brief, he does have valuable advice for students, “I always say, “Study what you would enjoy the most. Study what you would wake up in the morning and be excited to go to class. Because if you want to go into business, you don’t need a business degree. Matter of fact, I’ll give you a business degree right now. You buy something for a dollar, you sell it for two. You write it down, it’s called accounting. And it doesn’t make a difference which business you’re in.””

One innovative strategy that Levine employed during his campaign was his Living Room Speaking Tour. When he ran for mayor of Miami Beach, Levine knocked on over 6,000 doors, so in order to increase the efficiency, he has people invite over their friends and neighbors to talk with him about this issues in Florida. “They’re the ones that kind of give you your PhD on Florida,” he says.

A fifth-generation Floridian, still living on the same piece of property that she grew up on in Zolfo Springs, Denise Grimsley knows a thing or two about ‘Flo-Grown.’ Grimsley experienced a different childhood than most: her family’s land included a 350-acre citrus grove, 100-acres of cattle, she learned to drive on a dirt road, and there were no neighbors to speak of. When her dad fell ill, she returned from her job as a registered nurse to take care of the family oil business, all while attending business school at nights and on the weekend. Her time in the Florida Senate has led her to running for Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture.

Denise is fluent in Floridian. Her biggest role model is also a Floridian, although he’s never held office or played for an NFL team. Denise says, “there will never be a statute after him, and that’s my dad, who has served as one of my best friends and my mentor, who’s taught me a lot about faith. He taught me about hard work. As I think back over my childhood, watching him and my mom sit at the kitchen table and try to figure out how to make ends meet when the’re starting their business, which they started in 1967, he’s taught me so much. And still, I still go to him for advice. I didn’t get into this race without talking to him first.”

Her first job was as a candy-striper in her local hospital, so Denise was especially proud to return to the same hospital after 40 years as hospital administrator. Five years after returning as hospital administrator, a new facility was built and Hardee County saw a major upgrade in their health care network.

In a fertile ground for political careers, Brecht Heuchan took a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Florida State, an internship with the House Republican Campaign Committee, and turned it into a lengthy career as the founder of Contribution Link, a political data and fundraising company. Now, he faces the unparalleled pressure of sitting on a commission tasked with reviewing the constitution that governs the people of Florida.

Brecht is fluent in Floridian. When appointed by Governor Scott to serve on the Constitutional Review Committee that meets every 20 years, he said about receiving advice from the Governor, “the only real advice that the Governor gave me was, “Don’t let anything bad happen.” And of course the next question was, “Well what does that mean?” And he’ll say, “Well, you’ll know. You use your own judgment to make good decisions for the people of Florida.””

Most inspiring to Brecht are two political leaders in the Republican party: the first is Daniel Webster, the first Republican speaker of the house, with whom Brecht was able to work for six years. The other leader that Brecht admires is Florida’s outgoing governor, Governor Rick Scott, who gave Brecht perspective on the awesomeness and responsibility of the Office of Governor.

Lucy Morgan is NOT your typical Florida retiree. A long-time veteran of the Florida journalism industry, Lucy has both reported news, as well as made news, while investigating corruption in law enforcement. The accolades are second to the stories she’s collected, not that a Pulitzer Prize or an induction into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame and the Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame is anything to sneeze at, Morgan would probably equate these accomplishments to the prison sentence she received for protecting sources.

Morgan is fluent in Floridian. Morgan V. State made a splash in Florida, as well as national news. Morgan states “[Morgan V. State] made me instantly notorious, I guess you could say, and it made it kind of fun. It also gave me a reputation of someone who could keep quiet about where they got information. For years, I would call a law enforcement officer, lawyer, somebody in the state that I didn’t know to ask for information and when I said, “Hi, this is Lucy Morgan”, they would say, “As in Morgan v. State?” It helped me get information for many years by developing a reputation that I didn’t tell everything I knew about where I got information.”

Although the bill of rights guarantees a ‘free’ press, there is often a price to pay for investigative journalism, especially when the investigation is the sheriff’s department. While investigating in Pasco County, Morgan found her pool screen had been cut, and her four-year-old cat had been poisoned. Fortunately, the cat recovered and lived another 15 years, but Morgan counts it among her scariest stories.

It isn’t just Florida’s enticing attractions and vast ecological diversity that make this state stand out. Florida is also the only state in the union to have an automatic Constitution Review Commission (CRC) which meets every year. Mary Adkins, a Master Legal Skills Professor at the University of Florida, joins us to discuss her research into the history of Florida’s CRC, and her new book, Making Modern Florida: How the Spirit of Reform Shaped a New State Constitution.

Mary is fluent in Floridian. When asked what recommendation she would give to the 2017/18 Commission, she said the following, “the best advice I’ve ever was from a member of the 1997/98 CRC named Carlos Alfonso and here’s what he said… ‘lay your ego at the door, don’t think about your party, and be a Floridian.”

During her time researching the Constitutional Revision Commission, Adkins was exposed to some of Florida’s most influential leaders, but to her, one stands above the rest: Reubin Askew. Askew was Florida’s 37th Governor, and in Adkin’s opinion, restored integrity to the state government during a difficult time period.