Now, Near & the Future

Naila Mir & Quinn Harrington

Imagine a show that's part crystal ball, part microscope, and part rocket ship. We're diving into what's happening now, peeking around the corner at what's coming next, and dreaming big about the future.Now, Near, and the Future is a podcast that will explore and analyze current trends, near-future prospects, and long-term visions in the business world, providing listeners with lively conversation, insights, strategies, and inspiration.

  1. Episode 20: Adam & Monique Madrid - 48 Hours to a Feature Film

    15h ago

    Episode 20: Adam & Monique Madrid - 48 Hours to a Feature Film

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when a married couple turns a question asked in the back row of a movie theater into a 10-year film festival — and then one of them ends up running the city's film office? In this episode, Quinn sits down with Adam and Monique Madrid, the creative partnership behind the LOL JAX Film Festival and the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project. Adam is the Film Production Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville Film & Television Office and director behind the upcoming feature Let Me Be Corey. Monique is the Festival Director of LOL JAX — now in its 10th year — and the recent Cultural Council Small Business of the Year. Together, they represented Jacksonville on the international stage at Filmapalooza in Lisbon, Portugal. Quinn gets a little selfish in this one. She has spent 25 years producing work for global brands in cities she doesn't live in — and she wants to know how a company like hers finally plugs into its own hometown. What we get into: How the City of Jacksonville Film Office actually works — incentives, permitting, crew connections, and what makes filming here a genuinely smart business decisionThe $50K Jacksonville shoot vs. the $200K quote from LA — and why more brands should be paying attentionBuilding LOL JAX from a Sun-Ray Cinema back row idea to a 10-installment institutionHow Adam and Monique divide creative, logistics, and marriage — and why compartmentalization might be the best relationship advice we've ever accidentally recordedThe 48 Hour Film Project: why you should register a team, and what happens when you put yourself in a bunker for 48 hours with sleep deprivation and a surprise genreAI in film production: the 48HFP has banned generative AI — and why the global filmmaking community agreesWhy Atlanta credits say "Georgia" and not "Atlanta" — and what that means for Jacksonville's futureCobra Kai filmed here. Malibu is actually Jacksonville Beach. Travis Hunter is insisting productions stay here. The city is moving.Adam's dream: bring Hollywood back to Jacksonville, where it started with Norman Studios. Not someday. Now.The quote Adam ends with — borrowed from Jacksonville poet Oddrod — might be the best closer we've had on this show: "Our losses carry wins." Connect with Adam & Monique: LOL JAX Film Festival: loljax.com48 Hour Film Project Jacksonville: 48hourfilm.com/JacksonvilleCity of Jacksonville Film & Television Office: coj.netLet Me Be Corey — coming soonFind Now, Near & the Future: Website: nownearfuture.comSpotify · Apple Podcasts · Amazon Music · YouTubeFollow: @nownearfutureTIMESTAMPS (from transcript — confirm against final export) 00:00 — Welcome & opening02:00 — Around the Room: Tiger Lily social, Naila's change management cert, Adam's missing movies, Monique's intentional summer07:15 — Guest introductions: Adam Madrid & Monique Madrid11:00 — NOW: How the City Film Office actually works — incentives, permitting, crew15:00 — Florida vs. Georgia: why the state incentive gap matters20:00 — The LOL JAX origin story: one question, one back row, one sold-out screening28:00 — How they built the 48 Hour Film Project in Jacksonville30:30 — Running it as a married couple: lanes, compartmentalization, and the conflict-of-interest conversation35:00 — NEAR: AI in film — what's real, what's noise, and why 48HFP banned generative AI39:00 — Quinn's AI video experiment: $10K budget, Nielsen, and the character named Colette43:00 — Across the Pond: Why London and Atlanta are winning productions (it's incentives, not glamour)45:00 — Cobra Kai filmed Jacksonville Beach as Malibu — and Travis Hunter is demanding productions stay here48:00 — FUTURE: Bringing Hollywood back — Jacksonville had it once with Norman Studios52:00 — Quinn's EverBank shoot: $50K in Jax vs. $200K quotes from LA55:00 — Mayor Donna Deegan and the political will to build a film city58:00 — The wrap + Adam's closing quote from Oddrod: "Our losses carry wins"

    1h 1m

  2. Jun 23

    Episode 19: Jackie Culver — Dignity Over Charity

    Send us Fan Mail What does it actually take to feed 97,000 people a day, every single day? This week, we sit down with Jackie Culver, CFRE, Vice President of Philanthropy at Feeding Northeast Florida — the largest, fastest-growing food bank in the entire Feeding America network — to find out what's really happening behind the warehouse doors. What You'll Discover: Why Feeding Northeast Florida isn't a place you'd ever go to get food — and what "food rescue" actually means when chicken, damaged packaging, and surplus zucchini are on the lineThe ALICE population: who's really walking through the doors of a food pantry, and why it's rarely who you'd expectHow a single Dollar General shooting turned into a masterclass in advocacy, dignity, and listening to a grieving communityWhy being poor is expensive — and how a 24-hour rent grace period can cascade into a $500 problemThe Blue Apron-style meal kits, community teaching garden, and disaster-relief kitchen already reshaping what "food bank" means in Northeast FloridaThe Moment That Hits Different: Just one day before this recording, Feeding Northeast Florida's CEO Susan King announced her retirement after 12 years building the organization from the ground up — including a pandemic-era effort that turned cruise ship donations and a shuttered golf tournament's catering into 650,000 prepared meals for senior housing. Jackie's tribute to her in the Future segment is the kind of moment you don't plan for in a run sheet. Global Perspective: Co-host Naila Mir brings her own fundraising experience across the UK and Pakistan into the conversation, comparing Feeding Northeast Florida's model to the UK's First Love Foundation and unpacking why solving hunger always seems to circle back to housing, healthcare, and the price of being poor. Jackie also gets real about the philanthropy side of the work — how to keep donors engaged when their giving capacity changes year to year, and why "time, talent, and treasure" all carry equal weight when an entire family ends up volunteering for the cause. Connect with Jackie Culver & Feeding Northeast Florida: Website: feedingnefl.org (donate, volunteer, or find food near you)LinkedIn: Jackie CulverSocial: @feedingnortheastfloridaFind Now, Near, and the Future: Website: nownearfuture.comInstagram/LinkedIn: @nownearfutureAvailable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube

    52 min
  3. Episode 18: Tom Shelly - Beyond Survivor

    Jun 9

    Episode 18: Tom Shelly - Beyond Survivor

    Send us Fan Mail When Survivor premiered in 2000, Tom Shelly's episodes pulled 30 million viewers. Today, six million would be a hit. In this episode, the Emmy-winning showrunner takes us inside 25 years of building — and watching — the form that taught a generation to perform identity for a camera. Tom Shelly was one of the original, pioneering producers on Survivor. He won a Primetime Emmy, earned five more nominations, and ran the show as EP and showrunner for eight seasons. He launched Dating in the Dark for ABC, Love in the Wild for NBC, Coupled for Fox, and Relationshipped for Facebook Watch. Through his company Steele Mill Productions, he's now developing scripted features with CBS Studios and A24 — including a Brownie Wise biopic starring Sandra Bullock and a Ronnie Spector biopic with Zendaya. Hosts Quinn Harrington and Naila Mir take Tom through the full arc — from his start at America's Most Wanted, through Survivor's no-social-media early seasons, the dating-show era, the AI reckoning sweeping production today, and his pivot to telling scripted stories about women whose brands outlived them. 🎙️ CHAPTERS 00:00  Cold open and welcome 00:43  Around the Room — rainy London, Pride Month in Jacksonville, Encino 03:15  NOW: Why Tom is pivoting from unscripted to scripted features 09:30  The Brownie Wise and Tupperware story 15:50  Cinema verite — letting people create their own drama 21:35  Tom Shelly: the official introduction 22:32  NEAR: Survivor 2000, the iPhone 2007, and how casting had to change 26:42  From reality TV fame to social media fame 31:48  AI in production, voice cloning, and the SAG-AFTRA reckoning 39:41  Editing reality TV down to the frame 42:01  ACROSS THE POND — duty of care and the UK reality TV reckoning 53:02  The A24 model and why small studios are saving the business 59:58  FUTURE: 30 million viewers then, 6 million is a hit now 1:02:13  Where to find Tom's work ✨ ABOUT THE SHOW Now, Near, and the Future is a podcast about brand, business, and culture — exploring what's happening now, what's coming next, and what it all means in the long run. Hosted by Quinn Harrington (CEO, Harrington Design Co.) and Naila Mir (Founder, P3 Connect UK). 🌐 nownearfuture.com 📸 Instagram @nownearfuture 🎧 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms If today's conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — and leave us a rating. It genuinely helps. #TomShelly #Survivor #RealityTV #Showrunner #A24 #PodcastInterview #NowNearAndTheFuture #BeyondSurvivor

    1h 6m
  4. Episode 17: How the Sausage Gets Made

    Apr 21

    Episode 17: How the Sausage Gets Made

    Send us Fan Mail Pull back the curtain. In this special behind-the-scenes episode, Quinn Harrington joins Naila Mir in a London recording studio — for the very first time — to talk about how Now, Near & the Future actually gets made. With Yannis and Naz from P3 Connect UK and Rachel from HDco around the table, this one covers all of it: the origin story (a 2013 Nielsen video shoot and a 2023 LinkedIn DM), how they find and book guests, what episode prep really looks like, the full post-production workflow from Riverside to YouTube, and the surprisingly vulnerable answers to one question — "What's one thing nobody warned you about?" Plus: US vs. UK podcast culture, the future of interactive and immersive audio, and final advice for anyone thinking about starting their own show. Recorded live at Coco Studios, Bermondsey, London. Pepper is in Singapore. She's fine. 🌐 nownearfuture.com | @nownearfuture on Instagram & LinkedIn 🎧 Spotify · Apple Podcasts · Amazon Music · YouTube

    1h 5m
  5. Episode 16: Brett House - Building While Everyone Else Talks

    Apr 7

    Episode 16: Brett House - Building While Everyone Else Talks

    Send us Fan Mail Brett House has spent 25 years watching products fail — not because they were bad, but because the organizations launching them weren't ready. As a VP at Nielsen and product strategist at some of the most important measurement and intelligence companies in the industry, he kept seeing the same gap. So he built something to close it. High Signals is a GTM launch readiness company. Signal & Noise is his new media company. And Brett is currently mid-launch on both — which he openly admits gives his readiness diagnostics a certain poetic credibility. Quinn and Brett go back to the Nielsen days, when HDco helped launch one of the industry's first precision audience platforms. This episode picks up that thread and runs it straight into AI, agentic workflows, quantum computing, and the question every founder eventually has to answer: what are you actually building toward? Genuine, fast, and surprisingly funny. With a cameo from Naila's baby and a detour through London food culture that nobody regretted. Find Brett at hisignals.com and signalandnoise.ai, or connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe, share, and visit nownearfuture.com.

    1h 8m
  6. Episode 15: Marsha Faulkner: Classical Design in a Digital Era

    Mar 24

    Episode 15: Marsha Faulkner: Classical Design in a Digital Era

    Send us Fan Mail When Marsha Faulkner agreed to serve as President of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art's Florida Chapter, she thought she was stewarding a thriving organization. Instead, she discovered she'd be rebuilding it from the ground up—while continuing to run her interior design firm, Studio M. In this episode, Marsha shares what it's like to implement an organization's first-ever budget, transition from a single-city chapter to a statewide network spanning 7+ locations, and hire two new staff positions while maintaining programming excellence. She reveals the "ham sandwich" problem—eight years of valuable recorded content sitting unused while seeking sustainable revenue—and how she's building systems to unlock that archive. We explore how classical design principles apply to climate-resilient coastal architecture in Florida, the unexpected synergies between running a design firm and leading a nonprofit, and why materials science and traditional aesthetics aren't at odds. Marsha also discusses the transatlantic differences in approaching classical design, from sourcing craftspeople to preservation attitudes, and shares her vision for ICAA as a potential international craft knowledge network. The conversation gets personal as Marsha reflects on discovering her own capacity—learning she can do far more than she thought possible through focus, delegation, and time management. She credits Navy SEAL David Goggins' philosophy: when you think you're at your breaking point, you're probably not. Whether you're leading an organization through unexpected challenges, balancing multiple professional roles, or thinking about how timeless design principles address modern problems, this episode offers both practical wisdom and inspiration. Guest: Marsha Faulkner, Principal of Studio M Interior Design & President, ICAA Florida Chapter Find Marsha: Studio M Interior Design: www.StudioMInteriorDesign.net ICAA Florida: www.ICAAFL.org Instagram: @StudioMInteriorDesign, @MarshaFaulkner, @ICAAFloridaChapter Now, Near, and the Future examines business, culture, and innovation through three temporal lenses—NOW (current state), NEAR (3-5 years), and FUTURE (15-20 years). Hosted by Quinn Harrington (Jacksonville) and Naila Mir (London), the podcast features leaders navigating transformation across industries. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or YouTube. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn @nownearfuture or visit nownearfuture.com.

    56 min
  7. Episode 14: Kenny Juskoviak - The Emerging Brand Revolution

    Mar 10

    Episode 14: Kenny Juskoviak - The Emerging Brand Revolution

    Send us Fan Mail Kenny Juskowiak: The Emerging Brand Revolution What happens when startups get the same powerful data tools that used to be reserved for Fortune 500 companies? Kenny Juskowiak, Head of North America Marketing at NielsenIQ, joins Quinn and Naila to explore how the entire CPG landscape is being reshaped—one scrappy brand at a time. In this episode, we dive into the democratization of data and discover why Kenny believes AI will have a disproportionate advantage for small brands rather than making big companies more powerful. From founders creating products in their garages to solve problems they couldn't find on shelves, to the rise of social commerce and shoppable ads, this conversation reveals how passion-driven brands are challenging century-old giants. Key Topics: Why NielsenIQ created an entirely separate division for emerging brands How AI is transforming product development (spoiler: salt and vinegar donuts might be in your future) The difference between US and European startup cultures in CPG Why retail is fragmenting into discovery, fulfillment, and transaction—and what that means for brands The future of grocery shopping: Will physical stores disappear by 2040? Whether you're an emerging brand founder, a CPG industry professional, or simply curious about the future of how we discover and buy products, this episode offers insider insights from someone working at the frontier of consumer data. Connect with Kenny Juskowiak: LinkedIn: Kenny Juskowiak Website: NielsenIQ.com Where to Listen & Watch Podcast Platforms: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music YouTube Follow Now, Near, and the Future: Website: nownearfuture.com Instagram: @nownearfuture LinkedIn: @nownearfuture Facebook: Now, Near, and the Future

    52 min
  8. Episode 13: Jill Thompson - Inheritance of Hope

    Feb 24

    Episode 13: Jill Thompson - Inheritance of Hope

    Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ NOW, NEAR & THE FUTURE - Season 2, Episode 3 Finding Hope in Terminal Illness: Jill Thompson's Mission to Serve 7 Million Families Every single day, 562 children in the United States lose a parent to terminal illness. Yet this crisis remains largely invisible—until it touches your own life. In this deeply moving episode, we sit down with Jill Thompson, Public Relations Director at Inheritance of Hope, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit that's transforming how young families navigate one of life's most devastating journeys. 🔑 KEY TOPICS: The invisible crisis: 7 million people in young families facing terminal illnessFour lifesaving programs: Legacy Retreats, Hope Hub, Hope@Home Groups, Legacy VideosThe "7 Million Favorites" visionHow to find hope without denying realityJill's bone marrow donor story and how it came full circleScaling compassion while maintaining personal touchWhy legacy matters when tomorrow isn't guaranteed⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Introduction 02:30 - NOW: The Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight 15:00 - Around the Room 18:00 - Jill Thompson Introduction 20:00 - NEAR: Growing Hope & Scaling Impact 32:00 - Across the Pond 37:00 - FUTURE: 7 Million Favorites Vision 44:00 - How to Get Involved 💡 ABOUT OUR GUEST: Jill Thompson is the Public Relations Director at Inheritance of Hope, where she's served for over 15 years in roles including Brand Director and Family Legacy Director. She's been instrumental in growing the organization from serving their 100th family in 2011 to reaching families in all 50 states. Jill is also a bone marrow donor whose recipient's widow now supports Inheritance of Hope—a beautiful story of hope coming full circle. 🔗 INHERITANCE OF HOPE: Website: InheritanceOfHope.org Instagram: @InheritanceOfHope Facebook: facebook.com/InheritanceOfHope Phone: 914.213.8435 Email: Info@InheritanceOfHope.org Ways to Help: Volunteer (online or in-person)Make a Legacy VideoRefer a familyBecome a monthly donorApply for programs if you're facing terminal illness📍 Hope Hub Locations: Washington DC, Jacksonville FL, Twin Cities MN, Tampa FL 🎧 ABOUT NOW, NEAR & THE FUTURE: Hosted by Quinn Harrington (Jacksonville, FL) and Naila Mir (London, UK), we explore business, culture, and innovation through three temporal lenses: what's happening NOW, what's coming NEAR (3-5 years), and what the FUTURE holds (15-20 years out). FOLLOW US: 🌐 Website: NowNearFuture.com 📸 Instagram: @NowNearFuture 💼 LinkedIn: @NowNearFuture  LISTEN: 🎵 Spotify: [Link] 🍎 Apple Podcasts: [Link] 📦 Amazon Music: [Link] ABOUT YOUR HOSTS: Quinn Harrington - Founder of HDco, Jacksonville-based branding agency. Creates keynote videos and brand experiences. @hdcoNaila Mir - Founder of P3 Connect (People with Purpose), London-based consultant specializing in employee engagement and purpose-driven organizations. @p3connectuk📩 CONTACT US: General: quinn@hdco.co Guest Inquiries: pepper@lindseyfilms.com ⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode discusses terminal illness, grief, and loss. Please take care while listening. #InheritanceOfHope #TerminalIllness #LegacyVideos #FamilySupport #GriefSupport #Nonprofit #Jacksonville #HopeHub #NowNearFuture #Podcast #JillThompson #ParentalLoss #FindingHope

    47 min
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About

Imagine a show that's part crystal ball, part microscope, and part rocket ship. We're diving into what's happening now, peeking around the corner at what's coming next, and dreaming big about the future.Now, Near, and the Future is a podcast that will explore and analyze current trends, near-future prospects, and long-term visions in the business world, providing listeners with lively conversation, insights, strategies, and inspiration.

Information

  • Creator
    Naila Mir & Quinn Harrington
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Now, Near & the Future
  • Show Website
    Now, Near & the Future

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