COVID Stories Nathan J Vaughan

Here's Chapter 1 of 72 Miles til Kentucky. For the rest, you'll have to check out the main feed.  Here's the quick blurb. You can check out the full podcast here.

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, TuneIn, iHeart

Hi there, it's been a while. I wanted to share my latest release with you. It's actually the story of how COVID Stories got started, when I was building skills to produce a family project. It's called 72 Miles til Kentucky, and it's a storytelling podcast all about Jewish life in my home state. Here's the quick blurb. You can check out the full podcast here.

72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.

So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, TuneIn, iHeart

I first met Ross after watching his campaign style video, announcing his availability for employment after he was laid off. If you haven't watched the video yet, visit my website, www.covidstoriespodcast.com, and check it out before listening to this bonus content.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When I first started preparing for COVID Stories, I went online, to LinkedIn, and started searching hashtags, looking for people who had been laid off due to COVID. This was back in June and July of 2020, and it wasn’t hard. Every time I searched terms like laid off, unemployed, or furloughed, I found that the site was full of people sharing their stories. Emotionally raw posts about being laid off had hundreds of reactions and empathetic comments.

I met most of the strangers I spoke with for this podcast on LinkedIn, or was introduced to them by someone I met on LinkedIn. The platform has experienced a surge in usage during the pandemic, with so many people looking for jobs, and so many others looking to make a positive impact.

Ross is one of the people I met through LinkedIn. In what I would come to learn was a true representation of his positive outlook on life, when he was laid off, for the first time in his life, Ross recorded a political campaign style video, announcing his availability for employment. When I saw it, I just had to talk to Ross, and after our conversation, I couldn’t wait to share his story of being laid off, of the approach he took to finding a new job, and how, for him, being employed meant much more than a paycheck, it meant a steady source of affordable health insurance.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, I hope you’ll take a moment, find a seat, and listen to Ross’s story.

You can learn more about Ross by reading the show notes on our website, www.covidstoriespodcast.com. Thanks for listening!

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

COVID-19 has affected the way all of us work, and for many people the dominant experience of COVID-19 has been months spent working from home. Work from home wasn’t a widely available option before COVID, so for most this is their first long term experience working from home.

Working from home is hard, and it can have serious consequences for someone’s mental health. But working from home existed before COVID-19. For some it was a long dreamt of ideal work environment, but for others working from home was isolating, with limited opportunities for long term growth and career advancement. And that’s especially true if you’re someone who already faces systemic challenges pursuing those goals in the first place.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Starting a business, any business, is hard work. It takes time, skill, more than a little bit of luck, and usually the business you end up with isn’t exactly the one you dreamt of from the beginning. Meet Marissa, she’s the CEO of Rafi Nova, an ethically minded, fair trade fashion company that purchases handmade textiles from women in rural Vietnam, and turns them into fashionable and family-friendly travel accessories. 

Marissa and her husband Adam met during a year abroad program in college, and bonded over their mutual love of travel. They continued to travel as their family grew, mostly between Vietnam and the United States, and dreamt of starting their own company—one that would design beautiful accessories for working families on the go, made from textiles locally sourced in Vietnam, the country they’d come to adopt as their second home. 

Last year, they took the plunge, and began planning the launch of Rafi Nova—named for their two sets of twins. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit Asia, and then the United States. The travel industry collapsed overnight, and so did the market for travel accessories. 

Do you have a story to share? I'd like to hear it. Go to www.covidstoriespodcast.com to submit your own story today, and you could be featured on an upcoming episode.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.