A friend of mine, local environmental non-profit manager and activist Chiara D’Amore, who Robert interviewed not long ago, told him he’s “a communicator and a connector.” That’s how I’d describe Candace Dodson Reed and Tom Coale. Whether they intend it or even know it, their weekly Elevate Maryland podcast recordings bring community members together.
They said, “Sure, Colleen!” when asked them to talk to me about their work on Elevate, as it’s known for short. We decided to meet this past Monday at The Common Kitchen, where they record their podcast, just before they interviewed Senator Clarence Lam (D-12). Just at that single taping I saw and gabbed with the following people: Delegate Eric Ebersole (D-12); Eric’s Chief of Staff, Sean Ford; Eric’s Special Assistant, Akbi Khan; Howard County activists Dan and Alex Berland, Baltimore County politico Matt Gresick (who told me he loves RoCoInHoCo, which made my heart take flight!), local marketing professional and progressive activist Deeba Jafri, local healthcare IT worker and activist Nancy Carlsen; Roger Caplan who owns a local political consulting firm; Jennifer Jones Deputy Chief of Staff to County Executive Calvin Ball; and Angela Lagdameo Cabellon, Chief Innovation Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff Administrative Officer.
Together and In-Sync
Had we not met up at this recording, we wouldn’t have gotten to commiserate on various topics, debate others, laugh about fun local goings-on, keep each other up-to-date on our personal lives, or make dates to meet in the future.
Also, Nancy and I wouldn’t have gotten to take our seats for the taping in the direct sunlight pouring in from the floor-to-ceiling windows and sweat our way through the hour!
I arrived there early because I wanted to squeeze in any time before they had to start setting up for and taping the podcast. Both Candace and Tom were there. Candace was sipping a drink and studying from an imposing 2-inch black binder for a —- certificate course she’s taking at Harvard, looking gussied up as always, her chocolate-brown skin taking on a milk-chocolate hue in the sun coming in through the window behind her. Tom was ordering a milkshake from Scoop and Paddle, his hands on his back. He looked back to smile hello to me. The smell of another customer’s wine drifted by me, and I followed its fruity smell with my eyes. It reminded me I had a fresh-squeezed juice from Trifecto that I then took a sip of.
As I settled into a metal chair at the table Candace and Tom sat at, I asked the two, why, despite their busy schedules, they started Elevate in —-.
“We felt there was a void in this kind of medium in Howard County and in Maryland in general,” Candace said through the din of restaurant noises around us. Tom reinforced that their motivation stemmed from the lack of podcasts on Maryland politics when they got Elevate off the ground. They described Elevate to me as having “Howard County roots with a Maryland focus.”
They wanted to provide quality content that exposes Maryland listeners to the work of state politicians, Candace told me. Tom nodded his agreement as he sipped his milkshake through a red and white paper straw, his perfectly coiffed, blond hair never shifting. He swallowed his sip of milkshake quickly through to add that, despite local blogs he loves like Bill Woodcock’s The 53 and Scott Ewart’s Scott E Blog, he didn’t think without Elevate that interviews with Maryland politicians would happen. Of course, he added, they also on occasion have non-politician guests, for example, the Howard County Library System’s Head Librarian, Tonya Kennon and President of Howard County General Hospital, Steve Snellgrove. Two weeks ago they interviewed local resident Saketh Sundar, Scripps Spelling Bee Champion.
“I also think a good balance we have is that we try to give them an opportunity to talk about their work and interests and have a little bit of fun,” Candace said, smiling. Tom again nodded his agreement while slurping the final sips of his milkshake.
Roger Caplan, owner of the Caplan Group, a 30-year-old communications firm located in Howard County, said the conversations Candace and Tom have with Maryland politicians allow residents of the state to get to know the people who do or want to represent them.
“Listeners get to hear their guests talk candidly about issues that affect all of us,” Roger told me in a text message exchange a few days after I saw him at the taping. He helped Candace and Tom secure The Common Kitchen as their taping location and helps them set up every week.
A critique of their podcast Candace and Tom sometimes get, Tom told me, is that they’re not hard enough on their guests. I interjected then that Robert and I often get that same feedback for our interviews on this website. Tom said, for now, at least, they don’t want to argue with guests (and he’s an attorney!).
“We want to feature the best of our guests,” Tom said. Putting one leg up on to rest on a knee, Tom added that if they quarrel with their guests, they wouldn’t accomplish much with their interviews. Also, no one would agree to be on the show if Candace and Tom were a two-person firing squad, I said, which made them both laugh.
Candace also pointed out that they do ask tough questions of their guests. They’re not meek, which I concurred with as a regular Elevate listener and more recently attendee at their tapings.
“We ask tough questions on tough issues,” she said.
“We’ve also had two Republicans on the show so far,” Tom said, his electric blue eyes lightening up. I opened my own eyes wide, as Robert and I want to interview more people we don’t necessarily agree with on every issue, but we’re still trying to figure out how to.
I told Candace and Tom I don’t want to give a platform to people who I disagree with. Start your own website. Candace and Tom smiled and nodded at this. I added that sometimes, for example, with a pro-gun advocate who Robert and I have considered interviewing despite our vehement opposition to personal gun ownership, we wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Telling It Like It Should Be
“Candace and Tome are not people to shy away from having the difficult conversations they and their guests give us plenty of food for thought,” said local marketing professional, mega-progressive activist, and good friend of both Ro and Co.
Candace left official politics, having been on the Democratic Central Committee in the past when she became Chief of Staff to University of Maryland Baltimore County President Freeman Hrabowski last year.
“Working on this podcast is so rewarding to me, because it allows to stay involved in the political world,” she said. Her partnership with Tom is fantastic two, which a friend of theirs recently described as that of an old married couple. I said I could see that, but it’s mostly coming up with ideas together and not bickering with one another, at least! Delegate Eric Ebersole (D-12) told being interviewed for Elevate two weeks ago felt like being with family. They interact with each other and their guests that way, he said to the hosts.
Tom said that a challenge they face is that as their podcast has grown in popularity, more people have expectations and demands of it and them. This often gets followed by the “you let them off the hook” comments both they and Robert and get.
“Even though we try to do this podcast in a way that offers something to the community, people attack us, Tom said looking down at his lap. We agreed that was unfortunate and bonded over our having been set upon on Facebook by the same user for what he saw as our softball approaches.
As guests have started asking Tom and Candace to be on the show more and more, they’ve been pleasantly surprised. Tom said people get frustrated when they can’t be on when it suits them. But Tom and Candace agreed that they wanted a diverse lineup. So, Tom explained, making a [WORD] motion with his hand, when they have too many of the same type of guest on, they try to mix up the lineup.
“And just because someone can’t be on one month, doesn’t mean they can’t be on next month,” I said.
Candace told me that if people really knew her, they’d know she’s a “super-duper softie at heart.”
“Oh my gosh, so much..,” Tom said, nodding vigorously. Again, his hair didn’t move, the lucky sun-of-a-gun.
Candace’s friends would describe her, she said, as compassionate and empathic, even patient. But not everyone gets that when she presses them on tough issues.
Tom, said, riffing off that, that when he challenges people on tough issues, they think he’s just being difficult.
“I’m not trying to annoy or aggravate. Asking people questions is what I do for a living,” he said, referring back to his 9-5 as an attorney on land use and litigation. His training in questioning people bleeds into other areas of his life, like Elevate. He looked straight at me with a firm look as if to make sure I got that he truly doesn’t intend to bother people with his style that can come across cross-examine-y.
And: Here’s what Robert learned when he visited HoCo’s Alpha Ridge Landfill.
Featuring the Future
In five years, Candace hopes she and her partner are still doing Elevate.
“…because I think it provides value to the community,” she said. Tom said he hoped she was in elected office by then. I said she could then be a guest on her own podcast, an idea that made her laugh and she said she loved. Maybe an NPR show. I joined my five fingers together and kissed them, Italian-style. What a perfect fit that would be.
Both hosts said they’d have some sponsors by then, too. They have founding sponsors, whom they both said they are eternally grateful for, but I could tell they’d love to take Elevate to new heights and sustaining sponsors would allow that, especially if they could monetize it.
“Right now we’re all-volunteer,” Tom said. “It would also be great to record from St. Croix,” Tom said in a deadpan voice that made all three of us all laugh.
Candace said her proudest accomplishment was last election cycle when they had most of the state’s gubernatorial candidates on the show. Tom disagreed, he said it was their Howard County History Makers series. Examples of guests who came on Elevate as part of that series include County Executive Calvin Ball, State’s Attorney Rich Gibson, and Howard County Sheriff Marcus Harris.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, sorry,” Candace mumbled with a smile, looking down in faux-embarrassment. “Ok, that was our number one proudest accomplishment. Two was the gubernatorial candidates.
A day at the Elevate office, so to speak, looks like…”Well, you’re looking at it,” Tom said, spreading his hands wide and looking from side-to-side. The two take turns writing the script for each podcast. Despite their personal relationships with most of their guests, they research the issues they want to talk about with each guest. They want to know in detail what each has worked on, to understand the issues at stake, and to wrap their heads around the politics–“with a little ‘p’ and a big ‘P’,” said Candace. There’s a fair amount of prep, Tom said, and Candace chimed in that they’d love an intern to help with the management of it all. As it is, the two work on upcoming shows through Google Docs, text messages, email, and other digital formats.
Candace has a college-age daughter. Tom is married and he and his wife have a four-year-old daughter and a one-year old-son.
I told Candace as she began setting up seating for the podcast recording that our recent dance marathon at Calvin Ball’s July 4th shindig was the highlight of my month. I love dancing like nothing else in this world. I cut a rug with her and her daughter well past when the party’s organizers would have had us, but the three of us couldn’t stop as long as the music played.
When Candace and Tom finally got down to interviewing Clarence, they asked him, as they ask all their guests, what he thought we should do to elevate Maryland.
“Get to know your neighbors,” he said to help build and strengthen your communities and bridges between its members, regardess of how different they are from you. I felt like I’d done a bit of that by attending that day’s taping of Elevate Maryland.
And readers, remember, Elevate’s podcasts appear on Facebook Live as they tape and can be accessed through the show’s Facebook page. Also Elevate has a sister website Elevate Maryland Podcast. There, you can access past and future podcasts. You can also read the show’s sister blog.
“Elevate Editor Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz pulls from the podcast, our writers, and current news. Elevate Writers Candace Dodson Reed, Tom Coale, Mickey Gomez, Elizabeth Mason Moses, and Sabina Taj, have inspirational and aspirational takes on what we need to do to Elevate Maryland and highlight perspectives from our guests, hosts, and community,” according to its website, a quote I got from local political blogger Scott Ewart’s website, scotteblog.com. The aforementioned editor, writers, and blogger are seasoned politicians, journalists, and activists. That includes HoCo resident Wendy Royalty as of Scott’s blog post from March of this year which I quoted.
Also: Robin Holliday, curator of HorseSpirit Arts Gallery and I dished on the arts in our community.
Thanks for reading! Check back with us each here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.