About the Show:

"My sense of identity as an American never was as pronounced as it was when I was overseas."

– Jamie Atkinson

Some people find Northwest Arkansas. Jamie Atkinson chose it after seeing most of the world first.

Before planting roots in the region, Jamie Atkinson spent years as a U.S. Foreign Service officer, living and working across more than 55 countries—Argentina, Nicaragua, Bulgaria, Bolivia, the Czech Republic, and beyond. Along the way, he discovered that Delta blues music wasn't just something he loved — it was a universal language that opened doors, built trust, and connected him to people across cultures and continents. Now back in the U.S. and deeply invested in Northwest Arkansas, Jamie joins me on the podcast to talk about what it means to carry your roots with you around the world, why this corner of the Ozarks convinced his family to stay, and how a lifetime of service is shaping what comes next.

Key Takeaways:

• Music is a Bridge: Delta blues connected people in Argentina, Bolivia, and the American South—showing that music can bring cultures together.
• Importance of Perspective: Living overseas gave Jamie Atkinson a deeper appreciation for being American and for appreciating other cultures.
• Building Community: Investing in Northwest Arkansas is about more than property—it’s about relationships, teamwork, and belonging.
• Local Roots with Global Experience: Jamie Atkinson’s experience in the Foreign Service taught him to listen, compromise, and find common ground—skills he brings to community leadership.
• Giving Back: Returning home, Jamie Atkinson seeks to serve his adopted community through both local business and public service.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

• Website: Jamie for Arkansas
• Reach Jamie Atkinson on social: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
• Music Education Initiative (Orson Weems)
• Fayetteville Public Library
• Pryor Center Juke Joint
• FindItNWA.com NWA’s Hyperlocal Business Directory

This episode is sponsored by*

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

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• Connect with our Fearless Host, Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

Thank you for listening to this I am Northwest Arkansas podcast episode. We showcase businesses, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in the Ozarks.

Consider donating to our production team to keep this podcast running smoothly. Donate to I Am Northwest Arkansas

Mentioned in this episode:

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

FindItNWA.com

Looking to discover the best local businesses in Northwest Arkansas? 🌟 From cozy cafes to essential services, FindItNWA.com has got you covered. Connect with your local community with just one click and explore something great. Visit finditnwa.com today! #LocalBusiness #CommunitySupport"

FindItNWA.com

All right, let's get her started.

Okay, perfect. We'll get started. I'll

introduce you. And. And

it's at Kinson, correct? Okay. All right, perfect. And I'll

just start talking about my background, where I grew up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So.

Okay. All right. And I'm going to. Kind of the prelude. I'll. I'll give

is just where. How we connected, and then

just kind of go from there. So, like. All right, now bring that thing just

about. Should be about four fingers from you. So bring it a little closer to

you. Yeah. And then just. Just. Just a little bit. No, no,

no, no. Where you had. It was perfect. Just push it down some so that

the mic is angled. No, no, no. I'm sorry. Sorry. No, you're. You're

fine. Push. Pull. Pull it back up to where. Where it was.

Yeah. Now the mic itself. Just grab the mic and then

tilt it up towards. Like, this way. Yeah,

yeah, like. Yeah, like that. Yeah, yeah, I got you. It's perfect. I'm trying to.

It's all good, man. It's all good. So. Okay. All right. Three,

two, one. Hey, folks, and welcome

back to another episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas. I'm your

host, Randy Wilburn. I'm excited to be with you today, as

always, and I have a great guest with me. And one of the things I

always tell you guys when people ask, how do I get on the podcast?

Is I always say to folks, you know, you just never know. Just reach out

to me and. And ask sometimes. And of course, we

have a form on our [email protected]

where you can go to the About Us section, and if you scroll down in

that, you can find the form to fill

out if you want to either nominate somebody to be on the podcast

or you yourself want to be on the podcast and you have something interesting to

talk about. And so today's guest is no exception to that.

He is Jamie Atkinson. He is a local investor, and

he actually happens to be running for

District 19 for the state House seat as a

Democratic candidate. And we're not. You know, you guys know me.

We don't do a political podcast. We will talk a little

bit about that because it is part of the tapestry of who he is as

an individual right now. But we're going to learn a little bit more about

Jamie and how he ended up here in northwest Arkansas. So without

further ado, Jamie Atkinson, we wanna welcome you to the I Am Northwest

Arkansas podcast. How are you doing today? I'm doing well, Randy, how are you doing

today? I'm doing good. I'm doing good, man. It's so good to go. So good

to finally sit down with you. Um, we had a chance to have a

preliminary conversation where we sat down and had coffee and

got a chance to learn a little bit about each other. But I really would

love for you just to kind of share with our audience a little bit of

your superhero origin story. Well, absolutely,

absolutely. Well, Randy, it's a pleasure to be on the podcast. It's. We've been.

My wife and I've been listening to you from afar. We were, we

were overseas, but I'll get more into that. But I would like. I'll just start

with my background. You know, I, my, my

Arkansas story is my, my father and my grandfather

have roots here. My, my grandfather, he

worked in the Delta, and my dad worked for

Murphy Oil out of El Dorado. But I spent most of my

childhood in Atlanta, Georgia, where I went to school

and I went to the University of Georgia. I'm a

Bulldog, but I'm also. We won't hold that against you.

I've converted to the Razorbacks these days.

But my story is. I guess I would start with

when I was at college, one of the things that really grabbed my

interest was history. And I was studying history, you

know, Southern history and actually, you know, Eastern European history.

It's where I met my wife, who was originally from South Dakota.

And we met in college and we soon

found, you know, after undergraduate we decided that we

wanted to go be teachers. So we moved out west,

as one does, and went to

Colorado where we went to graduate school. And

we were really excited about the future being

teachers, but I think somebody had other plans because we ended

up taking a 90 degree turn. I had a thesis

advisor in graduate school and she was like, had

you ever heard of the Foreign Service? You know, the Department of State? And you

know, I'm just a kid from Georgia. I have no idea what this is.

But Kim and I, we looked into

it and it sounded like an exciting thing and

we went for it. And, you know, next thing you know, we're

in D.C. learning a language and planning our lives

overseas. Wow. Quite an

exhilarating moment in our lives. So tell me this. When you first got

asked that question about foreign service, were you thinking James Bond? Be

honest. You can be honest. I know, you know, people always like, man,

what's going on? Going on? What's. What. What are you really doing over there? But

were you thinking that? I mean, a little bit. I Mean, it's. It's a little

bit exciting. I mean, you think you kind of vacillate between this idea of James

Bond and then, you know, the. The. The diplomat with the bow tie and

the. The white gloves and the champagne flute. So I figured it was somewhere in

the middle of that, but, boy, it was. But it turned out

to be something completely different but exciting in its own

right. Yeah. And that's really, you know, it really changed my life,

man. Yeah. You know, I think Foreign Service is certainly a

noble cause. I always tell. I have friends that have served for the State Department

and worked with them for years, and that's not a job that you go into

to get rich at all. You know, better than anybody.

Right. 100%. So certainly you learn

languages, you can learn about culture. You can be

cultured because of your experiences outside of the country. And

it just. It helps you, I think, also to appreciate being an

American. Right. I mean, just being. Understanding what this company

country represents, regardless of the

iterations that it's currently going through right now. But. But I think it's

interesting to spend time outside of the country because it just gives

you a healthy perspective about things. It allows you to appreciate where you came

from, but it also allows you to appreciate other cultures. 100%.

I could not agree more. You know, my. My sense of identity as an

American never was as pronounced as it was when I was

overseas. I mean, it really. You wore that badge of being an

American every day. And, you know,

it's a privilege, and it's really a

responsibility we have, especially when, you know, working for

the US Government, you feel a sense of obligation to, you

know, put your best foot forward, so to speak. And

what that looks like is, you know, meeting

folks where they are. When my experience,

I served and lived in five countries overseas, but

mostly in Eastern Europe, in Latin America. And

one of the things that I found were. Was, you know, all the differences you

can find in the cultures and the music and the food and

everything. But if you. If you pare all that down, we're

really all the same. Same

issues, same problems. 100. I mean, it. It doesn't change.

Right. You know, you scratch somebody deep enough and you're like, hey,

you bleed just like me. That's right. That's right. That's right. You know, you know,

I've been to. Last time I counted about 55 countries, and I've lived in

five. Wow. And had the opportunity to spend a lot

of time in a lot of different places. And, you know,

folks just want A better life for their family. Yeah. You know,

and they just want a good life. So the five countries you

lived in are correct? It was. We started off in Argentina. Okay. And

then from there we went to Nicaragua. Okay. And

after that, Bulgaria, Bolivia

and the Czech Republic. Wow. And so

it certainly, I mean, when you think Czech Republic is beautiful, by the way, and

when you think of that, I mean, for people that have traveled,

you can't think of wildly divergent places

that you went. But there were so many similarities, I'm sure. That's right.

That's right. That's right. And I found like, you know,

if you, you have to meet folks halfway where they're at

and you know, our first posting was Argentina, so that was really

an exhilarating experience. You know, learning Spanish, you know, in the department,

going to the language school in Washington D.C. and learning, which is a very

int. Intensive program. I've had, I've had friends that went through and learned

Arabic. And I mean, they were like, man, I was, they, they told me

they couldn't believe how quickly they pick things up. You know, it's

almost like a total immersion when you, when you go through that program.

100%. You know, it was funny because my first experience was Spanish and you know,

I had all these colleagues that were, you know, learning these exotic languages and they're,

they're struggling like three weeks in, they're trying to write their name and we're out

like ordering margaritas. So it was. But Spanish is a

tricky language because of all the dialects. Yeah. So one of the really

interesting things that the department does is in a

623 week program for a romance language

considered, quote, unquote easy, is we would sit at a little

car, like a little table with four or five people and

we would. That's what we did. You know, that was our job. So, you

know, five, six, seven hours a day we just dedicated to learning the

language. And one of the unique things they did in the Spanish department was they

gave us access to all the different accents. So

a couple weeks we'd have a Ecuadorian person and then we'd

have a Mexican and a Colombian and so on and so forth. But

the one thing they did not do in our case was give us an

Argentine, which was one of the really most distinct accents

in all Latin American world. And so we arrive in

Buenos Aires on day one and I have no idea what anyone's saying.

So would you liken it to like somebody having like a thick

southern accent or like for somebody from the Northeast, maybe? Coming

down to deep Alabama or deep Arkansas.

Absolutely not understanding what fixing is. That's right.

Well, you know, in the. The. The folks in Buenos Aires, they. They have,

you know, they have their own language. They have this dialect called

lunardo. Okay. And. And that's completely different from

the Spanish. It's almost like Pig Latin. And so they speak this

kind of codified language in the city. And so all the cool kids are

speaking Lynfardo. And, you know, I have no idea what's going on. But

my, you know, my wife's a really. In language, you know,

learning. She's a real studious, by the book person. I'm just a

parrot. Yeah. I hear people saying things on the street, and then I

adopt that into my, you know, into my toolkit issue.

Sure, sure. And so we do two years in Argentina. But,

you know, the. The one thing that was the most

striking experience I had in Argentina was not the

tango and it was not the wonderful stakes and the

pampas and the gauchos and all these things, but rather

blues music. And it was really interesting how that came about

because, you know, every year our embassies have

a Fourth of July reception. It's kind of like the big blowout. And we

invite folks from other. Other missions and other

dignitaries from the host country. And so our first

Fourth of July reception, we're, you know, we're eating hamburgers and,

and the whole thing, doing the American thing. And, you

know, I'm. I. I start hearing this music in the

background and I'm like, what is going on? I feel like I'm on another planet.

They had hired these Argentine blues musicians who were

playing this Delta blues music from the 1920s and

30s. And I happen to be somewhat of a kind of a blues

nerd, if you will. I grown up in Georgia, you know, and my.

My family comes from the Delta, you know, I've always, you know,

gravitated to that kind of. That kind of music. And, and, and,

you know, it was. Bob Dylan got me into it. Listening to Bob Dylan as

a kid, you know, and going back and seeing all this roots music. It was

a passion of mine. And all of a sudden I'm hearing this music, you know,

played by these Argentines. So afterwards I go up and I'm

like, who are you? Tell me your story. Yeah.

And come to find out these guys had. Had

established a school of. Of Delta blues

and, you know, African American traditions. And they had this.

This little, you know, enclave of folks in Buenos

Aires. They were so passionate and so into this music yeah.

And so we. We started, you know, collaborating and working together.

I play a little music myself. And so we. We became fast

friends. And so when I think of Argentina, I don't think of all these other

things. I think of the Delta blues. And we've.

We've maintained a friendship over the years,

and. And, you know, the same thing happened to me in Bolivia. Wow.

And it was. And it kind of became, I guess, my calling

card, you know, in my time overseas. You know, we have

these programs, these cultural diplomacy programs with the State Department

in ways that we highlight our culture in a. In a.

In a way that we can kind of show the bonds or the

similarities between other cultures and ours in

a soft, diplomatic way to build relationships

and in the end, really strengthening,

you know, U.S. interest. And I found in Latin

America that they. Music was the most powerful tool

that I found at our disposal in terms of making a connection

in the culture. Yeah. Well, I mean, I tell people all the time, music is

a bridge. It's a bridge of understanding. It's a bridge

of communication for variety of cultures.

And you mentioned a good friend of ours, mutual friend of ours,

Orson Weems from the Music Education Initiative. And I

remember when we sat down and we originally had this conversation, and I was saying

to you, man, that's so. It's crazy that you could

go down far south into South America and have

the impact of the Delta blues music

in Argentina. It's, like, insane, right? How does that happen?

And so, you know, music is powerful. It's a powerful

medium. And I think what. What people here

in Arkansas sometimes miss or don't understand is that

the culture, even here in Arkansas, is exportable.

That's right. And you experience that by being down in

Argentina, but hearing music that you had some familiarity

with because you have family with roots in the Delta, and so you

knew exactly what that was all about. Well, it gets wilder because,

you know, years later, after meeting these folks down in

Buenos Aires, you know, we went off, and at that point, we had gone to

Nicaragua and we went to Bulgaria, but then we returned back

to South America, and we were in Bolivia. And by

this time, I have two boys, and they had grown a

little bit older, and I'd brainwashed them into liking this

old music from the past. So one summer, you know, after, you

know, pretty much every year, we'd come back to the States, and we'd go back

to D.C. for language or some sort of administrative thing,

and I was like, you know what? I got to show my boys, you know,

where they come From. And so we went to

the. To the Delta, which I consider to be like the Mesopotamia

of American music. Sure. You know, and so

we're going around and I'm. Poor kids, I'm driving them around, showing them

grave markers of old blues men that have died 100 years ago. And they're like,

you know, my God, what are we doing? And, and. But

then we went to this little town of Bentonia, Mississippi. Okay.

And where there was a. The. The oldest juke joint in the state of

Mississippi. And Jimmy Duck Holmes, a bluesman

that's there is. Is Grammy nominated

artist. He's. He's. He hails from there. And,

and you know, some of the. The oldest roots of Delta blues come from that

town in particular. And so we drove there one day. I

was like, hey, I want to, you know, see if I can meet this guy.

So we drive down there. I get out of my rental car, see

one guy on the street, and he goes, you must be here to see Jimmy

Duck. And I'm like, okay. I guess I don't

know what's going on at this point. So about 15 minutes later, Jimmy shows

up and he said, you know, are you. You here See the. Hear the blues?

And I was like, yeah. So about an hour and a half later,

after my boys had a couple sprites and I may. Had a. Had had a

beer, after about an hour and a half of hearing this live music plays

only for me and my two boys, Jimmy says, that'll be

$6. And I just like,

what is. What planet am I on? I know this is crazy. Just

one of these authentic, just fantastic bluesman

and super nice guy. He actually, you know, worked at

PARCHMAN in the 80s, you know,

helping rehabilitate the prisoners. Yeah, that's one of the toughest prisons

in the country. 100, like, serious. I mean, like parchment.

You've got Angola in. In Louisiana. I mean,

we're talking like the. The hardest of hard prisons. Like real chain

gas. Yes. That kind of thing. Yes. Yeah. So. So anyway, Jimmy.

Jimmy's a really great guy. We get to talking afterwards and he goes, where are

you from? And I say, well, Jimmy, I live in Bolivia.

And I was expecting, you know, what kind of response I would get. And

he goes, well, my manager wants me to go to Argentina.

Oh, man. And so I uttered the words

before I could think about it. And I said, I think I can make that

happen. So he pulls out his phone,

hits a couple numbers and says, make it happen.

So the next thing you know, I'm talking to Jimmy's manager. I'm just here on

a Sunday afternoon, just want to hear some blues. And so I get to

talking to his manager and I say, I think I can make this happen.

So I get back down to Bolivia and

talk to some folks at the embassy. And we decided to bring Jimmy

down to highlight our 4th of July

festival and do a two week cultural tour. And in the course

of doing so, got him a gig headlining

the biggest blues festival in Bolivia. And it was like Christmas

Day for Bolivians. You know, they're going to get this wonderful

blues artist. So we bring Jimmy down to. You're, you know,

talking earlier about accents and whatnot. We had this

interpreter to meet Jimmy at the plane. So I'm there

and I'm there to meet the plane with him. And he comes off the plane

and he starts talking. And the interpreter looks at me and says,

I don't understand what Jimmy's saying.

So being the resident southerner that speaks, you know, that speaks

some Spanish, I became the

interpreter now. Sure. So I followed this bluesman around Bolivia

as one does for two weeks. And we stopped and

talked to student groups and talked to

dignitaries. And so I served as his unofficial interpreter

this whole time. And it was really quite an experience,

I would imagine. I would imagine so. Well, and, and then, so

that, that really, did that help cement like your love

for the blues and having that type of experience? I mean, it just

reinforced it. Yeah. You know, I long held the belief that that music

is a powerful tool in, in bridging

cultures and understanding one another in the human condition. And

my experience in South America only, you know, only reinforced

that. So I put a band together for Jimmy

and I took our, our high school student or high school music

teacher and a guy that had been teaching my son how

to play the guitar and a couple other guys. And we brought a,

A, a indigenous flute player to, to

replicate the fife music of, of North Mississippi.

And so we went into the studio and we cut a record.

A Delta blues Andean, you know, record.

Wow. I think is pretty much not unheard of.

Yeah, you didn't have that on your bingo card when you went to Bolivia? I'm

sure I did not have it on my bingo card. So in the

course of this tour, Jimmy

formed a bond with the musicians. And

a really neat thing happened after the finale and we played the

show together. Jimmy invited the musicians up to

Mississippi to play at his

blues festival, which is the oldest blues festival in

America, in North America. And real organic

kind of deal where it's an open field And a bunch of people come out,

and there's vendors, and there's a bunch of music from around the country

comes in. And so it was really neat to

have the Bolivian guys come up to the States

and play. And. And so then it gets wild.

And then in a couple years after that, they start

coming every year. And then we go down and we

loop in the guys from Argentina that I'd met 20 years ago. And

now all of a sudden, we're all up in Mississippi playing together.

So it was like the whole thing came full circle through this

bond of the music. And, you know, you take

the tango music of Argentina and some of the other

styles down there. It's the blues in terms of

what it expresses and the significance in terms

of the human condition. So it's just a really neat thing

that I was able to experience. I mean, it sounds like it. I mean, between

you and your family and just being

able to be that tour guide for. For this performer, I

think must have been pretty cool. So it was. It was super cool. And I

think about the juke joint that we have over here at the Pryor center, that's

something that Orson Weems has put together. And people always say, well, what is a

juke joint? And I always tell them, well, just go to the Pryor Center. There's

one right in there. And it just kind of gives you a flavor for what

that's about. Right. And, I mean, you could almost close your eyes and feel like

you're somewhere down in Mississippi in a little hole

in the wall space that's probably no bigger than, you know,

a couple of bathrooms stacked together. That's the juke joint,

so. That's right. I love the juke joint. And Orson and I.

I mean, I love Orson. He's a. He's a great guy. I love what he's

doing here. To bring the music. To bring the music in. In fact,

these folks that I've been, you know, talking about, the Bolivians and

Argentines, they came up last summer. They played at the juke joint. Okay. And

we also were on Ozarks at large. So, you know, I brought. I was able

to share the music here in northwest Arkansas. Did you bring them to this library?

I did. I did. They were amazed. And we. In fact, we. We

cut a record that. That should be coming out on Spotify. Okay.

Okay. And it's just kind of a. Was any of it recorded here? Absolutely.

All of it. Okay. Absolutely. Absolutely. So it's. It's

exciting. It's a kind of a Bolivian American Argentine

blues band. We put together, man, as one does, right?

Yeah. I mean, you know, it's so. And it's crazy that you have

access to these kind of spaces, right? When you

think of it, because you brought them here and then you were like, oh, by

the way, it wasn't like you had to go to a music studio and

say, yeah, you know, I want to buy some time to record it. You went

to your public library, and this is just a shameless plug for the

Fayetteville Public Library. I mean, it's amazing. It is. It's really. It's an

embarrassment of riches, as we said earlier. Yes, that's my first.

I keep telling everybody that I think I'm gonna get that, that. That

trademark embarrassment of riches that. And I call.

This is not really a trademark, but I call the Fayetteville Public Library the crown

jewel, one of the crown jewels of northwest Arkansas. I think it's right up there

with crystal bridges in terms of when you think of a space that you can

come to 190,000 plus square feet of space. It's

a public library. It's more of a regional library than just a library

for Fayetteville or physically in Fayetteville. But this library serves as

I'm learning, as I work at the library too. I kind of serve double

duty being an ambassador with. I am northwest Arkansas, but. But I work

at this library. And I mean, this library serves the whole region.

And that's not lost on me. And it shouldn't be lost on anybody

here. When they come to this space and they say, oh, it's kind of nice.

It's like, no, you don't understand. This is one of the top libraries in the

country, full stop. And if you haven't been here,

which I'm always amazed at, I was having a conversation with somebody this morning that

said, yeah, I was talking to a seventh grade girl that had never been

to the Fayetteville Public Library, and she lives in Fayetteville. And I'm like,

we're gonna fix that. That's right, we're gonna fix that. Because again,

it's just. I mean, everybody has a different experience.

Your experience in terms of using this library. You come here for coffee,

we've met for coffee, we've come to fellowship and get together and just

talk. You brought people from out of the outside of

this country here to this library to see it and record music.

And again, it's just, it's. The connective tissue that comes together

here at the library is pretty, pretty special. It is it truly

is. It's just another, just another example of how superlative

this area is. It really is. We're just really blessed with, with all the

resources we have. I mean, I've been literally all over the world and I have

not seen a library like this one. Yeah, well, so

listen, I want to change gears just a little bit because,

and first of all, I want to thank you for your service. I mean, again,

I wasn't joking when I said this. I have friends that have worked for the

Department of State or State Department, and I mean, it is a

sacrifice. So I want to thank you for that. You were cavorting your

family around all over the country, all over the world and living in different

places, and so I appreciate the sacrifice that you made to do that.

I have a question for you. What made you get into investing?

And how did you kind of pivot from kind of being

a man about the world to becoming a local

investor here in northwest Arkansas? Well, that's a good question,

Randy. You had alluded to this earlier is

relative to everything, the federal government.

You're not going to get rich with the working for the federal government. Sure.

And, but, but it, we were blessed with a lot of, there are a

lot of countless, you know, benefits

to that, that career, obviously. But, but

early on, you know, I had a kid, you know, we just, we had just

had our first, first born. Our son was born, and we're, you

know, about 30 years old and looking at some student debt and, and, you know,

this is the thing, you know, and we're just getting started with our career,

so I, I just started researching and reading some books on

finance. Just, I'm a, I'm a liberal arts guy through and through. You know,

I, I, I kind of tried to steer away from anything with, you know,

numbers and math and theory and stay with the things I could write

essays on. And so nonetheless, I, I started

reading some finance books and, you know, a little bit of, you know, how to

get ahead. And you know, my wife and I, we didn't grow up

on, on third base, so to speak, but, you know,

just normal life or whatever. We wanted to find a way to get ahead.

So I got really interested in real estate. Okay. And,

and that's kind of where I gravitated towards. So I came up with a

plan that we would take our disposable income and start investing

in real estate. And so we

looked all over the country and did a countrywide

search and we landed here. Wow.

And I'll tell you why. You know, one of the things folks look

for, and geographically is an economic anchor. Sure. And.

And obviously, we know we've got a ton of them here. We got more anchors

than a shipyard in terms of all the things, I mean, like these

little companies like Walmart and Jimmy Hunt, Tyson and

Simmons. 100. Yeah. And the U of A.

Well, that was the one. That was the one. Because, you know, I went to

University of Georgia in Athens. Lovely college town. So my initial thought was

a college town would be great. There's always students need housing.

And so I started thinking about it a little bit, and one thing I

learned was. Or I realized was, you

know, state universities rarely retract. They

rarely get smaller. And the U of A has grown tremendously since

I've been here. I've been here 11 years. And it's definitely a

big difference that, you know, you find in terms of, you know,

just how this area has grown. Because of the university. That's

right. And so that was, you know, I looked at it kind of like the

SEC plan. Yeah. You know, because of the nature of

the south, you know, and the southern state schools were growing

at an extraordinary rate. So, you know, I've spent time in Athens,

Georgia, but, you know, you take the university out

of Athens and you don't have really a whole lot else. Yeah.

And so Fayetteville in northwest Arkansas really checked all

the boxes in terms of not only the Fortune

500 presence in a robust flagship

university, but also the beauty of

the area. It has it all. Yeah.

Frankly. And, I mean, we say that a lot around here these days, but

it's true. And it was true then, and it's true now. Listen,

I say it all the time to people, and people think I'm joking. And I'm

like, all my friends on the coast, you know, they're like, what are you doing

in Arkansas? And I'm like, first of all, I'm in northwest

Arkansas, so I qualify that. Secondly, nothing wrong with the rest of

the state, but northwest Arkansas special. I would not live in any other part of

the state but northwest Arkansas. I'm just being honest.

It is what it is. I love the Delta. It's beautiful. Um,

it's just not. It's just not my thing. Um, central Arkansas

is great, but northwest Arkansas is. Is something special

and unique. And I'm under no illusion that. You know what

I'm saying, that that's. That's what makes this area special. Not. And that's not to

say that, you know, I always tell people, each. Any. Any place is

gonna be what you put into it. And I have

put a lot into this area since I've been here. I decided to be a

full participant. And in being a full participant,

I've reaped a lot of the benefits of being in an area that's continuing to

grow, as I'm sure you can share some of those same sentiments.

That's right. That's right. And, you know, the one thing that we can talk about,

art museums, we can talk about the library and all these superlative things,

but it's really. When I first got started here, it's really

the people. Yeah. And, you know, this was always kind of

our. Our, you know, area that

we. We could recharge our batteries. You know, we lived in some tough places,

places where we weren't necessarily the most popular people

in the room. And, you know, I always came back to. To northwest

Arkansas, and people are always so friendly, and it's

just a really beautiful place in terms of just the

hospitality and whatnot. Yeah. So when I first got started investing

here, you know, one of the most important things that. And this was back in

the day when you were. If you were buying real estate, you were calling up

the agent and they were driving you around and the big car and showing you

the houses that they wanted you to see. Sure. You know, we were still kind

of getting into the Internet age, so, you know, I found somebody

that was doing your remote business, which was kind of a

unique thing back in 2004. But it was important to build

a team and build relationships because this

is not a, you know, this is not a, you know,

necessarily something you. Just a transactional where you're just, you

know, buying a property, but rather building a

team. Yeah. And really planning. My wife and I really

knew almost immediately that we were going to eventually live here once

we left our. The foreign service.

And so it was really important. So I'm proud of the fact that

since 2004, you know, I still work with many of the same people that

I met back then, and it was really about the relationships.

So when we, you know, when we

moved here, and I should clarify, I moved here in 20.

Beginning of 2022, we were supposed to go to Ukraine.

Okay. And we were in the middle of Russian language training and

the war broke out, and we were, I mean, a couple months away

and. And my son was, you know, he was enrolled

in international school, and we were ready to go. In fact, all of our things

were on a boat somewhere in Europe. I mean, they were headed to Europe. So

the war broke out and my wife, who's, who's,

you know, much smarter and, and more attractive than I am. She

sounds like you married up. I did, I did. It's always a strat. You know,

I surround myself with people better than me. I did the same thing. I did

the same thing. So. So she's. As a senior level

diplomat, they voluntold her to go back to Ukraine

to reopen, help reopen the mission once it

became apparent the Russians weren't going to overtake Kyiv in the early

days of the war. So my youngest son and I

moved here full time. And

yeah, at that point it became very

easy for me to, to transition

into something I've been working on for the past 20 years and

I just haven't looked back. Wow. So is she still. Is she

in Ukraine right now? No, actually, she. She's

doing a tour in Moscow. Oh, wow. Yeah. How's that, how's that

going? Well, that must be interesting. I mean, interesting is, you know, within the

State Department, if you say interesting, that can mean a lot of things.

30 different things. Sure. And so I'm going to use a different word and

say it's, it's a, it's a. It's complicated. I would imagine it's

complicated. You know, you have, you know,

you don't have a lot of privacy. You know, my wife's never going to break

down on the side of the road and be without assistance, of course, because she's

got lots of friends. Yeah, yeah. And that's just a, it's a strange dynamic,

but, you know, Russia is one of the safest places to be

for, for a, you know, for somebody, a credentialed diplomat.

So it's not necessarily dangerous, but rather very

inconvenient and stressful in terms of.

Yeah, I understand. I mean, obviously, you know, we,

A lot of people look at world events and world situations through

the lens of, you know, whatever they're reading or watching in the evening news.

And, you know, there is that and then there is what's actually

happening on the ground. That's right. And it can sometimes be

fundamentally different than what you hear or read about each

evening. Right. And so I think people. I try to remind people of that

quite a bit. So. Yeah, yeah. Things, things are.

Can often be much different than what you read in the press. Yeah, yeah.

But she'll be back hopefully later this year

and we can, you know, reunite and reunite. Move it on from

there. That's right. Now, in a situation like that where she's in

Moscow, do you have the Ability, if you were inclined, could you

go visit her or. No. Absolutely you could. Okay. You know, I still carry

a diplomatic passport. Ok. And I'm able to travel there.

You know, I've got. My plate's pretty full. Yeah. Yeah, it is. You got a

lot going on right now. But, you know, the irony is that

Russia is someplace that's always held a special fascination for me, and I

would love to be able to visit. Yeah. It's one of the few

places I haven't been able to go that I've really wanted to go.

And I have some friends that went to Moscow. And

of course, you know, I. Well, I think we're both common

age, so we grew up during the Cold War and

experienced a lot of that. I was actually in Berlin not long

before and after the wall came down, so I

remember that. Right. And you know, for. Some people are like, oh, I just read

about that in a history book. And I was like, I was actually there, so.

Wow. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. Which is kind of cool. But I mean, it's

like. So you have a different perspective about history and

about culture and about different cultures, countries. And so I. I think

that's. That's really interesting. And, man, we could go down a rabbit hole about

this. I wanted to. To ask you,

because, again, not that you already have a lot on your plate. You're. You're

doing real estate investing, you're raising a family,

you're keeping track of your wife who's in Moscow. That's right. And

then you decided, you know what? I. I still have room on my plate for

other things. What, what

caused you. And again, while my show is not a show

about politics, I'm curious to know what drove

you or helped you make the decision that, you know, I'm gonna run

for office. I see a need here, and

I feel like I can serve that need. What was it specifically for

you that kind of took you down that road?

Well, you know, Randy, it wasn't initially on my bingo card, so to speak,

you know, and overseas, we were very careful to

apolitical. You know, it was the nature of the work. And we served.

Worked for a Republican administrator. Can I just stop for a second when you say

that? Because I really want people to understand that, that. That when you

serve in the foreign service, when you serve at. At the State department level

like that in other countries, you really have to be apolitical

because that way you serve the needs of the United States

of America. That's correct. Not one. Not whoever's

in office at that current time. And I think that's kind of

lost on a lot of people right now because they think, oh, it's extremely partisan.

And I'm like, it's the least partisan space that you're ever

gonna find. Absolutely. It really is. Right. I mean,

that's just the way that it is. But I think because people

are not. They don't understand it or they haven't talked to

anybody that's over there, and they just don't have a frame of reference. And I

think it's important that you bring a different voice to that

conversation and a lens through which you've seen things that

allow you to kind of look at both sides of the argument

and both sides of the coin, if you will. That's right. That's 100% correct.

And it's one of the, you know, my service overseas working with the

State Department, you know, I feel like, you know, I serve my

country overseas, and since I've been back in Arkansas

and I've spent time in the. The community that I love

dearly, that it's time for me to serve here. Yeah.

And you nailed it in terms of. In the state

department and in the foreign service, we're serving the needs of all

Americans and serving that through foreign policy.

And I kind of view politics the same way I'm running to be a

representative, and that's. To represent the

interest of everyone. Sure. And then that with. Coupled with

my, My, My background in real estate, you know, I've seen

the. A lot here in the last 20, 22 years in

terms of how this place has grown leaps and bounds. Yeah. And,

you know, I've been in some cases, you know, front and center

for some of that. And, you know, we have a

housing crisis here in northwest Arkansas. It's an understatement.

Yes. And, you know, I just, I feel like with my. My

background that, that, you know, maybe I can. I can offer

some perspective and, and, and help find the appropriate

solution that benefits our community. Yeah. And so those, Those

two things together, you know, and I'm a. I'm, frankly, I'm an empty

nester now. Both my boys are grown. My youngest just went to

college this, this last fall. Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. And I got two goofy dogs at home and, and

my. My wife's in Russia, so I thought, what the heck, you know, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna pay it. Pay it back for. For the things that I've been

blessed with here in northwest Arkansas. Okay. So I'm gonna put it to you this

way. You're running for the Democrat as a

Democratic candidate for District 19 for the

state House, and that serves

Johnson, northern parts of Fayetteville and some

of Springdale, is that correct? 100%. Serves all of Johnson. Right?

That's right. Yeah. Okay. That's right. Okay, cool. So what

say you win? Let's say you win and

you're headed down to Little Rock. What

are some of your initial goals that you'd like to see? Things that you feel

like. You know what? These are some things that I can do in the first

year of. Of. Of my. Of serving

the constituents of that area. Right, right. Well,

you know, that's. That's a good question. You know, one of the first things that,

that I want to do is get a lay of the land. You know, it's

going to be important to really understand the dynamic down there in Little Rock.

Sure. You know, depending on who you talk to, you'll get a lot of different

answers, right? 100%. Yeah. But. But I think it's

important to. To keep in mind what I'm hearing when I. When I

talk to folks on the street, when I'm knocking on doors. Doors and talking to

the. To the people in the community and to really listen

to the constituency. Yeah. And. And I feel like we live in an

age where there's a lot of folks that have a lot to say. There's a

lot. We're almost flooded with information. Yeah. But

sometimes we have these. These screens in front of us and,

and we forget how to listen to folks. Yeah. And, you

know, one of the things that I did a lot of overseas was,

you know, negotiate with folks and compromise

with ideas and find common ground.

You know, it's one of the things our founding fathers, when they, when they

wrote up the papers, that was one of the things that they wanted.

And sometimes I feel like we've gotten away from that a little bit.

Yeah. 100%. And I mean, some people would say, oh,

well, maybe that's a Pollyanna way to look at it. But I mean, that's kind

of how things were done when the framers of the Constitution brought this country

together. You know, they. They wanted because. Because all of those

guys didn't believe in the same exact thing. And I

think that's. That's something that we, we all need to understand. And it's, as

I was telling somebody yesterday, it's the reason why I watch

news channels and some programs that I wouldn't normally. It's not

normally my thing to watch, but I watch it. Right. It's like, why I tell

people that are maybe hugely conservative, hey, you should watch NPR every now

and then. You should listen to NPR every now and then. Just hear what, what

people are talking about, about. Understand what, you know, we all,

as Americans, we all are struggling with some of the same

issues. And, you know, the reality

is that unfortunately, some of the powers that be

like to pit us against each other so that we don't realize how much

we have in common. That's right. 100%. I almost feel like

America is like a big ball of yarn. And

when you start tugging on the yarn, like we're. We, We. We've

been doing in recent years in terms of pointing out all of our differences

and the things that we, you know, how, How. How we don't see eye

to eye. You keep pulling on that yarn, and eventually you have nothing.

Yeah. And, you know, I had the. The privilege and,

and blessed to be able to serve in the Balkans. I spent a lot of

time down there. I was an election observer in Kosovo.

And, you know, one thing that I've, I've seen, you know, folks

that pull on that yarn, and I'm keen to, To. To

support a different way in which we keep. We do the, you know, going

back to the music, you know, using. Looking for

those similarities. Yeah. That's common ground because it's very

important that we. That we all work together for a better community.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, well, that's. That's well said, Jamie

and I really, again, I appreciate you

lending your story to our podcast by.

I thought when we sat down at our Segas that we would have an interesting

conversation, and this certainly did not disappoint. If

anybody wants to get in contact with you, what's the best way for them to

do it? Whether they want to reach out to you, maybe with a question or

looking for some advice around real estate investing, or if

they want to talk politics with you. Right. Talk shop.

That's right. Or they may be a young person that

has decided they want to serve their country in the State Department and

want to get some ideas or advice from you. What's the best way for people

to get connected with you? Well, absolutely. You know, on, on social media, I guess,

is the most obvious answer for my Gen X answer here.

I, you know, it would be to reach out on Instagram or Facebook.

Okay. You know, I have a campaign website, Jamie, for

Arkansas. Okay. Okay. And just for everybody's

edification, we will put all of that in the show notes. So that way, you

can get connected with him. I would also encourage those that are in

business or want to learn more about Jamie in general. I'm going

to put his LinkedIn profile on there so you can connect with him. That's a

nice way for people to do that. That's right. And regardless

of how you find me, you know, I'm more than happy to

talk politics, real estate, you know, SEC football,

whatever the case may be. But yeah, that's, and

that's one thing that I've tried to do is in the real estate space

is to, to help out some younger investors. Sure,

sure. And kind of show them the blueprint of what I was, what, what I

was able to do and just help folks out. Pay it forward. Yeah, yeah,

absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Jamie Atkinson, thank you so much for,

for, for joining us on this podcast. I, I know,

like I said, I promised you an organic conversation, which, which this was

it. And so whether you came here to talk about the blues, whether you came

here to talk politics or to learn about real estate investing, there was a little

bit of everything in this episode. And so we really appreciate you

sharing your story. Thank you very much, Randy. It was a pleasure. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, folks, there you have it. Another episode of I Am

Northwest Arkansas. To learn more about us, please visit

iamnorthwestarconsas.com we really, really

appreciate all of our listeners, and we would certainly encourage you to check out

so many episodes that we have online. Over 400

episodes on everything related to business,

culture, entrepreneurship, and life here in the Ozarks.

I'm Randy Wilburn, the host of I Am Northwest Arkansas. And we'll see you

back here soon with another new episode.

Peace. 3, 2,

1.