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Behind the Mic: What I Am Northwest Arkansas® Is Grateful For
Episode 337 • 24th November 2025 • I Am Northwest Arkansas® • Randy Wilburn
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About the Show:

"I am amazed at the depth, the generosity, and the creativity that this region affords me."

       – Randy Wilburn

For this Thanksgiving 2025 episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas®, Randy Wilburn takes a different approach—no guest interview this time, just a solo conversation about gratitude, reflection, and what this year has meant.

After nearly 400 episodes of telling Northwest Arkansas stories, Randy shares some of his own—moments from his childhood that shaped how he thinks about Thanksgiving, why this region feels so special to him, and the people who've made this podcast journey possible. From the listeners and collaborators who've been there from the beginning to the community leaders and organizations that continue to inspire new episodes, this is a chance to say thank you.

Randy also reflects on his recent transition to the Fayetteville Public Library, where he now serves as Director of Communications and Marketing. It's been about a month in this new role, and he's grateful for the opportunity to contribute to an institution that's been central to his connection to Northwest Arkansas—and to this podcast, which has recorded over 125 episodes at the library itself.

This episode is an invitation to pause, reach out to the people who matter in your life, and remember that it's never too late to lean into the thing you were called to do.

Key Takeaways:

  • Gratitude Matters: Taking time to appreciate the people, connections, and resources in your life can make every day richer and more meaningful.
  • Northwest Arkansas Shines: The region is full of generous, creative, and inspiring people, organizations, and resources, including public libraries, local nonprofits, and businesses.
  • Support and Community: The podcast thrives because of you—the engaged audience and countless guests who share their stories and energy.
  • It’s Never Too Late: Whether starting something new, reconnecting with old friends, or following a dream,Randy Wilburn shows it’s always possible to take that next step.
  • Reach Out: This Thanksgiving, share your gratitude with someone important—one simple message or call can make a difference.

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

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

This episode is sponsored by*

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

Try ONBoardNWA.com Today!

*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.

Connect more with I am Northwest Arkansas:

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:

FindItNWA.com

🎧 This episode is brought to you by FindItNWA.com – the hyper-local business directory made for Northwest Arkansas. From local eats to trusted pros, it’s the go-to spot for discovering what’s great nearby. 📣 Are you a business owner? Get listed today and connect with thousands of locals looking for what you offer. 👉 Visit FindItNWA.com to explore or join now.

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Transcripts

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Hey, folks, and welcome to a special Thanksgiving

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edition of I Am Northwest Arkansas. I'm your host,

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Randy Wilburn. And today's episode is going to be just a

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wee bit different. No guests this time.

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Just me, a mic, a heart full of

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gratitude, and a few reflections I wanted to

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share as we head into this season of giving

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thanks. I don't know about you, but

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Thanksgiving, it's always a fun time of year.

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Growing up in the Northeast, I can remember coming

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home from school and it always is super crisp

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in the air. Sometimes it would snow, sometimes it wouldn't,

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but Thanksgiving was always a fun time. Especially

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growing up during Thanksgiving and

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going out and playing football on Thursday morning before

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you have dinner. And all of the people that would

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come back from being out of town at school and just

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going to the playground and hanging out with friends, that was always a really

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warm time. And I'm sure each and every one of us has our own

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unique view of

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Thanksgiving and what it means to us, but that's what it means to

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me. So I'm just excited to share that

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and just have

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a moment of reflection with regard to

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what is typically a family

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holiday. When you think about just the impact that

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Thanksgiving has on people. People come together

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over the hills and through the woods to grandmother's house we

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go. There's a lot of things that you think

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about when you think of Thanksgiving. And so

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I just. It just always has meant a lot for me. And so

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I really wanted to just slow

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down a little bit and not rush another episode out, but

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just have a moment of reflection. And so I hope you bear with me for

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the next few minutes. This won't be a super long episode, but

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it is one that, that I kept

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thinking about and I kept saying earlier this weekend, you should do

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a Thanksgiving episode. And I've done these in the past. I've done

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episodes where I've given thanks or I've reflected at the end of the year. And

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so I'm going to do it right around Thanksgiving. So that's when

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this episode's coming out. So we'll see how it goes from there. But

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when I started this podcast, the goal was simple.

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I wanted to share authentic stories and I wanted to

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highlight the people and places that make

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Northwest Arkansas such a special place to live and

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grow. And now, almost

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400 plus episodes later, I honestly am

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just amazed at the depth, the

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generosity, and the creativity that this region affords

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me. This podcast has taken me on a journey

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I never could have imagined. And for that,

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for that alone, I am incredibly Grateful.

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And I think about all the episodes that I've done,

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and each and every one of them is special to me. I was telling somebody

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the other day, sometimes it's hard for me to actually go back and

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listen to my episodes. A lot of

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creators don't, believe it or not. I've talked to a lot of people that create

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videos. They're like, no, after I create it, I never watch it again.

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I'm on to the next one. I've talked to podcast

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people that have really large podcasts that they

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get thousands and millions of downloads per episode. And I've had

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several of them tell me. I actually never listened to the episode I did again

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unless there was a technical issue or something like that. And so every

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now and then I'll go back and listen to one. I listened to the one

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most recently from last week, which would have been

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November 17th, and that was with Demar

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Baker, who is a dear friend of mine who runs or she

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operates AFIC at mco, which is the

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Arkansas Food Innovation center.

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And that is, it's part of the U of A. It's right there

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in Springdale. And she. I remember her coming to

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me and saying, randy, I want to have one of the people that is using

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AFIC for their startup business called Grazing Robin

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Road. And Kristen Phillips, who is the

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owner of that company, was gracious enough to join us

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and listening to that podcast. I actually listened to it

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again and it was great just to hear Kristen's story

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and how thankful she was that a resource like Aficion

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at MCO was available. And for me,

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listening to that was a reminder of why I do

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this podcast. And all it is simply is

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I have been blessed to create a platform

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that I have that has now actually, it's been.

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It's actually a platform that has some staying power six years

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plus, thanks to you guys. It is a platform that

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has allowed me to share it with so many other

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people. And so that's something that I'm truly

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thankful for. When I started this back in

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2019, I if you had said, oh, this is where you're going to be

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in 2025, I'd have been like, get out of here. That's never going to

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happen. But lo and behold, here I am in

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2025. 400 plus episodes later,

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countless guests. I've had some guests on more than once.

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Demar is one example of that. But I

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have been fortunate enough to build a platform that people

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actually want to be on. Somebody asked me the other day, how do you get

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people for your Podcast. And I'm like, I have no shortage of people that want

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to be on this podcast. As a matter of fact, if you go to the

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website for iam northwest arkansas.com you can suggest

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a guest or say, hey, you should have this person on.

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People do it all the time. But it's just.

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It's one of those things where I couldn't have imagined it when I started. And

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I think that's. That that could be said for anything that we

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create, right? If you write a book, you can. Can't imagine the impact that book

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will have on somebody else. If you tell a story

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in front of a crowd, you don't. You can't. You can never quite

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know what the impact of that story will be with your audience. And

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just in the same vein, a podcast, I don't. I don't always know

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who's listening. I hope people are listening. Actually, I know people are listening, but

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it's. I'm given an opportunity to not just

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share myself, but really to share other people's stories

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and learn what makes them special. And

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so last week's episode was no exception. And every episode that

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I've been able to do is important to

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me, and I am just thankful that people actually

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do listen on a regular basis and they tune in and shout

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out to all the different people that support the podcast. I have folks that come

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up to me every week and say, hey, I listen to this episode. And that

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blows my mind that I actually created something

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that people take time out of their schedule to listen to, and

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that is not something that I take for granted. So

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I want to thank all of you and you know who you are for

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just picking this episode up. And when it gets

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downloaded into your podcast player of choice, you're already ready to

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tune it up. I have a. I have shows like that that I listen to

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that are like, must listen to podcasts every

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week. And when they're not available, I get upset. I'm like, oh, my gosh,

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there's no podcast this week. Or if they do a rerun or something like that.

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But it's. It. Needless to say,

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this is one of the most intimate settings that you can have. People put these

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headphones in and you're in their ears. And so

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I. I don't take that lightly. And I want to say thank you

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to all of you that are listening, like right now listening, but then just

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listening with some regularity or

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frequency. And there have been so many

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incredible people who've poured into me this

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year specifically, and I want to shout out some of those folks,

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people like Demar Baker, who I just mentioned, my man Nate

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Walls, who's recovering from hip surgery. And Nate, we

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can't wait for you to get back out there and start slinging some

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barbecue again. Nate is just. Nate

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really embodies what this community is all about. He does a lot

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with a little and makes it good. It tastes

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good. And you guys that know Nate Walls know what I'm talking about.

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So shout out to that brother. I am going to always give

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Nate his flowers right now because he deserves them

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every day of the week. Shout out to my man Ben Clark from BE

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Unlimited. But Ben is a dear friend of mine and I miss him dearly because

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he lives down in Florida. Most, sometimes not all the. But he's up

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here because he's got grandkids up here and all that good stuff. But anyway, I

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just miss Ben Mark Zweig, who's the reason why I'm in

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Northwest Arkansas. So if any of you

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enjoy this podcast, if this podcast has changed your life in some

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way, and Mark Zweig, tell him

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thank you from you for this

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podcast because it would not exist if it wasn't for

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him, because he's the one that invited me to northwest Arkansas,

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convince my wife to come and visit, and some of you've heard the story. Three

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months later we moved here and yada, yada, the

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rest of it. But we've been here now almost 11 years and

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I can't think of another place I would prefer to call home than northwest Arkansas.

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And if you had said to me 12 years ago, you're going to be living

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in Northwest Arkansas and love it, I would have said, you're a liar.

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But that's the case. Here we are, and I love it.

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Canon McNair, Joshua Youngblood,

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Danielle Hoffman, Pastor Q from Life

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Church in Rogers. Pastor Jake, the rest of the

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staff at Life Church in Rogers. I never thought that I would go to a

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church where I would watch the pastor preach,

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where I could literally be at home in my pajamas listening to him. But I

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actually go to church and Pastor Craig Groeschel is on

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a screen, multiple screens there in the church at Life Church. And that's actually how

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all 45 of the churches are set up around the country.

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Life Church, for those of you that don't know, is the same comp, same organization

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that puts out the Bible app. So they just got 1

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billion app downloads, which is insane when you think

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about it. But just shout out to their faithfulness

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and more importantly for the community that they build, they

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have Life groups, they bring people in. They don't care where you are or

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who you are, where you're from, what your calling is

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or anything like that. They just have an open and safe space for you to

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come and connect with people

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and be encouraged. And so anyway, just shout out to life Church Rogers.

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I also want to say David Johnson and the

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directors and staff at the Fayetteville Public Library. The

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Fayetteville Public Library has always been a special place to me,

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but it's probably even more so now than ever before because

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as some of you may have heard me mention briefly on a previous

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episode, I actually joined the library. Not

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join, got a library card. I've had one since I moved here.

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But I joined the library as their director of

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communications and marketing. And that happened

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at the time of recording this a little bit more than about seven weeks

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ago. And so since early October of 2025,

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I've been the director, communications and marketing,

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working directly with David Johnson and Sam

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Palmer and Tamika Ball and

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Willow Fitzgibbons and Chris

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Moody and now Greg Letting, who's our state,

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state senator. Won't be much longer. But

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anyway, an amazing team that Dave has assembled at the

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Fayetteville Public Library and I'm honored to be a part of it. And for

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those of you that didn't know I wanted to share that information with

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you, love to have you come meet with me at the

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library for coffee or if you want an insiders tour,

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I'm happy to do that. I am blown away

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by the quality of the staff at that library, which

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a lot of you already know, because a lot of you already go to the

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Fayetteville Public Library. But, and I'm going to leave it at this because I could

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just go on and on about how special this place is. But

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I tell people in northwest Arkansas there are two,

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like, foundational entities

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that exist. And in the north, in Bentonville, you've got Crystal

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Bridges and all the amazing things happening up there. And obviously we've got

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Walmart. And their campus is so huge, it takes up most

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of Bentonville. It doesn't, but you know what I'm saying. And then in the

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south, of course, you have, in Fayetteville, you have the university,

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which is the foundation. That university's been here since 1870

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something. And so

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it's significant because it is the home of a university.

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But even still in the downtown area, you've got this

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gleaming edifice, this facility that's

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almost 200,000 square feet of space that

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is open to everyone. And it's Free for everyone.

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And it's the Fayetteville Public Library. And yes, I have

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been a fanboy of the library for years. And yes, now I'm actually

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physically part of that library. And that's something that I'm really

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thankful for and I'm very proud of.

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The library is just a special place, and those of you that live in Fayetteville,

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know it. If you don't live in Fayetteville, but you're somewhere else in

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northwest Arkansas, come on down. You can get your library card, you can come

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use the facilities, you can take out a book. You can do a lot of

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stuff. I think it's a library for everyone in northwest Arkansas,

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even though it's based in Fayetteville. And that's no shade on

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Springdale, which is amazing. They've been on this podcast, Rogers, which I

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actually haven't had on this podcast. But you guys, I gotta get you on here.

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And then, of course, Bentonville, what Hattie, those guys up

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at the Bentonville Public Library are doing is great as well. We have

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so many awesome things and resources

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right here in northwest Arkansas. And so Fayetteville Public Library is just one

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example of that. Also want to shout out Margo Moulton,

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who edits a lot of my videos. Jerson Obial, who edits all of

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my audio. A lot of people wonder how I edit all this stuff.

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I just don't have the time to. So I actually have editors,

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I have video editors, I have audio editors.

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Shout out to Bryant over at Go Rogue,

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Bryant Fitton, and the rest of the folks at Go Rogue Studios there in

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Bentonville, they help me out with some things and shout out to the folks at

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Podcast Videos for doing amazing work. I've done

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some videos up there. We have all kinds of resources in northwest Arkansas, so

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there's never really any excuse for you guys. I also want to shout

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out just a couple of my friends, of course, Post Sun Chin Mark

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Scott, who's one of my dearest and oldest friends. I don't. He doesn't listen to

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podcasts, but anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge him. I

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also want to thank the guys at F3 Northwest Arkansas.

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I'm going to say this real quick. I get up sometimes, not all the times,

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because they will say not all the time, Randy. But I get up

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quite a bit during the week, sometimes on Wednesdays, sometimes on

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Thursdays to go work out in different locations and I

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throw cinder blocks around and I run and do all kinds of stuff

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with a bunch of other crazy guys that like doing that for

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free. And we do it in a workout from 5:30 to 6:15

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every morning. And the program is called F3. They're all over the country,

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but we have an F3 here in northwest Arkansas. And shout out to

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my man, Matt Casey. Everybody gets a name

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when you join F3. His name is Switchblade. It's funny and

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I love the way he throws up this switchblade sign when

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he says his name at F3. But there's a bunch of guys.

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Geek Squad, Bayou Bubble Wrap. Y' all keep me

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more motivated, more than. And even if I'm not always there,

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know that I am there. And F3 is

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such a cool community of

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men. And they actually have a program for women called thea, but I don't know

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much about it, so I can only speak to F3. And F3 is a free

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workout for men. We don't care what condition you're in, you can come

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do what you can. And we, we never leave anyone behind.

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So it's not the kind of place where we're showing up and showing out. And

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if you can't do it, poo on you. We always back

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up. But we call it Watcher 6 because you always want to watch the

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guy behind you and make sure that they are following along and

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doing okay. So anyway, y', all, like I said, keep me motivated

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more than you know. To Herbert and Sarah Buchanan, James and Nicola Hawkins,

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Anthony and Chantel Sumlin,

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Chris and Jessica Dinwiddie. So many different

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people and I know I'm going to forget names. Aaron and Marta Kaiser.

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The Hagerty's. Your support means the world to me. I'm

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also thankful for folks like Elliot Hunt and Matthew Cooper,

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Gary Head and the Signature bank family. You guys

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rock. Gary opened an account for me

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even before I moved to Northwest Arkansas. And so I've been banking with him ever

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since. And between him and Jessica and Tori and

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everybody else there, Nick, the bank

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manager, Will Gladden, who is just simply

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amazing. I really appreciate you guys. Nathan Green and Rob

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Smith and the great team at the NWA Council, including Mr.

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Nelson Peacock himself. Shout out to Sona

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NWA for constantly calling me,

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even at the last minute to help out and do things for

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you guys and speak on stage or be a part of a Christmas

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program or something like that. Just know I appreciate you guys

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so much. And because I love music and I love the symphony, it's always

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an extra special treat to be involved with anything that you guys put your

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hands to. I really appreciate you guys. Big thanks to Tad

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Moore and the NWA Daily Team. Just an amazing

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Monday through Friday email newsletter that really

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captures the essence of Northwest Arkansas and all the cool things that are happening here.

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Of course, my girl, Jacqueline House. I

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really appreciate you, Jacqueline. Such an amazing journalist

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and TV broadcaster. And so just keep doing

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what you're doing. The folks at our cast, Ty

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King and the rest of the folks there hark. Accelerate the

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single parent scholarship fund circles. NWA

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Jody Dilde. I mean everybody that's in the nonprofit world

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in Northwest Arkansas, just a shout out to you guys because I was at

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the the annual philanthropy

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luncheon at the library a couple of weeks ago and I was just reminded of

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how much of a giving place Northwest Arkansas is. Listen, all

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you guys that are doing amazing things and making a difference in the lives of

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so many, shout out to you guys. And of course I have to send a

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heartfelt shout out to Dennis Hanley and the amazing staff at

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Ozarks Natural Foods. Wrapping up six years of board service has been

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bittersweet, but I leave with nothing but love and

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appreciation for the work done being done there. Keep

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going. There are so many people that I could

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mention and look, I know I'm going to get in trouble naming names

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I've already missed, folks. So let me just say this.

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If you're in my orbit, I appreciate you

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deeply. You've helped make this journey what it

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is. And I want to. I also want to

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just say that this year has been really full of growth

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for me, both personally and professionally.

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A lot of you know that I had the opportunity to deliver a TED

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Talk called It's never too late to do the thing that you are called to

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do. And I did that with TEDxFayetteville and I meant

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every word of what I said in that talk. I also did a

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podcast episode about it and I'll tag that in the show notes if you

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want to hear that. That honestly, for me

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came from a real place, from walking the walk and starting

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something new later in life and trusting the process. I'm still

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trusting the process every day. Was also invited back to the Sam

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Walton College of Business this past year to speak to the next generation of

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business leaders in the MBA program. Big shout out to

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Professor Stoverink and his amazing team for that honor

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again. I think this is like the third time they've had me back. I had

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also had the privilege of speaking with Professor Renet

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Macargo's class in the journalism department about the

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black press, a topic which is near and dear to me. If you know anything

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about my grandfather and there's just I don't

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know. There's so much that I. I have to be thankful for. And

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I would just encourage you to be thinking about this time, whether

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you're driving off to go see family and friends or

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headed to Chicago to watch the Razorbacks play the

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Duke Blue Devils. Whatever you're doing, take some

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time and reflect on how good of a life you have right

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now. And it could be worse. It definitely could be worse.

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But I'm glad that it's not. And then,

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you know, I certainly have to mention this, and I said it earlier,

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one of the biggest changes this year was moving podcast operations

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out of kuaf. I still do stuff with them, but

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I've come back to my own personal studio in my house and

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I record podcast all over the place. The trust and consistency and the

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vision we've carried together with this work has afforded me the opportunity to

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put this podcast together in so many different ways

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and trust that there are folks out there that are going to learn. Listen. And

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so I really appreciate just that ability

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to continue to press record and continue to put these

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episodes out. Listen. Through everything that I've been

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doing, I'm constantly reminded that it's

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never too late to lean into your calling. I've said it before, over and over

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again. It's actually the topic of the book that I'm trying to write.

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And those of you that ask me from time to time about how the book

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is coming along, you're not bothering me.

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I really appreciate it because it's that urging that I need to keep

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going because it's never too late to build

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something meaningful. And that's what I'm trying to do. And there, there

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honestly are for me, there are still so many stories

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to tell, so many episodes in me. And I plan

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to keep pressing record through this year. Matter of fact, we pretty much

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have all the episodes done through the end of 2025 and into

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2026, but we will have a bunch of new episodes

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in this new year. And so I really am going to continue

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to press record for this show for my clients and for the

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people who trust me with their voices. And

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while I do all that, I'll keep striving to grow

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as a son, as a husband, a

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dad, and a friend, one day at

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a time. And I said it earlier, but

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I want to say it again, I just, I can't thank my family

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enough. Nicola, my beautiful wife, my sons,

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Joshua, Nathan and Aiden in birth order.

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You guys are certainly the apple of my eye and I could not

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do it. I would not be able to do it without your support. And I

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appreciate you so much and your patience and just willingness

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to walk with me on this journey and not

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abandon your old man. Thank you for that.

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But you, for you, the audience that are listening that are still here

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at 25 minute mark, I want to thank you for being here. Whether

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it's your first time listening or you've been with me since episode

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one, I see you and I appreciate you.

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If you've enjoyed this reflection, I'd love for you to share it

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and maybe take a moment to reach out to someone you're thankful for. Forward to

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wishing you and yours a joy filled

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Thanksgiving. My name is Randy Wilburn

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and you have been listening to the I Am

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Northwest Arkansas Podcast. We will be back next

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week with another brand new episode of the podcast

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and we hope that you tune in and tell a

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friend too because you can find us on every major podcasting platform.

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So enjoy your time with family and friends. Please be safe on the road

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or on the highways or byways, on an airplane.

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Just wherever you are, be safe out there

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and and be thankful for the fact that

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you're here today breathing and taking in God's green

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earth. And it certainly could be a lot worse. And

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I know, I understand, understand that it is for some people a very challenging

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time. And for those of you that are really struggling, I

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certainly pray for your peace in

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this season and know that you are not alone. I'm

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Randy Wilburn and this is the I Am

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Northwest Arkansas Podcast. We'll see you next week. Peace.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest

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Arkansas. Check us out each and every week, available

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anywhere that great podcasts can be found. For show

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notes or more information on becoming a guest, visit

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im northwest arkansas.com we'll

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see you next week on I Am Northwest

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Arkansas.

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Sam.

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