Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from McKenzie Prillaman.

McKenzie is a freelance science journalist who enjoys writing about neuroscience, health, and medicine. She graduated from the UCSC SciCom program and now lives in Washington, DC.

Tune in today to learn more about McKenzie's career journey!

McKenzie Prillaman | Freelance Science Journalist

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from local Santa Cruz Artist and Painter Ray Evans.

Following early art training at La Jolla High School, Mr. Evans began his art exposure and sales at the Bazaar Del Mundo in Old Town, San Diego. He had an ongoing contract with them as their in-house artist and had frequent showings there, as well as at the Tri Forum Gallery in Point Loma. He now resides in Santa Cruz, CA where he extensively studied at the nearby University of California and Cabrillo College. His work has been shown in many coastal galleries including San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, and Venice Beach. Further from home, the Thompson Art Gallery in South Carolina, private collections in Arizona, and various restaurants and businesses have his pieces. Additionally, he continues to offer custom paintings for individual homes, even assisting in the design on location.

Tune in today to hear more about Ray's career journey!

Ray Evans | Artist and Painter

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Mary Gaukel Forster.

Mary Gaukel is a retired educator having served as a K -12  teacher and administrator in the county for over 33 years including 9 years as principal at Delta High School.   As an educator she served all students, with an additional focus on alternative education and second language learners.  Upon retirement, Mary served as the Executive Director for Your Future Is Our Business,  a non-profit dedicated to providing career exploration opportunities  for every student in Santa Cruz County.  She  continues with Your Future Is our Business serving Educational Partnerships. Mary  is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)  for youth in the foster care or juvenile justice system, a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)  presenter for Ending the Silence for School Staff,  the Santa Cruz Rotary Sunrise Interact Advisor for Delta High School, a Hospice Volunteer, a member of the Delta High School Board, a coach for new school administrators, and the proud grandparent of 6.   Her professional and community service has been recognized with awards for Association of California Administrators (ACSA) Administrator of the Year, Santa Cruz County Administrator of the Year, and the Red Cross Central Coast Educator Hero Award, and just recently as the Santa Cruz County Community Hero by the Santa Cruz Sentinel.  She  holds a degree in English from San Jose State University and a Masters in Education Administration from Santa Clara University.

Tune in to learn more about Mary's career journey!

Mary Gaukel Forster | Educator

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Diane Cowen.

Diane is the Adult Services Librarian at the Capitola Branch of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. After serving as the Communications Manager for the Library system for 10 years, she is happy to engage the community directly with adult programs and services. Her programming interests include social justice and outreach to underserved populations, civic engagement, and the humanities. She has a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Santa Cruz and a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from San Jose State University. She is the project manager for the Library’s SoundSwell Local Music Collection, which fairly compensates local musicians for making their music available to library cardholders for free. A long-time supporter of Community Radio, Diane is thrilled to volunteer on the Board of Directors for K-Squid Community Radio, which brings together her programming interests in community conversations with great music for a local feel.

Diane Cowen | Adult Services Librarian Capitola

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Mariah Roberts.

"I serve my community through creative/collaborative efforts across sectors. Currently, I'm laser focused on activating the power of our Santa Cruz County Park public spaces through inclusion, access and partnerships.”

Tune in to learn more about Mariah's career journey!

Mariah Roberts | Executive Director at County Park Friends

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Heather Rogers.

Heather has been a public defender for nearly 20 years in the state and federal courts. Heather has handled cases at every stage of litigation, from arraignment through trial and appeal. She has represented clients accused of offenses from delinquency to homicide, defended detainees incarcerated at Guantánamo Naval Base in Guantánamo, Cuba, and argued cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Heather is honored to serve as the first Public Defender of Santa Cruz County, her birthplace and home. Before her appointment, Heather served as a public defender at Biggam, Christensen & Minsloff, the defense firm that previously provided public defense services for Santa Cruz County.

Tune in today to learn more about Heather’s career journey!

PC: Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz

Heather Rogers | Public Defender of Santa Cruz County

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Sara Decelle.

Sara is an Academic Specialist faculty member at Cabrillo College specializing in the development of career education noncredit courses. Sara partners with faculty all across the college to revise and develop noncredit courses. These courses are tuition free, repeatable, and designed for gaining or refining skills for the workplace. In addition, Sara runs a STEM field teaching class at Cabrillo College with partner funding from CSUMB's RISE Ready NSF Noyce grant.

Sara Decelle | Academic Specialist Faculty Cabrillo College

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Malakai Wade.

Malakai is an independent audio producer creating podcasts in Los Angeles. She currently works as an associate producer for Wondery. She has a degree in journalism and a passion for solutions-driven storytelling, astronomy, and photography.

Malakai Wade | Independent Audio Producer

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Hilary Bryant.

Hilary is the Donor Services Director for the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County. She co-founded Buoy Labs in 2015, a tech startup that optimizes the way we use water, which was acquired in 2019. She was a Santa Cruz City Council member from 2010-2014 and served as Mayor in 2013. Hilary is Co-chair for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Board, Chair of the Local Stewardship Council for the Santa Cruz World Surfing
Reserve and on the Cruz Foam Advisory Board. In addition, she is a member of the Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary and the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce Emeritus Board. A UC Santa Cruz graduate, Hilary earned her BA in Biology, was an All-American water polo player, and enjoys biking, running, and surfing.

Hilary Bryant | Donor Services Director at Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show to hear from Executive Salesman Sean Bigley.

"I was born in Boston and grew up in the East Bay area of Northern California. I grew up very much involved in sports & played college baseball. I enjoy sports, fitness, cooking, writing, coffee & punk rock music. I have a side fitness business and for most of my professional career, I've been a sales executive. Companies I've worked for are Xerox, Ikon, WebEx, and VSP(vision service plan)."

Tune in today to learn more about Sean's career journey!

Sean Bigley | Executive Sales

Tune in to this episode of the What to Be Show on @ksqdradio to hear from Lisa Berkley.  Lisa A. Berkley’s life’s work is dedicated to how we thrive, as individuals and society.  As a former elected official in Marina, California, she is faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is also Founding Director of Crown College’s Resiliency and Well-Being Program. Dr. Berkley is President of the Institute for Inner Economy, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to operationalizing positive peace and establishing healthy governance at the local, national, and international level. With more than 30 years teaching and working in individual and community holistic well-being, her visionary work has been written about in multiple international publications. 

Lisa has been a global advocate for women and girls for more than 30 years. She is the Founding President of Women In International Security’s U.S. West Coast Chapter (WIISWest) and holds a B.A. in Environmental Science and Economics, an M.A. in International Policy, focusing on Counterterrorism and Transitional Justice, and both an M.A. and PhD in Leadership and Change. Dr. Berkley is the co-author of the book chapter “Female Leadership for Peace and Human Security: A Case Study of Israel/Palestine,” which can be found in Women and Leadership Around the World, Vol. III (Information Age Publishing, 2015); most recently she has contributed to and co-edited  Leadership at the Spiritual Edge: Emerging and Non-Western Concepts of Leadership and Spirituality (Routledge, 2024). Tune in Sunday to learn more about Lisa’s career journey!

Dr. Lisa Berkley | Founding Director of Crown College’s Resiliency and Well-Being Program, University of California Santa Cruz

A radio show hosted by Your Future Is Our Business, a Santa Cruz non-profit which helps students explore careers. We interview and highlight the careers of inspirational people in Santa Cruz County and ask them to tell us what their job is really like, and how they got there! Our show airs Sundays at 7pm 90.7fm KSQD Santa Cruz , or stream online at ksqd.org. New episodes uploaded every week!

Dr. Lisa Berkley | Founding Director of Crown College’s Resiliency and Well-Being Program, University of California Santa Cruz

What To Be