In this season premiere, student guest host Estrella is introduced, as she will be hosting this season. She shares her academic background in sociology, highlighting the projects and research that have shaped her perspective. Estrella then outlines her goals for the season, aiming to leverage the podcast as a platform for scholarly discussion and accessible learning. A central theme of her introduction is a passionate argument for the relevance of sociology in understanding everyday life and broader societal structures.

Hannah Horrigan is an Educational Initiatives Supervisor at the Akron Housing Metropolitan Authority and a proud zippie. Explore her interesting journey, starting with an interest in lock-picking via sociology and moving to skillful and compassionate leadership in our community.

In this first episode of season #2, we talk with Alex Leake (she/her), who currently leads the Marketing Research & Insights team at Mozilla, working to identify market opportunities and consumer pain points for future marketing and product development. She has used her sociological research skills in corporate settings for 10+ years (energy, tech UX research) and recommends getting involved during your undergrad to understand the applicability of sociology.

Megan Delong is the Neighborhood Network Coordinator at Habitat for Humanity of Summit County, Ohio.

Assistant Director of event planning and event management at the University of Akron/OH.

Victim Advocate for a Police Department/OH. Offers emotional support, victims' rights information, and help in finding needed resources.

Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch (www.ehw.org), Cleveland/OH. Community organizer, home inspector homes for health hazards and public policy consultant.

Dr. Liza Grossman is the Director of Research and Evaluation for Stark Education Partnership

Davishay Lawrence is Mortgage Loan Originator, but also has worked as a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Specialist in a nonprofit community corrections agency.

Michael Rickles, the VP of Research at Sharecare, is a sociologist and epidemiologist working to bring data-informed solutions to community and population health issues, with a specific focus on improving health equity and resiliency.