HeyJaredThe Localist with Carrie Rollwagen
The Localist is a conversation with local makers and independent entrepreneurs. Local business advocate Carrie Rollwagen invites mom-and-pops, freelancers, side hustlers and start up founders to talk staffing, funding, hiring, inspiring — and everything in between.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 22, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
How Birmingham's Greek Festival Grew from Bake Sale to Must-Attend Event (opens the original)
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The Birmingham Greek Festival runs for three days. The people who put it on work on it all year. This week Carrie is doing something a little different. Instead of sitting down with a small business, she talks with Agatha Pihakis, who chairs takeout and drive-through at the Birmingham Greek Festival at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral downtown. The festival started in the late 1960s as a pastry booth at Birmingham's Festival of Arts, moved into the church gym as a bazaar, and now
Battle Republic Is Built to Grow without Breaking (opens the original)
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This week on The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Leah Drury and Lindsey Miller Neal, the co-founders of Battle Republic. Battle Republic is a fitness boxing studio with locations in Homewood, Hoover, and now Tuscaloosa. Leah played basketball at Alabama and coached in the WNBA. Lindsey spent 14 years at Zoe's Kitchen, where she was acting CFO while the company scaled to 240 restaurants, and she now runs an accounting business for small business owners. They have been friends since they
If You Can Write Instructions, You Can Build an AI Skill (Here's How) (opens the original)
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This is a live recording from Localist Lab, the in-person version of The Localist, where specialists come in to talk to small business owners about the work everyone's trying to figure out. This month Carrie Rollwagen was the speaker, talking about the thing that finally made AI click for her: using AI well isn't a tech skill, it's a management skill. Anyone who has trained an intern, written an SOP, or told somebody how to cover their desk while they were out already has most of what they need.
How to Use AI Without the Internet Turning on You (opens the original)
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Show Notes How to Use AI Without the Internet Turning on You | Laine White of Uptick Marketing AI can save your small business a lot of time. It can also get you dragged into your own comment section. This week Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Laine White, Head of Client Strategy at Uptick Marketing, to figure out where the line actually is. Laine uses AI every day, and she still has real ethical concerns about it, which is exactly why she is the right person to ask. Her rule is simple: use AI to
How Personal Styling Builds Confidence (and a Brand) | Malissa Davis of Best You Ever (opens the original)
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In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Malissa Davis, the founder of Best You Ever, a Birmingham-based personal styling and image consulting firm. Malissa spent nearly 10 years at Nordstrom before launching her own business, and now works with clients in Birmingham and virtually across the United States. Fun fact: Malissa is also the mom of Taylor Davis, the showrunner for The Localist. If you've ever seen Taylor on camera and thought she looked great, that is Malissa's
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