The Green Room

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt sits with Emily Mills, founder of Lovely Village, and Dr. Jeremy Everett,  founder of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, in a conversation about their intersection of faith, philanthropy, and the hunger crisis. Everett emphasized the truth: there is enough food in the U.S. for everyone to eat, yet millions are affected by food insecurity. The problem isn’t scarcity, but the systems that leave working families unable to keep up with rising costs. Mills started her business based on Jesus’ love for all. Lovely Village serves women who have survived trafficking and exploitation. With the funding toward SNAP benefits being challenged, Lovely Village raised funds to help families cover their grocery costs. Everett and Mills emphasized the importance of knowing people, not just their problems. Their work is shaped by relationships that move compassion beyond intention and toward action. “Walking into a strip club changes everything. And it's like letting go and throwing it up in the air. I felt like I had no footing. I felt like everything I had been taught somehow. Now it was like I was in a fun house at the fair, where I'm walking through, and all these mirrors look really different now. My faith didn't fit anymore. What I recognized was that if my type of faith didn't fit, then it wasn't the faith of Jesus.” - Emily MillsTune in for a conversation on how faith, policy, and proximity are shaping solutions to hunger and exploitation in Waco and beyond. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Baylor Line’s weekly newsletter. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt will not be joining us. Instead, digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas takes over The Green Room for one night, and one night only, for a rewind. Tsikitas takes us through her favorite moments from The Green Room: the famous Molly Llama [yes, that Molly Llama], former Congressman Chet Edwards, and more gems you might have missed. Grab your headphones, sit back, and hit rewind to your favorite episodes. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Baylor Line’s weekly newsletter. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt and Dr. Jerry Park, associate professor of sociology, discuss being a minority within a minority, an accidental baptism, and research on racial minorities within religious congregations. Park reflects on his childhood with his single mom, being one of a few Asian students at Carver High School in Philadelphia, and his baptismal certificate from the Catholic Church. He goes into detail about his work on the Baylor Religion Surveys and how some racial groups have been underrepresented within religious populations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Park explains how data can uncover the stories we often miss and why understanding each other is more important than simply counting diversity. Tune in for a conversation on how faith shapes every community.  We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt is joined by members of The Baylor Line team Kourtney Nering, editor-in-chief; Kassidy Tsikitas, digital editor; and Nina Um, executive assistant to the CEO,  to reflect on the year of growth, change, and gratitude for everything they have learned.  The Baylor Line team has all experienced big changes in their past year of life. Nering got married and welcomed her baby girl, Suzanna. Tsikitas graduated from Baylor with a B.A. in journalism, got her first job out of college, and officially moved to Texas. Um graduated with her M.A. in communications, moved back to Waco from Houston, and also got her first post-grad role. Platt asks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past year of life. The time spent together allowed the team to grow closer together and gain a new perspective on this current season. Tune in for laughs, life updates, and key takeaways of what we are grateful for. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt and Amira Lewally, supervising producer at A&E, look back on a decision that changed the trajectory of Lewally’s career. A simple creative spark led her to add a film and digital media minor to her college studies, to which she credits her success in the film industry. What ignited this spark? A summer spent binge-watching Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. As a supervising producer, Lewally oversees hundreds of hours of content, like the award-winning shows Origins of Hip-Hop and Secrets of Playboy. Lewally is also a co-creator and co-host of The Table Is Ours, a podcast that builds spaces for Black voices across industries. Tune in to hear how a binge-worthy moment created a successful career. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt and Jackie Baugh Moore, president of the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, explore the Baugh legacy: Eula Mae and John Baugh’s lives, the founding of Sysco, and looking at things through the lens of love. Moore reflects on a legacy defined by conviction and compassion. She shares her family stories and decades of faith-driven service. Moore and Platt go in depth about her grandfather’s moral courage during the Baptist battles, her mother’s infectious joy, and the foundation’s evolving mission in a time where faith and freedom are once again being tested. “ I think the lens of love was a great way to sum up my grandparents, my mom, and what we have tried to be as a family and as a foundation. Looking at things through a lens of love also can cause you to have a lot of heartache and some disappointment.  And even get angry when people are unjustly treated and when things are not done in a way of love, especially through the faith community.” - Jackie Baugh Moore Tune in for a story on true conviction for religious liberty. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt is joined by three culinary entrepreneurs during the Waco Restaurant Week panel hosted by The Baylor Line.  Jake Patterson turned an abandoned Sonic Drive-In into Yaki Texas Teriyaki – inspired by a mom-and-pop teriyaki truck behind his former job at a dealership in Portland. Danielle Young, owner of Revival Eastside Eatery and Street Dog Cafe, came for her doctorate in psychology and stayed to create a biblical tasting experience. Revival Eastside Eatery, a restored church with its exposed brick and wood preserved, offers an atmosphere that continues to echo a spirit of service and community. Juanita Barrientos cultivated farm-to-table dining in Waco with Harvest on 25th after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu. Partnering with hospitality coordinator Paige Sullivan, Barrientos hosts Dinner in Waco—a multi-course meal where every ingredient tells a story. Together, their work captures the renewal of Waco’s growing food scene. We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt sits with Dr. Mary Landon Darden, president of Higher Education Innovation, LLC, and Dr. Ray Perryman, president and CEO at The Perryman Group. The group unpacks the focus of The Baylor Line’s article It’s a New World – skyrocketing graduate enrollment and what the future looks like with AI.Their conversations dive deep into the layers of what’s driving the surge in enrollments today – a pattern seen before with the inception of computers and the Internet, but now amplified with shifting job markets and an unpredictable political culture.Perryman and Darden examine how universities should evolve past their traditional degree offerings and credentials.“If you look at the American education system and most global education systems, they're a product of whatever era that country had its industrial revolution. They tend to evolve out of that, and ours happened to be in the era of the assembly line.” - Dr. Ray PerrymanThe gist: AI isn’t good or bad for jobs and education, but there are still lots of questions. Tune in as we navigate through a time of uncertainty and innovation.We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week.Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits:Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation.And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas

In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt sits with Devin Li and Jaja Chen, 2025 Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award honorees and co-founders of Cha Community – a Taiwanese and Chinese fusion boba shop.Their story begins in June 2018 at the Waco Downtown Farmers Market with laminated logos and borrowed tables, then known as Waco Cha. Now, Cha Community has pioneered itself into a cornerstone of Waco’s cultural scene. With a mission not just to be the first boba shop in Waco, Li and Chen hope to use their restaurant as a bridge to highlight Asian American culture. Li and Chen discuss their journey to becoming community leaders, including founding the Asian Leaders Network, which organizes Waco’s Diwali Festival and Lunar New Year celebrations. Tune in to hear a story of a business dream turned community.We’ll have more new episodes of The Green Room for you every week Oh, and to make sure you get each episode, make sure to subscribe to The Latest, The Weekly, or The Monthly newsletter from The Baylor Line. You can also follow our feed wherever you listen to podcasts — such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.—Credits: Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation. And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.