Chris Ulmer on Building Special Books by Special Kids and Embracing Every Story

Welcome to Hometown Jax, where hosts Aaron Bacus and Jason Kindler bring you into authentic conversations with the entrepreneurs, creators, and leaders shaping Jacksonville’s future. Each episode highlights the people behind the progress—the ones turning adversity into opportunity and building something meaningful right here on the First Coast.

In this heartfelt episode, Jason sits down with Chris Ulmer, founder of Special Books by Special Kids, to explore how one former special education teacher ended up sharing some of the world’s most powerful and overlooked human stories. Chris opens up about the early struggles of launching his platform, the deeply personal experiences that continue to shape his approach, and what it means to lead with curiosity, compassion, and love. From viral videos to global impact, this episode is a reminder that everyone—no matter their background or diagnosis—deserves to be heard and celebrated.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29
Unknown
Where are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.

00;00;14;29 - 00;00;33;29
Unknown
Hometown. Jax I am extremely excited today. I'm here with Chris Ulmer. Chris, I don't think you need an introduction. You've you do amazing things and you've grown your following. I know when I looked at YouTube, it was over 3 million. Is that right? It is?

00;00;33;29 - 00;01;05;29
Unknown
Yeah. Somewhere over 3 million and somewhere over 3 million, give or take. So, what makes Chris really, really special is that I think you've got a heart of gold. And I want to talk about that today. So. Heart of gold. But you, developed a, you developed special books by special kids, and that has grown and grown and grown, to 3 million on YouTube.

00;01;05;29 - 00;01;28;09
Unknown
Plus, you've got, you know, Facebook following and and so on and so forth. But what is very impressive to me is that the lives of people that you touch, the lives of people that, get to get their story out and you see a little bit behind the scenes. And I just kind of want to go down that path with you today, if that's cool.

00;01;28;12 - 00;01;50;02
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for being here. I'm happy to be here. Where'd you grow up? Philadelphia. Philly. Big Eagles fan fliers. Phillies. Big Philly sports fan. Yeah. I grew up there and came down to Jacksonville in 2013. Yeah. So 2013. What brought you here? I, so I did my grad school in, Mountain Town, grew up in Philly, a big city.

00;01;50;04 - 00;02;09;02
Unknown
So I wanted to try living in a beach town. Yeah. And, I literally applied to jobs up and down the coast from, North Carolina. Down just trying to find a teaching job, because that's what my master's degree was in special education. So I tried to find a teaching job in a beach town, and I found one in Jacksonville.

00;02;09;02 - 00;02;28;29
Unknown
Nice. So I know I did a little background. I know you're a soccer soccer guy, so. Yes, I know what you went you you did the soccer route, you know, coached in college, right? I did say coach a little bit in college. And then you just said I want to live in a beach town. Yeah. So I did a graduate assistantship for two years in Kentucky before moving here.

00;02;29;02 - 00;02;50;12
Unknown
So living in Kentucky was the opposite of growing up in Philadelphia. It was a very small Appalachian town. I loved it there. The people were great. I had a great time. There was definitely a little bit of culture shock living in the middle of nowhere. But, after two years, my time as a graduate assistant was done. So I had to find a job and found one here in Jacksonville.

00;02;50;13 - 00;03;20;15
Unknown
Yeah. So, Well, we're happy you're here. We're happy that you're part of the community. And, you know, just the amazing things that that you do, not only in Jacksonville and throughout the, throughout the country, in, in your childhood, was there anything that, you can point back to and say that this was a defining moment where, you know, I had some empathy or things like that, that that shaped who you are today.

00;03;20;17 - 00;03;37;18
Unknown
I can't think of, like, a specific moment. I always just wanted to be friends with everyone. And if other kids were mean to someone in their classroom or something, I always thought that was lame. Like, why would you be mean to anybody? So I've always had that heart of like, just wanting everyone to get along and be cool and be friends.

00;03;37;21 - 00;03;56;19
Unknown
But I can't think of like, one defining moment now. Well, you just said something there that, you know, I think that is is so awesome. Is that, you know, it it sucks. It sucks. The whole bully thing, the whole, you know, people picking on people. You know, that thing? I mean, what you said right there is like, hate to see that.

00;03;56;24 - 00;04;18;11
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Why can't we just be cool to each other? It's not that complicated. So, going to to, you know, you came to Jacksonville. What happened at that point? So you came to Jacksonville and then how did you how did you get into special education and kind of where your path led? Okay. So I got into special education quite randomly.

00;04;18;13 - 00;04;37;29
Unknown
My undergrad at Penn State was in communications, and then I just wanted to coach college soccer. So I found a job in Kentucky. That's why I went there. And they offered to pay for my master's degree in education. And I had no desire to be a teacher up to that point. But they had 3 or 4 options, and one of them was special education.

00;04;38;01 - 00;04;57;08
Unknown
And that was really the most enticing to me. For some reason, that sounded interesting. So I signed up for the degree because it was free. Never thinking I would ever use it. But I thought, okay, well, I'll be coaching and I'll continue to do that, but I'm not going to turn down a free master's degree. But, like halfway through the program, you had to do student teaching, and I just fell in love with it.

00;04;57;14 - 00;05;13;25
Unknown
So I said, all right, I'm going to kind of alter my life path here. I'm not going to coach. I'm just going to go teach. And that's why I moved down here. I found a job teaching at a school for kids with disabilities. So, I mean, that's that's pretty cool. So it's just you you just you wanted a free degree?

00;05;13;27 - 00;05;30;27
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah, that's what it was. And that's how it. Why do you want the for your degree? It was just part of the compensation package. Gotcha. So, it was really funny because I had just graduated from Penn State, and, the school at Kentucky offered me to go and coach there, and I got the free master's degree, and they gave me, like, a little dorm room to live in.

00;05;30;29 - 00;05;47;25
Unknown
So for two years in my early 20s, I lived in a small dorm room at a small university at a small town in Kentucky. And, yeah, culture shock. It was culture shock. It was very different than Philly. But, you know, I just did it and had a great time and got my master's degree, then came down here.

00;05;47;28 - 00;06;10;10
Unknown
So you got you get to Jacksonville, you have your, your your your your first job. Yeah. And what was what was that? I mean, what was you have that job and then. And then what? You, you, you know, take us through like that first time that you connected with one of the kids or, you know, I knew, right?

00;06;10;11 - 00;06;27;19
Unknown
I loved it right away. But I'll tell you, like your first day in the classroom. It's nerve wracking. Yeah. Because you're like, I am responsible for the development of these children. Like, if something goes wrong, it is fully on me. Like, I have to teach them to read, to write, to be humans. Like, that's a lot of responsibility.

00;06;27;26 - 00;06;48;17
Unknown
So it's a lot of pressure being a young new teacher. But I loved it. And I had the same seven students for three years. And that's when I really got to see how, society wasn't inclusive of students like the ones I had, because they had all different types of disabilities, and we had a great time in the classroom when I saw them grow and learn and become friends.

00;06;48;17 - 00;07;07;17
Unknown
It was amazing. But the tough thing was when we I took them the community outings and I would like teach them how to go to a store and make a purchase. And you can see, like the store clerk, didn't know how to interact with my students. So I began to see that. Okay, like, we live in a world that doesn't quite understand different disabilities.

00;07;07;19 - 00;07;32;13
Unknown
And that's, that is something that is so true. I mean, it it it is absolutely something. I mean, you see it way more than than I would, but I mean, to have somebody I'm sure the children, the kids like to have somebody that's their advocate. It's got to be heartwarming. Yeah. Kind of I look at it as their, their own advocates.

00;07;32;15 - 00;07;46;28
Unknown
I just kind of provide the platform for them to share their story, but really, it's the person who I'm interviewing that shares their story. So I feel like I have the easiest job in the world. All I do is show up and kind of like, yeah, I have a conversation. As I say, my job, my job is easy.

00;07;46;28 - 00;08;07;29
Unknown
This is easy. But you you make a difference. What does that look like? Like, how did the idea come the how did the idea come about with with know special books. Yeah. So having the same seven students for three years, we became like a little family, their families, their parents and their siblings. We were all super close, hanging out on weekends.

00;08;07;29 - 00;08;29;18
Unknown
I would go over their houses for dinner. Wow. And we were like one big family. And when I first moved here to Jacksonville in 2013, I didn't know a single person. So that became my little family, my classroom. And I started to realize that I could teach my students as much as I possibly could. But when they would eventually leave my classroom, they would be entering a world that wasn't inclusive.

00;08;29;20 - 00;08;52;25
Unknown
So I started to understand that, like the biggest thing I could do for my students and other people like them would be to somehow make the world more accepting. Although I didn't know. How could somebody do that? Like that's impossible for one person to do. But here we are, 11 years after starting Special books, and our videos have been viewed over 2.5 billion times.

00;08;52;25 - 00;09;13;25
Unknown
So it's become one of the largest resources on the internet to learn about disability. That's amazing. Were you surprised the the the first, the first time that something went viral? Because, I mean, there's so much of your material that goes viral. I mean, I'm still surprised, really, when something goes viral. Really. Because it's such, like, a low key operation.

00;09;13;25 - 00;09;33;00
Unknown
It's just me and Alyssa, my partner, who run it all, and I literally just I there's nobody going with me. I go to the person's house. I'm meeting somebody for the first time and creating the environment where they feel comfortable sharing their story. And it's just, you know, a camera on a tripod, a few lights. And it's not like this big operation.

00;09;33;00 - 00;09;52;11
Unknown
So the fact that you can have a conversation and just put it online and it goes viral still blows my mind. That's crazy. That's the it's the power of power of social media. No. Yeah. In a positive way. Yeah. In a, in a super positive way. So the the public reaction. Right. So you, you do the interviews.

00;09;52;11 - 00;10;10;18
Unknown
Why why do the interviews. Why why did you start why did you start doing the interviews really so that people could understand people like my students? I just wanted the world to be more accepting. And it started as just a classroom project. So that first I would interview my students and, the very first student I ever interviewed, his name was Kevin.

00;10;10;20 - 00;10;30;29
Unknown
He's very well known. He's like a celebrity within our community. And our channel. But I interviewed him about his disability, and he was missing the part of the brain that connected the two hemispheres. So he quite literally had two hemispheres that aren't connected. And I asked him, what's it like to have your disability? And he said, it's like I'm seeing the world from a whole different perspective.

00;10;31;01 - 00;10;53;00
Unknown
And he went on and talked about that for a minute or two, and it blew my mind that a ten year old at the time could articulate that he's just seeing the world from a different perspective. So long story short, I started by interviewing my students and a producer at ABC world News, saw one of our interviews, and she had a child with Down's syndrome, so it really resonated with her.

00;10;53;02 - 00;11;11;27
Unknown
She called me and asked me a few questions and told me she worked at ABC, but I didn't know anything about her role. I thought it might be like ABC Kentucky Star and the story might air to a few people. But, a few days after our conversation, it aired on ABC World News, and then they shared it on their Facebook page.

00;11;11;27 - 00;11;30;16
Unknown
That news story at the time when Facebook was like the biggest social media, and the story was viewed over 100 million times within a few days. So then I started having people reach out to me from all over the world, asking if I could interview them the same way I interviewed my students. So that's how it went from just a classroom project to being kind of an international thing pretty overnight.

00;11;30;19 - 00;11;48;02
Unknown
Oh, it was. Yeah, it was overnight. Yeah. And at first I was receiving these emails from people asking if I could interview them, and I just kind of ignored the emails because there were so many. Yeah. And I didn't think I had that skill set or I had no experience doing that. So I'm like, okay. Like that's really like moving that people want to share their story.

00;11;48;03 - 00;12;03;08
Unknown
Yeah, but I don't know how to do that. And it's really funny. If you go back to when I first started interviewing people outside of my classroom, like the cameras, like pointed at her forehead, like half of her face was cut out. I don't know where to look like I'm looking at the camera half the time, asking questions like this.

00;12;03;08 - 00;12;27;12
Unknown
I had no experience at all. But, those are some of my favorite videos to look back on because it's just like starting where you're at and learning one thing every day that, I mean, you have a platform now where, I don't think there's too many people like you. It's I am I, I mean, am I correct in that I have a lot of friends within the YouTube space?

00;12;27;12 - 00;12;53;03
Unknown
Yeah, but it's hard to find someone to really connect with within the space because not many people are like, are creating a similar type of content. Yeah, well that's amazing. What do you think? What do you think society. You know, what do you think society gets gets wrong about people with disabilities? I would say the number one thing I've learned is that we should lean in rather than look away.

00;12;53;05 - 00;13;19;28
Unknown
A lot of times people think it's the polite thing to do to look, look away from somebody who has a disability, when in fact we should treat them just like anybody else. Have a conversation, ask if there's any accommodation they need, and, just make sure they have everything they need. Not in a patronizing like way. But for example, if somebody in a wheelchair comes into your place of business, say, hey, is there anything we can do to make your stay here more accessible?

00;13;19;29 - 00;13;43;07
Unknown
Just a little question like that can make the world of difference awesome. So, I know you have a lot of visibility. You got a lot of eyes on, you know, the the the kids and the parents you interview. I want to kind of go into the parents as well, too, but, what's your what's your what's your deep mission with with with what you do.

00;13;43;10 - 00;14;14;19
Unknown
Like what what what's your mission? So with every interview, I think about a few different potential audiences. And the first one is other people with the same disability. So say I interview somebody with, this week I'm editing a video with a woman who has a stutter, and it's an update interview. I interviewed her for the first time in 2018, and she interviewed me a few weeks ago and said, after she saw the reception to that interview, it gave her more confidence because everybody was so kind.

00;14;14;20 - 00;14;32;12
Unknown
So now she's in law school and she said she didn't think she would be in law school if it wasn't for seeing that positivity, because before she was a little more reserved and didn't have enough confidence to put herself out there in that way. But anyway, let's take her interview, for example. When interviewing her, I think about other people with a stutter.

00;14;32;18 - 00;14;48;10
Unknown
I think about kids with a stutter who might see her in law school and then have more confidence. Then I think of the families and support units. I think of the parents who have a kid with the stutter who don't know what should they do? Should they shout the kid? Should they give the kid opportunities and put them out there?

00;14;48;12 - 00;15;12;03
Unknown
Well, in that interview that I'm editing, Molly says how going out there and taking risks was the most important thing, because it gave her the confidence to talk and speak to new people. So maybe those parents will see that and realize they shouldn't shelter their kid. Then I think about, like the general public who isn't used to people who have a stutter, who will watch that video, and then Molly says, the best way to communicate with the person who has a stutter.

00;15;12;10 - 00;15;36;13
Unknown
So I think about the the reception from the disability community and the general public who doesn't have that exposure. There's a lot of different motives. I was going to say that that's amazing because, I mean, you hit you hit three big pillars that I mean, it's so important. I was watching your, your video, with I think his name is Robby.

00;15;36;15 - 00;16;00;08
Unknown
Who? You know, the with, more the the, violence and things like that. So one of the things that really got me was, you know, it was something to do with, you know, he just wanted a hug. I'm like, man, some, you know, it's like something a little like that is just. It just moved me.

00;16;00;08 - 00;16;19;05
Unknown
I was like, whoa. And when you think of violence, a lot of people don't have any patience for that at all. But when I listen to Robby story and I hear that he literally has a chromosome disorder, and there's only one other person in the world known with the same chromosome disorder, and that person also has violent outbursts.

00;16;19;08 - 00;16;43;19
Unknown
You start to realize, well, this is quite literally a genetic difference in them. So of course, if somebody is violent and is prone to aggression, you have to take safety precautions. But when you take the time to listen to someone's story and you realize their genetics are quite literally different, you have a bit more understanding in in that particular one, it was like, you know, when he was saying that, you know, I can't control it.

00;16;43;22 - 00;17;01;01
Unknown
Well, did we ever think of maybe that's true. Maybe there is a control, not just a behavior thing. Oh, absolutely. Especially with genetics being different now. There's a lot we don't know about the regulation of emotions when a certain chromosome is impacted. It's amazing.

00;17;01;01 - 00;17;15;13
Unknown
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Unknown
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00;17;31;21 - 00;17;44;03
Unknown
How do you get prepared for, there's a lot of emotion that goes into what you do. How do you how do you get prepared for for that emotion?

00;17;44;05 - 00;18;05;08
Unknown
People ask me that often if certain interviews make me feel sad or upset. I've never really felt sad after filming an interview, and even sometimes the material that I think some people would consider as sad, it makes me happy or proud that the person had the confidence to share their story. So I think I kind of like just flip my perspective.

00;18;05;08 - 00;18;27;00
Unknown
And I think it's really cool that, for example, a person with, schizophrenia who feels isolated and really struggles with their mental health is willing to reach out and share their story to potentially millions of people. To me, that's an indicator that they're making progress and like, really trying to do good in the world. So I think it's just like a matter of perspective.

00;18;27;07 - 00;18;50;13
Unknown
I'm sure it impacts me in ways I don't even perceive, but I try not to dig too hard into that. You know, that's that's a that's a special that's a special treat you have. No. Thank you. Yeah, definitely. How has Chris Ulmer changed over the years of of work? It's hard to it's hard to think about because I've been doing this for 11 years.

00;18;50;13 - 00;19;12;02
Unknown
And not only has it been meeting so many people, but running a hugely impactful nonprofit every day and the travel, it's been constant travel. Yeah. So I'm sure if I was to go back to 2015 when this first started, it would be like meeting a complete stranger. But when the shift is so gradual day to day, you don't really notice it.

00;19;12;05 - 00;19;31;07
Unknown
I would say I can handle stress a lot better now. How much? How much travel are you doing these days? For the first 8 or 9 years, it was almost every single week. It was constant, constant travel. I've been around the country 100 times. You could tell me what city you were going to. I could tell you everything about the airport.

00;19;31;09 - 00;19;49;25
Unknown
10 or 11 different countries as well. We filmed interviews in, but now I batch record, so I'll go somewhere for two weeks and film ten interviews. Yeah. And we released one a week. Recently. So if I can go travel somewhere, like, I was just in DC and I film ten interviews, then I'll be home for two, 2 or 3 months.

00;19;49;25 - 00;20;07;22
Unknown
What does that process look like? You know, I'm sure at this point it's not you seeking out. Do you have a lot of people that that want to be interviewed now? Yeah. So people go on our website and they fill out an interview request form, and we've had over 20,000 people request an interview over the past decade.

00;20;07;24 - 00;20;27;03
Unknown
And that's only in the on the outlets. We can kind of quantify, because that's through the website, through my email. But there's also people reaching out on every social media. That's the hardest thing, is the correspondence people send you, like the nicest heartfelt messages. But, we haven't really hired a lot of people. It's just me and Alyssa still.

00;20;27;09 - 00;20;47;25
Unknown
So a lot of the just you guys, it's just us, too. Yeah. Wow. I mean, we have an account, and we, like, we outsource different things. But as far as the videos, it's, just us too. So, from an impact, I mean, think about. I just, like, think about you've had 20,000 people want to be interviewed.

00;20;47;27 - 00;21;13;08
Unknown
In a space in the maybe most people think that the kids, the families don't want to be interviewed. And that's a lot of impact, man. And it kind of goes back to what I was saying of the leaning in thing, because a lot of people think that, parents and people with disabilities don't want to share their story, when in fact they want that visibility, they want to take up space and they want to be included in the world.

00;21;13;11 - 00;21;35;12
Unknown
So the, the, the can we shift to the parent part of it? Oh yeah. Absolutely. So on the parent, part of it, what I would think is that when somebody watches and in an interview and they're dealing with the same thing at home because it's not something that's just out there that's talked about and things like that.

00;21;35;12 - 00;21;55;24
Unknown
So is has there have been times when, when parents reached back out saying, gosh, I saw that interview or this helped me through that. Is there been, well, every single day I receive emails about that. So imagine you're a parent and maybe your child is still in utero and you learn through testing that they have a diagnosis that you've never heard of.

00;21;55;24 - 00;22;20;01
Unknown
You hop on Google and before. The first things that pop up is all the scary things. The death rate. What the possible severity of their symptoms. But YouTube is owned by Google. So now when you Google something, often the first thing you'll see is one of our videos. And so although all that stuff is important to know, the statistics and probability of everything, the human side is also important.

00;22;20;01 - 00;22;42;17
Unknown
So to see a kid with the same disability at ten, 15, 20 years old, and I often ask the parents, what would you want to share with yourself when your child was first born? And I think about when I ask that question, the parents who might have a kid who's young, so, I didn't tell you this before we got on, but I have a I have a son with autism.

00;22;42;19 - 00;23;12;29
Unknown
Oh. How old is he? 17. What's his name? Jay. Tell me about him. I never did, so he, He's. I mean, I have a daughter who's 18. I have a son who's 17. We knew probably about a year old because they weren't developing at the same path, and they were very close together. So, he's 17 now, but when early on, it was about when he was about two years old and he started no eye contact, started, you know, testing.

00;23;12;29 - 00;23;52;07
Unknown
But, with his journey, I think the one of the, the most important things. And I wish that there were more, you know, resources and things like that because a parent does not know what you go through. So I think that's one of the most important things, like what you're doing. Like, I would love to have had a resource to go, man, my child's doing the same thing because we had, you know, he I would say Jay's probably, probably on the low side as far as, you know, functionality.

00;23;52;07 - 00;24;20;16
Unknown
Like he's not going to ever be on his own and things like that. He has this communication. It's much better. Okay. So much better. Still non-verbal to some, non-verbal to somebody that doesn't understand them. Yeah. No. Yeah. So but you know everything. So we say eat, you know, it's eat, eat Pop-Tarts. Yeah. So like I try to explain it to people like he looks like a man that loves rugrats.

00;24;20;19 - 00;24;38;04
Unknown
You know what I'm saying? Like, but there's challenges that come with that. There's been, you know, many, many nights of sleepless nights and, you know, there's, you know, not so much now, but when he was younger and, you know, I heard one of your episodes, too, like ripping through drywall, just like coming out of his skin, you know?

00;24;38;04 - 00;25;00;27
Unknown
So. Yeah. So I just want to commend you like that piece of it for a parent is very, very, very important. Because when you're in a situation like that, I'm sure, you know, it can feel very isolating. Yep. So when you hear somebody else sharing a similar experience, it's almost like somebody actually recently described it to me as finding a lifeboat lost out at sea.

00;25;00;29 - 00;25;28;16
Unknown
And then you kind of realize that you're not alone. That was one of the best pieces of feedback, pieces of feedback I ever received. Watching one of our videos is like finding a lifeboat out at sea. That yeah, it's motivating to hear stuff like that. Yeah. But that, that part of it, I, you know, listening to some of the episodes and things like that, I see the, you know, the parents, I mean, you know, and I know there's a lot more severe cases that you've covered, you know, than, than my son.

00;25;28;16 - 00;25;51;22
Unknown
However, it's nice to have that community. So congrats on that. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. I think it's important to share both the perspective of the person with the disability, but also the family perspective too, because it does impact everybody. Well. And it's things like, you know, it's it's from a standpoint of you're at the grocery store, right, for the public to know, right?

00;25;51;22 - 00;26;18;07
Unknown
You're at the grocery store and there is a child screaming bloody murder. Yeah, right. The what? Having a son who has autism has taught me about that is maybe it's not behavioral. Maybe there maybe there's something deeper than sensory. Maybe it's sensory, maybe, you know, so things like that. So, but that's that's awesome. There's a there's a platform.

00;26;18;09 - 00;26;34;20
Unknown
And, you know, for the, for the kids to tell their story. Oh, yeah. You know, it's, it's a lot of times that I think that things are, you know, internalized or the public thinks like, you know, the child is this way, and that's just how they are. I know there's a there's a human being, you know, inside there.

00;26;34;23 - 00;26;54;23
Unknown
One of my favorite stories is, I interviewed one of my favorite people ever. And she was so sweet. And I went to do a follow up a few months later, and her mom told me she's now, like, the most popular girl at her school because everybody saw the video. And let's go learn, because I often ask if somebody wants to be your friend, what should they do?

00;26;54;25 - 00;27;11;14
Unknown
And I ask that because I know that many people within their actual life and inner circle will see that. And maybe people from their school will see it who they're not friends with yet. And it's kind of like giving them the playbook of how to be friends with that person. So when I when it's little things that just are so impactful.

00;27;11;17 - 00;27;37;04
Unknown
Exactly. Yeah. But also it's kind of generalized too, because the audience will probably meet somebody similar at one point in their life, and then they have that that feedback and advice as well. Yeah. Very cool. Tell us about the nonprofit. So, nonprofit name of the nonprofit, you know, kind of what what the mission is. Yeah. So after people started interviewing me into their homes to film these interviews, we created it.

00;27;37;04 - 00;28;07;00
Unknown
We turned it into a nonprofit special books by special kids. And our mission statement is to normalize the diverse diversity of give me a second of the human, normalize the diverse. It's been a while of the human. Okay, I got it. Yeah. Our mission is to normalize the diversity of the human condition. Really, what that means is just anybody you meet, whether they're disabled or not, it's a potential friend.

00;28;07;02 - 00;28;28;00
Unknown
It's just another person in the world who you can get to know. And, yeah, we've been doing it for 11 years. I interviewed about a thousand people all over the world, and it just keeps on going. So someone that would want to be involved, what is that? What does that look like? You know, is there a financial perspective, like what does that look like for somebody?

00;28;28;03 - 00;28;44;23
Unknown
You can always donate on our website, SBS scoring. But I say the best way to get involved is just to like, watch a video and, see how it changes your perspective. And if it inspires you or motivates you at all, you can share it with a friend. And that's awesome. Yeah, it's fun man. I love doing it.

00;28;44;23 - 00;29;08;07
Unknown
I can't, I wake up every day. I'm like, this is so cool. Like it's it's real. It feels like a dream. I was just about to ask you something somebody wouldn't believe about your job, and you just answered it. It's. You're living in this dream world that you know, and you're affecting so many, so many people. And I never thought it would last this long.

00;29;08;09 - 00;29;28;27
Unknown
When so when it first got big, that was December, when the ABC news producer did the story and it blew up. That was December of 2015. So I finished that school year as a teacher because I wanted my students to have that, familiarity and didn't want to have them do a big transition in the middle of the school year.

00;29;29;00 - 00;29;49;23
Unknown
But in spring of 2016, I left the classroom and started traveling all over the do these interviews thinking, okay, like maybe it'll last a year, but like, I have no clue what I'm doing. I don't know how the finances will work. I don't know anything about managing a big nonprofit. Well, it wasn't big at the time. I don't know anything about being the CEO of a nonprofit.

00;29;49;26 - 00;30;05;17
Unknown
But here we are ten years later, and it still just keeps on going because it's got a heart behind it. Yeah. And we never we never, like, optimize anything. We just let people tell their stories and we let the chips fall where they may. It's just real. You know? That's really cool. I think people see that authenticity.

00;30;05;19 - 00;30;31;27
Unknown
And I think it's kind of rare in the world today. I think so many things are optimized just to capture someone's attention, that when something is just real and authentic, it stands out. Well, if you think about this so from a from a business perspective, right. That what you're doing, there's so many people that would say, okay, we can do this, this, this and this and optimize it financially.

00;30;32;00 - 00;30;59;26
Unknown
And, you know, while that is a part of business that's not your mission. No, not at all, which I believe has, you know, propelled you. I mean, that's amazing. We never once sat down and said, how can we raise our profits this quarter or anything? We never once had a discussion like that. And I think that's why as a nonprofit, we're going on to year 11 because we truly value the mission above everything else.

00;30;59;29 - 00;31;23;12
Unknown
And, you know, I think people can see that. They can we all can, when people hear special books by special kids ten years from now, what do you want them to think? I kind of hope they just have, like, a feeling of warmth and happiness. And, for me, like, people will always ask me, what was your favorite interview?

00;31;23;12 - 00;31;41;28
Unknown
And I'm like, oh my gosh, like, how do I number one? It doesn't feel right picking just like I'm friends with so many of these people. Like, I feel like if I pick one, that's kind of messed up. But, yeah, I hope people just have a good feeling and they just remember some things they learned from it and how to, like better treat people.

00;31;42;00 - 00;32;02;29
Unknown
That's awesome. I'm I'm like, oh, well, the cool thing is it's super sustainable. Yeah. We just, you know, go into people's homes and set up a camera and film an interview and publish once a week. So I don't know if I'll still be doing it at the same frequency of one a week in ten years, but I imagine I'll still be doing it to some degree, whether it be once a month, two times a month.

00;32;02;29 - 00;32;18;15
Unknown
We'll see. But it's kind of one of those things that I see myself doing for a while. That's awesome. Well, you're making a difference. You're making a difference. You know that you're making a difference, and you're you got a heart of gold. So we we appreciate that. Now let's let's flip to Jacksonville real quick. I love it here.

00;32;18;16 - 00;32;36;16
Unknown
I feel like if I didn't move the Jacksonville yeah this would have never happened I kind of I kind of feel the same way. I've been here for 13, 13 years now. And when I got here, I felt home. And I, and I still feel that way because I was in bigger cities before and things like that.

00;32;36;16 - 00;33;00;24
Unknown
But I think what's special about Jacksonville is that it's it's still a big city, right? It's not a huge city, but it's still big city. But everyone's connected like there's, there's there's just a, I don't know what you call the southern feel. I'm not from the South, but originally. But it's like this real, genuine southern feel. And it's a I see people all the time.

00;33;00;24 - 00;33;17;21
Unknown
I run into here, I run into there. I keep running to the same people, and people genuinely care about each other. In Jacksonville, you feel the same. Oh my gosh, it's such a cool. And like, I don't I don't want to say underrated because I feel like it's an undiscovered city. And I travel all over for work.

00;33;17;21 - 00;33;35;23
Unknown
I go to LA, New York every city 100 times, but I've never once felt like I would rather live somewhere else than Jacksonville. That's good. I love it here, especially Jacksonville Beach. You're a beach guy, I am. You came for the beach guy. Yeah. So, let's talk about, let's talk about some favorites off the wall stuff.

00;33;35;23 - 00;33;54;15
Unknown
So. Oh, yeah. What's your, what's your go to for, for dinner? Oh, man. There's a lot of different, restaurants at the beach, but I guess the first one that popped into my head was DLP pizza. Got it. I don't know if I've ever had it. My goodness. Oh, it's in south Jack. Speed, Jack speed. Delicious pizza.

00;33;54;17 - 00;34;15;20
Unknown
I love it. What? Are you a surfer? Volleyball player? Volleyball. Yeah. So big volleyball player. Is there good? Good volleyball at the beach? There is. Yeah, all different levels. There's a great volleyball community, too. It's one of those social sports where I think nearly like 80% of my friends are volleyball players, but it's such, like, a cool little community.

00;34;15;22 - 00;34;31;18
Unknown
You play on the beach or in the sand in the sun. It's a it's a beautiful sport. So, what does that what does that look like? Is there ever times where you're out and about and people people are like, oh, you're him? Yeah. Yeah, that happens often. And it kind of messes with your mind a little bit.

00;34;31;21 - 00;34;52;22
Unknown
So it's not like I'm a super big celebrity or anything, but the fact that, so I'd say, like on a normal day, maybe 1 or 2 people, recognize me from the videos and say hi. And that's like, I like it, I love it, that's cool. But the trippy thing is that one person can be anybody. So, it's not like I change who I am or anything, but, like, you just never know who knows who you are.

00;34;52;23 - 00;35;20;25
Unknown
So, like, you always want to represent yourself in the best way. Sure. Very cool. So any, any favorites as far as, you know, lunch spots, anything at the beach? Yeah, I love some deli. Some deli? Yeah. Have you been there? I have, it's delicious. What else? Mainly, coffee. Coffee? Coffee drink. I'm a tea drinker.

00;35;20;25 - 00;35;38;25
Unknown
Okay. So drinker. Okay. I don't know what taste, but I. I go to bold being a lot to edit videos. Really? Well, it's funny, like the editing process. Sometimes I like total silence and all. I want to be at home to edit, but then sometimes I just want, like, a thousand different things going on in the background, and that helps me.

00;35;38;25 - 00;35;57;25
Unknown
Do you edit all your own stuff? I do, yeah, every single video. I've edited it myself. So that's a big part of the job too. The editing process. That's crazy. That's probably like the most time consuming part. Yeah. The interviews I usually film about two hours of raw footage, and these days the final output will be like 20 to 30 minutes.

00;35;57;28 - 00;36;15;26
Unknown
So the editing process is. Yeah, it's a little extensive. I did a, I did a class for realtors today, early this morning, and we were talking about that. I'm like, I'm like, if you try to edit, you're going to be hours and hours and hours. Yeah. I've tried. I can't believe you do all yourself. Oh, it's time consuming.

00;36;15;27 - 00;36;43;14
Unknown
Yeah. Very cool. Anything else you want to kind of touch on? No. I think you and you were quite, extensive. Good. Yeah. All right, let's wrap. So, man, it's been a pleasure. I, I can honestly say that we probably have not had a guest on. That makes as much impact as you do with, with kids and families and things like that that you touched.

00;36;43;14 - 00;37;00;11
Unknown
So I appreciate you being on here. I appreciate you being, a resident sometimes of Jacksonville. I know you're traveling a bunch, but, man, you know, you make a difference in the world, and, and we appreciate you being on. Oh. Thank you. I love doing it. And I'm happy to be here today. All right.

00;37;00;11 - 00;37;14;17
Unknown
The Hometown Jack's podcast is recorded and produced by First Coast Mortgage Funding. Located in the heart of Jacksonville. Do you want to be our next guest? Visit our website at Hometown Jack's podcast.com. We can't wait to hear your story.