Da da da da da da da da da da da We go.

We always find our way back home We always find our way back home Welcome to Homegrown, the show where we introduce you to the people and stories that s the character of life in Arkansa I'm Don Scott.

And today we're talking about those special Arkansans making a whether in the classroom, the ba court or community at large.

These are the difference makers working toward a better Arkansas We'll meet a junior high band te who talks the talk and walks the walk for her students.

Then we'll travel back in time t and learn about an Arkansas pioneer and her uphill battle for recogn We'll catch up with a musical su that helps young girls find thei and their self-confidence.

And meet a poet whose passion for self-expression strives to make his neighborhood a little more beautiful.

But first, let's head to Fayette where Danielle musselman, the wife of Razorback basketball Eric Musselman, is making a big away from the court with philant work that truly changes lives.

I grew up moving all around.

I was actually born in Saint Lou but I lived in, gosh, four or fi I finally ended up going to high outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

So when people ask where I'm fro I say Atlanta.

But really, I mean, I was living the United States before then.

I always remember being a sports My dad was a huge sports fan, and he took me to baseball games and basketball games from the ti when I was little.

I actually started out thinking that I wanted to go to film scho and I remember clearly freshman I took a film class and I hated So immediately I knew that that's not what I wanted to do.

And finally I settled in on spor And the funny thing about that is looking back, I always was a broadcaster, You know, I used to do plays.

I was always the kid that wanted the radio announcements.

That is where my true passion and talent always was.

But it just took a little bit lo for me to kind of put it all tog and realize, Hey, you want to be a sports anchor?

There were people that I looked to like Robin Roberts and Pam Ol that were there, but it wasn't l I turned on the TV every day.

And saw people that look like me So whenever I met Coach Musselma I just remember talking to him and thinking how funny and how nice he was.

I didn't think he was interested at all.

And then at the end of the conve he asked me for my phone number.

So I was like, okay, there's something here.

He started talking about marriag like six months later.

It was awesome.

A year later, we were married.

Whenever we were at the University of Nevada we kind of knew we were not going to leave unles something that really felt right And whenever Arkansas came along that was something that really f right.

Sports broadcasting was absolutely my p I worked so hard on it for, gosh, I don't know, 15 year But then whenever I stepped away I was a little scared because I didn't know what my next passion was going t And it definitely took time.

I didn't wake up the next mornin you know, now I'm going to fundr It took time.

And as we prepare to come togeth to raise funds for pediatric can research and lodging.

I just want to take a minute to thank a group of people that have made this evening poss and everything that it is.

So thank you so much to our suit and sneakers 2022 Committee.

So now the philanthropy is something th I'm so proud of.

I've lived in, I don't even know or 14 different states.

We have had so many jobs between And so I just think who I am right now is a busy mom and wife And, you know, ten years from no going to be something completely different.

And that's okay.

What an inspiration.

Danielle has used her platform to kick start Coaches versus Can on the U of a campus nationally, versus cancer has raised over $130 million since it began in 1 It's no wonder at all that Danielle was chosen as 2023 of inspiration by the Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas.

Some people are simply born as the life of the party, and Le La Follette is one of those peop Leah is a unique educator, making a difference for her stud behind the podium during the sch and from the stage on a Friday n What the you and the what.

Music to me is like freedom, opportunities.

It's fun, magical sometimes just because you've be when you've been like in the dum and all of a sudden like your ja and all of a sudden you get 10% happier than what you just were before that song came on or that that piece of music started play Or you find yourself all of a su doing air guitar with the brown.

We should be discrete in the kit I mean, those kind of things hap and that's what music is.

It's magic.

So I've been teaching bass for 16 years and I love it a lot I love it a whole lot.

Having a bunch of people come to that have never touched an instr or they know about music and cre a piece of of something fun.

She's a really good teacher and I enjoy her teaching She's inspired me in a lot of wa Honestly.

She's helped me to be overall more confident because I am a very timid person She has helped me come out of my Lot because as soon as I know they sound good in public, they're going to eat it up and l So, no.

I mean, I've been with big damn horns since they started.

We're a ten piece person band, sometimes 12, sometimes 13, depending on who's And you don't.

Have to find a band to experience a whole lot I'll say that just like all the other music, like the ex that you get being in an ensembl Things you never would have got to expe or go or meet people that you'd would have in your life have met and grown up with.

You've.

Let me.

Look at.

What I've gotten from being in a versus being in an education set They're really interchangeable b you're in front of people regard You're always in front of a group of people trying to get them to do somethi whether it be dancing or whether it be motivating them to play something better or just have a good atmosphere and give them some energy to do So in an education setting for t group for middle school, I am very used to being on and being silly.

Like all of a sudden I just may break out in song and and just act out two jobs.

And just like the kids sometimes are, like Kathy, I feel like I do that in front of the adults that are at because sometimes they don't.

They want to be silly, but there's no one that started, like as I say, let's go one up t floor, that kind of thing.

So I find that those two things interchangeable.

I tend to get tired.

Now, rememb this is a dance war.

This is a sanctioned area, from what I understand.

Yes, sir.

Exactly.

Just like they're.

Just like.

It's really it's really good to that she can do something like t I like a full time job and be part of the rock band.

For our junior Academy kids to just be able to play and show off the hard work they've done and show their parents like, Loo this is what commitment looks li and this is what it sounds like something and be amazing.

I love that people see value in it and they enjoy it.

Leah La Follette is making a dif in how her junior high students see their teachers as well as their future.

She's walking to the beat of her and teaching others to do the sa Women like Danielle Musselman and Leah La Follette have made a difference while in the spotlight.

But sometimes the world doesn't take notice of the differences we make, at least not at first.

Little Rock native Rae Montague spent most of her career overlooked, despite her incredible accomplis as a naval engineer who broke do barriers and produced pioneering But that never hindered her pass or drive.

Here she is telling her story.

My mother told me, she says, Rae, you'll have three strikes agains You're female and you're black.

At that time, the terminology wa and you will have a Southern segregated school edu But you can do a be anything you want to be, but you got to be educated and w When I was about seven years old this was during World War Two.

The United States captured a Ger Mendota, a submarine off the coast of the Carolinas, and they brought it to downtown Little Rock on tour.

And my grandfather took me down and I looked through the perisco and saw the dance and mechanism.

And I said, Boy, do you have to know to do this?

And the guy giving the speech sa You'd have to be an engineer, bu you don't ever have to worry abo Well, I didn't realize I'd been insulted so that was my goal.

I decided seven I was going to become an enginee And I remember when I was in eig I had a history teacher and my kids were talking about what they wanted to be when they And of course, I said I wanted to become an engineer.

They laughed at me because they I'm born to drive a train.

This is how old.

They called me aside, and she sa get upset about them laughing at Aim for the stars at the very wo Your land on the moon.

And the day after I graduated, I marched off to Washington, D.C and my rose me around.

And ironically enough, the Navy was the first big group to call me in for an interview.

And even with a college degree, they started me at the bottom of the ladder on the UNIVAC one.

It was the first commercially available computer.

And I said, John, teach me to operate the computer He said, No, if I did, sure, I'll break the c You'd have my job.

And I walked over to the compute and I started to replicate what I had seen him doing.

But anyway, he came out and he stood there and watched m And finally he said, Ray, I know you knew how to operate the comp I said, No.

He said, Well, what are you doin I said, I not doing enough to get my job to be so far, you know, more than the rest of So from now on, this is your job In 1971, President Nixon ordered a new ship designe But instead of taking two years to do the rough draft, as had been the history of the N he wanted the Navy to produce this in two months.

The airport gave me one month to do it, and I did it in 18 hours and 26 minutes.

I remember I was told, You get it all the way.

Well, that's an obstacle.

You might have to drop back and create a challenge and situa out of it and go a different direction.

It might take you a little longer, but you can achieve and excel.

I did.

Ray Montague and countless women like her went unappreciated during their until Margulies Shetterly published her book Hidden Figures in 2016.

Shetterly book and the subsequen adaptation told the story of thr African-American women Mary Jack Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Va who were integral to America winning the space race in the 19 After the film's success, there was renewed interest in rediscovering the stories of hidden figures lost to American And so, 45 years after she taught herself to prog one of the Navy's earliest compu Ray Montagu was finally recogniz for her groundbreaking work.

Danielle Musselman, Leah La Follett and Ray Montague That's quite a bit of Arkansas g The teachers at Little Rock's Trust Tree program are working t a new generation of Arkansas gir find their voice and self-confid with the power of music to.

I can't even.

Guys.

We have no.

Trust.

Tree Programs is a nonprofit organization here in Little Rock We offer songwriting and recordi for girls between the ages of ni For us, this campus is about hel these women figure out how to express themselves through words, music, instruments, whatever they feel they need to express themselves It also is about confidence making connections, learning to collaborate, learning to build each other up, learning how to get those feelin that are so deep inside of you a you don't know how to express th So we're trying to help these gi find themselves, find a way to express themselves a way to be themselves without j Hopefully girls can come out of this experience feeling confi that they can be themselves and that is good, and that there anything wrong with expressing w and that it's important to do th So this camp has been so cool fo It's given me a lot of opportuni The my favorite thing that I got was the ukulele, because I learned some porcelain And that's like, that was the ba my song that I like my finished And we also think thinking that like my trademark, like when I d poetry, I could play the ukulele because I don't know how many po you know, that play the ukulele behind that poetry.

I need learn to love and shine.

I like you.

You like me.

So treat me like I am your muse.

Bathing and I mean everything in when I find the one man.

I hope he's talented.

If he can sing, I hope he sings Serenading me with the sweet sounds for me.

If he's a poet, I hope he writes for me, recites lines about just how much he lik the fact that this is all girls and being run by girls for girls about girls is various Very motivating, very cool.

It's nice to have an all girls c because there's not like boys bossing around and being like, w but up to you have to do this.

So, you know, and I like I like it just girls.

One of our biggest messages that we can give these girls that are going through it or any girl that's watching this that your voice matters, that what you have to express, matter that you're opinions are valid.

You know, you say something, you feel, I'm not so confident a And then somebody pokes fun of i and then you just you shrink ins And I just want them to always f like what they have to say and what they t something is really meaningful.

And it's really important.

And it's important to not only b but to also be heard.

That piece was completed in 2018 and since then, Trust Tree has grown by leaps and bounds.

If we took the artistic vision of the Trust Tree musicia and combined it with the communi focus of Daniel Musselman, we might end up with something.

Not far from what Chris James is a nationally recognized poet, children's book author, playwright and teacher.

James is making a difference in of his audience, students and co Working from his home base, the House of Art in North Little Tonight, on this day when Jeff the big guy.

Doesn't mean you don't, sometimes you just got to be pat because maybe you'll remember a and your blessing is still a bea and you can't rush perfection.

God, as an artist over Spetses, you are magnificent masterpiece made in the image of the most are with a faith of a must to se You can move mountains now that' Today I got to sit down with the creative and entreprene Krista The Journey.

James We chatted on a wide range of topics, including his creativ his favorite works, his influenc and even a little self care talk I've always, you know, existed in a colorful way, and i has been a passion of mine, too, to show my mind and color, you k So I started writing poetry in the seventh grade, you know, freshman year of colle I got to perform, you know, at an open mic.

And then that just kind of grew into a lot of different things, like I start to figure it out, l how could I take poetry and do all these other things?

You know, I was exposed to Zombi that she turned 21 poems into a stage play.

And I'm like, shoot, I can do th So Chris James went from an open mic poet to a playwright as a creative, doing so much, and I fit a lot of those boxes.

What would you say has been like somewhat of harder not just moments, but like hindr Like what are some like ongoing you you have to overcome?

man.

One of the ongoing problem as an artist that I have to consistently overcome is as gett to understand the value of art and to understand how significan and creativity is to any movement, to, you know, rather is to their You know, even with me on and Ar you know, people come in here and they see our walls and they say $1,000 for that, yo I'm like, yeah, you know, I wear my shirts all the time.

They say poetry and chill or wri said the poet.

Right.

And it begins a conversation, ri So this so my shirt serves as, as, as an alleyway or an entry point into my art, somehow inspiring some type of a that actually may be inspiring t to want to come to an open mic.

But so an artist puts out their art to the world and they inspir And that action may very well just be conversation.

But that conversation leads to a because conversation, word of mo makes me as an artist, you know, a decent amount of mon sometimes, you know, and you can to that because word of mouth, y it takes a lot of businesses from from here to to skyrocket.

You know, I do my best as an art to do what I'm moved to do.

So for me, I think if an artist is emotionally moved to create, it becomes a responsibility to put it out to Because your art is not just for for somebody else.

You know, first is for you.

First is for you to get it out.

But secondly, when you create, it is now time to share with the because somebody needs to hear or to experience what you just c Speaking on how you create for yourself, but you also create for the crow Like when from your creations, what do you hope they get from i when you grow?

I simply want people to feel rig Like if if one person in the audience fe something, you know, from my art I want people to cry when they when they experience m I want them to laugh.

Right?

But I want them to leave that auditorium or that or that coffee shop feeling somewhat different than when they came in.

Just like church.

When you come to church to jump where you gave me all my art to be like church, you know, I call myself the jour because I want people to feel li they have experienced a road trip of emotions, right?

Right after they've experienced my rig Realized that your voice is sign right.

As it relates to this movement, as it relates to, you know, the next thing that's going to h you know, in the world realize that what you have to sa what you have to share, what it is that you want to do is significant, is is a value and what you feel is valued.

Right.

And it's important that you put that out to the wor the way that you feel is you put out to the world.

And don't let anybody or anyone to stifle that that creativity, that desire to execute on that i Just do the whole man appreciate and have you.

Don't roll alone now for all tha distant hood, you know, say, Hey, man, I'm good when I'm And maybe in two years.

All right, all right.

There's a lot to do with you.

You got a lot to smile and do.

You got a lot to live with all o You got a.

Lot to do.

So you can do it.

Yeah, man, that's a positive brother right there.

Although I'm anti-drone a hoax, I am down for progressive mindse Art inspires action.

This is code by a sizable community impact.

You can tell he lives by words.

You know Chris James got the global proud know how ce Making a difference can be diffe things for different communities Maybe it's teaching or building, or maybe creating regardless of how we choose to do it.

The bar has been set high by these awesome Arkansans.

Are you up to the challenge?

That's it for this episode of Ho Thank you for sharing your time and please take a moment to appreciate the people whose h has gone into making this show.

I'll see you next time.

Where we came from this year, changes need.

See the same strong.

So here's to two Chiefs sunglass Red Bull and minivans.

People who had your back when the world didn't.

Still seem to forget where we came fro The city changes.