Since the early 1800s, Matt Caldwell’s family has had roots in Florida. Today, Matt is staying true to those roots and running for Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Before deciding to run for Agriculture Commissioner, Matt Caldwell was your average, everyday, pocket constitution carrying member of Florida’s House of Representatives.

The man who once tweeted that he’d rather engage in fisticuffs with a coyote rather than an alligator (any Floridian would), decided to jump into a statewide election to shift the focus to the issues he sees as most important: “jobs, water, and the second amendment.”

In this episode, you’ll hear him talk about his background growing up in Fort Myers, his experience as one of the trailblazers in Florida Gulf Coast University’s inaugural years, and his love for the natural beauty of the state.

Love and family. Devoted Health, a start-up launching Medicare Advantage plans in 2019, aims to connect those words with healthcare.In this episode, Dariel Quintana, the Florida market president for Devoted Health, talks about what’s changed with healthcare in his two decades in the industry, what’s remained the same, and why choosing a healthcare plan needs to look more like online car shopping.

Listen in to hear how Florida stacks up with other states’ Medicare Advantage options, tips for people approaching age 65, and find out how Devoted Health is using world-class technology – and love – to change the way we think about healthcare plans.If you enjoyed this interview, you might enjoy our episode with Former Director of Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use Christian Bax.

Born in Oklahoma, raised in Alaska, attended high school in Miami and college at Duke: not the path you would expect from the twelfth president of the University of Florida, but Kent Fuchs is far from an ordinary university president. In college, Kent had his sights set on engineering, then business, and eventually the ministry before turning to a life of higher education. In his third year as UF’s president, he is reflective of the experiences he has had that led him to the University of Florida.

Even though he grew up in the culturally vibrant 1960’s, President Fuchs witnessed minimal culture growing up with no television. Now, as the president of a preeminent research institution, President Fuchs is having to make decisions about free speech and social media.

It isn’t often someone can go from executive assistant to executive director, but since starting with the Florida Police Chiefs Association in 1999, that’s exactly what Amy Mercer has done. As executive director of one of the largest policing association in the country, Amy is on the cutting edge of police technology and technique, but the job has continued to develop new challenges over the nearly two-decades.

Mercer is fluent in Floridian. One of the hardest parts of her job is addressing the negative glare cast on law enforcement by a select few. Mercer says, “I know the type of commitment and dedication that the majority of our law enforcement members have. They’re truly individuals that’s wanting to make a difference to better their communities and the citizens that they serve better their lives, but I do recognize that unfortunately in all industry there are some bad apples, and law enforcement is no different.”

Although she doesn’t have personal experience as a member of law enforcement, Mercer does have inspiration for her new career, stating “my great-grandfather on my mother’s side, he was in law enforcement. Years ago, he was in Ripley’s Believe it or Not, as the longest acting living sheriff in Georgia, where I’m originally from.”

Since this episode of Fluent in Floridian was recorded, Ken Lawson was tapped as the Director of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.Bringing with him his Marine background and homegrown Florida story, Ken Lawson has taken VisitFlorida in a bold, refreshing, and transparent direction. Appointed by Governor Scott to right a sinking ship, Lawson has been fundamental in revitalizing the state’s tourism bureau, however he still has to fight against hurricanes, national and international competition.

Ken is fluent in Floridian. Ken takes advantage of social media to innovate the way tourists are ‘sold’ on Florida, he informed us, “We have a program called Share A Little Sunshine where people send their video clips of their experience. And when you see it on Facebook, on Instagram. It’s like, “No. No one’s selling me anything. They’re sharing with me.” And then I’m going to put myself in the shoes of that person and it’s just after the hurricane for a live camera showing that, “Hey, it’s 1:10 here in Destin and the sky is clear. The air smells good. Feel the sand underneath your toes.” In fact, Facebook told us that after the hurricane our campaign on Facebook was basically the second most popular, successful campaign they had and this is after Visa.”

As one of Florida State’s three Heisman trophy winner, Charlie Ward left Tallahassee to play professional basketball with the New York knicks as their starting point guard, only to return to the city that saw the birth of his two-sport superstardom as the newest head basketball coach at Florida High. But if you ask him, it’s all about the love of the game. His star-studded journey has brought high, lows, and lots of lessons.Ward is fluent in Floridian. Winning his Heisman as FSU’s quarterback, his life outside of sports holds a deeper meaning, “I want to be known as a giver, whether it’s giving back to a high school, giving to a charity, whether financial or time, just want to be a giver.” One way he practices giving back is by having his Heisman trophy on display at the Thomasville Public Library for the children of his hometown.During his time in New York, Ward had the chance to learn under the tutelage of NBA legends such as Derek Harper, Herb Williams, and even Doc Rivers. Rivers has his own Florida story, beginning his coaching career with the Orlando Magic, he maintained residence in Central Florida after leaving the Magic, raising his children there, including son Austin Rivers. Austin went on to play basketball at Winter Park High School, and eventually under his father’s coaching for the Los Angeles Clippers.

A journalist for four-decades at the Tampa Bay Times, Jeff Klinkenberg has the kind of job that most people dream of. His column, Real Florida, began in 1986 and documented the arts, culture, nature and way of life of Floridians. Faced with cave diving, mosquitos, hurricanes and alligators, Jeff would still classify the drive from Tampa to Daytona Beach on I-4 the most dangerous thing in Florida.

Jeff is fluent in Floridian. Jeff got his start in Miami covering the sports beat, but it wasn’t ideal, he describes, “so I was covering the Miami Dolphins and I got tired of it. I was looking for a way to write about interesting people. I volunteered to be the outdoors editor. A lot of people thought I was crazy because I was 22 years old. I had the best beat, according to some people, on the whole newspaper. I’m traveling across the country. I’m talking to the Miami Dolphins when they’re the world champions. I just found it boring. I wanted to talk to real people who might be a little colorful.”

One thing Jeff loathes nowadays is the narrative description of Florida as the ‘weird capital’ of the world. “I don’t think of that as Real Florida,” Jeff states plainly, “Real Florida tends to be somewhat timeless.”

He has served under Florida Governor Askew and with the New York Yankees, but over the past two-and-a-half decades, Doug Sessions has found the most success as President and CEO of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (preventchildabusefl.org), which works to end child abuse in Florida. His background in government made him an unlikely candidate for the position, but his overwhelming devotion to preventing child abuse in Florida makes him an obvious choice.

Before Doug was fluent in Floridian, he was speaking Yankee as he served with the New York baseball team, he describes a touching experience with the organization where Miller Lite donated to an orphanage in the Bronx as payment for George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin to be featured in a commercial.

The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida wants you to know that everyone plays a role preventing child abuse and neglect. Simple, everyday actions like teaching new parents about healthy child development, donating goods and services to organizations that serve families and advocating for children’s causes can all help support families so they can thrive. And while the focus of the month is on helping families before problems arise, you should also know how to report abuse and neglect if you suspect it. Make a confidential report by calling the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE.

A hopeful, hard-working, Boston-transplant, Philip Levine will be the first to say he wasn’t a ‘stellar student,’ instead, he would probably attribute his ascension to the upper echelon of Florida politics to his convictions and mentality of hard work. His background in politics and history have led him to ‘think big and act small,’ which is why when he saw paralysis on the part of Miami Beach legislature to address climate change, he took up the fight and ran for mayor.

Philip is fluent in Floridian. Although his stint at the U of F was brief, he does have valuable advice for students, “I always say, “Study what you would enjoy the most. Study what you would wake up in the morning and be excited to go to class. Because if you want to go into business, you don’t need a business degree. Matter of fact, I’ll give you a business degree right now. You buy something for a dollar, you sell it for two. You write it down, it’s called accounting. And it doesn’t make a difference which business you’re in.””

One innovative strategy that Levine employed during his campaign was his Living Room Speaking Tour. When he ran for mayor of Miami Beach, Levine knocked on over 6,000 doors, so in order to increase the efficiency, he has people invite over their friends and neighbors to talk with him about this issues in Florida. “They’re the ones that kind of give you your PhD on Florida,” he says.