Cissy Proctor can blame her former coworkers for her interest in public service work. Having attended Florida State for her undergraduate and law degrees, Proctor went on to work at a local Tallahassee law firm called Bryant Miller Olive, where she said many of her colleagues “Had been inside state government, inside state agencies, inside the governor’s office, legislature, and really spoke so highly of their time inside stat government. So I kind of got bit by the bug to really go do more public service work.” This led to a series of public service jobs, including serving as Jesse Panuccio’s Deputy of Legislative Affairs Director, his Director of Strategic Business Development, his Chief of Staff, all culminating in her current role as the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Executive Director.

Proctor is fluent in Floridian. She believes that it’s important to remove barriers that prevent some of Florida’s people from attaining work, including those who have served jail time and veterans. “When you’re getting out of jail and you have a job waiting on the other end, they’re seeing the recidivism rate go down significantly because you’ve got a job, you’re able to support yourself and your family, and you see a future, which is incredibly important.”

During the interview, she reminisced about her family’s trips to St. Teresa when she was younger, and the meaning the place holds to her today. “It’s a great part of the state. Beautiful beach, [I] go down there quite a bit throughout the year. So, it’s really just something that has a special place in my heart. My husband and I both grew up going down there. We actually have a picture of us before we knew each other in the water together.”

In today’s volatile political climate, it can be hard to “cut through the noise,” as Dr. Bob McClure puts it. But Dr. McClure, as the CEO and President of the James Madison Institute, one of the oldest non-partisan think tanks in the country, makes it his (nonprofit) business to cut through the noise. The James Madison Institute focuses on “policy that advances opportunity and economic prosperity for all Floridians,” working with organizations such as the Republic Party, or the ACLU on issues such as criminal justice reform.

Dr. McClure is fluent in Floridian. He believes Florida is emblematic of the American Dream, saying “To me, what gets lost in all the weird Florida stuff, which is hilarious, I agree […] is that Florida is the prototypical example of the American Dream. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female, it doesn’t matter where you come from, and it’s not something somebody designed.”

Dr. McClure’s interest in politics and public policy began at an early age, in a household that he described not as being “overtly political,” but as engaged. “Both my parents were college educated class America, in the ‘60s and ‘70s […] they were informed. SO, I remember the first landing on the moon with that old black television set. I remember Richard Nixon resigning on television.”

Described as “today’s seminal civil rights lawyer” by Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan, Ben Crump has represented some of the most high profile civil rights and discrimination cases of the 21st century, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Martin Lee Anderson, and the currently unfolding Chris Jones case.

Crump is fluent in Floridian. After graduating high school in Fort Lauderdale, he attended undergraduate and law school at Florida State University, and he feels his love for the state divided between those two places. “I think Tallahassee’s an incredible place to raise my family. Great educational institutions, as well as there’s not too much traffic. And there’s all four seasons, but we get three.”

When asked about what drove his career choice, Crump reminisces about a childhood desire to emulate the historic lawyer and Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. After being told by his mother and school teachers that the reason why he had the opportunity to go to a new school with new books and technologies was because of the work of Marshall, Crump “made the decision right then that I wanted to be like Thurgood Marshall so that I could make it better for my community and people who look like to have a chance at the American dream […] That’s what motivates me, that’s what drives me and I clearly know that my focus is every day I wake up in the morning.”

For some college students, a hospitality job is nothing more than a necessity to pay for school. For Carol Dover, it was more than that; it was a stepping stone that led to her becoming the President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, a position she has held since 1995. Dover represents over the interests of over 10,000 members of the Florida hospitality industry in front of the state legislature.

Dover is fluent in Floridian. When asked about her favorite part of Florida, she responded by admitting that it’s difficult for her to choose, and that she’s reminded of the beauty of our state whenever she meets her counterparts. “There’s so many amazing places here. I feel so fortunate when I go to my national conferences, and I sit with my 49 other colleagues, and reminded about how blessed we are in Florida to have over 800 miles of beaches.”

Unconventionally, Dover commutes to work from a home that is likely quite different from those of her colleagues: the family farm that her father-in-law bought in 1942. “It’s an old tobacco farm […] I fell in love with that particular lifestyle, and my passion are my horses. I love the horses, and I jokingly say, ‘We’re a little bit like the Clampetts.’”

Dominic Calabro has been with TaxWatch, a non-profit non-partisan research institute, so long that he sometimes jokes “There’s no life before or after TaxWatch.” While he hasn’t yet discovered what comes after, there was a before, during which time Calabro worked in a Catholic Seminary. It was here that he asked himself who he wanted to be, a question that led him on the path of citizen advocacy.

Calabro is fluent in Floridian. He remembers the football seasons when the Miami Dolphins were an unstoppable force, truly earning their fight song’s boast as ‘the greatest football team.’ Says Calabro, “I was there in the 1971, ’72 back-to-back [Super Bowls]. One was a totally undefeated season. But back-to-back Super Bowls, that’s just incredible. I was a young man at the time, ringing the bells at seminary when that occurred.”

When asked what his favorite place in Florida was to visit, Calabro gave an answer that’s common amongst Fluent in Floridian’s guests: it’s too hard to pick just one. “We have so much to be blessed to live here for,” said Calabro.

At the end of each episode of Fluent in Floridian, we ask our guests four questions, including “What in Florida deserves more attention?” This episode presents the answers given by our first ten guests, with three particularly notable answers given below.

Eric Draper: “I think that the Florida springs deserve more attention. They are something that is rare and unique as the Grand Canyon. You would never allow to have happened to the Grand Canyon what we’re allowing to have happened to Florida springs. People need to recognize these vast, wonderful waterways are something that are really worth protecting and really something to enjoy.

Andrew Gillum: “I tell you, the Everglades are obviously getting a lot of attention. I remember as a student in elementary school taking a field trip to the Everglades, which is such an important asset in our state, but we’ve got so many important resilient places environmentally and ecologically that we could really be quite the environmental tourist destination in this country, a lot of important beautiful assets that we’ve got to maintain and protect.”

Peter Schorsch: “Probably the Space Center, probably Cape Canaveral, and that whole industry right now, which seems to have made a great rebound since the end of the space shuttle program. […] the space coast seems to be back and we probably could write and tell that story to a national level a little better.”

Over the course of his career as FEMA Administrator, Craig Fugate oversaw more than 500 presidentially-declared major disasters and emergencies, including Florida’s first back-to-back major hurricanes since the 1950s. Coming from a long background in emergency management, after updating Alachua County’s disaster plan in February 1987 shortly after being promoted to Lieutenant in Fire Rescue, Fugate’s focus during his tenure as FEMA Administrator was preparedness.

Fugate is fluent in Floridian. He appreciates the untouched natural beauty of Florida’s crystal-clears waters. “That old Florida, to me, is what makes this place so great […] I’m a North Florida kid. I tell people Florida’s the only state I know that turns more Southern the further north you go. But that’s my Florida.”

During his time with FEMA, Fugate developed something he calls a Waffle House Index to determine areas that should be prioritized following a disaster. “I kind of noticed Waffle Houses were always either the first thing to open after a disaster or didn’t even close […] so the Waffle house Index is if they’re opening a full menu, it’s green. If they’re opening on a limited menu, it’s yellow. And if they’re closed, it’s red."

Miami Herald Capital Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas is a celebrated journalist within the sunshine state. She notes that her interest in journalism was sparked at a young age. “I got into journalism because, as a little kid, I was really interested in writing. […] Florida as a state was growing fast and every newcomer who was engaged didn’t think twice about subscribing to a newspaper. So it was a really exciting time to be a journalist.”

Klas is fluent in Floridian. When asked of her favorite Florida sports team, she responds, “I really have to say I am a big time FSU baseball fan. […] I love football, I love the thrill of hockey and all that, but I am a die hard baseball fan. So, FSU baseball.”

Unknown to many, Klas consistently covers Florida governors and their respective campaigns. In her interview, she describes her experiences with several former state governors, including Lawton Chiles, Charlie Crist, and Jeb Bush, as well as her experiences with Rick Scott — the current Governor of Florida.“

He [Lawton Chiles] was a cagey politician, he knew how to evade like the best of them, but the one thing was his staff was not afraid of the press and they were allowed to get into the weeds with us. […] Jeb Bush came in with an automatic distrust of the media. […] Charlie Crist was painfully careful and cautious. […] When it comes to Rick Scott, I think that we have reached a new era. I think he has been the least transparent, the most managed and the least accessible of any administration in my 30 years of being up here.”

Martha Barnett is one of the Sunshine State’s most influential lawyers. A graduate of both Tulane University and the University of Florida, Barnett was a member of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission in 1997 through 1998 and previously served as President of the American Bar Association from 2000 to 2001. Currently, Barnett is a retired senior partner at the Holland & Knight Law firm.

Barnett is fluent in Floridian. When asked of her favorite Florida person, place, or thing that deserves more recognition, she insists that the state’s agricultural industry is currently undervalued. “When I was a young girl in central Florida, it was the Citrus Belt. Agriculture defined the state of Florida. […] And today I think that because of growth, because of environmental issues, because of things like citrus greening, because the value of land is getting so high, because of environment concerns about water, about pollution, all of these things. Florida is moving away from agricultural base.”

Unknown to many, Barnett is the first female attorney hired by Holland and Knight. In her interview, Barnett is adamant on using her profession to uplift society. “I want to live up to that standard, of being a lawyer who helps people. […] We have a constitutional obligation to the citizens.”