Adventures Evolved: Emerging Voices & The Pickup Meeting - Adventures in Advising

After five and a half years of building community and sharing best practices, Adventures in Advising is leveling up! In this special episode, we unveil two brand-new spinoff podcasts designed to broaden the conversation and amplify even more voices in higher education.

🎧 Meet the hosts behind these new ventures:

• Bri Harvie, co-host of Emerging Voices, shares how the podcast spotlights the stories and journeys of NACADA’s Emerging Leaders Program participants—and why no two advising paths are alike.
• Kevin Thomas & Michael "Brody" Broshears, co-hosts of The Pickup Meeting, bring their administrative expertise (and sense of humor) to real, unscripted conversations about leadership, innovation, and problem-solving in student success.

Expect laughs, real talk, and a whole lot of inspiration. Whether you’re an advisor, leader, or somewhere in between, this episode is your front-row seat to the next chapter of the Adventures in Advising network.

🗓️ The Pickup Meeting launches August 6
🎙️ Emerging Voices is already live—go binge it now!

Follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platform!

The Instagram, and Facebook handle for the podcast is @AdvisingPodcast

Also, subscribe to our Adventures in Advising YouTube Channel!

Connect with Matt and Ryan on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hey, welcome back to the Adventures in Advising podcast. This is Matt Markin. Ryan sScheckel is off today. Now, the Adventures in Advising podcast has been around for five and a half years. As of this recording, some say it's built community. Others have said they've learned strategies and practices to implement in their roles. Others have said that the sharing of stories has brought the community closer together. So I guess you can say adventures in advising has created a network of sorts. Well, there's only so much one podcast can do to help, to share stories, to bring about best practices and so forth. So with that in mind, Ryan and I can say that the Adventures in Advising podcast has given a platform, but we need to expand the reach as well as the content. And to do that, there are two new podcasts to bring about more content for you and to help us unpack these new podcasts, let's welcome back, returning podcast guest, and that is Bri Harvie, who is co-hosting the Emerging Voices podcast along with me.

Bri Harvie  
Hey Matt. How's it going?

Matt Markin  
Good. So excited to have you here so we can chat about Emerging Coices. And let's bring on the other two individuals who are going to be hosting another podcast, and that will be coming out Wednesday, August 6. And let's welcome back not only returning guests, but also returning guest host, and that's Kevin Thomas and Michael "Brody" Brashears, Hey Gents,=.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
How's it going?

Kevin Thomas  
So good to be back on Adventures in Advising. Thanks, Matt.

Matt Markin  
And before we get to the new podcast, it's been a while since you've all been on. Aside from the new podcast, what else has been new since you were last on the pod? And maybe we'll start with Bri.

Bri Harvie  
Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to think of what's new. The first time I did the podcast, I'd been in my new role at SAIT up in Calgary, Alberta for about a minute and a half, and I've been there almost two years now. So I feel like I'm I'm settled into my new gig, and I've switched roles within the NACADA I'm now one of the region division reps instead of region chair, and it's trucking on. Here we go.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, you been doing a lot in NACADA. 

Bri Harvie  
It's a lot. It's really a lot sometimes.

Matt Markin  
Kevin, what about you? 

Kevin Thomas  
Yeah, I'm trying to think, since the last time I've been on, you know, it's been a little bit, probably a couple of years since I've been on the podcast. And, you know, one of the things that I think has been so exciting about my role here at UCA is the evolution of my position. When I started here, you know, it was advising Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar. Flash forward, you know, after five years or so, it's now, it's bigger than that. So my title changed to Vice President for Enrollment Services and student success. So adding that student success umbrella underneath my division, and so that's been a nice little change, and I'll say it keeps me busy at all times within the cotta I'm currently the chair for the administrators Institute, which I have to say, is probably where some of the ideas for our podcast come from is just the conversations that we have within that group and those people. And I just absolutely love getting to be involved in the cotton in this way and connect with people in this administrator type role. 

Matt Markin  
Brody.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Dang Kevin, that's tough to follow. Man. Well, you know, I started a new gig probably, I think since the last time I was on the podcast, I've been at Illinois State University as the Director of University College for a couple of years. Have kind of added orientation to my plate, but doing advising, academic support work, supporting trio and student support services, retention, services, all of the work that I was doing in my previous role, like Kevin, I think, you know, I've been a faculty member now for the administrators Institute for a few years, and that work has been really satisfying. It's been a kind of a new wrinkle for me in the NACADA world, but I'm staying active in the region, doing Emerging Leaders Program here. I've really enjoyed that the first time I've done that, I'm going to do it again here in the next couple of years, serving as a mentor and just loving life, you know. And I always say, you know, I've got a couple of grown daughters that just recently graduated from college. So thinking about higher ed, just more generally as they experienced college and their time as students has been kind of fun, too. And then Kevin and I just kind of thought, you know, we call each other a couple times a week. We may as well just put that on a show. Like, let's do it. 

Matt Markin  
Might as well just record those conversations. 

Kevin Thomas  
Absolutely, we think we're funny. Everyone else will too.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Yes, we're legends in our own mind.

Matt Markin  
Absolutely, I'm sure a lot will agree that you both are funny, and would love to hear your conversations and Brody, Bri and I could give you some tips about how the new emerging of. Leaders program is structured and how we've gone about it.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
that's fantastic. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm kind of a late entry as a mentor in this this cycle, but I'm super excited about it. I really loved my time with Kalani Palmer. I was her mentor. She's she's been great and the faculty space, and just had a great time in with that group and cohort.

Matt Markin  
Bri, aren't you a consultant now?

Bri Harvie  
I am. See, there's so many NACADA things, I just forget them. Yeah, I was recently accepted, just in the last couple of months, to be a part of NACADA consulting services as a speaker consultant. So that's I'm excited. It's going to be fun times.

Kevin Thomas  
Bri, have you gone out into the the great ventures of whatever you're going to consult with?

Bri Harvie  
Not yet. I haven't. No, I haven't yet. I've done a few speaking gigs, but nothing for the consulting side of things. And I, like you, think I'm hilarious, so mostly I'm like, I'm just going to show up and be comedic relief, and we'll we'll just hope that that's enough to get me through this.

Kevin Thomas  
Whether it's the speaking or the program reviews, they're just fantastic. And so I'm excited for you to get out for the program reviews and do some of that as well. 

Bri Harvie  
Me too. That'll be fun times.

Matt Markin  
Bri's gonna do fantastic. She was the keynote at the region eight, nine conference back in what March, and got rave reviews there. So yeah, she's gonna be fantastic. And yeah, Brody, since you were last on, I think in December, your conversation of Roy Magnuson has really kind of spearheaded a lot of the conversations and interviews we've done about AI on this podcast since then. So a lot of it is thanks to you.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
That's right, I forgot about that. I did guest host that. And you know what? I got so excited about that, Matt, that even I did a I did what I thought was a really fun session at the regional conference on AI, and really enjoyed it. Got great feedback. It was a packed house, and there were a couple of sessions this year at the region conference, Region Five conference in Chicago, that I thought went really, really well. We both, DePaul did something, I did something, and they were related, but different. And I think they both, they both landed really well for the association. So, yeah, that's an exciting topic. We got to talk about that. Kevin shoot, I didn't even think about that.

Matt Markin  
Add it to the list. Well, let's talk about these podcasts. So Bri, I'm going to start with you. How would you describe the new podcast, Emerging Voices?

Bri Harvie  
Oh, man, is it not what I expected it to be at all. Right, out the gate. So this was another of Matt's brain children, where we were having conversations with the new mentees in the 2024-2026 ELP class. And just like hearing all their stories, and how cool would it be to interview them and talk about their journey into ELP, and what it turned into was just some of the most interesting conversations with people about their roles in higher education. Yes, their roles in the NACADA as well, but just kind of their journeys through through their careers, both in and out of the Emerging Leaders Program. And it's been it's been wild. It's such an interesting thing to hear about, and I say it a few times in the podcast, and I'll say it again now, but nobody wakes up in the morning going, I hope I'm going to be an advisor when I grow up, right? No, six year old knows what an academic advisor is. And yet, here we all land and have such different paths into it. And so yeah, hearing those paths from these people has been just absolutely fascinating. Some really, really interesting conversations.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and no one wakes up wants to become an advisor, going like, I want to be in the Emerging Leaders Program.

Bri Harvie  
So, now we have a podcast about it.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Now they do. They will.

Bri Harvie  
Now they do, yes. Now we're all like, God, I hope I'm on Matt and breeze podcast. 

Matt Markin  
So I guess we're gonna have to continue it. I thought it would just be like one season kind of thing, but I think it might, uh, turn into more than that. So I'm very excited for it. So Kevin and Brody tell us about The Pickup Meeting.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
It's your concept, Kevin, the at least the title. I think you got to talk about the title. 

Kevin Thomas  
So one like Brody and I are, like, massive fans of the West Wing television show. So we're like, let's do a podcast that's about higher education, but like, name it after something from the West Wing. And so we came up with, like, all the things, and we went through what's next and different. It's like, now they're like, 20 of those, all right. So it's like we came around and we were thinking about it, and, like, there's always this line of, like, Josh Lyman says, Hey, let's go find a pickup, I need to go find a pickup meeting, right? Just, essentially, he doesn't have anything going on. He's just trying to find ways to stay engaged. And I think that applies in higher ed so well, right? And so Brody and I talked about this, because it's like you're walking through kings. Campus, and you see somebody, and all of a sudden, you have 25 or 30 minutes there, and you just had a pickup meeting and solve six problems. You know, you walk down your hall and you see another colleague that you know, same type of thing happens. And so we really floated it as this idea of like, let's do a pickup meeting virtually, where we just get to know folks. We just have a really great conversation, we laugh, we share, we grow and we get better in the end of this, and just have a good time with it.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Yeah, I do think too, like when I joined NACADA, almost golly, 25, 26, 27 years ago, I'm clearly the oldest person in this space. 

Kevin Thomas  
Yeah, there wasn't a virtual pickup meeting that could occur that long ago, my friend.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
I know the internet barely existed for God's sake. I mean, when I thought about that, like, Why did I join NACADA and start getting involved? And the issue is, you just want to be better at your job, right? Like, I think about that a lot. And Kevin and I as friends now, we spend a lot of time each week just calling each other about the challenges that we're facing, about problems that are happening, maybe in our world. And on top of solving those problems, we're just really good friends and have lots of great conversation. And I think that's the goal of the podcast, right? Is to have some fun. We're I think, you know, both pretty locked in in terms of getting the work done, but and we would just want to give people a chance to hear from other folks that are doing some of the same kinds of things that we're doing and and really talk about some of the bigger issues in higher ed I think that's why that conversation with Roy was so helpful, right? Like we start to think about that AI conversation I had with him in late December is this is a really big issue, and nobody has all the answers, but we have to start talking about those things, and I think that's what the podcast is all about.

Matt Markin  
And when you have those conversations, you can start brainstorming solutions to those challenges. So Bri, with Emerging Voices, why do you feel it's important to amplify the voices of the emerging leaders, these mentees that are in ELP?

Bri Harvie  
Yeah, I feel like and we've heard this a lot as we've been talking with folx, but there's a lot of myths around what it takes to be accepted into emerging leaders and a lot of folx, well, I don't have anything special to contribute, or I don't have anything that makes me unique. And I think just hearing folks stories and recognizing that everybody has a unique story, and everybody has something unique to contribute to the world of advising, I think, is really empowering for folks to understand before they they start thinking about what their journey through an academy might look like, or through their careers, and just really elevating that voice of you have something valuable to contribute is just finding the right place to share it. And for some folks that might be the Emerging Leaders Program and encouraging them to to apply if they think that that's something that they might be interested in doing, and I feel like especially having been on both sides. But now, as a mentor in 2020-2022 it's a whole lot of 20s, 2020-2022 Yes. And now as a mentor in 2024-2026 it's really a partnership of learning across all parties, and I've learned, I think, as much from the mentees in the program, if not more than the mentors. Like, there's just such a wealth of information. And I hope that it would, I hope it encourages more people to apply to the program and to see value in their own story and in their journey.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, I mean, I felt like when we were at the Pittsburgh EOP orientation, and we got to chat with all the mentees, felt like, oh, we learned a lot about them, and then we actually interviewed them for the podcast. And I'm like, I didn't know that about you, that about you, that about you, you're more amazing. Like, this is really, really cool. We got to get these stories out. And I think even just the promotional part where we talk to them about Emerging Leaders, why did they apply? What was their reasoning? How are they doing in the program? What are their goals? Yeah, I 100% agree with you. I think listeners will have a better understanding of the program, and hopefully that encourages, encourages them to apply not be nervous to I think I was nervous applied to the program. Am I good enough for this? Did they and when they did choose me, is, you know, was it a mistake? Did you have the same thing?

Bri Harvie  
Absolutely. I mean, the imposterism is real 100% and I think all of us in advising, we're very empathetic creatures, right? That's the the nature of our role in a lot of ways. And I feel like we we aren't always as good as seeing the value in ourselves as we are in the value in others, but 100% I got accepted, and I was like, well, it's only because I know people, or it's only because I'm Canadian and they need a diverse voice from Canada. I but it's not that I think it is. It's really important for folks to. See just how varied that that unique contribution can be, but 100% I was terrified and convinced I was not going to be accepted. And a lot of the folks that we're hearing from are and a lot of them also, it took multiple tries, and I think hearing from folks on it didn't necessarily work out the first time, but I persevered, and I tried something different, and I got accepted my second or third time. I think it's valuable and it's not. It's not necessarily about learning from the failure, though there's value in that, but just in trying again.

Matt Markin  
Kevin and Brody, what makes your podcast different from from others in higher ed?

Kevin Thomas  
Sorry, listening audio, the nonverbal, like I'm gonna move my mouth. And I thought. Then we both paused, and it was hilarious, and we laughed a lot. Brody, go ahead, please.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
I mean, I the one thing I think when we when we talk, I find myself in my world kind of being or thinking about the world in terms of solving problems. And so to me, I think when we bring guests on, we might challenge the way people have thought about solving problems. I think we will take maybe a little bit more of an administrator lens approach to our podcast. I don't think that that means we will only interview administrators, but for me, kind of upsetting the apple cart is fine, right? Like, I think it's good. And part of I think what we're going to talk about is really, we can't, we can't do things the same way we've been doing them, right? Like we have to think about things differently in in higher ed right now, we're kind of in a different space and a different time, and so sometimes that requires some innovation and some thinking about things differently. And I think that'll be our approach in the podcast. Kevin, I don't know if you if that's off base or if it but to me, that's, that's what's going to make this unique, is, how do we solve these how do we solve problems that are out there, and how do we address the changes that are happening in higher education in real, innovative and forward thinking ways?

Kevin Thomas  
Yeah, and I think there's similarity to what Bri was talking about, right? Like with some of the I'm going to use vulnerability of people applying for an Emerging Leaders Program. I think when we have guests on right, like, I think a lot of higher ed podcasts focus in the topical nature of what's occurring on a specific thing that's going on. Right, like, recent things have been, you know, the legislative changes, or AI, or those things. And I think those things will come up, but I think the thing that will be true, similar to what you're talking about with the merging leaders in all their conversations, is there's like a vulnerability and just being able to say, hey, we're struggling, or we don't know what's going on all the time. We're trying to figure things out and have those conversations and just be real and honest with our guests on a whole host of things that are going on, you know, I think there's this thought, especially for, you know, the positions that sometimes we're going to have on, you know, we're like, looking at some provosts and former presidents and presidents and different things people to come on, and it's like, oh, they have it all figured out, right? And it's like, yeah, sometimes, right? They've got aspects of their life figured out, but like, there's a journey that they've been on, there's a vulnerability that's, you know, moving up, and that's kind of an alone or lonely battle as you as you move up into various positions in higher education, and having conversations about that, and how, as an administrator you you work, and how as a leader you do things and the impact that you have when the student's not always in front of you. I You know, I think being able to have those conversations and be really, really healthy in that discourse, and not just focus on AI this week or one big, beautiful bill the next week, right? Like, no, these are going to be the real things that are focused on their everyday life. And Brody talked about this with the status quo, we are, for sure, people that like to move beyond the status quo. So it's going to be having guests on that have done that too and really do drive the field forward. And I think that's going to be healthy with a strong focus on those practitioners that are in there, and not just people that are saying, here's how you should do it.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Yeah. The only other thing that I'd add is Kevin and I are really good friends, and I think that that kind of can be fun. I mean, our phone conversations, we challenge each other, we can kind of joke, and that banter is going to be, I think, a part of what we're going to use in the podcast to keep it light-er, I guess, because the issues are serious. But I do think what Kevin said, like that practitioner focus that experience, people who people who've really looked at higher ed from a comprehensive perspective. And it said this, these are things that we think and based on my experience. Will work if we, if we make those kinds of changes.

Kevin Thomas  
And we've hit some of this right? Like, for those that are going to listen to our first episode in early August, our first guests, we asked questions about what's that song that you're embarrassed is in your head, right? Like this, not a higher education conference conversation, but for sure, Chumbawamba came up and then Reading Rainbow and a bunch of others came up right like it was just but you wouldn't think that's going to come. So to touch on what Brody said, we're going to have some fun along the way. Now breeze thinking about that song, and she's like, don't ask me, Kevin, don't ask me what that song is.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Yeah. And then offline, we talk about really important issues like that, the banana is the best fruit. Always.

Kevin Thomas  
That still not the truth. 

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
If we were going to have a draft, banana goes number one every time. 

Kevin Thomas  
Brody doesn't even get that support in his household because his wife was yelling back at the phone the other day saying, that's not true. That's just a bad pick.

Matt Markin  
See, there'll be a lot of the comedy in there, along with the serious conversations. You got to check out the pickup meeting. So with the Emerging Voices, Bri, the podcast is already live. There's a couple episodes already out there. There'll be probably one every couple weeks. I don't know if we're going to hold to this, but I think we have had our conversation about maybe doing another season after this cohort from 2024 to 2026 of the Emerging Leaders are interviewed doing a season on the 2024 to 2026 mentors. And I know there's been a conversation or a thought of Bri and Matt. Do you want to continue interviewing the next cohort? So I don't know, Brody, you might be on that one in a year. 

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Oh, boy. 

Matt Markin  
Yeah, that'll be a fun conversation. But Bri is there? Is there anything that you feel you want listeners when they when they take a listen to the Emerging Voices podcast, that you hope there's one or two takeaways that they get?

Bri Harvie  
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like people are going to be or people are hopefully going to feel seen and represented in in the voices and the people that we're talking to in a way that they maybe didn't expect. There's so many incredible things that we've gotten the chance to talk about with folks, and I think a lot of them are very relatable and very common to the human experience and very common to the experience in academic advising, whether we are their frontline advisors or they are leaders of advising, or they are faculty, I think there's, there's opportunity to really, to really feel validated in our experiences, because so many of them are so common. So I hope that when folks listen to it, there's some relatability between their own experiences and and what they're hearing. And I think it is fun. We've had some really, really good laughs. We've already talked about the spin off podcast of the pets of ELP, because we've talked about dogs and cats and Frank n' Beans, the cat, I think, is my favorite cat name in the whole like world. It's just, it's been a really, really great experience, and lots of fun. And I hope that people hear that fun too. And I kind of feel a little bit like, now there's a bit of a like which podcast is funnier thing going on, and I, am excited because I'm pretty sure ours is hilarious,.yeah, so that

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
That's like the challenge accepted, I don't know. What do you think?

Kevin Thomas  
You know? I definitely think that Matt will have to send out some user polls, right, or listener polls, like, which podcast is funnier? And in the end, they're just gonna say, Matt, not ours. 

Matt Markin  
No, they're going to say Bri's the funniest and yeah, we're second, third and fourth. 

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
That's probably true.

Bri Harvie  
I would absolutely be stacking the polls. I will do whatever I need to do to make sure that I win that contest. Validation I need in my life.

Matt Markin  
Send it to your staff and have them vote for you. So Kevin and Brody to end this, what you know, with The Pickup Meeting, what are you hoping listeners take away from it? 

Kevin Thomas  
Yeah, you know, I think it's one of those things that I think that it's a good time to have conversations that we're going to have. But I really think the takeaway is that when you're at work and you're going through the daily grind, that sometimes it's helpful to have a conversation with people that are also going through a similar situation. And some of the conversations that we're going to have are really going to touch on a variety of the work that everyone is doing, right like I would say, you know, probably 80% of every episode is going to be in that student success realm of conversation when we get into that topic. And guess what? We all work in that and so to hear those things, whether that's advising student success, registrar work, financial aid admissions, whatever you know, faculty members who. Being administrators, whatever that is. I really think that it's going to be a reassuring experience for the listener to hear some new ideas. But really just sit there and feel like you're having a coffee, a beverage of some sort, with with two friends that you just happen to meet, and the guests that they bring on, and it'll just feel like it's a great pickup meeting that we're all getting to experience together. And I think that that's what we're going to get out of this experience.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
We undervalue those networks that we develop when we go to the conferences, like I think we get excited when we come to learn at spaces like conferences, or when we attend webinars, and then we forget, right when those ideas are good, or when someone says something really smart or has a great model or a great program, when we need that help, we kind of forget about the utilization of those networks. And that's that's unfortunate, and my hope would be, is that the podcast gets people not just thinking about the problems and issues and solutions at hand, but to value the networks that you've developed, to me, right? Like that's Kevin and I are friends, but we bounce ideas off of each other all the time, and my hope would be, is with the guests that we're going to be able to continue to do that, and remind people use your networks, right? The folks that you're friends with or that you've met at the conferences, and the podcast is just kind of a living version of that, from my perspective.

Matt Markin  
Very nice. So looking forward to it. So Emerging Voices is already out. The Pickup Meeting, first week of August, Wednesday, August 6. So looking forward to it. You can find both podcast on pretty much every podcast platform, so Apple, Spotify, so Bri, Kevin, Brody, thank you so much for being on Adventures in Advising to promote your podcast.

Michael "Brody" Broshears  
Thanks so much for your help. Matt. Really appreciate you.