From the Streets to the Stage: Amplifying Voices & Building Community with Charles Shambry

Kim Allchurch Flick: Hello everyone. This is Kim Allchurch Flick, and I am delighted today to introduce a wonderful human being that I met a few months ago. This is Charles Edward Shambry Jr. The founder and host of interviews with Charles Shambry. A media and event production platform focused on storytelling, visibility, and community engagement.

In addition to television, radio, and podcasting, the organization produces live events, including red carpets, fashion shows, galas and community showcases. Charles serves as host and mc while leading teams in photography and videography to capture moments that elevate brands and causes his work blends media live experiences, and purposeful conversation into memorable community events.

Our topic today is creating impact through media, live events, and purpose driven storytelling. Welcome Charles. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Thank you, Kim. Thank you for allowing me to come to your show. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: I’m so glad you’re here. We met in late 2025 when our friend Pallavi Pande invited me to your KBOO radio show, Voices of Vision.

I was so impressed by both of you and had so much fun. I just couldn’t wait to get you here to the podcast. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Cool. Yeah, you did an awesome job. Very proud of you and what you’ve created and excited to be here. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, thank you so much. So you are what I have a dear friend who has a word that kind of mimics the word you used on the radio show.

You said you’re a polymath. And I totally agree. And I have a friend who would also say that you are a multipotentialite. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yes. I use that word frequently. So yeah, I’m a multipotentialite polymath and phy math. Which is another word that we express right before your interview, you usually have two interviews back to back.

And so I use the that other term when with the other guests that we had. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: So I think, and and polymath of the two terms I use as well as multipotentialite, 

Kim Allchurch Flick: I just, I love that. And I think what it says to me is a person who is so creative that. They can, their life can take them in many different directions, but yet connect most of them and still have many purposes, but a common value set.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I’d agree. And I looked at your background. I feel like you, you are all three as well. So would you agree with that or what was you saying? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: I think I do, I, through life it’s come about that we are more than one thing. Yes, we are more than one direction. We are more than one. Idea.

And I, the more I meet people like you, the more I love that about humanity because it also shows potential, 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: right?

Kim Allchurch Flick: And if we allow ourselves the curiosity to grow into it, and it doesn’t mean sending ourselves into overwhelmed by doing too much. That’s

different. But I think having varied aspirations and different ways of getting to. A vision of what makes our life better, what makes the world better.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yes. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: I think there’s a lot of people that do that, and we’ve never really known what to call it. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: And some people might say, oh, they’re so scattered, and I couldn’t exactly work with somebody who’s going in so many different directions. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Right. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: So how to embrace it and say maybe this is how humanity is, or for some of us anyway, 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Can I answer that too?

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, absolutely. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: So, another term for multipotential is somebody who is multi-skilled and has multipurposes, right? A lot of people will say that, that you’re scattered and that you’re doing so many different things, but when you really look at it, those who have built platforms or great empires, they’re multipotentialite.

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: And what happens is that a lot of times when you’re in transition, it looks like scattered, but once it’s built, then it looks like an empire. So that’s something to think about too. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Indeed. And there’s some amazing people who have done that. I, that is so wonderful. What has your story been?

What’s inspired you along the way to, to get to where you are now?

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Great question. Yeah. I started way back in high school. I met a very special person. Her name was Kelly and I was a thug in the streets trying to be a tough guy and hang out with the best groups and it was a, I don’t know. How long have you been here again? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: In the Portland area? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: In Portland area? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Since 1983. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: 1983. Okay. Yeah. So in the nineties. In the northeast area, it was a lot of gang violence and things were very dangerous. And I was involved in those things. Not, I didn’t commit crime, but I used to hang around people who were very involved in those activities and I was a failing student.

I was not doing really well with school. And during that time, my friend had got shot his name. We’ll just call him a. I don’t wanna say his name but let’s say a and sure. He had just got shot and actually before that another friend had just passed away. The first killing on the tri bus, he got shot in the head five times.

And that’s why they have security on trim now because of that that terrible crime. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: on my friend. And because my friend got shot and my friend had passed away, I wanted to change my experience change my life. And I went to this homework club with a friend that got shot a and I met a, like I said, a very special person name was Kelly.

And I was just there to, like I said, help him as he was doing his homework. And I had homework in my pocket and. I did, got finished with the homework and it was amazing because I never did my homework. I would take it, put put it up, put it in my pocket and that’s probably why I was a failing student and.

Got my homework done and this lady, Kelly, really inspired me and we became friends and I went to the homework club every day of school that we had school, she would take me home after school. And which got me away from those crowds that were violent and that were that could potentially get me into trouble.

Wow. And I went to having a one point, having a 2.3 point, the four point grade point average I had straight A’s. And it was such an inspiring story that I started doing public speaking on it when I was in high school, and that really inspired me to be a speaker, motivational speaker. And it started with Kelly, who’s my good friend now.

She’s a professor. In Cincinnati I forgot the school’s name. But she’s become a great friend and mentor and I love her very dearly. But she, it was from her that she inspired me to be one. I am today since then I’ve been putting on seminars.

I went across the country for a number of years, over a decade putting out seminars. Teaching emotional intelligence, managing emotions under pressure. Worker’s comp, hipaa, a lot of self-development courses as well as HR classes. Wow. That’s my background. My master’s is in, in that area. And yeah, I encouraged her to get her PhD and she’s encouraging me to get mine.

But to answer your question, when me is just Kelly getting really immersed in education and then from there on. Being a promoter of educate us education. And the Latin means to build, educate us means to build. So I’m always about building people up, inspiring them.

Kim Allchurch Flick: What a great name. And how is it that you came into hr and how does that inform. Speaking, but also re reaching out to people with the context of human resources. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah. So I, so I’m a broker too. I’m a broker insurance. I’m a broker for 16 years now, and I, when, it’s funny, I had, I’ve been encouraged to do education with Kelly and then I.

I lost her somehow for many years. I went to the military. I traveled the world. And then when I got married I lost her. Like I, we lost contact somehow. And then I got married and everything and started my life. And then Facebook came into being I found her there and she said, why are you not in school?

Why you don’t have your bachelor’s degree? Before then I went to missionary school. I wanted to be a minister. I wanted to be an evangelist. That’s what I wanted to do. And I went to school for three years at one place. Went completed at another school, similar school for one more year to complete the four years, but the college credits weren’t transferable. Oh. So they told me I had to start all over again.

So that’s why I wasn’t a school. But Kelly didn’t know that. So when I met her with her after maybe four years or so, I didn’t talk to her. She says, why are you not in school? You need to get your, at least your bachelor’s degree. So I got my bachelor’s degree and I was doing insurance on the phone.

Have you saw there’s a movie called Wolf of Wall Street. You seen that movie before? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. Yeah, long time ago. Yeah. It’s been a while, but yes, I 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: remember. 

Yeah. Jordan Bedford so my experience was like that. So I worked in call center. High stake sales, and I’m se selling insurance products, life insurance, financial products, and it’s a grind.

And I was really successful at that. I was usually top three, top five number one sometimes. And, but I felt that, remember we talked about what inspired me was public speaking. That was my passion. But I was stuck in the office in a cubicle. And so when I got my degree, I wanted to do something else to get out the office.

To feel fulfilled. And I worked a job with American Fidelity and American Fidelity would give us assignments where we had territories over school districts, and I would teach financial courses to the teachers. I would guide them and then we would do a presentation, sometimes an hour long presentation, a 15 minute presentation where we would guide teachers on how to use their finances.

So that’s how I got into public speaking. From then on, I was like, I want to do speaking full time because it was part coaching, selling insurance products, and also teaching. But I want to do. Teaching full-time. And so I worked with her prior other seminar companies, got more contracts and that’s how I got into HR and self-development courses and teaching that.

And then it was so funny because I would be teaching the six hour courses around the country, and a lot of them, let’s say if I’m teaching HIPAA, for example. A lot of the, a lot of the attendees, they have their doctorate degree. And they have their masters and above.

And so I was like, and I used to joke in classes, say, because remember I only had my bachelor’s degree at that point. And I would say like I have I have my own honorary doctor degree. ’cause I had my background in theology for the four years and I went back to school for business. So that’s four years.

So four and four, eight years. So I have my honoring doctorate degree. And so I said I can’t say that too much. I need to get at least my master’s. And so I said, what’s the quickest way to get my master’s to get my doctorate? The quickest way is to get it in HR because I’m already teaching classes in that area.

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, so how did it speed up the coursework? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: What do you mean?

Kim Allchurch Flick: You said the master’s quickly in hr. How would a degree in HR as a focus make the degree go faster? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah, so because I already know about the topics, so I see I would teach for example, I teach a class called How to Deal with Difficult People.

That class is basically a conflict management course with an employer law as well as psychology. All those are hr points. If I’m teaching hipaa, that’s an HR course. Usually it’s taught by hr or taught by a lawyer. But for insurance companies and medical fields and groups, it’s usually it’s usually an HR topic.

And so if I already know about hr content. It’s gonna be easier for me rather than learning something about physics, which I have no background in. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yeah, I see what you mean. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That’s fascinating. And along the way with HR and the other backgrounds that you had and what was developing, what started to matter to you and were you starting to see any patterns in terms of what people need the community and in teaching what?

The reception was from the audience. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I feel like the emotional intelligence class was, is one of the ones that was my favorite and had the most impact on others. And which transitions to what I do now. ’cause I don’t do similar as like I used to busy with so many other things, but I teach it at PCC as an adjunct professor.

But yeah, from all the different courses teaching that one stood out because I used to ask this, I used to make this point, I said that people cry at the seminars. They cry in a good way because they’re touched. And I say who else do you think may cry? Who else do you think may be touched? And oftentimes it’s me because I get touched by hearing getting the feedback from others. So for example we’ll cover emotional intelligence and

we’ll cover a section on fixed belief systems.

And a lot of our fixed beliefs come from our upbringing, what our parents taught us. What we’ve heard as far as compliments and we create this self-concept and to change the self-concept if we wanna change it, especially if it’s negative. We need to have affirmations and we need to reflect on and also contend with this negative belief system.

’cause may, may be true, may not be true, but we need to evaluate it to to figure that out. So that we have healthy self-concepts. And so someone will say my parent told me I wasn’t smart or told me I wasn’t attractive and so I’ll have our students get up and say tell us how that belief system is true or false.

And so when they’re talking they’ll cry and they’ll make statements why it’s not true, because different things in their life have shown that this is a contradiction because they’re successful at work. They have degrees.

They’ve done well in their life to say that this belief system is not true. That they are smart. And like I said, to put me in the picture, why I make cry is because when I you said what inspired me. Kelly was the first person to tell me that I was smart. When she said, you can get straight.

A’s she pushed me to do that, I was like, I cannot do that. That’s for smart people. And then I got straight A’s. I was like, that’s amazing. And it changed my life but it makes me think about that, it touches me. And so those are portions when I may cry and feel it.

Other portions in the course is when we talk about empathy. I’ll see somebody crying and not, might get touched. And these are healthy tears. But yes that hopefully answered your question

Kim Allchurch Flick: What a beautiful, in a way, feedback loop, but also a gift to them and to yourself. And as people heard what do you, what sense do you have that, what did they take and share with others when they left, when they cried and felt this, how did it move out to their families, communities? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Typically at the seminars they’ll have feedback form. So rate the presentation from one in 10 in different areas. So how was the speaker? How’s the overall seminar? What are some takeaways? So at the bottom, they’ll have a portion to really express how it impact them, the seminar. And you’ll get a lot of comments like, changed my life.

I’ll change my job. Yeah so you’ll see a lot of points about people’s lives being changed and how they’re going to modify a few things in their daily. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That’s incredible. It’s such a beautiful story to think about because giving information that people can take forward and actually make some actionable life changes and have some things to ponder.

To make their world better and maybe help others. I think that’s what pay, pay it forward. That term came from a film, but it makes some sense in this context.

And what is current for you and how did you go from the speaking, which you still love into the other things that you’re doing, such as the radio and the media?

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I had been doing the speaking and it was interesting when I said that I wanted to do more speaking from American Fidelity. And during that time I was part of Toastmasters. Have you heard of Toastmasters before? Yeah. I was very involved in Toastmasters and I would say I was a star in Toastmasters.

And that was one of another reasons why I was like, I need to do this full time because most of the folks in Toastmasters would love the opportunity to speak professionally, get paid for it. And I took that risk to do it. And then moving forward from that, I they had a.

Was called TV Toastmaster. It was a program on tv. It’s a hybrid program of Toastmaster. So typical Toastmasters group is that you have three speakers, then you have three evaluators, and then you have table topics. At the end. Table topics is part where you know, you speak off the cuff and it’s really fun.

Tv toastmasters had just formed a new version of it where they wanted to coach people on how to do interview formats or questions, and very similar to what we’re doing right now. And I was one of the first persons, or first Toastmasters to be involved in that. And I helped the team expand to four locations.

’cause I was like one of the only hosts to interview fellow Toastmasters and any other guests that we would have from the outside to come to be on the show. And so that was kinda the first start in doing like interview sessions with folks. And then over time I became the president over tv Toastmasters.

I had got more involved with public speaking and doing the seminars I, I spoke of with Fred Pryors and other seminar groups. And they asked me to come back. And when I came back, they only had like two clubs. Remember there were four clubs, which they had their own crew cameraman. So a whole crew, usually about four individuals.

Someone to control the boards, someone to facilitate the flow of different interviews that would come through. So a crew, so four locations with four members per crew. And when I got back, like I said, there were only two locations and when I got back, I expanded it back to the original four on top of being busy with all those other things.

I was a superintendent during that time and I still was doing the seminars full-time. So I was very busy running around. That’s how I got into doing interviews. It was from TV, Toastmaster. And then after I was the president, I said, Hey, I want to do this with my own name.

I want to start my own brand. Because what would happen and I’m not sure if this happened to you at all, but what would happen, I was so involved with Toastmasters that anytime I did public speaking, they would assume that it’s a Toastmaster program. This was my own business, right?

I told you I was working with prior as a contractor and several other contracts I had as my own business, Charles Shambry, LLC. Everyone would think it was a Toastmaster service. And the same thing when I was doing tv, and they would assume that it was a Toastmaster because I would do other things. I had my own show outside of that.

So I was like, let me build a whole brand. And so that’s what I did. I started interviews with Charles Shambry and with my own logo. And now if you look me up on social media, you see my logo everywhere because I wanted to make a separation between Toastmasters and my brand, which is interviews Charles Shambry.

And then during that time I also was working on the radio with KBOO on the side. The recordings from my TV show. The audio would go to KBOO and I had two media platforms or mediums for the show to go out to radio and tv. And since then I produced, with Pallavi, Voices of Vision. 

I found Pallavi and I says, Hey Pallavi, she’d be willing to come to radio. I says, Pallavi, I like almost begged her, I says, Pallavi will help you. I will support you. I’ll help you build your show. We can do it together. And so we started that and I have miked up. I found another co-host.

Miked up. So I produced that with my team and she’s more the main host, but I support her and I have other shows coming up in the future. But that’s how I got into doing more TV and radio. And then this is you said how I got here. What happened is that I’m, as I was doing the seminars and teaching, I also was MCing and I would.

Asked to be an mc at different events, and it started happening more and more. And asked to be the mc at fashion shows. And it started happening more and more. And I noticed that a lot of them didn’t have a team. Some of them were starting groups, but they didn’t have photography. They didn’t have management.

Some of them were starting off their first time doing fashion show, so they needed that help. They needed that. That leadership or help. With management. And so I said, let me expand Interview star sharing, not just being a TV show, but also being a support for events. And so that is starting to scale and then starting to get more momentum and so much to the point where I’m doing my own fashion shows now. So that’s what’s new. So for the whole year of 2026, we’ll have a fashion show every quarter of the year, and then a gala at the end. But it comes from the TV and radio doing KBOO radio. And also doing the Toastmaster sessions. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: It’s this fantastic. And as a reminder to listeners, Pallavi Pende of the Dtocs Company is also has an episode. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Oh, very cool. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yeah. So she’s Oh, 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: she spoke well of me. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, absolutely. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Did she talk about me at all? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: I don’t, 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Let me talk about her. Can I say something about her? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Absolutely. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Just to add to that. Yeah. So what happened too is that I had, so remember I had still been working with, had my show, I had interviews from Shambry.

I had still been sending recordings to KBOO Radio and KBOO had needed a host for an event.

For the Pacific. I forgot the actual, the, I think it’s the panel. I forgot the ex actual name of it. But they need a, the need a host for that event for their live event. And they said they were giving some help and I didn’t know who it was and Pallavi came, and I was like, who is this? So we worked together that night and we had instant chemistry.

I told her, I said, we have to do this again. Somehow I’m gonna figure out how to do it. And I had been looking for another co-host to start a different show because I wanted to expand. And I also because I’m all about education. To build people up, to inspire them.

I felt like I can inspire other co-hosts to do their own show and to support them with my team. And and it’s been it’s been such a wonderful experience working with Pallavi. She’s not just a co-host, but she’s a good friend. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, absolutely. And Voices of Vision is, I believe, a very important radio show because it’s, it fits this podcast well, it’s voices of people who are founders, creators, thinkers about making change for a better world.

I love that radio program. Tell us a little bit about how you feel about local radio. Like how does it fit in community and what kind of power does local radio have that people like me may have missed over time? Because I tend not to listen to radio as much as I used to. And your show actually brought me back to local radio quite a bit.

So what do you see in radio and the potential of 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: cool? Yeah, so I, I had worked with KBOO as just a host and I worked on different crews and I have, like I said, my own show where I was seeing recordings there and I had listened to KBOO when I was. My early teens, pre-teens, actually, we would do dedications, girlfriends would send dedications to me.

And I had thought it was a I thought it was an African American show when I was younger. But when as I got older I realized it’s a show about, or at least k the community is about. However the community is, however it’s shaped or whatever it looks like, whatever color it is, however, it’s changed.

Community radio, KBOO radio is there to support that community. And I had really wanted to be on KBOO from my early teens. And I got a chance to do that, like I said, through the recordings. And then I had also wanted to be on the leadership team and I wanted to be on the board and it was hard to get on the board, but I finally got on the board and I was on the board for three years.

And I was on the nominating committee for. For the board. So I would do the help nominees come on. I would cover the history of KBOO radio and the importance of community that KBOO is about reflecting that to, to educate them and also to amplify the voices of the community. So to answer your question, is that the benefit of KBOO Radio is that it’s, it is local.

But it also gives people that are in the community for no charge, gives them a chance to be host, gives ’em a chance to run the boards and talk about what’s happening in their lives in the community. And so that’s different than the for-profit, radio channels. Yes, they’re all for profit and it’s for sales, and it’s not necessarily training people.

It has some more of a view for profits opposed to community. So again, that’s why we support or be more involved with KBOO Radio and our other sister community radio stations, which are around the country. More so on the East Coast and Midwest. Yes, is that we’re there to train people and give them a a bigger voice in the community 

Kim Allchurch Flick: and it’s local and it can speak to the concerns.

The joys of the local community. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yes. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: And yet there’s still a sisterhood. So knowing that whatever community someone may be listening from, there’s a radio station in their community as well. Hopefully that they’re still being funded and finding funding.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Can I answer that too? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah. ’cause when I was saying community, I was really talking about really using it as a synonym to being local. But yeah, community is different too. so let me add to that because we amplify different communities. So there’s the Russian community, there’s the African American community, there’s the African community, there’s the Asian community.

They’re all highlighted more. They’re all highlighted. On that platform, KBOO radio which is different than the other groups.

So it’s just something to think about. So again, it is focusing on what’s local and also focusing on the different communities here. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yeah. So listeners, you can go to KBOO Radio’s website and also go to the station and pick up on some of these stories.

And that is important for building community. The inclusion part of it, seeing how really diverse our communities are. I have been in Beaverton for a while and I learned from the city when I joined a committee that Beaverton, Oregon represents 197 languages. And there are a lot of people represented 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yes.

Kim Allchurch Flick: In our communities. And to have their voices be heard is extremely important. It also reminds me a little bit of we chatted a bit on the preamble about a book and a film called All the Light You Cannot See, and it’s about during wartime how radio was used to send signals and messages and reach people and help them decide what to do, but also help them be informed.

In ways that weren’t. Obvious to those who might want to harm them. And I found that to be such a touching thought and a way of activism that’s gentle and kind and yet very profound.

And the way you’re speaking about the community coverage at KBOO, it seems that that could also serve a very similar purpose to inform people and help us understand.

The community at large makes us stronger. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Great. I love it.

I want to go back to a point recall I was saying I wanted to separate myself from. Toastmasters, because everyone associates me with Toastmasters, but I’m able to do things on my own.

I have my own things, so I don’t want to get that stuck with KBOO Radio. Like KBOO is a partner. KBOO has their nonprofit and but I have my own nonprofit too. So my nonprofit is interviews with Charles Shambry. We have a heavy emphasis on community and when we do events, we are doing it.

And the various different types. So like I said, the Asian community Hispanic community, and when you look on my website which i’m sure that the listeners will be able to get to, you’ll see that the mission is to amplify voices. More minorities and the different communities surrounding the Northwest.

So why nonprofit does something similar to KBOO and KBOO is a partner with interviews with Charles Shambry, a great 

Kim Allchurch Flick: partner. 

Oh, fantastic. So many, many places that people can hear your voice. What are the obstacles that you see? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I think that one obstacle is. A little bit of obscurity. So I think that just the last point I left with is that a lot of people may not know it’s a nonprofit that I have.

And I think over time it will be more well known and hopefully as known as KBOO Radio and some of the other bigger nonprofits. So again, getting the word out there that this is a nonprofit.

It’s not just me talking, but I have for example, I have 20 photographers that are on my team. I have about five or so videographers. But a lot of the photographers are videographers too. They’re multi potential lights. And then I have small little team, so I have a team that, that helps me with my fashion shows.

Like I said, I have Voices of Vision, which we produce that show Pallavi handles all the administration for voices of vision. So I got that team. I have my other team from my other show. And so again, what I’m trying to say is that. The barrier is just allowing people to know that this is a structured group.

It’s a real organization. It’s not me just by myself doing interviews. It’s, we’re a team and we support the community. So again, the barrier is just letting people know that, that we’re out there, that this is a nonprofit, it’s a real thing. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That’s fantastic. I am committed to helping spread that word.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yes. Thank you for allowing me be able to show to do that. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yeah. Oh I appreciate it and I also think it’s very important. And what does the future look like for you? What makes you optimistic? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Oh, the future is that the nonprofit will, will get bigger and bigger which I can amplify more voices that need to be heard.

And that I might want to run for office. It just depends. Maybe in, maybe 30 years from now or 20 years from now we’ll see. But I definitely want to support the community. And I think that on the horizons, I’ll do that in a bigger way as we as we progress.

Kim Allchurch Flick: And appreciate that we need a future with people like you who are dedicated to building community and having platforms for people to share their stories. Because stories inform us and people’s histories inform us. and perspectives inform us, and that’s so valuable. What are some key things that you’d like people to take away from this in terms of what you do and what listening and engaging with you and your creations can do for the community?

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I think a good takeaway is that we do a lot of events, so if you need someone to help manage your event, you need support. When it comes to red carpet, you need a mc. If you need photography work that we will help you because we want to support community. And also if you want to come to my show.

You can do that. Or voices of Vision, which is a part of our show. So one of my shows we want to get the word out. If you’re doing something positive, we’re doing something inspiring. Let us help you with that. And with that we help each other out as we have a culture of positivity and empowerment.

So those would be some takeaways I would leave to the listeners

Kim Allchurch Flick: Everything will be in the show notes as well, but how can people find you? What is the best website and locations for them to connect with you?

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Okay. Yeah. So you can look up in Interviews with Charles Shambry on my website and you can look me up on Instagram Charles Shambry, as well as Facebook Charles E Shambry. And that’s how you can stay in contact with me. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: LinkedIn I found as well. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah, LinkedIn too. Yeah. You’ll see more of the businesses.

It’s funny that you said LinkedIn. ’cause I’m an adjunct, professor. But I’m also an author. So I’ve written seven books and I have a book writing program. So that’s something I could lead with the listeners. So if you’re interested in writing a book I’ll help you about.

Five books in my coaching program right now. But yeah, I’ve written seven books on my own. I’m constantly writing, I’m writing two books right now in the middle of it. One is on clothing, it’s called Quantity versus Quality. How to purchase clothing in a frugal Way for Formal Wear. And then the other one’s on logic.

So I’m in the middle of that one. ’cause I teach, usually when I’m teaching emotional intelligence, I’ll teach a portion of logic. So for critical thinking skills for folks. And I wanna teach a separate class for that full six hour course. At some point I try to pitch that at PCC. But but yeah, I have this writing program and that’s something for.

Listeners to stay in contact. What was the question before that? I like got too excited there. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, it was also, let’s see oh, the key things that people can do and think about and take away from the work that you do. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Well, yeah, I guess just the writing program, if they want to be involved in that, then they can definitely do that.

Kim Allchurch Flick: And also their voices matter. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Yeah. A great way to let their voices great. Get it out there. ‘Cause their voices matter are writing a book 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Indeed. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: But for others to see. And it’s more static that way ’cause it is there. Yeah. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: And if listeners are like me, I’ve had a book in my head for a long time.

Maybe two sentences have hit a page, and if that resonates with anyone out there, know that there’s help here with Charles. So sometimes we, the help is needed. It writing is hard, at least for some people. Some people are prolific, but I find with quite a few people that the ideas aren’t difficult. It’s the actual doing of the writing that becomes difficult and it’s nice to know that there’s help out there.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: To add to that is that a lot of folks have ideas and I usually, when I see somebody I say, Hey, you have multiple books in you. For example, I’m looking at you, especially with your rich background. I was like, you have you have many books.

You could write And yeah, I noticed that a lot of writers, they have good ideas, or at least ones that come to my coaching program. Great ideas. What I see consistently is that the structure of it all. So if they could write an outline, a good outline, then they can get to the sweet spot.

The sweet spot typically in writing books is. 100- 200 pages. So I would say sweet spot is 150, but you need to at least get to a hundred for it to be a book that’s credible. ’cause if it’s under a hundred, people think it’s not a real book. Like I wrote one of my books is I wrote on social media and it’s about 60 pages or something like that.

My daughter, who was like 12 at the time, and she’s an avid reader. She’s like this. It’s only 60 pages. If it lost credibility with her, I’m sure lose credibility with other, educated readers. Adult readers. And but yeah, the industry standard is up to after a hundred pages, 150.

And in order to get to that spot, you need to have a good outline. And a lot of people just don’t know how to get there. And in the training I help them do that. And then it’s usually easier from that point on for them to write a book and get it published. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Frameworks help so much.

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: I also have another programs called speak, and that’s gonna be starting up here pretty quick.

I have five students in this program. It’s a new program. I usually coach people on one-on-ones. That’s it. But this one’s kind of like a toastmaster slash TV radio thing where I’ll have students I’ll close them for five weeks and then we’ll come together.

We’ll critique each other to do an overall presentation at the end. And then once we do a presentation at the end, they bring their friends and family to congratulate them on a great job. Giving a speech on something inspiring. Five minute speech Toastmasters is usually five a speech. So they’ll give a five minute speech memorized talking about or sharing their story.

Which is to inspire the crowd, inspire the people. Then after that, they have a chance to be on radio and tv, and then I’ll send them your way to be on your podcast. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: There’s something magic about that. Giving people confidence to speak and succinct. Succinct in five minutes. That can be incredibly powerful, that is so terrific. Thank you.

If you could have dinner with anyone living or deceased. Up to a table of four, including you. Which one, two or three people would they be and why? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: There’s a lot of folks that I can list, love, history but not to be political or anything like that.

I would pick Barack Obama. I like that he is so eloquent. I like that he’s had to endure a lot. He’s dealt with racism. He’s dealt with a lot of issues within his own party, other parties, and I feel like that requires a green amount of strength and perseverance. and knowledge to be able to overcome those odds.

And I feel like his experience is similar to mine, but I was in a higher level because he was the president of the United States. And I would just like to, to get into his brain see how it takes and see how it could get inspired, get, learn a few things from him on a one-on-one.

And then, MLK. Because of the same things his is more profound because, he had to deal with racism, at a high level. And him gleaning from, Gandhi, the system of nonviolence and seeing if it works here in the United States and when no one else believes in it.

When the majority are opposed to it. How do you go through it all? Maintain your calls to reach the goal? Yes. Regardless of the setbacks, regardless of being abused, regardless of having violence, regardless of being sent to prison. How do you maintain your cause and, so those two folks I would love to sit down with.

Kim Allchurch Flick: That would be just incredible and the vision that comes up about how these people from civil rights and some other areas maintain dignity, going into places where they knew they might be beaten up and always suit and tie looking professional, dapper calm, and doing it over and over and over again.

And I’m actually surprised. Myself that in my lifetime, there’s six degrees of separation. I have met two people who were on the Samuel Pettus Bridge in the march. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Oh, really? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Isn’t that amazing? 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Oh great. That’s awesome. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That’s 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: amazing. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: So it’s, and just those images that come from that, when you were talking about Martin Luther King Jr.

I was that image of the bridge was. In suits, marching slowly being calm, and yet knowing they were gonna be hurt, and yet knowing that the cause was worth it. It’s a pretty profound point to end on. 

Charles Edward Shambry Jr.: Thank you. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Thank you. Everyone, thank you for listening. Please do listen to what everything Charles has to say on his platforms, because there’s a lot out there that’s valuable to all of us, and learn what your communities are doing so that we can be better informed, knowledgeable is more supportive.

Thanks so much everyone.