As a region we celebrate our wins, successes, triumphs; now we are bragging those to the world

In April, the Chamber launched the podcast, In the QC, to broaden our reach and yes, brag. QC, that’s where good people, with good ideas, achieve great things. Produced by the Chamber’s Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, Lindsay O’Brien, the podcast is now sharing the stories of our region, businesses, start-ups and creatives on a global platform.

“We want to shed light on the magic of the QC, its people and the work organizations like the Chamber are doing with people who may not know about our region,” O’Brien said. The podcast is a tool we’ll use to catch the ear of businesses and people across the world and highlight who we are and how we live, work and thrive in the QC.  And it fits perfectly within the work we do with and for you, which is focused on growing our population, GDP, and drawing young talent, families and retirees to move and grow here.

O’Brien is an artist and experienced graphic designer who, before joining the Chamber team, worked for musicians across the globe.  They’d often ask her when she’d be moving to LA or New York. Her response: “I am fine catching a plane. My homebase will always be the QC. I was born and raised here and I have such a deep-rooted love for our region. In my lifetime I want it to reach the level and go beyond what I’ve always known it could be,” she said.

“I’ve always wanted to be involved in creating a QC community where teens and young adults never want to leave because we hold everything they want: a thriving arts scene, ample opportunities and so many fun things to do,” O’Brien said.

New episodes of In the QC are posted biweekly on all podcast platforms and episodes will showcase the region and feature small business owners, corporate giants, start-ups, creatives, community organizations and the work we do with and for you.

The Quad-City Times knows the power of storytelling and is invested in advancing our region, which is why it offered its podcast studio to the Chamber to record In the QC. Underground Economy is also supporting our efforts and composed the music for the podcast, a beat that captures our collective identity and extends our regional branding efforts. We’ve already started incorporating it into Chamber videos and external QC marketing campaigns we have underway and planned.

QC, that’s where we have great stories to tell. When we meet with a business owner to offer resources for an expansion or automation project, a start-up seeking office space or a small business seeking a storefront, we are witness to the hard work and determination that leads to success.

When we collaborate with schools and community organizations, showoff the region to summer interns, convene minority business owners, Peer Roundtables and the inaugural cohort of Leadership QC, we identify opportunities and solutions that advance our region; then we act.

When we partner with business owners, listen and identify their challenges, then meet with legislators in Des Moines Springfield and Washington D.C., we shine a spotlight on what we can and have achieved.

Now we share these stories with the world.

“We invite the community, businesses owners and workers, Chamber members and investors to take a listen and grow with us. We are right now at the starting point of telling our QC story and there will be so many beautiful chapters to dive into,” O’Brien said. “Join us for the ride. It will be a lot of fun and will showcase what makes the QC so special.”