The Podcast
Nicole Palsa
Nicole Palsa is a Nashville-based communications professional whose career spans country music, genealogy, and marketing. For more than 15 years, she has covered the country music industry as a freelance journalist, interviewing artists and tracking the genre's evolution from the inside. She currently runs two Substack newsletters: Amplify Country, dedicated to elevating voices in country music, and Kinfolks, which helps readers discover their heritage and breathe life into the stories of their ancestors. Since 2016, Nicole has been a volunteer guide with Musicians On Call, escorting musicians to perform bedside for veterans at the Nashville VA Hospital and hosting virtual programs for pediatric hospitals across the country. Outside of music, she brings more than 20 years of experience as a family historian, using both analog and digital genealogical research tools, including DNA, to solve decades-old family mysteries.
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Dustin Snyder
Dustin Snyder is the founder and Chief Advisor at Wayforward Associates, a national organizational consulting firm specializing in workforce diagnostics and change management. He personally developed Strategic Workforce Insight Mapping and has deployed it across the United States - from family businesses at generational transition to divisions of Fortune 500 multinationals. His practice bridges clinical psychology and executive leadership, with a client portfolio spanning manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, aerospace and defense, and beyond. He serves on the American Welding Society's Advisory Committee and the Harvard Business School Research Advisory Group.
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Jamie Bono
Jamie Bono is a Principal Consultant at EmergenceTek Group, where he designs information architectures and leads data platform strategy across healthcare, environmental services, and financial sectors. He spent nearly a decade as a paramedic in Buffalo-Niagara, then studied English at the University at Buffalo and the University of Pittsburgh, where he was also a Homeland Security Research Fellow. He went on to lead data integration and analytics for Medicaid redesign and value-based payment initiatives, then built NLP pipelines and knowledge graphs as a senior engineer in UB's Department of Biomedical Informatics. Today his work centers on context engineering: structuring the information around systems so the people, teams, and AI agents working inside them can actually reason well. Jamie serves on the board of CCNY, Inc. in Buffalo.
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Rachel Eastlack
Rachel Eastlack is a program leader committed to advancing inclusive and accessible pathways into technology for students, families, and communities across Western New York. Through her work at TechBuffalo, she leads initiatives that bridge education, family engagement, and workforce development, with a strong focus on equitable access and early exposure to technology. Her work centers on creating meaningful opportunities for young people to build skills, confidence, and a lasting sense of belonging in the innovation economy.
EPISODE COMING SOON
TechXY Turbo - T2
TechXY Turbo Season 2 episodes spanned leadership, startup ecosystems, and emerging technology. Ion Valis kicked things off with a deep dive into leadership in the AI age and the Taste Economy, followed by Jack McGowan on transforming Buffalo's startup scene, Melissa Copeland on balancing AI with the human side of contact centers, David Gonzalez on how EdTech platform Arbol tackles financial barriers in education, Dillan Sayers on community robotics and hands-on STEM mentorship, and Lena Levine closing the season with how strategic design drives startup funding. Across both seasons, TechXY Turbo delivers real conversations with technology leaders — no corporate filter.
TechXY Turbo - T2
TechXY Turbo - T1
TechXY Turbo launched with five episodes featuring voices from across the technology and innovation landscape. Larry Mietus opened the season exploring AI adoption and breaking through resistance to change, followed by Jessica Copeland on AI and cybersecurity, Stephanie Armstrong on the intersection of brand strategy and marketing technology, Sean McEvoy on the rise of low-code and no-code development, and Juweria Dahir closing out the season with a focus on inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship in Buffalo's tech ecosystem.
TechXY Turbo - T1
