The Unshakeables

Hosted by iHeartPodcasts

Business Society Culture

Website RSS feed Instagram TikTok YouTube

Episodes

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

The Unshakeables podcast dives into inspiring stories from real small business owners across America who power their communities every day. Join Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, and co-host Kathleen Griffith as they hear from guests who share their make-or-break moments that changed everything. Produced in collaboration with iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio, The Unshakeables has won multiple awards, including Gold at the 2025 Signal Awards. The speakers’ opinions belong to them and may differ from opinions of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates. Views presented on this podcast are those of the speakers; they are as of the podcast release date and they may not materialize. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2026 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Listen to episodes

59 recent

November 10, 202629 min

For Those Who Served: Red Star Foundation

After serving in the Marine Corps, Jerry Shaffer built a career as a business consultant. Then a conversation with the wife of a veteran who had died by suicide stopped him cold — she had no idea if she was eligible for benefits or where to turn. While Gold Star and Blue Star families had recognition and support, she had neither. So, Jerry built Red Star Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness around veteran and first responder suicide and making sure surviving families don't get left behind. In this Veterans Day episode, Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, and Kathleen Griffith sit down with Jerry to talk about building a mission-driven organization, what for-profit founders can learn from nonprofits, and why the hardest battles are often the ones nobody sees coming. These are The Unshakeables. Learn more at chase.com/business Learn more about Red Star and its resources at redstarfoundation.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

November 5, 202622 min

Open for Business: Kelly Loeffler of the Small Business Administration

On this bonus episode of The Unshakeables, we head to Atlanta for the Make Your Move Summit, where Chase for Business brings together small business owners and experts for three days of learning, growing, and building real, lasting connections. This year, a number of small businesses joined with one goal: to thrive. Running a business means wearing every hat and finding the right support often drops to the bottom of the list. But some of the most useful resources out there are built just for small business owners, and many owners don’t know where to find them. Join Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, as he sits down with Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, to talk about how the SBA supports small businesses, from access to capital to the resources available to owners at every stage of growth. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 27, 202629 min

Making With Purpose: MakerFlo

Marc Pendergraft and John Modi have been in business together for almost as long as they've been friends ― and they met in middle school. As college students, they made women's shoes, but their real breakthrough came with MakerFlo, a wholesale business offering tumblers, cutting boards and other products that makers can customize and sell. A pandemic-era boom helped them grow, but a $2 million loss and excess inventory nearly ended it all. What kept them going was simple: they remembered why they started. Join Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, and Kathleen Griffith as they talk with Marc and John about the cost of pivoting, protecting employee benefits through financial losses and building an unshakeable partnership. These are The Unshakeables. Learn more at chase.com/business See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 22, 202610 min

Showing Up for Small Business: Live from Washington, D.C.

On this special episode, The Unshakeables heads to Washington, D.C. Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, was joined by five small business owners who spent the day on Capitol Hill to talk about issues that matter most. Join Stevie, as he sits down with Arielle Elliott, CEO of the Washington Sun, at the Washington Sun’s American Small Business Summit to discuss what he heard on the Hill—and the simplest way anyone can show up for small business right now. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 11, 202629 min

Eyes in the Sky: Flying Lion

Barry Brennan and Steven Katz built Flying Lion around a simple but ambitious idea — put drones in the sky to protect people on the ground. They pioneered a “drone as first responder” business for private security and commercial operations. It was a niche few were willing to bet on, but Barry went all in. Then one contract tripled their workload overnight. For a year, they ran nonstop to keep up — until five employees quit at once, leaving Barry and Steven to hold it all together. In this episode, Stevie Baron, CEO of Chase for Business, joins Kathleen Griffith for the first time to talk with Barry about scaling before you’re ready, what a mass resignation teaches you about building a team and what it really means to be first on the scene. These are The Unshakeables. Learn more at chase.com/business . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 30, 202633 min

Who You Work With: Multi-Axis Technologies

Daisy Kelly and Jay Simpson met working at Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos. When they decided to start Multi-Axis Technologies — a machine shop in Kent, Washington — they used personal savings to purchase secondhand machines and sign a five-year lease before they had a single customer. They set out to solve a problem they kept seeing firsthand, shops that could not reliably deliver the speed and precision teams like theirs needed. From the start, their partnership was the foundation of the business, but when one of their busiest machines broke down mid-schedule, Daisy and Jay found out just how far a partnership could be stretched. In this episode, Ben and Kathleen talk about finding — and keeping — the right business partner. Ben also has some news of his own. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 2, 202630 min

Built to Keep Going: Elon Elezra

Elon Elezra moved to Alabama for college and never left. A gig fixing iPhones in his dorm room turned into running storefronts for the largest reselling platform in the world, doing roofing repair, and buying real estate. He spent years treating every venture as a classroom, seeing a lesson in every hardship. But ambition has a price. When Elon tackled one of his first major commercial renovations, the project became a crash course in everything that can go wrong — and how much it costs to find out. In this episode, Ben and Kathleen talk with Elon about what he has learned and how he has defined his own American dream. After successfully selling his garage door company, Elon continues to dream for more. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 19, 202632 min

The Hat That Changed Everything: Siegelman Stable

Max Siegelman had a logo before he had a brand — borrowed from his father's harness racing stable, Siegelman Stable. The logo felt like it was meant to be on a hat, so when the pandemic hit, Max put $600 down and started making them. No outside money, no rapid scaling. He funded each production run with returns from the last, built buzz with rappers and shipped hats to the NBA Bubble in 2020. Then in 2022, one of his hats ended up on Kendall Jenner during Paris Fashion Week. Max had 15 minutes to get his website ready and he made the moment count. Join Ben and Kathleen as they talk to Max about building a luxury brand on legacy and scarcity, why limited drops beat mass production, and how travel fuels the aspirational mystique that makes Siegelman Stable impossible to ignore. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 7, 202614 min

BONUS: How Small Businesses Endure for Generations

How do some small businesses stand the test of time? In today’s mini episode, Maya talks with Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business and host of “The Unshakeables” podcast, about what helps businesses endure across generations – from adaptability and grit to a deep connection with their communities. This episode was made in partnership with Chase for Business. Listen to “The Unshakeables” here . Listen to our previous conversation with Ben, “Boost Your Resilience At Work.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 5, 202629 min

Ninety Years of Noodles: Borgatti's Ravioli & Egg Noodles

Christopher Borgatti learned the business from his father. His son, Christopher, learned it from him. Since 1935, four generations of Borgattis have been rolling pasta in the same Bronx shop through the Depression, through WWII, through changing neighborhoods, through the internet age and through a pandemic. The name on the door has never changed. Neither has the commitment to quality. But legacy does not mean easy. When bird flu sent egg prices through the roof, the Borgattis absorbed the cost rather than pass it on to their customers. When the ravioli machine broke in the middle of Christmas week, their most critical week of the year, they did not close up shop. They fixed it. Join Ben and Kathleen as they talk with Christopher and Christopher about what it really means to be a neighborhood institution, why putting customers over profits is both a values decision and a business strategy and how a family pasta shop has outlasted nearly a century of American upheaval. These are The Unshakeables. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.