Melvin “Mel” Jenner was born in Goodrich, North Dakota, in 1922. His family moved to Michigan when Mel turned four years old, and he recounted his upbringing. A fascination with airplanes led Mel to join the Michigan International Guard during high school. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the federal government mobilized the National Guard, and Mel enlisted in the service. He recalled his military service in World War II, serving mainly as a left waist gunner in a B-17 bomber aircraft. Mel flew forty-six missions, including six over Berlin and his final one at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Mel continued his military service after World War II, participating in the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and 1949. McCoy Air Base marked Mel’s final duty station, and he recollected his occupation at the base and his general observations before the area turned into its present-day function as a civilian commercial airport. Mel stayed in Orlando after he retired from the military, emphasizing how the bass fishing scene and outdoor life attracted him to settle in Central Florida. Mel worked at Disney for over twenty years as a painter and tournament director for Disney’s bass fishing club. In 2024, as part of the 80th anniversary commemorations, Mel visited Normandy for the first time since the war. Lastly, he explained why he continues passing his story on to future generations.

Kymbat Iglikova was born in Talshik, Kazakhstan, in 1984. She recounted memories of her upbringing, particularly the uncertainty that followed Kazakhstan’s independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as fond recollections of her parents and grandparents. Kymbat wished to pursue a career in chemistry; however, her mother discouraged her from working in such a field, citing geographical and gender concerns. Instead, her mother suggested that Kymbat pursue a career teaching English, recognizing the potential with increased globalization and companies investing in foreign areas, such as Kazakhstan. Kymbat followed her mother’s advice and graduated with a bachelor's degree in education, foreign languages, literature, and linguistics from Kokshetau State University. Ironically, this career path led to what her mother partly feared—moving away from home. In 2005, Kymbat participated in a student-teachers exchange program that provided opportunities to practice linguistics and teaching skills in another country, resulting in her departure from Kazakhstan and subsequent emigration to the United States. She spent two weeks in New York City, recounting a specific emotional memory that Kymbat credited as the reason why she ultimately stayed in the US. Kymbat requested that her agency transfer her to Florida, as she felt restricted in New York and wanted to reconnect with friends living in the Sunshine State, thereby rekindling her ties to Kazakhstan. Upon arriving in Florida, Kymbat founded Multilingual International Services and explained in extensive detail her inspirations to create the company, its purpose, its evolution, and how it intertwined with her other career in real estate. In 2019, Kymbat joined Orlando Fusion Fest, supporting their mission and expanding their programming to include Kazakhstan cultural showcases. Kymbat discussed what she has learned about Florida from her various professional experiences, including her linguistic company, real estate business, and Fusion Fest service. Additionally, given her intimate contact with recently arrived immigrants, Kymbat expounded on the current state of immigration in America (c. 2025) and how it differs from her personal experience twenty years ago. Lastly, she shared her broader observations about Central Florida, its cultural continuities, changes, and challenges since 2005.

Silvia Huddleston was born in Lima, Peru, in 1969. She recollected memories of her upbringing in Lima, particularly the challenges growing up with terrorist attacks across the city during the 1970s and 1980s. Silvia discovered dance as a way to gain a deeper understanding of her native culture, one in which, as she explained, Peruvian schools did not teach and overlooked. She recounted her early dancing career, particularly her performance at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and her subsequent tour across Europe in 1991. Economic difficulties and safety concerns prompted Silvia to leave Peru and emigrate to the United States in 2003. She initially landed in Miami and then quickly settled in Orlando. In 2015, Silvia founded Raymi Dance School in Orlando as a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing Peruvian heritage and culture through dance, music, and storytelling performances.

Edward H. Greene was born in Winter Park, Florida, in 1948. He grew up in several communities across Orlando in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in Eatonville. He recalled his adolescent experience in Eatonville, particularly attending Hungerford High School. Edward’s family intersects deeply with Eatonville’s history, as his grandmother’s uncle was Joe Clark, the formerly enslaved African American who founded Eatonville in 1887. Edward’s grandmother, Catherine “Willie” Clark Alexander, also remains significant to Eatonville’s history, as she served as the town’s first postmaster for twenty-four years from 1955 to 1979. Edward shared his grandmother’s story, specifically the day she was abducted from the post office and brutally murdered, which remains one of the most heinous crimes in Eatonville’s history. Additionally, Edward recounted his collegiate experience at Bethune-Cookman, which mandatory military service temporarily interrupted. Lastly, Edward discussed how Orlando has changed since his adolescence, specifically within a racial context.

N.B. We conducted this interview at the end of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, when the lawn maintenance crew cleaned the area and event staff packed up equipment, disrupting the audio. Additionally, Edward’s mic did not function until approximately 3:40, thus any audio from him before remains faint, but not completely inaudible.

Lisa Gong Guerrero was born in Guangdong Province, China, in 1977. Lisa emigrated to Tampa, Florida, at around five years old with her family. She explained the circumstances that prompted her family to leave China, emphasizing the limited opportunities, especially for young girls and women. Lisa recalled her K12 education experiences, particularly the racial and cultural challenges she faced as a Chinese immigrant. She credited her grandparents and mother for maintaining their Chinese heritage as they increasingly acclimated to American society. Lisa grew up in the Town and Country neighborhood in Tampa and remembered being around many African Americans and Hispanics. Attending the University of Florida in the late 1990s introduced Lisa to the Asian American community outside her family and relatives. She joined several student organizations at UF, including the Chinese Student Union and Asian Student Union, explaining the programs they initiated and their importance generally and personally. After graduating from UF in 2000, Lisa worked for several businesses, traveling in and out of Florida during this time. She attended Barry College of Law in Orlando from 2003 to 2006, working for the State Attorney’s Office in the Ninth Circuit upon finishing law school. In addition to outlining her responsibilities, Lisa became the first Asian-American homicide prosecutor, the first Bureau Chief, and the first Asian-American Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney in that office. During this time, she co-founded the Greater Orlando Asian-American Bar Association (GOAABA), underlining the lack of legal organizations focused on the growing Asian population in Central Florida as a central motive for creating GOAABA. In 2024, Lisa ran for Orange County Judge Group Eleven, sharing her campaigning experiences and how it impacted her and the larger Asian American community in Orlando. She also discussed her broader observations about Orlando's cultural and political continuities, changes, and challenges over the past twenty years.

Guenet Gittens-Roberts was born in Guyana in 1975. She recollected her upbringing in Guyana during the 1980s, particularly how the country’s multicultural and diverse religious landscape influenced her profoundly. Guenet recalled memories of her parents owning a screen printing company and the intertwined relationship between work and life. Despite not explicitly realizing it then, Guenet reflected on the unique experience of being born only nine years after Guyana achieved independence from the British. Guenet spent her summers in Brooklyn, New York, and even attended Louis D. Brandeis High School in the Upper West Side. She emigrated permanently to the US around 2000, settling briefly in New York and then in Miami, Florida. Guenet recounted her experience living in Miami, particularly how she resonated with the deep Caribbean influences in the region. She then moved to Orlando with a mission to unite Caribbean peoples living in the City Beautiful, as she identified a lack of connections between the various but separate peoples of Caribbean origin living in the area. As a result, she served as the President of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Orlando while establishing a print and digital newspaper titled Caribbean American Passport NewsMagazine to bolster the intracultural connections of Caribbean peoples in Orlando. She discussed her roles in both of these endeavors extensively. Lastly, Guenet shared broader observations about the immigrant experience in Florida and America, challenges Central Florida faces today (c. 2025), and how to maintain the tenuous American experiment.

Samir Fkiyi was born in Morocco in 1986. After briefly discussing his experiences growing up in Morocco, Samir recounted his decision to leave and emigrate to the United States in 2011. He realized that perceptions in Morocco about Americans—and vice versa—differed from what he observed living in the States. In fact, Samir created a YouTube channel to challenge the cultural stereotypes often associated with Americans and Moroccans, leveraging the dual identity most immigrants possess. Samir worked at Walt Disney World from 2011 to 2015, and explained how that experience facilitated his adjustment to living in the US. After working at Disney, Samir opened his restaurant, Darna Cuisine, and briefly recollected the memories of operating a Moroccan restaurant in Orlando. Additionally, since May 2022, Samir has served as the President of the Moroccan American Cultural Society. He underlined the importance of such a cultural organization for Moroccans specifically and other communities generally in the Central Florida area. Lastly, Samir shared his broader observations living in Orlando.

Reginald (Reggie) Finlayson was born on May 12, 1954, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father’s family history, however, has deep connections to Florida, particularly his grandfather, who built one of the oldest remaining Black churches in Miami—the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Coconut Grove. Reggie recollected stories about his grandfather’s time serving as the church’s minister and its significance to the Black community in Coconut Grove. Additionally, Reggie recounted his father’s experiences growing up in Jim Crow Orlando during the interwar and immediate post-World War II years. He also compared how Jim Crow materialized between the South and North, as his family resided mainly in the North, especially once Reggie was born in 1954. Reggie briefly mentioned the connections his family had with notable Black figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and Zora Neale Hurston. Lastly, he explained why he drove from Milwaukee to attend the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Florida, and the festival’s greater relevancy considering the current (~2020s) racial and political climate.

Alex Erdmann was born on August 26th, 1969, in Thuringia, East Germany. Alex recollected his experience growing up in East Germany, from the Soviet influence to the difficulty of seeing family that lived across the Berlin Wall in West Germany. Alex joined the East German military to professionalize as a chef, which remained one of the few ways to practice culinary arts then. Interestingly, the end of Alex’s military service coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and he recounted a particular emotional memory about living through that event. Alex worked as a chef in several places across Europe before arriving in the United States in 1998. He deepened his professional career once he stayed in the US by building four culinary art schools nationwide, consulting for several food companies, and even leading a project to improve hospital food in Arkansas. Given such comprehensive professional experience, Alex compared the similarities and differences between the culinary arts landscape in Europe, New Jersey, Michigan, and Orlando. Alex moved to Orlando in 2018 to create the Walt Disney World Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality for Valencia College’s downtown campus, and he thoroughly discussed this experience and why it proves important for him and Orlando's tourist industry. Lastly, he shared his broader observations on living in Orlando as a German businessman, particularly how the city has changed culturally and from a culinary perspective and how the city might change in the next twenty years.

Mayor Jerry L. Demings was born in Orlando, Florida, in 1959. He recounted his upbringing throughout the 1960s and early 1970s in Washington Shores, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Orlando. He recollected memories of his father working as a taxi driver for twelve hours a day, seven days a week, and his mother as a housemaid, all while both of them operated several small businesses within their communities to make ends meet. He described how the larger Civil Rights Movement influenced him personally and impacted his community more broadly, meeting several important civil rights figures when they visited Orlando. Mayor Demings recalled his schooling experience and how he navigated the transition from segregation to integration in Orange County public schools. He attended Jones High School from 1974 to 1977, sharing a particular harrowing incident after a game in a visiting school that expressed objections to Jones High’s racially mixed athletics team. Mayor Demings returned to Orlando in 1980 after graduating from Florida State University. He explained how he ended up in the Orlando Police Department, an institution he proudly served for over twenty years. He explained various initiatives that he created and led during his time serving in the Orlando Police Department, including Orlando’s first bicycle patrol, a Boy Scout Troop program, and others. In 1998, then-mayor of Orlando Glenda E. Hood appointed Demings as Orlando's Chief of Police, making him the first African-American to serve in that position. Demings landed several public positions that made him the first Black person to occupy such titles—including his current status as the Mayor of Orange County—and he discussed the significance of such breakthroughs personally and within a larger racial context, given his background from the Civil Rights Era. Since he has essentially spent his entire life in Orlando and has served in prominent public positions throughout Orange County, Mayor Demings articulated a deep understanding of the area’s social, cultural, and political milieu and how it has changed throughout his life. Lastly, Mayor Demings briefly shared his working book project, tentatively titled “Black in Blue at the Top.”