A new, student-driven podcast, Plug Ave., is now available to help small businesses promote the business they are in.

Lakeland University is a community with many minds that can wander into different creative worlds. Senior student, Isaiah Vance, took Lakeland by storm when he created his podcast back in June of 2020. Vance explains the background on the whole podcast, “I created Plug Ave. as a way for small businesses to get their business out there and for them to tell their story about what went through to get where they are now. It’s a way to help others out who may be in the same situation as someone else,” Vance stated. Lakeland University is known for its involvement in the community and Vance is putting his mark in the community with this podcast.

Some people have asked how Vance came up with the name for the podcast and he explained that, “I called it Plug Ave. because I’m plugging information about small businesses, artists, and life on it so it’s an avenue for people to come down and gain that information. Like Main Street, it has everything that people need, just like Plug Ave. has the helpful information.”

Vance also explained why he chose a podcast and with the simple reason it was the closest thing to a radio station, and then once the first couple episodes were out, he just stayed with the podcast. With podcasts being on a rise right now, this was a step up for him and his podcast. His support is spread wide to students on campus, especially his brothers of Beta Sigma Omega, but it has been getting more popular on campus with his promoting of the podcast. He commented on that by saying, “The support and help behind this journey is a blessing.”

Vance is trying to make people aware of the struggles that small businesses’ have when first starting out. He explains what they did to start the business and then how they are doing now.  Vance, himself, is a small business in his own way, as he sells his Plug Ave.’s T-shirts that support what he is doing for these small businesses.

Vance said that his podcast is not too large with people just yet, but he feels that the right people are listening and that he is reaching the people that can help these small businesses, and to him, that is what matters right now. In the future, he hopes he can have more people listening so others can understand what these small businesses have had to go through while trying to make it with their business.

Vance has made 15 episodes that can be heard now, and he tries to have a new episode once or twice a month. With being a senior, he is almost done with his schooling and there will be more episodes coming out after school. He hopes that this will help those small businesses that needed the little push to get their business out there into the world.

To listen his podcast, access to Plug Ave.’s YouTube channel; youtube.com/channel/UCEToO4pIshrYfZTeYSiLl4g