Nestled inside the old bank vault of a former longtime bank in downtown Troy now sits a state-of-the-art podcast studio, the brainchild of the IDEA Bank’s Lynn George and Mauree Alice McCall. 

The IDEA Bank was established by Troy University in an effort to develop Troy into a regional center for economic growth by creating entrepreneurial resources and collaboration opportunities for the community of students, faculty, alumni, local businesses and leaders in the area. 

McCall serves as IDEA Bank Program Coordinator and George is the Director of Economic Development and the IDEA Bank at Troy University. The pair founded the Idea Vault Podcast in 2023. 

“I was trying to find a creative way to use this (bank) vault we have,” George recalled of the birth of the podcast. “People love going in there and looking at it, it’s kind of a staple of the building, but it’s just empty safes. So, I was brainstorming what we could do with this space to make it fit our mission and make it a real resource and something beneficial. Long story short, we came up with a podcast studio one day at lunch.” 

George, a Baton Rouge, La., native, nor McCall, a native of Birmingham, had ever done any podcasting or radio before. 

“We came up with the idea since (podcasting) is something that seems to be on the rise and it’s something that could be of interest for students to use,” George said. “We were able to get some money to purchase some equipment and it really serves our mission in two ways. We can provide a resource to students for them to actually start their own podcast but we can also interview people to share their stories and provide a resource through storytelling and sharing ideas and other types of resources that they have used for success.”

The Idea Vault Podcast is a two woman show, with George and McCall doing all of the planning, guest booking, producing, editing and marketing. 

“It’s just fun,” McCall said with a smile. “We’re able to go in there and meet people and talk to people and get people’s stories and give them a platform to tell their story. I think it’s something that no one ever really has done. A lot of times we’ll go and talk to someone and ask them if they want to be on our podcast and they’re a little weary of it at first.

“We’re just sitting down and talking about their story, though, and people don’t have a lot of time to do that. So, it’s a really great way to get them in there and hear about their story and share it with others.” 

The Idea Vault Podcast interviews both student entrepreneurs at Troy University and local entrepreneurs and business owners in Pike County. 

“We alternate between interviewing the student entrepreneurs and local business owners in the community,” said George. “The overall theme is to share stories of entrepreneurship. And through that process of storytelling, we try to pull out some resources that people have used to help them reach success.” 

George and McCall said that the podcast has been their favorite project they’ve done at the IDEA Bank. The pair also said that students have begun using the space for their own podcasts, as well.

“When we first opened there wasn’t many coming but it takes time to get the word out that it’s even here,” George continued. “Any time we have a class, or really anything here, people are like, ‘Wait, I didn’t know that was here.’ Every time it gets a little more traction. We have a handful of students that come in regularly to do their podcasts and use it for other things, too.”

Troy’s athletes have even made good use of the space. 

“One thing Lynn has been doing is working with student-athletes recording their commercial bits for (Name, Image, Likeness) deals with local businesses and companies,” McCall said. “That’s been a really neat use of it.” 

Both McCall and George said their only goals for the podcast, now entering its fourth season, were to stay consistent and continue to grow.

“We just want to keep it going and stay consistent, we’ve already increased from one episode a month to bi-weekly. So, that’s already growth that we’ve had,” said George. “The goals are really to continue growing on different platforms and having as many guests as we can to share their stories.”

The Idea Vault Podcast can be streaming on various platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, Spotify and Podbean.