You’re So Fly:
Mark Shropshire and Bayo Fodeke

What have you learned from the Concord podcast studio that you’re excited to bring to Winston-Salem?

The biggest lesson from year one at Flywheel Concord is that the technical setup is only half the story — the real magic happens when people feel comfortable enough to actually be themselves in front of a mic and camera. We’ve refined our whole workflow around that: from how we handle overheating on longer recording sessions to a multicam editing process that lets us capture natural conversation without constant interruptions for technical resets. For Winston-Salem, we’re bringing all of that muscle memory with us, plus a sharper sense of exactly what gear and process choices actually serve the storyteller instead of getting in their way. We’re not starting from scratch. We’re starting from a year of real reps.

What opportunities do you see this studio creating for Flywheel members and the Winston-Salem community?

FocalGroove exists because we believe every business and every person has a story worth telling well, and most of them just don’t have easy access to the tools or expertise to do it. A podcast studio inside a coworking space changes that math entirely. Suddenly a member doesn’t need to rent gear, hire a crew, or figure out editing software. They can book time in the studio and walk away with something genuinely broadcast-quality. For Winston-Salem specifically, we’re excited about what that means for local entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and creatives who want to build an audience but have been sitting on the sidelines because production felt like too high a bar to clear.

What can a first-time podcaster expect walking into the new studio?

Less pressure than they’re imagining. We’ve designed the space and the process so that someone with zero recording experience can sit down, get miked up, and start talking within a few minutes. We handle the technical complexity behind the scenes so the guest can focus entirely on the conversation. By the end of a session, most first-timers are surprised at how natural it felt and how quickly the nerves faded once the red light came on.

What’s been the most exciting part of building this, and what are you most looking forward to once it opens?

The most exciting part has honestly been watching an idea from our first year in Concord turn into something we get to build a second time, better, with everything we learned baked in. There’s something genuinely energizing about that kind of growth. What I’m most looking forward to once the doors open is the first time a Winston-Salem member records something in that studio that genuinely changes their business or their reach. That’s the whole point of FocalGroove: creative media that actually moves the needle for real people. Getting to bring that to a second Flywheel community is pretty groovy, honestly.