We thought our readers/viewers might like to learn about some of the folks that work at IdahoPTV. Because there are so many people who work behind the scenes, you may have seen some of them, or maybe only heard about them. Today we would like to introduce Philanthropy Specialist Jacob Sodeman.
IdahoPTV’s Carol Beres recently sat down with Jacob Sodeman. “I work with our donors, just connecting with them,” he says. “Something I try to do is connect on a personal level, find out what they care about, find connection points with our station and what we’re doing here and how we can drive that support and take the initiative on those kinds of things.” Jacob says if there’s a certain program that’s interesting to a donor he can steer their support towards it. “If a show needs support then we can raise dollars for that and continue the production and send people out into the field and get those shows on air,” he adds.
Jacob grew up in Kirkland, Washington. “Like anywhere else, it’s grown a lot since I grew up there,” he says. He didn’t go far to get his college degree. “University of Washington – just across the (Puget) Sound from where we were,” he says. His family moved out to Idaho right before Jacob and his wife did. “We ended up moving in with them in a mother-in-law kind of thing,” he says. “My brother and his wife went to school out here and stayed after college.” His first year here was during the COVID lockdown. “The first year was strange, with COVID,” he says. “We didn’t really get to explore the area a whole lot. We did some stuff: getting out into the woods, exploring some nature. This last year has been really nice to go see more of what’s going on and get to know more people, too.”
Jacob understands the value of PBS in his community. “I think just connecting with people that are around you can increase your quality of life a lot, and theirs,” he says. “And people have such interesting stories. I like hearing from other people. I think that’s what Idaho Public Television does so well. Just connecting them with stories of those around them. There are so many programs that we produce that are stories that I’ve never heard of, and new places that I want to go explore. There are always fun dramas and other things, like adventure and travel, and cooking shows. I just think there’s such a well-roundedness to what goes on at Idaho Public Television. I think the education piece of what we do is important, too.”
Jacob and his wife, Kelsey, love to get into the Idaho outdoors. “Recently, we’ve been getting into camping again,” he says. “Kelsey and I both worked at Mount Rainier (in Washington) during the summer. I worked there one summer and I think Kelsey worked there two or three summers. They have this beautiful lodge up there in the National Park. So we worked in the lodge. I was a porter. I was hauling bags up and down the stairs. It was fun. But, I got off at 2:00pm every day there. And I would go hiking after work. It was just an amazing, wonderful summer. Lately I’ve been getting back into hiking. We’ve gone to Redfish Lake a lot. We went to Ponderosa State Park, in McCall, a couple of weekends ago. And we’ve convinced my parents, who aren’t campers, that with a grandchild on the way (my brother and his wife) and other future kids, it would be a good idea to have a pop-up camper…so, soon we’ll be camping with them too.” He says they’ve been exploring the hot springs in the area as well. And Jacob likes to keep active on the basketball court. “I’m not typically a really competitive person, but I do enjoy the competitiveness of basketball. I want to win,” he laughs.
Jacob is pretty open-minded when it comes to his favorite snacks. “I like scouring Trader Joe’s,” he admits. “They always have something good. You could spend hours in there.” His go-to is peanut butter pretzels, though. “They have salted and unsalted versions,” he says. “I always choose the salted. They’re in the blue packaging.” He’s also open to a healthy snack, too. “Another thing I like is at Boise Juice Company,” he says. “They have these açai bowls….they’re really good. It’s basically like a smoothie, but just in a bowl…they’re a little thicker. And then they add on fresh fruit and granola. The one I get has honey drizzled over the top, too. It’s really tasty. Really refreshing on a hot day.”
So far, Jacob has a fondness for exploring the Treasure Valley and the Sawtooths. “The most I’ve explored is the Garden City area,” he says. “Going to the different wineries and there’s a couple of breweries close by, too. So, exploring those and getting to know what’s going on…we like wandering along the Boise River. Redfish Lake is our go to, also. It’s just so beautiful out there.” And he remembers a PBS Kids character that he watched when he was a kid. “So I always loved Wishbone,” he says. “They read stories. Then the dog, Wishbone, and the kids would get transported, in their imaginations, back in time.”
The enjoyment of Wishbone, Jacob says, segued into his and his wife’s love for dogs. “For three or four years, we raised Golden Retriever puppies,” he says. “We had, I think, 25 puppies over three years.” They still have the mama dog of all the litters, plus one of her pups. He says, “It was really rewarding to see all the families and to get to know the people who were going to take home the puppies. We had people from all over.” Jacob and Kelsey had dog lovers call them from as far away as North Carolina. Their dog, Bella Rose, alas, has retired from the puppy-making business.