Justin McKenzie on Innovation in Texas: Entrepreneurship, Workforce Development, and Economic Growth

Welcome And Why Texas Stories Matter

Judy Oskam 0:02

In Texas, innovation isn't just happening in big cities, it's unfolding in small towns and communities across the state. It's driven by entrepreneurs, educators, and leaders who are reimagining what's possible. I'm Judy Oskam, professor and director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University. And I'm also a proud native Texan. Welcome to Stories of Change and Creativity. On this episode, I'm joined by Justin McKenzie, a two-time Texas State grad. He's an entrepreneur and he's the host of the Building Texas Show. In the show, he highlights the people and ideas that are shaping economic development across Texas. You'll learn more about Justin and his journey. So if you're interested in entrepreneurship, workforce development, and the future of innovation in Texas, well, I think this conversation is for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Justin McKenzie 1:14

My name is Justin McKenzie. I'm a two-time Bobcat graduate and I'm very excited to be here today but you know, in everything I hear from Texas State, I feel very seen. I am an international student as an expat, living abroad as a kid. Came back into public school in the U.S. at my sophomore year.

Judy Oskam 1:24

Wow. It's a tough time, huh?

Justin McKenzie 1:26

It's a transition for sure. You go from small class to bigger class. Um, I'm a first-generation college student for my family, and that was a lot of learning lessons. And then I'm a first-time master student as well. And coming back to Texas State, having worked between graduation and masters, I got to bring back a lot of worldly experience and really treat college differently as a graduate student.

Judy Oskam 1:53

Yes.

Justin McKenzie 1:54

Take far more appreciation in it. And all of those things combined have given me a ton of grit, a ton of experience and perspective to go out and do what I do today.

What Makes Texas State Different

Judy Oskam 2:06

Well, I I love the fact that we met at South by Southwest and you attended our Texas State event where we had all kinds of uh activities and panels and scientists and researchers and innovators. And you yourself have an innovation background. Talk about some of your inter entrepreneurial skills, and also then we'll get into your podcast in a little bit.

Justin McKenzie 2:27

Well, it's been a lot of fun. It was great to see at Texas House at South by Southwest. Texas State was very visible. And then on the panels that you were moderating and the guests that were up there, to see the level of professor, to see the level of research gearing up to R1 status, and then to see the full cycle of Bobcats going out, going to other universities, and then coming back to San Marcos to complete their entrepreneurial journey at Star Park. And that's all happening here at Texas State. And so it inspired when when I was at Texas State, we just learned how to figure things out. And it was set at South by, so I'll echo it. And I hear it from employers across the state. They love hiring Bobcats.

Judy Oskam 3:11

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 3:12

Because they have personality, they have a little bit of get it done mentality. And it's not always been easy for a Bobcat. And not to say it's easy for anybody, but there's culturally, San Marcus is a place where you come in and cut your teeth and learn a lot of skills. And some of those are in the classroom, some are in life. And consistently, hiring Bobcats has done has been a great solution for myself and many other employers.

Building Texas Show Origins

Judy Oskam 3:40

Well, and there's a lot of grit there. I think we see that with our students. We hear that from internship um companies that use our students and work with our students, and uh our students really can deliver. And that's what we see that in the classroom, and then we see it when they get out in the workforce as well. And I think Texas State is all about providing opportunities and jobs uh for and about Texas. It's all about Texas, and that's what your whole podcast is about. Tell me about your podcast.

Justin McKenzie 4:12

Well, I it started out as a radio show, the Building Texas show. It started on local Bernie Radio, and it was a push to fill a gap because I was in the Hill Country and seeing some great entrepreneurial activities happening, but it's not making the local paper. And those entrepreneurs need acknowledgement. They need I I think taxpayers should understand what businesses are in their community that are really innovative, neat industry. And then most importantly, I think high school kids need to see that even in the rural hill country, anything is possible. And I can give you examples of that in every little town in Texas. And so from the radio show, it then became YouTube video show. And and then it at a hundred episodes in, I said, why don't we just make it virtual, make it much easier, but go tell those stories in cities around Texas. And what better way to start than to talk to mayors around the state and to hear, hey, we're trying to get a spaceport at our local airport because we're gonna do innovation, we're gonna be building satellites in Midland, Texas.

Judy Oskam 5:20

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 5:20

We're gonna be getting ready to be the next launch center for rockets in space. Space is a big focus in Texas, so I'm seeing a lot of that. But then it's quantum, then it's chips, then it's my entrepreneurial high school program and P Tech programs where you can come out of high school across Texas with 60 college credit hours.

Judy Oskam 5:40

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 5:41

What a gift. And so I started the show to just continue to make those things visible to all of those categories because it might be a job pivot.

Speaker 2 5:52

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 5:53

It might be graduating high school. Those are points where you have to see what are my options and where can I go from here?

Manufacturing Lessons And Future Of Work

Judy Oskam 6:01

Well, and I think I think interviewing mayors is a great start. I think it it gives you some good visibility, but you also know how to ask those questions because of your background. Talk about your background a little bit.

Justin McKenzie 6:13

So it's a it's a fun background and and it's a it's one of those grit backgrounds. Um I I've definitely made my share of mistakes, but I've I've learned from them. And when I left San Marcos in 2005, I went to Ohio and I moved a manufacturing facility from Ohio to Juarez, Mexico. And in 2007 to 2010, Juarez was the height of the drug wars, it was very visible. So it was a it was a place to be and it came with its challenges. But I really got to scale a manufacturing facility that was building electronics and got to see both sides of that manufacturing transition. So in Ohio, it sends a county to over 25% unemployment when we leave. That's hard.

Judy Oskam 6:59

That's tough. That's tough.

Justin McKenzie 7:00

But when it gets to Mexico, we're taking 1,500 families to middle class.

Judy Oskam 7:05

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 7:07

And I had always, as I grew up in manufacturing, I grew up on the receiving side, seeing the positive impact, particularly in northern Mexico of manufacturing. But when I realized Ohio, it really gave me a passion to say, I want to go back and get more realistic into where are all these kids going to go when they graduate? What is the future of work?

Judy Oskam 7:29

What does the town look like? Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 7:30

Because the rust belt's hard to look at in in through that lens because a lot has left. I see a lot coming back now. That's encouraging. But from Borez, it really drove me to come back to Texas State. Uh my MBA has a focus in international HR. And I started working with companies on the human capital side.

Judy Oskam 7:51

So hiring.

Justin McKenzie 7:52

Hiring, uh transitioning, all elements of that, but typically at large scale. So there's a facility in Sagin that I helped launch, and we interviewed 25,000 people to get to 2,500 people that can work on a manufacturing floor. And that's because that region had never seen automated manufacturing before. It's a whole new way of life. But you took an agricultural community and now it's a large manufacturing community. It has a lot more impact on the region now.

Judy Oskam 8:22

Sure.

Growing Rural Innovation And Incubators

Justin McKenzie 8:23

Economically, um, the kids being raised in homes, kids being raised in schools that are getting more funding. So I love that positive side of manufacturing. Long way to say, I saw the development of software. I saw the transition from 05 to 2010, where it went from we're building widgets to these widgets have brains and you have to put firmware, software. I saw that whole layer be introduced, and so I moved into software development and really enjoyed the comparative model. Like agile software feels a lot like Toyota Production Systems. So it made sense to me. And it gave me the opportunity to participate in a couple of startups and take them to scale, take them to uh maturity. And those rides are fun, but they can also be very hard. And so as I was doing that, particularly in downtown San Antonio, I saw a focus on just downtown. I said, How do I bring this out to rural hill country, Texas? And I think that's a bigger question of how do you bring it to rural America? Sure. Because every community has innovation in it. Every community has potential to be the next community that's building satellites that has a data center, whether you like those or not, that's a lot of revenue. So I saw that opportunity and I worked with our local EDC to our Economic Development Corporation and our county and city to say, hey, could we build an incubator in the Hill Country? We're successful in doing it. There's a long history of funding coming in and funding going out through political transition.

Judy Oskam 10:02

Which is typical, right? Isn't that kind of typical?

Justin McKenzie 10:04

This was through political transition. So it was interesting to get the support of one commissioner's court, and then there's an election, and you lose that.

Judy Oskam 10:13

Yeah.

What Texas Mayors Say About Growth

Justin McKenzie 10:14

And that's dimey's growth. That takes the momentum off of the work that was happening. And it's still a great news story. Das Greenhouse in Boerne, Texas, is run by some incredible people that are bringing opportunity to that community. And I'm very proud to have had a role in launching that. But it also launched me to have that conversation with statewide entities and groups in Houston and Dallas and through the show and through media, we're able to amplify that. We're able to build the bridges and say, hey, how do we represent founders at the state level? Because today we don't really do that that well. We think about traditional economic development. I want to think about grow your own economic development.

Judy Oskam 10:58

Well, and what are you what are you hearing and learning from the mayors that you're talking with? Is there some common challenges that they have?

Justin McKenzie 11:07

Texas is growing.

Judy Oskam 11:08

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 11:09

It's growing so fast. Uh and and that's uh like I talked to Mayor Harris in Bastrop.

Judy Oskam 11:15

Bastrop's a cool little town. It's very cool. It's very cool.

Justin McKenzie 11:19

That all of a sudden had SpaceX, Boring Company, and the Elon Musk company show up.

Judy Oskam 11:25

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 11:25

That brings a lot of success. It brings a lot of challenges. And then you have to manage the the cultural head of that too, because how do you double in growth but maintain your heritage? And cities within the Texas Triangle are all facing that today. But so is Midland Odessa.

Judy Oskam 11:44

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 11:44

But Midland Odessa will say, hey, we need to bring 300,000 people here in the next 10 years just to meet our job needs. San Antonio is not saying the same thing. They're saying, hey, we can't handle that.

Judy Oskam 11:57

Right, right, right, right, right.

Justin McKenzie 11:58

So I I would say somebody that wants to be entrepreneurial, that wants to go start a service business, that wants to go to that frontier of build it. Midland Odessa is probably a great place to be.

Judy Oskam 12:11

Yeah. Lubbock, great place to be. Right, right. And you've got universities nearby, and you've got tech is a big deal there.

Justin McKenzie 12:19

Tech's a huge deal. We were talking Mayor McBrayer in Lubbock. Yeah, I love it. Call himself the McMayor.

Judy Oskam 12:25

I was at Tech for 12 years before I came here. I was at Texas Tech. It's a great city.

Justin McKenzie 12:30

But he talked about the relationship between the university and the city is so critical. And San Marcos is very similar. That's right. If you can work that together, you can retain a lot of that talent. And I think Texas is very guilty. You could take it to the high school district or the city or county, whatever you want to look at. We all export so much talent that if we could retain it here, it'll help with our growth.

Judy Oskam 12:55

Well, I've I live in Round Rock, and I love that city because the founders years ago, I was told, wanted to build a city that their kids would come back and live and they would stay. And I think they've done that. Look at the growth surrounding it. There's education, there's, of course, Dell is the big player there, but there's all kinds of other opportunities there, a lot of health care, so that students might not have to leave. Their kids might not have to leave town to find the job.

Justin McKenzie 13:25

I was a student at the Round Rock campus for Texas State in 2005. Yes. And to see where it's come now is a testament to what you're saying. The community invested in getting Texas State there. That community is invested in a program for entrepreneurs through a company called Gener8tor that is doing incredible work. But you look around the room and those people are working together collaboratively. They're bringing big ideas. They've all got tremendous backgrounds. If you look at the board of the chamber, the board of whatever group in Round Rock, there's some incredible talented people that are that. We want our kids to come back here. And they take the next step and say, Well, what are they going to do when they get here? Sure. How are they going to afford to raise their families in this community?

Judy Oskam 14:09

Right.

Vote Like A Texan

Justin McKenzie 14:10

And if we don't ask that question, it gets really hard.

Judy Oskam 14:13

Yeah, that's true. That's true. Well, what's next for you as far as mayors? You're still hitting a lot of the mayors. You're still getting them on your show.

Justin McKenzie 14:22

I am. And I'm excited. Um, in addition to the Building Texas show, I started a series called Vote Like a Texan. And Vote Like a Texan gave me in the media space some separation from our Building Texas show conversations where I talked to CEOs, leaders, mayors that are building the future of Texas. The future of Texas is defined in politics, fortunately, unfortunately. So I want to I'm driving for civics education. I think that's missing in many of our curriculums today. How many people can explain what a county judge does in Texas? Sure. It's one of the most important things. We just went through primary elections. If you didn't vote in the primaries, you did not get your full voice into that process. I'm apolitical, so vote wherever you want to vote. Sure. Just vote.

Judy Oskam 15:11

Right.

Justin McKenzie 15:12

Because I I really saw my local, my hometown with a 7% turnout on a mayoral election, school board elections, all that in May. And then I like to say 102% turnout for the presidential election in November. That May election was a lot, very important to our local community, our kids, and the future of that area. Not to say the federal ones not, but those local ones matter too. So vote like a Texan is a great initiative. If you're a candidate in Texas, I want to talk to you and I want to educate people on what the role is, why you're running, and just give you a platform. Beyond that, uh this year we'll also launch Work Like a Texan, where we'll talk to employers about what are they looking for in their next phase of employee? What should someone go get certified on? Do they have a partnership at a local trade school, community college that would qualify you for a better opportunity? So work like a Texan will be a lot of fun too, because we have so many companies investing in Texas and wanting to hire our great employees and build a brighter future.

A Texan Identity Shaped Abroad

Judy Oskam 16:22

So for you it's all about Texas. Yeah,

Justin McKenzie 16:25

I've kind of niched into that and and I hate to it's not a gimmick. It it really is. It comes from being raised internationally as a Texan.

Judy Oskam 16:36

Yeah. Okay, explain what that means. Explain that.

Justin McKenzie 16:40

I grew up in a the first ten years of my life in a very Texan environment. I'm from Del Rio. I grew up going to a ranch, working sheep, and learning to swim in the Devils River, which is a privilege to any Texan. And and then we moved to Europe. And from Stuttgart, Germany, a three-hour car ride, which is what we would do from Del Rio to San Antonio to go to the mall. A three-hour car ride from Stuttgart goes to any country in Europe. And so we got to travel a lot. And I was very privileged to be able to see the world. And they'd say, Oh, you're American. Oh, we're from Texas. Immediately, American was forgotten. You're Texan. And because we were there in the 90s, it was like, oh, like Dallas, the TV show.

Judy Oskam 17:24

Exactly. I remember those days.

Justin McKenzie 17:26

And so we had to convince people that, yes, we had a horse, but no, it did not look like that. Um, our horse would sit like a dog on the front porch. Yeah. Very different. But it gave me a sense of pride that Texas really is bigger than we realize. But then you're reminded it's the eighth largest economy in the world. Then you look at who's moving here. I'm working with a several companies out of Japan. They're all coming over here because we've made it business friendly and we have a great workforce and we got great educational institutions. So I'm bullish on Texas is the center of the universe as it is for growth, entrepreneurialism, and opportunity.

Judy Oskam 18:09

Well, I I love that. I I married a guy from Holland, and he's as Texan as I am. I'm a first-gen Texan. So he definitely lives and breeds Texas too.

Justin McKenzie 18:22

It it's hard not to romanticize it.

Judy Oskam 18:24

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 18:25

Of course. But when you travel the state, it's not hard to go out and have those Texan experiences. McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis. The drive there alone will make you proud to be a Texan.

Judy Oskam 18:37

Exactly. Well, the Texas Mountains out there, uh the Christmas Mountains, you know.

Justin McKenzie 18:42

So it's a beautiful part of our state, but so is the panhandle. Yeah. And then we talk about like Lubbock. They had a billion-dollar investment from a cheese company.

Judy Oskam 18:53

Yeah, I saw that. I saw I heard that in your podcast. And I I've I'm not there anymore, but I also lived in Amarillo, too. Talk about a great city.

Panhandle Opportunity And Big Projects

Justin McKenzie 19:02

Amarillo, people don't understand how it can move Wall Street.

Judy Oskam 19:05

Oh man, business.

Justin McKenzie 19:06

And that's where we're talking about the world's biggest data center coming in with nuclear power. And people will say, oh, nuclear in the panhandle. Well, Pantex has been in the panhandle for a long time.

Judy Oskam 19:17

Pantex is there, yeah.

Justin McKenzie 19:18

And so I think just educating people on what those opportunities look like because you might say, oh, I know Amarillo Big Texan Steakhouse, and that's Cadillac Ranch. And well, let's talk about Pantex and let's talk about all the other great things that happen. I interviewed the mayor of Pampa and Pampa, Texas is a very good thing.

Judy Oskam 19:37

I have been to Pampa.

Justin McKenzie 19:38

It's a wonderful place. And he called it the Pampa Plex. And the Pampa Plex, so Borger, Miami, Perriton, all those areas, they're building houses again out there because entrepreneurs and economic opportunity is coming that's beyond oil and gas. It's exciting to see.

How To Pick A Texas City

Judy Oskam 19:57

Wow. Oh, that's fantastic. Well, if if you had to advise, you mentioned Midland Odessa, where else should an entrepreneur take a look at? If they want to start something big in Texas, where should they go?

Justin McKenzie 20:11

You know, I would tell you it depends on what you want to do. And anywhere that you're researching, pull back their comprehensive plan. Pull back the city strategy, the county strategy, and say, is this going to fit what I want to be doing in 10 years? Midland, Odessa probably does. It's diverse. It's got a lot of opportunity coming in. If you want to be in healthcare, hospital systems, medical schools. If you want to be in space, they've got defense, they've got satellite companies, they've got all these great things coming together. But maybe you don't. Maybe you want to be in AG and San Angelo is a great place to go. But you can find all of those answers pretty quickly in strategy documents. If you want to start with the state, um, the state has a great strategy and it breaks the state into 10 regions and says, here's what these regions are focused on. So I I would encourage people to do that extra level of research. And they may not traditionally think, well, what are the mayors and the county governance saying about it? But that's where you're going to find public funding. Sure. That's where you're going to find who's moving here, who are they trying to attract, and or are they opposed to growth? If they're opposed to growth and you're not retired, you don't want to go there. You probably don't not gonna be successful there. If you're retiring, that might be the right place for you to go. Right, right. But it depends on what you want to do.

Judy Oskam 21:30

Yeah.

Justin McKenzie 21:30

But I will tell you every time, Texas has a place for you to be successful.

Take Action - Then Figure It Out

Judy Oskam 21:34

I love it. I love it. Any last uh advice you would give to would-be entrepreneurs and would-be Texas state students who want to make it in the business world in Texas?

Justin McKenzie 21:47

I I appreciated your TEDx talk. Um, and I'm very much in the same alignment with do it and then figure it out.

Judy Oskam 21:55

That's right, the story of my life.

Justin McKenzie 21:57

And and the world shifting so quickly that you have to Now you can do that at different scales of what you're comfortable with, but you have to be in today's world willing to put yourself out there in very new ways. It's uncomfortable for me to put myself out there this way. But it has opened so many doors, like this one today. Exactly. That never would have happened had I not started this journey three years ago, six years ago, wherever you want to say my start point was. Sure. But putting myself out there, being passionate about it, and enjoying what I do. If I twenty years ago, Dr. Bell here at Texas State said, celebrate the birthday cakes and the and I thought, that's so silly. It's not but twenty years later, there's probably a lot more wisdom in it than I thought at the time.

Judy Oskam 22:45

Exactly.

Justin McKenzie 22:45

And so I I would go back and say, what can you learn while you're at this phase or stage that you're in? Whether that's midlife, whether that's early career, in each one, there's people around you that are pouring in, and it may be a professor from twenty years ago that you go back and call back and remind. And Texas State is open to that from Bobcats to come back and continue to learn.

Judy Oskam 23:08

I love that. And we're all about the people, and the people make it work.

Justin McKenzie 23:13

Can't do it without them. Nope. AI is AI doesn't solve all of it.

Judy Oskam 23:16

That's right. No, it's all about the people. Thank you so much, Justin. Appreciate your time.

Takeaways And How To Connect

Justin McKenzie 23:20

Thank you so much for having me. And I I am just so impressed with everything the university is doing today.

Judy Oskam 23:26

As we wrap up, I've got a few takeaways from my conversation with Justin. First of all, opportunity is everywhere in Texas. You just have to know where to look and be willing to step in and move forward. Second, storytelling matters. When we share our stories about innovators and education and communities, we help others see what's possible for their own futures. And finally, growth takes grit. Whether you're starting a business, building a career, or shaping a community. Well, if you have a story to share or know someone who does, I would love to hear from you. Reach out to me and let's connect. I'm Judy Oskam, and this has been Stories of Change and Creativity. Thanks for listening.