Four Inane Questions with Midwest Trust Center’s Stacie McDaniel
Photo Courtesy of Stacie McDaniel
In just a matter of months, Stacie McDaniel will celebrate her third anniversary as the executive director of Midwest Trust Center at JCCC. Clearly, the native Midwesterner has chosen wisely in her career endeavors as she tells us she’s an avid consumer of music. “A hazard of the job,” she says.
It won’t be long before McDaniel and her squad announce their upcoming 2025–2026 Midwest Trust Center Series, which always features big-name and/or buzzworthy and/or beloved performers. We tried to cajole a few names out of her to no avail.
Even at an early age, McDaniel knew she had a love for the arts and then subsequently arts administration. She received her BA in Theatre Performance from Southern Illinois University and an MPA in Nonprofit Management from Georgia Southern University.
She’s also a self-proclaimed proud Gilmore Girls fan and enjoys spending time with her family which includes “two stinky cats and one sweet and sassy pooch.”
We caught up with the music maven in between meetings to inundate her with our insipid questionnaire. She answered with jazz hands and spirit fingers. Bless.
Photo Courtesy of Stacie McDaniel
The Pitch: What’s an obscure snack or weird food combo that you secretly enjoy eating?
Stacie McDaniel: Hoo boy, I have a lot of these. In the interest of time, I’ll share just two. Snack-wise, recently I’ve been enjoying Cheez-Its with garlic hummus. Perhaps the cracker-plus-hummus combo isn’t so unusual, but the Cheez-Its really make it.
When left to my own devices for dinner, I’ve been known to make a grilled cheese sandwich and pair it with a bowl of macaroni and cheese—the one in the blue box, please!—as a side. Some critics may say this is too much cheese, but I don’t know what that means. (Clearly, this response has a theme.)
Name one article of old-school/vintage clothing you absolutely, positively can’t bear to part with, but probably should.
When I was a kid, my dad’s family business sponsored my softball team, and I’ve hung onto the shirt half of the uniform for more than two decades at this point. I wore it regularly (proudly and unironically) well into my twenties. I would certainly describe it as threadbare and, of late, too small for me, but I can’t bear to part with it.
I’m hanging onto it in hopes that, once I finally release it to the donation bin, some future generation of thrifters will get as much of a kick out of the team name as I do. (We were the “Greased Lighting.” Given all nine-year-old girls’ love of the 1978 Travolta/Newton-John classic, this was super intimidating to the other teams, I’m sure.)
You’re headed to the state fair. What are ya eatin’ first once you get through the gates?
My first stop is for a state fair classic—a footlong corn dog. You really can’t beat it. I’ve tried to make them at home. I’ve even bought the State Fair brand, but they aren’t the same. I want them freshly dipped, deep fried, and then served so piping hot that I initially burn my mouth in my impatience. And I want to eat it standing in a dusty field, probably sweating because state fairs seem to only happen in the dog days of summer.
A funnel cake is a close second.
If you were a pattern print, what pattern print would you be?
My instinct is to say plaid—It can be preppy or playful, neutral or colorful, dressed up or down. It works in every season.I’ve never met a pair of Madras shorts or a plaid scarf that I didn’t like.
It can be the star of the show when called upon or fade into the background like a supporting character. It gets along with everyone, but it can be bold when it needs to be. It also hides stains super well, so that’s a plus, and not at all a metaphor.
Bonus 5th Question: What celebrities do you share birthdays with? And who would you most like to celebrate with?
I am very pleased to say that I share a birthday with Kansas City’s favorite son, Patrick Mahomes. Also, this isn’t a celebrity, but I was actually born on the bicentennial of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, so that’s pretty fun!
Perhaps Patrick and I could spend our day celebrating together with the Founding Fathers? Famousbirthdays.com tells me that there are several TikTok and YouTube stars who also share this birthday, so they could join us, too. What a mixing of worlds that would be, huh?
