STEVE PALEC's friend, LeRoy Butler, may have said it best. The capital of Wisconsin is not Madison, it's Steve. Born and raised in Milwaukee by immigrant parents, Steve is a first-generation American who began his love of music on February 9, 1964. The Beatlemania that encompassed much of the world also grabbed the attention of the then seven-year-old and never let go. Steve was obsessed with the exciting new music he heard on the radio daily. In addition, his love of sports had him fascinated with the legendary sportscasters he listened to intently. Between music and sports, he found himself from a very young age practicing for his lifelong career in broadcasting long before he even knew it would happen. Unable to make up his mind between sports and music, he chose both. Steve began his on-air work in his high school days and has been a Milwaukee radio personality since the '70s, even winning a national ADDY award. He has worked in the music industry and interviewed artists, as well as radio broadcast journalism covering Milwaukee area professional sports teams. In June of 1987, Rock & Roll Roots, a Milwaukee institution, was created and Palec's baritone has provided its voice for all of its thirty-two years, missing only one live show in the three plus decades. His weekly Sunday morning history of music show is one of the longest running programs on Milwaukee radio. In addition to his now total forty-five-year career on the air, Steve has overlapped a second successful profession in commercial real estate for the last thirty-five years. He's worked for multinational firms, run his own company, brokered deals with high profile corporations and individuals, and today serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for Irgens, a large and respected real estate development firm in Wisconsin and Arizona. As such a prominent Wisconsin personality, Palec has used his network and talents to better his city and state through personal, professional, and philanthropic movements as often as possible. He has served on the boards for respected institutions including the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and the Hunger Task Force; served as a contributing blogger for OnMilwaukee; participated as a judge at the Wisconsin State Fair Sporkies; held fundraisers for numerous worthy health and community causes; and emceed important events for organizations and non-profit enterprises. Steve's personal experiences in radio and real estate have provided a lifetime of amazing stories, relationships, and experiences that truly do read like the lyrics of a great American song. Despite his life of awe and famed friendships, though, it is the simple things that continue to bring him the most joy: his amazing wife, Aleta; their five children, Joe, Haley, Jaimie, Steph, and Ben; his dog, Luke; and his good friends. It is with these loved ones you can find Steve taking in a great game at Miller Park or Lambeau Field, often with a bourbon in his hand. It is his hope that, through this book, others can learn to experience joy, laughter, and awe in all that life has to offer. Learn more about Steve at www.stevepalec.com. After more than two decades in writing, editing, layout, publishing, co-authoring, teaching, marketing, and author coaching and consulting, Reji is retiring from the industry to rediscover a time when her art was done for the sake of the art, rather than as a business. She is thrilled and honored to have worked on "In Awe" as her final biography and co-author partnership and is immensely proud of what she and Steve, her now-friend, were able to create in these pages. While the power of words continues to be a personal passion, Reji-a wife, mother, pet-lover, and veteran Air Force linguist-looks forward to enjoying her Wisconsin life through service, travel, music, languages, and time spent taking in sports, nature, arts, church, and home life with family, friends, and loved ones. Though Reji intends to return to her roots in playwriting, children's books, and fantasy fiction (as a hobby!), she also wants to continue helping people find fulfillment and connection through story and she desires her lessons, processes, and unique creative methods to remain available to prospective authors. To preserve her approaches, the same tools that earned Reji 10 personal #1 Bestsellers (so far) out of nearly 60 publications, led another 70 authors to their #1 Bestsellers, managed more than 80 projects with independent and traditional authors and publishers, and coached thousands of writers over the years, will be available for free on her website (www.bucketlisttobookshelf) or in bargain-priced book resources. Those resources can be picked up on Amazon and other online retailers, along with many titles from her extensive backlist of books across a wide variety of genres. LeRoy Butler played his entire career with the Green Bay Packers, from 1990 through 2001. As a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 1990's All-Decade team, a 4-time Associated Press All-Pro selection, and a 4-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, his work on the football field has been widely recognized. He was the first player in NFL history to record 20+ sacks and 20+ interceptions in a career. At the time of this book's printing, Butler is a nominee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020. (He already is a member of the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame-Class of 2007.) Famous for being the player who invented the Lambeau Leap in 1993, LeRoy's celebration is still used today, but he leapt well-beyond the field in his post-NFL career. LeRoy leads an anti-bullying crusade, Butler vs. Bullying, and he's available for speaking to schools, sports teams or clubs, and other youth organizations. From a crippled childhood to leaping in the stands, few have triumphed like Butler. LeRoy and Steve Palec became friends through a shared affinity for food, football, laughter, and radio. Steve stood up for LeRoy's 2019 wedding to his wife, Genesis. The two men support one another in all of their career and creative endeavors. It was an absolute joy for Butler to create the foreword for "In Awe" and he imagines it's just one more leap tallied in their enduring and endearing friendship. Learn more about LeRoy and pick up his book, "The LeRoy Butler Story" on www.leroybutlerinc.com.