Who The Folk?! Ben Barry

It’s a busy summer at TC Jewfolk, and we brought in extra help. You’ve already met Melissa Steinken and Eliana Schreiber, now get to know to the one Minnesota native of the bunch, Ben Barry, in this week’s Who The Folk?!

Are you originally from the Twin Cities area?

Yeah, I am. I grew up here and have been living here the past 22 years.

Are you currently in school?

Yes. I just finished my senior year at Indiana University but I’m doing an extra semester so I will officially graduate in December this year.

What do you study there?

Business. I’m double majoring in Entrepreneurship and Professional Sales. And I’m also minoring in Theatre.

Wow, that’s a lot. What made you decide on Indiana?

I never really had a school I wanted to go to. I applied to a bunch of different places because I never really knew exactly where I wanted to go. But I liked the campus when I visited Indiana, and they have a good business school. I wasn’t a direct admit into the business school, but I knew if I wanted to go the business route, they had a good school that I could go to. I also have some family there too, that kinda helped the transition be easier, going to a college somewhat far away from home.

Why did you decide to intern for TC Jewfolk this summer?

I wanted something a little different this summer. I’ve worked at a bunch of companies the past couple years, but nothing quite like what TC Jewfolk does. I also wanted to use some of the marketing skills I learned at school, so TC Jewfolk has been a good place for me to use those, especially creating different graphics for the social media or the video we’ve started to work on, so it’s kind of helped me get to my creative side and use those skills that I’ve learned.

What other plans do you have for the summer besides being an intern here?

I’m also working at another place half the week; it’s a company called Twin City Fan. I’m doing warranty and field service. So I do that half of the week. I’m also trying to relax and enjoy the summer, hopefully, do some ultimate frisbee if I get a chance. That’s kind of my plan for the summer; it’s kind of one last summer before I have to go into the real world.

You mentioned video and creating graphics. What sort of stuff do you want to see more of on the website?

I think it could use more to our generation, like the 21 or 18 to 30. There’s a lot of articles out there on the site that reaches more of an older market, and I think if there were more fun, younger things, whether it’s events that are mainly for kids that are 20, 30, or if there are articles about something that just reaches out and brings more kids in our age.

Do you have a favorite childhood memory?

A fun memory was when I first got into theater. Back when I was in fifth grade, over the summer the JCC does a summer camp for kids, and they put on a play at the end of the summer. They were doing Annie Jr., and I did not want to do it, but my parents wanted me to do it. So even though there were multiple times when I was like, “I just don’t want to go,” they kept forcing me to go. Ever since then, I continued doing theater, so that’s kind of how that all started.

So you ended up liking it?

Yeah, even though I hated it at the beginning.

Celebrity crush?

I honestly don’t have one. People ask me that all the time, I just, I like a lot of celebrities, but I’ve never really had a celebrity crush.

Favorite movie?

There are a bunch of movies I like, but a great movie I could probably watch over and over and over again would be, an older movie, Blazing Saddles. It’s a Mel Brooks film, it’s really funny.

Favorite Jewish food?

I would say, probably, latkes. Those are always good.

Favorite Jewish holiday?

I’ve got to say Hanukkah. Gotta go with the latkes.