"It was a lot to take in. I received emails, letters. It was just like, 'Come here, come here!' They were bombarding me with all this information," Arianna told WLS.

"I planted the seed in Arianna's mind that you can do the same thing," he said. "So when the process got started and a million was achieved, let's go for two. I said let's go for three, and she did it."

"So as long as you work hard, I feel like there is always a way for you," she told WLS.

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WABE has cut staff and programming to accommodate the loss of $1.9 million in annual funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which Congress defunded this month. (Rodney Ho/AJC 2025)

Credit: Rodney Ho/AJC