Waukee Boy Does Good

Who:  Frank Scaglione

Age:  19

How long has Waukee been his home: Scaglione grew up on Des Moines’ south side and moved with his family to Waukee in 1998. He graduated from Waukee High School in 2010.

What makes him notable: Scaglione has done more in 19 years of life than most people do with their whole adult lives. He started working for his grandfather at the family business — the West Central Auto Auction — when he was 10. He was promoted to marketing manager at age 14. By 16, he had risen through the ranks to become the vice president of marketing and communications there.

“I oversaw a couple of other departments,” he says, humbly. “I managed the details shop. I had a number of people I supervised. After a while, I just got tired of the family business and wanted to do something new.”

That something "new" was becoming a business owner himself. In 2008, Scaglione founded Westown Advertising Media, where he and a small staff manage the web design, digital and interactive media for clients all over the metro area. One of his biggest clients is Stivers Ford in Waukee.

Why should you get to know him: There is literally nothing Scaglione won’t do, or rather can't do. He says his behavior is more than entrepreneurial. It’s fearless.

“If you have an idea, why not give it a try?” says Scaglione. “It’s better to try something than to just sit back and think about doing it. You won’t know if you want to truly do something unless you try.”

Take his foray into broadcast, for example. In 2008, he and a few high school friends ran a television station out of his home on the Waukee/Clive border. They produced daily newscasts. He was in charge of weather.

Eventually, Scaglione ran into John McLaughlin, chief meteorologist at KCCI-TV. The two shared an interest in flying (something else Scaglione knows how to do) and they hit it off. He mentioned that he wanted to do the weather and soon after, took a position at KCCI as a technology coordinator, helping with all the school weather stations around the state. Today, viewers can see him on-air, sitting in the meteorologist’s chair and storm chasing, whenever duty calls.

So where do his talents end? It’s hard saying, but Scaglione says he owes his entrepreneurial spirit to his upbringing in Waukee.

“Waukee has done a lot for me,” he says. “I had a lot of support in school, a lot of support from the community. They saw me doing all of these things and said, 'Hey, maybe this kid isn’t crazy.’”