Discover Your Talent–Do What You Love

“There are so many more opportunities today for pharmacists that we haven't even dreamed of. In the future, pharmacists are going to provide more direct patient care, like pharmacogenomics, such as point of care testing for influenza and strep throat, and collaborative practice agreements that allow us, through a physician sign-off or medical practice sign-off, to manage and monitor medications." Steven Simenson, BPharm, FAPhA, FACA, DPNAP is the CEO and Managing Partner of Goodrich Pharmacy, Inc., with five community pharmacies in Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy along with his wife, Wendy, also a Pharmacist. Steve was the 2013-2014 President of the American Pharmacist's Association and is on the Board of Directors of Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Companies and the Community Pharmacy Foundation. He is actively advocating for the pursuit of Patient Access to and Coverage for Pharmacist Patient Care Services. Steven is at his best taking care of patients.

Howie Zales is an Emmy Awarded camera operator who started his career at the NFL Network and NBC Sports. His passion for broadcasting led him to found Viridity Entertainment Services (VES), a streaming and professionally-recorded in-house productions service offering TV-quality livestream to corporations. Their clients include T Mobile, Capital One, The Food Network, hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa, and more. His other company, which he founded and has operated for over 24 years, is HJC Productions, Inc., a nationwide television crewing company for sports, entertainment and studio productions. Howie also mentors the next generation of freelance technicians through his mentoring program The Broadcast Sports Course. Howie Zales: “ Growing up I was super into sports, baseball being my favorite. Like any kid or friend my age, I wanted to play professional sports as my job.  "I knew I was headed for sports. I just didn't know where or how. “ In 11th grade, I needed one class to fill out my course selection. There was an elective that was a TV production class. The description was: a trip to New York City to tour NBC studios and 30 Rockefeller Center, and watching a TV show being taped. I thought ‘how bad could it be!' “I ended up loving the class. I loved my teacher, Mrs. Jason, and her husband was a field producer for Good Morning America who spoke to the class on a lot of occasions. “I already had a love of sports, and now I had this new passion for TV.   I also knew I needed a backup to my professional baseball plan. BOOM! Now I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was going to get into sports TV”.

Guest Sal Hanna:  “When I was working at a large kids' camp in Michigan, I learned about Milton Hershey School and the houseparent role and was instantly sold on the idea. I looked at the requirements on their website and my wife and I made the decision to postpone applying for family reasons, but I knew it was a job of a lifetime. Instead I took a position at the Michigan camp to oversee a team of people who were in charge of guest relations. It was a promotion, but my interactions and relationships with students was lessened. I did that for about five years and was then offered another promotion which would include moving into a beautiful lake house with my wife and two daughters. But that promotion would take me even further away from working directly with children, which is where my talents and my passion really lie. I told my wife I wanted to say no to the promotion to pursue the houseparent position at Milton Hershey School. We ended up going through the hiring process and were selected to be houseparents. In 2013, we moved everything to Hershey, Pennsylvania and began our life at the school. There are roughly 2,100 students now across three schools–an elementary school, a middle school and a high school all spread out over 10,000 acres. In total, we have 180 student homes and 180 houseparent couples that live in residence on our campus. My wife and I can see doing this until we retire because when you use your talents in a way that impacts the lives of others, it is really a beautiful thing.” Sal Hanna is a houseparent at Milton Hershey School, a cost-free residential school for children from low-income backgrounds. At the school, students are given everything they need to remove barriers to education, including meals, clothing and health services. Students live in small groups of 10-12 in on-campus houses, and each house is overseen by a houseparent couple. After working as a camp director, Sal began his career at Milton Hershey School as a houseparent before working to recruit new houseparents. He and his wife, Melissa, loved and missed houseparenting so much that they returned to the role in the summer of 2022.

Allegra Huston is the author of "Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found", the novels "A Stolen Summer" and "Say My Name," and many screenplays including the award-winning short film "Good Luck, Mr. Gorski," which she also produced. In 2019 she published how-to books on “the stuff nobody teaches you,” including "How to Read for an Audience" by Allegra and "How to Edit and Be Edited" by Allegra and James Navé. Allegra's and James' most recent collaboration is a book for authors, "Write What You Don't Know." "At major turning points in our lives, the circumstances are rarely perfect for us to make the next move or decision about what to do next. The obstacles may be vast, but it's at this point that you 'throw your hat over the fence,' or in other words, 'just go for it!' “In my experience, most people don't know what they are good at—what they are naturally good at. So sometimes you have to find one or kind of create one for yourself. You have got to put food on the table and send your kid to school. So, there are those reasons. I think if we are good girls or boys, we try to fulfill the expectations that are inevitably held for us. If we're bad girls and bad boys, we're fighting against those expectations. But in either case, we're still being driven by other people's expectations. It often takes time, maturity, mistakes and even unhappiness to lead you to what you really want to do–to start to find what it is that makes you excited in the morning, that makes you want to be doing whatever it is that you want to do.”  

Sally Loftis is the Managing Director at Loftis Partners, a 100% woman-owned human resources consulting firm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Sally works at the intersection of human resources, organization development, and social justice. Loftis Partners specializes in strategy, people, facilitation, and pay justice. Since launching in August 2020, Sally and her firm have worked with 54 clients across 3 continents. She completed her master's thesis on pay equity in nonprofits. She was published in the Journal for Applied Behavioral Sciences (“Building Trust Through Action Learning in An Uncertain Transorganizational Context”). "I had I kept joking with people that it was a little bit like trying to figure out what you want to do when you grow up–but in your forties. I had worked in human resources for 20 years at that point.  “Human resources is a really broad practice area. So part of it was trying to figure out what parts of human resources I wanted to work in. Two things were really helpful in narrowing it down. One is that I had just finished my graduate degree in Organization Development. I was really interested in that field because it is systems change in corporations, nonprofits or government. I had always worked on the strategic end of HR about how the people related to the strategy, so I knew that was a passion. And then I had done my thesis on pay equity, so I knew I had that, too.  “Then the second thing was some great advice I got early on from a friend who said, ‘You should do some volunteer gigs if you can't get paying work immediately. That can help you kind of figure out what you do and don't want to do, and then also can give you some immediate feedback.' Since this was early 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, I was able to do some virtual volunteering. That really helped me in my decision making.”

Guest Sean Sessel:  “I got to a really dark place because I felt like I had to make that choice: That I could either be financially successful but I could only do so if I sell my soul, sell my values─or, I could be broke. Neither one of those options was acceptable to me.” Sean Sessel is a voracious learner with a fervent belief in the ability of the individual to better himself or herself. After an epiphany that he derived intrinsic enjoyment from continual learning and the sharing of knowledge with others, he decided to make a career of it and started the Oculus Institute. Sean developed a unique system called psychohacking and helps individuals escape burnout jobs and craft careers that truly inspire AND pay well. He works with people to prevent self-sabotage, dissolve stress, and discover their personal power and value.

Tony Greer founded T.G. Macro in 2016, an independent market analysis company, where he could combine 25 years in trading and 15 years of writing a daily newsletter into one analytical platform. He provides fundamental, technical, and behavioral analysis of global markets to nearly 1,000 individuals in his institutional client and personal subscriber base. After graduating from Cornell University in 1990, Tony traded currencies and precious metals in the Treasury Departments of Sumitomo Bank and the Union Bank of Switzerland, followed by six years at Goldman Sachs running the Goldman Sachs Commodities Index and spot gold trading. Tony then began a career as an equity sales trader, educating his clients in the natural resources space, until he started T.G. Macro and introduced the Morning Navigator newsletter. ”Goldman Sachs was one of my big clients and I always tried to give them the most competitive price that I could in the FX markets. Through the broker market, I wound up meeting at a dinner the trader who was on the other end of the phone at Goldman Sachs. He was grateful that I quoted him such competitive prices and wanted to say thanks. He asked if I was interested in speaking to some people on their desk. It was the kind of thing that can happen in a career where you get to know the people that work at a competitor and wind up getting a job offer from them because they liked your style and thought that you could help their operation.”

An experienced, accredited college admissions consultant and essay coach, Kate Stone received her B.S. in Communications and a minor in Creative Writing at New York University. She continued as a Princeton University teaching fellow in Asia shortly before starting University Gurus. She transformed her passion for creative writing and storytelling into actionable strategies for the college admissions process, essays, and the application as a whole. Through her program she coaches students to develop and strategize their most powerful narratives based on their individual ideas and achievements. “What we learned from the Harvard admissions scandal a few years back–I looked through all the transcripts out of curiosity–was top schools really value a personal development journey. Elite colleges cannot rely on grades and test scores only. They really want to understand a student's character, drive, engagement, impact and their dreams. As you know, with artificial intelligence, Chat GBT allows a student to plug in some prompts and it delivers a college essay that's pretty good, maybe even better than what they could write themselves. The schools and the admissions people are talking about making their essays much more creative and much more personal. That's where storytelling is going to be even more important. Students have to identify their own focusing lens or thread to hang their content hat on, getting really creative to the degree that AI can't generate an application essay. That's where personal storytelling is going to be even more important. Students will need to ask themselves if they are skilled enough as a writer to best express their values, what's important to them, obstacles that get in their way around those values, are they allowing their true self to emerge, etc. If not, they will need to find support on how to express and differentiate themselves. I don't do the work for my students. I usually spend two to four months helping them dig into themselves and craft their own college entry essays.”

"I always say that family and love should come first, and no matter what, set your priorities straight because it's not all about the money. We have to decide our priorities as soon as possible to avoid any regrets later on in life." Ula Tinsley is a passionate autism advocate, featured writer at www.icare4autism.org and a talk show host on Autism Mama Bear Talk. She's been raising autism awareness on a local and national level since 2010, when her son was diagnosed with a regressive form of autism. After gaining more experience and knowledge about different ways of treating ASD, she's been supporting and consulting other families living with autism. Her latest project, Autism Mama Bear Talk, is a fast-paced interview show bringing informative and everyday inspiring stories from leading autism advocates, self-advocates, parents and medical experts.

John Timothy Brewer is an Army Special Forces veteran with more than 10 years of experience enabling those who act to defend life, family, and country. Knowing firsthand the importance of self-reliance, John has made it his mission to enable and empower others so they may live healthy, thriving lives. His book, “Fight for Your Best Life” is the step-by-step Self-Defense Guide to personal empowerment, protecting your loved ones, and living fearless. John's company is Mind, Shield, and Spear Consulting Group, LLC. With their dedicated team of experts, their clients receive guidance and mentorship in not just the physical techniques, but also the mental strategies to navigate challenging situations with confidence. He considers his main areas of expertise to be safety and security, personal development, and military operations.

Steve Orrin offers three decades of extraordinary success in a series of high-level roles at top-tier companies that include Intel Corporation, Sarvega, Watchfire Inc., Sanctum Inc., First Genetic Trust Inc., Lockstar Inc., and SynData Technologies Inc. He has recently had the honor of being nominated as a Fellow at the Tortora Brayda Institute for AI & Cybersecurity. The Tortora Brayda Institute for AI & Cybersecurity is an International Think Tank dedicated to tackling big challenges within cybersecurity and AI. It engages private and public sector thought leaders worldwide to reshape and develop collaboration and partnering practices to improve business and economies. He has developed a reputation as an industry leader, leveraging a history of delivering results in Innovation, Intrapreneurship, and Entrepreneurship. He is a Tech-enabled business professional who has launched and scaled companies and brought innovative industry-leading products to market. As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior PE for Intel Corporation, Steve orchestrates and executes customer engagements in the federal space, overseeing the development of federal solution architectures to address challenges in government enterprise, national security, and other federal areas of focus. “My high school mathematics teacher, Mr. Miller, had a unique way of making mathematics look interesting and exciting. I thrived in math under him, took advanced placement calculus and other courses, which helped me in my later life and career much more than it did in college. My appetite for mathematics and the idea that you didn't have to rigidly stick to the textbooks, that math was much more than memorizing multiplication tables or cosigns, but that you could research and investigate the many other facets and the broader applications of math--what it was really about and how it permeates all dimensions of our world--was a powerful and positive influence on my life and career from that point forward.”

“My daughter was required to be vaccinated at the end of her fifth grade school year at the age of 11 before she could move on to middle school. For the following couple of years, she deteriorated medically, physically, and emotionally at a very frightening level. And in the end, the diagnosis included autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and obsessive compulsive disorder. She had systemic rashes, and severe environmental and food allergies. The sensory processing disorder would make her shut down for up to five days, unable to walk or talk. The list could go on and on, but in the journey to get her to recovery I learned through an occupational therapist about craniosacral therapy and I had never heard of it before. It's a light touch therapy that improves brain and nervous system functioning. And through that therapy and sensory integration therapy and biomedical supports, my daughter–against all odds–got to a degree of functioning recovery that was literally unheard of.” Tami Goldstein is Diplomate certified in Upledger Craniosacral Therapy (U-CST), Board Certified and an approved continuing education provider through The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. She is a Wisconsin licensed massage therapist. In 2004 she opened A Therapeutic Touch by Tami, LLC. She offers services as a therapist, advocate, international speaker and educator of bodywork specializing in individuals on the autism spectrum and other neurodevelopment disorders. She's the international award-winning author of “Coming Through the Fog,” an autism recovery journey, a contributing author in a Cutting-Edge Therapies for Autism, and other books & publications. Ms. Goldstein is a 2018 World Massage Festival Hall of Fame inductee, 2019 Teacher of the Year recipient at World Massage Festival, the founder of Wisconsin for Vaccine Choice and the parent of an individual with functioning recovery from autism.

”It was really sort of a Blitzkrieg assault approach where I wrote many, many scripts and emailed everybody I knew, and entered scripts into screenwriting competitions. “While I was living in New York I paid for a pitch fest in L.A. I flew out there to this event where you had five minutes to pitch different companies, like Lionsgate Motion Pictures. It was like speed dating for screenwriters. Eventually, I got one of my scripts into the hands of The Asylum and that eventually became ‘Born Bad,' which was a made-for Lifetime TV movie. When they told me they liked that script and they wanted me, well, that was amazing!” Jared Cohn is a film/TV director, writer, and producer based in Los Angeles, CA. He has directed over 50 films that have been produced and distributed by major studios and distributed by major studios and production companies such as Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, Syfy, Lifetime, and many more. His new book, 50 Movies Made: Lessons Learned on a Filmmaker's Journey, chronicles his life through the Hollywood trenches and how he achieved his lifelong dream on the other side. In the book, he discusses all areas of the movie making process, from screenwriting and preproduction to production, post-production and distribution.

“One thing that is unique about my background is that my clients, who are tech entrepreneurs and CEOs, value that I came from a business background, a finance background, and a tech investing background. So they know that not only can I provide a tactical strategy, but I can also address the underlying issues that are behind those challenges for them.” Victoria Song is a leadership advisor to visionary founders and CEOs of the fastest growing technology companies in Silicon Valley, and celebrities with power, platform and influence. A Forbes 30 Under 30 investor, Yale College and Harvard Business School alumna, Victoria has helped her clients achieve multi-billion dollar exits, write patents in 24 hours, and more. She is the author of  "Bending Reality: How to Make the Impossible Probable." The book is designed to help readers tap into their hidden potential, so they can access extraordinary (seemingly supernatural) abilities they didn't even know they had.

“I applied to and started the TV program at Haslett High School near Lansing, Michigan and taught TV production there for 13 years. Then at age 38, I began telling my wife that I was not having as much fun at my job any more. This had been my only job. I wanted to do something bigger. I wanted to do something different but still creative. She encouraged me to go for it. “I resigned from the school on a Friday and got an office at an incubator on Monday. In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing. But I did know that we needed to work on our brand and get our brand messaging out there, networking as much as we possibly could. We talked a lot about how important that creative piece is to our brand. Knowing that was a big help for us to figure out who we were early on. “I still say this to my staff all the time: ‘I think we're all creative here at Michigan Creative even if, for example, you wouldn't want me doing your graphic design. But I love to write, I love to shoot videos. A lot of people don't have that creative piece of their brain and we shouldn't take our creative abilities for granted.' “Now we're also helping other companies establish who they are and how they go out into the world. As I think you know, in today's world it's more important than ever to establish a brand and brand message.” Brian Town is an author, speaker, educator, and the founder of Michigan Creative, an award-winning branding and marketing agency specializing in web development, video, branding, and social media marketing, designed to help businesses systematize their lead generation and scale their profits. As a fractional CEO, Brian works with dozens of clients who want to scale without building out an entire marketing department so that they can stay focused on their areas of expertise and serve their clients and customers. In his forthcoming book, "The Lonely CEO," Brian shares his insights and best strategies for avoiding resistance, solidifying your belief in yourself as the right person to run your company, and systematizing your marketing and hiring processes to grow and scale a sustainable business.

“I went to law school at age 49 at Washington University School of Law, which is an Ivy League-level law school. I graduated with a 4.0, the highest GPA in my class. When people ask me how I did that while doing all this other stuff at the same time, I like to joke and say ‘I cheated.' At Orientation they told us we should spend four hours per class per week preparing for lectures. I spent eight hours preparing. Most people say, that's not cheating. Yes, but nobody does it. If you want to be the smartest person in the room, you have to be the most prepared person in the room. See, there's nothing extra-ordinary about me. I was a below average student in high school. I just start with the conviction that failure is not an option and I cannot be outworked. Then I move on to: ‘I'm going to out prepare everyone.' You see, the harder you work, the luckier you get.” Stephen Nalley is the owner and Managing Partner of Black Briar Advisors, which is a Small Business Administration and Veteran's Affairs Certified-Disabled Service-Connected Veteran-Owned Company. He has owned and operated over 200 hotels across the United States and has managed over $2 billion in Hotel & Resort Assets. He is the author of "Relentless Pursuit," where he describes the secret to success as knowing what you want and having a compelling reason why and the discipline to sacrifice what we want right now for what we really want later.

“We ended up with over 2,000 recruiting firms buying our training model. But after 2 years, I was just bored out of my mind! Once a month we were doing the exact same 5-day training. I missed doing the executive searches myself. That's just what my passion was, that's what I loved doing and where my talent was. So, we ended up re-acquiring our old company. I think one of the goals every human should have is to find something they sincerely love doing, and then doing it well enough that they can make a living from it. I found that! I found that in the executive search business.” Gene Rice's business career includes working for a Fortune 100 firm–where he was promoted 5 times in 7 years–to co-founding Rice Cohen International, a successful executive search firm. He has placed over 1,000 C-level executives while mentoring many young professionals. In 2008, Gene and his wife started a nonprofit charity, The Plant a Seed Inspire a Dream Foundation, which has enabled over 800 children from low-income households to pursue their passions. Gene and his daughter, a teacher, have recently co-authored the book “Grad to Grown-Up.”

Guest James Cloud: "I guess you could say I might unconsciously have developed a mission that I hope that my books will help throw light onto the question of how did the Holocaust happen in a developed, civilized country like Germany.” James Cloud is a retired educator with more than 30 years of experience. He was born and brought up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, he entered Miss Cone's first grade class, a Jewish teacher that would spark his interest in the war and understanding the people struggling on both sides. As a young adult, he traveled to Germany, learned the language, and was accepted into the Institute of Arts in West Berlin. While living in Germany, he worked as an interpreter for the British military mission during the Cold War years and developed an intimate knowledge of both East and West Berlin. He began writing his first novel, Brandenburg, A Story of Berlin, at the age of 80, bringing together his impressions gained over a lifetime of teaching and interacting with many nationalities and cultures, most especially with German Jewish people. The second novel, Brandenburg II, The Ninth Circle of Hell, came shortly after, and he is currently (2024) working on his third novel in the series.

Guest Dawn Cook Causey:  “Empathy, which is the key dimension of EQ–emotional intelligence–has been until quite recently so dramatically underutilized in our day-to-day communications, in spite of the fact that it is the root cause of so many communications issues. With almost every client I have worked with over the many years I have been coaching, I find that I spend a large amount of time helping them understand and then improve their capacity for empathy. A while back I even coined the idea, ‘Empathy is the difference between compliance and commitment.' I truly believe that. If you are unable to meet somebody half-way during a discussion or debate, you will find it exceptionally difficult to influence them.” Dawn Cook Causey is an ICF certified professional executive coach with six certifications in emotional intelligence. Her mission in life is to raise the bar on emotional intelligence in leaders around the world. She likes to say she is in the polishing business, helping leaders and teams shine their brightest by making the best choices every moment of every day. Her personal motto is, it's your choice, so make it count.

Guest Jennifer Allgood:  "The challenge for most people is figuring out where is the intersection of 1) what they love to do, 2) what they are also really good at doing, and 3) what will people legitimately pay for." Jennifer Allwood, a passionate cheerleader of women, adds biblical truth to the modern day “dream big” mantra. Her no-nonsense approach to doing things you are scared to do and saying yes to God is helping women everywhere build the life and business of their dreams. When she's not coaching her nearly 3,000 clients each month, she's living the dream in Kansas City with Mr. Magic (her husband, Jason) and their four wild kiddos—Noah, Easton, Ava Grace, and Ariana. Oh, and their Goldendoodles, Stella and Lola, the best dogs on earth.

"The New York office asked me if I'd like to transfer there as supervisor and a pay raise that was literally three times greater than what I was earning at the time as a 25-year-old ‘newbie' in the world of advertising. My immediate response was: 'No thank you, I want to make movies.' Soon thereafter I accepted a job as a production assistant on a TV show called 'Dream On' which was featured on HBO, for a tiny fraction of the salary I was offered in the ad business. My gut told me that if I took that high-paying job I would be shackled by the proverbial ‘golden handcuffs' and never be able to pursue my passion for the film and TV industry. My gut was spot on and I have been creating a career that I love every day ever since.” Tim Tortora has spent his impressive career in the entertainment industry garnering extensive financial and producing experience before releasing his second book “An Effective Guide to Build Your Path in The Film and TV Industry.” His latest book and companion Community guides aspiring filmmakers through the black box that is building a durable network in film and TV production.

Anthony Schembri is a distinguished former police commissioner with a background in homicide and forensic evidence. He has held several leadership positions in law enforcement. Schembri's dynamic career and accolades include an Innovations in Government award from Harvard. He is a Fulbright scholar and the author of several books on criminal law and leadership. His first novel, In Russia: A Brooklyn Solution, follows Lieutenant Anthony Migali of the NYPD on an international web of deceit and murder as he is tasked with solving Moscow's first-ever serial killer case. The book is full of Schembri's real life adventures. A Few More Interesting Facts Anthony Schembri was a NYC police commissioner for almost 15 years. ABC's 1990s crime drama “The Commish” is based on his life. He wrote several episodes for the series. (The first season of the TV show is available through Amazon.) He took a professorship at the University of Florida to teach courses on serial crime. Governor Bush asked him to take the job of Secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (the juvenile prison system) where at that time they admitted 128,000 juveniles a year. His responsibilities also included 26 detention centers, 1,400 probation officers, and 164 prevention programs.

“It's just not easy to find what we love, let alone do what we love and being financially rewarded for that. It does require a ton of courage. It takes us out of our safety zone. A job is giving us the most basic need on the hierarchy of needs, which is to feel safe, to survive. For a successful entrepreneurship or doing what we truly love, we just have to get okay with uncertainty and going out of that safety zone. Our brain is not designed to do that. The change is not easy.” Born in Slovakia, Lenka Lutonska moved to the UK at the age of 19 with a dream to “change the world.” From humble beginnings working for McDonald's, she is now an international business and mindset strategist for women entrepreneurs, an international trainer of NLP, a professional speaker and a passionate believer in every woman's right to have the life and business she truly loves. Author of “Energetic Selling and Marketing,” Lenka has also been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur and other international business publications and has been described by many as deeply knowledgeable and an inspirational trainer and coach.

“I love to go out there speaking and educating–on top of the franchising. It's a great time to be exploring franchising. Our placements year-to-date are up over 50%, which was up 50% over the previous year. Whether you are thinking of switching careers or getting a side hustle going or looking at expanding your investment portfolio, I just think the time is ripe. A lot of people coming out of Covid have said, ‘Now's the time to have a little more control of my life. I've always thought about business ownership, but it is risky.' The fact is, working for somebody may be even riskier. There has definitely been a large shake-up out there. I often give talks to investors about franchising as an asset. There are tax benefits and all kinds of benefits that come from business ownership. I love being able to help others and later hear them tell their success stories.” Jon Ostenson is a certified franchise consultant, owner/investor, author and international speaker specializing in the area of non-food franchising. He draws on his experience as both the President of an Inc. 500 franchise system and as a multi-brand franchisee in serving clients across these capacities. He serves as CEO of FranBridge Consulting where he helps clients understand all aspects of non-food franchising in the process of introducing them to opportunities from the over 300 high growth brands that he represents. Additionally, Jon oversees FranBridge Capital where he and his partners own 17 territories across 5 property service franchises.

Several years into a successful chiropractic practice, Mitchell Mays puzzled over the patients who kept returning with recurring conditions, no matter what he tried. Then, he had an “ah-ha!” moment that took his practice in a whole new direction. Dr. Mays is the #1 best-selling author of MIND GATE: Demolish Fear, Overcome Anxiety and Create the Life You Want. He's been a licensed chiropractor since 1978 and is a certified master hypnotist and hypnotherapist employing functional medicine, biofeedback, nutrition, guided imagery and hypnosis for chronic anxiety, stress and pain. He and his wife Terry, also a hypnotherapist and mind/body practitioner, maintain a busy practice in northern California.

Morgan Gist MacDonald began her career in academia, as a Sociologist, but soon found the entrepreneurial pull to take her skills as a researcher, writer, teacher, and leader into building a publishing company, from the ground up. She is an author, speaker, and the founder of Paper Raven Books, an innovative publishing company designed to help first-time and experienced authors alike through the writing, publishing, and marketing process so they can get their books published and build a loyal readership and a long-term career as an author. Morgan believes that even an unknown debut author with no connections, platform, or following truly can sell tens of thousands of copies of a book, gather thousands of reviews, and attract fans of their work that will come back for more, year-over-year.

"You have to be open to unexpected opportunities to grow your audience. When the Olympics came to Atlanta in July of 1996, a photographer friend of mine was offered a space to curate her own show. She asked me and a few other artists to exhibit as well. I created 13 new works in the span of a month after my day job in a frame shop. I sold all my paintings and that launched my art career in Atlanta." Jennifer J L Jones is an American artist known for her elegant multi-layered glazed abstract paintings inspired by nature. Her work is exhibited and sought after worldwide by private and public collectors. Jones was born in 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia, and received her BFA from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She works full time as an exhibiting artist going on 21 years. After living in cities growing her career, Jones now resides in Port Royal, SC. When Jennifer recorded this interview, she was working on her second coffee table book, memoir and preparing for several upcoming shows. 

Captain Maria Yturria, at the time of this original recording, rose to Deputy Chief of the Professional Development Unit of the Richmond County Police Department in 2022. She is an FBI National Academy graduate. She has been in law enforcement since 2003, before that serving in the U.S. Army. Her assignments have included uniform patrol deputy, investigator, victim services, and Public Information Officer for the Richland County Sheriff's Department (RCSD). She has served on the Deputy Advisory Council and been the team leader of the Crisis Management Team. Maria has worked with federal, state, and local agencies on illegal immigration, drug prevention and human trafficking. Her certifications include Hostage/Crisis Negotiator, Statewide Peer Support Team Leader, Self Defense Instructor and board member for the AUSA SC Palmetto Chapter. She's received numerous awards throughout her career. “I think that, number one, we are in a customer service role. Over 95% of our interaction with people requires the highest possible communications skills. That's what you're there for. You're there to communicate and find out what they're scared of, what they need, what their wants are, what their likes are, how you can help them. But without being able to communicate, how do you connect with people? This is foundational to our occupation.”

“I have always been very vocal about sharing my black experience with my friends and family members, and as I've mentioned, I have been a natural leader in bringing people together. So, I decided to go public with my own video about what it's like raising black boys in this country, and what some of the experiences are that we go through, as well as the talks I have to have with my boys to keep them safe. That video ended up with 20,000 views within two days on Facebook–all organic. It was just off the cuff: I set up my phone and started speaking. Lieutenant Governor Cox, who was then running for governor of Utah, got wind of the video. His campaign reached out and said he and his running mate for Lieutenant Governor, Henderson, had seen my video and wanted to come chat. They came over, along with now First Lady Cox, and I was very frank with them. I said, ‘I know you are a politician and I'm sure that you have an angle–I'm not here to play that game. However, if you are going to help get the message out in a good way, that I can get behind. I began sharing some of the stories and experiences of my family and we ended up with this deep connection and became very good friends. Once they won the election, they commissioned me to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah.” Aundrea DeMille is the author of “Is It Racism? How to Heal the Human Divide.” She's an International Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Podcast Host of The Wake Up Stories. She is a business owner with years of study in diversity and inclusion and has a degree in community health and human services. She has been appointed to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah. Aundrea is a maker of men (she has 5 boys), lover of peanut butter and hater of chocolate. She feels most like herself when she is barefoot and connected to nature.

“The Milton Hershey School is unlike any other school in the world, and I have been exposed to many other schools in the course of my career. To be here at this critical point when we are redesigning our Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and adding new offerings, revamping…looking to create a ‘gold standard' for CTE and a model for other educators to look to for guidance–this is a very inspiring and exciting time!” Rachael Mann is the Director of Career and Technical Education at Milton Hershey School, a cost-free, private residential school for boys and girls from low-income families. Rachael is well-known in the education community as a speaker, author, and thought leader—with expertise in STEM, classroom innovation, and CTE professional learning. She is a founding member of the Council on the Future of Education. Rachael will lead the CTE program at MHS, which combines tailor-made instruction and hands-on learning with the ability to gain certifications and real-life experience through internships, co-ops, and pre-apprenticeships. Rachael holds an MA in educational leadership and has 14 years of classroom teaching experience in a range of subjects, including child development, science, technology, and culinary arts. Her experience includes work as the Network to Transform Teaching State Director, the Professional Learning Director of STEM, and the Arizona State Director for Educators Rising. She is also an author of several childrens' books about careers and business books about STEM and AI in education.

Tom Harrison has spent his career in the world of finance, traversing the four corners of the United States and beyond. Currently he is the owner of a thriving consulting firm, where he continues to channel his rich experiences into assisting others. He is also an author with a passion for weaving captivating narratives. Born and raised amidst the vibrant rhythms of Memphis, his deep-rooted connection to the South shapes his unique storytelling style. His new book, From Punishment to Peace, Road Trips to Forgiveness, is a thought-provoking, philosophical memoir full of raw, spiritual insights and the healing of deep emotional and physical traumas. "Because of my struggles in my youth and the fact that I wanted to please my father, all of my successes were measured by nothing other than how much money I made.  I became obsessed with that and with what that money could acquire. I had everything in life that money could give me, and I wanted more. There wasn't a reason why I wanted more–other than to prove my father wrong about my ability to be successful. I had to cut that cord somewhere, somehow.”

Sean Harper is the co-founder and CEO of Kin, an insurance company built from scratch on modern tech to make it easier and more affordable to insure a home. Kin is a tech-based insurance agency and has grown to a fully licensed home insurance carrier With a focus on world-class customer service, insurance literacy, and smart coverage, Sean and his team are changing the way insurance is done.

Jason “Jay” Zimmerman is a native of Appalachia and a US Army Combat Veteran, serving as a Combat Medic with the 1st /505th Parachute Brigade. He has served for the last seventeen years plus as a Peer in the VA Healthcare System and is working currently as a Supervisory Peer Specialist with the Peer Support Outreach Center (PSOC)/Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). Jay is a nationally respected speaker regarding improving the understanding of Veterans' experiences and care needs.

Gregg F. Martin, PhD, Major General, US Army (Retired), served on active duty for 36 years, until May 2015. He is a combat veteran, Bipolar Survivor, Airborne-Ranger-Engineer qualified soldier, and Army Strategist. Through all of his military career, his bipolar disorder went undiagnosed. It is just in the past few years that he has been able to share his story to help stop the stigma around mental illness, promote recovery, and save lives. 

Yaron Engler delivers one-on-one and group coaching programs to men who are entrepreneurs or work in leadership roles. His direct, playful and honest approach inspires and motivates his clients and audience to create simple positive changes that lead to growth and well-being. He is also a professional drummer who has performed for people all around the world, and he is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Berklee College of Music.

Ian O'Connor is a retired US Air Force Colonel and a recognized expert in the field of national security management. This background serves him well as the foundation for his novels. He is the author of “The Seventh Seal” and “The Barbarossa Covenant,” both thrillers. His new novel, “The Pegasus Directive,” focuses on who really killed President John F. Kennedy and all the fiendish machinations behind the assassination. The 3 novels make up the beginning of his Justin Scott Thrillers series.

Daniel E. Kennedy is a healthcare executive, counselor, author, and filmmaker. His passion for disease prevention was ignited professionally while working with thousands of cancer patients at Oasis of Hope Hospital, and personally, by witnessing cancer and heart disease-related deaths in his family. His philosophy is simple: it's not good enough to live a long sick life when there's the opportunity to live a healthy long life. He has now ccompled a 8-episode Healthy Long Life documentary series.

Chuck Cooper is the Founder of WhiteWater Consulting. He sets the Mission, Vision and Values for the company. His passion is to help enable employers and HR practitioners to drive their organization to: realize an improved company culture; enhance employee engagement; grow revenues; control expenses; maximize profits and all the while taking care of the greatest asset: their people.

Brian Collins got the fever to be his own boss and has not looked back. He started four businesses, all in very different business sectors, with zero experience in any of those fields. Today, Brian spends his time growing his gold mine business in Nevada, CA, he is at the gym three times a week, and he is always on the hunt for the next challenge in an arena he has not tackled before. 

Joe Hart began his career as an attorney. After taking a Dale Carnegie Course, he rethought his career path, leaving the practice of law and going to work for a real estate company, and then founding an e-learning company called InfoAlly. After selling that business, Joe became the president of Asset Health before becoming the President and CEO of Dale Carnegie in 2015. Founded in 1912, Dale Carnegie is a workplace training organization with operations in 75 countries and delivers solutions in 29 languages.

Lisa Phillips helps African American Professionals build profitable rental property portfolios by investing in minority neighborhoods. After her own home foreclosure, she was left with a $35k condo and enough money to renovate the place doing the work herself. Learning the ways of real estate investing in rural, inner-city, and mid-sized city properties, she is now focused on doing what she loves: showing how anyone with a little ingenuity can affordably start real estate investing for high profits and cash flow.

James Harris a.k.a. Dewey Da Don is an entrepreneur and multi-dimensional hip hop artist with a unique sound and style. Dewey's music is street and raw with catchy hooks and metaphors that incorporate west coast production with a mid-west flow. He is often compared to the great Nipsey Hussle not only for his talented delivery of gangsta rap but because his influence has been the streets and he has always been one to give back. Dewey Da Don raps to break the deadly cycle of the streets.

Aurora Winter believes that if you determine how to bring the most value to others, you can be successful. She is a bestselling author, TV-producer, media coach, ghostwriter, and successful serial entrepreneur. She uses her film-making expertise and neuroscience training to help people communicate more effectively and get results. And if you have ever wanted to write a book or become an in-demand speaker, Aurora has the expertise and insights to help you achieve your goals.

Kam Majd is an Edgar® Award-nominated author of edge-of-your-seat suspense novels. Kam was an airline pilot for 44 years, including 35 with American Airlines. Born in Iran and educated around the world in his early years, he graduated high school and attended university in Texas. His new book, “High Wire,” which has achieved Amazon Bestseller status as #2 in the “Terrorism” category, follows airline pilot Captain Kate Gallagher who finds herself under scrutiny in the aftermath of a plane crash.

Orlando J. Gomez is the founder of the video production company Stellar Lense Productions, a video strategy expert specializing in visual storytelling for business, and the online video marketplace COOPT. Orlando has worked with companies like Uber, Dove, and Samsung, as well as small businesses across America to create video campaigns as engaging as your favorite Netflix shows. He is known for a storytelling approach that has successfully established local and national brands.

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers, better known as Dr. V, is the founder of BreastCancer Conqueror® and the 7 Essentials System®. Her signature process has empowered thousands of women in over 60 countries around the world. Her mission is to “change lives, one breast at a time.” Dr. V has personally conquered breast cancer twice, which gives her an empathetic perspective to understand other women facing a healing journey. Her signature book, Heal Breast Cancer Naturally, is a #1 Amazon Best Seller in 10 categories.

Serial entrepreneur Lauren Cohen is an International Lawyer, Realtor and Cross-Border Expert. She is also an author, sought-after speaker, and podcaster. After her then-husband's deportation on the return trip from their honeymoon, Lauren was devastated. She felt compelled to find solutions for herself and others, so she turned to the ever-changing world of immigration and international law and has served as a concierge quarterback in the field ever since.

Mark Sloan has published a number of books including the number one international bestseller Red Light Therapy: Miracle Medicine and two monumental works on cancer called The Cancer Industry, and Cancer: The Metabolic Disease. Mark has been researching health for over 15 years and has many unique evidence-based insights to share with the world. He believes the goal of ending all diseases is not only possible, but it's only a matter of time before his message becomes universally known throughout the world.

Kimberly Falker is the founder of The Falker Group Real Estate company in Safety Harbor, Florida. With a background as a prosecuting attorney in Boston, an elementary school teacher in Florida, and a mother of two, she brings a unique level of professionalism and service to the real estate industry, which she has been actively working in since 2004. Kimberly graduated from Florida State University in Elementary Education and the Cumberland School of Law in Trial Advocacy. 

Bradley Schurman is an expert on demographic change and how it disrupts social, cultural, political, and economic norms. His deep understanding of population shifts, coupled with his grasp of emerging trends, makes him an authoritative voice on the future of our world. He's the author of THE SUPER AGE: DECODING OUR DEMOGRAPHIC DESTINY and the founder and CEO of the global research and advisory firm, The Super Age. He's written for Newsweek, been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, New York Times.

General David H. Petraeus (U.S. Army, Retired) is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in mid-2013. He is also a personal venture investor, engaged in various academic endeavors, and co-author with Andrew Roberts of the forthcoming book titled Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, with six consecutive commands as a general officer.