Podcasts about monster mini golf

In this episode of the CX Innovators podcast, Chris King, CEO of Monster Mini Golf; shares insight on how the indoor family entertainment brand fulfills its 'philosophy of fun' and why it's the center piece of the brand's customer experience strategy.Monster Mini Golf is an indoor family entertainment brand with 30-plus franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada. The entertainment centers offer an 18-hole custom designed blacklight mini golf course, state-of-the-art arcade, party and event rooms with optional laser maze, laser tag, bowling and virtual reality experiences.Subscribe to Networld Media Group's YouTube channel to keep up with the latest CX Innovators podcasts. You can also find all RetailCustomerExperience.com podcasts here as well.

Chris King, the dynamic CEO of Monster Mini Golf, joins us for an episode filled with exciting insights into the world of indoor family entertainment. Chris shares the innovative concept behind this monster-themed wonderland, where blacklight courses, animatronic creatures, and even a DJ booth ensure fun for all ages. He discusses the adaptable franchise model that allows each location to offer unique attractions such as laser tag and bowling, providing franchisees the flexibility to fit local market demands and investment capabilities.   Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the strategic opportunities available within the Monster Mini Golf franchise system. We explore how franchisees can capitalize on vacant commercial spaces, supported by a robust system for site selection, lease negotiation, and efficient build-outs. Chris emphasizes their grassroots growth strategy and how his extensive franchising background has helped steer the brand toward thoughtful expansion, ensuring alignment between franchisor and franchisee.   The journey from corporate careers to owning a lifestyle-friendly franchise is a compelling narrative we explore in this episode. Discover how franchise ownership can offer a fulfilling blend of personal satisfaction and financial opportunity, especially in a sector as enjoyable as leisure and entertainment. Chris and the team demonstrate how community involvement and excellent customer interactions can create a loyal customer base, making Monster Mini Golf a compelling franchise opportunity for those seeking a rewarding and balanced business venture.   TIMESTAMPS:   (00:14) Monster Mini Golf (07:16) Franchise Flexibility and Real Estate Opportunities (12:42) Franchise Ownership and Alignment Success (26:15) Franchisee Personality and Business Success (30:33) Building a Lifestyle-Friendly Franchise Business (35:56) Franchise Economics and Real Estate Support (46:26) Franchise Opportunities With Monster Mini Golf   Connect with Monster Mini Golf here: https://monsterminigolf.com  

Christina Vitagliano has worked for Gene Simmons for the past 10 years. She gives us a peak behind the curtain of what it is like working for The Demon, what it was like to partner with Paul Stanley & Gene on KISS by Monster Mini Golf, working on Gene's recent Vegas event, his upcoming Electric Lady event, the kruises and so much more! She also shares some insights about her two books she has written! 

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It's the start of our first ever Spooky Season as we ring in Autumn with a Monstrous take on Mini Golf! Professional Wrestler "The Undeniable" Rob Myers joins us this week for an afternoon of shooting lasers, swinging clubs, and excavating childhood trauma. Rob is wonderfully open in this incredibly revealing conversation, where he goes into detail on his extremely difficult childhood - being abandoned at nine months old, sadly seeing himself as a monster growing up, and how being reunited with his mother and meeting a brother he never knew completely changed the direction of his life. We talk his love of horror, how he wants to be the father he never had, and his upcoming road to recovery after a scary seizure. All that, plus air hockey! Is Monster Mini Golf something you have to do before you die? Listen and find out! COLLECTED POSSIBILITIES - E-Mail: collectedpossibilities@gmail.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collectedpossibilities/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/collectedpossibilities ROB MYERS - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075709252219 - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robmyerspro/ - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officalrobmyerspro MONSTER MINI GOLF - Website: https://monsterminigolf.com/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonsterMiniGolf/  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monsterminigolf/ 

We went back to Las Vegas to visit The Twilight Zone Mini Golf by Monster and this time we brought a camera that could handle the black lights. You really want to watch the video episode in the link below for the full effect. Can't believe I'm showing vacation photos on the internet again but here we are.LIWstudiosYoutube for LIWstudios

Christina Vitagliano is an author, entrepreneur, and the founder of the successful Family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. She's also a survivor of childhood abuse. In this episode, Christina shares her story of overcoming an abusive childhood to build a multi-million dollar business. Having spent decades working on her memoir Every 9 Minutes, Christina hopes to share her story and touch listeners' hearts with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive despite their trauma. Christina's links: Every 9 Minutes: A Memoir Christina on LinkedIn Christina on Twitter ——————————— If you need resources or help in any way, call our 24 hour hotline at 800-828-2023 or visit www.DASASMI.org. Subscribe for a new episode each week. We publish every Wednesday morning at 8:00am. Subscribe to the weekly email newsletter here or at our website here. We appreciate your help in spreading the message of hope. You can help us reach more listeners by leaving a written review on Apple Podcasts or where you listen, and by sharing on social media.

Christina Vitagliano is the founder of Monster Mini Golf. She created, designed, and is responsible for a nationwide franchised chain of indoor, glow-in-the-dark, monster-themed mini-golf family entertainment centers. She is also the author of Every 9 Minutes: A Memoir. Introducing Christina Vitagliano What problem do you solve? I help solve how you can start a business when you're sitting on just scraps. What three questions are you going to answer for us today? How do you make money out of those scraps? How do you have the drive to thrive? How do you use your trauma to your advantage in business? Show Notes: Christina just needed to survive which drove her to make the decisions she did. To have a book professionally published, you need to get it professionally edited. What do I have? What can I make? How can I make it work? Christina learned how to franchise by searching online and meeting with someone in Chicago. She learned about each aspect of franchising. She thought about how to franchise as fast as possible. What's the worst that can happen? You don't have to follow all the little rules when you're trying to start a business. You don't need to have an end date either. If you're moving forward, you're moving forward. You do need goals, but you shouldn't just stop if you are progressing. Don't listen to your friends, family, and neighbors when they say you can't do something. Christina Vitagliano's Recharge Round What habit do you think has led to success in your life? She stays ethically and morally healthy in business. If you had one do-over, what would it be? Christina wishes she wouldn't focus on her mistakes so much. You have to just move on and not take it so personally. Connect with Christina: Christina's website: 123christinav.com Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Learn more about Gary's Mastermind group at goascend.biz/mastermind/

In this episode of Intuitively Rich Ani talked to Christina about sexual abuse and tools to cope with it. Christina Vitagliano is an advocate, author, entrepreneur, and the founder of the successful Family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent decades working on her memoir, Every 9 Minutes, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive despite their trauma. Through her family entertainment business, her passion is to provide affordable fun entertainment that the whole family can enjoy, and she's spent years growing Monster Mini Golf into a multi-million-dollar company with 30 locations across the USA and Canada. Christina currently resides in Las Vegas with her wonderful and supportive husband Patrick. FOLLOW Christina: Website: https://123christinav.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/123ChristinaV/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Every9Minutes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/123christinav/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/123ChristinaV Ani Rich is a Life Coach, an Embodiment Yoga Teacher, a Mother, a Podcast Host, and a Life Coach. FOLLOW Ani: Hear Ani's Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yWsX... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ (personal) https://www.instagram.com/ani_rich_co... Website: https://anirich.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ani-rich-... YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXAi... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anirichcoaching Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VS7DG76 Much love Ani Rich --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ani-rich/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ani-rich/support

Christina Vitagliano is an author, entrepreneur, and the founder of the successful Family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent decades working on her memoir, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive despite their trauma. Through her family entertainment business, her passion is to provide affordable fun, entertainment that the whole family can enjoy, and she's spent years growing Monster Mini Golf into a multi-million-dollar company with 30 locations across the USA and Canada. Christina currently resides in Las Vegas with her wonderful and supportive husband Patrick. Click here to purchase Christina's memoir, Every 9 Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy hump-day, Happy Pre-Thanksgiving Friends!Gobble, Gobble, Gobble! Who's ready for turkey day? I am so ready to relax with family and enjoy each others company. Allowing the stressors of the past year and a half melt away. It has been a minute since we came together for the holidays. This episode has a lot valuable lessons in it.  This guest has been thru it and back again. She is persistent, she is successful and a total boss babe! Please welcome my next PREMIERE guest Christina Vitagliano! Christina doesn't just survive, she thrives! A little bit about this powerhouse:At some point in my childhood there was always one of the following: no heat, no money, no home, no food, but we always managed and the outside was none the wiser. I have survived things most people could never imagine. I am a fearless workaholic and love to learn.I created Monster Mini Golf as I saw a void in affordable family entertainment. My requirements: cost less than the movies, be easily managed, require little to no inventory, had to be different and it had to be fun.Built the first Monster Mini Golf myself making monsters out of everything and anything. Opened in May 2004. Franchised Monster Mini Golf in 2005.Today we have 30+ Franchised locations across the USA and Canada. 2009 landed us on the front page of the Wall Street Journal with an underdog victory against litigiously aggressive Monster Cable Company. Case is now sited in trademark law classes. 2012 opened KISS by Monster Mini Golf, Las Vegas, co-branded with legendary Rock Band KISS. 2014 Began managing The Gene Simmons AXE Bass Experience and working directly with Gene Simmons, in addition to all of the above.2017 Opened Twilight Zone by Monster Mini Golf at Bally's Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas2021 Released “Every 9 Minutes” A memoir. To follow Christina or contact her, head to the links below:MonsterMiniGolf.comFacebook.com/MonsterMiniGolfTwitter & Insta: @MonsterMiniGolfChristina@123ChristinaV.comChristina@MonsterMiniGolf.comSupport for Label Free Podcast is brought to you by ​MANSCAPED™​, who is the best in men's below-the-waist grooming.  ​MANSCAPED  offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. They obsess over their technology developments to provide you the best tools for your grooming experience. MANSCAPED is trusted by over 2 million men worldwide! We have an exclusive offer for my listeners - 20% off + free shipping with the code: LabelFree20 at   https://www.manscaped.com​ As always thank you for the support, to contact me directly follow the link below: https://www.labelfreepodcast.com​ Stay Healthy, Stay Ready- Deanna Marie Kuempel #ad​​ #sponsor​--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/labelfreepodcast/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/labelfreepodcast/support

Happy hump-day, Happy Pre-Thanksgiving Friends!Gobble, Gobble, Gobble! Who's ready for turkey day? I am so ready to relax with family and enjoy each others company. Allowing the stressors of the past year and a half melt away. It has been a minute since we came together for the holidays. This episode has a lot valuable lessons in it.  This guest has been thru it and back again. She is persistent, she is successful and a total boss babe! Please welcome my next PREMIERE guest Christina Vitagliano! Christina doesn't just survive, she thrives! A little bit about this powerhouse:At some point in my childhood there was always one of the following: no heat, no money, no home, no food, but we always managed and the outside was none the wiser. I have survived things most people could never imagine. I am a fearless workaholic and love to learn.I created Monster Mini Golf as I saw a void in affordable family entertainment. My requirements: cost less than the movies, be easily managed, require little to no inventory, had to be different and it had to be fun.Built the first Monster Mini Golf myself making monsters out of everything and anything. Opened in May 2004. Franchised Monster Mini Golf in 2005.Today we have 30+ Franchised locations across the USA and Canada. 2009 landed us on the front page of the Wall Street Journal with an underdog victory against litigiously aggressive Monster Cable Company. Case is now sited in trademark law classes. 2012 opened KISS by Monster Mini Golf, Las Vegas, co-branded with legendary Rock Band KISS. 2014 Began managing The Gene Simmons AXE Bass Experience and working directly with Gene Simmons, in addition to all of the above.2017 Opened Twilight Zone by Monster Mini Golf at Bally's Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas2021 Released “Every 9 Minutes” A memoir. To follow Christina or contact her, head to the links below:MonsterMiniGolf.comFacebook.com/MonsterMiniGolfTwitter & Insta: @MonsterMiniGolfChristina@123ChristinaV.comChristina@MonsterMiniGolf.comSupport for Label Free Podcast is brought to you by ​MANSCAPED™​, who is the best in men's below-the-waist grooming.  ​MANSCAPED  offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. They obsess over their technology developments to provide you the best tools for your grooming experience. MANSCAPED is trusted by over 2 million men worldwide! We have an exclusive offer for my listeners - 20% off + free shipping with the code: LabelFree20 at   https://www.manscaped.com​ As always thank you for the support, to contact me directly follow the link below: https://www.labelfreepodcast.com​ Stay Healthy, Stay Ready- Deanna Marie Kuempel #ad​​ #sponsor​--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/labelfreepodcast/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/labelfreepodcast/support

Here are the things to expect in the episode:Christina's humble beginning before becoming a successful entrepreneur.How do small businesses grow to reach their full potential? Set goals, diversify and expand!Learn to franchise your business and how to become a franchisor.How to become a fearless business owner?How to start a business with no money?And much more!About Christina:Christina Vitagliano is the founder of Monster Mini Golf. She created, designed, and is responsible for a nationwide franchised chain of indoor, glow-in-the-dark, monster-themed mini-golf family entertainment centers.Christina initially created Monster Mini Golf in 2004, hoping to raise funds needed to edit a memoir she wrote about her life.Connect with Christina Vitagliano!Website: https://123christinav.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Every9Minuteshttps://www.facebook.com/123ChristinaVTwitter:https://twitter.com/123ChristinaVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/123ChristinaV/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/123christinav/Connect with Kamie Lehmann!Website: https://www.kamielehmann.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kamie.lehmann.1LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamie-lehmann-04683473

Christina Vitagliano  Christina Vitagliano is an author, entrepreneur, and the founder of the successful family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent decades working on her memoir, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive despite their trauma. Her passion is to provide affordable, fun entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.  In this episode, we discuss: How Christina started the Monster Mini Golf concept The practicality, common sense and resourcefulness that made this business work The non-negotiables and secrets to success of Christina's vision Why franchising was the right move for her business, and the challenges of it Monster Mini Golf's co-branding with KISS and CBS The struggles and joys of “parenting” your franchisees for success The book that started it all, “Every Nine MInutes” Christina's perceptivity training and her incredible perspective on becoming an overcomer   Website: https://123christinav.com/ Website:https://monsterminigolf.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/123ChristinaV LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/123christinav Twitter: https://twitter.com/123ChristinaV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/123christinav/

Is it harder to open a business in Collierville than in other towns? In this episode, Vice-Mayor Maureen Fraser and Town Economic Development Director John Duncan discuss new businesses coming to Collierville, including a basketball training facility and Monster Mini Golf, what it really takes to open new businesses in Collierville, how Collierville will fare if interest rates rise, and the fate (for now) of the planned Ashby development.

In this episode, Christina Vitagliano describes to Mighty Pete how certain “random” factors (having an abandoned building, needing to finance editing for a book she'd written) turned into the Monster Mini Golf franchise that she still runs over 20 years later. The book itself, while delayed until the COVID pandemic gave her space to publish it, is now out in the world and details, with harrowing honesty, the childhood sexual abuse she experienced in her family home. Christina shares with us her life journey, how she tries to advocate for others who can't advocate for themselves and shows how honesty and integrity can get us through most of what life throws at us. KEY TAKEAWAYS After years of distance, the different pieces of her life fit together in a smooth arc: how she came from a working-class town where she heard from parents that it cost too much to take their kids to the movies: so, she aimed to create a cost-effective, family friendly experience by putting together her first Monster Mini Golf. It's loads of fun, and the whole family takes down monsters, together.  Her book took over 20 years to publish, but now she has the money to truly promote it, and the wisdom and experience to hold her ground no matter what the response. If it's meant to, everything does happen in its own time.  If she can help one other person dealing with the effects of childhood sexual abuse, it will all have been worth it.  It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes an army to save one.  BEST MOMENTS  “How do I not let what happened to me many years ago affect who I am today?” (About writing a memoir that exposes her childhood sexual abuse) “The only thing you can do is hope that what you've written is exactly what I said – that somebody reads it and helps them. Or somebody reads it and says, ‘I haven't said anything, maybe I should speak up, because this is happening, either in my house or to somebody I know.'” “I'm an adult now, I don't have children, I'm successful with my life, so I can afford to take the time to yell, and I feel that…not everybody can, because they're just trying to get by every day. I just want to be able to yell for other people who can't.” “This has made me the kind of person that will speak up; if something is wrong, I will say that something is wrong. … I am the person who will take the right road (rather than the shortcut). I like that about myself.”   ABOUT THE GUEST    Christina Vitagliano is the founder of the mini golf franchise Monster Mini Golf, which has locations all through the United States and Canada. She is also the self-published author of Every Nine Minutes, a memoir of her childhood sexual abuse. Born and raised in the eastern United States, she and her husband of over 20 years currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada.  CONTACT METHOD Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/123ChristinaV Twitter: https://twitter.com/123christinav LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/123christinav/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/123christinav/ Website: https://123christinav.com/ Monster Mini Golf Website: https://monsterminigolf.com/ ABOUT THE HOST  The ‘Mighty Pete Lonton' from the ‘Mighty 247' company is your main host of ‘Fire in The Belly'.  Pete is an entrepreneur, mentor, coach, property Investor, and father of three beau98tiful girls. Pete's background is in project management and property, but his true passion is the ‘Fire in The Belly' project itself. His mission is to help others find their potential and become the mightiest version of themselves. Pete openly talks about losing both of his parents, suffering periods of depression, business downturn and burn-out, and ultimately his years spent not stoking ‘Fire in the Belly'. In 2017, at 37 years of age that changed, and he is now on a journey of learning, growing, accepting, and inspiring others. Pete can connect with people and intuitively asks questions to reveal a person's passion and discover how to live their mightiest life. The true power of ‘Fire in The Belly' is the Q&A's - Questions and Actions section.  The ‘Fire in The Belly' brand and the programme is rapidly expanding into podcasts, seminars, talks, business workshops, development courses, and rapid results mentoring. CONTACT METHOD https://www.facebook.com/mightypetelonton/ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mightypete https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/ Support the show: https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christina Vitagliano is an author, entrepreneur, and the founder of the successful Family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent decades working on her memoir, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive despite their trauma. Her book 'Every 9 Minutes' is a touching and heart- breaking book that grapples with themes of childhood abuse and trauma. With artful prose this memoir follows the story of the author as she struggles with dysfunctional relationships. But it is also a testament to perseverance, revealing how Christina channelled her pain to retake control of her life and emerge triumphant over even her darkest moments. Topics of Discussion: * Christina's Survivor Story and how she Became an Accidental Entrepreneur * Success Tips on Overcoming an Abusive Childhood to build a Multi-Million Dollar Business * Turning A Successful Business into a Franchise with 30 locations across the USA and Canada* Life has taught her that Real courage begins when the outcome is uncertain * She has taught herself to Passionately Protest Mediocrity Thanks For Listening======================================Follow us on: - Website: https://victim2victor.net/ - FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/victim2victor - TWITTER: https://twitter.com/V2V_healing - Victim 2 Victor Audio Book Audible: https://adbl.co/3akVNCu - Victim 2 Victor Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/34MQQyu - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3wHvUof - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36D6ZYE 

Christina shares how her business survived being completely shut down at the start of the pandemic, the happy ending to the massive lawsuit that landed her and her company in the Wall Street Journal and the gender dynamics that piss her off after all of the years of her success running Monster Mini Golf.Stay humble. Be strong. And listen.Christina is the founder of Monster Mini Golf, a franchised chain of entertainment centers with locations throughout North America, included the flagship location at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, branded as KISS, by Monster Mini Golf.MonsterMiniGolf.com@monsterminigolf Facebook.com/123ChristinaV@123ChristinaVLinkedinEnjoying the podcast? Please tell your friends, give us a shoutout and a follow on social media, and take a moment to leave us a review at https://lovethepodcast.com/talkingtocoolpeople.Find the show at all of the cool spots below.WebsiteFacebookInstagramIf something from this or any episode has sparked your interest and you'd like to connect about it, please email us at podcast@jasonfrazell.com. We love hearing from our listeners!If you are interested in being a guest on the show, please visit jasonfrazell.com/podcast and click on the “Learn More” button at the bottom of the page.

Christina Vitagliano shares her story from enduring child abuse to going on to start a multimillion-dollar business and publishing her own memoir. She breaks down the ripple effects that child abuse had on her life and why some of the effects of child abuse hit much so much harder in adulthood. Support the Podcast Light After Trauma website   Christina's Website   Transcript:   Alyssa Scolari [00:23]: Hey, warriors. Welcome back to another episode of Light After Trauma. I'm your host, Alyssa Scolari, and we have with us today, Christina Vitagliano. Now, Christina is an author, entrepreneur and the founder of a successful family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent three decades working on her memoir, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive, despite their trauma. Her passion is to provide affordable, fun entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. Monster Mini Golf is a multi-million dollar company with 30 locations across the USA and Canada. Without any further ado, I would love to introduce our guest today. We're going to be talking about childhood trauma with Christina. Welcome, Christina, how are you today? Christina Vitagliano [01:31]: I am good. How are you? Alyssa Scolari [01:33]: I am good. Really happy just to update the listeners. I just learned that while Christina is currently in Vegas, she's originally from the New England area, which I love. As all the listeners know, I'm a Jersey girl through and through, even though I live in PA now. Christina's accent feels like a warm cup of tea for me. Thank you for being here. I'm really happy to have you on the show. Christina Vitagliano [02:02]: Oh, thank you for inviting me. Alyssa Scolari [02:04]: Yeah, of course. You're spreading awareness about, I think, one of the most taboo topics in the field, people really shy away from talking about child abuse. Christina Vitagliano [02:19]: They do. Alyssa Scolari [02:21]: You are doing anything but shying away from that. Christina Vitagliano [02:26]: Took me a while, but yes. Alyssa Scolari [02:28]: I think that's important to point out, right? That it doesn't happen overnight for sure. Christina Vitagliano [02:33]: No. Alyssa Scolari [02:35]: I guess let's start with take me back to how you even became somebody who spreads awareness on childhood abuse. What is your story? Where did you come from? How did you get to where you are today? Christina Vitagliano [02:53]: Well, a quick overview. It started when I was about four years old and it lasted until I left home, which was around 16/17 years old. Actually I didn't move out until I was 18, but it was that whole period. Alyssa Scolari [03:06]: That was the whole period that you ... So you started being abused around the age of four? Christina Vitagliano [03:06]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [03:06]: Okay. Christina Vitagliano [03:11]: Then I left home around 18 or when I legally could, I was out the door. Then I didn't tell anybody. I didn't talk about it. I didn't do anything. I'm sorry. That's my doorbell. Until I decided to sit down and write about it, which was about 20 something years ago. I sat down and just put it all on paper and then I sat on that for the last 20 years, and then finally published my memoir this year. Alyssa Scolari [03:42]: Wow. Christina Vitagliano [03:43]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [03:45]: Okay. You escaped your abusive environment. Now, when you were in your abusive environment, did you know at the time that that was abuse? When did you make that connection like, "Oh, this is what's happening here." Christina Vitagliano [03:58]: Well, God, at four years old I try to ... I remember ... I have a very, very good memory on some things, but I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, but- Alyssa Scolari [04:06]: Same here. Christina Vitagliano [04:06]: ... I do. I have such vivid ... That's a curse and a blessing at times, but very vivid memories. I remember being that young, knowing that what was happening wasn't right. I didn't know why it wasn't right. I didn't know ... Because you're four. I mean, you only know so much, but whatever it was, was wrong. On the flip side, I didn't want to mess up our family. My mom ... This was my stepdad and they had just gotten married. My big thing was, "Don't make mom unhappy because she was so unhappy before and now this man makes her happy and I don't want to mess things up." You know? That's how it started. I think once you start down that path, and I don't know why, you just continue down that path of, "I am going to handle this myself. I'm not going to mess things up for anybody." I was terrified that I would get taken away from the family and thrown into an orphanage, which to me was worse than what I was dealing with. Kind of short version of that whole story. Alyssa Scolari [05:16]: You're speaking such universal feelings and thoughts that children have, which is children have this concept that the devil you know ... And even adults, right? Christina Vitagliano [05:16]: Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [05:28]: The devil you know is better than the one that you don't. I think so many children endure what they need to endure for the sake of keeping the family together and not risking being pulled away from their family. Christina Vitagliano [05:48]: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think as a child, it's instinctive that you want to make your mom or your dad, whoever it is you're bonded to, or even if it's both of them, instinctively your job is to make sure that you do what you're supposed to do and make them happy because that makes you happy. I don't know. I mean, it's a vicious circle, but that's not true. You shouldn't do some things just to make other people happy. It took me 30 years to figure that out. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [06:21]: Yeah. Honestly, it takes some of us so much longer because that's what we think. You're right. It's, "I want to make this person happy. I see how happy my mom is. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. I don't want to stir the pot." It's so difficult. How did you get ... Was it just that with age you began to change and then when you became a teenager, you were like, "I got to get out of here." Christina Vitagliano [06:49]: No. A couple of things. Like you said, you know it was wrong. I did know it was wrong at a very young age, and as you get older, boy, do you learn it's more wrong. I mean, so now this ridiculous thing of, "Wow, I'm going to protect everybody else." The wrong part gets so hard and as you get older, much harder because you learn more, but you keep dealing with it. Then when I met my now husband, he was the first one that I ever told and he's the first one that ever approached me and said, "Hey, what's wrong with you?" I mean, short version, you know? Alyssa Scolari [07:25]: Right. Christina Vitagliano [07:25]: Hey, what the hell's wrong with you? He just did it in such a blunt way. We were young. We had been dating for maybe, I don't know, weeks. I had been previously married and divorced. Didn't tell him, didn't tell anybody I'd ever dated. Now I was about 30 years old, so I don't know if it was him in my face being so blunt and the only one who said, "What the hell happened to you?" Or if it was a combination of that and at 30 years old, you kind of ... I don't know what it is. You hit these milestones in life. 30 is one of them though. You say, "What am I doing with my life?" You think you're an adult and you're not an adult at 30 because that's bullshit. I don't even know if I'm an adult at my age and I'm in my 50s. It's just, you start to question yourself as to what you think you know and, "Hey, maybe it's time I stand up and stop doing what I've been doing to myself." You're abusing yourself really for so many years. I listened to one of your podcasts where you went through your relationship and I was like, "Dear God, how many of us have been down that same exact path with the same exact reasoning within ourselves?" Then one day you wake up and say, "Holy cow, I'm a dummy." In a good way though, it's a good thing to say because you realize you don't need to be that dummy all the time, you know? Alyssa Scolari [08:50]: Right. It's not like I'm a dummy in a disparaging- Christina Vitagliano [08:55]: No. Alyssa Scolari [08:55]: ... a self-disparaging way. It's almost like you wake up one day and the pieces fall together and you're like, "Oh, God." Christina Vitagliano [09:04]: Where was I, man? I know. Alyssa Scolari [09:07]: Right. I feel so disconnected from the person that I was when I was in it and in those bad relationships. You also realize that the bad relationships that you then continue to have in your teens and 20s are because you didn't really know any better. Christina Vitagliano [09:28]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [09:29]: [crosstalk 00:09:29]. Christina Vitagliano [09:29]: Or you've conditioned yourself to be who you are and it's instinctive, "Well, I'm going to make this person happy. I don't want to upset the applecart." I do that to this day. I still do that. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [09:42]: Oh, yes. The chronic people-pleasing and not wanting to upset anybody. There are people ... I say this all the time, especially with, oh, one of my clients in particular where we talk about the red flags and how all the red flags look green. Even the red flags that are so bad, they're on fire we choose to look past. Christina Vitagliano [10:03]: Yep. It's almost you'll do anything to avoid turmoil. I don't even know why that is, but it is a common thing like, "Oh, geez, I don't want to make anything bad." You know? I don't know. Alyssa Scolari [10:14]: Yeah. I think it's because we're taught when we're so young that other people's feelings matter more than our trauma and what happens to us. That's the narrative that we carry around, that it doesn't matter. Yes. I'm unhappy and yes, maybe this person is hurting me, but this person is giving me love, some sort of love. Even if it's not what I really truly need or want, it's something and something is better than nothing. At the end of the day, my partner's feelings matter more than mine so I stay. Christina Vitagliano [10:50]: I remember. I went through a similar relationship that you spoke of in one of your podcasts and I thought to myself, "Oh, you can relate to every single word that you were saying." Then you wake up one day and say, "Hey, I know this sucks. I know I'm in a bad relationship. I know that he's really f'ing with me. You know what I mean? But I'm afraid to live alone. I'm terrified to be on my own. What would I do by myself?" Then one day you wake up and say, "I don't care what I do by myself." I remember saying to myself, "If I sit in a room and I'm stuck watching TV for 12 hours a day because I have nothing else to do, I don't have any friends anymore because he's alienated everybody, then that's okay with me." As soon as you decide that whatever it is, is okay, and is better than what you were dealing with, the door opens. Then you're just like, "Well, this is all good." You realize everything you thought was complete bullshit." Because it's not that bad out there by yourself. You know? Alyssa Scolari [11:52]: Yeah. Eventually you'll get to a point ... Well, I shouldn't say everybody because some people spend their whole lives in- Christina Vitagliano [12:00]: Oh, you're right. Alyssa Scolari [12:01]: ... one toxic relationship to the next, which breaks my heart and is part of the reason why we sit here and talk about this. It's just about awareness. Yeah. I think some people do get to a point where the pain of being in the situation is greater than the pain that it would take to change. That's when change comes. I guess I'm wondering for you, what do you think got you to a point where you were like, "Okay. I'm going to sit down and I'm going to write all of this out." Because you said this was what? Like 20 years ago that you wrote all this down? Christina Vitagliano [12:37]: Yeah. I don't know because once my ... It wasn't my husband then, but once he asked me, "Hey, what happened to you?" When I answered that, you've held that in for that long. Now all of a sudden it's raw and it's in your face and he's the kind of guy that just asked and asked and asked. He won't stop asking. Alyssa Scolari [12:57]: He doesn't let it go. Christina Vitagliano [12:58]: He doesn't let it go, and I'm the person, and on the flip side, I'm still the people-pleaser so I answered all of those questions that I probably didn't want to answer at the time, but I did, which is a good thing I think in the long run because it was ... But once it was all out there, I was like, "Wow." As I'm talking about it, I'm teaching myself, "Wow. There's a lot of things I should have done differently and I don't want anyone else to have to deal with any of this. If you could help anybody at that point, you're like, "Holy cow, nobody should have to deal with some of this." I started to put it down on paper and I said, "I'm going to start from the beginning." And I just kept going. My husband, he teases me. He said, "For six months, all I saw was the back of your head on the computer." Because it's all I was doing, was writing, writing, writing. Then when I got done, I was like, "All right, now I want to publish this." Now, of course knew nothing about publishing, and 20 something years ago, self-publishing didn't really exist like it does now. I learned, "Holy cow, I have to have this professionally edited." Then I learned that cost about $5,000 plus at the time. I didn't have any money. Then that was the next hurdle. How do you get from this raw bunch of words to it being fine-tuned and ready to go to a publisher? Then, will anybody even want to publish it? I sat on that. I didn't have the $5,000. I had left my career when I married my husband because I didn't want to be a workaholic. There's a lot of things I think that when you come out of an abusive relationship, whether it's child abuse or whatever that's happened over a long period of time, you're not just affected with who you are mentally, but I don't know, my vice was working. I didn't drink. I didn't do any drugs, nothing like that, but I worked because work consumed my brain. When this all came out, I learned that I also have to fix that. I can't be working 70 hours a week and married to my job because if you're going to have a relationship, that person deserves some of you too. I wasn't capable of doing both of them. I knew that. I literally quit my career. Said, "I'm going to give this relationship thing a shot because I failed so many other times." I left that and went to work with my husband and started doing some things in odds and ends. Of course, we had no money. We're living on like peanut butter. After I wrote the book, I'm like, "I need $5,000. I don't have $5,000." I created a company called Monster Mini Golf and- Alyssa Scolari [15:34]: That's how you became the accidental entrepreneur. Christina Vitagliano [15:37]: Yes. In my head I was like, "I'm going to raise $5,000. I can do mini golf indoors, me and a friend, and when I raise the five grand, maybe I can get it published and then I'll be able to make enough money to live on too in the meantime. That was almost 20 years ago. Now we have 30 Monster Mini Golf locations. We franchised it. We've got two crazy locations in casinos in Vegas here, one with KISS and one with the Twilight Zone. I got sucked in and I became a workaholic and my husband owns this company with me so I kind of turned him into one now. Now he wants to be the workaholic and I don't want to be so that's its own battle. Yeah. Then when the pandemic hit, I sat down and said, "Oh, okay, we're closed. There's nothing to do. Hey, self-publishing is amazing. Look at all of this." I self-published. Alyssa Scolari [16:38]: Yeah. Yes. Now you have this book out titled Every 9 Minutes. Christina Vitagliano [16:45]: Yep. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [16:46]: Can you tell us a little bit about this book? Is this detailing your life- Christina Vitagliano [16:51]: It is. Alyssa Scolari [16:52]: ... and what you went through? Christina Vitagliano [16:54]: It is. It's titled Every 9 Minutes because every nine minutes there is a reported case of child abuse in the United States. Just in the United States, the rest of the world I can't even imagine, and that's reported. Alyssa Scolari [17:10]: Right. That's what's reported. Christina Vitagliano [17:12]: Child abuse, I think the majority is not ... I never reported mine because it's so taboo and you just condition nobody tells anybody about it and all kinds of very bad things are wrong with the whole subject. Anyway, that's where the title came from. The book is a memoir. I've changed a lot of names. I've changed a lot of places, just because respect for people that I ... Other people, good people. But I kept my name in it. It starts in 1969, which is when I'm four years old and it ends when I met my husband and how the whole thing came to light and I talked it. It spans 30 years, but I think a lot of people ... And I apologize with my dogs upstairs. I think- Alyssa Scolari [17:57]: Oh, is that what that is? Is that your dog? Christina Vitagliano [17:59]: We have two bulldog pups and they're insane. I think a lot of folks will ... And it's getting better. People will talk about child abuse and they'll talk about their experience of abuse. I think when I wrote this book, it spans that long because it's not just about the abuse. It's about the effect that the abuse has on you for that period of time. Alyssa Scolari [18:24]: That is so important that you said that because yes, when we talk about abuse, we cannot just talk about the incidents themselves. Christina Vitagliano [18:36]: No. Alyssa Scolari [18:36]: Because they have ripple effects onto your life for decades and ages to come. I love that you said that. I mean, it's so important not to just talk about, "Oh, this is what happens to me." But then what happened after. Christina Vitagliano [18:50]: This is what happened to me as a result of what happened to me. Alyssa Scolari [18:52]: Yes. Yeah. Christina Vitagliano [18:54]: This is why all these things happen. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [18:57]: You said it best. You said it best. Christina Vitagliano [19:01]: A lot of people don't talk about that because ... and there's nothing ... I think it's because when somebody hears that subject, it just is like, "Wow." It's so big on its own that people have to get what happened out. To me, and this is a really weird thing, what was happening was the abuse became so routine to me that, yeah, I'm like, "I can handle that crap." It's everything else that's happening to me that I couldn't figure out until I was old enough to say, "Oh, it's all because of that crap." You know? Alyssa Scolari [19:35]: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, you're exactly right. I think it's so important and I guess one of the questions that I have for you is, what is your goal with this book? Are you trying to show people that they're not alone? Are you trying to show people that they can survive this? What was the goal for publishing this? Christina Vitagliano [20:02]: Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head there. A few things. One, we're not alone. Two, I'm okay to talk about it if you guys can't, because there's a lot of people who can't talk about it. It doesn't matter whether we should or shouldn't. They just never will be able to. Sometimes knowing that somebody else is talking about it makes life a little bit better and yes, you can ... You know what's weird? I don't like the word survive it because I hate surviving shit. Surviving, it hurts. I don't want to hurt anymore and it's going to hurt forever and ever that never goes away. I think you have to try to overcome the intensity of it and overcome, you will never overcome it, but you have to outbalance it. You know what I mean? Yes, it's there, but I'm going to stay a step above it and keep it in check. Surviving it is bullshit because you never survive it. That's crap I think. Alyssa Scolari [21:02]: Yeah. Absolutely. I like what you said there, that it's not so much about surviving it as it is about managing the intensity of it. It's about not letting the memories and the flashbacks and the feelings and the urges swallow you whole and take over your entire life. Christina Vitagliano [21:23]: Yep. There are ... And it's weird. I think ... Some of it, I wrote about and some of it I don't because you can't write everything and you don't want to share literally everything. It's a hard subject to actually write about because people have a hard time reading about it too. You had to balance, "Hey, I have to share it and I don't want to share everything." I remember my editor when she went through it and you go through a child abuse scene in the book. She would come back to me and she would say, "Okay. Well, this is good. Change this. You have errors here and whatever." Then once in a while, she'll go, "Hey, detail this scene more." I'm like, "No. I'm not going to detail that scene more. Are you out of your mind? It's amazing that those words are there." But it was- Alyssa Scolari [22:03]: Right. Like, "You're lucky I even got this much. There's no way I can detail this." Christina Vitagliano [22:09]: Man, that was, I think ... You're like, "How was it writing it?" Writing it was one thing, dealing with the editing and having somebody above you or with you on your team say, "This is good but if you really want to share, and you want somebody to understand that you can outbalance this or do whatever, you have to show them what happened." Some of that stuff came back to me four and five times and finally ... It was over Christmas, this past Christmas before I published, right before I published. I sat on that book for about six weeks because of her notes. I was like, "I can't do it. I can't do what she's asking me to do." Another part of me was saying, "If you want this to be published and you want to share it and you want people to see what happened to actually make the point come across, then you have to do what she asked." It took six weeks and one day I got up. Just like I think we always ... Hey, you get up and all the puzzle pieces fell into place or kind of, and I said, "I'm going to give it a shot." I did, and when I got done it was like I had to go shower. I'm like, "I just got to walk away from that. Just don't ask me to read it again." You got the words, but somebody else read it now because I've just lived it too many times. Alyssa Scolari [23:24]: Yeah. That's I think another really important point, is I'm sure as you were writing it, or even going through the editing process, you find yourself right back in it. Christina Vitagliano [23:36]: Oh, it's brutal. The editing process was the worst because when you edit ... My book is about 370 pages. It started at 600 because for me to break from the time I was four, until whenever I thought the end was, I literally had to go through my entire life. Then somebody picks it up and says, "We don't need to know what you had for lunch one day." But I couldn't get from AA to B. We had to get rid of all that crap. Because it took me 20 years to publish, by the time I actually got it published, I had read that thing so many times it's just reliving it and reliving it and reliving it. Yes, it was good, but in some ways now, and I'm going to be honest, I'm very, very angry at things that I ... They just make you angry. It's like, "Why did these people let this happen? Why are these people today still siding with that guy?" Family members that were like "Oh, he's a saint." I'm like, "You're choosing not to see reality." That's a very hard thing to deal with. I have to be the person that says, "Well, that's your problem now." My issue is let's help people who want to be helped and band together. Alyssa Scolari [24:52]: That's the hardest part, is it's the reactions of the other people, right? Christina Vitagliano [24:52]: Oh, it's horrible. Alyssa Scolari [25:03]: You're bearing your soul and then there are people that go, "What are you talking about? He was a great guy. What are you doing this for?" That pure unfiltered rage, rage that you must feel like ... Yet, in this moment, you're in these moments where you are being almost like ... not forced, but you have the pressure on to share more and be a little bit more vulnerable. Then you're met with opposition from people, family members or friends or people who know you that are like, "What are you talking about? This is a good guy." In those moments, what kept you going? How did you stay true to the fact that this was right for you? Christina Vitagliano [25:55]: Anger. Alyssa Scolari [25:57]: Turning that rage into something productive. Christina Vitagliano [25:59]: Yeah. You say persevere, survive, overcome. Yeah, sure. All of that. Anger. I'm like, "No. You're wrong." More that I'm not the only one. I mean, nobody talks about this and in this day and age where we have ... And I will give ... Like well, let's say the millennials, because they want to cancel everything. On the flip side, people are speaking out more than anything in the world, but they won't speak about this. How do you want to do everything in the world and fix it all, ooh, but not that subject? That's too cool. That's too taboo. I don't want to do that. I want to get to the point where screaming about this too. Alyssa Scolari [26:39]: Yes. Christina Vitagliano [26:39]: You know? Alyssa Scolari [26:41]: Yeah. We're going to scream about this too. Christina Vitagliano [26:44]: Yeah. We're at that point where if enough of us are yelling, somebody will, people will say, "Okay. Well, it is about time." Celebrities have definitely been more vocal about it, and I think that's great that they are. I think being a normal person and not that celebrity and everybody protects ... not protects them, but they have the voice. I think that when you see a celebrity come out and say, "I was abused or this is happening in Hollywood." You're like, "Well, that's good. I'm glad somebody is talking about it." But you still feel like, "I'm just a normal person and nobody listened to me." I want to be the normal person that speaks out kind of. You know? Alyssa Scolari [27:24]: Yes. The thing is survivors of childhood abuse, we've all got rage and if we're not taking that rage and if we're not using it to speak up and speak out about this taboo topic and shout it from the rooftops, what child abuse is, how it affects people in the long-term, what this does to us, then that rage is still going to be there. It's still going to go somewhere and nine times out of 10, we're going to take it out on ourselves in ways that are self-destructive. Christina Vitagliano [27:56]: You are a hundred percent correct. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [27:59]: That rage has to go somewhere. There's so much power in using your voice, whether it's through writing, whether it's through speaking, taking that rage that you're talking about, which I'm glad you said it, because honestly that is what keeps us going. Rage. Christina Vitagliano [28:15]: It is. [crosstalk 00:28:15]. Alyssa Scolari [28:15]: Pure rage. Christina Vitagliano [28:17]: Yep. You have to keep it in check because we can't go running around with knives and guns, even though your head says, "Well, I wish I could." But you can't. Alyssa Scolari [28:24]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:25]: I wish I could. Alyssa Scolari [28:25]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:27]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [28:27]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:28]: Yep, but this isn't the cartoons. Alyssa Scolari [28:29]: Right. You have managed to take all of that anger, all of that grief and turn it into something that this is your voice. Your voice. I have to ask you, when you look back on the years in which you were enduring abuse, were there times where you just wanted to completely give up? Christina Vitagliano [28:59]: Oh, of course. Yes. Just yes. Yeah. I think more as ... That's weird because even after I've talked about it and it was out in the open and I wrote it down before I published, more as I got older. I think there's something about this subject, well abusive of any kind, the older you get, it seems like because you get smarter and wisdom kicks in. I think when you're younger, you don't realize how bad it is or how wrong it is. Then you get more educated on people and then you realize how jaded adults are and they're teaching their children the wrong thing. You get angrier. In some ways it's harder to deal with the older I get, but because you're smarter and because you've learned a lot, you learn to balance it better. It's not easy by any means though. Alyssa Scolari [30:05]: I love that you're saying this because this is what happens. It's fantastic because I think that so many people scratch their heads over why adults tend to be so distraught about abuse that happened to them when they were younger. I think a lot of people ... I've seen a lot of people, even people when talking about themselves, and even me personally, when I started a lot of my memories were repressed. When I started to have all of these memories, I was an adult. There were moments that I've had, and I know a lot of my clients have had, where it's like, "Why am I so upset about this now? Why am I more upset about this today than I was 25 years ago when this happened?" It's because the older you get, the more you know, the more you understand and the more you feel and the more you have language to be able to put to what you feel. It's actually very, very natural. It's actually harder when you're older, so [crosstalk 00:31:16]. Christina Vitagliano [31:15]: Yeah. What makes me anger is as you know all of that and you say to yourself, "Goddammit, that's why these adults are abusing children because they know that." I got angrier and still get angry because I'm like, "Well, this person was a full grown adult and what they were doing was bad, but they were a hundred percent aware of what they were doing too and I think that's what makes you angrier as you get older, is you really, really did something terrible to a child with full knowledge of what you were doing. You know? Alyssa Scolari [31:53]: Yes. There's no excuse. No excuse for it. You knew, you know, you took full advantage. Christina Vitagliano [32:01]: You chose to do that. That's a choice. You know what I mean? It's not a sickness. That's a bunch of bullshit. You've chosen to do that. If it was carried on from your parents, then that's a shame, but this is why we're standing here today talking about it so that maybe it doesn't keep going because nobody seems to care that it is going. Alyssa Scolari [32:21]: Yeah. You know? When you talk about the whole, it's a sickness type thing. You know what? Whether it's a sickness or not, I don't give a fuck because you know what? I have a sickness. I have complex trauma and do I walk around hurting people? No. Christina Vitagliano [32:37]: Exactly. I don't care if it's a sickness. It still shouldn't happen. You know? Alyssa Scolari [32:42]: There's no excuse. It's not an excuse. Christina Vitagliano [32:43]: No. No. Alyssa Scolari [32:44]: Right? Christina Vitagliano [32:45]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [32:46]: It wouldn't be an excuse for me to get drunk and get in my car because I had a night where I was traumatized. That's not an excuse, so why- Christina Vitagliano [32:57]: Yeah. Why is it okay for these other people? Alyssa Scolari [32:58]: ... why do we make excuses? Why do we excuse child abusers so often? It's infuriating. I could scream about it from the rooftops. Christina Vitagliano [33:09]: It really is. It really is. Alyssa Scolari [33:11]: It really is. This book that you've written, it feels like it's a message, not just for other people, but also for your younger self. Like a message to hang on because look at ... Could you ever have imagined the life that you have for yourself now? Would you ever have pictured it? Christina Vitagliano [33:29]: No. Not in a million years. Not even close. Yeah. Yeah, so weird. Alyssa Scolari [33:36]: I'm going to ask you another pretty candid question. Knowing what you know now about how your life was going to turn out, are you glad you stayed? Are you glad you hung on? Christina Vitagliano [33:52]: Through all of it, you mean? Alyssa Scolari [33:53]: Mm-hmm [affirmative]. Christina Vitagliano [33:55]: Yeah. I mean, not glad that it happened obviously, but yes. Yes. I always ... Part of me, I think survived ... And this is my individual case, I think is because my father was so jealous in some weird way that if I got a better grade in school than his crazy son did, that would piss him off. I learned, "Oh, well, then fuck you. I'm going to piss you off." In a lot of ways, I was like, "Oh, yeah, he's failing and you want me to fail too? I'm not going to fail." There's a lot of things that ... And I think a lot of us do that is, "Oh, you don't like that. There's a way I can piss you off, but not piss you off." You know what I mean? Alyssa Scolari [34:41]: Yeah. Christina Vitagliano [34:41]: I just became this driven, crazy person to not be like the rest of my family. I don't want to say there's good that comes out of bad because nobody wants to go through that bad. Nobody should ever go through that bad, but because of the abuse there are, I don't know, things about me that I'm glad that they're like that, you know? I don't know. It's a hard thing to explain. Not that I'm thankful for him for anything, but you know? Alyssa Scolari [35:17]: No. Right. We're not thankful. It's not like we're glad that it happened because it taught us a lesson. Christina Vitagliano [35:24]: [crosstalk 00:35:24]. Alyssa Scolari [35:23]: None of that. It's just a matter of I think for the people out there who are in this, in the thick of it and just want to give up and want to end their lives, and want to throw in the towel and say, "Fuck it." It's like, I think about you and your story and you've managed to go from being severely abused, to getting out, getting married, starting a multi-million dollar business, writing a book, being a voice for those who don't have a voice. I think to myself like, "If that's not a message for the listeners out there to keep going, I don't know what is." Because look at where you're at now. It's so inspirational and it gives so much hope, even though, you're very real about, listen, some days are bullshit. Some of this sucks. This sucks. It's still infuriating and I'm not over it because we don't get over it. We do not get over it, but we learn how to not let it consume us. Christina Vitagliano [36:43]: Yeah. That's the balance. Alyssa Scolari [36:46]: That's the balance. Christina Vitagliano [36:49]: Yep. It is. Alyssa Scolari [36:52]: Now, if people ... Because I just feel like this book ... First of all, for the listeners out there, this book has like well over a hundred reviews, I think I was looking on Amazon. Christina Vitagliano [36:52]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [37:06]: Yeah. This book has well over ... almost 120 reviews on Amazon, extremely high-rated book. If people want to find more about you, want to find your book, what's the best place they should go? Should they go right to Amazon? You tell us. Christina Vitagliano [37:29]: Amazon's definitely the easiest so if you're in Amazon and search Every 9 Minutes, it pops up. My social media, I'm always obviously promoting my book, but if you look up Every 9 Minutes on anything, Twitter or anybody, it'll obviously pop up. My website and all my social media handles are 123ChristinaV, so whether you're on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, or my website is 123christinav.com, you can find me there. You can message me from anything anywhere. I'm very responsive. Alyssa Scolari [38:03]: Fantastic. You said that's 123ChristinaV? Christina Vitagliano [38:08]: Yep. And .com is my website. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [38:13]: Okay. Okay. For the listeners out there, I'm going to link that in the show notes. Head on over to the show notes so you can find that. You'll have access there to everything. Christina is also ... She's a speaker. She does so much. Check out this book. The link will be in there. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Christina Vitagliano [38:36]: Thank you. Alyssa Scolari [38:37]: It was an honor to talk to you. I think you're shedding light on the ripple effects of childhood abuse and you're screaming it from the rooftops. Christina Vitagliano [38:47]: Thank you for having me. Alyssa Scolari [38:49]: Of course. It was a pleasure. Thanks for listening everyone. For more information, please head over to lightaftertrauma.com or you can also follow us on social media. On Instagram, we are @lightaftertrauma and on Twitter it is @lightafterpod. Lastly, please head over to patreon.com/lightaftertrauma to support our show. We are asking for $5 a month, which is the equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Please head on over. Again, that's patreon.com/lightaftertrauma. Thank you. We appreciate your support.

At some point in my childhood, there was always one of the following: no heat, no money, no home, no food, but we always managed, and on the outside was none the wiser. I have survived things most people could never imagine. I am a fearless workaholic and love to learn.I created Monster Mini Golf as I saw a void in affordable family entertainment. My requirements: cost less than the movies, be easily managed, require little to no inventory, had to be different and it had to be fun.Built the first Monster Mini Golf myself by making monsters out of everything and anything. Opened in May 2004. Franchised Monster Mini Golf in 2005.Today we have 30+ Franchised locations across the USA and Canada. 2009 landed us on the front page of the Wall Street Journal with an underdog victory against litigiously aggressive Monster Cable Company. The case is now cited in trademark law classes. 2012 opened KISS by Monster Mini Golf, Las Vegas, co-branded with legendary Rock Band KISS. 2014 Began managing The Gene Simmons AXE Bass Experience and working directly with Gene Simmons. (In addition to all of the above)2017 Opened Twilight Zone by Monster Mini Golf at Bally's Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas2021 Released “Every 9 Minutes” A memoir. https://www.MonsterMiniGolf.comhttps://www.123ChristinaV.comTwitter: @123ChristinaV

Founder and CEO of Monster Mini Golf, Christina Vitagliano steps aboard the corporate bus! She talks all things mini golf, and all things regarding drawing in and entertaining families. We branch into a great conversation about franchising, and what it takes to open and run a franchise of most any business. Way more to it than I thought—I’m sure YOU will learn a thing or two as well. Great, high achievement guest.

Phoenix and family recently went to Las Vegas and of course had to visit The Twilight Zone mini golf by Monster Mini Golf. It’s inside the Bally’s hotel. If you’re just listening to the podcast then definitely check out the video on Loitering In Wonderland’s YouTube page for pictures of the event and to the swag he got there.LIWstudiosYoutube for LIWstudiosCheck out our friends Raiders Of The Lost Flicks and here.

Phoenix and family recently went to Las Vegas and of course had to visit The Twilight Zone mini golf by Monster Mini Golf. It's inside the Bally's hotel. If you're just listening to the podcast then definitely check out the video on Loitering In Wonderland's YouTube page for pictures of the event and to the swag he got there.LIWstudiosYoutube for LIWstudiosCheck out our friends Raiders Of The Lost Flicks and here.

It's the first Tea episode! Get ready for some spooky stuff, some funky facts, and a perfect pickup line! And be on the lookout for some new stuff coming soon. Email Us: offbeatworm@gmail.com Instagram: offbeatworm Shop our merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/TheOffbeatWorm/shop?asc=u And we'll catch you on the offbeat! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/offbeatworm/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/offbeatworm/support

On episode #06 of the Not So Yucky News, we’ve got. . . Halloween and the Candy Wars Roadside America in San Diego Ava on flying fears and kissing (yech) A Flying Funky Forecast Creative taxidermy that’s. . .cute? A free Monster Mini Golf party for Candy! Free concert tix to see Billy Joel at […]

On episode #06 of the Not So Yucky News, we’ve got. . . Halloween and the Candy Wars Roadside America in San Diego Ava on flying fears and kissing (yech) A Flying Funky Forecast Creative taxidermy that’s. . .cute? A free Monster Mini Golf party for Candy! Free concert tix to see Billy Joel at […]

On episode #05 of the Not So Yucky News, we’ve got. . . A visit to the Stafford Air & Space Museum Christina’s Roadside America and some funky museums Ava picks between school and Siri A jazzy Funky Forecast Some very cool Etsy stores A free Monster Mini Golf party for Selena Marley Smith, a […]

On episode #05 of the Not So Yucky News, we’ve got. . . A visit to the Stafford Air & Space Museum Christina’s Roadside America and some funky museums Ava picks between school and Siri A jazzy Funky Forecast Some very cool Etsy stores A free Monster Mini Golf party for Selena Marley Smith, a […]

What night did Will go missing? What university did Jonathan want to go to? What is Dr. Brenner’s first name? Ben is asked a bunch of trivia questions but finding the answers isn’t as easy as he might think. Links: How Well Do You Know Stranger Things? Trivia Toothless T’s Shirt Co. Monster Mini Golf … Continue reading Trivia. How Well Do You Know Stranger Things?

Jay and Matt play a round of Monster Mini Golf, and live to tell the tale!

This week we talk KISS Sports, Literature, and Music with CHRISTINA VITAGLIANO, Ceo and founder of KISS by Monster Mini Golf, who also authored 'Gene Simmons Is a Powerful and Attractive Man: And Other Irrefutable Facts'. CHECK IT OUT!

Our first venture into the excitement of Las Vegas includes a visit with a mini-golf experience inspired the rock group KISS. We visit Christina Vitagliano, founder of KISS by Monster Mini Golf at... Experience the excitement and energy of Las Vegas each weekend on VEGAS NEVER SLEEPS with Steven Maggi.