Feedback with Dan Holzman

Rosa Parra is the founder and CEO of Palo Magazine, a publication dedicated to celebrating culture, community, business, and the stories that connect us.  However, long before she launched a magazine, Rosa was a little girl growing up in public housing, raised by a single mother of five children.  Her mother could not read or write.  Resources were limited and opportunities were scarce.  Survival often came before self-confidence.  In this episode of Real Life, Rosa talks about how she made a decision; she would not allow her circumstances to define her future.

Lisa Ashcroft, Vice President, Wealth Trust Advisor and Thomas Miller, Director of Investment Strategy, Senior Vice President both of Girard, a Univest Wealth Division talk about the Mid-Year Market Check.  What’s working, what’s not and what investors should do next!

Real Life’s guest today believes every family has stories waiting to be discovered, not just names on a family tree, but ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives.  Laurel Miller is the Director of the Womelsdorf Community Library, and the founding President and current librarian of the Berks County Genealogical Society and someone who has spent decades uncovering the remarkable stories hidden within family histories.  

We live in a world that goes incredibly fast.  We scroll, we skim, we react.  Yet stories still have the power to slow us down, challenge us, comfort us, and help us understand each other.  Marian Wolbers is the guest today on Real Life.  Marian is an author, playwright, teacher, editor, and the founder and publisher of Pretzel City Press.  She has written novels, poetry, nonfiction, and drama, but perhaps one of her greatest accomplishments is helping other writers find their voice.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in America, affecting one in five people during their lifetime.  The encouraging news is that it’s also one of the most preventable cancers when we build good habits and catch problems early.  On this episode of Real Life, we are talking to Andrew Kay, Executive Vice President of Growth for Dermatology Partners about a new initiative called Play Sun Safe, a partnership between Dermatology Partners, the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation and Baseball Hall of Fame, Mike Schmidt.  Together they are taking an important message directly to youth ballfields, families, and communities across our region.

Tammy Dahms joins the conversation on Real Life.  Tammy is the V.P. of Corporate Partnerships for Oak View Group working with the Reading Royals, Santander Arena, and Santander Performing Arts Center.  She is a respected leader, a relationship builder and someone who spends her days connecting businesses, organizations and people.  Tammy’s story reminds us that balance isn’t a destination, it’s a constant adjustment.  Her story is about leadership, motherhood, mentorship, community and why success isn’t  measured by how perfectly we balance life, but by how intentionally we live it.

Have you ever wondered who decides what goes into a museum exhibit? Or what happens behind those closed museum doors after visitors go home? This episode of Real Life takes you behind the scenes with one of the coolest jobs you never knew existed. Kim Jovinelli, is the Collections and Exhibitions Manager in the Curatorial  Department of The Reading Public Museum. This conversation is realizing that museums are not really about objects.  They are about stories and curiosity. They are about preserving pieces of humanity so future generations can better understand who we are and how we got here.

Cindy Silverman grew up knowing only fragments of her family’s past.  She knew her grandparents spoke with thick German accents.  She knew they had escaped Vienna.  She knew relatives had perished during the Holocaust.  But whenever questions were asked, the answer was always the same:  “You shouldn’t know from this.”  Years later, after her grandmother passed away, a forgotten box of letters was discovered.  Inside were documents, handwritten letters, and voices from family members whose lives had been interrupted by history.  This inspired Cindy Silverman to write a book, “You Shouldn’t Know From This: Letters from Nazi Vienna” and put her on a mission to ensure those voices continue to be heard.

Most of us have thousands of photographs on our phones.  We scroll past them.  We delete a few.  Every once in a while,  a photograph becomes something completely different, it becomes the last picture.  The last smile.  The last hug.  The last ordinary day that suddenly becomes extraordinary because there will never be another one.  Real Life’s guest is co-owner of Arcanum Lens Imagery, Alyssa Sumski, a photographer who doesn’t simply capture images but preserves moments that people don’t yet realize will someday; become priceless.  Alyssa understands this in a very deeply personal way and shares her story with us on Real Life.

There are moments in life that change us forever.  Some moments fill us with joy.  Others leave wounds that take years to understand, years to heal, and sometimes a lifetime to transform into something meaningful.  Cathleen Palm is the founder of the Center for Children’s Justice, an organization dedicated to protecting children and strengthening systems designed to keep them safe.  But long before she became an advocate, she was a child whose own life was shaped by childhood trauma.  Her story reminds us that trauma does not have to write the final chapter of our lives and healing is possible.