In today's podcast, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella, talks with friend, Mark Ratcliffe, about his vision for West Reading, Pennsylvania, with a look at how far they've come since establishing their organization 23 years ago, and where they are headed.

Ratcliffe is an experienced Main Street Manager who creates activity within a downtown revitalization area and utilizes historic preservation as an integral foundation for core area economic development. He is responsible for the development and promotion of the Main Street Program and its events in West Reading, PA. 

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Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In today's episode, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella talks with long-time friend and artistic collaborator, Rachel Skye, about how she empowers women through pole dancing and other creative dance.

Rachel Skye is the Fearless Creator of Studio Spin and the Fierce Confidence signature program. As a lifelong teacher at heart, she opened Studio Spin in 2013 to teach confidence to women through pole dance. Nine and a half years later, the studio has grown to offer a variety of creative dance and empowering experiences to all genders.

For more information and to learn more about Rachel's exciting empowerment work, reach out to her at StudioSpin.net

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Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In today's episode, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella talks with his long-time friend,  author and screenwriter, Barbara Herndon, about her new book, YOU'RE THE HUGS TO MY KISSES.

Barbara Herndon is a New York Times bestselling children’s book author and editor. She began her career in children’s television, writing and producing the hit animated series Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. Barbara resides in Michigan.

For more information and to purchase, YOU'RE THE HUGS TO MY KISSES, click this link on Amazon.

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In today's episode, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella talks with his new friend,  Sarry Ibrahim, about the challenges of personal finance.

Sarry Ibrahim is financial planner and member of the Bank On Yourself Organization. He helpsreal estate investors, business owners, and full time employees grow safe and predictable wealthregardless of market conditions using a financial strategy that has been around for over 160years.Sarry started this journey when he was in grad school completing his MBA. He worked forcompanies like Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Healthspring, and Humana beforefounding Financial Asset Protection, a financial services firm that focuses on one sole concept;the Bank On Yourself Concept, also known as the Infinite Banking Concept.

Connect with Sarry on LInkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarry-ibrahim-mba-ltcp-bank-on-you/

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In today's episode, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella talks with his friend (and former student), Landon Eckles, about the healthy food company he and his wife, Kat, started.

Landon Eckles found himself at a crossroads in life. After spending five years in sales and management in the pharmaceutical industry in his early career, Landon moved into a Managing Partner role for Rose Rock Group, a global investment management firm specializing in Asia specific projects, in 2012.  Although this career was exciting, the weeks of international travel required for the position was not conducive to a healthy and balanced family life he had often envisioned - especially with his wife, Kat, at home with 4 children (at the time, now 5 children).  

In 2014, while chatting about life on their family ski boat with their children and other family members, Kat and Landon officially decided to change their life's course by quitting their jobs, moving from Pennsylvania, and opening up an organic juice bar. Within a year, they opened their flagship Clean Juice store in Huntersville, NC and the rest is organic history. Currently, there are over 100 Clean Juice locations open across the country with many more in active development. Additionally, in 2020, Landon completed the acquisition of a non-toxic nail and beauty bar and rebranded the company to Freecoat nails. The first franchises have been awarded and several stores are set to open in 2021. 

Landon puts his faith first and is inspired daily by entrepreneurship, leadership, business, and team management. In late 2020, Landon was named to one of the Most Admired CEOs by the Charlotte Business Journal and is highly sought after as a public speaker.  He is also an active member of the Charlotte, NC area Vistage CEO group, his family's church in Elevation Lake Norman, and spends the rest of his time chasing his five young children. Landon graduated from Moravian College with a B.A. in Business Administration in 2007.

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In today's episode, The Practical Prof®, Dr. Santo D. Marabella talks with his friend (and colleague), Katie P. Desiderio, about being and living in positivity!

Dr. Katie P. Desiderio counts her blessings starting with the people in her life, which guides her approach to work where her sole focus is on every organization's most important asset -- you!

She is among the 2% of the population known as an INFJ, according to the MBTI, and she embraces her top five Strengths Quest identifiers of relator, individualization, strategic, ideation, and maximizer. After working for several years in corporate marketing, Desiderio transitioned to a second career in higher education where she serves as a faculty member, Executive Director of Graduate Business programs, and the Assistant Vice President of Corporate-Educational Partnerships. 

Along with her work in higher education, Desiderio is principal of Proximal Development, Inc., an Authorized DiSC Partner, specializing in leadership development and the advancement of performance through learning. As a scholar-practitioner, she has been co-authoring journal articles and conference proceedings in the field since 2009.

Dr. Desiderio is a proud alumna of Wilkes University, where she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees, and of Barry University, where she earned a Doctorate in Organizational Learning and Leadership with a specialization in Human Resource Development (HRD).

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In this conversation,  producer and host, Dr. Santo D. Marabella, The Practical Prof®, speaks with seasoned Human Resource professional, Tracy Grajewski, Chief Human Resources Officer, Juniata College.

Grajewski, long-time friend of The Prof, has had extensive experience dealing with human resource challenges in pharma, healthcare, and now higher ed. She shares her perspective on why collaboration is a good internal business strategy, in addition to one that works well in "playing with other companies in the same sandbox."

For more information or to suggest an episode topics, email: [email protected]

© 2021 Marabella Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

In this conversation,  producer and host, Dr. Santo D. Marabella, The Practical Prof®, speaks with respected mental health advocate and editor, Harold A. Maio, about the important role language can play in stigmatizing mental health and the simple, but powerful ways we can stop doing that!

According to TapIntoIt.net, Harold A Maio is a long time mental health advocate whose main focus is language, the words we employ, the effect those words have. His advocacy has carried him to many states, the White House and invitations to speak in Berlin, London, and Ottawa. His work can be followed on the net.

For more information or to suggest an episode topics, email: [email protected]

© 2020 Marabella Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

Today, we pay tribute to Reading Community Players (RCP), a not-for-profit community theatre in Reading, PA, celebrating it's 100th Anniversary.  In this episode, producer and host, Dr. Santo D. Marabella, The Practical Prof®, is joined by Iris Bellman, long-time theatre collaborator and friend.  Iris made her debut on RCP's stage at 4 years old, and her tenure endured some 40 years long, ending with the birth of her son, Nick. Marabella and Bellman discuss their affection and experiences with Reading Community Players, their "theatre alma mater."  

For more information or to suggest an episode topics, email: [email protected]

© 2020 Marabella Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.

This episode discusses microaggressions, the usually unintentional offensive remarks or acts based on our unconscious bias.  In this episode, producer and host, Dr. Santo D. Marabella, The Practical Prof®, is joined by Tim Wortham, Jr, Eastern University, who co-hosts.  Their topic is MicroAggressions and their guests include Tychelle M. Graham, BA, MSW, Diversity Educator/Facilitator, and Lizza Robb, MSW, Redshift Leadership.  

This episode features the audio track of the video series BlackStory, Episode 2:  MicroAggressions, also produced by Marabella Enterprises, LLC.  Here is the link to the video episode:  https://youtu.be/frzka-CHoqo

For more information or to suggest an episode topics, email: [email protected]

© 2020 Marabella Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Support the show

Office Hours with The Practical Prof®... and Friends is a production of Marabella Enterprises, a multi-media education and entertainment company. The Practical Prof® Website.