The Zack Ballinger Show

Marie Hubley Alcock, Ph.D is a futurist educator and thought leader. She has authored and co-authored a number of books in the field of education on topics such as; contemporary curriculum design, meaningful assessment practices, questing and engaging instructional practices, the future of education systems and policy, game design in the classroom, virtual interdependent thinking in humans, standards based practices, and education technology in classrooms. 

Dr. Alcock has also participated in the foundation of and running of several educational companies and non-profit organizations including Learning Systems Associates which is a national and international consulting firm and Tomorrow’s Education Network which is a non profit dedicated to promoting classical and contemporary literacy development for students. This project led to the foundation of a professional development library for educators with over 1000+ resources available at minimal or no cost. 

She us currently on the board of 21st Century Learning International and LINKS a comprehensive education system (CES) company Marie has been a teacher and administrator in private and public schools for over 25 years. She has been a professor at Walden University. She is an active advocate for learners of all ages and has said the “science of teaching is an invitational art”. She is known for describing a quality curriculum as “one with balance between guaranteed non-negotiables and personalized, joyful, career inspiring experiences that can make the world a better place”.

As a professor, Dr. Lantsoght teaches undergraduate and professional courses in the field of structural engineering, and enjoys working with undergraduate and graduate students on their thesis and/or research projects. She is dedicated to sharing knowledge about existing structures to professionals in Ecuador and beyond in order to improve the safety and sustainability of the built environment.

Dr. Lantsoght’s interests include also science communication, science outreach, higher education policy, and the improvement of doctoral education. She is the editor and main author of a blog for PhD students “PhD Talk”, cohost of the PhD Talk podcast, the author of the free e-book “Top PhD Advice from Start to Defense and Beyond”, and the textbook “The A-Z of the PhD Trajectory – A Practical Guide for a Successful Journey” in the Springer Texts in Education series.

I always struggled on what I wanted to pursue with my life. It’s a big question for any college kid to answer. The truth non of them know, not one. Because you don’t know what you wanna spend the rest of your life doing until, you’re in the toughest aspect of any job. A few examples for me is I went to Alabama as a political science major. Then Transferred to a local community college/Rowan for a sociology degree. Work wise, I worked 50 hour weeks paying back debt at Chick-Fil-A then worked for PNC Bank as a bank teller. It was at PNC bank where my life started to switch. They were generally overpaying me to do simple work and it was all perfect, until in January my entire family got COVID 19 which made me leave work to take care of them. Following that I was having issues with a stomach ulcer, going to the hospital every 2 weeks for constant vomiting, and that’s when I was fired from PNC bank for missing too much work. And that brought me ALL THE WAY back to square 1 of what the hell am I doing? That was when my brother reached out to me telling me he was started to pick up some serious business for his new company LegalEase Marketing and that’s got some work for me. I was hesitant at first because if you know me and my brother, both of our friends always say, “You guys are like the same person.” And I guess that’s what always pushed me away from doing something that I was potentially really really good at, and really, really enjoyed.  And within a month of managing my first client’s social media and graphics, his new sessions are at 78%, increase of 16%, his bounce rate dropped 75% to 11% TOTAL, and pages per session increased 41% to 3 pages per session. All after just one month. And that was the moment I was like, this is what I’m meant to do. 

Dr. Kumar Vasudevan, MD is a fellowship-trained, board-eligible neurosurgeon who treats a wide variety of brain and spinal conditions. His interest in neurosurgery began when he was a child after his grandmother had to have a brain tumor removed. The compassion his grandmother’s neurosurgeon showed his family stuck with him as the surgeon shepherded his family through the entire process of diagnosis to surgery to recovery.

Dr. Vasudevan has advanced training and a special interest in the treatment of brain and spine tumors. His primary clinical interest is in the comprehensive treatment of brain tumors including gliomas/glioblastoma; metastatic tumors; and skull base tumors such as meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, and pituitary tumors.

He is a graduate of Brown University, where he studied Cognitive Neuroscience, and completed his medical training at Brown, Emory, and Harvard. He is currently in practice in the Atlanta, GA area. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, running, reading nonfiction, and embarrassing himself on the Peloton leaderboards.

www.DrVNeurosurgery.com 

ST Rappaport is a Relationship Photographer, CJEA Coach and host of the LifePix Relationships Podcast. After observing, listening, and connecting with many couples, ST is on a mission to find out what makes relationships work and how they can become extraordinary. She is on a mission to help 1 million couples by 2025.

Aaron Peterson started in the AV Industry in 1998, running sound at his church and school, and doing it professionally since 2000. Aaron graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in Aerospace Engineering in 2009 where he worked as a local stagehand at CY Stephens Auditorium and Hilton Coliseum, as well as other freelance stagehand work in the Minneapolis area. Since 2013, Aaron has worked at Mechdyne as an AV Design Engineer with 90% of his projects being under budget and earning his CTS/CTS-I. In 2020, he was listed as one of Commercial Integrator’s “40 Influencers Under 40”.

Tyler Foley joins the show to talk about his interesting career in safety auditing and training.  Take a listen!

Karese, like many parents, suffered in silence while her children struggled with the symptoms of undiagnosed sleep and breathing issues. One visit to a pediatric dentist changed the trajectory of their lives. Already a Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), Karese, trained with Sandra Holtzman, Lois Laynee and Sarah Hornsby to establish her orofacial myology knowledge. With this initial training and numerous others, in a few short years she has not only resolved all her children's issues, but helped hundreds of patients, children and adults alike, discover how great life can be functioning on full. Her private practice, The Myo Spot is now a leader in the quest for myofunctional therapy awareness and public education. Her latest published book, Accomplished, delves into how to sleep better, eliminate burnout, and execute goals. Karese's mission is to transform and positively impact as many households as possible through dynamic breath, brain and body work. 

Nick Kokonas is an award winning bartender who lives and works in Chicago, IL. Over the course of his career he has played an integral role behind some of the most prestigious bars in the city; from the formerly Michelin-starred gastropub Longman & Eagle to working on the opening bar team at Danny Meyer/The Dead Rabbit collaboration Green River. He has participated in a number of the most prominent international cocktail competitions, finding success in Diageo World Class, Bombay Sapphire’s Most Imaginative Bartender, and Bacardi Legacy, to name a few.

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In June of 2016, Nicolas became the opening beverage director for The Heritage, a restaurant just outside Chicago's city limits. While developing the menu he created a weekly rotating cocktail simply titled “Something & Tonic”, an ever-changing drink with a foundation of tonic water, tonic syrup, or liqueur bittered with cinchona.

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The challenge of using tonic in innovative ways provoked his interest into tonic’s origins and its growing presence in modern day drinking culture. After the restaurant’s opening Nicolas’ cocktails began garnering attention. In the Chicago Tribune the “Something & Tonic” was given special mention in veteran food writer Phil Vettel’s favorable two star review of the restaurant where he writes:

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"Kokonas offers a tidy list of five or six cocktails, of which the most interesting is the Something and Tonic, which changes week to week. I don't know if Kokonas can sustain this for a year, but I've managed to have three versions of this drink, and so far, so good."

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Moving on from The Heritage, Nick recently spent two years running a beverage program in Charleston, SC at the Southern food icon The Grocery. He has since returned to Chicago, and is working diligently to complete and publish Something & Tonic with your help

Sarah Bean is Book Launchers’ marketing professional with over 16 years of entertainment and publishing experience. She started her career in the literary department of a worldwide agency, before becoming a speaking agent with a roster of best-selling authors, celebrities, athletes and business leaders. She has managed NY Times best-selling authors, produced live events like TEDx and covered TV/film news and red carpet interviews for leading entertainment websites. Sarah volunteers for LA-based arts education nonprofit Young Storytellers and catches as many nerdy TV shows as she can. She lives in Michigan with her husband and daughter.