Wake Up Call (The Reboot)

Christina’s guest today is Robyn Ross, an incredible divorce lawyer from New Jersey.  Robyn has wanted to be an attorney since she was only 7 years old, getting her inspiration from watching LA Law. That desire eventually led her to major in Law and Justice at the College of New Jersey and to study law at Seton Hall. Now, Robyn is the co-founder and co-owner of her own law firm, Ross and Calandrillo, LLC, in Mountainside, New Jersey, where she practices divorce and family law.  

In this episode, we talk about…

Ross & Calandrillo, LLC:

https://www.rcfamilylawyers.com/robyn-e-ross-esq/

One L by Scott Turow

https://www.amazon.com/One-Turbulent-Story-Harvard-School/dp/0143119028/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=1l+scott+turow&qid=1593392805&sr=8-2

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If you are a #FEMSQUIRE or female entrepreneur and you want to appear as a guest on Wake Up Call, let's talk!  Please email me at [email protected].

Why do you have the job you have? Is it the job you’ve always wanted and dreamed about? Or did you have a change of heart and decide to try something new? Nichole Hanscom, Law Firm Management and Marketing Advisor at How to Manage a Small Law Firm, joins Christina to share her journey of becoming a trainer-turned-lawyer-turned-business-owner, and what opportunities and challenges she has faced along her career path. Nichole has seen it all, from public defender’s offices to jails with scarce resources. Listen in for great advice about the people you decide to hire and how to manage your office with care!   

In this episode, we talk about…

• Nichole’s college experience and Condé Nast dreams  
• Drinking the Kool-Aid of public defender’s culture 
• Transitioning from data entry clerk to computer trainer
• The opportunity of a lifetime—working in a social services unit 
• Work is play and if the excitement stops, it’s time to look for something else 
• The best public defender’s office is the one nobody needs 
• Why Nichole became a lawyer and how she feels about her decision now 
• Recognizing the need to hire someone to avoid hiring the wrong person out of desperation 
• Realizing attorneys walk into court with people’s lives in their hands and need better training
• The best standards of justice should be available to everyone 
• Making things happen “automagically” 
• If you’re not able to care about the people you hire, you’ve either got the wrong people or shouldn’t be a boss
• Focusing on personality vs. skills and how to hire with more intention   
• Nichole’s interview process and the questions she never asks 
• Coming from a place of love and being responsible to people instead of for people
• What led Nichole to stop practicing law and start her own business
• Why Radical Administration does not focus on coaching  
• You’re either hiring helpers or replacements—know the difference!
• The common fear most business owners across all industries have 
• The common mistake lawyers make with office support staff 
• Top areas of focus if you want to grow your firm 
• When it comes to charging people, it’s not about you—it’s about them    
• “If you chase two rabbits, you’re gonna lose them both.”

Whether you have or haven’t had it, cancer has touched everyone’s life in one way or another, including yours. Christina’s guest today is John “JT” Thomas, host of the Cancer and Chill podcast. John has been living with a rare form of tissue cancer (Sarcoma) for six and a half years, and since his diagnosis, his life has completely changed. Over and over again, John has been told that he only has a certain amount of time left to live, only to prove everyone wrong every single time. He has been able to learn so much about himself and about the world during his battle. Now, he uses his diagnosis and platform to help all those struggling with cancer. There is something here for everyone!

In this episode, we talk about…

• What happens to the rest of life’s problems when you are diagnosed with cancer
• Cancer is a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual battle
• John’s love for the radio stems deep into his past
• Looking back at the moment that John found out he had cancer
• Breakdowns that have happened to John over the years
• Learning to control what is within your power to control
• Living in a 60-90 day window for the last 4 years
• Other’s just won’t know how to handle your cancer
• Important things that John would like to do before his time
• Making the decision to walk away from a career that he loved
• The cancer patients are the actual experts on cancer
• Ways to stay positive in the present moment
• Dying with cancer, but not because of it
• The great balancing act in life: stuff vs. experience
• If you follow your true passion, the money will show up sooner or later
• Battling addiction to pain killers that come with battling cancer

Links to resources:

The Mayo Clinic

iHeart Media

Keep up with John on Facebook!

Cancer and Chill podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cancer-and-chill/id1497518143

Instagram.com/wakeupcallthepodcast

Facebook.com/wakeupcallthepodcast<

Unless you are Muslim or have spent a significant amount of time with Muslims, you probably have no idea what it’s really like to grow up as a Muslim in the United States. Well, Christina’s guest today knows all about it. Rajeh Saadeh is a first-generation Palestinian American, Muslim American attorney in Somerville, New Jersey. Rajeh shares his personal experience growing up in New Jersey as first generation Palestinian and Muslim American. Rajeh provides insight to his religious practices and beliefs and dispels many of the stereotypes about Muslims. 

In this episode, we talk about…

• Growing up in Linden, New Jersey with Muslims and other religions and cultures
• Diving into the history of the religion of Islam and the Quran
• How Jesus is an important figure in Islam
• Islam and other religions as they relate to stereotypes about terrorism
• How September 11th changed life for Muslim Americans forever
• Blending into the community as a first-generation immigrant
• The historical traditions relating to men and women in Islam
• What it really looks like to attend sermon at a mosque
• Practicing prayer as a Muslim, inside and outside the United States
• Breaking down the significance of the pilgrimage to Mecca
• Marrying into Islam from another religion
  
• Observing Ramadan and the other Muslim holidays

Links to resources:

A Woman is No Man

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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If you want to know more about me and sign up for my newsletter: www.ChristinaPrevite.com 

If you are a #FEMSQUIRE or female entrepreneur and you want to appear as a guest on Wake Up Call, let's talk!  Please email me at [email protected].

Where you end up in life is solely the result of your thinking. So, you could say that thinking is everything! Christina’s guest today is David Neagle, host of The Successful Mind Podcast. He's also a success coach, mindset coach, income acceleration coach, business coach, and basically an "everything" coach - teaching us how to think to have everything we want in life. Remember, mindset is everything, so, whether you think you can or can’t, you are right!

In this episode, we talk about…

• David’s profession and what led him down this path
• Controlling the components of your own attitude
• Starting your own business creates a different vehicle for wealth
• Knowing when to invest in yourself and how much to invest
• People find more about their partner as they grow themselves
• Things that really hold people back from achieving success
• There is no outside force or ideology that keeps you safe
• Differentiating between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind
• If you believe that you are a victim, your life will never change
• Shame is used as a tool to control and manipulate
• You have to make yourself do the work to be successful
• Find people more effective than you in order to learn
• You need to be able to turn a need into a want
• Why it’s difficult to let go of a victim mindset
• Anger doesn’t have to control your life
• Everyday habits that David practices

Links to resources:

The Last Dance

Billions

Joe Rogan Experience

Gary V Podcast

Michael Jordan: The Life

Fix This

The Year of Magical Thinking

The Successful Mind Podcast

Keep up with David’s wor

Nobody really wins a divorce, no matter what the public may think. Christina’s guest today is Kim Ciesinkski, a divorce lawyer and owner of ADR Law in Garden City, New York. She fell in love with divorce law when she realized that she could sit down and help women find their voice. Though she does practice divorce law and is divorced herself, she will never sour on the idea of marriage. Just like everyone else, Kim is adjusting her personal and professional life with these rapidly changing times!

In this episode, we talk about…

• Kim’s journey that led her to become a divorce lawyer with her own firm
• Taking a 10-year break from law and taking on non-profit work
• Lessons taught through custody battles and having children
• Approaching a high-conflict divorce as a mediator
• Getting back into law after a 10-year break
• Gender roles in divorce through the generations
• Adjusting the professional and home life to the ongoing pandemic
• Americans have an inherent need to not get left behind with work
• Focusing on settlement and mediation as opposed to trial
• What lies ahead in the future for ADR Law
• You either work to change the system or to avoid the system
• Don’t ever let fear stop you from doing anything

Links to resources:

Harvard Business Review

Hofstra University

Find out more about Kim on her website: Adrlawny.com

Reach out via email or telephone:

[email protected]

516-308-2922

Instagram.com/wakeupcallthepodcast

Facebook.com/wakeupcallthepodcast 

Twitter.com/wakeupcallpod 

If you want to know more about me and sign up for my newsletter: www.ChristinaPrevite.com 

If you are a #FEMSQUIRE or female entrepreneur and you want to appear as a guest on Wake Up Call, let's talk!  Please email me at [email protected]

Megan Murray has bounced from Cincinnati to Boston to North Carolina to New Jersey.  She talks about why and how she ended up with "Esquire" after her name.  She also shares why she left a comfortable job at a prominent law firm to start her own practice - and provides her insights on being a lawyer vs. being a business owner.  

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Desha Jackson has an impressive and extensive resume working in government, most notably at the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety Office of the Attorney General as a Deputy Attorney General (DAG) assigned to the Office of State Police Affairs from 2002-2007. This office was created by the 1999 consent decree between the State New Jersey and the United States Department of Justice which addressed the issues of racial profiling. As a DAG she primarily served as the prosecutor in disciplinary proceedings against New Jersey State Troopers.  She also served as the Assistant Director of the Equal Employment Division of the New Jersey Department of Corrections where she assisted in investigations of corrections officers and staff discrimination complaints, provided advice with regard to equal employment issues, as well as provided training to employees about the anti-discrimination policy and procedures.  Desha also worked as a legal assistant at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in 1997 before becoming the first African-American female Assistant Prosecutor to be hired at the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in its 150-year history. 

Desha talks very candidly about her personal experience as an African American woman, her experience working on racial discrimination in law enforcement and insights on how to provide more effective training to prevent racial profiling.  Desha is a huge supporter of creating a safe environment for law enforcement and the public and has progressive ideas about how to provide a better climate for the divide between law enforcement and the public in our current society.  

Desha also talks about her personal experience growing up, and how her childhood experiences impact her today - and her big plans for the future that do not involve being a lawyer.