That's a Hard No

Joan Spoerl, of The Literacy Cooperative and Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book-gifting program, a former kindergarten teacher of 10 years, avid volunteer, world changer and encyclopedia. From episode one to our last NEW episode of 2024, our last episode for our Literacy Cooperative series this woman and organization has done nothing short of knocking our socks off. Their passion...

Dr. Lisa Huisman Koops is Professor of Music Education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research and teaching on parenting musically spans twenty-five years. Lisa recently published the book "A Family Guidebook for Parenting Musically," intended for parents and families to use in weaving music into everyday life. Koops is host of the podcast "Parenting Musically," this po...

Wendy Pavicic, Pediatric Occupational Therapist of over 20 years joins us to discuss the importance of involving play and your body in every learning experience (especially as a child). The basics of physical growth and development are directly correlated to literacy. It's as simple as crawling, these seemingly "easy" skills so early on support reading, motions for doing so, as well as writing. We...

In a time where we are inundated with media, it's difficult to tell which side is up, and more importantly during an extremely polarizing election year we need to ensure we are doing our best to decipher that our sources of information can be trusted. Paul Brandus has been a member of the White House press corps and White House Correspondents Association since 2008. He is a columnist for Dow Jones...

We were lucky enough to share this conversation with TWO experts in the field of Speech Pathology in the next episode of our series with The Literacy Cooperative, Donate to this amazing organization here. Shavon and Tala join us to discuss common misconceptions around early speech abilities, easy ways to bring language learning into your daily routines, and setting boundaries around those who just...

Sarah Rintamaki is the Founder and Executive Director of Connecting for Kids, a nonprofit organization based here in Northeast Ohio that provides education and support to families with concerns about their children. Sarah actually started out in the business management field. She has an MBA from the University of Chicago and spent a summer on Wall Street. In her 20s and 30s she built a career as a...

Being a pre-teen is HARD. As parents we are desperate for a look inside the days and lives of our kids - the days of school being "good" and learning "nothing" today have begun and parents are slowly appearing less and less cool in the eyes of their once adoring fans. The school day and time spent with peers are full of opportunities to set boundaries where our children feel safe, happy, and comfo...

Denisha Jones is the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years and an adjunct professor at Sarah Lawrence College and Howard University. Her research interests include organizing activist research projects that examine grassroots movements to achieve racial justice in education, documenting the value of play as a tool for liberation with an emphasis on global approaches to play, and collabor...

Joan Spoerl of The Literacy Cooperative as Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book-gifting program, a former kindergarten teacher of 10 years, avid volunteer, world changer and encyclopedia is back for part two! This second half really digs into a lot of specific details about best practices for parenting and educating side by side (which is no easy feat). Joan talks boundaries and lit...

Joan Spoerl works for The Literacy Cooperative as Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book-gifting program, a former kindergarten teacher of 10 years, avid volunteer, world changer and encyclopedia. She will draw you into this episode in the first few seconds of hearing her sweet quick voice. Her passion will radiate through your ears. The way she understands and cares about supporting...

Joan Spoerl works for The Literacy Cooperative as Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book-gifting program, she teases at the exciting topics for this series as well as why literacy resources are incredibly important in all communities. Today, September 11th we are competing in their biggest fundraiser of the year, an adult spelling bee, the CLE Bee. Donate to this amazing organization...

Tiffany Mead is a childcare professional with over 20 years in the industry/profession. She has experience in public daycares, private in-home daycares, public and private schools as well as my current position in professional nannying. Through many years in the industry she has learned valuable lessons that she feels are important for both parents and caregivers to know. Boundaries in this profes...

Betsie Norris is the Founder and Executive Director of Adoption Network Cleveland: The Ohio Family Connection. Betsie is an adoptee who searched for and was reunited with her birthparents and siblings in 1986, when she was in her mid-twenties. She emerged from that experience with strong convictions about the lifelong journey of adoption for all involved, and the need for systemic change. She foun...

Julie Sumner is a recovering attorney who has more than 20 years of experience in labor and employment litigation. She started Monarch Endeavors in 2016 with the goal of helping employers resolve employee-related issues before they got sued. Monarch offers HR consulting and training services directed at HR professionals and management-level employees, since they are typically the first line of def...

Kristi Horner is the Founder and Executive Director for Courage to Caregivers. She is a certified Family Peer Support Specialist and NAMI Ohio Trainer for this program. In 2014, she lost her brother to suicide. She had been one of her brother’s mental illness long-distance caregivers for four years. He lived with depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As someone who supported someo...

Dr. Jenny King is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Center on Trauma and Adversity in the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. After more than a decade of doing therapy, Dr. King now works to prepare future social workers to engage in clinical practice that is rooted in the neurobiology of trauma and healing. A highly sought-after speaker and con...

Rachel is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner with over 13 years of experience working at one the most prestigious hospitals in the world. She is a former critical care nurse and nurse educator; teaching in both the clinical and classroom setting. After noticing changes in her infant son's behavior, Rachel took matters into her own hands and began to get a second (and third) opinion to receive t...

Jenn Alvin was a typical people pleaser working for a high-profile company, the hours were long, her identity was strongly tied to work, and suddenly she was laid off. Soon after she was dealing with a divorce and her father's Alzheimer's diagnosis. When her world seemingly came crumbling down, she decided to take a good hard look at what she really wanted out of life. Jenn realized creativity was...

Maria Duroseau is a pediatrician, children's book author, and parenting coach who believes parents becoming the best version of themselves is one of the best gifts they can ever give to their children. She was born and raised in Zambia before she immigrated to the US where she became a physician. She is very passionate about supporting and enhancing parenting skills through her learned experience....

Jim Elios, MBA, ChFC®, CLU®, AIF®, is the founder & CEO of Elios Financial Group, he is a wealth advisor who specializes in comprehensive financial planning and investment management. He loves to help people understand the finance world. He speaks frequently about financial planning issues, the economy, and financial markets. He's held workshops for companies, government organizations, non-profits...

Anthony Kuo is a Career Satisfaction Coach - and he wants to help others intentionally craft a career they're excited to wake up for. Anthony graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business in 2010 and subsequently took an 8 year tour through the Fortune 500 world, rising up the corporate ladder before realizing he was filling his bank account but leaving his soul empty. Anthony integrates his pra...

Mint Miller, host of BetterMint, a podcast meant to be a survival guide by allowing her stories, experiences and healing to help others recognize their own self-worth. Through much lived experience, Mint used what she learned and began to set boundaries that changed the narrative of her life and allowed her to step into who she really is and the person she knows she was meant to be. Mint feels tha...

Every season we cover important topics and hear lots of questions from our listeners, this week our host, and incredible expert guests, answer questions from some of our most listened to episodes. Heather uses her experience and recent conversations to help support some of listeners on their hard hitting “saying no” struggles. Key Takeaways Year of No Fear of intimacy in healthcare Getting comfort...

Amanda Cole joined Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce as the first Executive Director, she is an activist with an extensive history in the non profit sector supporting at risk youth living in vulnerable communities and her community involvement and training includes leadership and change facilitation through Points of Light Youth Leadership, People’s Institute for Undoing Racism, and Nonprof...

Meet SaCola Lehr is currently making waves in the real estate world, dedicated to helping individuals turn their dreams into reality. But that's not the extent of her expertise—SaCola is also the dynamic host of the empowering podcast, 'Work it, Live it, Own it!' Beyond her professional accomplishments, she takes on the roles of a loving wife and devoted fur baby momma, finding joy in the simple m...