The John Krol Podcast / The Blend

The opener for a podcast about life after divorce, dating, finding love again, blending a family and making it all work! John and Cara talk about how they got together after divorce and difficult times, including how he "rolled" into her DMs, figuring out how to date in the teeth of COVID and figuring out how to just get a cup of coffee when everything was closed! John and Cara also cove...

John shares his vision for Pittsfield and differentiates from the status quo in making change in the city - including putting families first, curbing skyrocketing taxes, creating desperately needed financial transparency in the city with an independent internal auditor, revitalizing the downtown, having a clear vision with downtown police foot patrol and a sense of urgency to position Pittsfield a...

What exactly is the purpose of public education? It's a fundamental question that Kristina Cardot hits head-on in the work that she does every single day. As a longtime former art teacher in the public school system, she offers a powerful critique of something many are thinking and starting to talk about more than ever - public education's obsession with standardized testing. This is not to say we...

It was the power of journaling, allowing a very young Elizabeth Heller to write about the "big feelings," that she says saved her own life. As a victim of trauma and abuse at the age of four, she found that the journaling allowed her to step outside and look at her emotions and find a level of peace - and it's a bit of magic that she is dedicating herself to sharing with the world. T...

It's been quite a journey from Melissa Helm's hometown of Glens Falls, to working in the non-profit world on Wall Street (of all places) and then to the Berkshires - which she is very happy to call her home. Drawn by work in corporate wellness, Melissa would later work at Kripalu and its signature stress resilience program. This all aligned with Melissa who has grown throughout her own mental heal...

Among 2700 YMCAs across the nation, it is not likely that there are many with the remarkable experiences that Randy Kinnas has had over his 27 years with the organization. From living himself at a Y at his first job in Lawrence, Massachusetts to overseeing a unique quasi-public/private operation in his first CEO role with the Northern Berkshire YMCA, to overseeing a merger countywide to ushering i...

It may have started with her daughter wanting to join the Youth Alive step team, however, Leah Reed's involvement in the Women of Color Giving Circle was a spiritual extension of the legacy of her legendary grandmother Edna Wilks and the Monday Night Club. And it is a true Circle, says Leah, as "everyone can contribute and everyone has something to give" as it relates to providing mentorship to bu...

It was more than four decades ago that Marge Cohan started to get serious about bicycling. She had met her future husband at the Josh Billings and she was hooked. Still, she never could have imagined that she would be one of the key advocates to stretch a bike path through the Berkshires from Vermont to Connecticut. It's a slog, especially in Massachusetts where bike paths are built to strict spec...

It's a passion project that has been brewing since the mid-1990s for Gina Coleman, whose encounter with the legendary Odetta left a powerful impression. The moment when Gina and Odetta connected, sang side-by-side and locked together in harmony was a seminal moment in her career. This inspiration will come full circle in the form of a live album to be recorded May 12th and 13th in Studio 9 at...

When he saw too many kids without a focus and without something to do, especially as opportunities were fewer and farther between amid the pandemic, Dashine Moore took the steps to establish the Beat the Streets basketball program. Now in its third year, Dashine sees the value of the evolving program continue with the cost of traditional summer camps continuing to rise out of the reach of many you...

Families with kids simply want more fun things to do in the Berkshires. Melissa and Ken Fawcett have shown that filling a part of this niche can be hugely successful, as the indoor playground, Ready Set Play, has been just about fully-booked for weekend parties from the very beginning when they opened in October 2022. Responding to the clear demand for working families seems to be a great business...

"We can do this better," is what Christine and Bill said to themselves after spending some years in the craft beer industry, and seeing their own employer evolve quickly from a small regional brewery to an impersonal, corporatized operation. When the making of beer became more about pushing the right buttons on programmed machinery than following their creative passion - they knew it was time to d...

While she has been the executive director of Berkshire Music School for three years, Natalie Neubert is still regularly introducing herself to the wider community in her "new" role as she took over just before the lockdown of the pandemic. As the broader Berkshire community is still getting to know her, Natalie has been busy reimagining the offerings at the venerable cultural institution on Wendel...

It is deeply personal and labor of love for Luke Fitzgerald. He launched The Love of T Foundation honoring his late mother, Teresa. He says the mission of the organization fits "hand-in-hand" with how Teresa lived, as she was always there for loved ones during their own struggles in life. In finding the way that the organization can best support the community in suicide prevention, Luke was dedica...

It was deeply ingrained into his soul as a child as he listened to the jukebox at his Uncle John's, and with early vinyl records in the 1970s. That sound mesmerized young Tim Dupree and his early fascination with 50s and 60s rock n' roll, then soul and Motown music, never ceased. What also never left him was the love of the sound of vinyl, and over the years he has accumulated over 20,000...

No matter how large or small the company, the characteristics, emotional intelligence, and general mood of the leader inevitably impacts the entire operation. In fact, that correlation between the mood of the leader (CEO, president, owner, etc.) and the bottomline performance of the company has been proven in several studies. Pascal Renders has been at the forefront of this type of work, as a cons...

It all began on the simple premise that there was no place for competitive runners to buy racing flats anywhere in the Berkshires. Over the past dozen years, Berkshire Running Center has been the centerpiece of a loyal, growing running community that has elevated the sport to a true attraction to our region, and put the Berkshires on the map for running race tourism. This has been the passion of t...

Sure, Carrie Wright appeared on the podcast to plug the Berkshire Art Center (formerly IS183) annual Gala, Metallic Couture Disco , Saturday April 1st, but we certainly had to cover more ground than that. We started from the beginning when Carrie "grew up" on Bousquet Mountain, then went on Colorado State, and continued her journey on various ski mountains with a core group of friends, i...

For the love of the game. Steve Kotski has dedicated himself, not only as a Dad and coach, but as the president of the National League division of Pittsfield Little League. For him, his passion was solidified back when he was a kid as a baseball and hockey player rising through the ranks and forging lasting friendships and a solid work ethic. Today, he works to instill those values in the players ...

From her earliest days as a little girl, the power of drawing on a page fascinated and inspired Sally Tiska Rice. Coming down late at night to learn the tricks of the trade from her father who drew blueprints for a living, there was a magic at the end of the pencil. Her love of the process was interwoven into her 25-year career on the team at Crane & Co., which created its legendary stationery. Pa...

It was a concept that brought so much joy to their own family on vacations in the past, Heather and Jeff King knew that it was a business ripe for success in the Berkshires. After nearly three years open, a second location and further expansion into other locations, Shire Donuts just continues to put smiles on the faces of happy customers. And why not? Who doesn't love a great donut? It's just one...

Merging the mission of her company into full alignment with her authentic true self took a powerful leap of faith. This was a particularly bold move in the no-nonsense profit-driven industry of financial advising. But, for Alexandra Dest Renders, "it was time to get real." Those were the words of her husband, and business coach, Pascal Renders, who threw down the gauntlet and challenged her....

Arriving from Brazil unable to speak English a dozen years ago, completely shifting in her career and finding the love of her life in the Berkshires, the only constant for Karen Murray is change. As a mother who has advocated strongly for her daughter, Victoria, Karen has served as a translator in the public schools. Today, the language barrier continues to be a challenge for families with parents...

Even at the young age of 12, Kaitlyn Pierce was way ahead of her time in the area of online marketing. As a superfan of the Backstreet Boys, she received permission from AOL back in the day to increase the size of her subscriber list, disseminating the latest info on the boy band. She's come a long way from those days when she was known as the Backstreet Boys Girl. And yet, she continues to be wel...

A laser-focused interest in the nature and process of politics and the art of being a great bartender gives Casey Pease a unique set of skills in his area of work. Having run for statewide office before the age of 21, while also working all aspects of various campaigns, he's grown up professionally in a world that truly provides insight into human nature. Today, he now is working full-time for the...