Beyond The Venue with MG Hodge, Host & Future PhD

Thanks for listening to my guests and I over these last few years! It's been a wild ride, and I'm grateful to have had this opportunity! While this is the end of Beyond the Venue Podcast, it's certainly not the end of my podcasting career!  Thanks for listening!

Cassy and Joey met as doctoral students in Quant 2 in the Fall of 2020. Their friendship grew from a mutual passion for student engagement, community building, and professional development. Once I joined the doctoral student squad, they gave me an incredible opportunity to be able to bring my hospitality skills and values in to the College of Education and Human Development. Our relationship is a...

Sabina is one of the many incredible faculty members in the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University. Her glowing reputation preceded her as we finally had a chance to meet this past Spring. Our relationship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surrounded by folks from completely different life paths but coming together to form a community and learn and grow fro...

Kel and I met when they bought the house next door to mine! I was gearing up to start my PhD program, and I would learn that they were an “ABD” (all but dissertation). I would finally learn the “why” through this conversation! Our friendship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surrounded by folks from completely different life paths but coming together to form a community and learn a...

Temple University’s mascot is the owl, and my guest this week is the math queen, my friend Katherine. We met in our Qualitative Analysis class that I took in the Spring of 2023, while I was still teaching as an adjunct, before I started my doctoral program full-time. We would go on to have several classes together each semester. Our friendship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surr...

Kizzy and I met (virtually!) in January when she joined a research project I had been working on for the previous few months. We learned during this podcast recording that she and I will have class together this upcoming semester, meaning we will get to meet IRL for the first time! Our friendship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surrounded by folks from completely different life p...

Three Literacy & Learning doctoral students walk into a classroom…and they were super kind and wonderful to MG, the lone non-literacy doctoral student! The four of us shared every Wednesday night together this past Spring Semester, and just like last week’s guest Amy, our friendship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surrounded by folks from completely different life paths but c...

Amy and I met in our first semester as full-time PhD students in our Philosophical Foundations of Educational Research class. Our friendship is a prime example of where I have found myself - surrounded by folks from completely different life paths but coming together to form a community and learn and grow from one another. For anyone curious about what life is like as a doctoral student in her 40s...

Beyond the Venue Podcast is back for a 4th and final season! Episode 1 is my reflection on the past year and a half, starting with my acceptance to Temple in January through my first year as a doctoral student. For anyone curious about what life is like as an entrepreneur and hospitality professional turned academic, this episode is for you! Additional Topics Include: Saying Goodbye to MG the Venu...

Only a few weeks left of the semester to go, so it’s fitting time to wrap up Season 3! In Reflections on Junior Year, I share a part of my Statement of Goals that I have been working on over the last several weeks as a part of my PhD application. Taking a PhD level course has been great, but the work I’m having to do to get in is HARD! One of the things I’m trying to better articulate is my WHY. I...

For our final episode of Season 3, we’re kicking it old school. We’re switching back to a classic interview style with a fellow academic, Dr. Michael Sheridan. Dr. Mike and I have known each other since we were in graduate school in the STHM program at Temple University. We ran into each other at an event honoring the incredible Dr. Betsy Barber, and I would learn that Mike had JUST become Dr. Mik...

This week, I’m joined by my friend and now colleague Dr. Ben Torsney.  Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, the three of us listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by my students Josh & Onasis. If you’re looking to gain insight into motivational teaching styles and creating psychologically safe classrooms, you’re in the right place! Topics Include: Building Trust...

This week, I’m joined by my friends Alyssa & Nicole. We met through the Fulbright Program as English Teaching Assistants in Germany back in 2006! Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, the three of us listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by my students Armaan & Danny. If you’re looking to gain insight into disability inclusion work and Asynchronous communica...

Thanks so much for listening, and enjoy the following episode, DEI & Intersectionality 305 with Becky Yep About Becky: Becky Yep (she/her/hers) is a Senior Technical Program Manager for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at a major technology company.  She works to embed DE&I into technical products and services for an equitable customer experience.  For example, she often works in partnersh...

This week, I’m joined by Daniela Galdi, an entrepreneur and business, arts, and wellness professional. She’s also the producer of Beyond the Venue Podcast! Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, Daniela and I listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by my students Margo & Leslie. If you’re looking to gain insight into having a conversation as opposed to confrontatio...

This week we have another return guest from Season 2 ! I’m joined by James Varughese, a part of the Customer Experience team serving small businesses that use Intuit QuickBooks Payments products. Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, James and I listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by my former students Sierra & Celia who also care about leading with empathy an...

This week, I’m joined by Sarah Zero, founder and facilitator of Wellstruck, a supportive community for small business owners who lead with empathy. Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, Sarah and I listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by fellow entrepreneurs, Suzie and her friend and business partner Samantha. If you’re looking to gain insight into how much MG love...

Season 3 of Beyond the Venue Podcast kicks off with Liz Einhorn, Founder of Experience Threee, a hospitality growth consulting firm.  Liz was a guest on Season 2 of Beyond the Venue Podcast , and I was excited to have her back on the show, but this time with an all new format.  Incorporating clips from the “ podcast project ”, Liz and I listen to the clips and carry on the conversation started by...

What better way to kick off Fall semester than with a brand new season of Beyond the Venue Podcast!  Wait, did she just say kick off the semester? I sure did.  In the last few episodes of Season 2, I talk with my guests about what’s to come for me for 2022. I would be returning to Temple University to teach a few classes as an adjunct professor in the College of Education.  For those of you who ar...

Reflecting on the past year has been a complicated task for many of us, because it’s incredibly difficult to differentiate 2021 from 2020. Even though 2021 brought us the vaccine and put an adult in charge of our country, this past year has continued to be a rollercoaster of joy, anger, happiness and frustration. Thank you to each and everyone who has been a part of Beyond the Venue Podcast, as a...

This is the last full episode of Season 2 of Beyond the Venue Podcast! As we wrap up both the season and the year, I want to thank you for coming on this adventure with me. Speaking of adventures, our final guest of the season is my friend Olivia. Olivia made the decision to hike the Appalachian Trail this past year, and I was fortunate enough to have followed along with her journey via Slack. Thr...

My guest this week is the Ginge on a Binge, Connor Michalchuk. We originally met at Temple University but our paths were destined to cross again. I’ve seen Connor perform several times over the years through his body positivity show, formerly Bearlesque, now called CaBEARet, taking place every First Friday of the Month at Tabu in the Gayborhood of Philadelphia. The second I ran into Connor in Cent...

This week we’re jumping back into the hospitality industry with my friend Will, yet another former bar manager I sold beer to back in the day but kept a friendship with over the years. Will left bartending in mid-February 2020 with the intentions of traveling over the following months. While that clearly didn’t happen, Will shares in this episode how he’s kept afloat over these last two years, and...

This week I’m talking with another fellow Drexel Dragon, my friend James Varughese. Even though he doesn’t work in the hospitality industry, he is passionate about people and their experiences. He works with small business owners to understand their experiences both with his company’s products and services as well as learning about what we as small business owners go through. While he's had d...

In this episode you'll hear two perspectives - one from Grace, a student in Drexel’s Food and Hospitality Management Department and a freshman in the Spring of 2020 when the lockdown began, and one from Paul, one of Grace’s professors in the dept. and a long time friend and colleague of mine.   They both share their experiences of taking the classroom virtual in a hospitality program. How doe...