Built Not Born

Today’s guest is Jessica Berman, MD.      Jessica Berman, MD is a board-certified oncologist and hematologist practicing in the Philadelphia area at Abington Hematology Oncology Associates. Dr Berman, a native of Manalapan, NJ, is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall with a degree in English & Biology. Dr Berman attended medical school at UMDNJ in New Jersey.&nbs...

Today’s guest is Maliq Harris.    Maliq Harris is the owner of King’s Corner Boxing Gym located in Lansdale, PA.    Maliq shares his remarkable story of how he is transforming young kid’s lives through the art of Boxing.  Maliq works with kids struggling with disabilities such as ADD, ADHD, Parkinson's & bullying. He shows them how to take the negative e...

Today’s guest is Dave Duda.  Dave Duda is the Athletic Director of Delaware Valley University in Pennsylvania.  Dave, a native of Norristown, PA, shares his remarkable story of resilience and leadership, both on and off the basketball court.  In high school, Dave was stand out basketball player at Bishop Kenrick under legendary coach Phill Martelli.  At the age of 15, during hi...

Today’s guest is Clayton Prince.  Clayton, a native of the Germantown section of Philadelphia was acting in off Broadway shows with the likes of Robert Downey Jr at the age of 17. Graduating HS, Clayton received a scholarship to study math at Temple University but dropped out when a professor would not let him reschedule a final exam when the time conflicted with an audition he needed to atte...

Today’s guest is Lieutenant Dan Asper, USMC . Lt Dan Asper, a native of Upper Dublin, PA, is a first Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina. Lt Asper is a motor transport platoon commander and leads a platoon of 35 Marine tactical vehicle operators. Lt. Asper is a graduate of Texas A&M University where he earned a degree in Political Science...

Today’s guest is Matt Marcinek. Matt Marcinek, a native of Scranton, PA is a Certified Mental Performance Coach, a motivational speaker, and a brown belt in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo. Matt is the owner of the No Limits Grappling Academy located in Blakely, PA.  Matt is a graduate of Marywood University with a BA in English and earned a Masters degree in Education from the Univers...

Today’s guest is Kristi Artz, MD.   Dr Kristi Artz is an emergency medicine physician based in Grand Rapids Michigan. She is a graduate from the University of Michigan with a BS in Biology, she attended medical school at Wayne State University. Dr Artz did her residency in Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she also served as Chief Resident. &...

Today’s guest is Bassil Hafez. Bassil Hafez is a professional mix martial arts fighter living in Denver, Colorado, training out a Factory X MMA.   A native of Philadelphia, Bassil is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Phil and Ricardo Migliarese of Balance Studios.   Bassil and I discuss his journey from growing up in the tough streets Philadelphia, to his childhood family trips t...

Today’s guest is Mike Trombetta. Mike Trombetta, a native of Flemington, NJ, grew a passion for mountain living, skiing, and gourmet cooking. After attending culinary school in Vermont, Mike headed west to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to start a new life in Truckee, California. Mike has a fascinating and adventurous career path. He is a ski patrolman and a wilderness first responder and a...

Today’s guest is Barry Butler. Barry Butler is an internationally published landscape photographer.  Known as “Chicago’s Picture Poet” , Barry Butler’s remarkable photographs have appeared everywhere: from television, books, billboards, to album covers of rock bands. His images have been featured on the Weather Channel, CNN, and every local news affiliate in Chicago. &nbsp...

Today’s guest is Mike Thomas Mike Thomas a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley , where he was a 7x All-American swimmer and a member of Cal Berkeley’s 2019 NCAA National Championship Swim Team when the Cal Bears defeated the University of Texas Longhorns. Growing up, Mike attended Hatboro Horsham High School outside of Philadelphia, where he broke the National 100m Backstroke reco...

Today’s guest is Joe Gozdieski Joe Gozdieski is the Senior Director of Commercial Effectiveness and Training for a specialty pharmaceutical company in San Diego, California.  Joe has about as an impressive of a resume as you are going to see in the corporate world and a remarkable story to tell.. Joe is a US army veteran and commissioned officer through the ROTC program where he was the...

Today’s guest is Marco “The Professor” Perazzo. Marco Perazzo is a 3 rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, owner and head instructor New Jersey Marital Arts located in Maple Shade, NJ. Marco known in the BJJ community as “The Professor” has been cornerman for MMA fighters competing in the UFC and in Bellator.  Marco is also the  is co-host (or likes to say the main cohost of...

Today’s guest is Dr David Meltzer David Meltzer, OD is a US Army veteran of the Iraq War and an optometrist at Salus University in Philadelphia. David Melter has literally looked into the eyes of killers and lived to tell the story.  David is a native of Rockville, Maryland. After spending the better part of his high school days skipping school and getting bad grades, he was rejecte...

Mike Collins is the head baseball coach at Bloomsburg University. Coach Collins is the all time winningest coach in program history. He is a 3x winner of the PSAC Coach of the Year and in the Spring of 2021 lead the Huskies to their first ever back to back PSAC Championships when they knocked off #6 in the nation Seton Hill on their home turf.  Mike, a native of Scranton, PA, graduated f...

Today’s guest is Nadine Kelly, MD. Nadine Kelly, MD grew up on the South Side of Chicago as the eldest daughter to Haitian Immigrant parents. Dr Kelly is a graduate of the University of Chicago. After graduating from medical school, she did her residency training in pathology.  Dr Kelly then she spent 7 years as a practicing pathologist. Dr Kelly says she never really have a deep love for pra...

Matt Seabrook is the owner of Dresher Physical Therapy. Matt founded Dresher PT in 2001 and has built it into two highly respected community-based rehabilitation centers in suburban Philadelphia. Matt discuses what he and his wife Chris calls “the most challenging thing we ever went through in our lives", when their first child was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called H urler’s Syndrome....

Cara Ooi, MD is a sleep physician and psychiatrist working in Toronto, Canada. Dr Ooi works with teens with insomnia, delivering a modified version of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Dr Ooi obtained her medical degree from the Western University.  She then went on to complete her residency and subspecialty training in General Psychiatry and Child & Adoles...

Mark Ciccone is a Vietnam veteran, where he served 12-month combat tour as an officer in the US Army Rangers . During his tour in Vietnam, Mark led infantry units through heavy combat in the jungles of Vietnam.  In our conversation, Mark shares remarkable stories of the Tet Offensive , what it was like to come face to face with a 10 foot king cobra while walking point in the jungle, and...

Tania Del Rio is the author of the book “Happy, Healthy & Zen in Paris” and the creator of the podcast “Postcards from Paris”.   She is sought-after wellness and mindfulness coach for busy executives and professionals. Tania has been leading wellness workshops and health programs in Paris since 2012.  Tania specializes in showing high-performing professionals how to succeed in t...

Sammy Oropeza is a former  mixed martial artist , who competed in  Bellator 's  middleweight  and welterweight divisions. "Sammy O" had 16 professional MMA fights, racking up an impressive 13-3 record. With some of the meanest knockouts you’ll ever see on YouTube.  Sammy and I have a far-ranging conversation: from what it was like growing up as the youngest of 6 kids,...

Kristi Artz, MD is an emergency medicine physician based in Grand Rapids Michigan. She is a graduate from The University of Michigan, attended medical school at Wayne State University . Dr Artz did her residency in emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Kristi shares her story of how she became the first physician in her family, how she wound up in Emergenc...

Tom Garvey is the author of The Secret Apartment: Vet Stadium a surreal memoir . The book tells the story of Tom secretly living inside of Veterans stadium, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles & Phillies, for almost 3 years.  Our conversation starts off by what made Tom storm out of a college classroom at Widener University, walk down to the post office and volunteer for the Army Air...

Andreia Torain is a classically trained musician. Andrea teaches violin in the city of Philadelphia. She is also a student of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Andreia describes the connection between classical music and jiu jitsu.  Andreia also discusses what it is like being a women training in a mostly male dominated combat sport like jiu jitsu. We take a deep dive into our shared experience...

Jim Trunick is the author of the acclaimed book The CORE of Leadership ™, keynote speaker and leadership consultant. Jim discusses growing up in Ohio, how he took a degree in Zoology from The Ohio State University and created 30+year career in the pharmaceutical industry in southern California. We talk about Jim's work as a leadership coach and mentor to C-Suite executives. We also discuss wh...