More Than Work

This week’s guest is Stefania Licari, actor, comedian, producer and medical doctor. She attended drama school, became a doctor working in anaesthetics and intensive care, and went to clowning school in Paris. We get into all of this and how empathy towards her colleagues, patients and the audience really tie it all together. During the pandemic, Stefania has a unique experience both working in med...

This week’s guests are James Cameron and Joe James from True Strays. True Strays is an Americana band.  I spoke with the guys in December of 2022. So, when they talk about “next year”, they mean this year, 2023. They are going on tour so check them out in the UK! If you’re not in the UK, then listen to them online. The childhood friends were recording their debut album when the pandemic...

This week’s guest is Sharon Glassman, designer, songwriter and founder of Smile Songs.  The Colorado-based Smile Songs incorporates all of Sharon’s talents into a line of musical cards and gifts. In addition to containing original music by Sharon, Smile Songs products are unique because they use QR codes to deliver the sound which is better for the environment than traditional musical cards t...

This week’s guest is Tamara Doerksen, multi-preneur, published author, yoga and meditation and mindfulness teacher, and a career transition and entrepreneur coach. She’s also the founder of the non-profit organization, Lonny’s Smile. I chatted with Tamara from her home in Toronto, Canada. She started her career at a global consulting company where she spent 25 years. Around 2010, an initiative of...

This week’s guest is Diana Indries, the founder of Better Topics Card Games. Better Topics born out of Diana’s interest in relationships and learning to communicate within those. Relationships are very important to her. So important In fact, that she recently moved from England back home to Romania.  Diana believes the keys to a great relationship are communication and fun. She also believes...

This week’s guest is Chef Dennis, the founder of the food blog, Ask Chef Dennis. Incidentally, he is also a chef! Dennis was always a fan of food. He gained early inspiration was Graham Kerr, an Australian television chef who showed him how great you could make people feel by cooking for them. Professionally, he started out as a prep cook, carefully observing the chefs with the aspiration of movin...

This week’s guest is Patrick Alcoke, marketing entrepreneur and co-founder of Find Your Steady. We chatted via SquadCast from his living room in Maryland and mine in London, UK.  Patrick’s career started out with him pursuing music after college. He moved to California and was touring the country in a band. Eventually though, he put that dream aside to pursue a different career path. We discu...

This week’s guest is Sacred Walker, founder at Kuumba Health International Coaching Institute based out of New York. She is also a mental health and mind, body, and soul health enthusiast. At Kuumba, Sacred and her team work with ambitious leaders focusing on their mental, emotional and mind-body health often focusing on addressing issues in their past so that they are empowered to move forwa...

This week’s guest is Bob Burg, author and speaker. You may know him from the book series he co-wrote with John David Mann, The Go-Giver. The Go-Giver is a business parable that illustrates shifting your focus from getting to giving. In it, there are five laws of stratospheric success that are presented through characters. The laws are value, compensation, influence, authenticity and receptivity. I...

This week’s guest is Paul de Gregorio, Digital Mobilisation Strategist and Founder at Rally. Paul works with organisations to help them come up come up with ways to bring together all of the public-facing elements to drive actions such as fundraising or advocacy. He started out in political fundraising with the Labour Party and has worked with political and social organisations since. The areas he...

This week’s guest is Larry Sprung, founder and wealth advisor. Larry is the founder of Mitlin Financial and the story of the naming of the firm is a sweet one. His reasons for going into wealth management are a reflection of the values shared in his family and the result of his upbringing. It is his way of serving others through the work he does. Larry also created the Mitlin Money Mindset podcast...

This week’s guest is Martina Carello, founder of the Colour Alchemist Canada. In her business, she has sought to help others avoid mistakes that impede fashion business growth and success. Martina is also developing two clothing lines of her own including one that focuses on Gen X women and focuses not only on their bodies but also the stories the women have to tell.  Martina’s love of clothe...

This week’s guest is Sara Deacon, Life Balance Coach for Better Adulting, and podcaster. Sara was working in postpartum care but once the pandemic hit, she began coaching full time when things went virtual. Her work became focused on young adults and teenagers. She works with them on decisions, understanding how to live in their core values and how to cope with different situations. After her elde...

This week’s guest is Aunia Kahn, multimedia artist and creative entrepreneur. She founded both Rise Visible (formerly Light Owl Design) and Create for Healing which we discuss. Rise Visible is a full-service branding, design and marketing agency. She started her career in web and graphic design just by chance when she was a musician and wanted to design her own album cover. The story is a good one...

This week’s guest is Joey Held, writer and podcaster. Joey resides in Austin, TX but just before we chatted had attended the LA Times Festival of books in support of his book “Kind, But Kind of Weird: Short Stories on Life's Relationships”. He even had an encounter with a star of the New Girl who people have said the book reminds them of! During lockdown, Joey started a newsletter called Crisp Bou...

For the first time on More Than Work, the podcast is doing a feed drop! This means that another podcast is dropping into this feed. Welcome Creativity Found podcast! The host and creator of Creativity found interviewed the host of More Than Work, Rabiah Coon, and that episode is featured here this week. We get into a few things I don’t get to dive into much like why I started comedy, where my crea...

This week’s guest is Liz Benditt, founder of The Balm Box and part-time professor at the University of Kansas. She earned her undergraduate degree in Broadcast Film Communications. Following school, Liz worked at Disney before pursing her MBA at to USC. During her career, she has worked for major retailers and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Four cancer diagnoses and recoveries over the course of...

This week’s guest is Andrew Taban, school board candidate and activist. Andrew grew up in Santa Clarita, CA, a community north of Los Angeles. Some may recognize it as the home of Magic Mountain. He is now running for William S Hart Union School District Trustee Area 2. Andrew’s participation in his community started at age 13. He became an activist in response to school budget cuts taking away th...

This week’s guest is Martin Henson, activist and Executive Director of the BMEN Foundation, an organization that is focused on providing community and support for issues specific to black men. The founding of BMEN came out of looking at the way men in general were responding to MeToo and the need for a conversation that focused on the experience of black men and the subjects of consent, experienci...

This week’s guest is writer, actor and comedian, Philip Simon. Philip started out as an actor, attending the Guildford Theatre School before landing his first professional gig in a commercial. After a long run as Daddy Pig in a staged puppetry production of Peppa Pig, he decided it was time for a change and enrolled in a course at The Comedy School in London. On the stage performing standup comedy...

This week’s guest is Antonella Pisani, CEO and Founder of Eyeful Media. Antonella started out as a web developer and moved into marketing roles working in e-commerce at ProFlowers, Guitar Center, JC Penney and Fossil gaining experience in all aspects of digital marketing. After 20 years working at large companies, Antonella took a year off to travel to places she could have never gone to while wor...

This week’s guest is Jazeen Hollings, She is a writer, artist and as she puts it, future ghost, from Toronto, Canada. She is also a professional video editor by trade. After starting out as a Philosophy major and then moving into graphic design as an undergraduate, Jazeen fell in to video editing.  Now, she has taken a big step and decided to pursue writing as a career. Jazeen is entering the...

This week’s guest is Andrew Alexseyeko. He is the founder of two tech companies and co-founder of KOLO which is an organization helping those on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Recently, Andrew fled his home in Kiev due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He spoke to me from a city in Western Ukraine where he is currently residing and working. After spending some years as a product manager,...

This week’s guest is Douglas E. Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker.  Doug was raised in California and left the state to go to Dartmouth where he earned an undergraduate degree in English. In 1974 he returned to California entered law school, eventually graduating with honors. Doug spent 22 years working as a civil trial lawyer, trying over 250 cases during that time! He realized in that time tha...

This week’s guest is Genesis Amaris Kemp. She’s a visionary life coach, motivational speaker and podcast founder. Genesis started out working in hospitals and intended to go to medical school. But, she ended up spending over a decade in the oil and gas industry. Her first role was as an imaging clerk (scanning papers all day!). Through curiosity, networking and learning, Genesis ended up in projec...