The Beers & Careers Podcast

In this podcast episode, Hillary Crook, a physical education teacher and semi-pro women's tackle football player talks about her non-linear career path and her love for her current profession. Hillary shares her experiences teaching and coaching track and field, as well as playing football for the Boston Renegades. They talk about her athletic achievements, her background, and her decision to purs...

What's the most important thing to help someone find their purpose? Brian Barnes, the president of Isto Biologics, shares his story and gives tips on interviewing, internships, and career paths. Barnes emphasizes the importance of using resources to improve oneself, having a mentor, and pursuing a well-rounded life. He also talks about the significance of internships and keeping the purpose front...

Today's guest is Cosmo Santullo, affectionately known as Cos. He has an awesome story. The son of an immigrant butcher who worked his way into a very competitive world at IBM, rising to the rank of GM North America, IBM Personal Systems, and moving 10 times. It’s a great story and his stories will help business veterans, as well as, recent college grads. He's also got an inspiring story of recogni...

Dave's got a great Beers and Careers journey for you. He started off thinking he wanted to be a clinical psychologist and then got into politics and then into business. And is now in the culmination of his career where he has launched his own company as a life and executive coach. It's an excellent story where there's a lot of life lessons and a lot of good books shared. Dave's a vulnerable guest...

Today's guest, Eric Green, shares an awesome story about someone with a lot on the line. Kids and college bills looming, a family to support, who gets laid off after 30+ year plus run in corporate America.  He decides to do what he always wanted to do and takes inspiration from the book and his true to life Rich Dad, Poor Dad experience and starts working for himself. And his story is phenomenal....

Today's guest is Vanessa White. Awesome story about her and her sister starting Jaju Pierogi, back in January 2016. In January 2020, they started with 100 stores and through hard work and hustle in March of 2023 they're up to about 1500 stores and moving into different parts of the country. This is a phenomenal story about entrepreneurship. Just sweat equity, but also the personal development that...

Check out our convo with Cristina Gutierrez. This former theater major uses her public speaking skills in her technical trainer role. She shares the story of how she got her current job-being relentless and some great advice about rejection. As a trained engineer she explains how she won over co-workers on a manufacturing floor as a new engineer-great lessons! This Bruins fan shares some guilty pl...

Check out our conversation with Cliff from back in October '22 about his journey up through his current opportunity at Liberty Mutual, running their in-house agency Copper Giants  Since then, he’s taken on a new challenge joining Rapid7, global cybersecurity company HQed in Boston, as their new VP, Global Marketing Planning and Operations.   This high energy guy thought he’d go into the family tex...

Tune in as Mark hosts guest Marlo Fogelman who shares her career story of moving to Boston for law school, ultimately deciding to take a job in PR.  Her breakthrough moment was helping a national brand that had struggled to gain acceptance in the New England market finally succeed after five plus years.  She eventually parlayed this experience into opening her own integrated marketing agency that...

Jump into this conversation between Mark and Waterstone Properties Group Principal, Josh Levy! The passion Josh has for business and real estate is infectious! Hear how he started his first business at 12, worked his tail off during his college years to put himself in a position to start his company Waterstone so early on in his career!  Josh shares tips for finding your career, his thoughts on th...

Listen to our conversation with John Ruffini, VP Professional Development. This "Old Fashioned" drinking guy shares his story from songwriting to staffing and all the steps and milestones in between. John shares his passion for training and mentoring teams and how his well-developed network helped him. Learn what John ends his weekly motivational emails with-and what he tells his kids, too.   Clic...

Check our Mark’s conversation with Abbie Rosenberg. Abbie is an Advanced Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who had been in private practice for years. She saw the critical need for mental health literacy training in schools, organizations and communities, and started a non-profit,  Mental Health Collaborative. She shares the leap of faith she took to realize this mission. Hear the story of what made...

In this episode Jason shares his journey. He was in the Air Force, found his way into sales and became an expert networker. He put his networking skills to good use and started the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance. And then Covid-learn how he took a chance to pivot and stay engaged with local companies and the ways in which it has paid off. Some great lessons are shared during this conversation. Tak...

Check out this episode with Kirsten from Doozy Pots, an organic, plant-based ice cream that is 100% vegan friendly. She grew up in restaurants with a foodie family and got a degree from Cornell in food science. After 10 years of developing products with big brands like Ben & Jerry’s & Unilever, she put her amazing work ethic into place and launched her own brand. Even though she had doubts about h...

This conversation encapsulates what Beers and Careers is all about.  Tom shares his journey from considering becoming a Priest to becoming a staffing industry authority and expert.  We discuss why he hired a career coach, the power of networking, why you need to pick up the phone and why he doesn't regret his two masters degrees today!  Tom's got an inspirational story that results in him loving w...

Check out this conversation with Laury D’Oliveira. This high energy Director of Workplace Experience shared her story from working at Digital Equipment as a technician, to moving into office management, to AP/AR and her current role. This travel lover is always thinking about what else she can do to help make her company better- a trait she got from her parents encouraging her to conquer the world...

Join this fascinating conversation between Rens and Mark! Rens always knew he wanted his own company but also knew he needed specific skills to make it a reality.  We document the steps he took to accomplish this but then transitioned our conversation into how leaders work on their business and the importance of doing the work that doesn't get revisited enough, mission, vision, values!  Fascinatin...

Tune into this conversation with Steve who shares his passion for life and sales with us.  Steve tells us how he went from BDR to CRO in just 8 years. Great listen for those interested in sales.  Like most professionals early in their career Steve thinks he wants sales and his internship couldn’t go worse!  He ends up sharing great advice for those who want to get promoted quickly and how to pick...

Tune in to our latest conversation with Rocco DeRosa. Rocco's story is one that will connect with many.  He shares his journey through corporate roles that didn’t work out and his ability to balance his passion for music, with monetizing it and being able to enjoy it.  We start off talking about the state of the music industry for an artist but then we hit some recurring Beers & Careers themes of...

Enjoy our conversation with Shiki Wrap founder Meagan Downey. By day she works as a consultant to non-profits and she also started and runs her own business.  Learn why helping non-profits is so important to her and how being the PTO gift wrap mom motivated her to start Shiki Wrap and connect with other entrepreneurs. Meagan worked closely with an accelerator program to get her sustainable alterna...

Listen to Kayla’s story about creating a career in the staffing industry. With a degree in elementary education, her path to the field wasn’t linear but she’s taken the attributes of great teaching, being type A and a natural born leader and found a recipe for success. Kayla discusses creating career paths for her team, empowering others to lead with empathy and solve their own problems. Juggling...

From a strawberry farm, to doing maintenance for a large fair, to running a manufacturing company,  Bill shares his journey.  What it was like to have to learn a new language for a job in Switzerland and how he learned patience from traveling. As a leader Bill enjoys taking a chance and giving people an opportunity to let them do things their own way. He talks about the different companies he work...

This dad of 2 beautiful daughters was not willing to give up quality time with his family so he created raisedVT, an organically grown company focused on feel good stories and collaborating with other businesses in the Green Mountain State.  This college hockey player’s career has taken him thru medical device, pharma, and starting a lifestyle brand.  Kevin promotes genuineness and being genuine i...

Mark sits down with Jared, a friend of Mark’s and the podcast and also the founder or HqO, and a serial entrepreneur.  Listen in as Jared tells his story of his first start up which he dropped out of college to focus on.  He explains the exit and then his story transitions to that of the start of HqO and how the new company was born…incredible story and one we wish we had the tape rolling for the...

Enjoy our conversation with Brooks Farrar, Co-Founder & Co-Owner of Resilience Fitness. This College athlete changed schools, majors and sports, tried Wall Street and found his passion in exercise science.  He worked so hard in the early years of starting his gym he actually slept there for more nights then he wants to admit to.  He’s learned it’s ok to ask for help and has gained the maturity to...