We’ll Take it From Here with Joe

This week we were joined by Heather Russell, a member of the Pure MMA family, and had a great time talking about her ambitious approach to life. Heather's ambition to be incredible started at a young age and stayed with her throughout her life.  Heather's growth as an individual came when she was introduced to Martial Arts. By occupation, Heather is a corrections officer in a max security...

This week we have another duo episode with Joe and Jon. We discuss some important updates to the show regarding its future and then chat about some recent events. First, we speak about the apocalyptic scenery outside due to the Canadian Wildfires (this show was recorded one day after the fires started). We then discuss Joe becoming an Uncle and meeting the President at a wedding. We have some cool...

This week we sat down and spoke with the founders of Dad and Ryan's Birch Beer LLC, Ryan and Mike Kovach. Mike and Ryan are father and son, who set out on an adventure when they opened their own birch beer company out of their home-kitchen in 2018. The story began when Ryan, who is now fifteen years old, would help his father at the firehouse by washing the fire trucks; as "payment"...

This week we spoke with our friend Pat Meyer. Pat is a friend from the Pure MMA community, who recently opened up about events that occurred in his childhood and adolescent years. This episode opens up with a banger as Pat dives right into the story, revealing that he was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his head. If this isn't tragic enough, doctors believed this was what caused hi...

This week we recorded another duo episode straight off the cuff, which is always a unique circumstance. Sometimes having no plan is better because the conversation flows naturally. We share some funny stories from our lives which includes sleep walking escapades (you'll want to hear these), buying houses, living with your significant other, reincarnation and much more. Having a blast recording...

This week we welcome back for a third time, Dr. Gus Mouhtis, who is a clinical and forensic psychologist. Gus was a guest on episodes ten and eighteen, so if you have not listened to those already, we strongly suggest you do. Gus is one of our favorite guests to have on because he's always very positive but also frank, who never shies away from sharing his opinions. We spoke about a number of...

This week we had our friend Mike Amoresano "Amore" on the show. Mike is part of the Pure MMA community and has been since 2015, when he fell in love with mixed martial arts and Muay Thai. Mike shares a heart-felt story about his late father which he attributes to his love of and success in the sport. We chat predominantly about MMA / Muay Thai and about some of his fights both the good a...

This week we had an inspiring conversation with our cameraman Jon Brown, who has also been filling in for Don. To start off, Jon's passion for filming has improved the visual aspect of the show, so if you have not watched our YouTube yet, we highly recommend you do. This week, I decided that it would be a great idea for Jon to share his life story since you will be hearing from him more often....

Today, Joe drops the very first solo episode, discussing some disturbing news from Roxbury High School in which the school and board of education thought it was okay to have books depicting pornographic images to kids. Joe shares some of his thoughts and some actions that should be taken. The video to which Joe refers can be found on the Instagram page @New_Jersey_Project. Like we say, the show is...

This week we had an incredible conversation with a special guest, Kristen Magone. Kristen is Joe's Sister-in-law and came on to discuss the topic of life changing events of which she had experienced plenty. The show starts off with a bang as Kristen gets right into her story and to say we were left with our jaws dropped is an understatement. Kristen recounts her time in an abusive relationship...

This week we welcome back to the show Anthony Bongiovanni from episode 42. I strongly suggest listening to his story there if you have not already. In addition, we include our cameraman, and Anthony's childhood friend, Jonny Brown in the discussion. The theme of today's show was about making changes /sacrifices in your life for the better. Anthony shared his improvements to both his mental...

This week we had the pleasure of having a deep, incredible conversation about mental health with Cheyanna Dinkle in which she had the courage to reveal some past traumas about her life and family. Born in Passaic, New Jersey and moving to Rockaway Borough at a young age, Cheyanna's life looked grand and normal from the outside. Driving a Mercedes to school and wearing fur coats, it would be ea...

This week we had a rad conversation about the mindset of a high-level competitor with Steve Martell. Similar to other guests on the show, Steve has been involved in martial arts from a very young age, with Wrestling as his primary sport. Like every boy in the 80's and 90's, Steve dreamed of becoming a WWE wrestler, so his parents signed him up for wrestling, however upon arriving at his fi...

This week we had the honor of speaking with Geoff Deen Owner/Founder of Hardball Cider, a cidery located on a farm in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, which has been his family's farm since the late 1890's! Geoff takes us through the beginnings of Hardball Cider, which he founded in 2013 after spending twenty years in corporate America. We learned about Geoff's time helping his father press...

This week we spoke about an important topic of what it means to be a man as we believe there is a lot of progress to be made across the world.  The topic arose from a tiny encounter that occurred at Joe's work however, it was enough for us to address.  We found that you, the audience, are equally as intrigued in the topic since we had the most responses to date.  You gave some reall...

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with our friend Ashley Gauthier.  First and foremost, Ashley is a Mother and Wife who loves spending time with her family.  In addition, Ashley trains as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under the Main brothers at Pure MMA, while simultaneously managing its daily operations.  The one thing that stood out to us is Ashley's resiliency and...

This week, we are back with another JitZone episode!  As referenced in the title, we speak about what jiu-jitsu or martial arts means to us.  We also shared the responses of some listeners, as well.   If you train, you are well aware that BJJ/Martial Arts are more than just fighting.  Whether it be for self-defense, a sense of comradery, to persevere, a boost in self-confi...

This week we took a trip to Yoga Odyssey in Somerville, New Jersey and spoke with its owner/founder, Zachy Christodoulou.  Yoga Odyssey is not your typical yoga studio, in fact, it's more of a community where people come to build friendships while practicing what they love.  In this episode, you can really feel Zachy's love of life, her family, and her students.  Zachy shares how sh...

This week we had a blast as we sat down with Joe Farina.  Joe is a resident of Morris County, a lifelong martial artist, and police officer in which he holds the rank of Sargent, however his most proud accomplishment is that of being a Father and Husband.  We spoke about his career in law enforcement, his love for martial arts, and his philosophy on life which includes having a positive...

This week we had the pleasure of interviewing our friend, Al Cuccinello.  Al is a father, husband, BJJ/Judo practitioner, salesman, and a lover of adventures.  In this episode, we learned about Al's past and how it had a tremendous impact on his current success.  Although Al is a BJJ brown-belt, Judo green-belt, and has a successful career and family, it was not always this way. &nb...

Today we bring you a new segment to the We'll Take It from Here podcast called JitZone.  As the name implies, JitZone covers all things Jiu-Jitsu related, which we feel will bring a neat dynamic to the show since many listeners are part of the community.  The goal of the segment is to bring light to the sport and martial arts in general.  In the first episode, we speak about our Jiu...

This week we had a conversation with our friend Phil McEntee of Rockaway, New Jersey.  Phil is a father, Jiu-Jitsu practitioner / coach, entrepreneur, and most importantly, a great human being.  Phil's story is an interesting one as at the age of thirty-five (he is now in his forties), he performed a self-assessment and, as Jordan Peterson would describe, decided to "burn the dead wood"...

Today we bring another duo episode in which we chop it up about a couple of topics.  First, we chat about Don's successful surgery to fix a hernia he had for a while.  Amazingly, you would have never known if he did not mention it because of his ability to stay disciplined in the gym and in Jiu-Jitsu.  Goes to show you that the mind is a powerful tool.  We then move on to provi...

This week we are joined by Joe's good friend Remo D'Alessandro.  Remo grew up in Totowa, New Jersey to an Italian family and resided in Passaic County for the majority of his life.  Remo has served (and currently serves) his community in various roles within law enforcement.  He is extremely outgoing, nice, respectful, and has a reputation for being the fun guy.  This made the...

We welcome back to the show our great friend, Matt Ciecwicz.  Matt was initially a guest on episode eight (which we highly recommend that you listen if not already) in which we spoke about leadership tactics, political events, and more.  This time we took a slightly different approach, and Matt was able to recount some awesome stories of his time as a Private Investigator, which he can d...