01. How George Floyd’s Death Sparked a New Wave of Activism
02. Most Important Post-COVID Leadership Issue? Women
03. Sustainability Guru: How Your Choices Lead to Change
04. It’s Here! The Spectacular 17-Year Cicada Circus
05. Fun ‘Friends’ Show: Which Character Are You Like?
06. Get Ready for Wednesday’s Super Flower Blood Moon
07. Real Talk about Racism in America and Abroad
08. Why Are There Monuments to Holocaust Collaborators?
09. The Good News about Falling College Enrollment
10. Nutritional Thieves in Your Medicine Cabinet
11. Are You a Carrier of the ‘Trauma Virus’?
12. How to Have Unstoppable Confidence … Even on Monday Mornings
13. The Myth about the 5 Stages of Grief
14. Advice from This Airline Pilot Can Help Your Goals Take Off
15. Boost Your Immun-a-Tea
1.==> How George Floyd’s Death Sparked a New Wave of Activism
This week marks the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer. Filmmakers Laura Pellegrini and Stefano Da Fre can discuss how the tragedy brought forth a new wave of activism towards racial discrimination. “It marked a moment in American society where marches were joined by people from all walks of life. All religions. All racial backgrounds advocated for a common cause. In that sense, it had a profound effect of unifying activists. Even ones from different political backgrounds into seeking out social justice.” Pellegrini and Da Fre’s new documentary “The Day I Had to Grow Up” profiles youth activists and their generation’s new form of activism, both on the ground and through social media. The film showcases six activists and the events that shaped their political lives including the Parkland shooting, BLM, student debt, women’s roles in the new democracy, the climate crisis and others. Stefano Da Fre and Laura Pellegrini are co-owners of Rosso Films International. Contact Mark Goldman at (516) 639-0988 (call/text); mark@goldmanmccormick.com
2. ==> Most Important Post-COVID Leadership Issue? Women
The country is entering a recovery phase, both from the pandemic and the recession and many companies are assessing their leaders and determining what is most important going forward. According to a survey from global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the highest percentage — 93% of business and HR leaders from companies across the country say “developing women leaders” is the most critical leadership issue and another 88% said “developing leaders with both unseen and seen diversity” is most critical post-COVID. “It’s one thing to commit to developing women and diverse leaders, but it’s something else to actually do the work,” says Andrew Challenger, senior VP at the company. “In order to execute on these plans, businesses need to develop and implement policy to create the opportunities for talent to move forward.” He’ll discuss why women, and particularly women of color, continue to take such a hard hit in the labor market and how the pandemic fundamentally changed the way we work and lead. Challenger adds, “Most companies are entering a period of hybrid or partially remote teams, which may require different management styles and attitudes. There is a real and exciting opportunity for companies’ transformation as the country reimagines the future of work.” Contact Colleen Madden Blumenfeld at (314) 807-1568 (cell); colleenmadden@challengergray.com
3. ==> Sustainability Guru: How Your Choices Lead to Change
Within our grasp: Healthy rivers and oceans. Agriculture that takes carbon out of the atmosphere. Wind and solar displacing fossil power. Electric transportation replacing the internal combustion engine. This is not theory. Jon Biemer, a mechanical engineer and organizational development consultant, can explain how our choices can lead to real change. Learn what “handprint thinking” is and how it applies to shelter, motion and earth-friendly energy. Jon Biemer has more than 40 years of experience working on sustainability-creating initiatives. He and his wife strive to live as sustainably as possible and recently gave their home an eco-retrofit. His new book, “Our Environmental Handprint: Recover the Land, Reverse Global Warming, Reclaim the Future,” shows how each of us can help make a healthier world. Contact Johanna Ramos-Boyer at (703) 646-5137; (703) 400-1099 (cell) or johanna@jrbcomm.com or Briana Caywood at (703) 646-5188
4.==> It’s Here! The Spectacular 17-Year Cicada Circus
Who’s excited about the army of billions of cicadas waking up from a 17-year underground slumber and blanketing neighborhoods like a biblical plague? Mike Raupp is! The cicadas, known as Brood X or Brood 10, have begun emerging from the earth in dramatic fashion in Washington D.C., and 15 states, from Georgia to New York, and west to Indiana and Illinois. “This is just a spectacular event. I mean, there’s nothing else like this on the entire planet Earth, even in the entire universe,” says Dr. Raupp, a cicada enthusiast and professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Raupp says cicadas are not harmful to pets or humans and is encouraging people to go on a cicada safari right in their own backyards. “There will be birth. There will be death. There will be romance in the treetops. It’s going to be better than an episode of “Game of Thrones”… So go out and enjoy the cicadas.” Dr. Raupp can explain anything and everything about the big cicada hatch. He’s has earned the nickname “The Bug Guy” from students and fans of his blog, BugoftheWeek.com, where he reports on all things bug- and insect-related. Dr. Raupp frequently appears as an expert on “Good Morning America,” NPR and other news outlets. Contact him at (301) 405-8478; mraupp@umd.edu
5. ==> Fun ‘Friends’ Show: Which Character Are You Like?
We all have our favorite “Friends” character, but which one are you most like? And could you BOTH benefit from a little therapy? Just in time for this week’s reunion on HBO Max, the fictional characters in the classic sitcom have each received their own therapy analysis and treatment plan, designed by the video self-therapy app, Bloom. “Of course, we’re not trying to impose therapy on the characters in ‘Friends,’” stresses Leon Mueller, Bloom’s CEO and long-time “Friends” fan. “Nor are we saying that they need therapy. But we do believe we can all make use of therapy, as a way of caring for and training our mind, like we do our body.” You can even give listeners a fun, interactive quiz to see which character they’re most like. Whether you’re an uptight perfectionist like Monica or you’re insecure like Ross, Mueller says we can all gain from better understanding our thoughts and emotions — and from learning new ways to handle our stresses and worries. Bloom uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology, to devise personalized treatment plans including interactive video therapy classes and mental health coaching sessions. Contact Todd Brabender at (785) 842-8909; spreadthenewspr@midco.net
6. ==> Get Ready for Wednesday’s Super Flower Blood Moon
This month’s full moon will appear bigger, brighter and redder than usual, as the rare simultaneous occurrence of a supermoon and a lunar eclipse takes place on May 26. Interview Lonni Whitchurch, a former high school English teacher who can talk about ways full moons have influenced poets and creativity. Whitchurch can also share how full moons are associated with everything from influencing ocean tides and romance to more fanciful imaginings such as werewolves and the increased likelihood of observing crazy behavior. About a third of the poems in Whitchurch’s new book, “Send the Moon,” reference the moon and she was born a “moon child” under the astrological sign of Cancer. Ask her what she keeps by the bed and why, why being married to a poet is like sleeping with a firefly and what famous bards have waxed poetic about the moon. Whitchurch is an accomplished poet known for her vivid imagery and captured emotion. Raised in Minnesota, she graduated from Bemidji State University and taught high school English and creative writing there for seven years. Her book started as a thesis for her master’s degree and the poems were written over 30-plus years. She currently lives in Florida. Contact Whitchurch at (727) 571-1232; lonni@loonlakepress.com
7. ==> Real Talk about Racism in America and Abroad
When it comes to race, religion, politics and cultural identity most of us exist in a bubble. Too often we associate with people like ourselves, limiting our ability to identify with those who are different. Nadia Al-Samarrie is the exception. As the child of an American Catholic mother and an Iraqi Moslem diplomat father, she has lived in Iraq and Iran, and in California, where she went to high school. She experienced racial and cultural tensions for being American in the Middle East and in Iran for being an Iraqi and the racial crossfire between the white and black communities in the U.S. She sees herself and others as spirits defined not by their ethnic background but by their unique life experiences. A conversation with Nadia will make the world seem smaller and more universal. She says, “We need to remember that tolerance unites us. We need to see and accept people as they are, understanding that no matter how different they may appear, they all want to feel safe, loved, and accepted.” Ask her how we can eliminate racism in the U.S. Nadia is the author of the new memoir, “From Bagdad to Berkeley: A Woman’s Affair.” As an author and diabetes expert, she has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and other major cable networks. Contact her at (415) 741-3545; nalsamarrie@rtirguests.com
8. ==> Why Are There Monuments to Holocaust Collaborators?
Last summer’s protests over Confederate monuments made huge headlines but Lev Golinkin points out that monuments to Holocaust perpetrators go unnoticed. Golinkin has documented — and mapped — 320 monuments and street names in 16 countries on three continents which represent men and organizations who’ve enabled — and often quite literally implemented — the Final Solution. He says, “Even more worrying than the sheer number is the overall trend. The vast majority of these statues were erected in the past 20 years. Wherever you see statues of Nazi collaborators, you’ll also find thousands of torch-carrying men, rallying, organizing, drawing inspiration for action by celebrating collaborators of the past.” Golinkin adds that “a disturbing number of Nazi collaborators documented in this database resettled in the West after the war.” Golinkin just wrote “How many monuments honor fascists, Nazis and murderers of Jews? You’ll be shocked” for The Forward, a widely-read Jewish newspaper that has launched the Nazi Monument Project. He is the author of “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka,” a memoir of Soviet Ukraine, which he left as a child refugee. Contact Lev Golinkin at golinkin@gmail.com
9. ==> The Good News about Falling College Enrollment
For a variety of reasons, many colleges are still looking for students this fall, reasons that include COVID fears, international students whose families are afraid to send them, and fewer young students in the college-age group. While college administrators are worried about this trend former college professor Glen Dunzweiler is anything but. He says, Good!” Glen says it’s time to think about the value of a college education vs. the debt it requires and whether a trade school or associate degree may be a better fit for young people contemplating their future. Glen can talk about how Gen Zs and their parents can plot a well-paying, satisfying future that puts their needs ahead of those of a future employer, college bursar, or loan officer. He will explain why a traditional college education does not lead to a secure future for most students, why trade schools and work experience can be a better option, and ways students can monetize their skills once they graduate. In addition to his former role as a college professor, Glen is a documentarian and the author of two books. His latest is “A Degree In Homelessness? Entrepreneurial Skills For Students.” Contact Glen at (702) 703-2219; GDunzweiler@rtirguests.com
10. ==> Nutritional Thieves in Your Medicine Cabinet
If you regularly take aspirin, Pepcid, or other common prescription medicines you may be causing some nutritional deficiencies you don’t know about. Here to enlighten you is health expert and senior advocate Linda Mac Dougall, who says taking any OTC or prescription drug may be akin to “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Invite Linda to share the supplements and foods you should be taking to compensate. For example, she’ll say that if you regularly take aspirin, you should know that it depletes your body of Vitamin C, iron, potassium and folic acid and will explain how to correct that shortfall. Linda has an M.A. in counseling psychology and has worked with hundreds of seniors through her business. She is the author of “The SPIRIT Method of Massage for Seniors.” Contact her at (805) 202-6379; speakerholistic@gmail.com
11. ==> Are You a Carrier of the ‘Trauma Virus’?
Trauma is embedded in institutions, in our collective stories, and passed down from generation to generation. Scholar and author Dr. Sousan Abadian says that even if you think you haven’t experienced trauma yourself, you can be a carrier of the trauma virus. She says we see trauma footprints today in the riots, insurrection, and rise of far-right extremists and white supremacists and that many of us are unaware of the ways we are carrying the trauma virus that can create fertile ground for radicalization to occur. She’ll explain how you may be infected by trauma or a carrier of trauma without being aware of it because forms of trauma have come to feel ordinary. Dr. Abadian is the author of the forthcoming book “Free Me to Love,” based on her personal experience with “collective trauma” and healing. She has a Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard University. Contact Sousan Abadian at (617) 860-2785; sabadian@rtirguests.com
12. ==> How to Have Unstoppable Confidence … Even on Monday Mornings
What is it about Monday mornings that makes going back to work so hard? So anxiety-producing? Is it you? Or is it the job? Interview Jean-Paul Gravel, founder of ThroughConversation Personal Development, Inc. and Mondays will never feel the same! He will share with your audience members three simple steps to raise their confidence, conviction, and persuasiveness — important tools both at work and at home. Let Jean-Paul show them how to instantly raise their inner “value,” that intangible something that makes them stand out and others take notice. With a success rate of over 98%, Gravel has spent 15 years showing people from all walks of life including high achievers, entrepreneurs and pro athletes how to unlock their deep-seated power and potential to experience extraordinary results in business and life. Contact Olga Kniazeva at (604) 265-7469; JGravel@rtirguests.com
13. ==> The Myth about the 5 Stages of Grief
Many of us think there is a set pattern for grieving in which we go from one step to the next. The truth is there aren’t five stages of grief, even though this is the popular perception, and not everyone will go through a pre-determined order, says Emily Thiroux Threatt, author of “Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief.” “You aren’t doing something wrong if you aren’t going through five stages of grief in the correct order,” she says. “You can have the best grieving experience by doing what serves you. There’s no timeline, no rush to get to acceptance,” she adds. Moreover, she says grief never completely goes away, it just wanes in intensity and you can become more comfortable with it. Emily Thiroux Threatt has extensive personal experience in the grieving process. She holds a master’s degree in English with a concentration in writing and taught writing and composition at the college and university level for over 30 years. Thiroux Threatt conducts workshops, speaking engagements, and retreats on transforming from loss to joy on the mainland of the United States and on Maui, Hawaii. Contact her at (661) 428-3610; emily@lovingandlivingyourwaythroughgrief.com
14. ==> Advice from This Airline Pilot Can Help Your Goals Take Off
Want to land your dreams? The best way may be to follow the advice of someone who knows all about taking off and landing, Rico Racosky, an Air Force Academy graduate and airline pilot who spent decades in the USAF (as a fighter pilot) and flying for Southwest Airlines, where planning was critical, and choices had to be good ones. Rico who is also an award-winning author, speaker, educator and radio host will share his simple system for making smart choices at every turn — as featured in his best-seller “Just 2 Choices” — to soar to success. Contact Rico Racosky at (730) 572-1321; Rracosky@rtirguests.com
15. ==> Boost Your Immun-a-Tea
We may have a vaccine for the coronavirus but that’s not the only health enemy we face. Our bodies need all the help they can get to stay healthy today. You’ll want to learn: How your body can be healthier to ward off disease. How we can be wiser in what we eat and drink during every season. The best natural way to bring about strength, energy, healthier skin and ultimately longer life. For the facts, listen to Tilak Silva, an expert in nutrition and health research and the inventor of CilanTea, which helps people of all ages find their ideal path to a healthier life. You’ll learn what makes cilantro an unexpected health food, the best way to take advantage of its benefits and what commonly imbibed beverages you should watch out for since they decrease immunity, especially in these challenging times. Contact Tilak Silva at (310) 421-4680, tsilva@rtirguests.com