Today is the Day Changemakers Jodi

I am excited to introduce the incredible Ryan Charterina onto the Today is the Day Changemakers podcast for this week's episode. Ryan is the owner of the EOS- entrepreneurial operating system franchise here in New Jersey. 

Coming from a blue- collar family, Ryan Charterina is no stranger to the work ethic needed to make it in the rigorous working world. Having this mentality instilled in him from a young age, he was able to pursue mechanical engineering at Stevens University. While getting his degree, he participated in a work-study program, an opportunity which he highly recommends as it was a great way to get real experience while still in school. 

Out of school he was able to acquire a technical sales role, combining his passion for conversing with people and engineering, which exposed him to the realm of business. 

Ryan Charterina attributes his success to his team’s amazing startup mentality. They were very hard working, honest with themselves, and adopted a collaborative mindset, working only within the interest of the company as a whole. EOS works with leadership teams of businesses to instill discipline and accountability as well as organization. 

As someone in a leadership role himself, Ryan stresses the importance of transparency, in life and in business, as he strives to destigmatize the idea that saying “I don’t know” is a sign of weakness. He lives by the idea that open mindedness and being growth-oriented is the most important aspect of a business. 

Ryan stresses the importance of finding your passion. Towards this goal, he recommends spending time each day reflecting on what makes you happy, putting away a sum of money each month to allow yourself to take the risk to pursue it, and stresses the importance of working in your passion to maintain a work/life balance. He says, “You deserve the best life you can live.” 

You can find Ryan on EOSWorldWide.com as well as LinkedIn and Instagram!

Find out more about Today is the Day by going to https://todayisthedayliveit.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram Today is the Day Live It. 

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the wonderful Veronica Maoli to end the brief hiatus within the Changemakers Podcast. Veronica is an Entrepreneur - Real Estate and Automotive Industry and Dealer Principal for Celebrity Ford of Toms River.

Growing up in Morris County, NJ, Veronica at a young age struggled with being bullied and had to deal with high school cliques. She always found herself wanting to surround herself with new people to learn from them. She began ballroom dancing at age 12 which helped her grow her confidence and focus on herself and her own personal growth. Her advice to those who similarly suffered from bullying in or out of school is, “you have to be okay with someone disliking you, the best thing that you can do is become comfortable and confident in who you are”. 
Veronica Maoli began her girlboss journey majoring in entrepreneurship at High Point University. It was there that she created a philosophy that would later become the backbone of Celebrity Ford, “every single employee is in it as a team”. She watched her dad grow his businesses, at first shying away from getting involved in the family business because she felt it confined her to one path. Veronica wanted to find her own way, and as a result she entered the realm of real estate, founding the Maoli Group. Eventually after exposure to the car business from her father, she was inspired by his work and took part in the family business. 
Veronica is an outstanding human who is unapologetically herself and a model of leadership within the business world and beyond. She exudes confidence and grace and her work ethic is beyond inspirational. As a woman entrepreneur and owner of multiple successful businesses within New Jersey, Veronica Maoli is a guiding light to all.

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Have a great week everyone!

Welcome to season 3, episode 15 of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast.

I am delighted to welcome Sylvia Morrison once more on the podcast as our first repeated guest! Sylvia Morrison is a superhuman woman, her life and work embody the term humanitarian. She is the founder of Links Across Borders, a wonderful organization targeted towards providing for children in Ghana, West Africa. Her main focus is to expand their access to books and other school essentials that will further their education. 
Links Across Borders is a project that has been in gestation since 2003, when Morrison got the idea from a conversation with a friend at Christmastime. After being inspired by sending a few dollars to Ghana to host a Christmas party for children and hearing that many of them were not in school, she decided to begin fundraising herself. Three years later, Morrison began visiting “her children” and noticed they did not have books. She lives by the quote, “If you think someone should do something about that, remember that you are someone”, and as a result, she decided she would build the first library in the small village. 
Sylvia Morrison grew up in a village in Jamaica similar to that of the children in Ghana and she began to see her younger self in them. She cites the reason she noticed they were missing books as being because she was reminded of her own childhood, but was missing the image of a little girl sitting under a tree reading. As shown in her passion for Links Across Borders, Sylvia has a deep connection with reading and literature. When she was a girl, she was known to become so absorbed in her reading that she would interpret fictional vacations as her own, her deep appreciation for stories blurring the lines between fiction and reality. 
Sylvia Morrison expands on her admirable composure throughout her life's work by delving into her gratitude-centric mindset. She firmly believes that, “gratitude is the vibration on which all of the desires in our heart that we are looking to manifest are attracted into our lives”. She explains that if you are focused on problems, the universe will give you more but if you put your focus on what you want, you will attract what you want. Sylvia strongly encourages others to adopt a gratitude mindset because it reminds her that “challenges are there to help you grow” and when practicing gratitude “they don't feel as enormous”. Sylvia is a marvelous human and her unwavering altruism and everlasting gratitude are beyond compare. 
Please take a moment to follow and like us on social media. If you are interested in becoming a guest on the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast, please email jodi@todayisthedayliveit.com.

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Have a great week everyone!

Welcome to season 3, episode 14 of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast.

In sharing this episode, I am overcome with excitement as I have had the amazing opportunity to interview outstanding activist Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber. I hold this man in high regards not only because of his groundbreaking work but also because he is my third cousin!

Robt has been at the forefront of the intersectional social justice movement in New Jersey for decades. He started as a middle school art teacher, working at the school he had previously attended for over 25 years and ended up forging the first gay-straight alliance in a New Jersey middle school. He is now the founder and chief activist of the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton, New Jersey. Robt is a wonderfully passionate individual and I am thrilled to share our conversation with the audience.

Robt was inspired by his family to pursue his journey, specifically his grandparents and his parents. Growing up being exposed to the love they shared for each other and the care they provided for others, he was born with an innate urge to promote love in all aspects of his life. He states that he was taught specifically to, “be careful not to speak for anyone, but with everyone”. He was brought up in a way that taught him to provide a safe space for everyone as his parents always had and eventually Robt ended up making this practice his career.

As a young child he was graced with an artistic nature which led to his comic book fixation. This eventually manifested into a career as an art teacher, starting at UC Berkeley. After being given the opportunity to work at his old middle school back in New Jersey, he dropped his sunny California life to bring his own sunny disposition into the community which he felt he must give back to. He did indeed give back everything and more, by implementing the first gay-straight alliance club at a middle school in New Jersey after being moved by a student who felt unseen in school. The club met multiple times a week, obtaining 40-50 participants.  After hearing that a child from another school did not feel safe or seen and did not have access to an alliance club, he invited the student to the club dance to give them a space to be themselves.

Eventually, Robt ended up having the school pay to send the child to his school in order to provide access to a more positive, safe environment which proved to give the student a place to grow and change as desired. It is evident the ideas instilled in him from birth have led him to his kind-hearted, activism-oriented path.

Following his revolutionary work as a teacher, Robt now serves as founder and chief activist of the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton, New Jersey. His motto in this position is to “always make things as meaningful and fabulous as possible”, which he certainly applied when organizing the first pride parade in Princeton 4 years ago. With only five weeks to prepare, they ended up drawing a crowd of 3,000 people in the streets and even had the governor show up!

This year’s Princeton pride is June 17th and will feature a variety of community members and allies alike coming together to celebrate pride month. In describing the beauty of intersectional justice and the work he does at the center, he states, “We can’t walk on the same path as each other but we can hold hands across the divide and make our journeys that much easier”.

Robt is a beacon of light for marginalized groups, who strongly believes in the power of passion and community. He is a testament to the power of those who chose love amidst it all.

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Have a great week everyone!

J

Welcome to season 3, episode 13 of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast.

This week my guest is Rebecaa Whitman. Rebecca is a beacon of light for women all over the world. Having graduated with honors from Princeton University, she is now an award-winning life coach, child acting recruiter, and certified empowered woman. 
Unfortunately, Rebecca thought she always felt like she had to perform for love and approval. She was playing national tennis at the age of 8 and ended up being recruited for Princeton’s team. After a tumultuous few years following her graduation from Princeton, she was able to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an actress in Los Angeles. As she became immersed in the industry, she found herself working in child acting enrollment, a job she has been involved in for the last twenty years.

In this episode Rebecca shares a very personal story about domestic violence during this episode. It is important to note that many women live in an unsafe situation and there is help out there.  If needed, please click this link for support: Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org)
Rebecca Whitman also has a podcast titled the “Balanced, Beautiful, and Abundant Show” which provides strategies for navigating life. She interviews inspirational individuals and shares advice to listeners through the stories shared. 
Rebecca calls herself the “magnetic abundance mentor” because she feels that women must remove themselves from environments which trigger their fight or flight mode and instead harness their “feminine energy” to attract abundance. Her “mission is to help overworked, overwhelmed women go from burnt out to balanced, beautiful and abundant.” She is a fountain of wisdom for those in need and women who are seeking advice are encouraged to follow her practice. She can be found on her website, instagram, twitter, and youtube under the name Rebecca Elizabeth Whitman. The fastest way to reach her is instagram and her DMs are always open.

Next week my guest is Robt Martin Seba- Shreiber. Robt has been at the forefront of intersectional social justice for decades first as a schoolteacher for over 25 years during which he forged the first Gay Straight Alliance in an NJ middle school & now as founder & Chief Activist of the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton wherein he has created innovative all-inclusive support programs & built a dedicated LGBTQIA safe-space for queer youth, families, & our elders that is open every day with trained volunteers to welcome all with the care & respect they need & deserve.
Do you have a story to share? If so, reach out to Jodi at jodi@todayisthedayliveit.com.

Website: https://todayisthedayliveit.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/todayistheday/
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Jodi is also the CEO and co-founder of the Zzak G. Applaud Our Kids Foundation. To learn more visit: www.applaudourkids.org, Facebook, Instagram

Sign-up for our mailing list, schedule a conversation with Jodi or ask a Changemaker a question: jodi@todayisthedayliveit.com

Have a great week everyone!

Jodi

Welcome to season 3, episode 12 of the Today is the Day Changemakers Podcast. 

I am so excited to announce Tamara Sabatino, a successful leader and powerhouse healthcare provider. Having grown up in New Jersey, she always knew she wanted to be in the healthcare field, starting out at a local orthopedic practice. Tamara does it all, from operations business, patient care, to marketing, and dealing with the political aspects of advocating for insurance for patients. She is excellent at negotiating for her patients, specifically applying her skills to the mental health crisis. She credits herself as always having been a vocal person and continues to use her voice for others who need it the most. 
After being exposed to mental health struggles close to home, Tamara dedicated her practice to promoting the mental health of others. She explains that teachers and administration can only do so much, the system for monitoring children’s mental health is broken and by the time the problem is addressed it is almost always too late. Tamara shares her treacherous journey in getting her daughter the proper care she needed to remedy her situation. She found that insurance often got in the way of her child’s care, rather than helping it. She even emailed the CEO of United Health Care, who led her down another dead end. She explains that the school, therapist, insurance, and attorneys all proved unhelpful, citing this situation as the reason why children end up on bad paths. 
Tamara Sabatino is a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and she believes her purpose is to live through this situation so she is able to talk about it. She advises parents to go to the parents of the child that is bullying them directly if they are put in the situation and cannot receive help from the school. She also recommends parental controls on children's cell phones, explaining that social media addictions are a real and serious concern. She specifically uses apps such as Bark, which flags potentially dangerous messages on your child’s phone, and Life 360, which allows parents to track their children's whereabouts. To reach out directly to Tamara link in with her via Facebook at Tamara Sabatino or via Instagram @tamarasabatinorealtor.
Next week my guest is Rebecca Whitman. Rebecca is known as the Magnetic Abundance Mentor. She is an author of several books and hosts the top 5% globally ranked, "Balanced, Beautiful, and Abundant" podcast.  For more information go to https://linktr.ee/rebeccaewhitman.

Do you have a story to share? If so, reach out to Jodi at jodi@todayisthedayliveit.com.

Website: https://todayisthedayliveit.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/todayistheday/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/todayistheday

Jodi is also the CEO and co-founder of the Zzak G. Applaud Our Kids Foundation. To learn more visit: www.applaudourkids.org, Facebook, Instagram

Sign-up for our mailing list, schedule a conversation with Jodi or ask a Changemaker a question: jodi@todayisthedayliveit.com

Have a great week everyone!

Jodi