Austin T. Qualls’ journey is one of redemption, resilience, and reinvention. He has a powerful story to tell about how he has found new life after a decision that landed him in the throes of the criminal justice system. Rather than allowing “cancel culture” to keep him down, he is on a mission to serve those who serve and to uplift the communities he is part of.
Jamaican-born Marva Shand-McIntosh, is a Speech Language Pathologist in the District of Columbia Public Schools, in Washington, D.C. In this conversation, Marva’s passion for the essential impact that listening well can have shines through. She has realized that her work helping others with their verbal abilities needs to be undergirded by intentional listening. Everything begins with listening, she believes, and she dedicates her professional and personal self to living out that belief. “If you...
As Someone To Tell It To continues to grow, we’re embracing a new chapter of leadership — one that honors who we are and where we’re going. After more than a decade of co-leading as our Co-Chief Encouragement Officer (Co-CEO), Co-founder Michael Gingerich is transitioning into a new role as Chief Values Officer. Michael’s heart has always been at the soul of our mission. Michael will continue to pour into our team, our culture, and the deeper “why” behind all we do — guiding us with the wisdom a...
In this special re-release, we revisit a playful and profound episode featuring Jed and Sophia Lazar, creators of the connection-building game COZY JUICY REAL. During our conversation, we dive into the game itself—experiencing firsthand how it sparks laughter, honesty, and heartfelt connection. What starts as fun quickly becomes something deeper: vulnerable, meaningful, and richly human. That’s the magic of COZY JUICY REAL—it invites us beyond surface talk into conversations that build trust and...
In our latest episode, we are joined by Dr. Kristina Newport, Chief of Palliative Care at Penn State Health, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. With wisdom, compassion, and heart, Dr. Newport shows us how care at the end of life can be filled with meaning, connection, and profound humanity. Her insights remind us of the extraordinary power of listening, presence, and love.
What does trust really look like in life and in leadership—and how do we build it every day? We sat down with Randy Conley to dig into the heart of trust, leadership, and human connection. His wisdom will stick with you long after the episode ends. His insights from Simple Truths of Leadership are a gift to anyone who values connection, integrity, and growth.
This past weekend we had the privilege of the author and subject of the play I'm Proud of You, Tim Madigan, with us for the performances. This special episode of the Someone To Tell It To Podcast was recorded during one of the talk backs that happened after the performances. There is still time to get tickets and see this wonderful play: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36407/production/1207369
Stuart Landon, the Producing Artistic Director at Open Stage of Harrisburg, a professional regional theater in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, joins us in a conversation. As an actor, director, and theater executive, Stuart has well-honed experience with how the arts can move, inspire, and elevate us. We also talk about the play we are co-producing with Open Stage this spring - I’m Proud of You - about the friendship journalist Tim Madigan (our previous guest) had with Fred (Mister) Rogers, a friendsh...
Our friend and our book editor and collaborator Isabelle Harman is our special guest. Isabelle has a mission to alleviate suffering in any form that she can. Her unique life experiences living across the United States, in Europe, and her education as a young student in a Japanese school, have given her valuable insights and empathy. Those gifts inspire her to want to help others to come out of the shadows of their challenges and live their lives in ways that enable them to shine. We know, becaus...
Scott LaMar, has worked in both radio and television for more than 45 years. He retired last year as the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on public radio station WITF-FM, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has moderated political candidate debates and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Scott hosted more than 3,200 radio shows featuring at least 5,000 guests over the years and has many fascinating stories to tell about...
Kittie Watson has more than 25 years of experience as an executive and leadership development consultant and coach. She is the President and Founder of Innolect Inc. Kittie has authored / co-authored 6 books on listening, is a former president of the International Listening Association (ILA), and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from ILA as a listening researcher, practitioner and advocate in 2024. Kittie is recognized as one of the top twenty-five most prolific women writers in communicati...
In this episode, Michael and Tom have another conversation with their dear friend, Tim Madigan. Tim was the very first guest on the program six seasons ago. Tim is a journalist and author of several books. But the one book highlighted in this episode is one that was instrumental in the founding of Someone To Tell It To. That book is I’m Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers. This is off the Open Stage Website A true story of a life-altering friendship... Tim Madigan, an “anonymous guy who...
In a long awaited Season 7 premiere, Co-Founders Michael Gingerich and Tom Kaden share about where Someone To Tell It To came from and where it is heading. They also talk about the ever changing landscape of how we listen to one another and necessity of building human connection.
It was her first podcast, and Dr. Lia Belanger is a natural! A Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, she has spent her career in small animal family practice. She enjoys being able to play a part in helping people to enjoy meaningful relationships with animals. She and her team, which includes her husband, practice with sensitivity and compassion, and are attuned to the humans’ emotional needs as they nurture and love their pets.
Orly Israel created The Listening Table, aiming to empower people to be better listeners, because better listeners develop more relationship resilience which directly combats the loneliness epidemic that is facing our more-connected-than-ever world today. He writes: “We've unintentionally traded the quality of our relationships for our quantity of them, but more is not always better.” Orly is the real deal when it comes to addressing the loneliness epidemic. We know that you’ll enjoy this conver...
An engaging international keynote speaker and best-selling author, Todd Cohen is the leading voice on sales culture. Todd’s messages focus on the mindset and behavior of selling and successfully and humorously teaches the non-sales professional how everything they do impacts the decision -making process. In this episode, Todd demonstrates how every conversation is a “selling moment” and how everyone can contribute to the growth and profitability of any organization and mission of which they are ...
Dr. Neha Sangwan, an internal medicine physician, is a thought leader and international spokeswoman bridging people in positions of power to humanity and helping humanity discover their power. She focuses on empowering individuals, organizational leaders, and their teams with the tools for clear, effective communication. She addresses the root cause of stress, miscommunication, and interpersonal conflict, often healing chronic conditions such as headaches, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. SOME...
Stephanie Sarazin understands the unique challenges of grieving the loss of a loved one who is still alive. Through trials and tears, she’s traveled around the United States and Central America in search of understanding this grief and healing her heart. Along the way, she has met so many others who were also grieving a loss not from physical death and found that this kind of grief is largely overlooked and almost always misunderstood. Now her mission is to ensure that no one navigating ambiguou...
We are proud to share this as our 100th episode of the Someone To Tell It To Podcast. This very special episode was first aired in July 2020. Dr, Mary Frances Berry was our guest. Dr. Berry is a civil rights icon. In our conversation with her we heard stories of her experiences with visionaries and prophets such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther and Loretta Scott King, world leaders such as Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and sports superstars such as Arthur Ashe, all icons in their own rights, like Dr, ...
Annie Rappeport, Ph.D., describes herself as an academic, an artist, and an advocate. In her role as an academic, her primary field is international peace studies. She is a bridge builder, a researcher and a teacher. As an artist, she is a formally trained theater artist, musician and graphic designer. She has incorporated her love of the arts into her research, teaching, and advocacy work. As an advocate, she brings passion to everything she does, having held elected and appointed roles that ha...
Join us for a special short holiday episode of the Someone To Tell It To Podcast!
Marc Kline retired his law license to go to Rabbinical school. Over his career, Marc has served in three previous communities rebuilding congregations, and been active in Justice and Interfaith work locally, regionally, and globally. He feels blessed to bring the legacy gifts his teachers have shared with him into his work and community consulting. Marc’s primary focus as a Rabbi roots in a several thousand-year-old precept found in Pirke Avot (amongst the earliest of Rabbinic writings): “If I a...
Sean Harvey is actively involved and contributing to men’s work communities around the globe and is passionate about helping men heal their wounds at a soul level to begin to love the truth of who they are. His book, Warrior Compassion, Unleashing the Healing Power of Men, was released in September 2023. Warrior Compassion offers a roadmap for men's soul healing as a catalyst for systems change. In this conversation we discuss men's mental health and raising awareness about the mental health cha...
What does it take to thrive? Dr. Rob Newson (PhD) is a leadership consultant and advisor focused on teams, leadership, and culture. Recently, he was the VP of Strategy and Vision at the Philadelphia 76ers. Prior to that, he served as the Deputy Director of the White House Military Office, responsible for all military support to the President of the United States, including Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, the White House Mess / Presidential Food Service, White House Communication Service, ...
Our guest today is Janet Donovan, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania, located in the capital region of the state, Harrisburg. Janet is also a retired United States Navy Two Star Rear Admiral and former Deputy Commander in the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Navy with more than 20 years of executive experience. In this dialogue we discuss the need to stay true to our values as individuals and as organizations. We talk about wome...
Rob Volpe is a thought leader in the role of empathy in marketing and the workplace. Frustrated with the steep drop in empathy skills and the lack of solutions to help people reverse the decline, Rob set out to understand what people need to do in the moment of engagement in order to reach empathy. The result of his work is The 5 Steps to Empathy, which he brought to life in the “thoughtful, funny and informative” new book Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a...
“Heart Leader” Geoffrey Roche has a conversation with us about empathetic leadership that focuses on others first. He fosters this leadership by building meaningful relationships and human-centered connections, always daring to think and go big while fostering prosperous environments for change, and a proven track record of building ecosystem partnerships to drive new solutions and results. His thinking and action is helping to bring about good change and systemic solutions toward better culture...
In this rebroadcast of a delightful 2022 episode, Jeannie Zappe asks this question: “What if I can set a goal - big or small, conquer a challenge, or make a change?” And then she answers: “It means saying ‘yes’, and living your best life.” On September 6, 2021, at the age of 55, Jeannie completed a solo crossing of the English Channel from Dover, England to Wissant, France in 14:55 hours. She loves sharing her story of her journey to the Channel and how she landed on the shores of France in “mid...
Ken Mossman partners with men to grow their presence, sharpen their focus, and up-level their leadership. He works on relationships, because as he says - “No man with any concern about his world goes it alone. He needs to develop his awareness of himself and others, his empathy, and his capacity to see and take responsibility for his vision, his values, and the impact he has. We get down in the trenches and work on emotional literacy, fluency, and flexibility. We explore the light, the shadow, a...
Sonny Singh has over two decades of experience facilitating workshops and giving talks on anti-oppression, racial equity, and social justice issues. His approach centers reflection, honest dialogue, and critical systemic analysis. He is also a member of the training teams at the Center for Racial Justice in Education and Race Forward. Sonny is also a musician and original member of Brooklyn, New York-based bhangra brass band Red Baraat. In 2022, he released his first solo album entitled Chardi K...
