Zafra Rum Bar was discovered by our producer Cindy Papish Gerber, and owner Dominick Splendorio was kind enough to offer us one of his tables for the recording of Episode 26. (Zafra, “Connecticut’s first rum bar”, is new to the New Haven Restaurant scene, as detailed in these write-ups in the New Haven Independent and the Hartford Courant.) Thanks, Dominick!

Our guests this week will be Jocelyn Gathers, Jon Crane, James Mapes, Ken Sperling. Here’s a little about each of them…

Joycelyn: I have been an educator for 8 years and teach high school mathematics.  Travel, wine-tasting, and afternoon tea are my favorite past-times.   I am a New Haven native and attended the local public school system.  I continued my education at M.I.T. where I earned a bachelor’s degree in brain and cognitive sciences and recently completed a master’s degree in mathematics education.  I have volunteered my time with the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation (HOBY), a leadership seminar for high school sophomores, as an adult facilitator, director of facilitators, and currently the director of recruitment and co-leadership seminar chair.   I value civic engagement and believe it to be significant in the overall well-being of the human condition.

Jon Crane operates Critical PR, a public relations firm that provides communications counseling services to organizations and individuals that are in the public spotlight, handling sensitive communications issues, or seeking to influence public opinion. Jon is a former news anchor at WTNH-TV in New Haven (1989-1997) and currently appears as one of six “contributors” to the nationally broadcast PBS-TV television series My Generation hosted by Leeza Gibbons.

Ken Sperling is the Global Health Care Practice Leader for Aon Hewitt, a human resources outsourcing and consulting company providing services to major employers in more than 120 countries and employing 30,000 colleagues worldwide. In this role he is responsible for overall strategy for Aon Hewitt’s health care consulting business across the globe.

He has been published in the numerous trade and finance journals and co-authored the textbook Fundamentals of Flexible Compensation. He has often been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal and has appeared on CNN discussing benefit-related topics.

James Mapes‘ success as a speaker and highly regarded authority on the imagination, creative thinking, communication, managing change, organizational problem-solving, successful teamwork and coaching is due to his early training as an actor and experience as a theatrical producer. In 1969, he graduated from California State University with a Master of Arts degree in theater and speech. He then worked in repertory theater, off-Broadway and directed two of his own theater companies, amassing dozens of television and movie credits.

As a performer, he developed a unique stage presence with a special talent for connecting with his audience. Mapes’ work has earned him appearances on CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America and Fox Family Channel, among other media outlets.

As a recognized business speaker and performance coach, James has spoken to hundreds of public and private companies in more than 70 countries.

I’d like to thank this week’s guest editors, and invite you to share any topic suggestions in the Comments section…

Chips Family Restaurant has been voted “Best Pancakes in Connecticut” for the past three years, which made it a no-brainer for our next “moveable feast and recording session”. (We’ll be gathering at the Orange location)

Our guest conversationalists will be Susannah Bailin, Jaki Valensi-Lauper, Helen Kauder and Randye Kaye, and we’ll be discussing real life questions that relate to the coming holidays.

I invite you to join the show prep session in the comments!

We’re very excited about our next stop, Elm City Market, a “member owned cooperative grocery story” in one of New Haven’s coolest new residential buildings, 360 State.

We will be hosted by Amy Christensen-Regni and Mark Regni, and guest editors are Ira Rosofsky (who wrote in to the RLSG website and shared some great gift giving advice), Dr. Harry Schwartz, and Stacey Battat.

I’d like to invite each of you to introduce yourselves, include any links to your businesses or personal website, and a couple of  real life dilemmas you think we need to be talking about. The key is to focus on something you’ve learned, or would like to learn, that you think would be useful in “helping each other live more informed lives…”.

Can’t wait!

Welcome to the all new “Show Prep” section of The Real Life Survival Guide website. This is where we’ll get to know each other and collaborate on topics in preparation for the next  RLSG recording session.

I’d like to thank Ben Gaffney for hosting our Real Life Survival Guide recording session at Atticus Bookstore/Cafe this Sunday. I’d also like to introduce our guest conversationalists; Eileen Kaplan, Lon Seidman, and returning veteran Jud Smith.

If you’re one of our guest editors, please take a moment to introduce yourself in the comments. (You can also share any topic ideas you have for this week’s session.)

Thanks – it’s going to be fun!

Bruce