Debora Crabbe is a two-time Helen Hayes Award winning actor and teaching artist in the DC metro area. Born and raised in Ghana, she has been in the US since 2002. Her love for theatre blossomed while at a very young age as one of five girls in her family. She loved to entertain her sisters and parents and this grew into performing in church and in plays. She graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in acting from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Since then, Debora has been acting in the metro area at various theatres and around the country. She was last seen in Round House Theatre’s production of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play where her and her ensemble received the Helen Hayes Award for Best Ensemble. Her other Helen Hayes Award was as a leading actress for her portrayal of Rosalind in Keegan Theatre’s production of As You Like It, The Musical. Aside from acting, Debora is the current co-chair of the Arts and Activism Board for the theatre company The Conciliation Lab based in Richmond, Virginia. When Debora is not acting, she is either teaching theatre to children ranging from ages 4-17 or teaching medical students.

Kerry McGee is the Artistic Director and Marketing Director for We Happy Few, a DC-based classical theatre company. She also works as a freelance director, actor, and marketing consultant. She's currently directing and adapting an audio mystery series featuring Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective for We Happy Few. The mystery plays are accompanied by a physical package of clues so that the listener can solve the case along with the detectives. Previous directing projects include Lovers' Vows (Helen Hayes Recommended), Treasure Island, and Henry V with We Happy Few. Notable stage roles include Charlie Chaplin in Pointless Theatre Company's Visions of Love, Mayor Soch in dog & pony dc's Beertown, and Edgar Allan Poe in We Happy Few's A Midnight Dreary. Kerry is a teaching artist with Arena Stage and is a member of the teaching staff at George Washington and Georgetown University's medical schools and has an MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Alice Petzold, is the Founder of A Game Coaching, providing coaching to individuals and team. The work yields innovative, effective leaders and unprecedented partnership. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-petzold-pcc-8205ab/ 

Alice is proud to be part of the College of Charleston Executive MBA Program. Sessions are hybrid with some in person and some virtual. 

Alice is a Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation credentialed) and Accomplishment Coaching certified leadership coach with 10 years of coaching and training coaches. Her client roster is comprised of executives and senior managers in organizations that range from multi-national corporates to high-growth, international tech start-ups. In addition to coaching, Alice is proud to be a Leader and coach trainer for Accomplishment Coaching’s Washington DC Program and lead for the Accomplishment Coaching DEIJ Media Review Initiative. 

Throughout her career, Alice has focused on working with senior executives to expose and enhance their innate abilities to lead effectively. Alice combines her wide business experience in industries ranging from start ups to sports properties, consumer packaged goods, technology, retail, financial, consulting, and service to enable executives and organizations to fulfill their goals and objectives and enhance team performance. 

Alice is a master in collaborating with teams to design and creating bespoke programs that combine a business focus with personal development, leadership creativity, and interpersonal relationships. 

Clients report that working with Alice creates an incubator for unprecedented partnership, acceleration of team and organizational performance. Petzold has a strong suit of delivering direct communication with compassion and a sense of humor fostering leadership and accountability cultures. 

Prior to coaching, Alice had a successful career in Sports and Entertainment Marketing Partnerships working with the Cleveland Cavaliers, The International Olympic Committee, NASCAR and select agencies. Alice earned a master’s degree in Sports Administration and Facility Management, Ohio University’s internationally acclaimed Center for Sports Administration.

Alison is the founder of Alison Anne Coaching and is an 18-year vet of the Baltimore and Washington, DC restaurant industry. She started out hosting and bussing tables at a small family-owned sports restaurant in her hometown a week after she turned 17, and when she left the industry, she was the Communications and Events Director, plus AGM and floor manager and staff therapist and whoever else they needed her to be at a 500-person capacity sports bar in downtown DC.

Alison's time working as a server/bartender — while pursuing a full-time acting career — provided her with incredible time management skills, financial management expertise, and healthy coping mechanisms. And as she moved up the ladder into leadership, Alison gained an essential understanding of what it takes to be a good manager, in terms of both maximizing profits and supporting her people. When she worked somewhere, everyone made more money!

After helping some of her friends figure out how to get their raises and ideal schedules, Alison entered the Accomplishment Coaching Coach Training Program with the goal of beefing up her coaching skills so she could help other people get those things too.

Alison soon discovered that to make an impact on all of her restaurant employee family, She wanted to support management teams to create healthier, more engaged teams with an eye towards increased revenue, decreased turnover, and overall improved employee well-being. Alison helps bars and restaurants identify techniques and policies that are affecting management and employees in both positive and negative ways, develop new policies and practices, and create workplaces that hire effectively and then hang onto their employees.

The restaurant industry is a people industry, and Alison supports businesses to reach their business goals by putting their people first!

Jennifer J Hopkins is a performer, choreographer, and director for stage productions across the country. She is also an adjunct Professor of Acting at George Washington University and Head of the Musical Theatre Dance Department at Metropolitan School of the Arts. Also known as 'JHOP' in the fitness industry; Jennifer has been a pilates professional and group exercise instructor for nearly 10 years. Last year she founded JHOP Virtual Dance & Fitness where she has reached fitness lovers across several countries and continues to bring dynamic, weekly online content for movers everywhere.

Jessica Young is the owner/operator of Penny River LLC, a company that specializes is historical sewn goods. Her area of expertise is the 18th century, especially with regards to traditionally feminine accessories. She can be found crafting and teaching at PennyRiver.Etsy.com, and on Instagram @pennyrivercostumes.

Jess Lilly is a Heart-Centered Leadership Coach partnering with leaders who want to harness authenticity, empathy, compassion, and courage in building their teams and businesses. Jess Lilly is a Professional Certified Coach and was trained in ontological coaching methods at Accomplishment Coaching. Jess now serves on the leadership team for Accomplishment Coaching DC, developing coaches in training. https://www.jesslillycoaching.com/

Follow Jess on Social Media:

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesslillycoaching/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jesslillycoaching

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesslillycoaching/

Follow Craig on social media @craigcasseyjr and www.craigcassey.com

We have a delightful conversation about parenting during the pandemic - what worked, what definitely didn't, and what we're taking with us into the "after times." Elena and Sheila share advice for parents on getting supported.

About the guests:

Elena Arecco Bridgmon, PCC, MBA, Chief Administrative Office of Luscious Mother is a professional coach, facilitator, leader, and former human resources professional. She is dedicated to the leadership development of women in the workforce. She has 20 years of professional experience working in companies large and small. 

Elena wears many hats, but the one she treasures most is being mother to her two amazing little girls. Motherhood, for Elena, is being able to model for her daughters that being a fulfilled working mother – in addition to loving partner and friend – is not only a possibility, but a reality they get to see in their own home every day. 

Elena received her B.S. in Marketing from Clemson University and an International M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina where she also studied Spanish in Mexico and Peru.

When at home in Charlotte, NC, Elena can be found at yoga, snuggled up watching a movie with her family, connecting with friends over a glass of wine, having an impromptu karaoke session, or outside enjoying nature. She is passionate about food and travel, ardent bordering on fanatical about Clemson football (Go Tigers!), and dedicated to the daily practice of consciously living an epic life.

Sheila Storrer is a founding team member at Luscious Mother, a network of life and leadership coaches dedicated to empowering women around motherhood, work, their relationships, and beyond. Sheila’s training as a coach emphasizes a holistic approach that looks at the interconnectivity of our professional and personal lives, who we really want to be in the world, and the thinking that gets in the way of living the lives we really desire.

Sheila’s coaching career began with a focus on helping women navigate the turbulent waters of parenting teens and tweens. Certified as a Positive Discipline Trainer and mother to two teenage boys, she created the Happy Parent | Happy Teen coaching program to help women feel more confident about their parenting skills, less anxious about their children’s futures, and ultimately have more energy to focus on their own futures and their life outside of being a mom.

A Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Sheila devoted the first two decades of her professional life to supporting adults and families in a variety of professional settings. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and her Master of Social Work degree from California State University, Long Beach. She now lives in Seattle with her husband and is embarking on the next phase of her motherhood journey as an empty nester.

In this episode, I tell the story of how I adapted to the giant COVID curve ball that was thrown my way and how I used it to create tremendous breakthroughs. I share what I learned about myself, partnership, and motherhood - lessons that will come with me well into the "after" times.