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Every October, tens of thousands of thrill-seekers descend on Reaper's Revenge in Northeastern Pennsylvania, waiting hours for a chance to have the living daylights scared out of them. But few know the man behind the monsters. Paul Kotran is the creator of Reaper's Revenge, a 65-acre haunted attraction in Scott Township ranked No. 3 in the country by USA TODAY. With six attractions, more than 300 employees and visitors traveling from across the country, Reaper's Revenge has become a Halloween destination. But its first season was a near catastrophe. Rain destroyed the trails, tractors became stranded in the mud and customers demanded refunds. Paul was left wondering how he would pay his bills, much less open for another season. He nearly quit. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Todd Stephens introduces listeners to the entrepreneur whose path to creating one of America's top haunted attractions was anything but conventional. Paul grew up in the Lehigh Valley, studied mechanical drafting and quickly discovered he wasn't suited to a desk job. He played drums in a rock band that toured Canada, spent 25 years working carnivals and traveled the country operating a mobile bungee jump. Along the way, he learned how to attract a crowd and put on a show. He also opened Paulie's Hot Dogs in Honesdale, bringing the food and spirit of the carnival midway to a year-round restaurant. Those experiences helped shape Reaper's Revenge, which Paul built gradually, reinvesting in new attractions and assembling a team of performers, technicians and staff who return year after year. Today, he's as proud of the community that has formed among his employees as he is of the national recognition. Paul also talks candidly about the sacrifices behind his unconventional career, the time spent away from his children and why giving back to his community has become increasingly important. Now 64, he's still building, experimenting and looking for the next challenge. As he tells Todd, "I'm just getting started."

Avi Benichou came to New York City from Israel with no plans to stay. More than three decades later, he owns Lovella Salon on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His journey began at 17, when a chance conversation led him to a hairstyling course. Years later, another spontaneous decision brought him to New York, where he struggled to find work before walking into a salon and convincing its owner to give him a chance. But becoming a talented stylist and building a successful business were two very different challenges. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau talks with Avi about the risks, relationships and unexpected opportunities that shaped his career. A chance connection through Israeli folk dancing introduced him to the Ben Applebaum Foundation, an organization created to support aspiring entrepreneurs. Avi became its first mentee and found a mentor in Dr. Skip Vichness, who challenged him to imagine a future far beyond working behind a salon chair. The foundation never gave Avi money. What he received was something he needed just as much: guidance, confidence and the courage to take a risk. With infant twins at home and limited resources, Avi bought a small salon, built much of its interior himself and began turning his dream into a business. He eventually expanded, weathered the challenges of COVID and helped other stylists develop careers of their own. Along the way, he learned a lesson that many entrepreneurs discover the hard way: being good at your craft doesn't automatically make you good at running a business. It’s a candid, often funny conversation about starting over in America, the difference a mentor can make and why pursuing a dream sometimes means daring to see something bigger than what is right in front of you.

Long before Carla McCabe became a media executive, she was watching history unfold outside her front door. Carla grew up in Belfast during the Troubles, when soldiers on the streets, bomb scares and curfews were part of everyday life. She also witnessed something very different: the beginnings of peace. Those experiences would follow Carla into a career built around telling stories and understanding the people behind them. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Greg Frigoletto talks with the President and CEO of WVIA, Northeast and Central Pennsylvania’s affiliate station for PBS and NPR, about a journey that began in Northern Ireland, took her to the BBC and independent television production, brought her across the Atlantic to American public media and ultimately led her to Northeastern Pennsylvania. Carla didn’t set out to work in television. A temporary job at the BBC changed that. There, she saw television examine conflict, reconciliation and history through the experiences of the people who had lived it. One documentary would make that work deeply personal. After losing her brother to suicide, Carla helped produce Breaking the Silence, telling the stories of families affected by suicide with a deliberate focus on respect rather than sensationalism. Watching the finished film alongside those families changed the way Carla thought about media. Storytelling could have impact. That belief now shapes her leadership at WVIA. With local newsrooms shrinking and public media facing enormous change, Carla has pushed WVIA deeper into local journalism and community storytelling. Reporters spend time in the communities they cover. They build trust. They follow stories rather than simply moving on to the next headline. And they make room for different perspectives, giving audiences the information to decide what they think for themselves. From Belfast to the BBC to WVIA, Carla has seen what can happen when people are divided. She has also seen what can happen when we listen.

Tucked into 400 acres in the Pocono Mountains is a place where tens of thousands of people have come simply to sit quietly. The Himalayan Institute has called Honesdale, Pennsylvania, home for almost 50 years. What began with yoga and meditation has grown into a global nonprofit devoted to wellness, education, humanitarian service and the belief that people can reach their fullest potential. But what are all those people looking for? On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau talks with Retreat Center Director Brian Fulp about the enduring appeal of a place that has spent decades inviting people to slow down and look inward. Brian takes us inside the Institute’s Sri Vidya Shrine, a meditation hall intentionally left open for visitors to bring their own beliefs and practices. He talks about the Institute’s roots, its humanitarian work around the world and the surprisingly entrepreneurial history that helped introduce the Neti Pot to millions of Americans. But Brian’s own journey may say the most about the place. He discovered yoga as an 11-year-old Boy Scout in Indiana. As a teenager without money for classes, he asked if he could work in exchange for them. His teacher told him to take the classes and promise to pay the Institute back someday. Twenty-nine years later, Brian jokes that he is still working on it. What began as an interest in yoga became a life built around service, community and a place he says gave him something he had been missing: purpose. It is a conversation about what happens when we make room for stillness, what service can give back to the person doing it and why, after more than half a century, people continue to find their way to a quiet corner of the Poconos looking for something more.

On 100 acres in Dalton, Pennsylvania, nearly 200 rescued animals have found a home at Indraloka Animal Sanctuary. But something unexpected began unfolding there. Those who care for the animals all too often discover that the animals have something to offer them, too. That idea is at the heart of Indraloka and the life’s work of its founder, Dr. Indra Lahiri, an organizational psychologist who spent years studying human behavior, leadership and culture before bringing those insights into a very different setting. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Greg Frigoletto talks with Indra to explore the connection between the two worlds she knows best: people and animals. What can an animal teach us about trust? Why does simply being around another living being sometimes change the way we feel? And what can people who have spent their lives caring for others learn about caring for themselves? For Indra, those questions are not abstract. She has watched broken animals arrive at Indraloka after traumatic experiences and gradually learn that they are safe. She has also watched the people around them slow down, reconnect and begin looking at their own experiences differently. That has led Indra to expand Indraloka’s mission beyond animal rescue. Today, the sanctuary also works with people and organizations on leadership, teamwork and communication, along with burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. And when it comes to healing, Indra has learned something else from the animals around her. What happens to us becomes part of our story, but it doesn’t have to become our entire story for the rest of our life.

What happens when your dream job turns out not to be your dream career? For Jordan Mendal, the answer eventually involved The Rock, John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin, nearly three decades at WWE, and one unforgettable run-in with Mick Foley’s Mr. Socko. But none of that was part of the original plan. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Todd Stephens steps behind the curtain with Mendal, an award-winning sports and entertainment producer and WWE’s Vice President of Special Projects, for a funny, candid conversation about persistence, rejection and finding your place in an industry you love. Growing up outside Chicago, Mendal wanted to become a sportscaster. He made it to Syracuse University’s legendary Newhouse School, where he was surrounded by future broadcasting stars and began to realize that his own path might lead somewhere other than the announcer’s booth. Call it a career pivot. In WWE language, maybe it was a power flip. What followed was hardly a straight shot to the main event. Mendal started his career making $100 a week. He applied to NBA Entertainment and got rejected. He tried again. Another rejection. On the third attempt, he landed the job. Then came an opportunity at WWE, despite one fairly significant complication. He wasn’t really a wrestling fan. WWE needed a producer. Mendal knew how to produce. The rest, he figured, he could learn. Nearly 30 years later, he has helped create the stories around some of WWE’s most recognizable Superstars and worked across a sports entertainment operation that moves from RAW and SmackDown to WrestleMania and beyond. He also knows what happens when the person behind the camera suddenly becomes part of the show. One night, Mendal was drafted into a live television segment opposite The Rock and Mick Foley, playing a media critic and WWE “heel” in front of a sold-out arena. His reward? Mr. Socko. Mendal survived the segment, and the fans even recognized him afterward. But behind the laughs is a career built on something much less theatrical: persistence. This is a conversation about hearing “no,” coming back anyway, learning from extraordinary people and staying open to opportunities that look nothing like the future you originally imagined. Because sometimes the dream you start with is only the opening match. The real main event comes later.

Growing up in Archbald, Pennsylvania, Marko Marcinko lived in a house where music was everywhere. His father was a professional musician. His entire family was rooted in the arts. And while other kids were discovering video games, Marko was discovering the instruments around the house. He thought they were his toys and so he started playing. What happened next would take that curious kid from Northeastern Pennsylvania into a remarkable life in jazz, studying with one of the greats, touring the world, sharing stages with legendary musicians and eventually coming home to help keep the music alive for a new generation. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau sits down with Marko on the lawn the outdoor amphitheater Harmony in the Woods in Hawley, Pennsylvania, just before his public radio benefit performance with the Keystone Jazz Septet. Their conversation starts with childhood and quickly moves somewhere bigger. Why does jazz still matter? What happens if we stop teaching and performing it? And as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, what can this uniquely American music tell us about the country that created it? Marcinko has a fascinating answer. He sees jazz as more than an American art form. He sees something democratic in the way the music itself is created. Everyone gets a voice. Everyone has to listen. One musician steps forward, then makes room for another. Individual expression thrives, but only when everyone contributes to something larger. It is an idea that may change the way you hear the music. And for Marcinko, it all traces back to a childhood home filled with instruments that became his toys and a family that gave him room to explore. How did those childhood discoveries lead to a life on stages around the world? And why is Marko Marcinko more determined than ever to keep America’s music playing? Tune into  “The Sound of America: How Marko Marcinko Found His Life in Jazz” and hear the story on this week’s HarmonyTALK.

What does it really take to turn an idea into an independent movie? For filmmakers Sarah T. Schwab and Brian Long, the answer involves years of persistence, fundraising, creative risk, trusted collaborators, a willingness to hear “no” and, occasionally, getting very close to a tarantula. On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau sits down with the co-founders of Cardinal Flix, the independent production company behind Life After You, A Stage of Twilight and Crybaby Bridge, for a candid look at what happens long before a movie reaches the screen. Schwab and Long talk about launching Cardinal Flix during the pandemic, raising money for independent films, attracting accomplished actors, surviving high-pressure shoots and discovering that sometimes the only way forward is to stop waiting for someone else to open the door. They also take us inside Arachnophilia, Schwab’s new psychological thriller inspired in part by her own lifelong fear of spiders. The film is preparing to shoot in Scranton and Northeastern Pennsylvania, where Cardinal Flix sees the potential for something much bigger than a single production. For Schwab and Long, independent filmmaking is equal parts storytelling, entrepreneurship and leap of faith. Their journey offers a revealing look at what it takes to spin an idea into a movie, and why they believe NEPA could become an important part of what comes next.

Long before Marc Zumoff became the voice generations of Philadelphia 76ers fans welcomed into their living rooms, he was a sixth-grader in Northeast Philadelphia practicing play-by-play into a tape recorder. Now retired after a legendary broadcasting career, Zumoff can look back on the remarkable distance between that kid with a dream and the man who spent 27 seasons behind the Sixers microphone, offering a story about finding your calling, doing the work to earn it and knowing when it is time to enjoy what you built.

How well can we ever really know our parents? For Nancy Head Thode, that question became the beginning of an extraordinary journey into the life of her mother, Ann Head, a once widely read mid-century writer whose fiction explored women, marriage, pregnancy, class and independence at a time when many of those subjects were still spoken about carefully, if at all. Ann Head was more than a novelist. She was part of the literary life of Beaufort, South Carolina, and an influential teacher and mentor whose students included a young Pat Conroy, years before he would become the celebrated author of The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides. But to Nancy, she was Mom. In this encore presentation of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau talks with Nancy about the woman behind the books and Nancy’s own journey to understand her. That journey eventually led to Ahead of Her Time: The Trailblazing Life and Literary Legacy of Ann Head, Nancy’s biography of her mother. Drawing from journals, family memories, archival material and correspondence, Nancy began piecing together a fuller portrait of a woman who was ambitious, unconventional, creative and complicated. The project also forced Nancy to look again at her own childhood and at the difference between what children see and what adults later come to understand. Nancy brings an unusual perspective to that process. A longtime family psychotherapist and early advocate for family mediation, she has spent much of her professional life helping people understand relationships, conflict and the stories families carry. Now she has turned that careful attention toward her own family. It is a conversation about mothers and daughters, memory, writing, the lives women were expected to lead and what can happen when a daughter decides her mother’s story deserves to be told again.

Before Liz Callaway sang “Memory” on Broadway, before she became the singing voice of Anastasia, before the Tony nomination, Emmy Award and Grammy nomination, she was a shy kid who waited for everyone to leave the house so she could sing. She knew she had a voice. She just wasn’t ready for anyone else to hear it. That began to change when Callaway discovered musical theater as a teenager. At a difficult moment in her family life, the stage gave her something she had been searching for: community. “I loved being in a cast,” she remembers. “I had friends for the first time.” That sense of belonging changed the direction of her life. This week on HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau sits down with Tony and Grammy-nominated and Emmy Award-winning performer Liz Callaway for an intimate conversation about the unlikely path from shy teenager to one of Broadway and animation’s most beloved voices. At 18, Callaway moved to New York with her sister, singer and composer Ann Hampton Callaway. Just a year later, she made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. She would go on to earn a Tony nomination for Baby, perform in Miss Saigon and spend five years as Grizabella in Cats, singing one of musical theater’s most recognizable songs, “Memory.” Then her voice found another stage. Callaway became the singing voice of Odette in The Swan Princess and Anastasia in the beloved animated film Anastasia, opposite Meg Ryan’s speaking performance. Years later, fans began approaching her at concerts and telling her something she could never have known when those movies were first released. Her voice had become part of their childhood. Today, her voice continues to reach new generations. Callaway recently voiced the Speaker of God in Hazbin Hotel Season 2, introducing her to younger listeners who suddenly realized that the voice they were hearing also belonged to Anastasia and Odette. And soon, audiences in Northeastern Pennsylvania can hear that voice in person. On Friday, August 21 at 6 p.m., Liz Callaway returns to Harmony in the Woods in Hawley for Liz Callaway: Broadway & Beyond, an intimate outdoor concert featuring music from across her remarkable career. Callaway tells Lisa that audiences can expect Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, “Memory” from Cats and songs from Anastasia, along with stories about the unexpected road that brought her from the quiet kid singing alone at home to stages around the world. For tickets, visit https://harmonyinthewoods.org/

What happens when the future you've spent your entire life chasing disappears overnight? For Russ Cooke, that question became painfully real after a concussion during New York Jets training camp ended the football career he had spent years pursuing. One day he was preparing to play in the National Football League. The next, he was back home pumping gas, wondering how everything had changed so quickly. In this encore episode of HarmonyTALK, host Todd Stephens revisits one of our favorite conversations about resilience, reinvention, and discovering purpose after disappointment. Russ shares the emotional journey of rebuilding his identity after football, the lessons he learned while starting over, and why losing one dream ultimately led him to a far greater calling. Today, as founder of NDUR for Athletes, Russ is helping schools, coaches, parents, and student-athletes redefine what success looks like. Through an innovative 360-degree wellness system, NDUR combines mental wellness, leadership development, mentorship, career readiness, financial literacy, and AI-powered engagement tools to support the whole athlete, not simply athletic performance. As anxiety, depression, and burnout continue to rise among young athletes, Russ believes the conversation surrounding sports must evolve. Championships matter. Character matters more. Throughout the conversation, Russ reflects on perseverance, leadership, identity, and why some of life's greatest opportunities arrive only after our original plans fall apart.

Just moments after closing Opening Night of the 2026 Harmony in the Woods concert season, Meghan Parnell and Dave Barnes of Bywater Call returned to the stage, not for an encore, but for a honest conversation with HarmonyTALK host Greg Frigoletto. The result is an interview that feels every bit as genuine as the band's music. Over the past several years, the Toronto-based, seven-piece band has quietly become one of the most exciting live acts on the international roots music scene. Blending Southern soul, blues, roots rock, and powerful horn arrangements, Bywater Call delivers performances that are both emotionally charged and musically fearless. At the center is Meghan Parnell's commanding voice, complemented by Dave Barnes' expressive guitar work and the remarkable chemistry of a band that has spent years earning every fan one performance at a time. Their music refuses to be confined to a single genre. Influenced by artists including The Band, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Otis Redding, Little Feat, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Wood Brothers, Bywater Call moves effortlessly from deeply personal ballads to high-energy anthems that showcase the full strength of the seven-piece ensemble. Every song reflects the highs and lows of life, exploring love, loss, resilience, hope, and everything in between. That authenticity has earned the band growing international recognition. Following extensive touring throughout Europe, Bywater Call was nominated for the 2025 UK Blues Award for International Blues Artist of the Year. This year, the band once again landed among the Top 20 finalists alongside many of the biggest names in contemporary blues. In this episode, Meghan and Dave reflect on how the band found its sound, what keeps seven musicians connected through thousands of miles on the road, and why live performance continues to shape everything they create. Recorded immediately after their Harmony in the Woods performance, this conversation captures something listeners rarely hear: artists reflecting on a show while the music is still echoing in the air. If this conversation inspires you to experience live music under the trees, the Harmony in the Woods summer concert season continues through Sept. 5 with an outstanding lineup of nationally touring artists spanning blues, Americana, folk, jazz, bluegrass, Celtic, world music, and more. Visit HarmonyInTheWoods.org for the complete schedule and tickets.

When Dance Changes Everything: Rebecca Davis and the Children Who Learned They Matter Rebecca Davis thought dance would become her career. Instead, it became her calling. In this special HarmonyTALK encore presentation, host Lisa Champeau revisits one of the podcast's most inspiring conversations with the founder of MindLeaps, a nonprofit organization that has transformed the lives of thousands of vulnerable children around the globe through dance and education. Rebecca's journey began in Canada, where she spent years training as a dancer. But everything shifted when she realized movement could become much more than an art form. It could become a bridge to education, confidence and hope for children living in some of the world's most difficult circumstances. Today, MindLeaps serves street children and underserved youth in Rwanda, Guinea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and other developing communities, using a unique dance curriculum to strengthen cognitive and social-emotional skills while preparing young people for success in school and in life. During this heartfelt conversation, Rebecca shares remarkable stories that seem almost impossible to imagine. Children from divided ethnic communities or war-torn villages finding common ground through movement. Young people who had been told by society they didn't matter discovering that they do. Lisa and Rebecca also explore what leadership looks like when it is rooted in compassion, why creativity can become one of the world's most powerful educational tools, and how one person's willingness to follow an unexpected path continues to create opportunities for children around the world.   Thoughtful, moving, and hopeful, this encore conversation reminds us that sometimes changing the world begins with helping one child believe in themselves.

Some dreams begin with a destination. Others become a lifelong way of leading. As a young girl growing up in Montville, New Jersey, Lindsey Chrismon set her sights on one place: West Point. It was an ambitious goal, one that would shape nearly every chapter that followed. In this encore presentation of one of HarmonyTALK's favorite conversations, host Greg Frigoletto sits down with Lindsey to explore an extraordinary journey defined not simply by achievement, but by purpose. That purpose carried her from the halls of the United States Military Academy to becoming the first woman to pilot the Army's elite AH-6M Little Bird helicopter. It guided her through leadership roles in one of the world's most demanding organizations, into Harvard Business School, and ultimately toward founding Oply, an AI-powered company transforming how homeowners care for their homes. But this conversation is not about résumés. It is about the moments that shape a life. Lindsey reflects on growing up with a dream that many people thought was too ambitious, discovering confidence through challenge, and learning that leadership is earned one decision at a time. She shares what it felt like to break barriers in military aviation, why service continues to guide her work, and how entrepreneurship became another opportunity to solve meaningful problems for others. Greg and Lindsey also explore the surprisingly human side of innovation. The result is technology that feels less like science fiction and more like thoughtful service. Throughout the conversation, Lindsey returns to one central idea. Leadership is not about titles or recognition. It is about helping people move forward with confidence, whether you're leading soldiers, classmates, colleagues, or customers.