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“Marie Pizano is an example of how you can overcome challenges to live with passion and purpose, and realize your ambitions. Her story can help empower and motivate others to find their Yes.” — Jack Canfield, Award-winning Author and Life Coach
Marie Pizano was once told that she makes coffee nervous, and for good reason. She has a bottomless well of energy that propels her forward no matter what forces are at work to hold her back.
“I’m generally prepared to jump off the cliff — with my stilettos on — and land on solid ground before I take off and go,” she says in her inspirational memoir, From Barefoot to Stilettos: Finding My Yes.
Her story is one of a woman who seeks purpose-driven endeavors that create change and redefine expectations. As the CEO and founder of MVP3 Entertainment Group, she used her expansive vision to launch a groundbreaking multipurpose complex in Memphis by partnering with Darnell Stitts of ATWEC Technologies to form MVP3 Studios & Partners, LLC. She also partnered with Melissa Harville-Lebron, the first African-American woman to own a NASCAR team, and they are joining forces for the upcoming NASCAR series.
But she is not all-business. She is also an impassioned community activist who spent the better part of 2020 advocating for a Tennessee amendment requiring divorcing parents to become educated on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) — before being granted a divorce.
Giving back to the community and empowering others to rise up have been her driving forces since she could afford her first pair of stilettos. Finding My Yes is Pizano’s way of sharing the trials she endured and the triumphs she celebrated through humorous and heartfelt vignettes that elucidate simple but powerful life lessons. Ultimately, she hopes to encourage readers to ignore the haters, bolster their moral backbones, and ultimately, find their own “yes.”
“I believe that the universe gives back what you put out there, but I also believe that no matter how positive you are or how much you mediate or pray, some things are just out of your control,” Pizano says. “Sometimes things just happen, and sometimes life is just not fair. Regardless, you cannot give up.”
About the Author Born and raised in Chicago, Marie Valentina Pizano moved to Memphis in 1999. She has served on the boards of the International Children’s Foundation, the Women’s Foundation for Greater Memphis and The Commission on Missing & Exploited Children. She was co-founder of the Tiara Tea Society, chairperson for Go Red for Women and created “ROCK FOR HOPE” for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
She is a devoted mother of two and very passionate about film, music and community. The author, producer, radio/TV host and speaker is building her life and her company, MVP3 Entertainment Group, on truth and integrity.
From Barefoot to Stilettos is being made into a TV series, with Karyme Lozano (best known as an award-winning actress from Mexico) on board as writer. Pizano donates 10 percent of her book sales to charities that raise awareness and funding for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking: Amanda’s Way (www.AmandasWay.org) and Thistle & Bee (www.ThistleandBee.org); and she is working with www.Rotary-FYI.com to educate the public on ACEs.
For more information, visit http://mariepizano.com/ or www.FromBarefootToStilettos.com.
From Barefoot to Stilettos, Finding My Yes Publisher: WaterSide Publishing ISBN-10: 194763755X ISBN-13: 978-1947637559 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Teresa Hinojosa Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 832.569.5773 Direct 281.333.3507 Phone [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Serendipity Illuminates Ways to Prosper from Unexpected Events
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Happy accidents led to the invention of many things that we take for granted, such as the microwave oven, the phonograph and the curiously resilient CorningWare dishes. Maybe you don’t aspire to inventing a life-changing consumer product, but perhaps you’d like to switch career paths, meet new people or learn a new skill. Serendipity is all around you, and it can help you achieve personal and professional growth.
“In addition to the occasional case of the monumental, unexpected occurrence that may be researched and exploited, situations may arise that also lead to a useful and/or profitable outcome,” says Neil J. Farber, MD. “One can know what one wants to achieve but be unable to get to that outcome. … sometimes by chance, the way to proceed may appear.”
Dr. Farber’s new book, Serendipity: Utilizing Everyday Unexpected Events to Improve Your Life and Career, thoroughly explores the role that serendipity could play in our lives and explains that recognizing serendipitous events is better achieved with a certain set of skills.
“You have to have a mind-set that allows you to think that such events can happen,” he explains, adding that by practicing self-awareness and cultivating keen visual and auditory observational skills, we are more likely to spot even the most subtle of serendipitous happenings.
Serendipity describes how to understand the different types of serendipitous events and how they are common to all of us; how to recognize these events when they do occur; how to acquire the skills necessary to become more aware of serendipity; how to “connect the dots” to bring the serendipitous event to a fortuitous conclusion (that is, what skills, assistance and resources may be necessary); and what to do with the end product or idea if it is profitable, or as sometimes happens, when it is not.
Dr. Farber uses events recorded in literature and the history books, as well as events that have occurred in his own personal and professional life to create a helpful guide for recognizing and turning common events into meaningful moments.
Author Neil J. Farber is a Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine at University of California, San Diego, and a docent at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. He has been an academic internal medicine physician for 40 years, teaching, researching and providing patient care in medical schools initially on the East Coast. For the past 12 years, he was Professor of Clinical Medicine at University of California, San Diego, retiring at the end of April 2019. He has received numerous awards, including Top Doctor of San Diego five times, and is a member of the FDA Non-Prescription Drug Advisory Committee. He has published over 60 research papers and has had a multitude of serendipitous events occur, which have significantly (and positively) influenced his career and his personal life.
Serendipity: Utilizing Everyday Unexpected Events to Improve Your Life and Career Publisher: Boyle & Dalton ISBN: 978-1-63337-456-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-63337-457-7 (e-book) LCCN: 2020922389
Available from Amazon.com and BN.com
Trish Stevens Gwen Baker Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Make ‘Go on a Diet’ Resolutions Obsolete with the Whole Person Integrative Eating Program
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What if you never again need to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or “go on a diet” because your most-of-the-time way of eating empowers you to eat and weigh less? Original, pioneering research by holistic nutrition researcher Deborah Kesten, M.P.H., and behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, Ph.D.—authors of the award-winning Whole Person Integrative Eating: A Breakthrough Dietary Lifestyle to Treat the Root Causes of Overeating, Over-weight, and Obesity—reveals that replacing the complex reasons you overeat— called “over-eating styles”—with the scientifically sound Whole Person Integrative Eating (WPIE) dietary lifestyle (meaning, WPIE is a way of life; it’s not a traditional diet) may make weight-loss resolutions obsolete.
“Now is the time to ‘reset’ and rethink what and how we eat; to replace traditional dieting with a scientifically sound way of eating that lessens overeating and that leads naturally to weight loss, health and healing,” says Kesten.
Kesten and Scherwitz share a simple yet powerful premise: Identify the reasons you overeat (your overeating styles) and gain weight—with the illuminating self-assessment quiz—then overcome overeating and lose weight by replacing your overeating styles with the antidotes: the elements of the Whole Person Integrative Eating program.
By shedding light on the root causes of overeating, Kesten and Scherwitz present a program that empowers readers with a personalized plan, and in turn new hope and new choices to help them reduce overeating, lose weight and keep it off.
WPIE is not a diet that a person goes on … then off. It is a scientifically sound, dietary life-style designed to be practiced for a lifetime.
“If people follow the revolutionary program outlined in this game-changing, insightful book, it may be the most helpful step they can take toward losing weight and keeping it off,” says bestselling author Kenneth Pelletier, M.D., Ph.D., clinical professor of medicine at University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco.
The authors’ paradigm-shifting message is that food influences not only the physical dimensions of health, but also our emotional, spiritual and social well-being. Their dietary lifestyle can build bridges between the millions who struggle with overeating and weight issues and the medical community. And it can inspire us all to re-envision our relationships with food, eating and weight, so that each time we eat, we are nourished … for life.
Deborah Kesten, M.P.H., is an international nutrition researcher, award-winning author and health journalist, with a specialty in preventing and reversing obesity and heart disease. She is also an experienced, expert speaker and presenter—from TV and podcast interviews to large conferences and small-group workshops.
Kesten served as Nutritionist on Dean Ornish, M.D.’s first clinical trial for reversing heart dis-ease through lifestyle changes, the results of which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. She was Director of Nutrition at cardiovascular clinics in Eu-rope and on the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association, San Francisco.
Kesten has published more than 400 nutrition and health articles. Her first book, Feeding the Body, Nourishing the Soul, received the first-place gold award in the Spirituality category from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Whole Person Integrative Eating has been honored with the No.1 gold, best-book award in the Health category by Book Excellence Awards and is a No. 1 Amazon best seller. Kesten is a VIP Contributor at Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, and is married to behavioral scientist and co-author of Whole Person Integrative Eating, Larry Scherwitz, Ph.D.
Whole Person Integrative Eating: A Breakthrough Dietary Lifestyle to Treat the Root Causes of Overeating, Overweight, and Obesity Publisher: White River Press ISBN-10: 1887043543 ISBN-13: 978-1887043540 Available from Amazon.com and integrativeeating.com
Trish Stevens Helen Cook Senior Publicist Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 903.654.0938 Direct [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Powerful True Story Inspires Others to Seek Adventure, Turn Each Day into a Gift
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Brittany Moser’s short life was not defined by how she died, but rather, by how she lived each day to the fullest and the profound impact she had on those around her. Brittany died from a rare condition, Addison’s disease, in 2017 at the age of 32. She had been a happy-go-lucky flight attendant, soaring high above reality, when her diagnosis suddenly brought her down to earth.
Rather than buckle under the weight of fear, she chose to be fearless and embarked upon the adventure of a lifetime with her best friend — her father. Free and Fearless: The Amazing Impact of One Precious Life is Brittany’s unforgettable story as told by her father, Philip Moser.
“This book is not about the grief of losing a child, but about making the most out of what we are given and living our lives positively and not out of fear,” Moser writes. “Brittany inspired me, an ordinary farm boy, to explore life, to climb mountains and to write a book.”
Free and Fearless is an honest, poignant account of Brittany’s legacy and the ripple effect that her outlook on life had on everyone who knew her. Philip hopes that by hearing her story, readers will be inspired by Brittany’s contagious spirit and unwavering desire for new adventures and experiences — even in the shadow of an incurable illness.
Among Brittany’s valuable life lessons that Philip shares with readers are:
How precious life is and how we can affect the people around us;
How an open mind and a positive attitude can inspire us to do things we never thought possible;
How to move out of our comfort zones and into a challenging existence that can turn each day into an exciting gift to be explored;
How to not let fear control us, and to use our abilities to seek unique, positive and inspiring adventures;
To embrace change as a natural part of life;
And finally, that we won’t be remembered by our things or our savings accounts, but by how we made other people feel.
“I want to share the same inspiration that I received for 32 years,” Philip added. “In the end, love truly does conquer all, and Brittany wanted us to know that.”
Author Philip Moser grew up on a farm in Angola, Indiana. After high school, he began working in different aspects of the grocery business, a career that continues to this day. He and his wife, Marilyn Wells, raised two incredible daughters, Camille and Brittany.
For more information, please visit www.freeandfearlessbook.com or connect with the author on social media at https://www.facebook.com/philip.moser.73?ref=bookmarks. A portion from the sale of each book will be donated to the National Adrenal Disease Foundation.
Free and Fearless: The Amazing Impact of One Precious Life ISBN-10: 1733086404 ISBN-13: 978-1733086400 Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, BooksaMillion.com and other online retailers
Trish Stevens Beth Hanner Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Job Search Expert Delivers Proven Method to Help You Elevate Your Career
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If you’re unemployed, underemployed or simply in need of a more satisfying professional path, you are far from alone. 2020 gave us a lot of reasons to take stock in our career choices and realign our priorities. Why not begin the New Year with a new strategy for success that more accurately reflects your interests, talents and goals?
“Your circumstances can be incrementally, if not exponentially, improved,” writes career development coach Helen Horyza in her new book, Elevate Your Career: Live a Life You’re Truly Proud Of. “You can design an amazing career through a comprehensive, step-by-step pro-cess that will allow you to consciously manage your transitions and grow to your full potential.”
Elevate Your Career uses true stories about people from all walks of life and education levels who have reassessed their passions, pivoted their skillsets and created careers that are the perfect fit. How? Horyza explains it all and offers valuable tools that readers can use right away to reassess their own career paths.
First, the Elevate Career Cycle method, which is explained in the book, can help readers un-cover their passion by pinpointing their interests and unique talents. Also included with the book is a coupon code for the Elevations Career Assessment, which synthesizes values, skills, interests and personality in the context of contemporary careers. Individuals who complete the assessment receive a focused report complete with valuable decision-making tools. The result is a comprehensive model for smart and healthy career development.
No matter where you are in your evolving career journey — college student, executive or someone looking to course-correct — this book will provide you with the tools and the momentum you need to elevate your career.
Helen Horyza is an expert in the fields of career development and employee development, engagement and retention. She is an accomplished trainer, motivational speaker and executive coach. She holds a Master of Science degree in Career Counseling from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), and is a professionally trained coach through Coach Training International. She is a Nationally Certified Career Counselor (NCCC) and has over 20 years of experience uncovering talent and directing it to achieve extraordinary results.
Horyza is comfortable inspiring audiences large and small with her authentic, approachable style. She is the inventor and author of the Elevations® suite of assessments designed to assist individuals in career transition or to enhance employee engagement. Elevations® is utilized in colleges, universities and in consultant practices around the world.
She used her own advice to re-career and recently launched the Career Coach Entrepreneur Academy, a training program for people interested in becoming career coaches.
For more information, please visit www.ElevateYourCareer.com or www.helenhoryza.com. You can also connect with the author on social media at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxts0YopKzHU_dnPmcQ_NHQ https://www.instagram.com/helenhoryza/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenhoryza/ https://www.facebook.com/helen.horyza https://twitter.com/HelenHoryza
Elevate Your Career: Live a Life You’re Truly Proud Of Publisher: Merack ISBN-10: 1949635384 ISBN-13: 978-1949635386 Available from Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and Helenhoryza.com
Trish Stevens Robyn Peterson Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Post-Traumatic Thriving Explores Powerful Ways to Heal After Heartbreak
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Just when everything seems to be going right — our jobs are stable, our children are succeeding, and the stars seem to be aligning in our favor — the floor drops out. Stunned and unable to make the simplest decisions, we shut down completely. In that moment, it’s nearly impossible to imagine things ever being “normal” again. What just happened?
“It is trauma, in all of its forms. It slaps us right in the face, and hard,” says world-renown expert on disasters and trauma Dr. Randall Bell. “When trauma hits, the most critical decision we make is to choose whether to be a victim, aggressor, survivor or thriver.”
In his new book, Post-Traumatic Thriving: The Art, Science, & Stories of Resilience, Dr. Bell interweaves science and academic research with stories of people who have not just survived, but have used their trauma as their fuel to thrive. Dr. Bell sits down with survivors of the Holocaust; murder-victim’s families; crime victims; suicide survivors; and those who’ve experienced homelessness, disasters, addictions, depression, death, divorce, disabilities, defeats and disease to explore the rare mindset of the post-traumatic thriver.
Through this unprecedented research, Dr. Bell shares with readers stories of remarkable resilience, including the following:
• A deaf man with a glass eye invented the electric guitar and became a household name, remarkably wealthy and most importantly, happy. • A convicted murderer took responsibility for the damage he caused, graduated with honors from college, became a minister and turned around the hearts of the most hardened criminals. • A girl born with cerebral palsy landed the world’s first starring role on national television and spoke at the White House three times. • A woman hid in a basement for years and lost her entire family in the Holocaust. She eventually found true love and paints stunning artwork. • The sister of a murder victim helped millions of women in toxic domestic relationships. • A woman’s car crash resulted in an addiction to prescription drugs, a divorce, a loss of her children and a cot in a homeless shelter. She has rebuilt it all back and more. • A man set to go to the Olympics had his hopes dashed by Jimmy Carter and went on to build a worldwide business empire.
Ultimately, Dr. Bell documents the science of happiness, as well as the individual styles and common thread that all post-traumatic thrivers have to emerge with a fulfilling life. When trauma hits, your most significant decision will be to dive, survive or thrive. If you choose to thrive, this book is for you.
As an economist, Dr. Randall Bell has consulted on more disasters on earth than anyone in history and is widely considered the world’s top authority in the field of post-traumatic thriving. His clients include the Federal Government, State Governments, International Tribunals, major corporations and homeowners. Dr. Bell believes that “the problem is not the problem — the problem is how we react to the problem.”
Often called the “Master of Disaster,” Dr. Bell is squarely focused on authentic recovery and resilience. His research has been profiled on major television shows and featured in numerous magazines and the international media. More information can be found at www.posttraumaticthriving.com.
Post-Traumatic Thriving: The Art, Science, & Stories of Resilience Publisher: Core IQ Press Release Date: January 1, 2021 ISBN 978-0-9967931-7-9 Available from Amazon.com and all bookstores
Trish Stevens Teresa Hinojosa Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 832.569.5773 Direct 281.333.3507 Phone [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Traditional Meals Given Creative Twists in Eclectic, Kosher-Style Cookbook
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Fall is the perfect time to start turning up the heat in the kitchen. Why not try a reimagined recipe for Jambalaya “Jewish Style,” a steaming bowl of Texas Chili (you control the burn) or a French Bouillabaisse, but without shellfish? Deep Flavors: A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style puts a creative spin on traditional dishes, with an eclectic assort-ment of mouth-watering meals that can all be prepared in a kosher kitchen. The result is a diverse anthology of recipes that will appeal to broad audiences everywhere — Jewish and otherwise.
Deep Flavors is perfect for those who love cooking, whether traditional Jewish, or reinterpreted international, regional American and vegetarian favorites, including creative new recipes applying familiar flavor profiles. This unique cookbook features an abundance of tempting dishes, appetizers, main courses and desserts, drawing from many cultures, plus helpful tips ranging from how to source ingredients to proper preparation.
“Cooking is worth some effort and attention to detail,” Horwitz writes. “The positive reactions from family or guests, as well as your own enjoyment, will make it worthwhile.”
“Effort” and “attention to detail,” however, don’t have to equate with “difficult.” In fact, throughout Deep Flavors, Horwitz shares his wisdom for breaking recipes into simple steps — and how to do some of this prep work well in advance so that delicious meals can be served even with a hectic schedule.
Horwitz, an attorney and CPA by trade, explained in an interview with Today’s CPA that, “My approach to cooking is really an extension of what I do in my professional practice. I solve problems. One of the ‘problems,’ at least in my house, is that since we maintain a kosher house, but eat eclectically, is how to convert recipes so that they are kosher …”
Horwitz’s Texas State Fair Blue Ribbon-winning Spinach/Mushroom Lasagna, for instance, is a completely original vegetarian lasagna accessible to Jews and vegetarians, with a unique twist on ingredients that gives it a complex flavor profile. Even recipes for classic foods such as brisket and roast turkey contain newly imagined taste combinations and techniques to elevate them while maintaining recognizable hallmarks of each dish. Another recipe that epitomizes the standard set by Horwitz, yet remarkably simple to execute, is the Dill French Toast: savory, unique, and delicious.
Horwitz’s ultimate goal was to create recipes that are readable and easily followed by anyone with a basic knowledge of cooking. He provides detailed instructions with enhanced expla-nations and alternatives, helpful for both the novice and the more experienced cook.
A Readers’ Favorite reviewer, who gave Deep Flavors a 5-star rating, referred to the book as “… an essential addition to any cookbook fanatic’s collection and to anyone who believes in spending the time and effort to make the ‘food’ experience a real work of art …”
With 52 years in a general tax and transaction practice as a CPA and lawyer, Ken Horwitz has a creative and focused approach to finding and fixing problems — a skill that translates well to the development of and modification of recipes based on traditional family favorites but tailored to one’s personal tastes and dietary needs. His professional drive and the care given to his work have earned him multiple awards, including the Honorary Fellow for a lifetime of distinguished service and the 2017 Chairperson of the Year by the Texas Society of CPAs. Currently residing in Dallas, Texas, Horwitz enjoys sharing his passion for cooking with his wife, children and grandchildren. Horwitz believes that one of the highest compliments he has received came from a longstanding client who uses numerous lawyers. He said, “Ken, you are the only lawyer we use whose work we have not had to fix.” Horwitz’s goal is for Deep Flavors to reach that same standard.
