“When we place ourselves through service and helping other people, inspiring other people, it’s interesting how everything our hearts desire, and the wishes that we want fulfilled can actually come onto our doorstep and into our life.”
Serving from overflow sounds like a bumper sticker until you hear what it actually costs John Masiulionis to get there.
The founder of PR from the Heart and award-winning author of Walking Each Other Home: Zachary’s Mission, John didn’t arrive at purpose-driven work through inspiration. He arrived through a testicular cancer diagnosis, the death of his grandmother, financial collapse, and a solo move to San Diego in the middle of a pandemic.
The Identity Crisis Nobody Sees
Before any of that, John was a wrestling radio host who, by his own admission, was tap-dancing for approval. His show, Monday Night Mayhem, ran for over a decade, earned relationships with WWE, TNA, and Ring of Honor, and took him to five WrestleManias. But it wasn’t paying him. And it wasn’t filling him up.
When the show ended and the losses stacked — his grandmother, his health, his financial footing — John didn’t know who he was without the performance.
The Shift: From “Me” to “We”
The turning point came through a simple idea: stop centering your own needs, and your own needs somehow get met. Shift focus from “what’s in it for me” to genuine service, and you stop depleting yourself trying to prove your worth.
For John, that meant redirecting toward children’s authors — people with stories that deserved to be heard. PR from the Heart is now in its 13th year, serving authors across the country and around the world.
Purpose Doesn’t Arrive on a Silver Platter
John’s framework for his children’s hospice vision — write the book, promote it, get hospice volunteer training, build toward the facility — is a blueprint in patience. His point: if everything we were meant to receive arrived at once, we wouldn’t know what to do with it.
The work is incremental. The purpose is cumulative. And the life, as John tells it, can start to feel like it’s finally yours.
Episode Highlights:
01:36 Meet John
05:01 Journey and Early Career
09:19 Transition to Children’s Literature
13:04 Personal Challenges and Spiritual Awakening
16:23 Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Change
20:52 The Role of PR From The Heart
32:31 The Importance of Staying Connected to Your Mission
Resources:
📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series:
🚙A Trip to the Park: https://bit.ly/40Lvv6h
🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things: https://bit.ly/4ocAQxq
🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time: https://bit.ly/4odUCJ1
😤 When I Feel So Annoyed: https://bit.ly/4l6WSPt
📖 Walking Each Other Home— Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children by John Masiulionis
Meet John:
John Masiulionis is the founder of PR From The Heart LLC—a leading KidLit public relations firm—the host of The Children’s Books Spotlight Series, one of the longest-running podcasts in children’s literature—and a certified animal communicator. Driven by a passion for storytelling and a commitment to helping children and families navigate life’s toughest challenges, he wrote his award-winning children’s book, Walking Each Other Home— Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children, and is on a mission to bring a children’s hospice to San Diego—a sacred space that will carry forward a legacy of strength, love, and lasting inspiration.
John’s work is shaped by the memory of his late grandmother and by connecting hospitalized children with professional wrestlers while hosting the award-winning radio show Monday Night Mayhem. He lives in San Diego with his beloved Shih Tzu/Maltese, Little Forrest.
Connect with PR From The Heart
Quotes:
04:34 “Sometimes, people’s paths start one way, and then the path leads to something else.” —Dr. Jim Price
12:58 “Nothing in life is guaranteed; everything in life is a blessing in many respects.” —John Masiulionis
14:42 “Age really is just a number; it’s our spirit that is youthful and eternal if we allow it to be.” —John Masiulionis
16:10 “If God gave us everything that we were meant to receive on a silver platter at one time, we’d spontaneously combust. We wouldn’t know what to do with it, so just to take the time to celebrate where you are right now.” —John Masiulionis
23:53 “When we place ourselves through service and helping other people, inspiring other people, it’s interesting how everything our hearts desire, and the wishes that we want fulfilled can actually come onto our doorstep and into our life.” —John Masiulionis
26:00 “Eventually, we can get to a point in our lives where how we feel about ourselves internally can reflect externally in our lives… ultimately, how we treat ourselves is how we treat other people.” —John Masiulionis
33:08 “For each opportunity that would be given to me, I would be grateful for that… And as things continue to get better in our lives, it’s important to remember that all of that can be gone in a glimmer. So, the importance of just remaining appreciative and grateful and blessed, because when you do all of that, and when you take the necessary next steps, you can very much stay connected and move forward with your mission and your purpose.” —John Masiulionis
34:47 “When you’re trying to do something positive, positive things will come out in return.” —Dr. Jim Price
transcript:
John Masiulionis: When you place the importance and the focus on the WE, the ME somehow gets taken care of. We’re really programmed in society for us to be I, I, I, me, me, me. What’s in it for me? You have to take care of the ME. You absolutely have to. Because then, if you’re not doing that, it’s like serving from an empty cup. But when you focus on the WE, the ME suddenly becomes taken care of. And then you’re serving from the overflow instead of serving through depletion.
Jim Price: Hello, I’m Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The Purpose and Progress Podcast. This is the place where we explore how purpose can guide our actions, and how growth can become a part of our everyday lives. On the show, I talk with amazing guests, from educators and creators to everyday people with extraordinary stories about the challenges they face, the lessons they’ve learned, and how to keep moving forward. My goal is to share conversations that inspire you to live intentionally, embrace growth, and take meaningful steps to your own purpose. Let’s get started.
Welcome to the Purpose and Progress Podcast Show where we introduce and connect with inspiring guests who are industry leaders who are inspiring others for positive change, and just making an impact in people’s lives and stuff like that. Today, I have a guest who’s inspired me in so many ways and has been an instrumental part of me and myself doing the things I do in terms of the children’s book stuff and all that material stuff, that’s definitely been an instrument of that. And he’s a friend of mine too. It’s just such a pleasure and a blessing to have my friend, he’s manager of PR From The Heart, he’s award-winning author of the book Walking Each Other Home—Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children, and he is also award-winning author, manager of PR From The Heart, and my friend John Masiulionis. Welcome John Masiulionis to the show. Such a blessing to have you here.
John Masiulionis: We go so far back that before it was Dr. Jim Price, it was just Jim Price. But Jim, I’m grateful to be here. I’m grateful to call you not only a friend, a colleague, a dear client, a fellow neighbor. You may hear some Mister Rogers’ neighborhood language, some Fred Rogers verbiage through the course of our conversation. But right off the bat, I want to congratulate you because this is a new venture that you are launching with your podcast in different iterations. I’ve been very fortunate to do radio and podcasting for 23 plus years, going back to my time as the host of the award-winning wrestling radio show, Monday Night Mayhem, to the present day through PR From The Heart, the Children’s Book Spotlight Series, which will now be celebrating its 8 year anniversary this fall. One of the leading, most popular podcasts in the world of children’s literature. Of course, David Newell, the beloved Mr. McFeely and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the sister program of the Children’s Book Spotlight Series, which is the Neighborly Reviews Bookcast. Hard to believe that David and I just celebrated the five year anniversary of the program.
I share this because it’s always important for me to help the next generation, those who are getting into radio, those who are getting into podcasting. And most importantly, sharing their story. And you’ve had an incredible journey. I’m very fortunate, and very blessed. That’s one of our favorite words that we have together to just play a small part in your journey, and just be a reflection of the wonderful work that you’re doing for children, parents and families. And as we like to say together, for those who love great children’s books.
Jim Price: Absolutely. Thank you so much, John. Sometimes, people don’t know behind the scenes what happens, how everything is just put together. I know we were talking extensively about building the culture, reading the event that’s coming up soon for you, and how much behind the scenes. People don’t realize behind the scenes how much goes into a lot of the work that happens. They see the finished product, but then always see behind the work stuff, and they sometimes need to have a general idea of how that happens and how people progress on their journey to get to where they are and stuff like that. So that kind of leads us into our first question of, when do you feel that your journey began? Even when we were at Building the Culture Reading in Los Angeles, we had a chance to have dinner and talk a little bit and some interesting points you brought up about how you were starting broadcasting with WWE and things of that nature. Sometimes, people’s paths start one way, and then the path leads to something else, which leads to a lot of stuff you do now. But talk about a little bit about that process, and how your path started in that way.
John Masiulionis: That’s a great question, by the way, Jim. It’s interesting because there’s times where life will take us in a certain direction, and we don’t necessarily know what it is that we’re experiencing moving through will help us in the future. So it’s interesting. Growing up, I wanted to be a sportscaster. I wanted to be the next Chris Berman on ESPN, and I went to school to be a broadcaster. I was a broadcasting major at Buffalo State University, which is part of the SUNY school system. SUNY stands for, I believe State University of New York, if I’m not mistaken. I mean, to the point, even Buffalo State, it was Buffalo State College at that point in time, and I put all my eggs in one basket. I did an internship through the Empire Sports Network, which was the now defunct television station that covered the Buffalo Sabres, the Buffalo Bisons, which is the Triple-A (AAA) affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays that covered the Buffalo Bills.
And it’s interesting because the company was actually owned by John Regis, who used to own the Buffalo Sabres. He used to be the owner of Adelphia Cable as well, to one of the former larger cable companies that was in existence. And it turns out that John Regis was doing some things that he shouldn’t have been doing with this company. Believe he was embezzling money. His sons were a part of the process. Long story short, Empire Sports Network goes under. I put all my eggs in one basket going into broadcasting, and it kind of had a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. But interestingly enough around that same point of time, and even going back way, way, way, way, way, we go way back to the year 1989, and that’s when I fell in love with the world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment.
Many people remember Vince McMahon’s WWE, that is now WWE owned by TKO, which is, of course, the company that owns the UFC as well. I was a huge wrestling fan in many respects. It was one of my first loves. I was very fortunate while going to Buffalo State University, they had a format called All Talk Monday on the campus radio station, 91.3 FM WBNY, and I started doing a wrestling radio show that was at first titled Big Mosh’s Monday Night Mayhem. At one point in time, I was well north of 300 pounds, and my nickname in high school was the Big Mosh. My high school gym teacher, Mark Resmek, could not pronounce my last name so he called me instead of Masiulionis, he called me Moshalionis. And then it was a little bit more on the rotund side at that point in time, hence Big Mosh. And that name stuck.
But it’s interesting because we did the show at Buff State. We did it for two and a half years. And if you were to ever create a wrestling radio show, back in the day, 2002 was the year to do it. That was the year where TNA Wrestling, which is still in existence 24 years later, Ring of Honor which is now owned by, I should say, Tony Khan, who owns AEW, and whose father owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. So we kind of got it on the ground level with those wrestling companies interviewing the wrestlers. This was before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, I think it might even have been around even before Myspace, so it was just grassroots helping wrestlers share their stories. Now, I didn’t necessarily look at that at that point in time, it was more about promoting matches, pay-per-views, DVDs, specials, etcetera, etcetera and so forth. Fast forward, and it’s interesting because I look back on my time at Monday Night Mayhem, and the show ran for over a decade. I believe it was close to 12 years, if I’m not mistaken.
And during that time, I was fortunate to have relationships not only with TNA and Ring of Honor, but the WWE, VH1, CMT, the Buffalo Bills. I was very fortunate to travel across the country, go to five WrestleManias, and really have some childhood dreams come true in many respects. But the show is a labor of love. I was not getting paid for it. I moved through some health challenges, which in many respects really served as a spiritual awakening for me to release Monday Night Mayhem back into the universe. This also synergizes with the passing of my grandmother. Being part Polish, we refer to our grandmothers as Babcia. And my grandmother was my rock. In fact, it’s interesting, I actually carry a picture of my grandmother. It’s always here in my office. This is me graduating from 8th grade, and you have my grandmother, Jane, Jackie to the far right, you have my aunt Nellie to the far left. If I’m not mistaken, technically, the right side is Aunt Nelly, the left side here is Jane, so Jackie. But I share this because in many respects, that’s really when my life began to change. I realized that there had to be more than Monday Night Mayhem, that there had to be more than working in collections. I also worked in the world of collections. I was the gentleman way back in the day that if someone had a past due credit card bill, I would call up and say, you owe money.
Now, even during that experience, it’s interesting because I learned the importance of kindness, empathy and compassion, because you never know what someone’s going through, right? You never know what someone’s going through unless you walk a mile in their shoes. So I knew that there was more to life beyond the scope of that, and this all kind of ties into a diagnosis that I was given 11 years ago of testicular cancer, and I feel that that was God’s way of saying, John, you can finally learn to love yourself. And that’s a process that takes time for all of us to really understand. I had a very, very interesting journey, but it’s interesting because maybe this kind of ties in a little bit to when I used to work at Blockbuster Video back in the day for two years, when we used to write in movies, Jim. People would ask me, can you give me some movie recommendations? And one of the things that really helped me through my healing was children’s books. I was already doing PR publicity work, even more so for inspirational authors and for spiritual authors.
And around 2016, 2017, coming off the heels of healing from testicular cancer, I said, you know what? I think it really makes more sense to place even more of my time, more of my energy, more of my focus on children’s authors. I had already worked with a few children’s authors prior to that. But we fast forward to the present moment, PR From The Heart has become one of the longest running, most successful PR publicity firms for children’s authors. Not only in the United States, but around the world. And having the fortune and the blessing of working with celebrities ranging from Sharon, Lois & Bram, the co-creators of the iconic kids anthem Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky do, I love you, to Cari Hitchcock, the creator of the Adventures of Baby Brown Berry series. Of course, many people know her husband as well. The angelic voice of the lead singer of Air Supply, just recently celebrated their 50th anniversary to well-known traditional published authors, John Parra. Catherine Roy who I feel that they will both be winning at Caldecott at some point in time in the future.
And then those authors whose journeys are really just beginning to take flight, self-published authors, hybrid published authors, and all this in a roundabout way is reminding me, and this is one of things that I love about you and your podcast. What you’re doing right now is the importance of helping people share their stories. I did not know growing up that I was helping wrestlers share their stories and their journeys. In many respects, I was still trying to feel loved, and appreciated, and admired, and accepted. But now, I look at this as the fact that when someone says, John, I feel that you can help me share my scripture. That is a gift. That is not even just a blessing, but that is a gift. And through the course of my journey, I’ve learned the fact that nothing in life is guaranteed. Everything really in life is really a blessing in many respects, and this ties into the last thing that I want to mention. This question, I remember after my grandmother had passed, there was a time, 2016, 2017 is where it may have looked like on the surface, I lost everything.
I remember talking to my grandmother and saying, Babcia, show me whom to serve, how to serve, when to serve, where to serve, and in what capacity to serve. I’m there, and I was reminded through the work of the late Dr. Wayne Dyer, beloved spiritual teacher, New York Times best-selling author, many people refer to him as either the father, the godfather, or motivation. I was reminded through his work of when you place the importance and the focus on the WE, the ME somehow gets taken care of. We’re really programmed in society for us to be I, I, I, me, me, me. What’s in it for me? You have to take care of the ME. You absolutely have to. Because then, if you’re not doing that, it’s like serving from an empty cup. But when you focus on the WE, the ME suddenly becomes taken care of. And then you’re serving from the overflow instead of serving through depletion. I’m turning 45 in August, which is hard to believe. There’s days where I do feel a little older.
But going back to showing that photo of Aunt Nelly, when I think of Aunt Nellie, my visual and remembrance of her is not as an older Polish woman in the kitchen making pierogies for everyone. She was playing tackle football with me and my cousins. She reminded me that age really is just a number. That it’s really our spirit that is youthful and eternal if we allow it to be. But again, just being at this particular point in time, and this all really bridges not only when my work with PR From The Heart, not only through the release of Walking Each Other Home — Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children, but I started getting visions before I moved out to San Diego. This was probably a little over 10 years ago, almost after my grandmother’s passing, about initiating a children’s hospice for terminally ill children. And this goes a little bit more through the course of my children’s book, the inspiration for that because I had envisioned, what if there could be a place where children could be in heaven? Could experience the feeling of being in heaven before going to heaven where they could meet their favorite athletes, and professional wrestlers, and authors, and musicians, and have that be a wonderful experience before they transition, so to speak.
So step one was moving out to San Diego. Step two is getting myself settled. Step three was writing the book. Step four was promoting the book. Step five now is becoming more immersed within the hospice community and getting hospice volunteer work shortly on mind. And one of the things that if there’s anything that I really want to impart on your listeners and viewers is the fact that everything happens in its perfect and divine timing. If God gave us everything that we were meant to receive on a silver platter at one time, we’d spontaneously combust. We wouldn’t know what to do with it, so just to take the time to celebrate where you are right now, how far that you’ve come, and knowing the fact that you do have a purpose. And oftentimes, that purpose is connected with your passion as well, too.
Jim Price: Absolutely. John, I appreciate you being so candid, honest and open about your experiences. And even in terms of just self love, a lot of people in the world are missing that aspect. They have a lot of work to do with self love, self care, self awareness and things of that nature that gravitate toward the purpose, opening up the ideas of purpose, where you go on the path of life and stuff like that. Like myself, I always incorporate prayer and everything I do. Everybody has their own path and journey, and everything definitely does happen within this divine timing. I thank you for sharing that aspect of yourself. Because a lot of times, people don’t always understand behind the scenes, what it takes to get to certain places and stuff like that. And that’s so inspirational that you share that. I also wanted to ask, you talked about a little bit of it, as far as obstacles and maybe things that you faced that maybe challenged you in certain ways to be able to get to where you are today, in that aspect.
John Masiulionis: It’s interesting, sometimes, people will hear the term divine storm. Or on the surface, it could look like anything and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And in many respects, it could look like on the surface like I did. There were different losses that I had experienced. Some were more prominent than others, but the primary one was losing my grandmother. There was the loss of my old identity. I did not know who John Masiulionis was. I knew who the Big Mosh was. The Big Mosh was someone who was just really searching and seeking for attention and for love. Who really had a good heart at the same point, but that part of me felt that I needed to do a Fred Astaire tap dance impersonation to get people to like me and to love me. Because I had an old belief system that said, I can only be accepted, appreciated, loved and cared for if I do X, Y and Z for something else. And we don’t need to prove or validate our worth and our value. This is one of the works of Fred Rogers and Mister Rogers’‘ Neighborhood. And watching those episodes again as an adult in my early to mid to late 30s really helped me to heal, because Fred Rogers reminds us still to this day of our intrinsic worth and value, that you’re loved and you’re special just the way that you are, obviously.
Again, on the surface, it may have looked like I had lost everything financially. And in many respects when you have a journey, it’s not to say that on the surface, it looks like that things are taken away from you. But basically, it’s a matter of, you are building a life anew, you are reconstructing a life based on faith, service and a pure heart. And it’s not to say that that wasn’t the case before him. But again, normally, when you hear of people who have gone through awakenings, they’ve gone through a combination of the health stuff, the financial stuff, job losses, different kinds of experiences that happen along the way. Again, the loss of Monday Night Mayhem. But in many respects, I left everything behind when I moved to San Diego. People said, well, how many friends do you have up there? You must have dozens and dozens, or hundreds and hundreds of people that you know.
I could count the number of people on one hand that I knew was literally starting a completely new life. I moved during the pandemic, the fall of 2020, so it’s literally in the heat of the pandemic. And so at that point in time, I would have been, it was 2020, so I would have been 39 if I’m not mistaken? I just had to do the quick math in the process of being an educator, but I knew that this was connected to my mission and my purpose. I knew that if I trusted in myself, in my journey, in everything that God was asking me to do even when things necessarily didn’t look or sound or feel, I had all the answers. I always remind people who come into my life, many of us were familiar with the analogy of the spiritual staircase. Kind of like the stairway to heaven, so to speak. Not the Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven, kind of the other stairway to heaven, right? Even though it’s a really good song. But if you don’t know what the full staircase looks like, you take that next step.
This is one of the things I remind authors in the work that I do as a publicist for children, for inspirational, for spiritual authors through PR From The Heart is that you can connect to the legendary quote of Wayne Gretzky. He said something to the effect of, you miss 100% of the chances that you don’t take. And many of us, we don’t even realize. We will have fears of success. Many of us have fears of failure, but we’ll have the fears of success, or we’re only used to receiving a certain amount. This is one of the reasons why I moved from Buffalo to San Diego because it felt for me like there was an energetic cap in Buffalo, and I could only do so much, achieve so much here. And in order for me to truly expand and grow on a heart and soul level, I had to literally go someplace completely different in the process. Life is not rainbows and gumdrops. People might look on the surface and say, John, you run a very successful PR publicity company. You’re an award-winning children’s author, you must have it made in the shade. You must know all of the answers. No, I don’t.
One of the things that I consistently remind myself of, and this goes back to the late Wayne Dyer, he says he always reminds us to, I think this was through his book, Tao Te Ching. He talks about just flowing with the water, and laying low. Not laying low like playing small kinds of things, but just to really stay connected, stay grounded, stay focused in the process because life is a combination of really letting go of the fact that we feel that we know everything. I’m trying to find the paraphrase that Dr. Wayne Dyer said, we know everything, we know nothing. It’s kind of like dancing between the two, so to speak. I always consistently remind myself when I land up meeting someone that I don’t know the answers to everything. That we can learn something from every single person that comes onto our path. Have an open heart, have an open mind. Not feel that you know everything. Because in this world, there is a lot of ego. And yes, in the world of children’s literature, I’ve seen there is ego, and vanity as well too. So it’s just the importance of taking the time to nurture, to love yourself, to stay focused on your mission and your purpose, but also to take those necessary action steps> And oftentimes when we place ourselves through service and helping other people, inspiring other people, it’s interesting how everything our hearts desires, and the wishes that we want fulfilled can actually come onto our doorstep and into our life.
***Looking for books that spark imagination, and teach valuable lessons? The Adventures of Harold From The Hood has four wonderful titles: A Trip to the Park, Friends Like Different Things, Fun Time Lunch Time, and When I Feel So Annoyed. Kids can enjoy animated videos, fun coloring pages, and interactive activity books that make learning about empathy, friendship, and social skills exciting. All books are available on every platform. Dive in today at jimpricebooks.education. jimpricebooks.education. Stay blessed.
Jim Price: John, you’ve dropped so many gems in this interview. So many helpful gems, so many inspiring gems, so many motivational ideas and thoughts in terms of helping people progress and stuff. And understanding that sometimes, things do happen in his own. Divine timing and having a plan and idea of where you’re trying to go. And sometimes, the path is a little bit different from where you would expect it to go. Sharing the gems that you shared today has been such a delight, and I’m hoping my audience has been definitely going to take a lot from our discussion that we had today. And learning more about yourself, John, getting a bit more backdrop and understanding a view as a person, authors and stuff, and managers in the industry, they don’t always get a chance to have the audience really understand more about themselves on a personal level and gravitate in that way. I appreciate you coming on, John, so much. I want to ask how viewers connect with PR From The Heart and to your books. How can our viewers connect to your books and to the PR From The Heart?
John Masiulionis: Two things that I want to mention before we begin to wind down our time in the process. That’s what we call a segue to the conclusion. For those who are learning about podcasting for the first time, one of the things that really comes to mind is the fact that eventually we can get to a point in our lives where life, how we feel about ourselves internally can reflect externally in our lives. It’s interesting because it took me some time to get to the point of ultimately how we treat ourselves as how we treat other people. And noting the fact that just envision that every single person that you come into contact with, just imagine your face on their body. Not saying that you have to do that every day kind of thing, but just the importance. I cannot stress that enough because life in many respects, there’s a lot of us that we go around and we want to try to impress and fit in.
And going back to the whole Monday Night Mayhem analogy that I mentioned previously, and this is one of the things that I also want to leave your listeners and viewers with is the fact, and again, this is one of the reasons why your work and the Adventures of Harold From The Hood series stands out for kids, your work and your efforts, in addition to your worth and your value stand out on their own accord. I feel that many of us just breathed into that. Yes, maybe to a certain extent, there’s times in life where we have to chameleon or we have to try to impress if we land up meeting this person today. I remember, for example, when I met Craig Melvin from NBC Today Show, not that long ago for the first time, that there was a part of me that’s like, Craig Melvin, I have to put on a good show. And then just realizing like, everyone is just the same. Even though certain people may have more stature or clout, or maybe more zeros in the bank account, or the bigger house, or whatever the case might be, just knowing the fact that we can get to a point where how we feel about ourselves can reflect externally. So again, if there’s another thing that I can give to your listeners, because I love giving from my heart, is the fact that, just try that on for size. If you found yourself struggling with that, just try that on for size. I tend to call these things spiritual science experiments. So that’s the one thing that I want to make mention of, number one.
Number two is to continue to support Dr. Jim Price and the podcast that you are watching right now. I’ve had the chance. PR From The Heart is celebrating 12 years this summer. We’re entering into our 13th year of service to inspirational, spiritual, and of course, children’s authors across the country and around the world. Dr. Jim Price, who, of course, you’re watching, you’re listening to, you’re on his website, you’re on his YouTube channel, he really cares about children, and he cares about all of you. This is why he is branching out and expanding in the process. Here’s a man who really commanded the stage last year at Mall of America as part of PR From The Heart’s annual flagship event. Building a Culture of Reading In Your Classroom that is celebrating its 4th anniversary this year.
So for all the listeners and viewers out in Portland, just a quick plug, Saturday, August the 8th, Building a Culture of Reading in Your Classroom, Barnes & Noble’s Clackamas in this town center in Portland, Oregon, beginning at 11:00 am and then going all the way until 4:00 pm to immersive experiences, story times in the mornings to the early afternoon, and then an interactive panel discussion, Q and A meet and greet and book signing, co-headlined by Tony Buttino, the Emmy Award-winning co-creator of Reading Rainbow, Aron Nels Steinke who is one of Scholastic’s top authors, he is one of the leading graphic novelists in the world of children’s literature. Of course, the creator of the Mr. Wolf’s Class graphic novel series, again, published by Scholastic. The event will be co-hosted and co-moderated by myself. And you remember him, and you love him as the beloved Mr. McFeely and the popular long-running children’s television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I mentioned David Newell previously. But again, Building a Culture of Reading in Your Classroom, you can reserve your tickets right now. Free event that we’re offering to the Portland community as well. And then as many authors and their journeys are taking flight, especially for those authors who are stepping into the world of children’s literature, they’re writing their memoir, they’re writing a spiritual book in the process.
It’s important that I remind you that your story needs to be shared. If we believe, all of us, the billions of people that are on this planet, if we all believe that we all have a story that is worthy to share, I feel that the world would be a much better place. The world would be a much kinder, empathic, compassionate, more loving place. You can head on over to the official website of PR From The Heart, which is prfromtheheart com. You can connect with me on social media at PR From The Heart. We keep it simple, so Instagram, Facebook, X, all at PR From The Heart. You can subscribe to PR From The Heart’s official YouTube channel. And of course, you can watch current and past episodes of the Children’s Book Spotlight Series, which again is one of the leading, most popular podcasts in the world of children’s literature, along with the Neighborly Reviews Bookcast, which is of course one of the leading children’s book podcasts and book review programs for parents, educators and librarians in the United States and Canada. We’ve been very fortunate to bring back one of the crown jewels of PR From The Heart, which is Empowering Reads For Kids where, of course, I’m very fortunate to team up with Chelsea Lavelle, who is the host of News 4 Buffalo’s Daytime Buffalo, one of the only dedicated monthly children’s book review segments on television nationwide.
So you can, of course, stay connected to the official PR From The Heart YouTube channel. And of course, you can learn more information on how PR From The Heart, my team and I can help and support you in your next steps, whether it be a citywide book media tour, whether it be a national book media tour. Simply just learning more information about the Children’s Book Spotlight Series, the Neighborly Reviews Bookcast, and Empowering Reads For Kids. And then for those who wish to pledge their support and purchase their copies of Walking Each Other Home—Zachary’s Mission: A Hospice for Children, published by our friends and neighbors at Trolley Stop Publishing, you can head on over to my official website of my first name and my last name .com, so johnmasiulionis.com. You can also go to amazon.com, both Dr. Price and I know the fact that those five stars, we’re not doing Beyonce’s here on Dr. Price’s podcast. This is when you leave that five star review that lets me know that this work is getting out more into the community. And of course, a portion of the proceeds of all sales will go towards the eventual creation of the Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Facility in San Diego, California.
But again, Jim, I want to thank you for this invitation. For me, it’s interesting. I’ll leave you with this, the fact that life is an opportunity, each day is an opportunity, and this just goes back to what I told to my grandmother that on the surface, when it looked like there was nothing working, when it looked like I did not have anything in my life, and I promised her, I said that, for each opportunity that would be given to me, that I would be grateful for that. And as things continue to get better in our lives, it’s important to remember the fact that if you have the blessings of good health, that you’re doing very well financially, your family is doing well financially, all of that can be gone in a glimmer. It can be gone in a second. So the importance of just remaining appreciative, grateful and blessed, because when you do all of that and you take the necessary next steps, you can very much stay connected and move forward with your mission and your purpose. You can bring more passion into your life, and then things can be that much more fun and magical. And in many respects, life can almost be like a Disney movie where your wishes can be fulfilled. I even brought props for our interview.
Jim Price: I love it, John. I absolutely, once again, you’ve definitely been intramural. A lot of things too. I’m so glad that we crossed paths in our lives. We’ve both continued to be blessed in so many different ways and aspects, and trying to inspire change and use in a positive way, not within the US, but across the world as well. I appreciate having you on, and being able to share your journey, and the things that you’re doing. I know you’ll continue to be blessed in your progress moving forward. I’m sure we’re definitely going to be working. We have a work relationship and a friend relationship too, so we’ll definitely be working together at some point soon. To our viewers, we’re hoping that you enjoyed this conversation on The Purpose and Progress Podcast show. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel. Remember that when you’re trying to do something positive, positive things will come out in return. Hope you enjoyed this show here, and stay tuned for next time.
Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Purpose in Progress Podcast. I hope today’s conversation gave you insight, inspiration, or a fresh perspective to help you move forward with purpose. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could use a little encouragement. You can also support the podcast through the donation link in the show notes. Every contribution helps us keep sharing stories that uplift and inspire. Remember, your purpose is waiting, and progress never stops. I’ll see you next time.