Morning Moments With Maia

  Maia Aziz, Social Worker (PSW) and Certified Humor Professional (CHP) writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter.  Assistant Administrative Chief of Allied Health Services at the Montreal Children's Hospital, contributing writer to The Positive Psychology People and active member of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia spends her Sunday mornings sharing 3 of her favorite things with someone who is out there pushing the positive- a fresh cup of coffee, a heartfelt conversation and some spontaneous laughter. These are conversations about love, laughter, leadership and well, life!  http://www.withloveandlaughter.ca/ A rebroadcast of one of our most popular episodes, this week, laughter coach and author of Awakening the Laughing Buddha Within, Joe Hoare, joins Maia all the way from the U.K. for a conversation about the mind-body connection and how to get out of your own way to renew your Zest for Life and Be More Dophin. Joe reminds us that all of us always know what our next

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca    Vadim Mercurio, QA Operations Manager at VMC and graduate of the International Academy of Design and Technology in Video Game Design and Development does anything but play games in his role as leader, mentor and coach in the workplace.  Understanding that true employee development requires a relationship and that traditional forms of performance management do little to build competence, business or trust, Vadim joins Maia in a conversation about the shortcomings of old-school performance appraisals and how to truly elevate, not just evaluate our most important resources, our human resources.       

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     A fellow Canadian and graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Ken Shonk practiced as a family physician for over 30 years before beginning a speaking career in which he shares with audiences from 50 to 2000 the truth that while there ain’t much fun in medicine, there is a lot of medicine in fun. Over the last 15 years he has given over 900 different audiences what he calls a “chuckles checkup,” in which he deconstructs the history, biochemistry and uses of humor in medicine, showing how a little humor can go a long way to making life more bearable even in the heaviest of life's moments. www.healthyhumor.c

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca                     T.J. Jones is a leadership crusader. He has 25 years of experience developing leaders in roles as a teacher, coach, sales executive and Director of Training and Development. With a caring spirit, he has led professionals through multiple corporate acquisitions and change initiatives. From the trenches of the realworld, Jones developed his belief, “caring is the heart of leadership,” the inspiration for his new book The Caring Warrior: Awaken Your Power to Lead, Influence, and Inspire (Advantage Publishing, October 2016).  As a speaker, Jones helps his corporate clients develop a cultural blueprint wh

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Paul Osincup is a Speaker, Consultant, Humorist, and Educator.  With a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Leadership & Administration and a background in stand-up & improv comedy, his mission is to use his expertise in leadership and levity to create positive corporate climates & educational communities. Whether it’s his TEDx Talk, a keynote speech, or a training, Paul delivers a rare blend of wise inspiration and spontaneous wit to both educate and motivate his audience. www.paulosincup.com

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Dr. Lynn Soots is a professional educator that mixes positive psychology into every aspect of developing students to appreciate themselves, the world they live in, and the learning experience as part of finding meaning in their lives.  She claims the underlying foundation to her success is to take the journey with the students; to fully engage and enjoy the time together. As a cofounder and editor of The Positive Psychology People, Lynn hopes to get the meaning across of what it truly means to be human and how we journey through life given everything that is thrown at us on a daily basis. She believes that w

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca                     Mary Schaefer has a Master's degree in Human Resources and is certified as a Professional in Human Resources. She lives and teaches empowerment and how to have productive manager/ employee interactions. Mary calls herself a Chief Encouragement Officer. As the leader of her own business, she speaks, coaches and trains, focusing on making the most of what human resources can contribute to an organization through their energy and creativity, while at the same time meeting their own specific needs for meaningful work.  www.reimaginework.com 

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     Izzy Gesell, MS Ed, CSP is an "organizational alchemist." As a keynote speaker, workshop leader, professional facilitator and presentation coach his skill is in transforming something commonplace into something special. His humorously serious and seriously humorous programs help people thrive and prosper during these changing times as they become more confident, spontaneous and effective. As Author of Playing Along: Group Learning Activities Borrowed from Improvisation Theater. Izzy was one of the first to bring the concepts of Improv Theater into the business world. He has also contributed to the International A

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Lenny Dave is a nationally-recognized speaker, humorist and comedy historian, who speaks to a variety of audiences around the country, ranging from senior citizens, corporate executives and cancer patients to college student leaders and their anxious parents. A Past President of AATH - the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. Lenny is both a student of comedy and a practitioner of humor who has most recently been presenting a fun and informative program entitled, 100 Years of Comedy, a tribute to the great comedians of our times.  Lenny was twice nominated by Campus Activities Magazine as "Speaker

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     Jessica Ruggieri has found her place as the "Ambassador of Inclusion" of a unique team building and consulting company, The Fun Dept.  Jessica takes every opportunity in life to help others live better.  Her love for life, people, and communication have provided her opportunities to diversify her skill sets yet develop her focused passion.  She has experienced the nonprofit, hospitality, fitness, and health industries during the last 15 years and has found the common thread that connects people--fun. Her undergraduate degree in Interpersonal Communication and Psychology and her Masters in Health Promotion, complete

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     Kate Offer, Bay Area melodramatic soprano, would like you to know that she is very, very important and special and has done many wonderful and exciting musical things that would make you say, “Wowza!” and “Gee Whiz!” and “Didgeridoo!” She says she lip syncs perfectly for a number of estimable (but easily-fooled) organizations like Cappella SF, the SF Symphony Chorus, and the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco.  Other bamboozled victims include Volti, the Vallejo Choral Society, the Cal Berkeley Alumni Chorus, Berkeley Contemporary Opera, West Edge Opera, Oakland Opera, Piedmont Light Opera, Goat Hall Th

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Erica Swiatek is a high energy, passionate, facilitator, consultant and trainer.  She blends her expertise in the fields of innovation and learning & development to create activities, courses and programs.  Her programs include topics such as creative problem solving, professional development, change management and team building.  Erica also has a passion for playfulness in learning which led to publishing an article on this topic in the 2015 Big Questions of Creativity book. Erica is certified in Myers-Briggs, DiSC and FourSight assessments which she uses these to help team’s problem solve, communicate

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca  Megan Werner and Whitney Farrar are licensed, clinical mental health counselors, who have practiced together at a residential facility for juveniles who have sexually offended.  Whitney continues to work with this population and has expanded her competency to focus on clinical work with female sex offenders.  As of late, Megan has been learning the ins and outs of committed youth, who are mandated to live in a substance abuse residential treatment facility.  Both Whitney and Megan have been using humor and laughter with their current and past populations, in addition to various other populations to include acute psychos

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             This week 4X Tedx speaker, international author and social media guru, Bobby Umar, joins Maia to talk about authentic connection,leading from the heart and the hidden strength that lies in our own vulnerability. Website: www.raeallan.com

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca            Dr. Janet obtained certifications in Clinical Sexology, Sex Education and Erotology and earned her PhD in Human Sexuality from IASHS. She received her certification in Sex Coaching through Sex Coach U, under the direction of world renowned Dr. Patti Britton and Dr. Robert Dunlap and has been enjoying an active private practice in Sex Coaching since 2012. She joined the Sex Coach U faculty in 2013 as the Director of Curriculum and Student Adviser, where she enjoys using her expertise to guide students on their journey to certification. She has been an RN, BSN since 1981 and has practiced in most areas of nursin

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca            Jeff Jackson is a writer and salesman who left corporate America to pursue an acting career in NYC when mother nature decided on other plans for him. A father of twin boys, through his writing and speaking he is a staunch advocate for helping men and fathers be their best. Along with his own Daddy Is Best blog, his witty writing has been featured in the Good Men Project, Multiplicity Magazine, Encouraging Dads.com  and most recently in the newly released book, Go Ask Your Dad- Questions, Answers and Stories about Fathers, Fatherhood and Parenting. www.daddyisbest.com

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Nick Mosca holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University where he won The Billings Preaching Prize Competition for his work at the intersection of humor and theology. He is an avid speaker and writer about this and other inspirational topics through WABC Radio, The HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, The Milken Scholars Program, The Madison Avenue Baptist Church, Judson Memorial Church, and Toastmasters International. Moreover, Nick served as a co-host for WABC’s longest-running program, “Religion on the Line,” and was featured on The Religion News Service website. This week, Nick joins Maia on Mornin

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca             Beth Boynton is a RN, MS is an organizational development consultant who uses theatre improvisation activities to teach communication, collaboration and leadership skills to healthcare professionals. She is the author of Successful Nurse Communication : Safe Care, Healthy Workplaces & Rewarding Careers and  Confident Voices: The Nurses’ Guide to Improving Communication & Creating Positive Workplaces. She is an avid blogger who publishes a blog called, Confident Voices in Healthcare a wonderful blog dedicated to making healthcare safer, kinder, fairer, and more cost-effective.  www.confidentvoices.co

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     A physical therapist by day and stand-up comic by night, Dr. Laura Hayden has appeared in countless clubs, theatres, casinos, cruise ships, military tours and shacks all over the United States and 26 countries. As a stand-up comedian she has performed at festivals in New York, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Scotland. Other credits include TV Guide Network, Laughs on Fox, The Night Shift with Kevin Ferguson, Funny.com, Dead Americans, LATALK radio and XM radio She is the author of Recipes for a Broken Heart. A wonderful collection of heartbreaking stories of love lost and the comfort foods

Maia Aziz P.S.W., C.L.Y.L., C.H.P., writes and speaks on living a life of love and laughter. President-Elect of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Maia is joined each week on Morning Moments With Maia...Conversations of Love and Laughter by an eclectic lineup of guests who live their lives with love and laughter and work to help others do the same. www.withloveandlaughter.ca     Trevor Smith B.A., M.S., M.Ed. Over the years, Trevor has skillfully used the principles of improvisation and laughter  as training tools to help employees reduce workplace stress, improve their communication skills, become more creative problem solvers, improve their ability to work as part of a team, and create that spark that leads to an overall healthier and happier workplace. Now he has combined his improvisational techniques with leadership training and development strategies to create a unique series of talks, trainings, workshops, seminars, and retreats for CEOs and HR leaders in addition to employee groups.