2023 Participant Biographies

Michael and Tom are best friends, co-founders, and co-Chief Encouragement Officers of Someone To Tell It To, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based nonprofit organization that cultivates meaningful relationships through compassionate listening and trains others to do the same. Through Someone To Tell It To, Michael and Tom have helped lead more than 18,000 interactions of compassionate listening with people in the United States and in several countries around the world in the last 11 years. Michael and Tom have expanded their impact by leveraging podcasting, authoring books and being a featured speaker in numerous regional, national and international venues. Michael and Tom are available for keynotes, podcast, radio interviews, etc. In addition to being well-regarded experts in compassionate listening, Michael and Tom have launched and maintain their own successful podcast, the Someone To Tell It To podcast which has recorded more than 75 episodes. Having conducted numerous in-person and virtual workshops over the past few year for both corporate and nonprofit clients, Michael and Tom are highly-sought-after experts in topics that are timely and important. They spoken to groups both large and small in size such as Deloitte Company, New York Life Insurance Agency, The Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, Whitaker Center, Keynote Address at The International Listening Association's Annual Conference, local non-profits, and many more! Listening opens up infinitely more aspects of the world that I would never experience without hearing others’ stories. It broadens my understandings, deepens my compassion, and connects me to feelings that I would never know otherwise. Listening makes me a better person, because it gives voice to ideas and insights that only connecting with others can give.