Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living magazine. Today I have Rachael Romig with me. Hi, Rachael.
Rachael Romig: Hi, Toni.
Toni: How are you?
Rachael: I am fantastic today.
Toni: Great. So Rachael, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Rachael: Sure. As Toni mentioned, I am Rachel Romig. I’m the Marketing Director with ViVA Restaurants and Catering Group. I have been working with the company for about two years. We currently have two restaurants. This (past) Monday we opened the ViVA Castle Pub in the Reading Country Club.
Toni: Congratulations!
Rachael: Thank you very much. It’s been a really busy week leading up to that, obviously. We also have a catering company, ViVA Catering, and our sister company is Masterpiece Events, the exclusive caterer to the Reading Public Museum venues. So I stay pretty busy.
Toni: It sounds it. My goodness. You must be everywhere!
Rachael: I really am everywhere. You can really see me at any point in time at any venue that we work at. I also am the Event Day Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator for a nonprofit group called My Gut Instinct. It’s all about health and wellbeing. It was founded by Dr. Aparna Mele. We just had our Expo in September, and next year it’s in October. It went off really well. We had a great attendance, and we’re just trying to make people a little healthier.
Toni: She’s been in for a couple of podcasts through The People Chronicles. She’s really great. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Rachael: I’ve been thinking about what it means to me, and it’s such an intangible concept. I really was able to put it into a few examples. I find that inspiration to me is found in people, places, objects and obviously ideas, whether you’re going to the mall and there’s tons of traffic and I let somebody out and they smile and wave, I hope to myself, “Maybe I inspired them to be a little nicer to someone else today.” It really is just such a wide concept. So many great things come from nothing, and that’s how I look at inspiration. It really is nothing until you make it something. Every little thing about my day is inspiring. It can be, even if you don’t think it is.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Rachael: I have been working with a marketing professor with ViVA. I see her once a week just to go over new ideas, brainstorm fun activities. She makes me feel like I can conquer anything. It’s really hard to find those people in your life. She does it every time I talk to her. Even if it’s the smallest thing that I did, she makes me feel like I’m a million dollars. It blows my mind that someone can make me feel that way. I hope I can make someone else feel that way.
Toni: That’s almost like motivation. She motivates you by her words and inspires you to keep going or to do better.
Rachael: Exactly.
Toni: So that’s a really concrete example of when you are inspired to either stay at something, improve something, or just do something else with it, right?
Rachael: Right.
Toni: So let’s take that inspiration and when you feel that way, how do you put that into practice here?
Rachael: I look at my day. I’m a very organized person. I map out my day, figure out what I’m going to do, see how I can make what I’m going to do better, more efficient, more effective. Working with the people that I work with, I’m touching the community all the time. I speak to them. I write to them. I listen to them. I hope to help them with questions, whether it is in regard to restaurants or food or just in general as an event planner; they come to me and ask questions.
I would like to hope that every day I put that into a materialistic form when I work with people helping them. Knowing that I’m here for them, especially through event planning. I love taking someone’s ideas and making them reality, and that I hope is inspiring to them, because it was their idea – I just helped them do it.
Toni: So you brought their inspiration to life.
Rachael: I certainly try.
Toni: You’re like the inspiration maker.
Rachael: Maybe a little.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Rachael: It would be easy for me to say my boss inspires me. He took a beverage company and turned it into two restaurants and a catering company. Dr. Aparna Mele inspires me because every day she goes out and she wants to make this community better, and that is obvious every time you talk to her. I’m inspired by everyday people, and that is just someone walking down the street. I see a mom in the grocery store and there are three kids in the cart and they’re all grabbing for candy, and there doesn’t have to be any kind of story about it. It’s inspiring – I mean, obviously, I’m not a parent, can you tell? – that she’s doing what she has to do; she’s making people happy, even if it’s her family. Then she goes out and she continues to do her day. She smiles. It’s inspiring.
You never know anyone’s story behind why they are the person that they are. I like to think about that a lot. I’ve been through a lot in my life, personally, professionally that you’d have no idea about, but everyone comes over a hurdle, whether it’s a small or a big one. I like to connect with people, and if they want to tell me those stories that’s great, but I know that those stories are there. Seeing someone tackle something, watching them smile while they explain something and you can tell they’re excited about this idea. Or, someone that just offers a kindness or a common courtesy that I feel is fleeting in this day and age – it inspires me to be a better person.
Do I hope to make an impact on somebody else’s life through the kindnesses I show and the attention that I give and the patience that I certainly try to have? Yes. Everyone inspires me all the time, and that’s such a generic answer, but I truly, truly mean it.
Toni: Well, I don’t think it’s a very generic answer, because for you, it seems as though you draw inspiration from acts of others and witnessing the lives of others.
Rachael: I do.
Toni: So that inspires you. Then, what you do with it is what becomes important. For you to be inspired by witnessing someone else’s story or their life, then for you to turn around and put that into practice in Berks County through your dealings with customers, friends, nonprofits because you also want to make someone’s life better and show those little acts of kindness, I think that’s kind of cool. It kind of goes 360.
Rachael: I certainly want to be the best person I can be, taking the lives of others, the stories of others, the downfalls, the times they’re uplifted … the human story is a long one.
Toni: It is.
Rachael: If you don’t take anything from the story, I’d say you’re not listening.
Toni: I love that. What do you want your legacy to be?
Rachael: I think it would just be that I hope people know that I tried my hardest all the time and I always tried to do the right thing, stick up for the little guy, stick to my morals. I know I certainly will want to pass that on at least within my family. I really do try to be understanding, because you need to connect. If you stop connecting … I mean, you can even say, even if you’re an introvert, you’re still connecting.
Toni: Absolutely.
Rachael: I just want people to know that I worked my hardest and didn’t have as many hurdles to jump as others, but even in my education, for example, professionally I started a little later, but I had my goals and I stuck to my goals. I made them when I was young, and it just took a little bit longer to get there than I expected, but it’s paying off because I work hard and I believe I’m a good person. I try to help others. Being involved as much as you can is just good. I would hope people thought I was good.
Toni: See? I would imagine that they already do. What a living legacy to have. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project
Rachael: Thank you. I’m feeling super inspired today now!
Toni: Take care, Rachael.
Rachel: Thank you.
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living magazine. Today I have Rachael Romig with me. Hi, Rachael.
Rachael Romig: Hi, Toni.
Toni: How are you?
Rachael: I am fantastic today.
Toni: Great. So Rachael, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Rachael: Sure. As Toni mentioned, I am Rachel Romig. I’m the Marketing Director with ViVA Restaurants and Catering Group. I have been working with the company for about two years. We currently have two restaurants. This (past) Monday we opened the ViVA Castle Pub in the Reading Country Club.
Toni: Congratulations!
Rachael: Thank you very much. It’s been a really busy week leading up to that, obviously. We also have a catering company, ViVA Catering, and our sister company is Masterpiece Events, the exclusive caterer to the Reading Public Museum venues. So I stay pretty busy.
Toni: It sounds it. My goodness. You must be everywhere!
Rachael: I really am everywhere. You can really see me at any point in time at any venue that we work at. I also am the Event Day Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator for a nonprofit group called My Gut Instinct. It’s all about health and wellbeing. It was founded by Dr. Aparna Mele. We just had our Expo in September, and next year it’s in October. It went off really well. We had a great attendance, and we’re just trying to make people a little healthier.
Toni: She’s been in for a couple of podcasts through The People Chronicles. She’s really great. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Rachael: I’ve been thinking about what it means to me, and it’s such an intangible concept. I really was able to put it into a few examples. I find that inspiration to me is found in people, places, objects and obviously ideas, whether you’re going to the mall and there’s tons of traffic and I let somebody out and they smile and wave, I hope to myself, “Maybe I inspired them to be a little nicer to someone else today.” It really is just such a wide concept. So many great things come from nothing, and that’s how I look at inspiration. It really is nothing until you make it something. Every little thing about my day is inspiring. It can be, even if you don’t think it is.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Rachael: I have been working with a marketing professor with ViVA. I see her once a week just to go over new ideas, brainstorm fun activities. She makes me feel like I can conquer anything. It’s really hard to find those people in your life. She does it every time I talk to her. Even if it’s the smallest thing that I did, she makes me feel like I’m a million dollars. It blows my mind that someone can make me feel that way. I hope I can make someone else feel that way.
Toni: That’s almost like motivation. She motivates you by her words and inspires you to keep going or to do better.
Rachael: Exactly.
Toni: So that’s a really concrete example of when you are inspired to either stay at something, improve something, or just do something else with it, right?
Rachael: Right.
Toni: So let’s take that inspiration and when you feel that way, how do you put that into practice here?
Rachael: I look at my day. I’m a very organized person. I map out my day, figure out what I’m going to do, see how I can make what I’m going to do better, more efficient, more effective. Working with the people that I work with, I’m touching the community all the time. I speak to them. I write to them. I listen to them. I hope to help them with questions, whether it is in regard to restaurants or food or just in general as an event planner; they come to me and ask questions.
I would like to hope that every day I put that into a materialistic form when I work with people helping them. Knowing that I’m here for them, especially through event planning. I love taking someone’s ideas and making them reality, and that I hope is inspiring to them, because it was their idea – I just helped them do it.
Toni: So you brought their inspiration to life.
Rachael: I certainly try.
Toni: You’re like the inspiration maker.
Rachael: Maybe a little.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Rachael: It would be easy for me to say my boss inspires me. He took a beverage company and turned it into two restaurants and a catering company. Dr. Aparna Mele inspires me because every day she goes out and she wants to make this community better, and that is obvious every time you talk to her. I’m inspired by everyday people, and that is just someone walking down the street. I see a mom in the grocery store and there are three kids in the cart and they’re all grabbing for candy, and there doesn’t have to be any kind of story about it. It’s inspiring – I mean, obviously, I’m not a parent, can you tell? – that she’s doing what she has to do; she’s making people happy, even if it’s her family. Then she goes out and she continues to do her day. She smiles. It’s inspiring.
You never know anyone’s story behind why they are the person that they are. I like to think about that a lot. I’ve been through a lot in my life, personally, professionally that you’d have no idea about, but everyone comes over a hurdle, whether it’s a small or a big one. I like to connect with people, and if they want to tell me those stories that’s great, but I know that those stories are there. Seeing someone tackle something, watching them smile while they explain something and you can tell they’re excited about this idea. Or, someone that just offers a kindness or a common courtesy that I feel is fleeting in this day and age – it inspires me to be a better person.
Do I hope to make an impact on somebody else’s life through the kindnesses I show and the attention that I give and the patience that I certainly try to have? Yes. Everyone inspires me all the time, and that’s such a generic answer, but I truly, truly mean it.
Toni: Well, I don’t think it’s a very generic answer, because for you, it seems as though you draw inspiration from acts of others and witnessing the lives of others.
Rachael: I do.
Toni: So that inspires you. Then, what you do with it is what becomes important. For you to be inspired by witnessing someone else’s story or their life, then for you to turn around and put that into practice in Berks County through your dealings with customers, friends, nonprofits because you also want to make someone’s life better and show those little acts of kindness, I think that’s kind of cool. It kind of goes 360.
Rachael: I certainly want to be the best person I can be, taking the lives of others, the stories of others, the downfalls, the times they’re uplifted … the human story is a long one.
Toni: It is.
Rachael: If you don’t take anything from the story, I’d say you’re not listening.
Toni: I love that. What do you want your legacy to be?
Rachael: I think it would just be that I hope people know that I tried my hardest all the time and I always tried to do the right thing, stick up for the little guy, stick to my morals. I know I certainly will want to pass that on at least within my family. I really do try to be understanding, because you need to connect. If you stop connecting … I mean, you can even say, even if you’re an introvert, you’re still connecting.
Toni: Absolutely.
Rachael: I just want people to know that I worked my hardest and didn’t have as many hurdles to jump as others, but even in my education, for example, professionally I started a little later, but I had my goals and I stuck to my goals. I made them when I was young, and it just took a little bit longer to get there than I expected, but it’s paying off because I work hard and I believe I’m a good person. I try to help others. Being involved as much as you can is just good. I would hope people thought I was good.
Toni: See? I would imagine that they already do. What a living legacy to have. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project
Rachael: Thank you. I’m feeling super inspired today now!
Toni: Take care, Rachael.
Rachel: Thank you.
