Family business owners: Discover how the Roseto Effect proves strong family connection builds resilient leadership, better teams, and long-term business growth—even during crisis.
Growth Pillar: Networking & Community
Family business owners lose focus and growth momentum when personal stress, grief, or conflict impacts leadership and performance.
What if your greatest business advantage is not your marketing plan—but your family table?
In this powerful episode of Knack 4 Business, we sit down with Dorina Lantella, founder of Dorina’s Kitchen, to explore the Roseto Effect—a real-world study proving that strong community and family bonds increase longevity, health, and resilience.
Dorina shares her personal story of grief, family crisis, and rebuilding focus after loss. Through faith, food, and connection, she discovered something powerful:
Strong families build strong businesses.
Gathering at the kitchen table.
Cooking together.
Talking through conflict.
Leading with empathy.
These simple habits build emotional resilience. And resilient leaders grow resilient companies.
This episode is a practical business case study for family-owned businesses who want:
• Better leadership under pressure
• Stronger communication
• Healthier team culture
• Long-term business sustainability
Dorina explains how the Roseto Effect applies directly to entrepreneurship. Community reduces loneliness. Support builds confidence. Positive leadership improves performance.
If you feel isolated as a business owner, this conversation will remind you:
You are not meant to lead alone.
Who This Podcast Is For
Family business owners, second-generation leaders, entrepreneurs balancing work and home, and founders building culture-driven companies.
What You’ll Gain
• Actionable leadership lessons rooted in real life
• A resilience framework for family businesses
• Practical communication strategies
• A new perspective on business growth through community
• Inspiration to rebuild connection at home and at work
Key Topics Covered
• The Roseto Effect and business resilience
• Family culture as a competitive advantage
• Entrepreneur mental health
• Leadership through community
• Faith and entrepreneurship
• Networking as modern community
• Emotional resilience in business growth
Guest Links & Resources
Dorina Lantella
Website: https://www.dorinaskitchen.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorinaskitchen/
Italy Immersion Retreats
Leadership & Family Coaching
Cooking & Connection Workshops
Watch & Read
📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/FE3605nTMlE
📰 Article: https://knack-4-business.ghost.io/your-family-is-your-business-advantage-heres-why
SPONSORS
💼 Canada Growth Network – $47 CAD /mo = Business networking + CRM tools for SMBs
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🤝 @Hive – Real-world business networking community
Join here 👉 https://tinyurl.com/4dmcxah8
Special thanks to:
Carl Richards from Podcast Solutions Made Simple
Fred Crouch of the Property Wizard Podcast
Jovan Strika from @Hive
Melanie Webber
Co-host: Wayne Pratt
Next Steps to Take:
If this episode helped you rethink leadership and family business growth:
✔️ Subscribe and follow Knack 4 Business
✔️ Share this episode with another business owner
✔️ Comment on YouTube and join the discussion
✔️ Connect with Dorina on LinkedIn
✔️ Reach us at info@kreativinsight.com
Visit https://knack4business.com/ to explore more episodes.
Bernie (00:05)
Question of the audience, how do you stay focused on growing your business when family turmoil and personal loss keep pulling you off track?
Dorina will share how to rebuild focus, peace, and resilience when life outside of work feels overwhelming. She'll pack how the Roseto Effect, deep family and community connection can restore clarity and energy for entrepreneurs. Our guest today is Dorina Lantella from Dorina's Kitchen.
Dorina lives in Roseto Valfortore Italy, the birthplace of the renowned Roseto effect. A former soccer player and lifelong coach, she seamlessly transitioned from sports to life coaching, driven by her passion for fostering happiness and connection. Dorina's mission is to revitalize the Roseto effect.
Promoting the idea that a connected family unit leads to happier, more productive individuals. With six kids, Dorina understands firsthand the profound impact of a harmonious home environment and overall wellbeing and success in life. Join us as she shares her journey and insights on creating positive change in the world through community and family connections. Dorina, welcome back. Absolute pleasure to have you here. And do you have a favorite quote or saying?
Dorina (01:21)
Favorite quote are saying, well, hopefully in the end this will tie it all together. One of them that has kind of come back to the forefront for me recently is, you can't find the sunshine, be the sunshine.
So that's what I try to do.
Bernie (01:33)
So in the last year, in 2025, you've had multiple family crises that have rolled through your life.
What, how do you view success now? Cause that, you know, it's kind of taking, uh, you know, kind of knocked you off the rails. How do you view success now and how did you get back on the rails?
Dorina (01:55)
Well, thank you for bringing all this up and giving me this opportunity to share this, because I hope that maybe it'll help somebody. The thing is we lost my first grandbaby just before she was to be born with a ruptured placenta. So that started off the earlier part of the year. And then we lost my dad this summer. And so it was just a real, and of course I did have a grandson born just a few weeks after we lost the first baby.
It was a real roller coaster of emotional year. Absolutely just up, down, inside, out. As far as success in coming from this stuff, I think that the fact that I raised my family in the way that we're gonna talk about here, we were all here, everybody rallied. And I think that when you can come together as a family,
That itself teaches you and hopefully by observing teaches others how just being united on the family front makes everything else succeed. So when we lost the baby, my one son flew in from, they were in Maryland. My youngest son bought a one-way ticket from California. Of course, then he relied on me to get him back. But anyway, the other ones, who drove down from New Jersey? Who drove over from Virginia? I mean,
we've everybody rallied and that's I attribute that to you know how we raised the family and that now they're all out there they're all grown and I think my biggest success is that they're all out there doing great things so in business and personally so.
Bernie (03:29)
You have sort of the reverse immigrant story. Here's a woman from Pennsylvania, from Italian heritage, yes, but decides, there's where I've got to be. I've got to go to Italy. This is where I can flourish. Tell us a story.
Dorina (03:44)
Tell you a story well I'll give you the quick back story of the Roseto effect because that describes kind of. It's the ground work for everything that I do my family comes from rose to offer for to Italy where I now live but I grew up in the Washington DC area. The first immigrants from rose to offer for to Italy went to land in eastern Pennsylvania when they immigrated in the eighteen eighties I'm working in the slate mines and. ⁓
They were discriminated against and so they moved off to the side and they started their own little town and they named it Roseto after the town in Italy. So there is a Roseto, Pennsylvania. It was the only 100 % Italian town in the United States. So anyway, they lived in this little enclave for many years. And in the 1960s, the doctor serving the town told another doctor that nobody in this town had any heart disease or any other ailments, no mental illnesses, nobody was on welfare. It was a real, just kind of like a little Shangri-La.
So they go to study it and they think it's the food because that's the obvious thought and it was not the food because they're eating salted cured meats and food fried and lard and smoking and drinking and happy and healthy. So what was it and they ultimately attributed their good health and longevity to their community center church centered family centered life. I say it's important what's around the table but what's on the table but more important what's who's around the table.
And so, you know, I started the Back to the Table movement. I'm on this mission to revive this phenomenon that they found there in Pennsylvania. They called the Roseto effect. And I want to revive the Roseto effect, the phenomenon by which people live longer, healthier, happier lives by the way they live in community. Now, it doesn't just hit us personally. It goes beyond personal. It goes, it starts with the person. starts with the family. It starts with the next door neighbor and the extended family.
But really, truly, where are all important things in life? Where do they all happen? They all happen at the table. so, of course, my business is during this kitchen, and I've kept to that no matter what I do, because everything important happens in the kitchen. And so I think that we need to bring that back to the forefront and get this rosette to effect alive and big again in the United States, and in Canada.
I think every country that speaks English, that's where all the immigrants are, where we've all kind of gotten separated from our heritages and our cultures and our connections and our traditions of the table.
Bernie (06:03)
So chaos is something that, know, the reason it's chaos, it's called chaos because it wasn't predicted. You know, you might have a hint that might come your way, et cetera. What's the first step when like all of a sudden like something just floors you? You know, it could be loss of life. could be, and truly, like you said, you know, it can be a momentous occasion. could be a wedding. It could be someone got born.
So if there's a ⁓ momentous occasion, whether it's adverse or really positive, that can throw you off your group, right? And how do you regain that focus? How do you gain control back?
Dorina (06:43)
Honestly, I know it's gonna sound redundant, but I'm gonna say the table. When these two tragedies hit our family this summer, okay, or this year, when we lost the baby, I was here in Italy and my son texts us, we're in a restaurant and he's like, we lost her. I came back to town.
And I, and it was time, it was a Sunday evening and it was time for church. And I went, I said, I gotta go. And I went to church and I'm crying. I'm, I'm, I can't, I can't hold it in. I'm sobbing. And I know everybody in the church because it's the whole town and I know everybody in town cause it's that small. And the thing is though, you know, the lady sitting in front of me taught my son, taught that son, cause she turns to me, she's like, what's wrong?
And I said, and I told her she goes, which son? I said, Leo. she said, ⁓ and she just gives, and she just reaches little teeny lady reaches over the bench and just gives me a big hug. After mass, everybody's coming up to me, talking to me, giving me hugs and kisses and giving me reassurance. And, and then the same thing this summer when my dad died, you know, it was just, he came here on vacation and you know, and all of a sudden, boom, he has a heart attack and it was.
The town came out they came to see me they told me stories they all came to the funeral they came to the you know to the viewing they they had. Their arms around me and i did not feel alone and that to me is the essence of the Roseto effect because the community the connections yeah did it make the pain go away no.
but it made me feel less alone and I was able to go on to the next part. And I was able to pull a smile through the tears because somebody told me a funny little story about my dad or somebody told me that they also lost a baby or whatever. And I shared these stories with my son and my daughter-in-law and my sisters about my dad and all this. And you know.
I'm telling you, think loneliness is kryptonite. And I think that by starting a life around the table, it helps. It absolutely helps. And I think it works that way in business too. Just like all of our networking meetings that we go to, That's my church business-wise. I'm there with like-minded people.
doing like-minded things, supporting each other, giving each other suggestions, giving each other encouragement, tips, this worked for me, well, that didn't work for me, this, you know, and that's community. Community solves lots of problems. Community is togetherness.
Bernie (09:36)
There's that famous concept of, you know, whether a Billy Joel movie or whatever, of the family table bringing everyone back and music and all the pain seems to disappear for two hours. And then there's the Thanksgiving with too many. Tell me about not being a Disney movie, but actually using these tools to make it happen, where you can be real and raw and authentic, but it actually does bond.
Dorina (10:06)
Okay, let me be really raw and authentic. About 15 years ago, after another family tragedy, unfortunately, where we were still, we were younger and couldn't handle what happened, we lost my sister-in-law, unfortunately, to a suicide. And it rocked our family. And my husband was angry and withdrawn, and I was depressed and crazy, and we separated for three years. Three years. But let me tell you something.
Wayne (10:19)
Wow. ⁓
Dorina (10:32)
One of the things that we still through it all held very important held held in high, high import high importance in our life and get those words out. Was Sunday dinner and taking care of the kids and so every Sunday. My husband came home for Sunday dinner with the family and during those 3 years of let me tell you it was it was it was. The worst and best time of my life.
I did a learned a lot of business I learned a lot of personal I learned a lot about coaching it took lots of courses to help myself but also then to help others. But in the meantime that sunday dinner was our lifeline it was a couple hours of normal. In the midst of the chaos as you're talking about and we feel like both of us looking back we've talked about it it's like that was a little something that reminded him reminded me.
what we were supposed to be doing and how we were supposed to do it. Because I was pulling out on the stops, of course, you know me, I'm gonna cook and I'm gonna cook like crazy because the first three things he asked me were, are you Italian? Can you cook? Will you marry me? When we first met. I had to keep that baby going. it really, aside from all the fun and the jokes and the fun at the beginning, going through tragedy and stuff, ⁓ the table kept us together.
Bernie (11:48)
We have family some. ⁓ go ahead, Wayne. A lot of business books that are autobiographical autobiographical, where you know the end of the story and when you're reading it, it seems very linear. And guess what? Life isn't. Now, one thing that interests me about your story is you're an maybe not an expert, a sort of you're a restaurateur by trade and you got good at it and you were growing it. And I mean,
There was probably a dream where I want to take this national, I want a Michelin star or whatever. So it had a very focused linear plan that you thought you had. And then you went, no, that's not the plan at all. Can you tell me about that aha moment?
Dorina (12:28)
Honestly, okay, I grew up in the restaurant business in a marble floor chandelier business in a restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, right outside of DC. And it was actually named Roseto. Actually, someone just brought me this little match book that was from our restaurant years ago. Anyway, pretty funny. And of course, you know, every time I got in a fight with my dad, I'd go work somewhere else. So I worked at a lot of different restaurants and bars, learning, learning, learning.
Anyway, my aha moment in life about food, I think was when one of my friends in college called me, and her last name was Murphy, so that she wasn't a vowel last name like me, called me. And I was the neighborhood Italian kid who grew up in the restaurant. And she called me, she's like,
can you teach me and my college friends how to cook? She was at a different school there in the same DC area. And, and she goes, we're all broke and we can't cook and we can't eat out all the time and blah, blah, blah. So I did this cooking class for a bunch of college girls. I think I was 19. And I was like, wow, look at what I know from what I, how I grew up that they don't know. And then I was able to teach them. And it was such a real, it was such a good feeling.
Even at that young age to share what I knew that I had learned from my Italian non that I had learned from the chef at our restaurant. You know, and then my own interest. It was, it was an amazing feeling. And I've been teaching people how to cook since I was 19 off and on the younger years, you know, when I was married earlier married, you know, later on, I ended up was the kids got bigger. did classes at my house. So like, you know,
I did some stuff with the adult school. did it at my restaurant when I had my restaurant in New Jersey and I continued during COVID. turned to an online thing and started my Facebook live show and YouTube channel. So, it's been, it's been a great experience. You know, you can make a meal for someone and I can feed you once, but I can teach you how to cook and you'll, you'll eat forever. You know, so it's kind of like, ⁓ you know, what is it?
give them a, what's it, with the fish, teach them how to, yeah, teach them how to fish and instead of giving them a fish, so I teach them how to fish.
Wayne (14:45)
Yeah.
Bernie (14:45)
So a lot of circumstances, like when chaos ruse the day, it's not necessarily because accidents happened, and again, going back to birth, death, injury, et cetera. Sometimes it's the personalities in our life. And if they're family, it becomes, you can't run away from it. It's there. How do you manage that? How do you reconcile those moments? How do you reckon?
How do you work at it so that you piece at your end of the spectrum, perhaps all the way around?
Dorina (15:17)
I think that, kind of like some of the lessons I learned from coaching soccer all the years I did that, that then took me into personal coaching, life coaching, or whatever you want to, all the different things I call it, relationship coaching. It's all about relationships. ⁓ you know, when you're on a field, it's all relationships. It's the coach and the players, it's the players and the players, it's the players and the opponents. I think it's really about preparation.
you know, and so for me, the preparation and in the home and then even in the business is that that meetup at the table, teamwork, you know, teamwork is going to be about, communication. So if we're at the dinner table and, know, one of the kids is looking kind of glum and Isaac, what's the matter? And they say somebody was mean to me at school. I was like, well, let's invite them over for cookies. You know, let's invite them over after school and make a friend out of that kid, or maybe help the bully because sometimes the bullies got more of a problem than you do.
⁓ you know, there's all kinds of things that can be solved. Lots of problems can be solved at the table before they become a problem. If that kid is eating in front of you, not in their bedroom in front of a computer talking to like-minded negative people. So let's keep our, you know, keep things up. Yeah. My kids will tell you all the time, mom, not everything is all happy, you know, optimistic, you know, like you are. And I'm like, yes, it is. And I refuse to kowtow to.
negativity because you know what, it serves me no purpose. So, and then the other piece of it too, as any coach should do, is lead by example. I was a soccer player and so therefore I was able to coach the players. I led by example whether it was in how to pass a ball or just how to speak to the players. I had a great high school coach.
And this one little teeny lesson has taken me so far in life. Don't tell them what they're doing wrong. Tell them how to do it better. Okay? Because first of all, if I say, you know, we've got a player on the field and they're going down the line, I say, no, don't go down the line, cut in. I'm giving them two things to think about. The first is a negative, a don't. Just tell them, you know, cut to the middle. Okay? And this lesson right here, my son...
actually just told me the other day that his, his bar, his new boss is, yells at him. And I'm like, he's, my son's 28 years old and he's like, yo, this guy's always berating me. I'm like, that's not how you lead. said, is it one of, know, who is it in the office? He said, no, it's the boss. like, you know, we don't get the best out of our employees by yelling at them or by telling them what they're doing wrong. Just say, come here. This is, this is what I want you to do. This is how you do it better.
Let me show you, lead by example, and you will get the most out of the people working for you and the most other people. I like to say that I don't have people working for me, I have people working with me. And I try to promote that because I don't need to be the boss. They're gonna see me as the one who knows what I'm doing and I'm the one that's paying them or whatever, but let's work together. It is truly about preparation, teamwork, and leading by example.
Bernie (18:27)
I'm gonna jump in with a stereotype in my mind that I think you're going to actually make more real and more relevant. I imagine the estranged son or you mentioned the estranged parent.
and they don't say a word but they come to the door for some reason because they think they have to. The doorbell rings, you don't even say hello, you open the door, you sit them down in front of a plate of pasta and before the end of the pasta something's changed. Tell me about that process and am I right? Am I wrong? Am I being facetious? Tell me about that story.
Dorina (19:00)
Okay, well, don't, luckily, thank God I do not have any estranged children nor an estranged parent, but I will tell you this, that first of all, I use that a lot because I am the ultimate Italian mama. And for some reason, the things that I say to people, I can get away with saying, because they're like, yeah, well, she's a mom, don't mess with her, you know.
You know, there's, well, I'm going to go off course just for one split second, but, know, I spent many years being quote unquote, just a mom. And when you're just a mom, even though I was always on the serial entrepreneur, always doing something from home, I was making cakes, you know, doing small catering jobs, coaching soccer, making jewelry, whatever it was, something to add to the home. But, um, you know, I, I was always, um,
that stereotype I just I just never could get rid of it and so I use it I'm I you know play into it and I can get like I said I can get away with kind of whatever I want to get away with. But the thing is you know there's a lot of memory there's a lot of a call it muscle memory in the brain and the taste buds in the nose. That comes from food you walk into a place okay we can say home.
we can say somewhere else and smells sense can take you places. Okay. So if I want to do a business deal with somebody, I'm not taking them to a Thai restaurant because Thai food to me tastes good, but I don't like the smell of it. Okay. I'm going to take them somewhere. If I got an Italian client, I'm taking them to a good Italian restaurant where we walk in and they, the aromas
of what's gonna bring back good memories and good feelings and good warmth or maybe into a bakery where there's like that warm bread. Like, know, smells can really make a difference. And when I cook for people, you know, 90 % of the time I'm to onions and so they're always sauteing in the oil and with one ingredient, man, the whole house smells good. If I have a business meeting at my house, I just put a little, you know, garlic and some olive oil.
Wayne (21:00)
garlic-er
Dorina (21:10)
The house smells great and everybody feels like, it smells so warm and inviting in here. So yeah, I think if anybody ever has an issue with one of their kids, if we're gonna take this onto the personal side, invite them home for dinner and make sure you make their favorite meal.
Bernie (21:25)
So going through an adverse event, mean, the words I'm using right now are rather neutral, right? There's no, you know, it's it's unfortunate, et cetera. How, but when you're going through it, it's like, oh my gosh, you you feel the agony, you feel the pain. How do you take that experience and going, okay, gone through it, didn't want it, didn't ask for it.
It's going to happen. Sometimes people pass on and just, know, of course you're immortal, in which case that's a whole different podcast and maybe Marvel Comics will kick in at that point. How do you take the pain and then convert it into, ⁓ okay, I have a life lesson here. What can I pull from this and become better or stronger and better?
Dorina (22:10)
I think that leaning on what I've already created, for example, I mean, I hate to sound redundant, but going back to the family table, having that foundation takes me forward. These past couple of weeks after this year that started, you know, the negative side of it. Well, I started with knee surgery, but the beginning of the year, even before everything else, but that was a good thing.
But then you know April and then July and so here we are in the fall and I am finally starting to feel a little normal and then if I mentioned this already but we somebody said to me you know can't wait for 2026 because they've had a.
crappy year also and I said no, know, don't throw away, never ever wish away time. Just like when somebody says, I'm almost 50, but they're not 50 for two more months. I'm like, don't rush it, you know, don't throw it away. You're still 49, you know, or whatever. I'm past that, but I'm just using a nice number to sound better.
Anyway, ⁓ I feel like that to me reminded me that I don't want to get rid of time. So I'm like, all right, how am going to pull this quarter out? Because we've always got to, you sometimes we forget the things that even we do on a daily basis, you you forget. Why do they say you got to practice soccer when you're a professional? You still got to practice even when you're a professional. You know, you don't get there and then stop practicing.
Wayne (23:14)
Ahem.
Dorina (23:40)
Why do we practice our faith? Because maybe we're gonna forget that today we should say a prayer for something. Everything important you gotta practice, you gotta do continually. So for me, some of my practice, some of the things that I needed to do to continue was my networking. This past week, this past two, I guess two weeks now.
I went back on my, I went on my laptop, I pulled up my email and I started looking at all my networking emails that I get like, you know, like yours and said, okay, Tuesday I'm gonna do this one, Wednesday I'm gonna do this one, and Thursday I'm gonna do this one. And get back in the groove because I believe that when you are with like-minded people, whether it's around your home family table, because obviously you're a family, you're like-minded, or people in business that are...
you know, whether it's the same kind of business or a different business, we're still striving for the same thing. We're striving for some success. We're striving to take care of our families and to have to be in that room, even if it's a virtual with like-minded people gets me back in my groove. And that's how I continued on because a lot of these groups that I'm in also, I've known these people for a while. I've known you for a while.
And so either some of them already knew what had been going on with me and some of them I'm like, sorry, I haven't been here you guys, this is why. And again, it was like I got the hugs like I got in church that day. You know, it was virtual hugs, but it was, okay, Dorina, way to go. You know, I'm sorry this happened, you know, my condolences and I'm so glad you're back. And that motivates. We need to continue to motivate each other always.
Bernie (25:24)
Doreena, you mentioned virtual. I was in business with Bernie a year before I'd ever seen his back. He's actually 3D.
But one thing that I want to focus on is there is a myth in entrepreneur ring about being hard and unforgiving. And they hold up people like Steve Jobs and his own story very much. But your story with you mentioned church, you mentioned spirituality, you mentioned the home, you mentioned the family. This is life learned. This isn't something you picked up at seven. Tell me about how.
Your faith has strengthened your journey really in a real life learned way.
Dorina (26:04)
wow, boy did it. When I went through the first, you know, the crisis 15 years ago with my husband, it was faith that got me through. And now even here, you know, what's really kind of cool about being in Italy, okay, so I'm the stereotype, I'm Italian Catholic. It's like,
Everybody here is either practicing or non-practicing Catholic. And it's not, one of my best friends back in the States is Jewish and other friends who are Christian, other friends who are, you know, different things. And that's fine. And we all love each other and respect each other for our, you know, our differences, but it's amazing how similar we are in our differences. But here there is a comfort. There's a comfort in being around.
Wayne (26:27)
Yeah.
Dorina (26:48)
people who are like me you know next week we're having the Madonna della consulate sione feast it's our lady of the consolation and i'm it's only the forefront right now because my office is right in front of the little chapel where that statue is and they're gonna process around town and have fireworks and and then they're gonna have some food here in the piazza and of course i'm gonna make some food. And it's it's it is definitely a comfort. Being in church that night.
the same day that we lost the baby, you know. I mean, it was my first grandchild. So I have two grandchildren, one in heaven and one down here. But it was, you know, faith.
It grounds you, you know, after church that evening, I went into the back and talked to the priest. And I said, I'm sorry, Pasquale is not here. He's angry. He goes, ⁓ he goes, I know. He goes, I've been angry at God. He goes, I lost both my parents in four months time. And he did this like fist in the air, you know? And I'm like, you know, when you find a good priest, preacher, pastor, whatever,
that can connect with you and make you feel better. It is a nice feeling, because even though this guy's younger than me, get, know, sometimes we feel like somebody's gotta be older than you to have wisdom, you know? And, because I still think I'm 20. But I feel like there's such wisdom that can be shared and such, what's the word I'm looking for? Like just,
Empathy. You know, he could truly empathize. And the compassion that he showed for me, and this guy reached over and just gave me the biggest hug. And I felt like God's arms were wrapped around me. So, you know, yeah, do we question, you know, why you gotta take, you know, my first grandchild? Already she was ready to be born.
Wayne (28:11)
Empathy.
Dorina (28:36)
⁓ You could get angry, but anger serves nothing. you know, God doesn't say that he's going to prevent us from, prevent tragedy in our lives because things are going to happen just by the nature of the world. That he'll be there when you need support. And I truly believe that. And, ⁓ you know, and also I think that, you know, forget anger, you know, it's, what you do with it. Yeah, you can be angry, you know, we can be angry, but what are you going do with that anger? You can let it eat you up.
Wayne (28:50)
It's
Dorina (29:05)
or you can take that energy and turn it outward and do something positive with it. So I think that's the same way in, like I said, in personal life and in business. And you know what? We sit here and we talk about these personal things and we talk about business and sometimes we're talking about faith and it's like, does this stuff contradict itself? But God wants us to be successful. God wants us to be able to feed our kids and our families. My business is a business.
It's also a mission, you know, to get families back to the table. So I feel like I want to save the world one table at a time, one dish at a time.
Bernie (29:38)
hope you've got that trademarked.
Dorina (29:39)
Maybe i trademarking is not cheap you know. But i yes i'm working on that but ⁓ you know i think it's important in every facet of our lives and they can coexist and they can work together.
Bernie (29:52)
So Dorina's Kitchen, obviously the word, your name and the word kitchen implies food, but it's more than food now. Based on your plans, but also the experiences from this past year, where are you heading? what are, do you have new projects afoot? Are you gonna get into wineries?
Dorina (30:15)
Okay, I go to wineries home and I bring people on my groups. So I do bring so the big my big ticket, my, my, big thing that I do with people ⁓ is do these trips here to Italy. So we do 10 day full immersion, like you live here for 10 days. Some of the people I bring are actually of heritage of the towns, you know, ⁓
⁓ descendants of those first people that went to Pennsylvania that are third and fourth generation now that have never been here and I have the honor I'm going to say truly an honor to show them our town where our heritage is from. So that's beautiful and you who better to share the rosé to effect than other Rosatani right. But I do bring other people who want to come to learn to cook who want to faith experience our trip encompasses so much.
because 90 % of the art in Italy is in churches. There's beautiful church. have a little teeny town of 1,000 people. We've got seven churches. Now at one time we had 7,000 people and there was a priest in each church. We have one priest now for the whole town. anyway, to come here and live this little bit of a slower life and to enjoy each moment, enjoy the meals, enjoy that glass of wine with dinner.
learn what an appetitivo, after dinner, before dinner, the digestives, all the things that we do, the homemade everything, reminds us of times gone by where you can still work, still make a living, and still enjoy your life. And I see that people who enjoy their lives actually enjoy the fruits of their labors and their work.
Um, I, I see as happier people I see as living longer. You know, we had, um, the oldest guy in Italy a couple of years ago was in our town. He was 111, my friend's grandfather. 111. He was 109 at his son, his grandson's 50th birthday party. And he got up with his cane at two o'clock in the morning from the table and walked away. You know, I'm like, wow. You know, so my goal is 112 now. I want to beat him.
Wayne (32:18)
you
Dorina (32:19)
But, you know, I think that...
It can only be a good thing. It can only be a good thing. Get to the table, start at home, take it to work.
Bernie (32:28)
Are there any goals that, some people like to focus on certain tangible assets as goals. ⁓ It could be money, it can be fame, it can be, it becomes all consuming goals.
How do you have that balance going, yeah, I like that, you I want to have enough food to eat. I want to have enough money so I can buy what I want around me. But how do you balance out having going for too much versus you losing something to go for too much? In other words, you lose your identity because some people, you know, they become fanatical on something, almost like there's an addiction and everything else goes to seed. How do you do you how do you provide that harmony?
Dorina (33:08)
I unfortunately see so much of that imbalance back in the States. I don't see it so much here. Here you'll see a guy standing out in front of the cafe there, or we call it a bar. A bar here is a cafe. It's a little everything. Standing out in the front of the bar smoking, chilling, and you're like, what are you doing today? Nothing. Don't you have to work? Yeah, I'm not working today. You know, here they work to live. Over there we live to work.
Wayne (33:20)
a bar, ice cream parlor.
a cigarette just
Dorina (33:35)
Now, depends on what your work is. So for me, I did my number one job was raising my family. Okay. I believe in the role of mom, I believe it's a really important and really difficult, like, like master's degree kind of job. Okay. Maybe doctorate, but I did, and I was, I was looking for something. I was searching, I was trying different things and all of a sudden everything came.
kind of like the universe swirled together and God said, okay, now's the time. Everything started to come together when my youngest kid was finishing high school. Boom, because I had to finish that job first because that job, God, what did that teach? That was more than going to 10 universities. That job that I did taught me most of what I now teach other people. I needed to finish that job first. So now my focus is my business.
is me. I am my brand. Dorina is, I am the focus. I am the business. Do I want fame and fortune? You know, one time, I was, don't know, maybe I was in high school or college. I must have been, no, it was after, was, yeah, later because I think we'd started families. some, you know, I, were, me and a friend were talking about money. And I said, I want to be filthy, filthy, filthy rich.
and she looked at me like she was trying to one up me. And she goes, ⁓ I just want to be comfortable, making it seem like I was, you know, greedy or selfish or something. The thing is, when I've got money, everybody's got money. You know, I'm buying around, you know, I'll treat everybody in the restaurant. I see somebody needs some help. I will do things with it, you know? And so that's why.
As much as I can make money, I usually don't have much left at the end of the day. But you know what? I've got a house to live in and food on my plate and people around me and we got clothes and I've got some cool shoes, that's for sure. I live in Italy. And I feel like it depends on what your focus is with that money. It's not who dies with the most money wins. It's who dies with who did the most with their money wins.
I encourage people, yeah, go for it. Make all the money you can, as long as it's not, the pursuit of that isn't interfering with your family. But if you have a strong family, you're gonna make more money because you're gonna be happier and happier people produce more. Happier salespeople sell more. Happier business owners have happier employees who produce more. So you see, it really starts with the joy from home that makes everything flourish.
So I'm really hardcore about this. you know, like when my kids would fight, now I have five boys and one girl, she's the youngest. My five boys are in six years. So let me tell you what a, like a wolf den that was, okay? But they would fight. They were best friends, but boy, when they fought, they fought. And I had this thing where I made, I forced them to hug and kiss and make up.
And inevitably, I still have one particular day in mind that two of them were hugging because I made them. And one was more mad than the other. And I said, kiss your brother. And the one is pulling, they're hugging, but one's pulling away. The other one's leaning in trying to kiss him. Then they started laughing. And boom, done. know, so hug, kiss, and make up. It always works, you know? And,
be the Italian mother with a big wooden spoon.
Bernie (37:14)
With the spoon seems to be a common theme for European mumps, by the way, just FYI.
Dorina (37:18)
And you know, all I did was wave it around. you got to, I had a, there was a lady who taught at my high school and she had 11 kids and 46 grandchildren. But she said, she wrote a little book. was called compost makes the strawberries grow. And she, um, and she said, perfect the glare. She said, because you get there, you get their attention, right? And you give them the look, which I apparently have according to my kids. And, um, it's their imagination. It's their imagination is your ally.
Yeah, but in the meantime, you give them the look and they stop dead in their tracks. You don't insult them. You don't hurt their feelings. You don't embarrass them in front of people. You don't hit them. You don't hurt them, you whatever. You just give them the look. And to this day, it still works. That's the family thing.
Wayne (38:04)
I know.
Bernie (38:06)
I do hope there's a book somewhere. I know you're on YouTube and I know you have people retreats home to you. Who is your perfect client and how's the best way for them to get ahold of you?
Dorina (38:17)
My perfect client is the imperfect person. You know, this is what I'll say. I love helping people. And if someone needs help in their family relationships, in their business relationships, if you want to learn to cook and work on, because you know what? Don't tell me that anybody here, anybody listening doesn't have some.
Wayne (38:19)
and
Dorina (38:43)
relationship issues. None of us are perfect. But let me tell you, it all starts at the kitchen table and if you learn how to cook, you're going to get people to the table because if you order pizza, it's going to end up on the coffee table in front of the TV. So cook your meals, home cooked meals, and if you need help with that, I can help you. And in the process, we talk about relationships and family and business. And then of course, if you want to come to Italy, I, everybody wants to come to Italy. I mean, I, you know, I
Everybody wants to be Italian. That's from my experience. That's what people tell me.
I'm sorry. My, but my trips are enlightening. They are invigorating. You come here, you learn about yourself. You learn about, I say come learn how to cook and learn how to live. And you go home as an ambassador for the Rosetta Effect and wanting to share it. And I can't tell you how much it means to me to share this idea of coming together. It's,
For me, it's my joy.
Bernie (39:43)
You know what, Dorina? I want to say thank you so much for sharing your insights and your time today with us. To my co-host, Wayne Pratt, and you the Knack 4 Business listeners. You know what? If you want meet Dorina come to the East Trade Winds events. know, that's where she's reconnecting with us. But if you're an entrepreneur and you have a family, odds are you do.
And you'd be wondering, are you getting some focus and resilience back in that space as upheaval will invariably happen? Because that's life. Unless, of course, you're totally Zen, in which case you're not really impacted by much. But even you want to understand about how to do a home-cooked meal, that's of Italian origin, come on in and listen to this conversation. Reach out to Dorina. She can help you. And she has much wisdom to share.