Feedback with Toni Reece · 830 WEEU "The Voice of Berks and Beyond"

Feedback with Toni Reece and Guests Jon Escueta and Karel Minor

April 13, 2026·1 hr 22 min·2 clips

John Escueta says one barber chair can turn into reading, breathing, and confidence-building.

1. Feedback on WEEU with Toni Reese connects a moral story about “doing the right thing” to interviews with John Escueta of City Cuts and Carl Miner of Humane Pennsylvania. 2. Toni Reese names John Escueta as a City Cuts barber/owner and Carl Miner as President and CEO of Humane Pennsylvania, and both guests discuss community-facing work. 3. The episode’s core thread is that small actions in a barbershop or an animal shelter can shape confidence, accountability, and care. 4. Escueta describes being drawn to an urban barbershop in sixth grade, doodling haircuts in class, and later working at Friendly’s and Red Lobster before barbering felt like a fit. 5. He says a young child who “never really sat for anybody” became an early proof point, because a half hour in the chair showed him he could make “a difference in his life.” 6. Books by Kids focuses on literacy, self-esteem, and public speaking, and Escueta says he uses breathing exercises like four-second holds and exhales before air time. 7. He credits his wife with telling him he “can’t do this” unless he speaks to clients, and he says a business coach helped him think in terms of “big John” and “little John.” 8. Escueta says some children read a page, a letter, or a single word for the first time, and that the shop also uses instruments and small performances to build confidence. 9. He ties the program to his own childhood, including ESOL classes in the Philippines and an adult telling him, “Who is this kid? We don’t know this kid,” which sent him running home. 10. Listeners interested in youth mentoring, barbering, and local nonprofit work will get the most from this episode.

As heard by us

A warm local-radio hour where ordinary kindness and small acts carry real weight.

This Feedback hour stays close to ordinary good work: a barber using his chair to encourage kids, and Humane Pennsylvania's president and CEO, whose role is framed around animal welfare and a kinder world for animals and people.

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Why you'd press play

You get two local voices and a plainspoken reminder that doing the right thing can be public, practical, and contagious.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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