What’s Franks & Beans?
My sister and I were lucky enough to share two exceptional parents—Frank & Bea Schwartz. We loved them and miss them, so I paid tribute to them by naming my business in their honor.
About Tobi
I’ve been writing professionally for over 35 years, and upon establishing my company Franks & Beans LLC in 2014, I added event marketing to my repertoire. I specialize in planning and promoting Girls’ Nights Out, as well as B2B event marketing and event planning. I offer my clients strategic marketing and branding campaigns that include themed events and other essentials like blog posts, Constant Contact email newsletters (I am a Certified Constant Contact Solutions Provider), feature articles and more.
My career started on the radio. I was a newscaster at WWDB-FM and WPEN-AM, both in Philadelphia, spending a total of 20 years in broadcasting. Most of my time at WWDB was spent doing news for Sid Mark’s “Friday with Frank” show. I also hosted several cable-TV and call-in talk shows. I eventually left full-time broadcasting to go into advertising, and wrote print and broadcast copy at Kalish & Rice Advertising and the John Wanamaker department store chain, both based in Philadelphia.
When the opportunity presented itself, I agreed to co-author a book. “Adding Value to Long-Term Care” was published by Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley Publishing. It was well-received and opened doors for me to write for local consumer magazines and national trade publications.
In 2006, I founded Girlfriendz Magazine, targeted to one demographic only—Baby Boomer Women. The National Association of Baby Boomer Women deemed Girlfriendz the nation’s first regional magazine devoted solely to that audience.
As Girlfriendz’s publisher and commander-in-chief, I generated article ideas, wrote and edited articles, and assigned many articles to Baby Boomer Women who had always wanted to be professional writers, but never had the opportunity. I worked closely with them to develop their talent, and eventually they were assigned articles by regional and national publications. I also planned, promoted and produced events (the beginnings of Franks & Beans Events!) and appearances, created and ran all contests, and performed all marketing and public relations for the company.
I also had the honor of meeting and interviewing many celebrities including: Marlo Thomas, Barbara Eden, Cokie Roberts, Diahann Carroll, Mayim Bialik, Wanda Sykes, Tina Louise, Dionne Warwick, Margaret Cho, Sherri Shepherd, and Frankie Avalon.
Awards I have won include:
- “Hermes Creative Award” presented by the Association of Marketing & Communications Professionals
- “Woman of the Week ‘You Rock, You Roll’” Award from Philadelphia’s 95.7 BEN-FM Radio
- “Media Advocate of the Year” Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)
- “Delaware Valley Entrepreneur” Award
- Four Communicator Awards presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts
Read some of my celebrity interviews and other articles here. You can contact me at Tobi@FranksAndBeans.net.
Tobi, I would like to add another girl to our table
for the “Girls Night Out” on Tues Sept. 19 to make
the # for our table at 6. How do I do that?
Hi Mary Lou!
You’ll find the link to purchase at https://www.franksandbeans.net/psychic-dinner29/.
Please email me at Tobi@FranksAndBeans.net to tell me what her name is.
I will also email you directly in case you don’t see this.
Thank you!
Tobi
OMG! I just read your experience with WWDB. I became interested in talk radio because of DB. Irv Homer, Paul W. Smith, Sid and the others really set the standard for talk and music. My business was Thomas Jewelers of Ocean City and Bridgeton. I advertised on WWDB with Paul and Irv. In fact, I made Paul’s engagement ring for Holly and became the Chairman of the Sunshine Foundation with Irv. Great place, great memories. I closed the store in 2009 and became a talk show host…all from enjoying WWDB. Thanks again and I’ll continue to enjoy your work.
Hi Richard,
Please accept my apologies for taking so long to answer you! I just found your comment, and despite the fact that it is many months old, I wanted to thank you so much for your beautiful reminiscence. I loved my time at WWDB, and it’s so nice to hear that it made such an impact on you. And you even got a nice chunk of business from it! LOL! Anyway, I just wanted to thank you and tell you how much I appreciate that your read my blog.
Question–how did you find it?
Thanks again,
Tobi