Author/filmmaker Rich Tola’s new book, The Sub: Tales of an Inner-City Teacher, gives you an outsider’s view inside America’s troubled educational system.
Based upon Rich’s personal experiences teaching in these forgotten neighborhoods, The Sub shines a much-needed light on the challenges facing our beleaguered (and burnt out) inner-city educators…with concrete solutions to fix them.
A modern-day, historical fiction novel, there’s everything from lockdowns and school shootings, to Autistic children with a penchant for changing lives, to fighting 5th graders and discourteous kids dropping F-bombs, to Middle School girls with their own school-specific gang. Not to mention a sweet and sexy romance that’s fit for a Hallmark movie!
A must read for all High School students and K-12 educators everywhere.
Over the past five decades, Rich has had fascinating careers on Wall Street (3 times), NYC real estate, founder of a Dot-com startup doing business with Donald Trump, and over the past 20 years a yoga teacher and author/filmmaker in Hollywood. He also spent five years moonlighting as an inner-city substitute teacher in California and New Jersey, thus the true encounters for The Sub.
His feature film, Boulevard Zen, and two award-winning shorts, Skateboard Bandits and Zen Diaries: The Lockdown, were produced LA and have a central theme of overcoming adversity.
His personal development guide, How to Drink from the Fountain of Youth: 30 Steps to Everlasting Youth, is ideal for anyone looking to lose weight, feel more energized, be more confident, define your personal goals and aspirations, plus grow mentally as well as improve your entire outlook on life. It’s also for Millennials still searching for their calling, and for baby boomers who finally have the money but not the motivation to pursue their passion. Winner, Firebird Book Award (April 2021): Aging and Mind/Body/Spirit.
And finally, Rich’s wild and witty memoir, Simply Between Millions: From Wall Street to Hollywood, was published in 2012 and highlights the first 50 years of his life’s colorful journey. It’s a fast-paced book with a heartfelt story about perseverance and spiritual awakening, and as one reader puts it, “a wildly entertaining and inspirational book on life never getting you down – even when you’re down!”
Other Highlights
Since 2007, Rich Tola has created and self-produced over 100 hours of original content across all media platforms.
Rich has taught more than 3,000 Tola Yoga classes in twelve cities across the United States, mostly in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.
Upon completion of his yoga-inspired feature film, Boulevard Zen, Rich also founded The Boulevard Zen Foundation, teaching the benefits of yoga to women and children survivors of domestic violence.
His radio show and podcast series, Tola Talks, is candidly funny and strives to be the best ’21st Century Talk for a No BS World’.
His reality TV series pilot, YogaStyles of Rich and the Almost Famous, is where yoga meets history throughout the streets of Chicago.
Chicago was also where Rich created his fitness style of Tola Yoga, designed to give students of all levels the best yoga workout in the world.
Rich has business degrees from Wharton (The University of Pennsylvania) and Kellogg (MBA, Northwestern University).
In the 80’s, he was an All-Ivy League baseball player who worked for Wall Street juggernauts Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham Lambert before living in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia as an International Bank Consultant. In the 90’s, he was a top-producing New York City real estate broker and high-flying Internet entrepreneur who signed up The Trump Organization as his first strategic client. In the early 2000’s, Rich was an award-winning real estate broker and developer restoring historic landmark properties throughout inner-city neighborhoods. 
Most recently, Rich spent two years as a caretaker for his parents, who both passed before he published The Sub. As Rich puts it, “Without a doubt, the most challenging job I ever had in my life, and I’ve had many.”
For all other inquires: info@richtola.com
YogaStyles of RICH and the Almost Famous: Chicago (Rich Tola – Host Reel)
Mindie music video of yoga poses filmed throughout the streets of Hollywood.