Hilary Topper On Air

We have a packed show today, and we're going to talk about everything endurance sports. We're going to be specifically talking about a new magazine for swim bike run, called Run•Tri•Bike.

I'm Hilary Topper. And this is Hilary Topper on air. Today, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Jason Bahamundi president and CEO and Angela Nath, senior vice-president of Run•Tri•Bike, a multimedia platform designed to help beginner athletes navigate the world of endurance sports, which includes running, cycling and swimming. Welcome guys to the show. First you, Jason, can you tell us a little bit about Run•Tri•Bike Magazine, why you decided to launch the magazine and who is the intended audience is?

Jason - Sure. Hilary, thank you very much for having me on. So Run•Tri•Bike Magazine was started by Angela and me because, during conversations amongst friends and acquaintances and people involved in the sports world, we found that there was a need for tips and tricks and stories and inspiration and motivation for beginners. And we're just coming off or still involved in the pandemic. Right. And people are working from home and deciding to buy running shoes for the first time or buying a bike for the first time and not really knowing where to turn and where to go for those ideas and tips. And so we started the business with that as our focus, it's focused on beginners. And then I would say a second-tier level, underneath that beginner athlete demographic would be looking to help women looking to help people of color, looking to help physically challenged, disabled and LGBTQ plus athletes have a platform to talk about their stories and to inspire others, representation matters to us. And so if you see somebody that looks like you or is from your part of the world, you might get inspired and motivated to get out there and participate in the sports that we love as well. And so that's the premise for starting this business when you say multimedia platform, you're a hundred percent correct.

We print a magazine on a bimonthly basis and we run our website and social media platforms which get updated daily. And then just so listeners understand the content that your consuming online is different than the content that is in the magazine and we want to bring stories in all forms to different people because people process information differently and that's kind of why we're doing it that way.

Hilary - So, Jason, um, just give me a brief overview of your background.

Jason - Sure. I've been involved in endurance sports for about 14 years. I got into it similar to the way other people do, which is, this sounds like fun, let's try it out. Um, and in those 14 years I've been able to, been fortunate enough to cross the finish line of eight iron man races, there’s an eight hundred-mile race coming up in about three weeks as I was notified yesterday that I will be taking on the Cocodona 250, which is a 250-mile foot race from black Canyon city in Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona. Thank you very much for that enthusiasm. I'm kind of really nervous right now about it. I need all the hype I can get from others.

Hilary - That's really cool. Really, really cool. So how did you and Angela meet?

Jason - I have been, um, I guess I would say a supporter of women's sports for a very long time. And I was a Patreon member of I race like a girl. And one day at the start of run tri bike, social media I saw that I race like a girl platform liked three of my own personal stories on Instagram. So I quickly flipped over being an entrepreneur and said, you know what, we're going to reach out to Angela directly, tell our story and see what happens. My goal at the time was to get IRAs, like a girl involved in run tri bike as an advertiser and as a content provider, one conversation led to the next and, before I knew it, Angela was a partner in the business, which is endurance sports investment group, under which RTB operates. And it's been fantastic, the ability to have a partner who obviously is female, and be able to provide you with insight into how women are thinking about these sports and just things of that nature has been great. But yeah, I've been a fan of hers for years, the year she won Iron man Chattanooga, I participated in the race too. So I don't know. Maybe the stars were aligned since way back in 2018.

Hilary - That's awesome. All right. Well, before we move on, I just have to say I'm so appreciative of our sponsors and I must take the time out to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary topper on air special thanks to The Pegalis Law Group, The Profit Express, The Russo Law Group, Pop International Galleries and Gold Benes LLP. So Angela, tell me a little bit about yourself and your professional background as a triathlete.

Angela - Yeah, I started competing in triathlon shortly after college, it was something that I just wanted to stay active in. I was a track and field runner for college and just really loved all sports. And so I wanted to stay active. And so I jumped into a local pool triathlon and fell in love with it. And from there forward, I was just all about triathlon, and about a year later, I was actually, I qualified for my professional card in Canada and, it's been a good decade about training and racing and traveling the world. So it's, it's been really, really fun.

Hilary - That's so awesome. So tell me, what was your favorite race?

Angela - My favorite race is probably St. Croix they do a race there and it's just such a beautiful Island. The whole Island basically jumps in into the race for spectators and, just the vibe there is nice, It’s a very challenging course and I'm someone who loves hot weather. So of course, St. Croix is going to be up on the list.

Hilary - I was there too, that there was some, some Hills up there, huh?  So, um, so talk to me a little bit about, so I heard that you got Lyme disease. Can you talk a little bit about how that happened and, what you actually did about that?

Angela - Yeah, it's a, it's kind of an ongoing process. So in 2018, I was finally diagnosed with Lyme. It was very difficult to really diagnose itself because I went to a number of doctors, world-renowned doctors at Boston Children's no one could figure it out because the CDC guidelines for Lyme are not necessarily accurate in terms of actually having it. So finally I found a doctor and did some other testing, and we found that I had Lyme and Bartonella, which is the co-infection of bacteria, and how you treat it is pretty, it's been a learning curve because you, I kinda treated it with antibiotics. Got better, got off the antibiotics relapsed. And you do that a couple of times and you continue trying to like, get there. Get the layers of the onion away, basically. So during COVID actually, I did a lot of treatment for it. And so I'm just kind of rebounding from that right now because I mean, any type of medication you take really does fall to the body, so you have to kind of process that as well. So it's something that very difficult to go through quite honestly. It's kind of changed my life a little bit in that sense. But really I've learned so much and the education I have for it I try to help as many people as I can that may have unusual symptoms or just a current diagnosis. Anything that I can do to return the favor of the support I've received from others?

Hilary - Well, it seems like that's something that a lot of triathletes get because we go into areas that are sometimes, lots of, lots of grass and trees and, and that type of thing. And, so it's, it's something that I think is pretty unfortunately common among triathletes. So I heard that one of the things that you've been doing is you've been using hydro mag, which is a Moxie life product. Can you tell me about that experience?

Angela - Yeah, I've been with MOXiLIFE for a couple of years now. Theresa, the founder and CEO is just a fantastic lady. Love her to death. I met her at a race in California and she was providing samples of her hydro Mag and hydro Mag is basically a magnesium supplement drink. That is really, really easy to digest. And It tastes great. And so magnesium is something that I lose a lot of, especially even with a Lyme or Bartonella diagnosis as well. It's, it's kind of a common known fact that the magnesium you lose is even more so, and as athletes, you'd be surprised how much magnesium we actually need. And so I've been using her product for two years and I swear by it, it's something I drank two or three times a day. I sometimes add it to my sports drink for training, and it's really helped me in the process throughout this whole timeframe and really be able to train consistently and just try to get the best I can out of my body. So I really do love the product.

Hilary - A lot of triathletes also, and runners find that they cramp up a lot. Is this something that you would tell your athletes to try, as to, take magnesium or to try to…

Angela - Oh, definitely. Yeah. Like, there's, I mean, you obviously want to make sure that your electrolytes in terms of your sodium content is really well done in your sports drink and also your fueling and race nutrition. But another whole process of that is the magnesium. And so sometimes when I have athletes that I coach come to me and say, they're cramping, we kind of do an overhaul of exactly what they're doing in nutrition. So I really like to make sure that they have the sodium content, because I definitely need that throughout training and racing.

And then I always add and let them try the magnesium supplement because I really find that it does so much for the body. Like if you were to do a Google search of what magnesium does for the body, I mean, it's something that's used in basically every cell of the body and every process of the body. So we really do go through a lot as athletes as we push ourselves. And so part of that is cramping. And, I've noticed actually I teach a master's group and we had a guy that would continually cramp in his calves. And so I suggested Moxie life. He bought some and, he's been taking it religiously for the last two weeks and we have not had cramps, so I'm actually glad you brought that up.

Hilary - Wow. That's awesome. That's awesome. And lastly, could you just, talk a little bit about the new magazine, Run•Tri•Bike, and your hopes and ambitions for it?

Angela - Yeah. I started with Jason. He actually reached out to me, kind of in the light of seeing if there was some type of relationship that we could create with run tri bike and right away when he explained his goal with it, the aim of really just providing insights of swim bike, run, triathlon, and bringing stories about athletes from all walks of life and, and that they were all female. I mean, everything I do is really about bringing females into the spotlight of triathlon. And so that's why I have my team. I race like a girl I have my own sites for a lot of educational components. So the run tri bike was just a fantastic opportunity. And so I just asked him, I'm like, well, how can I be more involved? Because this is something that is right up my alley. I'm inspired by people's stories and really trying to share it and make triathlon a little bit less intimidating, all of it just came together. And so we kind of talked a little bit and,  I partnered with him and it's just been fantastic. We're really just starting from grassroots and building it up as we go. And I think it's a niche in the sport because there's not a lot for beginner triathlons and I mean, triathletes, for magazine wise and really getting some education out there and like being able to support with a lot of different types of sponsors that come on board, it's just a platform that I'm really excited to continue to grow. And the stories behind it that we've already had this far are just... Just so fun to read. And the educational component is fantastic. I mean, for anyone that starting triathlon, whether you are a female or male, if you're looking for clubs, if you're looking to kind of be in triathlon where you find it a little bit intimidating and want to learn more, it's a fantastic platform. I mean, I'm biased. I love it.

Hilary - Jason, could you tell us a little bit about the first issue of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine and what was your favorite story so far?

Jason - Oh, those are great questions. Thank you very much. Um, there's nothing like I like talking about more than the product we put out. So our first issue covers swimming, biking, and running from, tips for beginners, such as how to pick the right shoe for running, gear you might need for swimming and then how to pick the right bike because it's not just rode bikes you've got triathlon bikes, cross bikes, things like that. In there also we have coaches tips. One is from Angela and one is from Maria Simone of no limits, endurance coaching.

We've got health tips in there. We've got nutrition tips in there as well. And so to answer the second question, which was my favorite article, that's like picking your favorite child, right? It's very difficult to do, but for me being a quasi foodie, the article written by Stevie Smith about seven posts, nutrition foods for recovery was fascinating to me and phenomenal, to help give you that reminder of what you need to do post-race or post-workout. But then we have a couple of features in there called how it all started.  and it's, again, it goes back to the representation matters in there. So we have athletes telling their stories of how they got started and they don't look like they were models clipped out of another magazine. They're your everyday Jane's participating in our endurance sports. And I just love reading those stories.

Hilary - That's awesome. Any sneak peeks of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine that you'd like to share with us? Something that our listeners should keep an eye out for.

Jason - Of course. I will tell you that there are two, three actual, um, components of the upcoming issue that we're excited about. Um, one is most endurance athletes don't think about going to the gym and, and doing strength training. We've got some great tips in that. About that coming up. But, um, bigger than that is how it all started feature and our club's spotlight feature are going to be circling around the same person. And her name is Melissa Stockwell. She is a war veteran who is an above-the-knee amputee who participates in triathlons. She has been to the Paralympic games twice and won a bronze medal. And part of her story is that she founded dare to try, which is a triathlon club nationally to help physically challenge disabled athletes. navigate, like we like to use that phrase, swim, bike, run triathlon. So I'm really excited about those three pieces that'll be coming out in our next issue of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine.

Hilary - So as you know the listeners of this podcast are mostly CEOs who may be into a swim bike, run triathlons, and so forth. Any words of advice that you would like to share with our listeners? Just thinking about getting into the sport.

Jason - I'd hate to steal from Nike, but a Phil Knight listens to your podcast, I would say, just do it. I mean, we all started somewhere, and a lot of times we were there at, into this, or we found a story that inspired us and we probably spent days, weeks, months thinking about doing it instead of just doing it, but go out there, find a club that is welcoming to beginners because again, we've all been there. You're going to show up in a cotton t-shirt and a Nike's air Jordans instead of LAN, spandex and Lycra it's okay. Just go out there. These people will support you and put their arms around you and show you the way you don't have to be perfect on day one, just go, just get out there and get active. Even if it's walking, even if it's, um, sitting on a spin bike in a gym, get active, it's as simple as that, you'll figure your way out after that.

Hilary - That's awesome. Thank you for that advice. I love that. Talk to us a little bit about how people can buy Run•Tri•Bike Magazine or subscribe, or, what have you like, how does that work?

Jason - Oh, I love... anytime I can talk about and market our business. I'm happy to do that. So if you go to, for all your listeners, if you go to Run•Tri•Bike Magazine, we have a store on the site that you can click and go to subscriptions to purchase a one or a two-year subscription. If you happen to be in a club and you want to get the club highlighted in our clubs spotlight feature, whether in print or online, nominate your club, we will send you a discount code for 20% off of your club members for all the subscriptions, all of our social profiles have links to the subscriptions. If you are, near a running store, a cycling shop, ask them for a copy. We have distributed about 1500 copies nationwide to endurance specialty stores. And then another way to get your hands on a copy is we are working with races all across the country to have our magazine in the swag bags that you get. So if you show up to a race and you don't have it, ask the race director for it and that'll help us with the distribution side of it all. But yeah, Run•Tri•Bike on all social media platforms, as well as www.trisportmag.com. and you'll be pointed in the right direction for getting your hands on the magazine.

Hilary - Awesome. That's great. I love that. Thank you so much, Jason and Angela for being on the show. I also want to thank our sponsors, the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop international galleries, gold Benes, and The Pegalis law group. And last but not least, I want to thank you our listeners for tuning in each week. If you want more information on this show or any other show, you can visit us at hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, or Google Play. Have a great week, and we'll see you next time.

The sun is shining again. And everyone from outdoor enthusiasts to endurance athletes is getting outside and enjoying this wonderful weather. Curious about the latest body and hair products for endurance athletes? I am so excited about today's guest because she's with Zealios, a company whose products I absolutely love from protecting my skin from the sun. To protect my hair from the pool, the chlorine in the pool, and the salt in the open water to protecting my skin with her cream.

I'm Hilary Topper. And this is Hilary Topper on Air. Today, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Stacey Kiefer, director of sales at Zealios, body and hair products for endurance athletes. The company's product offerings are designed to endure the intense physical demands that athletes experience in training and in competition. Welcome to the show, Stacey.

Stacey - Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. I'm overwhelmed with joy that summer is on the way and races are starting again. And our company has just been super crazy busy with everybody waking up and being able to get outside and do activities again. So it's great to be here.

Hilary - So tell us a little bit about your background because you have a really cool background. And, also, tell us about Zealios and what you guys do and the products that you offer.

Stacey - Sure. So I just happened to start my career. I started as a swimmer, I was a young swimmer competitive started when I was five years old, swam through age-group swimming, high school swimming, went on to swimming college, and I decided I'm going to set myself up for a really fun life. I'm going to pick a job that really relates to something I like to do, which is swimming. And I just happened to be located very close to the Kiefer swim company and actually started working there in college and just happen to meet my future, now husband, at the time who was, or is the grandson of Adolf Kiefer, the 1936 Olympic gold medalist in the hundred backstroke in Berlin. So we became the employees and family of the Kiefer's swim company. So I spent about 16, 17 years at Kiefer. And it was great. I worked with my mother-in-law and my grandmother-in-law and my grandfather-in-law and my husband. And we had a lot of nepotism. We had lots of other family members who would intern and took in people who were married and we broke all the rules and it was great fun and we loved it. And we were always trained to come up with new products, whether it was for pool swimming, or learn to swim or open water or water safety and rescue lifeguards. It was great.

Unfortunately, when my husband Robin's grandparents got into their nineties, they decided to sell the company. And so we kind of parted ways from the company and went different places. And I ended up working at Speedo for a few years which brought my family from the Midwest out to the West coast. And we ended up in the amazing, beautiful town of Bend, Oregon, which is becoming very populated because so many people want to live here, but it really is beautiful.

I parted ways with Speedo but found this great company called Zealios. And it's a very small company. Right now, we have four and a half employees and we're in our sixth year. But it's amazing. I love it. Everybody at the company is very happy. We make these great relationships with triathlon teams and swim teams and running teams and cycling teams and we go out to Ironman events and sell products and we're hustlers, but we love it, and it has come to a point just this year where things have just exploded, you know, like all small companies, we were really worried about making it through COVID and we did okay. But we never expected to be as busy as we are now with things just reopening and everyone being so excited to get back to swimming and doing triathlons and cycling teams reuniting, and, finally, getting out to race.

And so it's been great, but we are just running in circles trying to keep up that's for sure. So, yeah. So we're, right now, we have our sun barrier, which is an 8% zinc oxide, sunscreen that doesn't burn your eyes. You can put it above your eye line and you're still going to sweat because it doesn't clog your pores, but you don't turn pasty white, you don't get the stinging of the eyes. It'll actually stay on for a Half Ironman. We usually tell people, apply it at least once if they’re doing a fall, but it's a tough puppy. That's for sure. And the best part is it feels like a light face lotion, but it's for your whole body.

So that's kind of our main body and hair product for endurance athletes that most people know us for. But Hilary you’re a big fan of our, Betwixt, which is our, silky, vegan, anti-chafing cream. And I have come to use Betwixt for like everything. It's just part of my daily lotions and potions. So some people just use it for cycling in, on their, their pad and their cycling shorts, which you can use for swimming. You can use it with your wetsuit. It's not going to hurt your wetsuit. I actually use it for razor burn. That's my newest thing, it has organic aloe in it. And so, if you're already chafed or you have some skin irritation, it'll actually help that while it's preventing more chafing. So it's like this miracle cream, you know,

Hilary - It's funny that you say this Stacey, because, last year, I was getting so many burns from the water. I mean, crazy and I come home with like blotches of red under my arm or on my neck. And I went right for the, Betwixt and put it all over myself. And I didn't even realize that you could do that. I was just like, Oh, let me just try this, I think this is gonna work. And it was amazing.

Stacey - Yeah, it's such a clean ingredient list too, that you can pretty much put it anywhere on your body. Like, I‘ll put it on my face. I'll put it on my neck. If I have, um, rubbing from my swimsuit or my wetsuit. And it's, it's great, you know, razor burn for women, men, whoever it is. It is seriously the miracle lotion.

So, I used to think that shower products were my favorite product. I think it's now Zealios Betwixt just because I use it for everything. So then we do have our shower line, which is shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and we got rid of our lotion and brought it back because so many people were on us. Like we got on the naughty list of a lot of people because we just decided, Oh, we don't quite sell as much of it. We'll drop it. Oh, man. When we brought it back, people were buying six and eight bottles at a time and we're like, it's okay. We're going to keep it. Don't worry. This shower line is great because it's, sulfate-free, it's also safe if you color treat your hair, but it is super strong in the fact that it takes out chlorine, salt, sweat, and stink. And it, as long as you're using the shampoo, along with the conditioner, just leaves your hair silky smooth. It's my go-to anytime I swam.

So I just make sure that is what I use to take out all the stink and keep my hair from getting really dry and the body wash. So I’m pretty sure we have more men who use our body wash than we do women. And I'm pretty sure they're using it head to toe. It's so funny when I go on work events and men will walk away with like 332 lawns pumps of body wash because they're just like drinking it in the shower. So if you are someone who gets really itchy or really dry after swimming, the body wash just is a true savior. It will keep you from being itchy all day long. So I swim a lot. I swim in several different pools as well as the Deschutes River. And I have to use the body wash. I can't just use bar soap. So it's great.

And then our newest product that we came out with right before COVID hit and gave it a wrong name, considering the time that it was launched, just called race relief. And it just happened to come out right when all the races stopped, which was a really hard sell for a brand new product. It has really picked up momentum this year. Now that races are coming back, and it's basically a 4% menthol blend of natural herbal extracts that deliver a cooling effect. So it's a cooling gel for pre-imposed workouts and races. So it doesn't, it's not like super-strong stinky, like some of the cooling gels, so you can actually put it on and go to the office and not worry that you're going to smell really bad. But it's wonderful.

So if you're someone who has a nagging, strain, when you run, like I get hamstring issues and sometimes piriformis issues, I can put it on and I will not feel my pain at all. It just cools the area and just calms it down. So I'll put it on before I go for a run and then I'll get home, do my stretching and rolling. Take a shower and then put it on again and, and then work for the rest of the day and, honestly, if you're good about putting it on. And especially when I get like, very consistent with using it, it's almost like all my pain issues go away. So again, I like to say it's like a magical gel kind of like the betwixt and magical lotion.

So, yeah, so that's our lineup now and we do have two new products that will be coming out within the next couple of months and I’m not going to say what they are, but they are new products that we have been getting asked for at least the last two years. At every event I work, multiple people come up and ask for these two products. One is very small and the other is a normal size, but, definitely becoming, a product that you will need if you do some tropical traveling. So there's a little hint, but I think a lot of people will really like both new products and we're really excited to launch them because COVID set us back a little bit. And so now it's just like, all right, let's get it out there.

Hilary - Yep. Yep, yep. Yep. It's exactly. It just, it definitely took us all by storm. So, hopefully, things are, you know, really, on the up and up now I'm getting excited that there's a lot of races happening, so it's, it's all good stuff.

So before we move on, I just have to say that I am so appreciative of our sponsors and must take this time to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you’ve heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to the Pegalis Law Group, The Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, and Gold Benes LLP.

So Stacey back to you, we’re talking about Zealios - a company that produces body and hair products for endurance athletes.  The products that you guys offer to athletes and non-athletes alike from sunscreen to recovery this year has been full of so much stress. What do you think making hair and body care a priority is particularly important this year.

Stacey - Well, I think a lot of people spent a lot of time inside and not going to the gym and not getting outside. And you kind of stop purchasing those products when you just stay inside and you kind of forget about how important it is to keep your body healthy so that you can train and race at your top potential. It's funny you think shampoo's not gonna help me, but it does make you feel better. And having that really good feeling and mentally, you feel fresh and you feel recovered. It does a lot for your training and your racing. So I think a lot of Zealios products really help you with maintaining just a very healthy, good feeling.

And honestly, some of our products are just like a special treat, like if you're a swimmer, getting to go into the shower and get that chlorine out of your hair and feel fresh and smell good. And have your hair feel, be your hair clean. It's a treat after a really hard workout.

So, the other thing is, especially with sunscreen, it's a necessity. You have to wear sunscreen. I grew up in the Midwest. My family didn't even have sunscreen on hand and it's not because we couldn't, we just didn't, like it's cloudy we don't need sunscreen or it's overcast, or I'm only out in the sun for a little bit, but what we have learned, especially what I've learned working at a company that specializes in sunscreen is that it's no longer just Oh 11:00 am to 1:00 pm is when the sun is bad and that's the only time you need to wear sunscreen. It's not, it's now, it's 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and it doesn't matter where you live. If you're high elevation, it's even worse. If you're swimming a lot, it's worse. If you're out riding your bike and you're on the blacktop, it's reflecting up and you're getting a double whammy of the UV rays. So I think most people are coming to the reality that you truly have to wear sunscreen. And it doesn't matter if you're out on the slopes skiing or you're swimming or running or whatever, you need to wear it.

And we have a lot of dermatologists who help us and they have said, even if you think you're going to spend the day inside, you should still put sunscreen on because you walk to your car to drive somewhere and then the sun shines through the window of your car. And then you go get your mail and Oh, you decide to mess around in your garden and fix your flowers. And before you know it, you're outside for an hour or you take your dog for a walk, and then you stop and talk to the neighbor and people don't realize how much exposure they actually have to the sun.

So, it's becoming imperative that you use sunscreen like you would a body lotion, you get ready in the morning and you put your sunscreen on because you are going to have sun exposure.

Hilary - So yeah, I need to be more diligent, I think, with the sunscreen too. And I totally agree with you.

Stacey - Yeah. And, honestly, one out of five Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer. So if you wear sunscreen, whether it's Zealios or anything, you have the ability to cut down your skin damage by 24%, which is amazing. Americans can actually control how likely they are to get skin cancer just by being very preventative, wearing clothing that covers your skin, wearing sunscreen on any skin that's exposed, wear a hat, put a light long sleeve on whatever it takes to black out the sun. It's just, it's crazy. Like I never knew any of this when I was little and I would sit outside with tanning oil on and I would, for three months out of the year, the sunniest months, I would put tanning oil on and I was so dark. And I can't even imagine I look at pictures from that and I'm like, How many years did I take off of my skin and the health of my skin from doing that. So it's. It's pretty crazy.

Hilary - Back to your shampoo, I just want to say that I think the first time I used it was several years ago, I remember trying it out and I was in the shower at the aquatic center. And I was thinking, um, I feel like I'm in the Caribbean, the smell was just amazing. Like it's just like that tropical type of fragrance that you smell when you're there and I'm just, I'm in this disgusting shower, but yet I was so happy.

Stacey - It’s so funny when I use it at the gym, people could smell it. It's a light citrus scent. And each one, the shampoo, the conditioner in the body wash is just a little different, but they all work really well together. And both men and women like it because it's not overpowering, but people are always like, what is that that you're using? Oh, it’s Zealios! And it’s so funny.

Hilary - Zealios sponsors teams. We are triathletes. I mean, well, we just changed the name to, we are endurance. So you are a sponsor of, we are endurance. Can you tell us about that? And you know, just so that other teams may be interested in jumping on board?

Stacey - Absolutely. So we've really changed our business. When I was hired, my job was to get Zealios into retail stores. And what we realized is that retail stores can sell the products. They just have it on the shelf and they sell it. But teams and team members are really the people who are using our products and very interested in promoting them.

So Zealios changed our focus as a company and decided we're going to be as good as we could for teams. And so my job, essentially, became just working with teams. And so what we do is we offer an ongoing discount. It's 25% that we give teams all year. So, anytime, a member of a team that works with us wants to order, they get a discount. And, then, we run a couple of big, really good discounts throughout the year for the teams that we work with. And we do little incentives with them to really promote it out to their members. And we don't ask for much. Our big thing is, Hey, take us on social media, like show that your members are using the product and promote it a little bit. And that's it.

And we're here when teams are having like little parties or challenges or their own little races, we can provide products for prizes and we can provide samples of our products. So we want to be there for athletes and teams and we want to make it really easy. And so, pretty much, my job is just to take care of teams and make sure everybody has what they need and you have your discount. And if you're having any issues, you can just contact me and I'll take care of it. And it's great, it's worked so well. We're working with close to 400 teams now, it's crazy. It’s great little teams, big teams, any sport, any sport at all. We're starting to work with adventure teams who are out climbing mountains and doing crazy things.

And so if you are on a team and you are familiar with Zealios products, or even if you're not, feel free to reach out to me, and I certainly will set you up with our information and we can get you set up as a team.

Hilary - Awesome. So finally, how can people get in touch with you and learn more about Zealios and purchase the products?

Stacey - So, you can either contact Zealios at [email protected] or Stacey, [email protected] or go to our website, which is www.teamzealios.com. And, on our website, there actually is a little spot that you can click and you can just fill out a little form if you're interested in working with us. And then I'll email you back right away with our team info. So, um, teamzealios.com is the best way to shop around and read about our products and see what they're all about and keep up with us. And we do lots of posting on Facebook and Instagram, and we'd love to work with all the triathletes and in any sport athlete that's out there. So even the children's teams, right. Yeah, absolutely. We have a couple of youth running teams, a few swim teams that we work with. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's really. It's no work. You get the code, you get to purchase from our website with a discount and that's that, easy.

Hilary - Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Stacey. This was so informative. I think the world of you and of Zealios so I appreciate you being here.

I also want to thank our sponsors, The Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries. Gold Benes LLP and the Pegalis Law Group. And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners, for tuning in each week.

If you want more information on this show or any other show, you can visit us at www.hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Apple podcasts, Amazon Alexa, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

Do you have a start-up that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you in need of help taking your business to the next level? Should a start-up join an accelerator? What is an accelerator and how can one help your start-up succeed?

I’m Hilary Topper and this is Hilary Topper on Air. Today I’m speaking with Laurie Cercone, Director of Investor Relations of the Newchip Accelerator portfolio, a subsidiary of ASTRALABS. Laurie, welcome to the show.

Laurie - Thanks, Hilary. Glad to be here.

Hilary - So can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Laurie - I have a background that stems for many, many years, working for companies of all sizes from startups, where I helped them scale and had a successful exit to larger companies. My first company was acquired by a Fortune 50 company, so stayed on for five years and helped with simulating the company into a much larger organization. And I have a real passion for startups though. So I have mentored startups in several different accelerators before joining New chip. And I'm also an investor. I belong to one of the largest angel networks in central Texas. And so, for the past five years, I've worked on several committees including the investor committee where we screen and we help companies that want to apply for funding, kind of get through the process and I'm on the board as well. So, I really have a passion for helping companies and especially, helping them gain funding.

Hilary - So that's awesome. So talk to us a little bit about Newchip and how it starts and helps startups.

Laurie - Sure. So Newchip as mentioned we're an accelerator. We are industry agnostic. So we work with companies in every single industry and we're also geography agnostic. So we work with companies in the US, and also companies abroad. I'd say about 25% of our companies are now from outside the country and about 75% inside the company, but are inside the country. But we, again, work with companies of all different stages from pre-seed seed and series a. What we do is we really kind of help them. It's a six-month program and we help them scale. And we've got a network of both mentors that they are paired with a large staff that helps them from the time that they are admitted throughout the course, we have people from our success team that stay with them throughout the entire six months to make sure that they're on track. We have an investor relations team, so I'll get into that a little bit more as we go, but that is pretty much what we do.

Hilary - Very cool. And why is it that accelerators, what makes them different and what makes Newchip so unique?

Laurie - Yeah. So, all, accelerators are very, I mean, what makes us unique is that, well, first of all, we don't take equity in the companies and that is pretty uncommon. Most accelerators take anywhere from 5% to 10% equity. And so, for a company, equity, I think is the most precious thing you have and you can't get equity back, you could always get money back but equity is one of those things once you give it away, it's, you know, so you have to be very careful. I think that's one of the main considerations companies should have, but we are just a fee-based program and that fee is, basically, just a flat fee and we don't charge for any extra services that we provide. It covers all mentoring, all of our workshops, all of our masterminds, all of our connections to all of our investor network. So it's very inclusive and we partner with a lot of services upfront with other people in the ecosystem. So it's quite a valuable program, all on one all around. The other thing is that we don't require companies to attend in person even prior to COVID we were online and the benefit of that is companies can actually go through the six-month course, but they can go through what their own pace and for a busy CEO or busy founder tying up or having to relocate to a city or being tied up in classes all day can be pretty disruptive to your business.

So really kind of having the flexibility to go through the course at your own speed. Whether those be in the evenings or on the weekend, that's a big plus. And even the mentoring. And I mentioned that we pair our companies up with mentors. Our mentors are world-class. We have over a hundred mentors in every single vertical and many of our mentors, most of our mentors have been founders and co-founders themselves. So even those mentoring sessions, which are several hours of mentoring per month, can be customized to best fit the schedules of the mentors and the companies that they're mentoring. And so it is pretty flexible and that's a big benefit. And then we really put a focus on teaching our startups, how to fundraise.

A lot of the course is just about how to build the network out. We give them tools to reach investors. We teach them how to build their funnel. And then we actually make those intros to them. We have a lot of different ways to do this. Every other month we have a virtual demo week and this is a week-long online conference that our companies can attend. Usually, they attend their first one about halfway through the program and then they can attend a second one usually about the time they graduate. But that can be pretty flexible. We've had companies that have graduated and attend as well. And so then, in addition to that, and we have over a thousand investors watch the online demo days and connect and request to be connected to companies that they see present during that demo week.

So it's really a great way. We do hundreds and hundreds of intros that way, but in addition to that, I mentioned we have a whole team in investor relations. And so our team works to build our network out. So every day we're reaching out to, and we're building relationships to invest with investors and those range anywhere from a VC, a corporate, a corporate fund or a family office, or an angel investor or an angel group.

And we understand and we learn about the investors’ thesis. And so then we curate companies that meet those requirements, meet from an industry perspective, a vertical perspective, and even a stage perspective. So we're sending our investors. Deal full that really meets their criteria. And so that's another way that we connect your companies in the final way is we have office hours, which take place every week. And through these office hours, we are our investors’ book. These are an hour to two-hour-long sessions. And then we invite companies to that meeting. And it's a virtual meeting and the companies rotate in spend about 20 minutes with the investor to give them an overview, and really kind of get feedback and see if they're a fit and then they move on to the next step if there's interest, but we've gotten huge recession because of that. So, again, kind of wrap it up, we just offer a lot more and really kind of put a focus on our companies, getting investments and connecting them to both investors to help them get funded, but, also, strategic investors as well, which could be very critical to getting to the next stage in their growth.

Hilary - So when you are a group you need entrepreneurs to apply to this or do they go through an application process and then…

Laurie - Yeah, they actually do. So they come in, they apply with our admissions team and we actually, as I mentioned, they do apply. They do have an interview with our admissions team and we're really looking. We want to make sure at the minimum that there's a product-market fit. And we do this by, we have three different tracks of pre-seed tracks. So we've been at the pre-seed Trek or pre-revenue track. We really want to make sure that the company's done their homework. And they've either sold a little or they've got some, a little bit of investment already from outside of their own family. So, they've raised a little bit, or are they at least gotten not letters of intent from customers or they have established a product market fit, but we do have, like I said, three different segments that we put the companies in and the segments vary a little bit from the pre-seed all the way up to the series A and so we help each one with customized content and really customized coaching based on where they are in their process. Of course, series A companies, a lot of times, you know, they're onto raising their second round. And so there, how we help them is more on scaling and growth. And maybe, you know, some companies that we have are post series A. So, we work with some investors that are more growth-oriented and we just kind of target more what we're doing just based on where they stage is.

Hilary - That's awesome. This sounds like a great, great program now. Um, You focus a lot on helping women in business, I was reading. So why are diversity and capital inclusion for women so key during this time and how does your company help?

Laurie - Yeah, so we have a lot of women-led companies who are within our portfolio. We have a lot of minority companies as well. And I really think that, if a woman-led company is, is critical and is greatly important to success. I mean, women are selling to women who are purchasers, whether they're purchasers in a B2B context, or the women are purchasers in a B to C context, women can relate to them. Minorities can relate to them. So it really depends on what is critically important for companies, to be well-diversified and to really have very diversified management. Well, how we can help that process is because we work with so many investors. When a company comes into our network, we have network investors that we've worked with and when we make those introductions, the first thing is that, because our investors understand our process, they know that by the time we were making those introductions, the companies are ready. They've been through our program. Usually, we don't make introductions until we know that the company has an investment strategy, which we work with them on, they have a pitch deck, which we work with them on. Do they have all their deal documents in order? And so our investors really understand that by the time we're making these introductions, the companies are ready. They've been worked with, they've got a clear strategy. And in addition to that, because we've worked with them over a period of time, they're more receptive once we make the intro. Then if companies in general just went to them and sent them an email, a cold email. And so a lot of times we're getting many introductions to founders or leaders that may typically struggle because maybe they're not in that inner network. Maybe they don't have that connection. So we provide that connection for them. And then we also have many in our network. That really liked to and have a focus to invest in women-led companies. So a lot of times what we look for is, you know, besides the company's industry, what other criteria do they have that we can kind of hone in on? So, besides it being a SAS, B2B company, or a consumer product company where we have investors is there any other thing that would allow us to connect them. So, you know, is there a woman leader where we might have investors that are specifically looking to invest in women-led companies? Is there a social impact component because we have a lot of investors that want companies that have a social impact, is there a health and wellness, is there an environmental impact? Is it sustainable? So there's all these different things and we really kind of drill down to really kind of make the best. A fit, not only for the industry but all these other factors, which really helped women-led companies.

Hilary - Hmm. So interesting. Well, before we move on, I just want to take a minute out to thank our sponsors. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to the Pegalis Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, The Russo Law Group and Gold Benes LLP. So back to you, Laurie, we're talking about accelerators and how they can help startups get to the next level. I'd like to talk to you a little bit about COVID-19 recession and how businesses are really struggling, how can Newchip help? And can you tell our listeners what's really going on with new funding initiatives and why that's so important?

Laurie - Yeah. Definitely, this past year has been very challenging for businesses and there's been a number of programs out there to help businesses and I fully support businesses getting the help that is offered if they can apply and they can get that help, but we're accelerators and specifically, Newchip helps, which is different. Or in addition to all of that help is that we really have a whole team that really kind of helps a company take a look at their business and really determine what and how the business can expand, how they can pivot. And so, in any context and it's even more important during what we've just gone through is to really kind of look at, are you targeting the right market? Has the market changed? Is there anything that you can do differently than what you're currently doing? And we have a staff, we have workshops where our staff will take the companies through different workshops. What's really kind of interesting is our masterminds, because honor masterminds. We take the companies and we put them in groups of similar stage companies where the CEOs will actually collaborate with each other. And so, that network effect, I can tell you, in my experience, we've had one company collaborate with another company and together, the two companies kind of solve each other's problems in terms of maybe one can have a service that will help another company. This has happened more than, you know, so colaborate and actually start doing business together because they're a downstream partner. We have mentors, as I mentioned that work with the companies several hours every month and really kind of hone in expansion, should the company look to expand in other markets, which markets, maybe the company hasn't thought about expanding to another market. And that really makes sense, really kind of drilling down to different things that the company may have not thought of different products, different services. And the other thing I think is when, um, just cash is very limited. Maybe the sales have been down to really kind of critically help a company look at how they can lengthen their runway in terms of their cash that may be pulling back on some of their marketing expenditures, how to better optimize their workforce.

So there's just a lot of things where if a founder is struggling, going to somewhere like new chip and accelerator, where they're surrounded by a team of people from the mentors to the network effects of the other companies. That's the staff. The content that helps them really kind of take a look at and they go through many exercises of determining, what KPIs they should be measuring really helps the company reevaluate where they are and make decisions about where they need to be to get to the next level and, and survive in these challenging times

Hilary - So the PPP loan was very popular among business owners, but I heard that you guys have your own PPP. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Laurie - Sure. So, our PPP are the three P’s I should say the first is to pursue capital options outside of PPP loan. So what does that mean? That means that most entrepreneurs don't really understand what a venture studio or a startup, a factory can do. Really be open to that and look to those solutions. I mean, we have many, as I mentioned before, investors in our network who will both invest strategically as a strategic partner, as well as a cash infusion. We have some debt options as investors as well. And so again, just pursue some different options outside of PPP loans.

The second P is to pivot and re-engineer your entire operation. And again, as I mentioned, it's really to take a step back, to look at different ideas that we can offer both with the content and touring and all of the other companies that are going through our accelerator that we give exposure to re-engineer your operations and take it to the next level and then planning.

Prudent planning is the third P and it really is to look at your burn, right. Beef up your runway. So, I think just these days, you can't be too certain what sales are going to do or how much longer things are going to be shut down. So I think you have to have a very conservative approach. Try to curtail your burn, right. Try to extend your runway. And, again, we can help accelerators and New chip can help with that. So these are the ways that we, our three P our PPP, how we can help startups.

Hilary - That's great. Well, this is so informative, really. Thank you. Can you tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you and potentially become one of the entrepreneurs in your program?

Laurie - Yes, definitely. They could go to our website at launch.newchip.com and learn all about us. If any would like to reach out to me, I'm not on the admin team, but I could, definitely, refer you to our admin team. I am [email protected], but, if you do go to our website https://launch.newchip.com/, you can get information there. You can apply there and we'd really love to meet you. We love for you to apply and join our network. It would be great and we really look forward to being able to help more companies. One of Newchip’s main objectives is to eliminate barriers. We take on 80-100+ companies a month in our program.

Hilary - This was so amazing. Great interview. Thank you so much. This was really good information. And again, you guys, if you're entrepreneurs or your startups, um, and you need that extra help go to Newchip. That's launch.newchip.com or go to Laurie's email [email protected].

Thank you again, Laurie. I really appreciate you being on the show. This was really fantastic.

And I'd also like to thank our sponsors, the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group.

And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners for tuning in.

If you'd like more information on this show or any other show, visit us at www.hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Amazon Alexa, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

At the peak of COVID-19 and even though today, as we still battle the disease, companies across the nation have been challenged to pivot their businesses, to meet the emergency needs of the pandemic. I'm Hilary Topper and this is Hilary Topper on Air. Today, I'm speaking with Kara Cannon, chief commercial officer for Enzo Biochem Inc., a pioneer in molecular diagnostics. Kara, welcome to the show.

Kara - Thank you. I'm happy to be here, Hilary.

Hilary - So can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Kara - Sure I'd love to. I'm involved in diagnostics and I'm the chief commercial officer of a Long Island company called Enzo Biochem Inc. The way that I got here is, I have a background in science. I have a biology degree from Franklin and Marshall College, and I have been working within what I would call the life sciences commercial industry for about 30 years. I've spent 10 of those years here at Enzo. And when I say I'm involved in diagnostics or that Enzo's involved in diagnostics, we do a couple of different things. We run tests for doctors. So when you need to have clinical tests done, you go to your doctor. You might have blood work drawn and you need to get work upon that blood. Those samples would come to a company like Enzo's. We have this clinical testing lab here on-site, where we run the tests and results back to the doctor who then goes through the results with the patient. And we also sell the products that are used by those same labs that are doing the testing. So that really tells you a little bit about myself and Enzo.

Hilary - And now, Enzo Biochem Inc is a global company, is that correct?

Kara - That's correct. We are. So we are selling our products and services across the globe. We do that through our own employees. There are 500 of us globally, and we also have a network of partners that we deal with as well.

Hilary - Wow. That's huge. So now COVID-19 comes in at the beginning of 2020, and it really changed everything. How did the pandemic impact Enzo Biochem and how did you guys pivot to meet the needs and demands of today's world?

Kara - Yeah. So that's a great question. And it's an understatement, right? To say that COVID-19 changed everything. For us, it was a surprise. When we heard everything that was happening, going all the way back to let's say November, December of 2019; we started to hear some things in the industry about what was happening. But, at that time, we were really focused. Again, Enzo is a diagnostic company, we were focused on making diagnostic tests, the tests that we were looking to build were in the area of what we would term women's health and also general testing. We were developing a system for testing STDs, which often uses a molecular test to look for things like, herpes, HPV, things like this. This is where we were focused. And then, when the world started to get turned upside down, we looked at what was happening and we said, well, okay, this COVID-19, this virus it's going to be picked up through a molecular test. The global scientists were already starting to speak to this. So we were able to thankfully very quickly pivot our scientists and pivot our business during COVID-19. And we said, okay, put aside all of the targets you're looking at right now, but use that concept and come up with a way that we can use that technology to start testing for COVID and, within a few weeks, we were able to get those initial tests worked up.

We submitted them to the FDA. We got EUA approval, which again is a term that I feel like nobody knew 18 months ago. And now it's like on the common vernacular and we did get our EUA approval in the spring of 2020. And we've been running that test in our own lab ever since. So we've been running thousands of COVID-19 tests every day, since April using the Enzo molecular tests. So, we were really lucky that our team was able to switch their mind and get focused on this problem. And again, now I can go on and on, but there were so many challenges that I'm so thankful that our team was willing to get involved.

It starts with the world literally shutting down and people sequestering in their homes. And as a fellow New Yorker, I'm sure you remember the Governor saying everybody had to stay home. And we had to talk to our staff and say we're essential workers. We need you all to come onsite. We need to get this test up and running. We need to keep our lab running. These are the ways that we're going to figure out how to get ahead of this pandemic. And again, we were so lucky because all of our staff was on board with it. Everybody was willing to come on-site every day to try to first figure out how to make the test then to get the test running on our clinical production floor.

And then we started setting up pop-up collection sites in our parking lot. And have people drive up, you've seen them on the TV where, before there were the vaccine pop-ups, we had the collection pop-ups so we had some of those running essentially in our backyard and it really just became like one challenge after the next. But we were able to dive into these challenges, get people to buy-in, and then come up with a solution.

Hilary - Well, congratulations to you and to Enzo and the entire staff for just being able to do that, because that must have been really, really rough. Just switching gears, getting people to come to work, there was just so many issues and you guys are real godsends to everybody in this community. So thank you for that. Let's talk about how this whole shift hurt or helped your business. I mean, do you think that you're going to be going back to where you were before the pandemic? Or where do you see this going?

Kara - Yeah, so, we are already trying to shift our attention back to the projects we had started pre-pandemic. So, where we are now, what we're hoping is there some parts of COVID testing that will for, we believe will forever be part of our business. So the volumes of COVID testing might go down over time. We expect them to go down over time, but we think it's something that will always be around and will always be offering the test to say whether you have been exposed or not to the virus. But I think it's been, I hate to use the word positive because there's just so much that has been backward, but I think it pushed us and not just us. I think it just pushed the nation to think about how we've done things and if there were better ways to do them. And so, just as an example, most people, if you talked about getting some sort of a diagnostic test, you would immediately think I have to phone my doctor and I have to go to a doctor's office. And because of everything that happened over this past year, there has been more of an acceptance of things like telemedicine ordering lab tests online.

Enzo has embraced some of these concepts and we hope that part will stick around because it makes patient care more accessible. It's better for healthcare if you can get to the tests you need more quickly and more conveniently. So one of the things that we had done during the pandemic was we had set up a web portal so that people could go online and request a COVID test. So again, instead of having to go into the doctor's office, they could now go on this online portal to request the test. We've partnered with a network of doctors who have viewed the test and then order the test for the patient. The patient gets an email, goes to one of our pop-up collection sites has the sample drawn, and then the results are accessible back through that web portal.

So now that we have this, and if you think about it, we were interested in offering an expanded portfolio of testing for things like sexually transmitted diseases. We can use that same portal now. To offer up other kinds of testing, like for STDs or maybe for general wellness. So those sorts of things, or, at least, new ways that we've started thinking that we shouldn't forget as we come out of the pandemic.

Hilary - Absolutely. That's awesome. So before we move on, I just want to say that I am so appreciative of our sponsors and must take this time to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group.

Now back to you, Kara. So we're talking about Enzo Biochem and how the company pivoted the business during COVID-19 and shifted its focus to address the urgent need of COVID-19 testing and the beginning of the pandemic and, today, how has this shift in the business affected Enzo biochem as a whole, besides what you told me before, and if are you planning to continue in your current space?

Kara - So, yes, we are going to continue in our current space. The effects on our business have been both positive and negative if I just talk generally. I say positive and negative because, just like any other business, we've had to deal with a lot of business questions that we wouldn't have been thinking about under normal conditions, right? The one most people talk about is remote work. And again, it was even more complex for us because we had people that just had to be on-site. And then we had some people that we looked at ways to allow them to do remote working. That wasn't something that was common at Enzo, we were a small company. Sometimes it sounds big to say 500 people, but we worked pretty closely in our operations. Most people are located on-site and so to sort of move through how to change our daily business, where we had some people on-site and some people zooming in from home was one of the many challenges that we had to deal with. But again, you know, there are benefits in that we were able to use the presence we already had in our community and really drive that closer connection with people in our community to be able to offer the testing that was needed at the time. And we're hoping that, as we get back to normal business, that people will remember “Oh, if they were that useful for COVID testing, I'm going to use Enzo for my blood work, or I'm going to ask my doctor to send my samples to, and so when I need my general wellness check.”

Hilary - So let's talk for a moment about these new variants of COVID. So they're just talking about them every single day, a new variant is coming out. Will we need a booster for the COVID vaccine, you know, do you think the need for accurate and effective PCR testing will continue?

Kara - I do. A little bit of science before I fully answer the question is, as we've all heard now, COVID is a virus, and viruses are known to mutate. So if you think about the flu as the best comparison, every season there's a new variation of flu that's coming around. And that's why the flu vaccines are always, um, some years they're really accurate and some years they're less accurate because those mutations are being taken into consideration long before the vaccine is fully developed.

And so, similarly, it's not a surprise to scientists that the COVID virus is mutating, but some of the things that we see are that the virus is not mutating that quickly. And the variants that are known right now, there's enough similarity between them that most of the tests that are available the absence or presence testing essentially to say do you carry the virus or not? They will pick up the known variants that we see today. And so I think that we're always going to have to be watching to see what happens and to see how this virus continues to mutate. But I think it's something that we'll find is more and more controllable as time goes forward because we learn more, we know more we're ahead of it. People will be vaccinated. So won’t transmit as, as quickly. So we have lots of positives that we're building on, but I think we're always going to have some form of testing and we're going to have to be mindful and diligent of the fact that the COVID-19 virus is out there.

Hilary - Before the intermission, we talked a little bit about the pop-ups and how you had them all over the place. Were they specifically on Long Island or were they across the country?

Kara - That's a great question. We were focused regionally. So the majority of our collection sites were in the New York area. And then we had some also in New Jersey. So we really were focused on the tri-state area.

Hilary - Awesome. And finally, how could people get in touch with you to learn more about Enzo Biochem?

Kara - So the best place is our website, which is www.enzo.com. I'm also happy for people to go to my LinkedIn, Kara Cannon. And, similarly, we have some social media presence for Enzo on LinkedIn, on Facebook, and on Instagram. And it's under the Enzo Biochem exchange and also under Enzo Life Sciences.

Hilary - Wow. That's great. Thank you. This was really informative. I really appreciate you being on the show. I appreciate what Enzo Biochem Inc has done for our community. So again, thank you very much.

And I'd also like to thank our sponsors, The Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes L L P, and the Pegalis Law Group. And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners for tuning in.

If you want more information on this show or any other show, visit our website at www.hilarytopperonair.com, or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Alexa, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

Sports enthusiasts - we're always thinking about the latest and greatest gear from bikes to sneakers, to smartwatches, all designed to help increase our sports performance. But oftentimes we overlook something that's really important...I'm Hilary Topper and this is Hilary Topper on Air. Today I'm really excited to be speaking with Soj Jibowu, who is the founder and chief officer of Varlo, a company producing best-in-class garment products for triathletes, cyclists, and athletes. This sports apparel company launched during COVID-19. So Soj, welcome to the show

Soj - Hilary, what's going on. Thanks for having me.

Hilary - So I read about Soj in Philadelphia magazine. It's so random because I live on Long Island and I don't even know how this magazine popped in my inbox, but I read about his company, Varlo. And I was so intrigued that I reached out to him and asked him if I could interview him for this podcast. So tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Soj - Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I, like anyone growing up, I was always into sports, being outdoors. I was born overseas, in Nigeria, moved to the States and I was fairly young and just always loved being outdoors, being active. Fortunate enough to have an athletic scholarship and track and field at Central Michigan University. And I studied biomedical science and chemistry, which does not mean that I'm a brainiac. It does not mean that I know anything. All it means is that I'm very curious about science and how things worked.

And that was that but post-collegiate, I've always been intrigued in business handle a fair share of jobs as market development managers, launching products in the biopharma and medical device space. And went on to pursue some things with real estate. I love numbers, Excel spreadsheets, and always been a fan of sports. And so people that know me really well are like, it makes all the sense in the world that now this is what he's doing. And it's been great. It's been a great journey.

Hilary - Let's talk a little bit about how you launched your business during COVID-19. I mean, talk about timing. So tell us how this impacted you and your business.

Soj - Yeah. You know, I was talking to a good friend of mine today and we were talking about, um, just things that happen in life and she lost a family member. She lost her sister. And I was mentioning how, in life, everyone goes through these just horrible things, just very traumatic things. And I go to the common denominator for, I think almost everyone on the planet was that COVID was that thing. And it caused a lot of people to not just reset, whether it be spiritual, whether it be physical, mental, whatever space they're in. It just did cause a reset for a lot of people. And for me, I think it allowed me to kind of view things, uh, in a way that said, Hey, really, really think about this and how you would do it, but then the time it allowed me to pursue it. On the business side, I think it was kind of luck.

Luck is, um, having a desire, a passion, and when the timing is right for you. So, we were fortunate enough to have pursued Varlo, sourcing out manufacturers. We work with a number of suppliers and, at the time, we were looking for some manufacturer partners to kind of do business with. And fortunately for us COVID did just that, because it really kind of opened the playing field. We were not here in 2019. We're not here in 2018. We didn't do any business then. So being this fresh new company, we just had kind of a fresh playing field is okay. Well, Hey, it's all upside from here.

A lot of manufacturers were looking for that. They were looking for fresh new faces that wanted to do something unique in a time where a lot of brands and maybe our counterparts may have been retracting a little bit. So I think it made sense for us on the business side, for sure.

Hilary - So let's talk a little bit about Varlo. What exactly do you sell there and how is your brand different than other athletic apparel companies out there on the market?

Soj - So, we are in the space to provide, as you mentioned, just best-in-class products, garments for triathletes, multi-sport athletes, whether they are pro athletes, whether they are individuals that are in all three disciplines independently, that is swim bike or run, and also cyclists. So the cycling enthusiasts that are out there it's, it's massive. I mean, if you look at what happened in 2020, relative to 2019, there's like a 85% boom in performance bike sales globally.

For us, we see this huge attraction to bring value to individuals that want to be outdoors. They want to be active. I think the thing that really sets us apart is having this multi-facet where everyone that's involved in, in the handlebar look, cause it's just not me. But, um, we all come from an athletic background.

Jake, my business partner, was in the NFL, I was a D one athlete in track and field. We have a number of pro athletes with the brand that are our current ProTrack fleets. And so we have this huge flux of individuals that pour insight into the brand, making our products great, making them better.

But then also I think the ethos of the brand and our mission to not just kind of have products that we can just provide for people or sell to people. I think our underlying mission is how can we make multi-sport better and attract more people to it. So how do we get more people into the sport? What do we have to do to be that hand that is guiding individuals into the sport? Because when you think of triathlon or multi-sport it can have like an intimidating factor. I don't know if you would agree with that or not.

Hilary - No, it certainly does. I got into the sport when I was 53, so I already back of the packer, but you know what, it's something that I absolutely love. And I've been trying to share that, it's not always about those super athletes. Anybody could do it. I mean, want to do it, you could do it.

Soj - Exactly, exactly. Right. We have a number of initiatives in line to do just that, which is to welcome people into the sport, no matter your gender, no matter your athletic level, no matter where you're at in your journey in life, whether you're young, middle-aged or no matter where you're at to bring them into the sport. One of the things for me that multi-sport … was back in like 2015 or 2016. I remember seeing the first race and being like, Oh my God, this is amazing. I got to do this. I got to do it, it's so cool. And the empowerment that not just multi-sport, but like athletics, my whole life has kind of fed into me has to be shared with as many people as possible. And one of the first initiatives that we did is, on our website, I don't know if you've been to it or not, it's called your journey your story where we have our ambassadors sharing real life stories of how they got into the sport and encoding this entry for new participants to come into the sport as well. So we really want to focus on that.

Hilary - Very cool! Now, talk to me about custom apparel. Do you guys do any of that kind of stuff?

Soj - Yes, we do. We definitely do. And I think our custom concierge service, I would argue it as like, one of the best in the marketplace, hands down. We provide this like kind of white-glove service with our concierge service that I believe is like, it's rare to find in the marketplace wherefrom the design element, from, initial contact with our sales reps and our sales team, working with our designers, going back and forth, making sure that everything from, you know, if you're, if you're a clubber team you're trying to rebrand yourself, you're looking for a fresh facelift of colors to use Pantone selection to really tell the story of the brand. We do that and I think beyond just that, we also find creative ways to like showcase those clubs and teams, what we call their partners, to showcase them and, kind of like put them on a stage of light as well. So, our custom apparel processes it's awesome. I would argue it is awesome.

Hilary - That's great. That's great to know. Thank you for sharing that. Before we move on, I have to say that I'm so appreciative of our sponsors and must take this time to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes L L P, and the Pegalis Law Group. Now back to you Soj, we're talking about your business Varlo, an athletic apparel company. What goals have you set for the brand in the coming year?

Soj - Our goals are kind of like, I would say that they not just are rooted from our initial principles, which were, stay sustainable, scale appropriately as need be, don't get too far ahead of your skis. Our goals are more so to make sure that we are tapping into customers that are looking for that extra detail. And so that's everything from being at shows, conventions that are everywhere from outreach to community groups, being published where we can, we work with a number of like sources thus far who are interested in the story of uplifting athletes towards goals of tomorrow.

And so I think you're going to find us in a couple of places. Obviously, you're going to find our retail store at varlosports.com. You may hear of us through the food chain of custom apparel needs, but you can also start to look for us with a few distribution wholesale partners that you'll be seeing, if not by the end of this year, also in early to spring of 2022.

Hilary - So let's talk about your location. So, you guys are located in Philly, right? On the East coast. What's been unique about this decision to base the company in that particular area?

Soj - Philadelphia and the East coast in general are just been… personally to myself, I have a lot of love and appreciation to Philadelphia. I think the East coast and all, it's a very, very rich, vibrant, I would say coastal area, with diversity and just loving people, right? It's the city of brotherly love. And I think also when it comes to training and having resources for swim bike or run, we have a ton of that. And I think that it's very, very important to highlight that not just regionally I am not just domestically here in the States, but then also internationally. So, currently, we have customers in the UK, Switzerland, Honduras as well as Canada and also domestically here. And it's cool to kind of hear this buzz of like, Oh, Philadelphia, this Company of Philadelphia, kind of put it on the map. But then also it kind of leads the path for what we can do in the future to potentially have some, whether it be regional or national, events here with collaborative partners. I know we have like, Domo sports is a massive, massive race organization in New Jersey. There's a number of them that range from DC up to New York as well. And I just think there's a lot of room for collaboration right here at home, on the East coast.

Hilary - Totally. And lastly, can you talk a little bit about, something that you're most excited about, like giving us a sneak peek into some new launches you're preparing...

Soj - Yeah, absolutely. That's kind of in the buzz right now. April first we're going to be launching our summer collection and very, very excited for it. And it's been, it's only been like seven months. We officially launched in September of 2020. Now, we launched a couple of items and so we're really getting, we're really excited to show more color of the brand more products, bid more designed bibs, more new technology, based layers, cycling vests, a number of jerseys, and some swimwear that is coming athletic leisure stuff that's coming. It's a lot of fun. And as far as a sneak peek, you've heard it here first on Hilary Topper on air, you're getting kind of the first spills of the beans on what's coming…

Hilary - That's so cool. I love it. That is so exciting. I'm sure you guys are gonna do really, really well. And I congratulate you for launching your sports apparel company during COVID-19 and persevering through it, so really amazing and kudos to you. So how can people get in touch with you and learn more about your shop?

Soj - You can follow us, subscribe directly on the homepage of our website. It is varlosports.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and then, if you are interested in just knowing a little bit more about me, you can follow me on Instagram at @allthingsmovement. And you can always shoot us an email. We're at [email protected]. Definitely shoot us an email. If you have any inquiries or just curious to know more about what's going on behind the brand and that's all the ways to get to us.

Hilary - That's so awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time out to be on the show. And I also want to thank our sponsors, The Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group. And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners for tuning in. I very much appreciate you being here. If you want more information on this show or any other show, you can visit us at hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Apple podcasts, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

Do you need bicycle insurance? As a triathlete or cyclist, your bicycle is one of the most prized possessions. I bought my QR two years ago. It's a bright blue bike with electronic shifters. And the first thing I thought, I need to search the internet to find a great company to cover me. That's how I found Velosurance and I know it's really hard to find a great company to insure your bike.

It gives me great pleasure to have Dave Williams, co-founder of Velosurance, a multi-risk bicycle insurance policy provider on today's show. I'm Hilary Topper. And this is Hilary Topper on air. Welcome, Dave, to the show.

Dave: Thanks, Hilary. Happy to be here.

Hilary: So can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and how Velosurance was born?

Dave: Well, back in 2008 with a general insurance agency, we had a client who had a bike stolen out of his garage. It was a $2,000 bike, six years old. We put the insurance claim in and he walked into our office holding a $183 check that the insurance company sent him for his $2,000 bike after they depreciated the value of the bike and took away his deductible. So we decided that it had to be a better way and we looked for it. There was nothing better at that time. That's when we started researching how we could put together our own program for bicycles that took away all of the silly restrictions that home insurance puts on bicycles.

Hilary: Right. A lot of people think that the bike is covered under the home insurance policy, but do you need separate bicycle insurance? Is that true or not true?

Dave: There might be some coverage there, but it often takes a claim to be disappointed and find out how badly your home insurance does cover you. Um, the biggest downfall of a home insurance policy is that they depreciate the value of the bike 10%, the first year, 5% every year after that. So, if you've got a five-year-old bike and it's a $10,000 bike, they're going to give you a $5,000, then take away a $1,000 deductible, if that's all your home insurance deductible is, and give you a check for $4,000 to go out and replace your $10,000 bike.

Hilary: That's crazy. So what exactly is covered under bicycle insurance?

Dave: All types of accidental damage, including theft at home and away from home, as well as loss and damage in transit by airline or any other type of transport. If you're looking at a broken bike and that damage was caused by an accident, it is covered. It's covered for theft at home and away from home as well as at the event, it's covered for up to 24 hours in the transition area.

Hilary: Now we had a conversation a little bit ago about how a lot of people use tri bike transport to ship out their bikes to different events. Do they need to take that extra insurance if they are insured with Velosurance?

Dave: No. In fact, if you use tribike transport four times a year, you'd come very close to paying for a 12-month policy with Velosurance. So we cover the bike at all times in transit, whether it's on your car with tribike transport or with one of the airlines.

Hilary: So let's talk about the prices of bikes. I mean, when does it make sense to have bike insurance? Does it make sense to have bike insurance for a $500 bike or a $1,000 bike, or does it have to be one of these, you know, really expensive types of TT bikes or road bikes that are out there?

Dave: Well, there's a point where it becomes economically unfeasible to purchase bike insurance. Let's say you've got a $500 bike with a $300 deductible and you're paying $100/year to insure it. The best you can see is $100 back if that bike was lost.

So, no, at that point, there has to be risk management. You have to bring risk management into it. And the risk management probably makes sense around $1,000 and up to purchase insurance.

Hilary: That's what I was going to ask you because most road bikes start at $1,000. I mean, it's very difficult to get a road bike for under that. At that point, I guess it does make sense to get insurance just to cover it in case it's damaged or stolen. Now, what coverage territory is included in your policy?

Dave: The basic policy covers the bike anywhere in the US or Canada. And, of course, the US includes Hawaii. It doesn't include Puerto Rico, if you want to take the bike out of the US or Canada, you would apply for worldwide coverage and that's a 10% uptick on the premium to include worldwide coverage.

Hilary: That's great to know because a lot of people do travel to these iron man events that are overseas. Let's talk about different scenarios. There was one scenario where a friend of mine, she had just picked up her bike from the bike store, put it on a bike rack, and was on the parkway, she didn't put it on very well, and the bike went flying off the car. And thank God it didn't hit anybody or hit another car, but it went flying into the side and the bike was ruined. Now, is that covered by your auto insurance?

Dave: No. Anything on the outside of your car is not covered by your auto insurance and most auto insurance these days don't cover anything inside of your car. Anything that's not part of the car is called a personal effect. And I don't think you can find personal effects on any auto insurance policy today. So now you go back to your homeowner’s insurance and ask them if it fell off your car. The homeowner’s insurance will tell you no it's covered by your car insurance. So, at that point, you're back at the bike shop with your visa card, looking for a new bike. If you had Velosurance, you'd call us and, seven days later, you'd get a reimbursement check, less your chosen deductible.

Hilary: So let me ask you this. You buy a $10,000 TT bike. And you get Velosurance and the first year it's $10,000. I mean, do the premiums go down through the years because of the value of the bike, or does the value of the bike stay at $10,000 throughout the term of the insurance?

Dave: The value of the bike remained stable. It does not change. We do not depreciate the value of the bike because of age. My bikes, I've got a 2014 bike that is a little dirty, but it's as good as it was when I bought it seven years ago. If that bike was on my homeowners, $8,000 bike they'd give me about $3,000 for it. With Velosurance with a $300 deductible, Velosurance is gonna give me 7,700 for it. If it went away entirely.

Most everyone out there takes care of their bikes so that it's always in peak performance condition.

Hilary: That's true. That's true. Um, all right.

Well, before we move on, I want to give a shout-out to my sponsors because I really do appreciate having them and their support. Please tell them that you heard about them on Hilary topper on air. Special thanks to the Pegalis Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, The Russo Law group, and Gold Benes, L L P.

Now back to you, Dave, we're talking about bike insurance, how are bike insurance claims handled?

Dave: There's a bike and there's a claim tab on our website. Top right-hand corner. The short story is you take a damaged bike and get an estimate for the repair. Send us pictures of the damage. Send us the estimate subject to your chosen deductible. We’ll send you the bill.

Hilary: And then how long does it take for that settlement to come in?

Dave: Checks going out within a week. Today, it'll often take longer to get the estimate for the repair than it will for the check to be mailed.

Hilary: So what companies financially back Velosurance policy?

Dave: We partnered with Markel American insurance company. And the division that we work with is Markel’s specialty. Markel is a rated US insurance company, founded in the 1930s. It's a family-owned company. I wish I bought stock in them five years ago because they've really done well in the last five years. We had 18 companies in our agency when we had the general insurance agency and the one company that always stood out in an effort to pay a claim. A lot of companies look for ways not to pay a claim. Markel insurance was a company that always looked for a way to pay a claim and they were the company that we partnered with to produce a policy that covers bikes for just about any risk that you can take the bike into, it's covered and they continue to be a standout company and look for ways to pay claims.

Hilary: So talk to us about this. Why should someone come to you versus going straight to Markel? And is there a price difference?

Dave: Same policy, same premium, you can definitely go direct to Markel. When you call us, you're going to be talking to another rider, somebody who understands you and your bike and speaks the same language. Generally, it just comes down to who would you rather talk to. And because of each quote, you can call us and discuss your quote with us. We can look at the quote that you're looking at on your screen, and we can analyze it to make sure that you've qualified for every possible credit.

Often we will find credits that have been missed and apply them. So our premium comes in and just significant, well, I shouldn't say significant, somewhat lower than the Markel premium.

Hilary: Yeah, I've been a client now of Velosurance for about, I don't know, three, at least three years now. And what I found about you guys was that you were so easy to work with.

The forms were easy to fill out. I was able to get the insurance and the certificate right away. And I know that if I had an issue, you guys would work with me and that's what I love about you guys. I just thought that you were just a great company to deal with. And it was funny because after I did the research and found you guys, my insurance guy asked me if I knew of any company because he had other people who needed bike insurance. So of course I gave your name, but, I just want to say that, just for the record, I've been working with these guys for at least three years now, and they are just an absolute pleasure to work with. So I just, I pray that I never need to use your coverage, but at least I have it. It's a peace of mind.

So now, Dave, talk to us about some additional or optional coverage, like roadside assistance that Velosurance offers.

Dave: Roadside assistance it's not part of the policy. It is a benefit to the policy at cost 12 bucks a year. It can be used up to five times a year, and it is a free 35 mile ride for you and the bike. If you're ever stranded out on the road and need a ride home. You find a safe place to wait, call for assistance and a company similar to AAA. We'll show up in 35 to 45 minutes, you're on your way home.

Hilary: That's great. I guess they help you fix the bike or get it working or they just pick you up?

Dave: No, Billy Bob drives the truck. That's what he does, he picks the bike up and drives you home.

Hilary: Now one more question. Where do you cover? Could somebody from Texas or California? I mean, I'm in New York. Can anybody call you and buy insurance for their bike? Do you need to be in a specific geographical location?

Dave: We're licensed in 48 States and Washington DC. We're not licensed in Hawaii, because the cost to be an insurance agent in Hawaii is prohibitive for the number of bikes that we would be insuring in that state.

So there's a, I think one out of the state where there's more sheep than there are people where we don't sell. But when we have prospects who call us from those States where we're not licensed, we send them over to Markel and tell them, buy your policy there. And if you've got questions, call us back and we'll be able to answer the questions for you. Even though we can't sell you the policy, we can certainly answer questions.

Hilary: So talk to me about your riding.

Dave: I'm a mountain biker. My biggest concerns are trees and rocks.

Hilary: Well, those are big concerns.

Dave: I don't need roadside assistance because they won't go off the blacktop to come and get me. But, I spend five months of the year in Colorado. We have a licensed office in Denver and in Colorado Springs. So, when it gets miserably hot in Florida, I drive out to Colorado and spend the next five months riding out there. My business partner, who started this company with me, is a triathlete and iron man and he's also a mountain biker, but I've given up trying to keep up with him.

Hilary: That's awesome. So tell us, Dave, how could people get in touch with you and learn more about Velosurance or even sign up for Velosurance?

Dave: All of our contact information is on the velosurance.com site and our 800 numbers are there. That number will most likely ring on my desk if I'm the licensed agent in that state and I'm licensed in 48 States. So it tries to get me first. If it can't get me, it'll get somebody else. But it doesn't matter who you get a hold of, they're going to be able to help you and understand what you're dealing with. We like to talk to clients when they've had a claim because claims are sometimes emotional and it's time to take a breath, sit back and analyze what's going on.

Nobody likes insurance claims, but, there is a procedure that we can walk our clients through that makes an insurance claim a very easy and straightforward process.

Hilary: Awesome. Awesome. So that's Velosurance.com. And that is spelled Velosurance.com. Thank you so much, Dave, for being on the show. This was so informative. I learned a lot even by you being on the show. So I appreciate that.

And I also want to thank our sponsors again, the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes, LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group.

And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners for tuning in each week. If you want more information on this show or any other show, you can visit us at hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google play, Apple podcasts, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.

This past year women have taken a hit in the business world. So many have backed away from the workforce to handle things at home. But even during a pandemic, women can have it all with the right work-life harmony in place.

About the Interview

In this episode of Hilary Topper on Air, Hilary speaks with Shani Godwin, CEO of Communiqué USA, Inc., and provider of The Joy EconomicsSM Coaching Program.

Shani will discuss how she thinks women can have it all using her personal journey as a highly successful entrepreneur and how she was able to scale her business to over $1M. She will talk about the lessons she’s learned along the way and the fact that she was able to grow her company by 300% only after starting to work a little less and letting go of all of the stress. She also speaks about how she believes women CEOs can make more money while also saving more personal time for themselves, for family, and for those things that matter most. She will inspire other leaders on how women can have it all.

About Shani Godwin

An accomplished entrepreneur, author, blogger, podcaster, and speaker, Shani Godwin is also known as Chief Joy Officer has over 17 years of experience leading her high-growth marketing firm, Communiqué USA. She is also an expert at helping small businesses take the guesswork out of marketing, telling their story, and growing their businesses the right way.

Passionate about work/life integration, Shani and her Communiqué USA team have been providing marketing project relief and support to stressed out, overworked small businesses and marketing departments around the country including Chick-fil-A, Inc., Cox Enterprises, Communicorp, Party City of Atlanta, Inc., Georgia Power, and Safeco Insurance Companies among others.

Under Shani’s leadership, Communiqué also created Joy EconomicsSM, a corporate platform for helping its key stakeholders and communities find better ways to live, work and play by using joy as its currency. This approach has helped Communiqué grow by nearly 300 percent and includes company policies and programs that free its staff to enjoy life as much as work. Joy Economics: Creating Better Way to Life Work and Play also uses a client service approach that delivers expert marketing relief to teams, and a Joy Economics national speaker series to empower others to transact joy.

Shani is a graduate of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses Program, Leadership Atlanta Class of 2016, and Dartmouth University’s Tuck School of Business’s High Performing Minority Business Program. Shani has been featured in media nationwide including Essence Magazine, Forbes.com, and The Huffington Post.  She graduated from Hampton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications/Advertising and Mercer University where she earned a Master of Business Administration in Marketing.

About Communiqué USA

Communiqué USA is an 18-year-old marketing and communications firm designed to help small businesses take the guesswork out of marketing, tell their stories, and grow their businesses the right way. With work/life integration being key to the company’s success,

Communiqué also created Joy EconomicsSM, a corporate platform for helping its key stakeholders and communities find better ways to live, work and play by using the currency of joy. For Hilary Topper on Air listeners, Shani is offering a free joy assessment (valued at $475) where you can talk about stressors in your life and how you can turn things around. Register at https://shanigodwin.com/ or connect with her via YouTube, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Podcast Transcription

Hilary - This past year, women have taken a hit in the business world. So many have backed away from the workforce to handle things at home. But what if I were to tell you that women really can have it all without killing themselves in the process? I'm Hilary topper. And this is Hilary topper on air. Today I have the great pleasure of speaking with Shani Godwin, who is the CEO of  Communiqué USA, Inc. and the provider of the joy economics coaching program. So Shani Welcome to the show. And tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and Communiqué USA, Inc.

Shani - Awesome. Thank you so much, Hilary for having me. I am so excited about our time together here today. For me, the story of  Communiqué USA, Inc. and starting my business actually spans almost two decades. And it's so bizarre for me to even say that we're going to celebrate 19 years in business later this year. And as I thank you, thank you, as I reflect over that time I go, Wow. I started the business at 27 when it was the year after 09/11, literally a year later after 09/11. And then we had to kind of paddle and pivot our way through the recession of 2007 and 2008. And then now, you know the pandemic hit last year. And so when I think back over the years and the lessons learned, they are limitless.

Communiqué USA, Inc. is a marketing communications firm. We are based in the Atlanta area, our services and our target audiences have shifted as the economy has shifted from time to time. But we've remained very true to our core, which is helping companies create great content, so that people and business owners, as I say can find their peeps. And so for me, joy economics is really a concept that is near and dear to my heart. And the pandemic allowed and offered me an amazing opportunity to figure out a way to bring the spirit of joy economics in the ability and teaching philosophies around how women-owned businesses can be successful, how they can hit those revenue goals, but how they can do it in a way that is uniquely them and incongruence and in alignment with who they are as a woman.

And so for you to understand where all of that comes from. I have to take you back to when I started  Communiqué USA, Inc. . I was 27 I was married at the time I was sitting in corporate America and I could not fathom how I would be able to be the kind of wife and eventually mother that I'd hoped to be with only, you know, two weeks of vacation, you know, very demanding job, very demanding boss. And so even at a young age, I had the vision to start a business that really aligned with the best parts of me as a woman. And throughout the years what I didn't realize in growing and scaling the business over the million-dollar mark, which is important because it's important not to brag, but to celebrate anytime we as women make big accomplishments, what I didn't realize is that only 2% of women will ever go over the million-dollar mark. And when I look at women of color like me, the average woman of color generates 25 to 50,000 in business. And so instead of celebrating I actually found myself in programs trying to earn more, get more traction to grow.

That led me to awful, tell people the Epiphany night where I woke up at three in the morning, successful by the world standards over the million-dollar mark to having done all the things that people said would make me happy and successful. I also, at that place, had failed in my marriage. My marriage ended abruptly. I had a diagnosis of depression that I was having to manage, my dad had died, I'd gone through a lot of personal loss on the way to that million-dollar mark.

This all culminated with me at 3 am realizing that I was successful at achieving, again, the things that people said should make me happy. But I was miserable. And I had to really stop crying and take an assessment of how I got there. And I realized, I've been chasing a standard of success that, while important, was not congruent with who I was as a woman. And, when I rolled the reel back to when I started the business, I really wanted to be in business so that I could have a life that I loved. And at that moment, I decided that I would redefine success for myself and I came to easily see that I was happier when I was able to be fulfilled and use the business as a means to create balance and ability to be where I needed to be. The daughter, I needed to be the friend, I needed to be the partner, I needed to be in a relationship. And, when those things were in balance, joy came back to me, and then I showed back up in my business in a way that not only made me happier but made me way more productive. And then, I would be able to attract the very income that I've been chasing. So I'll put a pin in it there. But that's kind of all the different moving parts summarized into two, one quick little story for you.

Hilary - It's an awesome story. Thank you for sharing that. You know, as you alluded to when you started the business, it was 9/11. And things were not good economically.

Shani - No.

Hilary  - And we have gone through so many highs and lows, especially this year, which was brutal for women, entrepreneurs who had families. So there was so much stress. Can you tell us what you're seeing as it pertains to this?

Shani - Yeah, I'm glad you asked me that question. I just did a chat, my first clubhouse chat last week on the topic of winning like a woman and how do we lead with feminine power. I wanted to talk about feminine power with women because I think we are led to believe that power. And in order to be powerful, and use our power, as I say, use your superpowers for good, it has to look very masculine. And so many of us grew up in corporate America before we started our businesses, and the way that you got ahead in corporate America was to mimic masculine leadership traits.

When I really started to unpack for myself, who was I as a woman, and who was I as a leader and how did I bring the best of myself, to my business in and out every day, it really started to look softer and more collaborative. And so things like empathy, how do I use empathy in business to connect with my customers and clients? How do I use emotional intelligence? How do I use things like silence, knowing when to speak, and knowing when to think and listen deeply and actively. And again, I think when we start to unravel the narratives that we have to be a certain way to be successful, it allows us the immense amount of freedom to really just show up as ourselves in our business.

Hilary - So let's talk about the work-life balance. You know, with so many people working at home, it seems like everyone's working 24/7 or they're working crazy hours.

Shani - Yes.

Hilary - How can this help someone succeed?

 Shani - When I created joy economics, I had that epiphany in the middle of the night. And then I sketched out like a business plan at 3 am around it. And really, that led me to start doing a lot of research on the cost of stress on businesses. I like to share with people before the pandemic, before there was ever a COVID-19 there was stress, right? There was stress in our lives and stress was costing the US economy in terms of corporate losses $360 billion a year. And can you believe that like that's a lot of money.

And so you know, a lot of people, I tell people, yeah, it's, it sounds good. It feels good, but joy economics is literally built on real research and stats and figures. And so when you take like where we were before the pandemic, and then you now put us in homes, resuming 24 hours a day It feels like and zoom fatigue is real and all of that I think one of the simplest things we can do is just pay attention to our own tank and our own energy source. And so I've learned, I've kind of gone around in circles in my head about the whole concept of balance. And I think balance is a little misleading. What I like to advocate and think about much more is work-life harmony, like how do I create harmony in my life between the parts of me that are working to produce an outcome in my personal life? How do I create harmony in my work, so that I'm able to be and serve my total life at the highest level.

When I think like that, I don't want to say I am right there with every other woman right now in the pandemic, because like two weeks ago, I was like, I am working way too much like, this is not going to be sustainable. When we get out of the house again, that's what we're doing. So for me, one of the things I called up a girlfriend, and I was like, Hey, you know, I'm back on the hamster wheel a little bit. I'm zooming 456 times a day, I'm feeling my energy starting to get really low, I can't be my best and give my life my clients, my friends, my family, my niece, nephew, God, daughter, I can't give them the best of me if I'm on E, right? So, they need to get my overflow, which implies that I need to be full and whole. And we talked, I said, help me figure out how I need to balance this back out for myself.

It was the simplest answer, when we finished the conversation, it was like, I need to go outside, I just need to go outside. And it doesn't mean that I have to be doing anything. And so, if I'm in Atlanta, and spring is on the way, so is the pollen, I'm going to just start going out, going for walks going to a park. Honestly, even if I have my computer to be out and be connected to people to nature to life, outside of the four walls of my condo is going to fill my tank up, right? So that's the way that I can create more harmony ballots, whatever you want to call it in my life, that is going to then serve my business better because stress does create havoc in our lives. And that having bleeds back into your business, so in your employees too right? So if everyone's stressed out, or these little stress balls run in a business, and we're not giving ourselves the business, or anyone the best parts of us.

Hilary - So, so true. I love that I think that's awesome that you're going to do that. Now, I want to turn this around to the success that you've had because you have had amazing success in your career. What advice would you give other women business executives and entrepreneurs that are looking to scale their businesses to say a six-figure level?

Shani - Sure. Oh, this could be a whole day-long podcast, but I'll keep it simple. These are just some of the lessons I've learned. The first one I would say is to celebrate the now. Right? So we do this thing where we project out futuristically where we want to be and we drive ourselves to the future. But the reality is that the present gift is the now. And so one of the things I have learned to do is to celebrate the journey, trust the process and celebrate the little milestones along the way. And I got there because, Hilary, when I made it over the seven-figure mark as I said, I was unhappy. Everyone was telling me I was supposed to be happy. And I was so confused. Because everyone was like, I'm so proud of you, you should be so happy. And, on the inside, I was miserable.

I would look back at business plans and ideas I had when I was a $100,000 business,  $250,000 business and I realized, no, I wasn't that thing yet. But I had a lot of fun in the beginning. And so if you're not present, you can miss the moments that matter and everything builds cumulatively. So, celebrate the small wins. And then when you get to the big win where you're ultimately going, you'll appreciate it in a very different way.

Another thing I would say is to realize that you effectively, growth and scaling a business is much more about trusting and building operations systems and a team that will do the work for you than it is about you doing all of the work, like the fastest way to burn yourself out is to play all the parts in the band. I tell people, your job is really to be the conductor if we're an orchestra, and you're creating a beautiful piece of music or melody, you can't conduct the orchestra, jump over into the flute section, to do the flu, jump over into the cello, you know, cello, as you can do it, but it's not gonna sound good, like good music. And so our job is to really be the conductor, and to really effectively orchestrate a beautiful melody, which requires us to be very clear on our vision. And be very clear on who we put on our team, making sure the vision is communicated clearly, making sure we're clear on who our customers are, making sure that you're leading at maximum capacity. And, when you're running around playing all the roles in your business, you're operating at your lowest common denominator, not your highest.

So I have a rule. When something comes across my desk, I always ask myself "Am I the only person who can solve this problem?". And if I'm not, then it needs to be delegated out, it needs to go to the person most equipped on my team to solve that problem. And that preserves my energy, right? And now, if I'm operating from a full tank, I'm able to give my business, my clients, all the people who depend on me outside of work the best of me, because I'm not spreading myself too thin, pouring myself out in all the places. Behind that is a lot of mindset stuff that we, as women, get bogged down in a lot of obligatory things, things we think we're supposed to do. It's just a lot of stuff like behind the scenes mentally messing us up. But those are some of the ugly.

Hilary - Yeah, I mean, it's a real control factor, and you need to sometimes let go of certain things, right?

Shani - Yeah, you have to let go and trust. No woman, man, anybody makes it to the top alone. They don't. I was thinking about it. I don't know if I should even say this. I just watched the Megan Markel interview last night, and I was thinking this morning about heavies. I think they said that interview heavy is the head that wears the crown, it's not gonna be easy to grow and scale. And so you've got to put systems in place so that that crown doesn't get too heavy, you know,

Hilary - So true. So before we move on, I just have to say that I am so appreciative of our sponsors, and I want to take a minute and thank them, please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to The Buck Dallas Law Group, The Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, and Gold, Benes, LLP. Now, back to you Shani, we're talking about how women can have it all, achieve that highly coveted work-life balance, and be successful personally and professionally. Can you talk to me about toxic relationships? What advice do you have? How can these types of relationships negatively affect your success? Even when you don't even realize that?

Shani - Yeah, have you read the book? Hilary, have you read the book for the Four Agreements?

Hilary - No, I never did.

Shani - The book "The Four Agreements", it's one of my favorite books. It's Don Miguel Ruiz. And, basically, it's the easiest way for me to answer this question. The book talks about the fact that whenever we are letting people influence, speak to us, share things positively or negatively, it is only when we agree consciously or subconsciously with the thought that they're sharing that we agree with it. And once we agree with that person's thought or energy, then effectively our movements or reactions are a reflection of this agreement we've made. So let's take it back to toxic people. And I mean toxic people show up in all forms, they can be a spouse, a partner, it can be a client, oh my gosh, we can talk forever about toxic clients. It can be family members.

One of the easiest ways is, I've become very self-aware, physically, mentally, emotionally. And so those people that create stress like you know them, because you're doing fine, you're having a great day, everything's coming up roses in one of these people floats in your life. And when they leave, you feel stressed, anxious, depressed, whatever the negative thing is they've deposited, I pay a lot of attention to how people make me feel, intuitively. And I've learned, by developing it, to trust my instinct and intuition. But when it comes to toxic people, I have dealt with toxic people so often in life, I've gotten kind of good at exterminating them, I kind of use this, back to the orchestra analogy, I use this a lot, I kind of created this image for myself, in my mind that it's the Shani show. The stage is my life, and I get to choose let into the auditorium of my life in the roulette game myself, I don't owe anyone anything, and nobody owes me anything. And when I created that rule for myself, I was able to start maneuvering toxic relationships a lot better, because I was holding on to a lot of relationships because of what I felt was an obligation, or “Oh, I've known this person for 20 years”. And it was just a lot of duty-type stuff that I created for myself that was keeping me trapped. And so, what I do, and this is I'm letting y'all into my little secret, what I do is, I go, Okay, this is the auditorium, I get to decide who are the people I want close to me, clients, friends, family members, whatever they get to be in my orchestra pit. And here's the key, anyone can get moved around the auditorium at any point, and I want to move them around based on how they're making me feel if they're adding to or taking from my life. And so if someone in that orchestra pit starts acting toxic, and really getting in the way of me, seeing myself properly, me feeling good about myself, me feeling positive about my dreams and my goals, then they got to go. So they might get moved to the balcony, they might get put outside on the street for a while and have to just look at the marquee, save a shoddy show for the street.

Hilary - That 's awesome.

Shani - Yeah, that helps me a lot. Because, otherwise, I was keeping a lot of people close to me, didn't necessarily mean me harm, intentionally, but we're saying damaging things. And we have to realize that, most of the time, when people are talking to us, they are talking about themselves and projecting that onto us. So if someone's telling you, you can't do something, I'm not saying don't believe them. But ask yourself, like, examine the source, has this person done the thing that you want to do? Are they speaking from experience, that's the type of person I want to listen to. It's not necessarily the person who has never done it who's afraid to show up in their lives who spouts all this negativity toward me. And that's just a very watered-down example. But I think it's up to us to realize when we are off-kilter when there are people in our space that are bringing toxic energy to us. And, as businesswomen, you have to do the big girl thing. And that sometimes means walking away, terminating, creating distance, so that you can keep yourself safe. And realizing where you making agreements with people and things that are not serving you.

Hilary - I love that. That is awesome. Thank you. Really, that was really an awesome way to talk about it. Now, let's turn this a little bit. And this is my last little bit. I want to talk a little bit about storytelling. And also for example, for myself, I find that in my blog, New York lifestyle blog, when I talk about things that happened to me during life with other employees or with business etiquette, more and more people become engaged with that. Why do you think it's so powerful to have storytelling?

Shani - Storytelling is like the language of life to me. And people, you don't have to be a great writer to be a great storyteller. And the reality Hilary is that story allows people to see. If you tell me a great story and I identify it with it, yes, you're a great storyteller. But the reason I identified with it is because I'm able to see myself in your story. When we get into marketing, and when we talk about how do we use our stories, in marketing, to connect with customers more easily, to find our peeps, as I say, the people who want to do business with you organically, naturally, and that so much of what we do in our joy economics program is helping you root out and find the stories so that we can turn them into marketing, intellectual capital for you. And, again, it becomes easier for you to show up and get your job done. So you can go have a life you love. It's because story is one of the easiest, most natural, longest-standing ways that we create connection, we create community, we can heal each other with our stories, we're able to liberate each other with our stories.

When we don't share our stories, it leaves everyone very isolated and siloed feeling like they're alone. And, as soon as you share, you realize there are all kinds of people who can relate. They're all kinds of people who need your services, your products, but it's up to us to curate and cultivate those stories. And then we're good at communicating and helping turn those again into an intellectual property that you can turn around and use in your marketing. So now you're not out there spending money, time, energy, trying to create something based on what someone else is doing that you think might work for you. You're using your natural gifts, your natural talents, your natural stories, the best parts of you. And when we allow those to be illuminated and shine, people who identify with you and see themselves in your story are like hey, I like her. I want to get to know her. I want to do business with her.

Hilary - Absolutely that's awesome. Well, Shani let people know how they can get in touch with you and  Communiqué USA, Inc., and where you're located and all that.

Shani - Absolutely! So thank you so, much Hilary I have so enjoyed this time. I love having heartfelt conversations like this. I am pretty easy to get to and you can find me online at shanigodwin.com. I'd also like to offer any of your listeners who would like a free joy assessment with me. I'm offering a 45-minute free joy assessment where we can talk about what are the things that are stressing you out? And what are some ideas that we can put in place to make you happy and hold on that's a U$497 value gift from me to your listeners. You can go to shanigodwin.com and sign up for that and I'd also love it if you could pop over to YouTube. I do a weekly lesson each week with three tips on YouTube at Shani Godwin and you can follow me on Instagram @iamshanigodwin and link in with me on LinkedIn. So all things Johnny Godwin leads you back to Shani.

Hilary - That is awesome. And I'll be following you, Shani is awesome. So I want to thank you so much for being on the show. This was so insightful and I just know so many people will learn so much from it and so much from you. So thank you. I also want to thank our sponsors, the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold, Benes, LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group. And last but not least, I want to thank you our listeners for tuning in each week. If you want more information on this show or any other show, visit our website hilarytopperonair.com. Or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Apple podcasts, Amazon Alexa, you name it. We're out there, have a great week and we'll see you next time.

What makes a good business leader? What leadership skills do you need in order to successfully manage teams and/or a business in order to thrive?

In this week's episode Hilary Topper on Air, Hilary speaks with Thomas Steding, author of the newly released book, Real Teams Win: What Smart Leaders Need To Know Now About Achieving Performance.

Tom will give us an overview of his book, who the intended audience is, why people should read it, and key takeaways. He’ll also discuss what he calls the New Leadership Model and a top-to-bottom blueprint. Finally, he’ll speak on the characteristics and thought processes that all good business leaders have.

About Thomas Steding

Tom Steding has been CEO of more than 12 high-tech companies and active chairman of several others. The highly respected Silicon Valley turnaround expert has seen firsthand that the leadership skills that can take an organization from poor to peak performance and outdistancing its competition were not taught in business schools or management seminars or even as a part of the leadership conversation. Real Teams Win, his new book, is the culmination of his four decades of high-impact methods that offer real change from within the organization with real results – that work really fast.

About Real Teams Win

Real Teams Win provides a full cycle, top-to-bottom Blueprint for achieving breakthrough results as the New Leadership Model. Based on his Silicon Valley experience including as CEO of over a dozen startup companies, the author offers a comprehensive framework and toolkit to bring creativity, insight, and meaning to the workplace. Using proven principles, practices, structure, and processes, Real Teams Win provides new pathways to inventive ideas, newly designed products, and unique visions.  It blends theories drawn from strategy, economics, neuroscience, organizational development, literature, psychology, and mythology to define an environment that is collaborative, creative, agile, supple, non-oppositional, and courageous. Real Teams Win describes how to create the connected team driving creative collaboration for both high performance and enhanced quality of experience and is available for purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/Real-Teams-Win-Achieving-Performance/dp/1630061573.

Competing in a triathlon is one of the most exciting feelings you'll ever get. But, as exhilarating as it is, there are risks involved. Triathlons can be extremely dangerous and it's important to plan ahead and be prepared in case of an emergency. Are you prepared for a triathlon emergency?

In this week's episode Hilary Topper on Air, Hilary speaks with Deanne Eble, partner at the Russo Law Group, P.C.

Deanna will discuss how triathletes can prepare for the unexpected and dangerous risks of the sport. She will offer estate planning advice including tips for what documents you should bring with you and best practices regarding health care proxies, power of attorney, living wills, a last will and testament, and more.

About Deanne Eble

Deanna is a Partner at Russo Law Group, P.C. of Garden City, Islandia, Lido Beach, and Manhattan, New York. She focuses on Elder Law, Estate Planning, Special Needs Planning, and Medicaid Planning, and has practiced in these areas for more than fifteen years. Deanna is a member of the New York State Bar Association, Nassau County Bar Association, Nassau County Women’s Bar Association, Elder Counsel, and is admitted to the New York Bar. She earned her law degree at Hofstra University School of Law. Deanna frequently presents seminars on Elder Law and Estate Planning throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties.

While attending school, Deanna worked in a nursing home for almost ten years. The experience of working with the families and seeing the challenges presented in trying to care for a loved one inspired her to focus on Elder Law and related practice areas. “Caring for a loved one during an illness can be such a stressful time for everyone involved, and each individual handles that stress in a different way,” says Deanna. “The fact that I can be there for families during times like these, and provide sound legal counsel about how to pay for and provide the necessary care, is what motivates me every day. I take great satisfaction in helping families address their legal needs, so they can focus their energies on spending time with their loved ones.”

As an attorney, Deanna has helped hundreds of families with all levels of planning. She assists families interested in planning in advance for the possibility of incapacity and the need for long-term care. She also helps families in crisis situations—when they have been told that a loved one must enter a nursing home soon or has already been placed in one, and they need to obtain assistance from Medicaid quickly.

Deanna and her husband, Brandon, have been married since April 2001. They have two wonderful boys. Deanna was born on Long Island and now lives in Kings Park. Deanna enjoys baking and spending time with her family.

About the Russo Law Group

Russo Law Group, P.C. is dedicated to providing peace of mind to you and your family. Their team of elder law attorneys, estate planning attorneys, and special needs (disability) attorneys have experience in helping people with their problems. They promise to answer any question with a straight answer. Once they meet with you, they will be able to assist you. For more information about Vincent and the Russo Law Group visit https://www.vjrussolaw.com/.

Podcast Transcription

Hilary - Triathlons are exciting, exhilarating, and a whole lot of fun. I remember my first triathlon, it was as if I were in the Tour de France. It was one of the most exciting things I ever did, but as exciting as triathlons are they are also extremely dangerous. I’m Hilary Topper and you are listening to Hilary Topper on air. Today’s guest is Deanna Eble of the Russo Law Group and she’s gonna talk about estate planning 101 for specifically runners and triathletes. And without further ado, Deanna, Id like to introduce you. And could you just tell us a little bit about yourself your background and your connection to Triathlon?

Deanna - I can. So I’m Deanna Eble of the Russo Law Group. I’ve been here for... I’m going on my 12th year or I just finished my 12th year and I’m doing this for 19 years and my connection to Triathlon is my husband who, with Hilary, are desperately trying to get me to dive in and be one of you. But at the moment, I’m just one of those crazies who get up at 4:30 in the morning to go in wait, watch and cheer. And it’s probably harder for my end because I have to make sure I get the right picture so that when my husband every year at the end of his season does his you know memory book with all these great pictures of each individual stage of the race, he relies on me to have the pictures so it’s not an easy job to run from spot to spot to try and catch him. That is where the connection comes in. And I have to say, you know, he’s done everything from sprint distances up to a full Ironman. He is racing, this would have been his 11th season, but as most of you know, this season really got canceled and for the first time he didn't have any races this year as most of you didn't have any races and I have been at those races and I have watched some tragic things happen. I mean he did the Gran Fondo a number of years ago before his full Ironman and I sat in a little park at the bottom of the George Washington Bridge for 6 hours by myself and watched on more than one occasion, a spouse or loved one get approached by staff at the race because the athlete had gotten injured and they needed to meet that at the hospital. And so, because of some of the things that I’ve seen at the races, I am working with Hilary to try and get the word out that as much as you prepare and get yourself, physically, ready for a race, there are other aspects of the race that you should consider.

Hilary - So, he told us wise Runners and triathletes should care about this, but can you talk a little bit about Estate Planning in terms of what we need to prepare to protect ourselves in case, God forbid, something happens during one of these events.

Deanna - Absolutely. So, you know, the stories all the time Hollywood has everybody believing that you someone dies and you have to call the attorney. There’s a reading of the will and the will is so important and when somebody picks up the phone and calls me and asks me for a will because they don’t have a will. My first response to that is yes, I can help you with a will. But do you have a power of attorney? Do you have a healthcare proxy? Do you have a living will? So power of attorney those documents first, are lifetime documents. Those are the documents that are effective in your lifetime. If you are physically or mentally unable to do things for yourself, in your lifetime.

So, a power of attorney is a financial document that is giving a list of people that if you are physically or mentally unable to handle your finances, even if it's on a temporary basis like you are in the hospital and you can’t get to the bank to transfer money. I know a lot of people do a lot of things online these days, but there are still some of us who are old school and you still get a check in the mail. And you may need somebody to deposit it and stuff like that. If you need help with those things and you are physically or mentally unable to do it, if you don't have a power of attorney, naming somebody to do those things for you, then you’re in a Guardianship, and you are in guardianship even if you have a spouse. And that’s spouse is someone that you thought would be able to do it for you. The spouse can step in and handle things on a bank account, but I’ll tell you I’ve done a handful of guardianships in this office and every single one of them was a husband and wife case where we were looking to do things like transfer ownership of a property, can’t unilaterally change the deed from joined ownership to one person owning it. And so, without a power of attorney in place, you are in a, if you don't have the mental capacity to do it, you are in a guardianship Court doing it. Its time consuming and expensive. And it is not the best experience because you’re upon us standing and the judge is questioning you, there’s a lot that goes into it.

So power attorney is so much easier you can name multiple people, you can do a succession of one person, and then others, it’s just such an easy transition, when you have a power of attorney. Health Care Proxy is similar, it is the same concept, but it's for medical decision-making. So you’re brought into the hospital unconscious, and somebody needs to talk to the doctor and make the decisions for you that Health Care proxy is going to help prioritize your decision-makers. In New York state, a medical emergency does have laws that allow for a hierarchy to step in and make emergency medical decisions, but, my example is always, you know like I’m one of three girls. My father died five and a half years ago and I’ll tell you that my mom and the three of us were standing in the hospital. And the doctors were coming to us with different things. His health care proxy said one thing, Doctors were telling us what his current state was and one of my sisters was very adamant that whatever my mother wants is what we should do it. And we, my older sister and I very clearly said, no, that’s not the way that the world works. It’s what he wanted. It was his decision when he already signed all the proxies and everything. So, you know, even though there’s an emergency order in there, it can create animosity and a lot of problems in the Heat of the Moment when you’re dealing with a crisis in the hospital where if you hand over Health Care proxy is a pecking order, and there’s no issue there. So we supplement health care proxy with a living will. The living will is essentially the directions to the family as to what you want Health Care Proxy says, who makes the decision living will give them guidance on what decision to make and so those are very important documents. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do a will. And or consider trust and stuff like that. But in the world that you’re in, where you’re doing a lot of these races and you know, I‘ve heard the stories and been at some of these races where things have happened, you know. My husband did the half Ironman in Atlantic City years ago, and he got up there, he was part of it a team at that time, cuz he had been part of a team with the full Ironman. And he was hearing stories about how the weekend before the race. A group of people went to just practice on the course and someone got hit by a car and died. You know it’s not really want to hear. It’s certainly not what you want to hear as an athlete because that’s a real possibility. But even though many of these courses have limited traffic on them, it’s still traffic, and some people aren’t paying attention. It’s usually Sunday morning, and is the least amount of traffic, but, that doesn’t mean people are being cautious. You’re racing in there and their town in their area and if they didn’t want it to happen, and aren’t very fun of the fact that you’re taking over their town, they could be a little aggressive. So I do have concerns about having stuff for the here-and-now and not necessarily only focus on what happens to you on your passing.

Hilary - Yeah, that’s right. I mean it even gets down to the point where what happens if you become incapacitated during an accident and your spouse or your partner needs to get into your social networking sites, so there’s so much...

Deanna - The best example I can give you is, when you think of your races, I guess it’s probably more of the bigger races but when you give your bike at a transition area and everything like that, and if something happens to you, I, as a spectator, I have to have a voucher with your bib number and information on it in order for me to collect your belongings and essentially that’s what you’re doing with the power of attorney and Health Care proxy. Its giving your loved ones a voucher to go in and do things for you and continue your every day the way that you need that every day to continue. You know, Iron Man doesn’t pass over a $6,000 bike to just anyone because of the liabilities and you want to make sure the right people are making your decisions.

Hilary - I would like to open this up to Nicole and Steve and see if you guys have any questions for Deanna.

• In estate planning where you potentially have a claim issued by creditors against a spouse where the other has died, can you do a transfer of title to the children and retain a life estate in the property? Does that protect you against creditors or you know names from Medicare or for other claims? And if you do something like that, does it also allow you to keep whatever exemptions you have on the property for tax purposes. I’m an attorney but I don’t really do stable that much.

Listen, I’m not understanding if there’s already a claim out there, you know, like what we have to worry about fraudulent conveyance. If there’s a claim out there, already, I’d have to know a little bit more about this, but to answer the second part, there are two ways to transfer property, there are multiple ways, but, in reference to your question, there are two ways I would transfer property in order to maintain the exemptions that someone may be getting for real estate tax exemption. I honestly would do a transfer to an irrevocable trust first. And the reason why I would do a transfer to an irrevocable trust first is that, when you transfer to an irrevocable, trust, if there’s fighting within the family then the grantor can always… there’s always a way in the law for them to manage through the trust, and work through the trust to get the interest back or to cut somebody out. When you do the deed transfer outright to children with a life estate for the parent, yes, they’ll still be able to get their exemptions, but there are two concerns that I have about that. One is if the parent goes into a nursing home and they need to sell the property because the kids can’t maintain two residences, then the children are going to pay a higher... They’re going to pay Capital, if they don’t live in the house, they’re going to pay capital gains on the sale which wouldn’t necessarily happen in a trust…

• If I transfer a property to a trust, the trust takes the basis that I purchased for?

Yes but if you leave language in the trust to say it is basically implied that the parents have the right to use possess an occupied the premise then they are. It's a grantor trust, first of all, and the fact that they have the right to use occupy and possess the premises will give them the exemption that you’re still looking for. And as a grantor trust is not taking it out of their state so it would be inherited on their desk. But with the deed transfer, you know, I also worry about the children owning it for the reasons of creditor problems. Marital problems. I had a case years ago where Mom and Dad transferred to their three sons. One of the sons passed before Mom and Dad and the daughter-in-law stood for his 1/3 and they were alive and it was their house and they had the right to live there, but because he owns an interest that she sued them for it. So that’s why I usually go trust over deed because there are just so many more protections for the parents in the trust and they have so much more flexibility in the trust than they do with just a deed transfer.

• I do have a living will and the directives and all of that sort of stuff. I don’t have an actual will at the moment. But my question is when I’m at an event, are there any documents that my spouse should actually have with her during the event, in case something happens to me.

So there are two different ways that you can answer that. You can either have a physical copy of those documents. Just like in your she should have it in her bag so that if she needs it in an emergency it’s there or even like a healthcare proxy is something that you can you put at an email. So that if you’re in the hospital at least she has it on her phone that she can present it and if she needs to email it to them to print out, it’s easy to access to it so that there’s no question that she can make decisions for you.

• Are there any problems these days and hospitals with same-sex spouses?

As far as I could see, as long as you’re legally married there’s not an issue. And I mean, I really haven’t even seen major issues with long-time partners. Really, it comes down to the family. So when you’re married, I think that the argument is there that you’re married and they can’t do anything about it when it’s a partner situation and there’s no legal Union, then it’s the family that makes the issues because, in that hierarchy, the family would come before the partner. So that’s the issue. In that situation, a health care proxy is absolutely the most important thing because if the health care proxy says the partners’ name, then the partner takes priority over the hierarchy. I mean with regard to a will Nicole, you should just consider. So, one of the things that people sometimes don’t understand, is that a will is really only used in circumstances where somebody has assets in their name alone and there was no beneficiary on them. So, if you and I owned accounts, jointly, and you passed, even if your will said that your wife gets it, let’s pretend she’s just your partner right now, cuz there are nuances with his house. So let, you know, say Hillary gets it in your will, but if you have a joint with me, then I get it because it’s joint ownership, you named me as beneficiary I get it. Hillary doesn’t have any claim because there’s nothing that would be processed through the well, and the will is also a process that requires getting the court involved. So, you’re subject to the court, calendar, your subject to the fees of the Court. And it also gives an opportunity, depending on your circumstance where somebody whos maybe not named in the will may have a platform to go in and argue that they should have gotten something. So I do a lot of trust work so that we don’t have that opportunity in that platform because a trust it’s not impossible, but it is more difficult to get for a Court in a trust in the area.

Hilary - What about if you went to a race and you are there with your child or a friend. Should they still have your health care proxy?

Deanna - I think they should. I think that you should always make that part of your checklist. You know, my husband has a playlist. He plays every morning at the start for racing. He has that list that he goes through to make sure he has his bike pump and he has his spare tubes in his Gatorade. That’s something that should be part of your list. You know, I’ve even had people Shrink it down or years ago, many years ago, I did something for the bar association, which was called the decision-making day and they cast out a healthcare proxy that was about the size of a business card or maybe two, you know, it was folded. So it was when you opened it was to business card and it was microscopic in that sense, but you could fill it out. It was, you know, it wasn’t as comprehensive as what I might have done in the office but it was still something and it was folded and put in your wallet. And then what happens is when, if something happens to you, the first thing that people do is go through your wallet or like the stuff you have on you, which you wouldn’t have on in a race but it’s still part of your belongings and they would pull out the card and open it and realize, oh, wait, we have people that cuz it has names and phone numbers on it so they would call somebody and say here is that information. Now, I know the one that is a little different because they make you fill out those waivers and everything and the forms will ask you for that information up front, but it’s still an opportunity in the hospital for you to have everything right there. And it’s not a lot to carry. The other thing that you should make sure you have is a list of your medications. And my dad was on a lot of medications and it’s something that I‘m trying to see if we could do in our office. My dad took, I don’t know if anybody remembers it cuz we really do everything with our phones nowadays, but my dad had an address book. That was the size of a business card, but it was like an accordion. And when you opened it up by that had spots to write addresses on both sides and he would write all of his medications on it and then close it up and put it in his wallet so that he had all that information cuz he was on so much but its always helpful to know what kind of medications are unlike. I’m on medications, my husband knows all my medications but couldn’t tell you any of the medications I’m on. So I mean that’s always helpful, I know when I was pregnant with my boys, I was on blood thinners. You know, if I got into an accident or something like that, they needed to know I was on blood thinners so that they didn’t do something drastic, that would create more chaos than needed to be.

Hilary - Well, I think that’s a wrap. I really appreciate your time.

Deanna - You’re very welcome in and again, Hilary has my information. So if anybody wants to reach out because you have further questions, I’m available.

Have you ever heard of ice swimming? Does the thought of swimming or competitively swimming in water temperatures in the 50s, 40s, and even the 30s sound like fun?

In this week's episode Hilary Topper on Air, Hilary speaks with Ed Gabriels, a USAT Level 1 coach for 13 years and an avid ice swimmer.

Ed will discuss what ice swimming is, how he got his start in the extreme worldwide sport, races he's participated in, the gear you'll need to combat the cold, and safety tips and precautions to consider when ice swimming.

He’ll also chat with us about his small business, Crumble+Melt delivered, which offers homemade cookies and chocolates baked to order weekly and made with high-quality ingredients.

About Ed Gabriels

Ed Gabriels is a USAT Level 1 coach for 13 years and has competed in over 30 multi-sport events including four full IRONMANs, two National Open Water Championships in the 5k and 2 miler, an Ultra Marathon, USA SwimRun, three USA Winter National Championships, four Winter Swim Festivals in Lake Memphremagog in Newport Vermont in February. He is also the founder and baker of Crumble+Melt established in 2017. He has been a food and beverage stylist for the past 20 years.

About Crumble+Melt delivered

Crumble+Melt delivered offers homemade cookies and chocolates baked to order weekly and made with high-quality ingredients. We’ve been perfecting our recipes for 20 years as our special holiday gift to friends and family. Today our cookies are now available to order so anyone can give or enjoy them any time of the year. What sets us apart is our distinct combinations of flavors: cookies have grown-up.

For more information about Ed, ice swimming, and his company, Crumble+Melt delivered, visit www.crumblemeltdelivered.com or email Ed at [email protected] or [email protected]. 

Ice Swimming Disclaimer

Own every decision you make: risks of entering very cold water include heart attack, asthma attack, panic attacks, cold incapacitation, cold shock, drowning, hypothermia, and death. With the freedom to swim outdoors comes the responsibility to do it safely. HJMT MEDIA COMPANY, LLC and its’ guest are responsible for swimmers’ decisions or the accuracy of any information given. Understand more on the risks including high blood pressure and cold incapacitation.