Positive Blatherings Podcast

What if the person with no superpowers, in a world where everyone else has one, turns out to be the most important character in the room? Michael Solis joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about Deficient, his YA sci-fi novel set in a near future where super-powered people are the majority and one 15-year-old boy is the last kind of outcast anyone saw coming. The conversation moves well beyond the book: Michael's coming out story, Fitz's experience raising a trans son, what it takes to get your book rights back and build your own press from scratch, and what 20 years responding to Ebola outbreaks and floods in West Africa has to do with writing fiction.

In this episode, Michael walks through the ability hierarchy he built for the novel and why he made it as brutal as he did, the personal experiences woven into the characters without ever appearing by name in the text, what happens when the only person who responded right to a coming out said just three words, and why he walked away from humanitarian work and moved to Rochester to run Writers and Books and release his books on his own terms. 

CONNECT

Michael Solis: https://michaelsolisauthor.com
Writers and Books: https://wab.org
ROC Vox: https://rocvox.com
Salvatore's: https://salvatores.com
New episodes every Tuesday.

Recorded at ROC Vox in Bushnell's Basin, NY. 

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Dave Mammano ran Next Step Magazine for 21 years — a print publication for high school students that grew to 17 editions and $5 million in revenue. When print died, he sold it, rebuilt from scratch, survived COVID wiping out his events business, and somehow ended up back on stage doing stand-up comedy. He now travels the country as a keynote speaker teaching businesses how to use humor and levity to grow leadership, culture, and retention. He's also entrepreneur-in-residence at the Golisano Institute and the U of R Simon School's Ain Center for Entrepreneurship.

In this episode he gets into selling Next Step after 21 years and what it really feels like to let go of something you built, how he launched the Avanti Entrepreneur Network from nothing, why COVID knocked him down twice, how reviving his stand-up comedy roots turned into a full-time speaking career, what he sees in today's young entrepreneurs that gives him real hope, the value of truly disconnecting (lessons from three weeks in Sicily with no Wi-Fi), and his next big idea, a road trip TV show called The Good Business Tour.

CONNECT 
The David Mammano Show → https://davidmammano.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes of Positive Blatherings drop every Tuesday. 

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, 
NY.

Learn more at https://rocvox.com 

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Marketing insurance agents nationwide sounds like a contradiction, but Uptown Marketing founder Martina Barley built a thirteen person, all female agency doing exactly that. Martina joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about her path from an unlicensed State Farm sales assistant to the self described "Michael Jordan of sales," and why the confidence that built her business almost got in the way of leading her team.

In this episode, you'll learn how Martina grew Uptown Marketing from three founders to thirteen employees, why she believes sales and leadership are two completely different skill sets, how she convinces insurance agents to actually invest in their online presence, and what she tells clients about AI replacing, or not replacing, their jobs. CHAPTERS

CONNECT
Uptown Marketing → https://uptownmarketing.com
The Marketing Girl (book) → https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Girl-Trusting-Intuition-Confidence/dp/1956464484
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com
Salvatore's → https://salvatores.com
New episodes of Positive Blatherings drop every Tuesday.
Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY.
Learn more at https://rocvox.com 

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Jon Goehring spent years behind the mic at Rochester radio stations before leaving it to build StoryTrust Media, a podcast production company built on one idea: your stories build trust with your audience whether you mean them to or not. He joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about what radio actually prepares you for, why collaboration beat competition in his business, and how two people running similar races figured out they weren't really competing at all.

In this episode, Jon explains why he tells his Brockport students not to marry radio, the moment he stopped auditioning for everything and started referring work to other talent, how faith shapes the way he runs StoryTrust, and what he'd tell his 15-year-old self about ignoring everyone else's formula for success. 

CONNECT 
StoryTrust Media (Jon Goehring) → https://storytrust.media Limitless
Leadership Lounge → https://limitlessleadershippodcast.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes every Tuesday.

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY.

Learn more at https://rocvox.com

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Sarina Morales spent years as an ESPN anchor and Los Angeles Rams sideline reporter before Bally Sports went bankrupt, she became a single mother, and everything she had built changed at once. She surveyed what came next, found WeTheHobby, and landed in the one place where every thread of her career finally connected.

In this episode she gets into the psychological techniques she developed for drawing out reluctant NFL players, the framework she built for grieving without getting stuck, why she argued at Newhouse in 2004 that content belongs on YouTube and Facebook before either platform supported video, the near-death experiences that explain why she still has what she calls zest for life, and the Bronx baseball story she used to get into Syracuse, where a 15-year-old girl showed up to practice on Monday after an entire opposing team sat down on the field to protest her.

CONNECT
Sarina Morales on Instagram → @moralesmorales
WeTheHobby → https://wethehobby.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Maria Pascucci-Maciejewski spent over 20 years helping others manage perfectionism and anxiety. She launched a national speaking business at 27, wrote a book, delivered a TEDx talk, and coached hundreds of students through the hidden costs of needing to be perfect. In the summer of 2024, it all caught up with her.

In this episode she gets into the childhood bullying that became perfectionism, the 3.92 GPA that came with panic attacks in college bathrooms, and why none of it was enough to stop a complete nervous system breakdown, a suicide attempt, and 34 days in a psychiatric hospital over the holidays. She also talks about what actually pulled her back, why nutrition belongs in every mental health conversation, and what she is building now.

CONNECT
You Can Bounce Back → https://youcanbounceback.com
Campus Calm → https://campuscalm.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes every Tuesday.

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

(00:00:00) Welcome to ROC Vox — Introducing Coach Jim Johnson

(00:01:03) Getting Cut and Getting Fired — A Humbling Start to Coaching

(00:02:45) Becoming a Leadership Junkie — Zig Ziglar Jim Rohn and the Personal Growth Pivot

(00:06:06) The One-Hit Wonder Problem — Staying at the Top Is Harder Than Getting There

(00:07:03) Lead by Respect Not Fear — The Wrong Way to Lead

(00:08:36) Relationships Relationships Relationships — The Three Rs of Leadership

(00:10:06) The Intentional Trust Plan Most Leaders Have Never Built

(00:11:24) Always On Stage — Leading by Example and the Tie Story

(00:17:48) Advice for New Coaches — Are You In It for the Right Reasons?

(00:21:06) How Coaching Young People Has Changed in 35 Years

(00:23:51) Purpose Self-Reflection and Personal Mission Statements

(00:25:21) The J-Mac Story — February 15 2006 and the Speech Career It Started

(00:27:04) Become the Chief Storyteller — Warnings Examples and Reading the Room

(00:34:42) Staying Fresh — Intentional Personal Growth and Servant Leadership

(00:43:15) What's Next — Books Podcast and How to Find Coach Jim Johnson

Coach Jim Johnson spent 35 years coaching high school basketball in Rochester with 428 wins, three programs turned around, and one game on February 15, 2006 that landed him in the Oval Office. In this episode, he gets into what it actually looks like to build trust on purpose, why the leaders who sustain success are doing something most teams never think about, and how the lessons from a gym floor translate directly into any room where someone's trying to lead people.

CONNECT

Coach Jim Johnson → https://coachjimjohnson.com 
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com.

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

(00:00:00) Cold Open: What is the Eclipse Effect?

(00:00:45) Welcome Back and the Non-Conformist Oath

(00:03:47) Ella's Five-Year Plan and the 2017 Missouri Eclipse

(00:06:00) Building Rochester's Eclipse Task force: 750 Volunteers, No Budget

(00:12:00) Co-Chairing the National Eclipse Task Force

(00:14:27) The Dreadful Lack of Agency and What To Do About It

(00:17:21) Bonding vs. Bridging: The Two Kinds of Social Capital

(00:21:09) The Network Graph: Making Invisible Connections Visible

(00:28:51) Stories From the National Eclipse Effort

(00:39:09) On Failure, Grade, and Raising Kids Outside the System

Deborah Ross watched the 2017 solar eclipse from a field in Kimmswick, Missouri and came home convinced of two things: Rochester needed to be ready for 2024, and it was going to be her job to make that happen. What she built with 750 volunteers, no budget, and six years of monthly meetings became both a defining moment for this region and the foundation of a book.

In this episode, she breaks down how an eclipse becomes a community organizing tool, what servant leadership actually looks like when you're asking hundreds of people to work for free, and why the principles behind The Eclipse Effect apply to any catalyst, a natural disaster, a federal funding cut, or the Olympics coming to your town. 

CONNECT 
The Eclipse Effect → https://theeclipseeffect.com
Kids Out and About → https://kidsoutandabout.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes every Tuesday.

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Melissa Suchodolski told someone once that getting into construction was "absurd." That was 25 years ago. Today, she runs USC Builds, a 140-person Rochester contracting firm, and a workforce development nonprofit that Governor Hochul wants to replicate across New York State.


In this episode, she gets into what it actually looks like to build a company culture most firms won't even try, what it cost to fire a client who represented a third of her annual revenue, and why the construction industry's labor crisis is a competitive advantage for anyone who started this work early.


CHAPTERS
00:12 Welcome and the Non-Conformist Oath
01:09 How Fitz and Melissa Met at the Jewish Home of Rochester
11:25 Why More Americans Should Travel Abroad
12:23 Meet USC Builds: 25 Years Building People Through Construction
13:31 From History Major to Construction President
16:26 Why a Skilled Trade Can Never Be Taken Away
19:33 What a Trauma-Informed Workplace Looks Like in Construction
27:43 Why She Fired Her Second-Biggest Client Over Racism on the Job Site
30:42 The Construction Labor Crisis and Who's Already Positioned to Win
34:39 Ascend Workforce Solutions and the Governor's Attention
41:20 Trauma as a Superpower
42:51 This or That


CONNECT
USC Builds → https://uscbuilds.com
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com


New episodes every Tuesday.


Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com.

Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.

Chad Marks was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison at 24 years old — and from his cell, he wrote the legal argument that freed thousands.

Chad Marks — Rochester native, published author, paralegal, and founder of Blood on the Razor Wire — joins Fitz at ROC Vox to tell the full story: growing up poor on Lyle Avenue, the drug dealing, the 40-year federal sentence, the First Step Act argument that no attorney believed in, and what he's built since walking out — a paralegal practice, a sober living house, a YouTube channel, a book, and a possible Netflix series.

In this episode: how federal prison actually works, what a 40-year sentence does to your psychology, 14 months in solitary, the PTSD nobody talks about, what's most broken in the system, and why your worst day on the outside still beats your best day in there.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold Open and Introduction
2:10 Growing Up Poor in Rochester: How It Started
3:19 The First Step Act and the Argument That Freed Thousands
6:26 The Reality of Federal Prison: Big Sandy and the Violence
10:18 The 40-Year Sentence and Judge Larimer
15:49 Life After Release: Giving Back to the Community
19:01 Writing Motions From His Cell and Getting 20 Out
24:40 The Mission: Blood on the Razor Wire
28:11 What's Most Broken in the Prison System
34:24 Misconceptions: What Prison Actually Does to You
35:14 PTSD, Counseling, and Relearning Normal Life
43:49 The SHU: 14 Months in Solitary

CONNECT
Blood on the Razor Wire (book) → https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Razor-Wire-journey-through/dp/B08N9DP62B
Blood on the Razor Wire TV → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2BfsAN7eb-76zlPmVbetgQ
Freedom Fighters PC → https://www.freedomfighterspc.com
The First Step Act ruling → https://www.criminallegalnews.org/news/2020/may/15/federal-judge-issues-order-reducing-40-year-stacked-924c-sentence-based-first-step-act-changes-compassionate-release/
ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

New episodes every Tuesday.

#BloodOnTheRazorWire #FirstStepAct #FederalPrison #PrisonReform #JailhouseLawyer #CriminalJusticeReform #PositiveBlatherings #ROCVox #PositivePodcast


Recorded at ROC Vox Recording and Production Studios, Rochester, NY.