The Cynthia Manion Show

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Connect with Joe Ingram:

https://www.ingraminteractive.com/

https://open.spotify.com/show/0hCjm5QATQ0l5FKOk0iPTL

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeingram/

https://www.instagram.com/joe_ingram_sales/

https://www.facebook.com/josephingram

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnPUGEr7oD81Nh5esk9nZQQ

https://www.tiktok.com/@joe_ingram_sales

https://x.com/joeingramsales

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Joseph-Ingram/author/B08XTCGNZN

https://thegeniuslinks.com/

Joe Ingram was pumping gas and cleaning the bathrooms at his family's gas station at seven. He had to be there at six in the morning, before school. He was in his mid-twenties before he looked down and couldn't see grease in every line of his hand.

"Never be normal, normal people get normal paychecks."

He's an electrical engineer who spent 10 years in aerospace manufacturing, then two years running the call center at a criminal defense law firm. He answered an ad for a call center manager and it turned out to be a car dealership. Six months later, 3 of the 10 pilot stores still had a call center. Two were his, and the nickname "BDC Genius" stuck.

Today he's The Sales Genius, founder of Ingram Interactive and host of the Sales Genius Podcast. Most recently he was general sales manager of a Ford store that finished #19 out of 2,804 Ford dealers. He builds AI sales training with, in his words, "a bot that has my brain in it."

In this hour: why stores lose to response time, the 60-second appointment game, a donut date on the tailgate of his truck, what he tells salespeople who think AI will replace them, a purple mermaid for his two-year-old granddaughter, the staff meeting he's setting up with his AI tools, and Donna, the AI assistant who answered the show's emails.

Chapters:

00:00 How they met, and pumping gas at seven

05:17 Engineering, aerospace, a law firm, then car sales and "BDC Genius"

17:32 Coaching reps over AOL Instant Messenger

21:30 Why stores lose to response time

27:52 A donut date on the tailgate, and feast and famine in sales

37:31 AI on a Monday morning, and the purple mermaid

40:21 "It's gonna replace me": salespeople and AI

49:12 Action Solves Everything, and Never Be Normal

53:08 What's next, a staff meeting with his AI tools, and the ASK cap

1:04:02 A day off with his granddaughter, Like, Listen, Believe, and Buy, and Donna

Connect with Sophia Angelica:

https://www.instagram.com/sophiaangelicamusic/

https://www.facebook.com/sophiaangelicamusic/

https://www.tiktok.com/@sophiaangelicamusic

https://www.youtube.com/@sophiaangelica

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3LWzCjlLDozNbCkEmpZEQm

https://www.youtube.com/@TheNonConformess

https://x.com/sangelicamusic

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-angelica-62aa6117a/

https://www.sophiaangelica.com/

Sophia Angelica was 12, singing Whitney Houston at a birthday party, when the head of a mental health NGO asked her to sing at her next conference at the UN. She had no idea what the UN was. She said yes anyway, and in her words, she became “UN singer girl.”

“So my message is always, don’t feel like you have to pick... pick all of it, pick all of you.”

She’s a bilingual singer-songwriter and human rights activist. She spent about a month on a university human rights tour in Taiwan and received the President’s Volunteer Service Award. In Thailand she sang at a Gates Foundation conference, and at Yankee Stadium, the national anthem. Her song Flying On won the Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award.

In this hour: the UN stage that sent her running to the bathroom, an hour of singing in the rain on Fifth Avenue, the song and the social media campaign that found her brother a kidney donor, My Princess Era, The Non-Conform(ess), and what she’d tell the young woman who’s been told she has to pick one world. She sings a little, too.

Chapters:

00:00 How they met, and performing at six

04:59 English or Spanish first, and growing up a multicultural Latina

10:59 The UN stage that made her knees shake

13:25 Taiwan and Thailand, then the photos from Yankee Stadium to Fifth Avenue

21:27 Flying On and the Marvin Hamlisch award, then My Brother, Big Brother

27:44 Speak Up, written at 15 or 16, and the ASCAP songwriting camp

31:08 Whitney Houston at 12 leads to the UN, plus the President’s Volunteer Service Award

36:02 The Fifth Avenue float, and Sophia sings

38:34 “Pick all of you,” then six-year-old Sophia and The Non-Conform(ess)

43:05 My Princess Era at a castle, Medellín, and the lightning round

Connect with Dr. Julie Ducharme:

https://drjulieducharme.com/

https://leadandempowerher.com/

https://synergylearninginstitute.org/

https://jdconsultingsolutions.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjulieducharme/

https://www.instagram.com/julietaylorducharme

https://www.facebook.com/DrJulieDucharmeCOMMANDERINPINK/

https://www.youtube.com/user/juliemducharme

https://www.tiktok.com/@drjulietaylorducharme

Dr. Julie Ducharme was 18 when a professor handed back a D and told her she wasn't smart enough to be in school. Her mom told her to go get a tutor. Ten years later, a dean with companies of her own, she ran into him.

"That's Dr. Julie Ducharme and I'm doing just fine. Thank you."

She played basketball and volleyball on a dual-sport scholarship, then walked into tryouts overseas and made the pro teams. Her first company, Julie's Party People, started at 22 or 23 and grew into one of the largest event companies in San Diego. Today she's the founder of Lead and Empower Her SHE Talks, a networking group for women that started there and is now in six countries. It has a magazine, three books, and a stadium event coming April 3.

In this hour: the 101-things-women-do-wrong book she threw out, Leading By My Ponytail and Inc's list, the college she runs for military veterans, the crock pot of apple cider that got a silent office talking, 10,000 Women Rising, and what the woman with a story and no stage should do tomorrow morning.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold open, the intro, and what happens in a SHE Talks room

06:59 Three books and the youth who speak (her daughter Abigail wrote hers at 13)

12:34 The tryouts overseas, and what the court taught her

15:29 Leading By My Ponytail, and the 101-things-women-do-wrong book she threw out

22:06 "You're just not smart enough to be in school," and the professor she met ten years later

25:19 Leaders vs. managers, the crock pot, and Woman of the Year at the Capitol

33:29 The college for veterans, and Combat Boots to Heels

40:53 JD Consulting and 10,000 Women Rising (the stadium event is April 3 in San Diego)

45:49 Julie's Party People, about 99 balloons an hour

54:02 Tomorrow morning, for the woman with a story and no stage

Connect with Monica Kretschmer:

https://universalwomensnetwork.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakretschmer/

https://www.instagram.com/universalwomensnetwork

https://www.facebook.com/UniversalWomensNetwork

https://open.spotify.com/show/5HNcHpzJgJg3mRUfKnLBkx

https://www.youtube.com/@universalwomensnetwork

Monica Kretschmer became a single mother overnight, to a seven-month-old boy. Then came more than 4,800 hours of family litigation, a 22-day trial, and eight more years representing herself.

"So it took me really 18 years to get out of a 15 month marriage."

When the trial was over she wanted to thank her lawyer, so one Saturday morning in 2015 she sold out a room at WinSport in Calgary and put her on that stage.

That was the first Women of Inspiration Awards. In this hour: the five people who stood by her, why she invited men in with SupportHER, the trucking companies that put women's faces on the side of their trucks, Hazel McCallion's one-word answer, and the memoir she's writing, ALL IN.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold open, the intro, and the night her life changed

03:27 The Power Era, after years of feeling powerless

05:24 "My picker was a little off"

07:20 Eight or nine lawyers in the room. She had one.

10:31 The five people who stood by her, and 18 years to leave a 15-month marriage

12:39 The awards began as a thank-you to her lawyer. WinSport, September 26, 2015

18:29 SupportHER, the idea her advisors called "career suicide"

23:24 International SupportHER Day, then the trucking companies that said yes

31:30 Ten years of sticky notes on the dining room wall, and Hazel McCallion's one word

38:34 The memoir, ALL IN, then her mom's sixty years of Tuesday bingo

Connect with Tony:

Screen Chatter: https://screenchatter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScreenChatter1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheScreenChatterInterviewPage

X: https://x.com/TalkingPictures

Screen Chatter on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScreenChatter

Tony Toscano was seventeen and playing big band records on his hometown radio station in West Covina when he told listeners to go see Frank Sinatra in Tony Rome.

The phone rang.

It was Sinatra, and they talked on the air for ten minutes.

That was 1972.

Tony took Talking Pictures from that station to television in Salt Lake City, into 65 million homes, and to two Emmys, then retired it after twenty years because studios kept telling him what to ask.

In this hour, he talks about Story Forge, the event where he and Cynthia met, what Harrison Ford and Robin Williams were like off camera, why every movie starts with five stars, and what the river gives him that a theater can't.

Chapters:

00:00 Five decades of asking the questions, and Story Forge

04:24 Seventeen, on the air, and Frank Sinatra on the phone

12:11 "Talking Pictures," and the aunt who voiced Rocky

16:12 The perfect face for radio

24:31 His favorite movies, genre by genre

28:43 Forty beta tapes a day, then two Emmys

33:47 Why he retired Talking Pictures for Screen Chatter

40:49 Harrison Ford, Robert Redford, and Robin Williams off camera

45:23 Every movie starts with five stars

52:01 The river, the barbecue, and the first movie he ever saw

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Justin Jacobs:

Health Plan Markets: https://joinhpm.com/about-hpm/

Journey to the Summit (book): https://a.co/d/02yav2WQ

Closed! with Justin Jacobs (podcast): https://open.spotify.com/show/3CPSTUthrgstcYN4qYhjvR

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-jacobs-838490a3/

HPM on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/health-plan-markets/home/

HPM on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthplanmarkets/

HPM on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askhpm/

HPM on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvxk-6JALJGB76jopAVzUUA

Justin Jacobs got his insurance license in 2005 after a friend showed him a paycheck, and started Health Plan Markets in 2013 out of the trunk of his car. He had the company set up for eight months before he left his job, and he didn't leave by choice: "The universe made the decision for me. They fired me." Today HPM supports more than 700 agents in 41 states. In this hour he talks about the kitchen tables that hooked him on the work, the iceberg nobody sees under a success, the agent he bet against who became a top producer, and his field journal for agents, Journey to the Summit. He also explains why he now runs his marriage on the same system he uses to run the company.

Chapters:

00:00 The trunk of a car, and the paycheck that got him licensed

05:06 Crying at the kitchen table: why he believes in this work

08:24 The iceberg, and the 90 percent nobody sees

15:32 Marketing for doctors, coasting, and a boss named Gus

21:41 "The universe made the decision for me. They fired me."

25:54 Brenda Powell, the agent he bet against

28:59 The first hundred agents, and his book, Journey to the Summit

38:12 He runs his marriage like his company

42:29 Serving those who serve others, and a $150,000 heart surgery

50:36 Night diving in Key Largo, and the Orlando nobody sees

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Franklin Vanderbilt:

Website: https://franklinvanderbilt.com

Merch: https://franklinvanderbilt.com/merch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franklin_vanderbilt_official

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/franklinvanderbiltdrummer

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/franklinvanderbilt

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@franklin_vanderbilt

X: https://x.com/fvanderbiltdrum

Everybody's Talking About Love is on all streaming platforms: https://hypeddit.com/everybodystalkingaboutlove

Franklin Vanderbilt started on drums at five in Chicago, toured the world with Lenny Kravitz, and has played with Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and Robby Krieger of The Doors. Then one night in Europe he walked off stage frustrated, because he wanted to say more than the drums could. In this hour he tells how a drummer picked up a 12-string guitar as a songwriter and "turned into a guitar player," how he found his voice by focusing on inner space instead of outer space, and about the night Alan Parsons apologized for not calling him up to the drums at a jam session: "In my head, you're a singer." He plays Everybody's Talking About Love live, guitar and voice, and explains Royal Cadence, the cultural and luxury house he founded. Asked what reinvention is, he answered in one word: power.

Chapters:

00:00 Chicago, the drums, and audacity

05:21 The stage taught him where he belongs

10:23 The Lenny Kravitz years, and the songs he was already writing

12:23 Why a drummer picked up a guitar

15:09 The night he walked off stage frustrated

16:46 Inner space: how he found his own voice

20:36 He plays Everybody's Talking About Love, live

29:04 Inside My Silence, and the day Alan Parsons forgot he was a drummer

34:33 Good things take time: why he held the album

39:46 Royal Cadence, what success means now, and "reinvention is power"

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Monica Walls:

Website: https://kecasusna.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicawalls/

Keca's Usna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keca-s-usna/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kecasusna/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kecasusna/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kecasusna

Monica Walls fell into HR as a walk-on temp at Applied Materials and spent nearly thirty years in Silicon Valley, rising to VP of People. Then a childhood friend told her, "You've had an idea for lipstick since grad school. If you don't do it now, you're never going to do it." She had a mortgage and no second income. She did it anyway. Keca's Usna is the result: Keca was her nickname as a teenager, Usna is Croatian for lip. In this hour she tells the CEO story she'd never shared publicly, takes us to her grandfather's island in Croatia, explains the necklace behind Strength, Faith, Love, and walks Cynthia through the box she sent (Cynthia wears the raspberry live on air). Every model on her website is a woman she knows. Her line for all of them: "Who we are today is enough."

Chapters:

00:00 Keca's Usna: what the name means, and falling into HR

07:06 The CEO meeting she'd never shared publicly

10:17 "If you don't do it now": the leap to lipstick

16:46 Croatia: her grandfather's island and a box of prom pictures

22:13 Croatian shade names, and the necklace behind Strength, Faith, Love

28:44 The formula: long-lasting, hydrating, not sticky

33:47 Cynthia opens the box: seed paper, bamboo cloths, and why raspberry

40:13 Be bold, be you: real women as models

49:20 Her niece Natalia's shade story, and "you are the statement"

53:06 If something is missing, plus the rapid fire

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Freddie:

Website: https://freddieravel.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freddieravel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddieravel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freddie.ravel.2025

Freddie Ravel grew up speaking three languages: Spanish from his Colombian mother Ruby, then music, then English in kindergarten. That third language took him everywhere. He directed Earth, Wind & Fire, played the Grammys three feet from Prince, recorded Evita with Madonna, and toured the world on Carlos Santana's Universal Tone tour. Today the City of Los Angeles calls him the Keynote Maestro for Life In Tune, the system he brings to companies like IBM and NASA: melody is leadership, harmony is collaboration, rhythm is execution. In this hour he plays his way through all of it, from Mas Que Nada to Beethoven's Fifth, and makes the case that the space between the notes, and really listening, is the whole secret. Asked at the end what a life in tune sounds like, he answered in one word: bliss.

Chapters:

00:00 How music found him: his mother Ruby

03:09 Touring with Sergio Mendes, and how music is built

09:01 What a musical director does: September at the Hollywood Bowl

16:26 Life In Tune: melody, harmony, rhythm, and the score

19:37 The studio years, and leadership from inside the bands

26:44 Prince, Santana, and Earth, Wind & Fire

33:31 From the keyboard to the keynote

35:36 Beethoven's Fifth: the space between the notes

42:48 Ruby, Dad at 91, and a Christmas album like no other

52:11 Rapid fire: the accordion, Mozart, and a 97-key piano

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch on YouTube, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Dede:

Website: https://feelgoodexpress.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dedefeelsgood

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feelgoodexpressdede

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dede-lyons-a4142722/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DedeLyons

Feel Good Journal: Connecting With Your Inner Child (Amazon): https://a.co/d/0hCO4uAW

A Dose of Dede (weekly mini-podcast): https://feelgoodexpress.com

Dede Lyons spent 32 years in broadcast sales in New York, rising to Vice President of Group Sales. In 1997, mid-career and watching her team get collapsed in a downsizing, she looked up in a subway station and saw a Time magazine cover asking "Do you believe in angels?" That moment became Feel Good Express. At 62 she left the career and called it her rebootment. Today she teaches people to connect with their guardian angels and fall in love with themselves. She and Cynthia talk about the therapy question that changed her life at 30, the husband she met four years later, the Monday to-do list she writes for her angels, and why feeling good is an inside job.

Chapters:

00:00 From waitressing at Brew's to television sales

01:32 The middle woman with tons of bosses

03:52 Running out of steam at 40

04:34 A Time magazine cover in the subway

07:55 Grace's question: trust

10:01 Pocket angels and the hovering guardian angel

11:13 Pearls: journaling and Ask and It Is Given

12:45 Mirror work and Ayla, her inner child

15:06 Keep your baby picture out

16:08 Whispers on sales calls

19:18 For the skeptics

20:45 Two columns: your list and your angel's list

22:30 The layer cake: self-love first

23:46 Therapy at 30: can I learn to love myself?

25:29 Four years later, Joe

26:57 Joy blockers, boundaries, and White Angelica

28:41 Rebootment: turning in the BlackBerry

31:46 Dede's Daily Do's: the worry-and-doubt list

32:46 Shred it, then gratitude in the mirror

37:34 A Dose of Dede

41:09 The Feel Good Express toolkit and the power of intention

43:36 Rapid fire: it's an inside job

47:03 New York pace, West Palm Beach pace

48:09 Worry angels

50:44 The Joy of Tweeting

51:39 Signs: cardinals, feathers, and license plates

54:34 Believe it before you see it

55:13 Where to find Dede and the photo tour

57:14 The Stonehenge story

58:21 Closing: you are amazing