The Debbie Nigro Show

Got a good idea for a product that arose from a need you had?

That's how Andrew Darlow invented the "GalleryPouch™ "

Andrew, is a New Jersey-based photographer, author and inventor. He came up with the idea for the GalleryPouch™ custom bubble bag, after some of his artwork was damaged after a solo gallery show.

Andrew invented the GalleryPouch™ and developed it with Mark Rogers, the Founder and President of Dallas, Texas based 'Frame Destination'. 

Created specifically for photographers and artists, it meets their unique needs of storing or transporting art. It's also perfect for mirrors, collectibles, camera equipment or gear, rolled canvas, music cases, electronics, household items, and more.

Andrew chose to license his product and has some good insight for any of you who might want to know more about licensing a product idea you have. He shared, "The process of negotiating the licensing agreement for the GalleryPouch™ was very helpful for my book contracts, and I believe it will also be very useful if some of my other inventions are licensed in the future."

Andrew Darlow is quick to share how others can identify ways to solve problems and bring their ideas to companies like he did.

If you're into photography, Andrew’s photography, tips and reviews have appeared in numerous publications and other media, including People Magazine, Animal Planet, Reader’s Digest and Woman's World Magazine.

Andrew is the author of four award-winning books, all related to photography as well. His website is AndrewDarlow.com

Meet lovely Andrew Darlow on this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show and learn about how you might license a product of your own.  

I love to talk to strangers and wanted to know how to better communicate with those with disabilities. 

What's the proper etiquette for communicating with others in wheelchairs, those with speech difficulties or cognitive impairments, or people with hearing or vision loss?

The Disability Rights and Resource Center has some thoughtful tips, like when speaking to a person in wheelchair, if the conversation lasts more than a few minutes, sit down or kneel to get yourself on the same level as the person in the wheelchair. When speaking to a person who has a speech difficulty, if you don’t understand them don’t pretend to. Repeat as much as you do understand, the persons reaction will guide and clue you in. When communicating with someone with a cognitive impairment one suggestion is to use a calm voice and be re-assuring, use short sentences and simple concrete words. If you’re with someone who has hearing loss, look directly at the person and speak slowly and expressively. If they wear a hearing aid keep in mind hearing aids increase volume not clarity of words. Use sign language if you and the person are familiar with it. You’ can find more ‘Disability Etiquette Tips’ on drrcva.org.

Meanwhile, I had been thinking about this subject on the very night I happened to catch Tom Willis, born without arms, throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium with his feet, marking the 29th MLB ballpark in which he’s thrown a first pitch.

Tom learned to use his ABILITIES to offset his disability. Tom is the President and Founder of the Pitch for Awareness National Tour. He’s pitching his message of the awareness of the abilities of persons with disabilities. He’s a powerful keynote motivational speaker who says … ‘No Hands - No Arms- No Problem” . Tom meets with people who want to turn Obstacles into Opportunities, Challenges into Championships, and make the Impossible … Possible! He says Impossible = I aM POSSIBLE!

I was so inspired and touched by this man and could think of no message more important to post. GO TOM!

While thinking about the subject of how to better communicate with those with disabilities, I also wanted to shine a light on a wonderful organization called ‘Positive Exposure’ which is building a more equitable, compassionate world for individuals and communities at risk of stigma and exclusion.

I invited ‘Positive Exposure’ Founder an award-winning photographer, Rick Guidotti to join me on The Debbie Nigro Show today to get his take on how best to communicate with those with disabilities.

Rick said,” We all share the same need: The need to be seen. The need to be heard. The need to belong”.  

I hope you take a few minutes to listen to Rick Guidotti on this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show. It’s meaningful.

LifeVac Founder Arthur Lih Is Donating One Of His Life Saving Choking Rescue Devices to EVERY School in the US.

THAT'S AMAZING so I'm helping share this news to make sure every school takes advantage of this generous gift. 

LifeVac Helps Prevent Senseless Choking Deaths. And Arthur Lih who invented the life saving device thinks every school in the US should have one on hand…in case.  ‘School budgets’ or lack of budgets, were holding up progress on implementing the idea, so passionate Arthur Lih got frustrated and said, never mind, I’ll do it myself and donate one to every school in the U.S. I don’t care what it costs. 

It's gonna cost him millions, but Arthur Lih doesn’t care. He’s obsessed with making sure as many people as possible have access one of these life-saving devices that could mean the difference between life and death, in minutes, for anyone at any age.

Arthur set out on the Life Vac mission some years ago when he was nearby a woman in a hospital weeping following the death of her young son. A grape had become lodged in the child’s windpipe and the Heimlich Maneuver did not work.

Arthur, the father of a similar aged child at the time, was deeply pained and deeply affected by the tragedy that he felt could have been avoided. So, he set out to do something! Arthur, who had a little bit of a background in making things, invented a simple apparatus that could clear an airway in basically a single suction pull, in the hopes that no child would ever die a senseless choking death again.

Arthur’s goal and LifeVacs' goal, is to save as many lives as possible throughout the world. They’re doing a great job. So far 1290 lives have been saved by having a LifeVac on hand!

At LifeVac, research and development headquarters in Springfield Gardens, NY, there is actually a “Wall of Saves” featuring people of all ages who lives were saved thanks to LifeVac. Those lives include, among others, a 3 yr old little girl who choked on a peanut, a 90 yr old woman in a Senior Living Facility who choked on a food, an 82 yr old man who choked on a carrot, a 2 1/2 yr old girl who choked on a grape, a 7 yr old girl who choked on bacon, and a 1 yr old girl who choked on a hot dog. The list of ‘saves’ continues to grow. Just recently LifeVac Europe reported that a 70-year-old man at a private hospital in the North East of England choked on a piece of chicken, causing a complete airway obstruction. On the 2nd application LifeVac successfully dislodged the obstruction saving his life.

Arthur Lih says, “We have now touched the lives of almost 1300 individuals and their families. Together we are making a difference one life at a time.” Incredible rescues around the world thanks to LifeVac’s upper airway clearing device which is they say, the safest, simplest method to save an aspirating person. 

Again, Arthur Lih is DONATING A LIFEVAC TO EVERY SCHOOL IN THE US.

Please make sure someone from your school, your child’s school or a school near you gets in touch with LifeVac to get their free LifeVac Choking Rescue Device Kit. 

LifeVac.net

[email protected]

1 516-962-2554

Harvard MBA and Financial Wellness Expert Manisha Thakor is an awesome financial advisor. I met her years ago and never forgot how genuine and passionate she was about helping people understand their finances. 

 She was compelled to figure out how to help people unlock the secret to finding their ‘enough’ with respect to money, and she candidly shares her own journey out of the Cult of Never Enough. A painful mindset she explains, that tells you the money you earn, the accomplishments you achieve, and praise you receive is always insufficient.

 Her new book is called “MoneyZen - The Secret to Finding Your Enough”, written with investigative journalist Lisa Sweetingham, sets out to understand ‘why’ so many of us develop toxic relationships around work, money and success at the expense of our emotional well-being and crucially, how to flip the mental script.

 There’s a money-happiness paradox. Yes, making more money can lead to greater life satisfaction, but it only works if you already possess emotional well-being she says.

 Manisha wrote MoneyZen to share the powerful blueprint she developed on that journey one that can be used by anyone of any age income or profession, to stop surviving as a human doing and start thriving as a human being.

 There are lots of inspiring stories in the book from people who share their experiences escaping the Cult of Never Enough. And women should especially benefit from reading the book as Manisha has always had a sweet spot for helping women and she knows how to make understanding investing simple!

 MoneyZen is for anyone who needs to let go of their self-sabotaging behaviors preventing them from living the life that makes their heart sing.

Meet Manisha Thakor in this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show. BTW: you can listen to the show live form anywhere 11-12noon ET at WGCH.com

 More about Manisha’s background at moneyzen.com

I was taking a walk at the Kensico Dam in Valhalla, NY when I spotted a woman working out swinging ‘sumthin' in the distance.

I was curious what the heck she was doing and wanted to ask her. So, I walked over and saw she was swinging a contraption around her waist and hips, similar to what we used to do as kids with that old Skip-It toy you’d swing around your ankle and jump over with your other leg. 'Weighted Hula Hoops' she said are a Tik Tok Trend. Who Knew? I instantly felt I might need one too! LOL

 I got to talking with Dr. Karen Blacks, who said according to her app, her 20 minutes of 'hula hooping' was the same as walking 2 miles, plus it tightens your core, she said.

 A few laughs later, I find out like me, Dr. Blacks enjoys talking to strangers, so I told her about my upcoming little book, “How To Talk To Strangers, Advice From A Professional Stranger Talker.”  Then she told me she wrote a book called 'Experiencing God in The Ordinary'. Then she mentioned she was excited she was being ordained at a Baptist Minister that weekend, then… I invited her on my show to share the big hula hoop discovery and celebrate her accomplishment! 

 Meanwhile, next day Amazon delivered my own 'weighted hula hoop’.  I chose blue. It was pretty easy to figure out how to size it to my waist and attach the weighted thingy. What was challenging was figuring ‘where’ to hula. I tried it inside my house and almost cleared all the glasses off my bar. I was too embarrassed to let my neighbors see me hula swinging outside my house, so I waited till almost dark and tried it out for like 2 minutes. Then I put it in my car and figured I’d just keep it there for when I went walking and do it in a random park. But every time I was about to take it out and swing it around, I thought I’d look stupid, so I didn’t. 

 One day just as I walked into a CVS drugstore, my phone rang, and it was my bestie Mo calling from the parking lot telling me that I’d just parked next to her and walked past her car without noticing. I knew she was in a funky mood, so I thought I’d cheer her up on the way back out, and make her laugh by showing off my moves with my new hula hoop in the parking lot while she watched from inside her car. That was a good laugh.

 Anyway, I finally found the perfect spot to do my hula exercise, a hideaway grassy area in my local park. The other day after walking I put it on, and got my weighted hula hooping swinging up to 5 minutes and found myself sweating. Even crazier, I checked my ‘steps’ on my iPhone and sure enough it was like I had walked another half mile. I’m getting the hang of it now. 

 Last night after walking, right around dusk when I got back to my car in a mostly empty parking lot, I figured no one would notice me hula swinging. So I put it on, and hula hooped with my phone in my hand to just again see if it counted as ‘steps’. 

 Out of the corner of my eye I saw random woman walking in the distance toward her parked car but paid her no mind, until she turned and started walking toward me and I knew why. In her Norwegian accent she said,… ‘What’ is that thing you’re doing?” 

 I was laughing while still hooping as I told her, I had done the same exact thing when I saw the random Baptist Minister swinging her weighted hula hoop. Now the Norwegian lady wanted to get one too. So, while still swinging away, I gave her the name of it to look it up on Amazon.

 Anyway, I decided some of you after reading this story, might get a kick out of the idea and want to try a weighted hula hoop too. I got my 'Dumoyi Smart Weighted Fit Hoop on Amazon'.

Let me know if you get one. LOL 

Meanwhile listen in and have some laughs and meet my latest 'Random Run In' Dr. Karen Blacks in this podcast of our live conversation from The Debbie Nigro Show.

 When she's not 'hula hooping' at the dam, Dr. Karen Blacks serves as the Associate Minister, and Minister of Women's Initiatives at Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford Hills, New York. Dr. Blacks is also the founder of Women of God in the World, a welcoming community of over 10,000 women from 30+ countries. Dr. Blacks holds a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary and a Certificate of Specialization in Leadership and Management from Harvard Business School Online. She also has a heart for volunteering and can be found distributing food to those in need in the White Plains community. She serves on the Town of Bedford Prison Relations Advisory Committee, is a member of the Westchester NY Black Women's Political Caucus and is on the board of the Women's Empowerment Forum located in Liberia, Africa.

 Frank Chindano is the Founder & CEO of LaughMD, sure knows a thing or two about comedy and the power of humor. 

 Frank’s comedy career resume is a riot. He’s been a writer for SNL, worked on Ghostbusters, and has garnered some 30+ awards for writing and producing comedy videos for HBO, Showtime, CBS, PBS, Comedy Central and more. In addition, he’s a certified humor professional as part of the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor,

 Frank launched LaughMD, the worlds’ first mobile comedy channel and it’s a huge hit with patients and health care workers in hospitals and health facilities around the country. LaughMD iPads are a digital therapeutic healing tool.

 LaughMD Has PROOF They’re The Best Medicine!

SERIOUSLY.

 500 scientific studies show positive health benefits of humor and laughter. If you saw the movie Patch Adam’s with Robin Williams, you’ll understand why the real Patch Adam’s is on Franks’ LaughMD advisory board. Dr. Patch Adam’s is a medical doctor and a clown who has devoted over 40 years of his life to changing Americas healthcare system and has traveled the world sharing his message that laughter, joy and creativity are an integral part of the healing process.

Health care providers and patients are raving how the LaughMD content is lowering their stress and pain. No joke!

Franks says, when you laugh your breathing gets better, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure goes down, all kinds of things happen to you when you laugh, all kinds of good things! Your endorphins, your serotonin, your dopamine go up, your cortisol and your adrenaline go down. So, you feel less pain and you are in a better mood and so that promotes healing. You heal more quickly, literally.

Frank also says, the nurses love it too, because their job is so incredibly stressful that according to National Public Radio about half of them are going to be planning on leaving the profession in the next two years because there's so much stress.

 They don’t have to convince me. I’m positive my sense of humor is what got me through my own 2 bouts of cancer. My favorite line I used every time I arrived for chemo treatment wearing a wig was, “Hi I’m here for the modeling assignment.”

 I ‘get’ and wholeheartedly support Frank Chindano and LaughMD.

 Frank says, “Ask your doctors, ask your health officials, ask your hospitals to please subscribe because we don't sell to the public, we sell to the institutions, health care institutions, dialysis, cancer clinics, drug and alcohol recovery, that sort of thing. Those are our customers. So if you work there, please, my phone number is on the website and if you're a customer there, even better.:”

 Right now LaughMD is an app but they’re raising funding so that they can do it in virtual reality, and hook up with medical devices so people can see their biometrics change in real time.

 Tune in to this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show and meet Frank Chindano and help spread the word to other healthcare facilities about the healing power of LaughMD.

Michael Swanson Sr. VP Production NBC Universal Studio Group, was just featured in the Forbes Magazine article called, ‘How To Build Your Network” by Maya Richard-Craven. 

 Michael who’s a giver by nature, was called on for his expert advice. He shared that ‘helping other people is a great way to form long- term relationships”. 

When it comes to creating professional relationships, Michael says, “Go out of your way to be of service with a genuine motive and an earnest heart”. “Then over time, someone may ask if there is anything you need."

 Since 85% of jobs are filled through networking rather than traditional hiring, (yes, it’s true), then Michael’s advice should help lead you in the right direction to build your career. 

Michael’s own professional journey has been one of working his way up through hard work, and is filled with many accomplishments. Being of service to many along his jounrey has surely led to the many professional relationships he has come to enjoy.

Besides being an Emmy Award winner, and a Hollywood TV studio executive, film producer and theatre producer, Michael is also a visionary entrepreneur and President and CEO of the entertainment company, Faith Filmworks.

 At NBC Universal, he’s the studio executive responsible for the production of Universal Television's Parks and Recreation, Hacks, The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Good Girls, Never Have I Ever, Community and Master of None. And throughout his distinguished career in entertainment, Michael has produced movies to critical and audience acclaim including All About You, All About Us, For the Love of Ruth, To Hell and Back, Andraé Crouch: Making The Journey, Two Seasons, Notre Dame First Time Fans: Legacy, The Wayman Tisdale Story and Fannie.

He's a guy many in the professional entertinament business aspire to meet, but if you do meet him, please don't ask if he has a card! Or a QR Code! LOL

Michael said, " I find that a little off-putting. I think it's more important to really engage a person and get to know him or her, ask questions, but in a very genuine and authentic way as opposed to kind of bouncing around collecting information and calculating in your head what's the best way he or she can help boost my career or advance my career so I can climb the ladder. Frankly in my opinion it's just the opposite. How can we be of service to others? I find that when you are in service to others in a genuine way, with an authentic heart and no ulterior motives, but really just want to help and learn, then I think there comes an opportunity where that executive or that person can eventually reach back out to you and say, you know what, you're doing such a great job. Is there anything I can do for you? How can I help? And then it becomes a more authentic relationship and it can even perhaps turn into a long-term mentoring relationship. And I think that's the best way to navigate a career because it's a little bit more personal. It's not about just taking from someone but learning how to be of service to others."

I’m personally aware that networking is challenging for people who don’t have ‘connections or ‘experience’ in their fields yet, but I always champion the idea of finding ways to meet the people you want to meet, especially in your desired industry, ‘in person’. I think ‘in person’ matters for connecting genuinely with people. For getting them to ‘see’ who you really are.

 How do you think I got Michael Swanson on my show today right after Forbes got him?

I had the good fortune to meet Michael ‘in person’ when he was in NY from LA when The Temptations and The Four Tops performed at the Westbury Music Fair in Long Island NY. Michael, is involved with the Tony Award Winning Broadway smash hit musical ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations’ and is also co-producing the upcoming Four Tops Musical, ‘I’ll Be There’ with my buddy Paul Lambert and Duke Fakir. Duke is the only surviving member of the group. 

 Michael is a beautiful human with a beautiful family. He serves on the board of directors for Wedgwood Circle, Notre Dame’s Performing Arts Advisory Council, Success Through Education Program, FEAST and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. A South Side of Chicago native, Michael resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 29 years, filmmaker and screenwriter Christine Swanson, and their four children.

Michael Swanson joined me live from LA on The Debbie Nigro Show to share much more of his warm advice about how to build your professional ‘relationships’.

 Enjoy the podcast of our conversation.

 If you prefer to read, the Audio Transcript is below.

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 AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

 0:00:00 And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show!

2 0:00:24 Okay, life is all about relationships. Let me explain, okay? Actually, I'll let somebody else explain. Hi everybody, I'm Debbie Nigro. I am so excited to introduce you to my next guest. You know, I always say meeting people in person matters, right? I really do think it totally matters, especially in this virtual world we live in. I met Michael the night I went to see The Four Tops and also the Temptations at Westbury Music Fair in Long Island back when. It was a wildly fabulous night.  I met Michael and met his lovely son. What a gentleman. There was something very special about him and there's something very special about him that you guys are going to sense and find out about right now. Michael is a giver by nature. He's not only some big wig Hollywood TV studio executive and film producer and theater producer, which he is all those things, but he is a guy who's created relationships over time that have been really heartfelt and he's spending some time right now educating others on how to do it. Forbes just did a story on how to build a network of professional relationships. He was their first person. They went to interview him as an expert. What Michael said that really just needs to be shared because he's a giver by nature, I mentioned that, is that helping other people is a great way to form long-term relationships. So more about that, but first, welcome Michael and thanks for helping me out by coming on my show today.

1 0:02:10 Good morning, Debbie. It's so wonderful to be with you. Thanks for having me.

2 0:02:13 You're welcome. So you, being the first guy that Forbes called about relationships, probably took a moment, sat back and thought, wow, all my life's work has mattered because I know this matters to you. You have incredibly important advice to people about giving before taking.

1 0:02:31 Yes, yes. I think we are all called to be of service. One thing about networking and mentoring which Forbes wanted to focus on is how do you do it? What's the best way for someone who has had a long career and they wanted me to give advice and some tips. My whole thing is not about going to networking events and some of the less savvy networkers may their first question may become, �Do you have a card?

2 0:03:01 Does anybody have a card anymore?

1 0:03:04 Yeah, I know, right? QR codes. Can I scan your QR codes? I found that a little off-putting. I think it's more important to really engage a person and get to know him or her, ask questions, but in a very genuine and authentic way as opposed to kind of bouncing around collecting information and calculating in your head what's the best way he or she can help boost my career or advance my career so I can climb the ladder. Frankly in my opinion it's just the opposite. How can we be of service to others? I find that when you are in service to others in a genuine way, with an authentic heart and no ulterior motives, but really just want to help and learn, then I think there comes an opportunity where that executive or that person can eventually reach back out to you and say, you know what, you're doing such a great job. Is there anything I can do for you? How can I help? And then it becomes a more authentic relationship and it can even perhaps turn into a long-term mentoring relationship. And I think that's the best way to navigate a career because it's a little bit more personal. It's not about just taking from someone but learning how to be of service to others.

2 0:04:23 If somebody didn't know you and know that you are this heartfelt guy that you are and just saw your title, Hollywood TV studio executive, film producer, theater producer, and they were a young person trying to get into the business. They might be very intimidated by approaching a gentleman like yourself. You're giving some good advice, but how would you like someone to approach you if they were trying to get to know you?

1 0:04:48 My advice would be to simply be yourself. When I meet with a lot of especially recent college graduates or young professionals, that's my advice. There is only one you in this entire world who God has created. So be yourself because no one can be better at you being yourself than you. And then I find that you will relax, you will get centered, you can be yourself and communicate without trying to morph into someone else who you think you're supposed to be to move ahead.

2 0:05:21 Has anybody ever tried to impress you by doing something really out of the box to get your

6 0:05:26 attention?

4 0:05:29 Probably Debbie. But I don't know.

1 0:05:33 I can't think of anything right now.

2 0:05:36 I guess I'm thinking of something funny and I'll share it with you because you did you know one of the key points that was Made in the article and that you know I made Promoting your being on the show today It says that 85% of jobs are filled through networking rather than traditional hiring which is very loud It's a big number and what came to mind is you know a father Always tries to help a daughter or a son and my father God rest his soul He's dead 40 years now once went and repaved some guy's driveway and put in all new shrubs for a guy who wasn't in the TV business because he wanted to make sure he knew who I was by the time I called him. The guy woke up like, what? He didn't even know who I was. So I'm just saying that's funny but people do crazy things to try and get attention to create a relationship and that's the only reason I brought it up. But if in fact 85% right of all the jobs are filled through networking rather than traditional hiring. Like why do people even bother with these, you know, sending resumes into a virtual, you know, hole, a black hole?

1 0:06:36 Yeah, it can become very, rejection is hard for any of us, right? And so when you apply for a job, and even repeatedly sometimes, and you get that rejection or that disappointment, it can be deflating, it can be discouraging, it can even sometimes become depressing because it's like, I've done everything, what can I do? But I have hope in that 15%. You didn't say 100%, you said 85%. So stay positive, is my advice. Stay encouraged and keep submitting. Also, this is one thing that I like to say, which has been true in my life, God will take you to where He needs you to be when He needs you to be there. Sometimes we get rejections or we don't get that job or we don't get that meeting or we don't get that promotion. Sometimes perhaps it's for our own protection. We just may not know that. I'm a big believer, believe it or not, in failure. I think failure is your friend. The key is to learn from your failures, learn from your mistakes, learn from the setbacks, because all of those things are equipping you and preparing you for where you ultimately will end up. So it's not always a bad thing. You know, it's like adding tools to your toolbox that informs how you proceed. So life is hard, right? There are challenges, there are ups and downs, but stay encouraged is the advice that I always get. And importantly, you have to know that things take time. Things take time. Hang in there. Don't get discouraged. Most overnight successes are about ten years. It takes about ten years.

2 0:08:25 At least. Right?

9 0:08:27 I think I'm just peaking, Michael.

4 0:08:28 I love that.

8 0:08:29 That's okay because you know what, Debbie?

2 0:08:30 All of the experience and all of the knowledge and all of the things that you've learned

4 0:08:31 and now you've continued to hone your craft all of these years, it just makes you even

5 0:08:32 more prepared for where you are now.

7 0:08:33 Yes.

1 0:08:34 And have an even bigger platform. So I'm okay with that. I think we live in a microwave society now. Yep. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now.

5 0:08:46 And I think we live in a microwave society now.

1 0:08:47 And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. And I think we live in a microwave society now. It's okay to put things in the crockpot. Let things simmer. I like that. Let things simmer.

6 0:08:59 Let things simmer.

2 0:09:00 I like that. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. Let things simmer. works, your celebrated entertainment production company. But you're also the production executive on so many shows that we all love and know, Parks and Recreation, The Good Plays, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Master of None, Good Girls, Never Have I Ever, you've been out there in the movie world, Oh My Gosh, All About You, All About Us, For the Love of Ruth, it goes on, Broadway, Ain't Too Proud, The Life and Times of the Temptations, and then of course the upcoming Four Tops musical with Duke Fakir, the only living member producer and your co-producer. I'm excited to know you. I have to think that as you look back at your life and you are having this conversation with me about how important relationships are to going forward in a career, who is loud in your head right now that helped you along the way? Somebody that did something nice for you in your business?

1 0:10:02 Oh yeah, well you know so many people, Jerry D'Acanio, Clay Mattel, Adrian Backus, there are so many people who have impacted my life, my career. Mentors who I've had, Erwin McManus, pastors along the way like Charles Stanley. You don't always have to know. I know all those folks or know of them, but most of them I've had personal relationships with. But I also want to share, you don't have to know them personally. You can have a mentor or someone who can be very influential in your life or your career by reading his or her book, by listening to their podcast, their interviews, by kind of studying their business decisions, if they are entrepreneurs, kind of seeing what pivots they made when the landscape was changing. So you can learn from everyone, even if you've never met him or her along the way. Excellent. That has really impacted my career and my life as a husband, father, friend, executive and entrepreneur.

2 0:11:12 Excellent advice. And we do live in a world where there is an exorbitant amount of information for everybody to tap into free of charge if they have the energy and the desire, right? Absolutely. Let's talk about your family real quick. I know you have a beautiful wife you married to a long time who's also a great talent, Christine Swanson, and then you have four kids. This is a beautiful life you're living. And I've met one of your sons who was adorable. Which one was that?

1 0:11:35 That was Cole. That was our oldest son, Cole Swanson, who recently graduated from college and now he is doing his thing. He is also in the entertainment industry. He graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Art and focused on directing. So we have another filmmaker in the family.

2 0:11:50 Awesome. And the other kids, are they in the business? Are they coming up behind you?

1 0:11:55 I think they are, Debbie. You know, I have a rising sophomore at Stanford University who will probably major in filmmaking and business. I think he has a great producer's mind. My third son, Luke, that was Kenji who is at Stanford, my third son Luke recently completed the acting and theater workshop this summer at USC. Although he is a rising senior in high school, he wants to study acting and he would say be an on-screen actor to make it clear. I said, well you have to start in theater, that's where you really get your training. And then my daughter Julia is entering high school and she is just as smart as anyone. I think it would be great to have an entertainment attorney in the family, so who knows what her career path would be. But Christine, my wife, and I are blessed to have wonderful children. We've been married 29 years, about a week ago. I'm really grateful and just trying to raise some grounded children in Hollywood.

2 0:12:52 Wow, that is a huge accomplishment. So Michael Swanson, you're doing great. Thank you so much for being my guest today. I remembered your good energy when I met you in person. I knew that you would be accommodating and love to share your information about what you said in Forbes, which is how to build a network of professional relationships. Remember, helping other people is a great way to form long-term relationships. Go out of your way to be of service with a genuine motive and an earnest heart. Michael Swanson, NBCUniversal Senior VP of Production, you have a terrific day. Thank you, Debbie.

1 0:13:24 You too. Thanks for having me.

6 0:13:26 See you again soon, I hope.

2 0:13:27 Okay, real soon.

1 0:13:28 Bye-bye.

5 0:13:29 Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Melissa Stevens Dad finally agreed to go fishing with her so she could finally show him what she does for a living. Her Dad happened to show me some photos when he returned, and I was blown away. 

OMG!  I’ve never seen any woman reel in fish this big! I had to meet her.

Melissa will tell you herself she’s not the only woman out there fishing at this level, she's just the only one I know about. I am aware that more women than ever are taking up fishing and that's a good thing. Research shows women who fish are happier and healthier. If that’s the case Melissa must be freakin ecstatic. 

 The fish she caught when her Dad went along was a Swordfish weighing about 90 to 110 pounds and was about 6 ½ feet tall from the tip of his tail to the end of the bill. 

Yes, this woman catches fish much bigger than she is. The fish in the shot of her leaning back on the boat, the photo with blood all over the bottom of the boat (gag me) is a large tuna.

Then there’s that a 302-pound swordfish she’s posed with.

And a shot with her posing with what looks to me like a giant goldfish. Those are American Red Snappers.

Melissa said the biggest fish she ever caught on a rod and reel personally, was roughly a 900 pound bluefin tuna out of a fishery in Nova Scotia where they were not permitted to remove them from.

And the largest fish she ever caught commercial fishing, working on a commercial boat, was... a 940 pound swordfish! 

 I asked her. “How the heck do you even pull these fish with your arms? "I mean, what kind of unusual strength do you have?”

 “Most of my strength” , said Melisa,  “comes from pure stubbornness.”

 I'm was left speechless seeing what Melissa has been doing for a living for the past 14 years, and I had to wonder, what would inspire a young woman to go in this direction?

Melissa said, “Mom and I grew up watching a lot of this sport fishing on television, most specifically a show called Walker's Kay Chronicles. It's the show that really started off sport fishing in the public eye. And I always wanted to be on the boat my whole life and instead of taking the traditional route after high school, I dug my heels in and I went fishing.”

So yes, Melissa’s gone fishing and living her dream!

I too loved watching sport fishing shows as little girl, and I too am living my dream, telling other peoples fish tales.  LOL

Oh and Melissa's 'quite the catch herself', but dating her means you'll have to understand she smells like a fish a lot. LOL We laughed about that.

Melissa is from CT, lives in Fla. and fishes often in Venice, Louisiana.

If you want to go fishing with her, which many people do, you can book a fishing trip with her at Southern Catch Outfitters in Venice, Louisiana.

Melissa says, "People come from all over the world come to fish in Venice." Most of their customer basis is from the Gulf Coast area, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Northern Florida, just because it is a very easy drive. But she said, they’re only an hour and 15 minutes from New Orleans airport and there is a direct flight from LaGuardia Airport in NY right there. So they do have quite a few customers from the tri-state area that join them. 

Enjoy this podcast of our live radio conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.

If you'd rather read than listen - the audio treanscript is below.

In case you want to know more about Melissa Stevens check out: 

 https://www.southerncatchoutfitters.com/

 Melissa Stevens Facebook Page: Southbound Tackle 

https://www.facebook.com/southboundtackle/

I like to follow her 'catches' on Instagram: @SouthboundTackle

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: 

0:00:00 It's time for the Debbie Nigro Show with Debbie Nigro, who says she's still a babe, or at least she thinks she still is. That's right, attitude is everything, and Debbie's delusionally young. No one sees the glass of Cabernet half full like Debbie. She's fresh air with a magnetic flair, but some day has arrived, and as far as she's It's time to roll.

4 0:00:24 They say when you cast off, you never know what you'll reel in. Research shows the real catch isn't something you can hold or see, but something you can feel. Yes, it's about happiness and grit and learning patience and it's very good for your health.

1 0:00:48 Fishing it is, and women who fish have all these things going on. They're being encouraged to get out there, fish more. I don't know if you guys know any women who fish. I don't know many. I love the idea of it. I don't bait and I don't like getting in the way of a big fish coming on board. But, you know, I like the idea of it. I saw a photo of a girl. I'll call her a woman because she is a young beautiful woman, that blew my head. I was like, what am I looking at here? She was holding a catch of a day that was bigger than any fish I've ever seen. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And then it just kept going on, picture after picture after picture of this woman, young woman, catching gigundo fish. Like she is the girl that all the guys want to fish with. And I happened to see the picture because I know her dad. And he had just returned from the first time he ever went fishing with her. He said, she said, Dad, why don't you come fishing? So Melissa Stevens is supposed to be joining me today. I don't know if she's still in the water, on the sea, wherever she is. She's definitely checking in. Bob, you stay alert. Hopefully she's supposed to be on the air. Staying alert. Okay. I mean, you just don't mess with a girl who can lift a fish this big. If you want to go on my social media and see what I'm talking about, I highly encourage you to go over to the Debbie Nigro Show Facebook page and you can go over to my Instagram at The Real Debbie Nigro and you will just not believe your eyes. I just can't believe your eyes. I used to watch Wide World of Fishing when I was a young girl. It was on Sunday mornings after like, I don't know, there was nothing on Sunday mornings. It was just like a wide world of fishing. It was always that opened up with an icon and a brand image of a giant swordfish. A big swordfish. I thought that I should do that. I thought I should catch a giant swordfish. Maybe it was a marlin. I don't know. It looked the same to me. I know they're not the same, but that's what I started my day with on Sunday, as a little chubby little girl, like, oh, this is cool. And I imagined myself sitting there trying to do it. One time I did get a chance to go on a boat in Florida and sit in what they call kind of like a, almost like a shark catching sulky, if you will. You know, a big fish sulky that's on the back of a boat and facing out, you get strapped in.

3 0:03:29 It's like, wow!

1 0:03:30 Caught nothing, but I felt like it. Like I felt I had the experience. But what this woman does is beyond. So hopefully she'll be coming up shortly. It led me to do some homework really about fishing and the psychology of it and in particular the research has shown that women should really look into this. It has a very profound impact on a woman's life, fishing and boating. The senior director of marketing for an organization that I just found out about today is really out there. It's called Take Me Fishing. What they're trying to do is confront the barriers and inspire women everywhere to challenge themselves, to try something new, to help them find their best self while supporting a more inclusive fishing and boating environment. Despite record levels of female participation in fishing, almost half of the female anglers do not feel respected by the broader angling community, with more than one in three feeling stereotyped, right?

9 0:04:28 Hey, Deb, how about we let Melissa tell us about it herself?

1 0:04:32 She's right here now. Oh, thank. She got off the boat to call me? Thank goodness. Melissa Stevens, you, you, you unbelievable girl, you. I am like bowing down. Hi, welcome. Hello, thank you. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. Honestly, I've been a champion of women doing everything since I was born. I was always like, what can't we do? Why can't we do it? But I was just starting to talk about how there's a campaign to get more women fishing and that there's sort of been a stereotype, I guess, about women not having the presence in the fishing industry. So when I saw this picture that your father showed me, he goes, I just got back from seeing my daughter. We went out fishing. I was like, what am I looking at? And there you were with a giant how big was that swordfish? The one we caught the other day with my dad was about a between we never weighted it but about 90 to 110 pounds. And how tall was it you know I saw it over your head over your father's head. Yeah. How high did it get?

2 0:05:34 Probably about 6 1⁄2 foot on that fish. I couldn't believe it.

1 0:05:40 That's from the tip of his tail to the end of the bill. Melissa, you brave girl. The second picture I put up is you leaning back on the boat with a fish bigger than you, kind of blood all over the bottom of the boat. I'm assuming it's that large. What kind of fish?

2 0:05:53 I haven't looked at it, but I'm assuming it's that large tuna.

1 0:05:56 Yeah, that looks like a large tuna. And then you sent me a picture, you told me I had permission to use, of another fish that, I don't know, I never saw anything this big, is that another swordfish?

2 0:06:08 Oh, that's a 302-pound swordfish.

1 0:06:13 And then those big, looks like giant goldfish, what are those?

2 0:06:17 Those are American red snappers.

1 0:06:21 It's just, I'm speechless seeing what you do. Is this what you do for a living every day It's been about 14 years of me doing this is my daily job What would inspire a young woman like yourself to go in this direction? What was it in your life that led you to doing this very fortunately I live my childhood dream.

2 0:06:40 Mom I grew up watching a lot of this sport fishing on television most specifically a show called Walker's Kay Chronicles. It's really, it was the show that really started off sport fishing in the public eye. Wow. And I always wanted to be on the boat my whole life and instead of taking the traditional route after high school, I dug my heels in and I went fishing. I just think it's incredible. You missed the park.

1 0:07:15 Yeah, I used to watch fishing shows too. That's why I really was attracted to what you're doing. I mean, I used to fantasize about doing what you're doing. I don't know where that came from. It was the only show on Sunday morning, Wild World of Fishing. But you're doing it. Are you one of the few women catching fish this big? At this point in my career, I am not.

2 0:07:37 In the beginning, there was probably about overall four of us in the entire community that were fishing at this level. In the last five years, it has really become more available for women. Yeah, maybe more, more than a month. I've never really, I've never been in it to be a martyr for women. I've never been in it to pound the way and pave the road. So, there's always been space for women in this career if you've been willing to put your head down and work hard. That is really the only way to get, the only way to get far in this career is to dedicate your life to it and show everybody around you how good you are.

1 0:08:30 Unbelievable.

2 0:08:31 There's no... no pictures do the justice. The people need to see the hard work.

1 0:08:37 Yeah. I'm just jealous you get all that fresh air every day. Now I know you're from Greenwich but you moved to Florida but you fished a lot in Venice, Louisiana. Is that where the big action is?

2 0:08:47 My current home port of fishing is Venice. I have been very fortunate that my career has taken me around most of the globe and I have done some of the best fishing on earth. But as far as consistency and truly just incredible nature, Venice, Louisiana is one of the most impressive fishing destinations that I have ever been to in my life. Which is why I chose to stay there for a while.

1 0:09:20 And the water is of the Gulf of Mexico. I can see that just from the way you're catching, who would even know that it existed? Is there something you want to... you came in a little late on the segment. Do you have any more time to hang out and talk a little bit more or you got to go?

2 0:09:33 I have plenty of time, absolutely.

1 0:09:35 Okay, cool. We have to take a little break and when you guys come back I'm talking to Melissa Stevens she is a world-class fisher woman am I saying it right angler what do you what do you an angler I am a fisherman much like a fireman a postman a mailman I'm a fisherman it is a the ocean doesn't know if you're a man or a woman it just wants to work hard that's great so stay with me because I have a lot more that I want to share about you to the audience where they can find you and follow you because it just made my day to see what you're doing. Okay, everybody, you're listening to the Debbie Nigro Show and I guess Melissa Stevens and we'll be back in just a moment.

3 0:10:25 And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.

1 0:10:32 Hi guys, I'm Debbie Nigro. You know, I love fascinating personalities, right? People who are unique, doing unique things. And I happen to come across a photo of this guest right now that I'm enjoying meeting, Melissa Stevens, when her dad showed me a picture of him going fishing with her for the first time. And she's like next to these gigantic, like world record size fish. And I wanted to invite her on the show, introduce her to you guys, tell you where you can find her because they, she and her cohorts actually take people out on charters to go fish with them in Venice, Louisiana. You're going to want to know about this if you're into this sort of thing. So, Melissa, are you breaking world records with what I'm seeing you catch this year?

2 0:11:23 Oh man, Debbie, I wish that I was, but I am not. I am not. The hope is that we can get close and try to push the limits of what we can catch where we are, but that's the cool thing about being on the water it could happen anywhere at any time so every day we're hunting for them but I have yet to put a legitimate world record. I mean what what's the heaviest fish you ever pulled up? The heaviest fish that I've ever caught on a rod and reel personally myself is about a 900 pound bluefin tuna out of a fishery in Nova Scotia where we were not permitted to remove them from

8 0:12:06 the water.

2 0:12:07 So that's an approximation of about 900 pounds. And the largest fish I've ever caught commercial fishing, working on a commercial boat, was a 940 pound swordfish. How do you even pull this with your arms? I mean, what kind of strength do you have? Most of my strength comes from pure stubbornness.

1 0:12:35 Wow, you are stubborn!

4 0:12:37 Yes.

1 0:12:39 Incredible, incredible, incredible. I was reading this morning that...

2 0:12:43 Handling fish of that size is heavily technique-driven, not so much a strength thing as far as it is understanding how to handle it.

1 0:12:53 Yeah, so say you catch a 900 pound fish, how many people do you need on the boat with you to help you pull it up into the boat?

2 0:13:02 With the right equipment it could be two of us, but if we don't have that it could take quite a few, five, six people.

1 0:13:09 Wow. And then you know, tuna is in high demand obviously as is swordfish and when you catch giant tuna and we'll talk about tuna let's stick with that what is the market for that like are people

2 0:13:22 clamoring to get their hands on it? So as of right now my current job is solely charter fishing the fish that we catch during the day goes home with the

1 0:13:31 customer and usually they slide a piece of the water. I've never tasted anything. Swordfish, you know, that's not on as many menus as it used to be.

2 0:13:46 What's going on with the swordfish out there? The sword fishery is as good as it's ever been. There has been a lot of restrictions placed on some of the commercial boats, specifically the longliners, on where they can fish. So the frequency in which they've been sword fishing and catching them for the commercial longline boats because of where they're allowed to fish has kind of hampered the amount of swordfish that they've been catching. But also, swordfish do contain a very high level of mercury. And that will scare some people away. But that 90 to 120 pound range fish that my father and I caught, you could eat that all

1 0:14:35 day with not the worry of the mercury. So interesting. What about seasickness? What you guys do all day long? How do you do that? I fortunately in the last almost 15 years have never been seasick.

7 0:14:52 Good.

2 0:14:53 But I have been graced with the opportunity to watch thousands of people to get seasick.

1 0:14:59 Gosh, that's the worst.

2 0:15:02 Depending on the customer, we don't really, there's nothing you can really do. Seasickness, you can kind of tell usually before we leave the dock even who's going

6 0:15:12 to get seasick.

2 0:15:13 It's very mentally driven. Now there are a group of people who just cannot handle any kind of motion. My brother is one of those people specifically where we could be in the car and the car could swerve funny and he could get sick. But most people the seasickness comes from hyping it up in their head that they're going to get seasick. Wow. Okay. There is some things you can do in order to, you know, stave it off, but once it happens, it's very hard to shake it until we get to

1 0:15:48 land. Okay, let's not talk about that anymore, because even the thought of people getting nauseous makes me nauseous, Melissa. I can't even talk about it. Yes, but that, but I'm

2 0:15:57 trying to say is that that thought in your mind is what will drive it in the first place.

1 0:16:03 Okay, we're done with that topic. Let's talk about the blood that comes out of the fish. I can't look at blood. How do you look at all that blood?

2 0:16:09 Oh, I tell our customers that my Captain John has a duty to fulfill my daily bloodlust and that we gotta go catch some fish. So for me, it is a byproduct of the joy of fishing and I could not possibly care less about it.

1 0:16:26 How many days a week do you eat fish after doing all this fishing? I eat little fish pieces with tuna blood every day. Oh gosh. Did you hear what my question? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. How many days do you eat fish after all this fishing? How many days a week do I eat fish?

2 0:16:39 Yeah. Oh, probably one or two days because you have to mix it up a little bit. It would be too much if I ate fish every single day.

1 0:16:50 Right. But there's people who do that. And I know that it's obviously one of the healthier things to do.

2 0:16:55 My captain's mother is a pescatarian. All she eats is fish. So every few months we ship her a box. Pescatarian.

1 0:17:03 Nice and new where we brought into this century. I don't think they had pescatarians. Maybe they did. They just didn't call it that. So who's coming to rent these charters? Where are people coming from?

2 0:17:18 If you have any knowledge of great fishing and you know Venice, we have people coming from all over the world. Most of our customer basis is from the Gulf Coast area, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Northern Florida, just because it is a very easy drive. But that being said we are only an hour and 15 minutes from New Orleans airport and there is a direct flight from LaGuardia right there. So we do have quite a few customers from the tri-state area that join us.

1 0:17:51 Wow, you have full day offshore fishing and overnights that I guess you start out and you're there surprising the fish when they wake up?

2 0:18:00 We leave the dock about noon, we get back about noon the next day.

1 0:18:04 Yeah. Are there some fish that are easier to catch at night?

2 0:18:11 Not particularly, but sometimes the bite at night can get really fired up. And a lot of people like the overnight experience. We bring the grill, you know, we make burgers on the boat.

1 0:18:27 It's really more of an experience than specifically for the fishing. Yes. I have friends and people I know who are avid fisher people and travel all over the world. They seek out the next great fishing adventure. So when I saw what you were catching, I was like, wow, if anybody sees what I'm going to post who likes this, they're going to be calling you ASAP. So I wanted to just promote who you are associated with because it's called Southern Catch Outfitters and they're in Venice, Louisiana. And I never heard of Venice, Louisiana as the fishing location, but after seeing what you caught, I'm like, okay, obviously this is the place, right? And of course-

2 0:19:07 It is truly remarkable. Not a very beautiful place to stay in actual Venice. That is for sure. A lot of oil industry, very commercialized, not a lot of people. No supermarket. There's one dollar general and that's about it. But we can help people find places to stay. There's houseboats. We pick you right up in the marina from the deck of the houseboat. And we have two boats, 40 foot center console catamaran style boats that can hold up to six passengers each and It's about a 10 to 12 hour day and in total But the great part about Venice as opposed to fishing in other places in the Gulf Coast is that it's a peninsula And you're already 60 miles in the correct direction

1 0:19:54 Awesome, so Melissa a couple last questions. When somebody comes in with a giant tuna, 600 pounds, 700 pounds, whatever, do you cut it up right there on the boat? Do you fillet it?

2 0:20:09 We take care of all of the processing up to the point of we don't vacuum seal it or we'll put it in ziplocks, but we take care of all that breaking down of the fish for you. We do it in the marina. We have to bring the fish in whole. If unfortunately we got pulled over by wildlife on the way in, you have to have the fish in one piece in order for them to measure them. So once we get in, we load it up in a cart, bring it down to the cleaning station, we cut the fillets off, we chunk it up and send you home with it in a cooler.

1 0:20:47 You are the coolest girl I've met, I swear, in a long time. What about that swordfish-like sword beak? What's that used for? So, while the fish is alive or after the fact? I don't know, I'm just scared of it. What do you do with it? You should be scared of it.

2 0:21:03 That's why it's called the swordfish because they are sharp on the side and they use that and when the swordfish is at the bottom, it lives in the bottom in the dark. They use that bill to basically kill their prey and then come back up to it and then eat it. So they whack at the fish, they can even cut one up, they can cut up a fish with their bill. Now after this is back once we've taken the fish apart, um, I do a process of cleaning the bill where macerate it, get all the meat and fat out of it and then cleanse it and whiten it and I hang them on the wall.

1 0:21:45 Why did I know you were going to say something creative like that? I kind of knew that was coming. And by the way, I can't believe I called it a beak. It's a bill. No, it's a bill or a beak. It's a bill. It's a bill. You know a little bit more than me. I think the last thing I want to ask you, or one of the last things is do you always smell like fish? If you're working around fish this much? I would say from about 4.30 in the morning to about 8 o'clock at night, yes. I smell like fish. And I tend to go like that on a date if I go on a first date because you either take

2 0:22:22 it or leave it that way.

1 0:22:25 You know, I didn't want to get personal, but since you volunteered, that is pretty darn funny that you said that. Are people intimidated who, you know, you're interested in maybe dating, that this is what you do, that you can catch 900 pound fish on a regular basis?

2 0:22:43 They think it's cool until I spend my time offshore with another man, and then they wonder

1 0:22:48 what I'm doing. You've got a whole other set of things going on down there. This is quite priceless

2 0:22:52 You know what the fish don't care whether I'm single dating smell like fish smell like roses That's um I've dedicated my life to it, and if somebody wants to join the ride go right ahead But I'm not going to stop doing it for anything Okay, what is the one thing that a woman?

1 0:23:08 Fishing big big fish like this has to be careful of versus guys. Is there anything?

2 0:23:17 I will just put it this way. I traveled the world with a 95-pound woman. She's in her early 60s. I saw her catch more large fish than most men. The only thing that she had was the willpower to do it and nobody could tell her nothing. So this is a mental fortitude game, not a strength game.

1 0:23:41 You have to be... Interesting, yeah. Interesting, interesting, because I was reading about...

2 0:23:45 People ask me, I have 300 pound, 6 foot 10 grown men on the boat who give up, and then I step in and they are just like, how do you do that? It's because you dig your heels in and you get it done.

5 0:24:01 That's how.

1 0:24:02 Wow. I wouldn't mess with you.

2 0:24:04 That is my advice to women is to don't take no for an answer and you don't need to tell them what you can do you need to show them what you can do.

1 0:24:16 It's so interesting that you're saying these exact words because from what I read about the research done on women who fish and a study they did actually, the folks who researched this at the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, they said among women who fish, they have greater perseverance and they're more likely to say that setbacks do not discourage them. They learn patience, they develop confidence, higher self-esteem, clear mind, and they say it improves their mood and they're quite happy. It took me years to get paid to have enough of a space in my career to get paid real money. And now I get paid just as much as the guys who have been doing it as long as I have to. You go girl, Melissa Stevens. And by the way, you're not the only woman who took years to ask for what she's worth. So, good for you. SouthernCatchOutfitters.com is where you're going to find more information and book a charter to fish with Melissa and her crew or anybody else you want to hook up with in Venice, Louisiana. Check out my social media photos of her that she was kind enough to share on the Debbie Check out my social media photos of her that she was kind enough to share on the Debbie Nigro Show Facebook page and at The Real Debbie Nigro on Instagram.

A.I. In America, Everything from Celebrity Likenesses to Officiating Over Weddings & More is happening very quickly.

You have seen references to A.I Technology in the media almost every day. Most recently with regard to the announcement of actor, Bruce Willis, allowing his A.I. likeness to be used by Deepfake in a commercial venture and potential films.

And, also recently the ruling in Denver, Colorado that couples can use an artificial intelligence bot as their officiant, while other countries have banned the idea. 

 “The Roaring New Twenties” - ‘Prosper in Volatile Times’, is an insightful guide to surviving and prospering in The New Roaring Twenties.

Written by Paul Zane Pilzer, author of 13 New York Times best-selling book in 25 languages, and Stephen P. Jarchow, who has been involved in the production and distribution of over 250 films and TV series, resulting in two Academy Awards and five Emmy nominations, they have come together to shine a light on one of the hottest topics today in the news and affecting the world today – A.I. Technology.

As exciting and futuristic as this all sounds, authors Pilzer and Jarchow contend that our civilization faces a very real danger from “zero-day” cyber-attacks and manipulative algorithms.

What should the public know?

Stephen P. Jarchow dropped by The Debbie Nigro Show to tell you what he knows about that you should know about in this podcast of our live radio conversation.

If you’d rather read about what Stephen had to say the audio transcript of our conversation is below.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Paul Zane Pilzer is an economist, social entrepreneur, and the New York Times best-selling author of 13 books published in 25 languages. He graduated from Lehigh University in three years and received his MBA from the Wharton School in 15 months. He became Citibank’s youngest office at age 22 and its youngest vice president at 25 and became an adjunct professor at New York University at age 24 where he was voted “best teacher” five times. Pilzer served as an appointed economic advisor in two White House administrations and has started and/or taken public six companies. His career has been featured in more than 100 publications, including on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, once said that he was “amazed at Pilzer’s business capacity and his ability to put it into laymen’s terms.” Stephen P. Jarchow received his BBA, MS and JD from the University of Wisconsin. He has been involved in the production and/or distribution of over 250 motion pictures and television series. Jarchow’s films have won two Academy Awards. He has been nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning in 2021 for “Girls Voices Now.” Jarchow has been a principal in more than 100 real estate ventures and is the author of five books on real estate finance.

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 AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

 0:00:00 And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show!

3 0:00:03 Hi guys, welcome back to the Debbie Nigro Show Really a pleasure always to be with you guys As all you're over there and I'm over here all the time, you know Pretty soon we're gonna, I don't know, artificial intelligence Will somehow get you involved with things you never got involved with…

1 0:00:30 Or get other people involved. And I I don't like the idea of cloning myself into an artificial intelligence version or making a version of me They're doing that you know. Taking people's voices like my own and saying okay. We'll make you do commercials We'll just give us your voice, and we'll do what we want with it. I don't like it But lots of likenesses are being used in commercial ventures one of which I put brought up earlier in the show, Bruce Willis, allowing his artificial intelligence likeness to be used in a commercial venture and potential films. My gosh, right? There are a lot of celebrity likeness stories. I even put up an artificial intelligence wedding ceremony. I was like, what? Yeah, there's a bot, you know, B-O-T, officiating a wedding, and it's in a little video, I think the first one I've ever seen, that I put up on my Debbie Nigro Show Facebook page. Anyway, you're hearing a lot about artificial intelligence technology in the media, you're hearing every day. So yeah, there's a book out, it's called The Roaring New 20s, okay, The New Roaring 20s, The New Roaring 20s. It's a guide that we might all benefit from reading. It's all about surviving and prospering during these crazy times. And it was written by Paul Zane Pilsner, author of 13 New York Times bestselling books in 29 languages. I don't know how people do this. And Stephen Jarchow, who's been involved in the production and distribution of over 250 films and television shows and series. He's had a couple of Academy Awards, five Emmy nominations. So together they sat and they said, okay, we have to talk about this. It's one of the hottest topics today in the news. It's affecting the world. And yes, it sounds exciting. Yes, it sounds futuristic. But they are a little worried that we face as a civilization a pretty big danger from some things we haven't even thought about yet. Cyberattacks, manipulative algorithms. I mean, you know, it's crazy, right? So what should we as the public know? And I've invited Stephen to join me on the show today. We have Stephen Bobby on the line.

5 0:02:57 Yes, we do.

1 0:02:58 Hello, Stephen.

4 0:02:59 Hello.

2 0:03:00 How are you doing?

1 0:03:02 Very nice to meet you. How are you?

2 0:03:04 I'm fine. Just so you know, the title is The New Roaring Twenties. You had it right the first time.

1 0:03:11 Yes, I'm The New Roaring Twenties. Prosper in volatile times, technology driven wealth. It's fantastic and I'm very happy to have you. You spent a lot of time talking about this and writing this together, which must have been an intense time for you. You maybe want to talk about actually writing something like this.

2 0:03:32 Well, Paul and I have known each other for 40 years, since 1982, and we've been good friends and we've participated together in investments in this country and overseas, particularly in Russia in the 1990s, and really know each other pretty well and exchange ideas and enjoy each other's company. Paul had decided to write this book when his children, he has four, decided to ask questions about what the future, the next ten years will hold, particularly with respect to technology and artificial intelligence. Paul was ill last year and he and his wife called me and asked me if I would finish the book for him, which I worked on for about three or four months pretty intensively. The work you have in front of you is the result. It was a labor of love because Paul has been my great friend and also it was an opportunity to communicate some thoughts on subjects that are going to impact all of us over the next decade.

1 0:04:58 First of all, I'm very sorry that he was not well and my thoughts and prayers to him. You as a good friend and obviously a confidant of his, amazing that you jumped in on this, but it's always really fabulous when you have somebody you can talk to about big ideas and not everybody has that. So you are bringing a perspective to people who don't have somebody like you or Paul to talk to about this. If you had to throw out one key thought that comes to mind in the beginning of questions that have been posed or the public might want to know, what do you want the public to know? What's the first thing you want the public to know about what is going on that you guys know?

2 0:05:41 Well, if I may, let me suggest two things that seem to be top line stories. The first is that technology, particularly technology with artificial intelligence, is going to change pretty much everything we do and the way we live our lives. It's going to create great wealth. It's also going to create a stratification where people who have trained themselves and have experience with technology and artificial intelligence will benefit more than those who do not. The related point is that artificial intelligence is something that has been around since the 1950s, and it's a part of our everyday life already in that we use every day a number of AI applications, web search engines like Google search, recommendation systems for YouTube, Amazon, Netflix. We use AI to understand human speech with Siri and Alexa. We have self-driving cars to a certain extent. And then, most recently, chat to GPT and its ability to begin to create content. And this is what is called generative AI, which uses large language models, that is access to hundreds of millions or even more data points in order to actually create content and relay that content in text, code, and images. So this is a dramatic step forward and it's going to accelerate the rate of change significantly so that things that typically took five to ten years will now probably take less than a year.

1 0:07:50 Wow. I would like to ask you a question. I want to jump in on this because of your background.

2 0:07:55 Please jump in.

1 0:07:56 Yes, because of your background, I don't know many people who have made as many films as you have made, or TV series, 250. When I brought up Bruce Willis, allowing his artificial intelligence likeness to be used in a commercial venture, maybe some films, he's probably not the only person who has been approached for this. What is your feeling about this concept?

2 0:08:23 It's going to be a fascinating area. The law at this point is somewhat ambiguous. There is a right of publicity to your image, which has value and so can be licensed, much as Bruce's family has done. That's going to be of value where it becomes a little more ambiguous is what about lesser-known actors or extras, you know, can their images be used using AI to, you know, create a crowd scene, create a situation, and what about an actor who performs in and AI is used to manipulate what they say or what they do. How is that dealt with and what are the legal implications? And the honest answer to your question is no one knows really at this point. We do know that there's a right of publicity, there's a right of privacy and there is law related to that, but these are areas that are ambiguous and kind of a gray space. So we're going to see a lot of litigation related to this, a lot of conversations. Screen Actors Guild in particular view this as a priority and they are working to establish their own guidelines for their personnel. And this is one of the areas that's being discussed and negotiated in the current labor strife that exists where the radio guild and the screen actors guilds are both on strike.

1 0:10:24 go up in strike. Yeah, they have to get ahead of this. It's absolutely necessary based on how fast things are moving that there have to be some rules put in place in advance or this whole thing is just going to go haywire and you know as it is it's a tough industry for people to break into and get a chance in films and television series and if there's artificial intelligence replacing the few jobs that get you know at any given time that is very uncool so I think I think that's great news. Talk about the yeah there's an upside there's a downside hopefully technology with artificial intelligence is changing our time on this planet as humans for the better but there are some dark possibilities okay that pose extreme risks and you even point out that artificial intelligence has the potential to be deadly. I really don't want to hear that, but go ahead.

2 0:11:16 It is depressing to hear. You know, we live in a world where there's all sorts of things going on that are a little anxiety provoking and this just adds to it and perhaps is the seminal worry of the next decade. On the positive side, briefly, artificial intelligence is going to speed up and replace a lot of repetitive work. There's going to be tremendous applications from a medical standpoint. It's going to assist us in protecting our infrastructure, the power grid, and air traffic controllers. It will help with simulations, models, drugs, molecular combinations, forecasting, all sorts of things that are going to be positive. But on the other hand, it's a dual-purpose technology, which is true of a lot of things. We humans are sort of dual-purpose. We can do good or bad. fire, atomic energy, all of these things are dual purpose. Algorithms make mistakes, and we've already seen the issues related to social media and the corrosive effect that that has had on our democracy and our ability to understand understand what is really going on in the world and social media is sort of an early and kind of unsophisticated form of artificial intelligence. Right now, our military and the military of most other countries is weaponizing artificial working around the clock, very aggressively, to create autonomous weapons systems, whereby the decision to fire, kill someone, is going to be, or to drop a bomb, is going to be determined by an algorithm.

1 0:13:31 Unfortunately, boy, Stephen, I want to read your book and I will read it all the way through. I hope everybody listening will read it as well. It's really kind of fascinating. The New Roaring Twenties, well thought out. Prosper and Volatile Times, it sounds like the upside is to read the book. Technology Driven Wealth, Paul Zane Pilsner and Stephen P. Jartow. Thank you so much, Stephen. I really wish we had more time together, but you can come back any time. I really wish we had more time together, but you can come back any time. My pleasure.

 #newroaring20s #ai #artificialintelligence #stephenpjarchow #technology #prosper #volatiletimes #2023

Donna Kozik my book coach takes Mounjaro the diabetes drug that the U.S. FDA will likely approve for weight loss later this year. 

Mounjaro is supposedly the most powerful of all the buzzy weight loss drugs you’ve been hearing about like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus that have the ability to both control blood sugar and cause weight loss. 

Made by Eli Lilly, studies have shown this diabetes drug can lower body mass at its highest dose by up to 15%. According to the American Diabetes Association, sometimes losing just 5% -7% of your body weight is enough to imporove diabetes control. For someone who weighs 200 poinds this is a weight loss of just 10-15 pounds.  

Donna is an open book about taking Mounjaro and is excited to share her A1C dropped nearly 5 points to put her in the diabetes under control range. 

Part of her story is also that she hasn’t lost any weight yet. 

Enjoy the podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show about Donna’s experience with Mounjaro. For those of you who would rather read about it the audio transcript is below 

BTW: Donna’s been helping me get my new book done and out there ‘any minute’ lol. She's had extreme patience with me. She’s the best! Four out of five people want to write a book . The ones who decide to get it done, like me, need a ‘Donna’.

Tell her I sent you at doneforyoupublishing.com

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:

0:00:00 And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.

0:00:18 I listen the more I learn, and then I share with you guys, and then I ask you to listen some more, because then we learn together. Hey, everybody, I'm Debbie Nigro. Wellness is my topic of the day today. I do a whole show once a week on wellness stuff. And of course, there's a lot of buzz continuing about all these drugs out there for weight loss. You've heard the buzz, right, about Ozempic, Lugovy, Riebelsis, but it seems the most powerful of all these buzzy weight loss drugs is called Mounjaro. It's made by Eli Lilly and it's a diabetes drug that can lower your body mass and it's pretty darn effective. So much so that I got a gal pal I want to introduce to you who loves talking about this because it really helped her a lot. This is Donna Kozik you're about to meet. We're going out west to the other part of the United States. She's a very special person in my life who I've never met. Can you imagine? Book coach helping me. We're about to nail that book together finally after five years, but right now she's alive and well and doing so great because she takes Manjaro and she's going to share the excitement about that. Hey Donna, how are you buddy? Hey Debbie. What's going on over there?

2 0:01:35 Oh, it's a sunny day here in San Diego. Can you believe that?

1 0:01:39 No, I can't. We've had a lot of challenges with weather. How's the weather out there? We're struggling over here on the East Coast. Lots of rain and clouds and smoke from wildfires in Canada. What's going on overall in San Diego? Where I supposedly think there's supposed to be sunshine 364 days a year.

2 0:01:56 Yeah, but you know we're coming off of a really cloudy spring. In fact, one of my clients told me that San Diego was the most cloudy city in the United States outside of one in Alaska during April and May. So go figure.

6 0:02:11 Really?

1 0:02:12 Because that's really a bad sign. I always thought San Diego was the place if I was going to move, I would move there because of how much sunshine they had.

2 0:02:20 Yeah, well, it's sunny now, but we had a cloudy spring just to throw everybody off a little bit.

1 0:02:27 Yeah, you want to keep people away just for a little bit. Donna, I loved communicating with you and thanks so much. I told everybody the latest statistics that four and five people want to write a book, only one out of five ever gets it done. I told them that if they're the one who really wants to get it done, they should call you. They need a Donna. And I thank you for standing by me and helping me forward. And we'll talk about that in another show, but part of my excitement of knowing you is seeing you get well. I didn't know you weren't well, but you seem to be getting weller since I've met you and this manjaro is part of the reason?

2 0:03:02 Yeah, you know, like a lot of people, I've struggled with my weight actually my entire life. I was thinking about our conversation this morning. I went on my first diet when I was five years old when some teachers told my parents that I was overweight and also 12 teenage years, it's just my entire life and I've tried all the programs, Weight Watchers and just all kinds of them and just have never been able to find a solution that not only helps me with weight loss but now helps me with controlling my A1C with diabetes. More importantly, Debbie, what I have found in Manjaro has really helped me physically not crave food. And this is something brand new that no other program has ever helped me with.

1 0:03:55 Really? That's kind of what I'm getting at, that people don't desire to eat because eating for many people like you and me, Donna, is emotional. It's like, you know, you're not hungry, but you love the food, so you just, for whatever reason, you're happy, you're sad, you're celebrating, you're miserable. There's always a reason to eat if you're an emotional eater. And I, too, struggled with my weight since I was a little girl. You know, my mother used to try and make melba toast and, you know, try and get me to lose weight at like eight years old. It's just a psycho existence. It's frustrating, right? So this is exciting. You did say to me that yes, your A1C went down and for people who don't know, that's a way of measuring blood sugar, right? And that's most people have type 2 diabetes. The A1C test measures your average blood sugar level over the past couple of months, the higher your level, the higher your risk of developing diabetes-related problems. And people who have been taking Manjaro, correct me if I'm wrong, it's helping their A1C levels go down to where it's not dangerous. Are you out of danger?

2 0:04:59 Yes, I'm out of danger. On three months of Manjaro, my A1C dropped almost five points and went into what's considered

5 0:05:11 controllable levels.

2 0:05:12 Yeah. Yeah, just a huge relief with that.

1 0:05:17 Wow. But you did say, and this is crazy because I assumed you'd be losing weight as well, that you didn't lose any weight, which I found a little surprising since this is supposed to do that too. Talk to that.

2 0:05:29 Yeah, so it is a little surprising, but there's one thing I want to mention first, and I talked about all those different programs and you mentioned about emotional eating which I totally understand and you know kind of growing up with when things are feeling bad or sad or whatever you go make a sandwich like it was just the answer to everything. But for the first time, Manjaro, what it has helped me with is actually feeling normal and this is something that I have talked to coaches and counselors and nutritionist about for years. It's like, why can't I eat, or it seems like I eat like a normal person, but normal people can have cookies in the house and not eat them, or they can leave a plate with food still on it. And there was a part of me that I just could never understand that and I could never do it until I started this drug, where it fills up my stomach and I feel differently about food. I think differently about food and that to me is the real power of these types of weight loss drugs.

1 0:06:37 Amazing. Oh, it's terrible. The FDA, and you're probably aware of this too, is about to approve this particular drug from Eli Lilly, which they're calling the most powerful of them all in the category that is the same as Ozempic and Wachovian rebelsis because they've really seen the ability for it to both control blood sugar and cause weight loss. They said at the highest dose, and I want to ask you about your dose, that people who have taken this have shown to lower their body mass by up to 15 percent. What dose

2 0:07:15 are you taking? Yes, so you start off at 2.5 and it goes up to 15 and I'm currently on 10. Some doctors, frankly I've been educating my doctor a little bit about it because she can't know everything about everything in some regards and also we're so well educated because of commercials and articles that we can read ourselves that the weight loss generally comes later as you increase your dose. So that's one thing that's giving me a little bit of hope. Also that but some doctors will say, well your A1C is down so let's not increase the dose. But from what I understand the power of the drug is that when it comes to that weight loss is as you grow the dosage because what it does is it works with the hormones in your stomach to make you feel full and it kind of mimics sleep

1 0:08:32 surgery with the idea that the food leaves your stomach at a slower rate and so then

2 0:08:39 that's part of what helps you eat less. that effect can lessen unless you increase the drug to the 15, the dose of 15.

4 0:08:52 Yeah, wow.

2 0:08:53 Have you been on other diabetes medications before Mount Jaro? I'm just curious.

1 0:08:58 Yes, I actually tried Ozempic. I was on Ozempic and it was effective for a little bit of time, but then that effectiveness

2 0:08:54 wonders for her so she encouraged me to ask my doctor about it. Okay, very cool

1 0:09:00 and then you know you're watching, you've heard that if people go off this then they seem to gain weight back or I don't think that once you're on a diabetes drug you can just go off it you have to have a replacement for the drug so you feel like this is your answer and you're going to continue on. There are other drugs obviously.

2 0:09:18 Right. Everybody's like, you know, concerned. Like, well, do you have to be on this drug forever? I'm like, I don't care if I do, if it works. Now, I do take other medications for my diabetes and when my A1C dropped, I was able to eliminate one of them and I believe when I lose weight I'll be able to eliminate others and then we'll see about this one but you know I'm going to worry about today today and think about tomorrow tomorrow.

1 0:09:48 Very interesting because people who do lower their A1C and bring it down like you're doing and you know start losing the weight then their diabetes sometimes just goes away. I mean it's just incredible. So this is a very interesting time in the world. We have a major problem in this country and my own dad, and I've mentioned it on the show before, Don, passed away at the age of 55 from complications of diabetes. So I watched a man suffer that nobody wants to see suffer when it doesn't go right. You know, it was just terrible. And it's just, you know, staying in the lane for the new science, right? And then being able to get the drug. Had you had any problems getting Mount Jara because there was as I understand it a supply chain backlog that was keeping people who needed it for diabetes from getting it because everybody was racing to get it for weight loss. What was your experience with that?

2 0:10:39 Yes, that is true and that there was a or there is a run on these drugs and I'll kind of leave that kind of talk, it's just like well you want to get it to the people who need it primarily and focus on that. I wasn't able to fulfill my prescription from through one store so

1 0:11:26 myself and a couple of friends, we called all the pharmacies in the San Diego

2 0:11:17 This is when I needed the 7.5 and I was able to find a pharmacy that has it and they seem to continue to have it.

1 0:11:25 Oh, that's incredible and yes, I appreciate your story. I was actually reading today how to get Monjaro in 2023, which, you know, it's a brand name for what a drug called, am I saying this right, terzepatide? I don't know if I'm saying it right. Anyway, they said a lot of it you can get online. I was like, what? And yeah, telehealth can prescribe this. I didn't know. I didn't know this at all. Did you?

2 0:11:53 No. You know, people are kind of trying different things. And you know, actually, Debbie, I think it's good that patients and people in general can be more educated now and Actually ask doctors about it and things like that. This is the Wild West When it comes to weight loss drugs and I'm certain we'll find our way eventually But I think it's a good thing that we are we can we can ask about these things. I Do too. I really do I think

1 0:12:19 Diabetes and obesity and just people who struggle with their weight their entire lives is like it just keeps them from living the life they really should be living on this planet. If we were able to help crack this incredible challenging code here, boy, a lot of people would have better lives and better times and experiences and less illness and less mental illness because it's a lot combined in there. It really is. It's about self-esteem and confidence and everything, right? Everything. It's just a meaningful time.

2 0:12:53 We could talk for a few hours plus probably about this. Yep. There's just one thing I just want to encourage people who are listening to this and that is if you are feeling frustrated with your way to, of course, diabetic care to seek out answers and solutions and this could be one of them for you. And I think just as a society, we have been just saying for years calories in, calories out but it doesn't work that way and every individual could be different. And so find the solutions that work for you not only with medicine but also emotional emotional help, nutritional help, physical kind of things, it's all combined. And keep seeking those answers because I believe they're out there for you.

1 0:13:48 Yeah, great point Donna. Last question for you dear. Nobody likes to talk about the downside of things they are hopeful about, but did you have any side effects from Mount Jaro that you didn't see coming or you knew were possible?

2 0:14:01 Yeah, a little bit of digestive issues, but those went away after I was on it for about

1 0:14:08 60 days. All right, awesome. Donna Kozik, tell everybody what the name of your company is in case they need your help because I'm so glad I have you in my life. Anybody who wants to write a book and wants to actually get it done, she's an amazing buddy to have, book writing and publishing coach for her company. It's doneforyoupublishing.com, am I right?

2 0:14:28 we're calling it now? Yes, done for you publishing.com you can pick up your own publishing checklist there. Debbie I'm so excited about publishing your book I can't wait to talk to you about that next time. I can't believe we're not

1 0:14:41 getting it done it's called how to talk to strangers advice from a professional stranger talker and we had a lot of laughs about it hopefully we'll have more Don I love you wish you continued great health and thanks for taking the time on the show today.

2 0:14:52 Love you too, Debbie, anytime. Love you too, Debbie, anytime.