The Debbie Nigro Show

Former Rock N Roll Publicist Carol Klenfner ( Rolling Stones, Elton John, The Who, and more) is a table tennis champion now rocking the table tennis circuit. She's got stories up the wazoo about all 50+ great rock n roll acts she traveled with and repped back when, but her own latest act is a pretty darn good story too.   Carol was a gritty NY gal who worked her way up through the Rock N Roll PR world and worked as a top executive for 4 decades at a prestigious firm in NYC. She married, had two daughters, and a solid career. But in 2009, when she was 64, her life started to fall apart. Right after recuperating from back surgery, Carol lost her husband. Then the recession hit and she was shockingly laid off from her job. At her age, she knew finding a comparable position would be difficult if not impossible. She had to move to find a more affordable place to live and admits it was a horrible time of grief and what felt like solitary confinement, while trying to launch her own PR business from her dining room table. She was struggling and knew she had to get out of the house and do something for her sanity.

"Depression is not my thing, but I did feel terribly lonely and isolated. It was like solitary confinement. I wasn’t sure what was ahead for me, but I knew I needed to get out of the house."

Carol happened to catch a documentary on PBS that profiled seniors in a table tennis tournament, and it sparked old memories of having fun playing ping pong as a kid.

She grabbed her friend Stephanie Palewski-Brumbach, who she grew up with and they went to check out Spin, the ping pong club and restaurant owned by Susan Sarandon.  They liked it, thought they were good enough to try out for the women’s league and thrilled they were accepted.

Carol who got tired of losing, hired a coach and worked her way up into league play and went on to compete and rock the national tournaments! 

Del Moon Dir. of Communications & Media for The National Senior Games did a feature story on Carol. "She wonders if table tennis saved her life in a way, and she feels like a rock star among her age peers who marvel at her renewed passion for life and dedication to pursue a sport."    Carol is a great inspiration for staying in the game! Any game! At any age!

She's passionate others should find their own way to “move a muscle, change a mood.” 

Carol's really bummed she'll miss the National Championship of Table Tennis in Las Vegas and The National Senior Games this year because she hurt her hand, but she's learning how to play the game with her other hand. 

Luckily she wasnt too bummed to come have some fun talking with me.  Carol found her Personal Best, and hopes she is an inspiration for others to pursue theirs.

Go Carol! 

 

 

 

 

The Over 50 Crowd is bringing the ACTION to Ft. Lauderdale next week!

14,000 are set to compete in every sport you can imagine in the 2022 National Senior Games presented  by Humana. It's all happening May 10-23rd in and arounf Ft. Lauderdale Fla.

Del Moon, The Director of Communications & Media for NSGA is excited the games are returning after 2 years off due to the pandemic.

He's got a good story about how an 85 year old participant scared the heck out of him into participating himself. LOL.

Check out some of the photos from prior years and you will see 'age has no limit' when it comes to staying in the game!

Many who participate now in these games were never even athletes before getting involved. These games are motivating people to get involved and get into better physical condition.

Plus everybody's who''s participating is having fun, traveling, meeting new people, and creating new passions.

Check out whats happening with The National Senior Games and find out how you can get involved locally in your state at NSGA.org.  

Makes me want to go try throwing a javelin!  

 

Coffee entrepreneur Travis 'The Coffee Man’ Estes, wants his fellow coffee loving entrepreneurs to have their own digital barista in their home.

Travis, is the Founder of REVIVE Coffee. He’s an expert in beans, machines and coffee recipes. He and his team designed and manufactured the 'Dolce Vita’ digital barista coffee machine and created an exclusive coffee subscription club as an answer to his commercial coffee company going silent for awhile during the pandemic.

Travis started a company in 2014 called Busy Bean which manufactures and supplies specialty coffee and coffee machines to the food industry. He’s one of the largest wholesalers and providers of specialty coffee equipment to large hotels and restaurants. In 2020 he was at the NYC food show when the pandemic hit. Soon after all the food service locations closed. Things were VERY quiet he said, for about 6 weeks. But then, out of nowhere his phone started ringing off the hook with customers and friends of customers working from home, asking him how to get his coffee.

Travis knew he had to create a professional grade digital coffee system for the home, which he said was not easy to do. The home version had to be just as good but under 18 inches high, easy to use, and self cleaning. Within 9 months he and his team had it figured out.

“What’s beautiful about this machine says Travis, is it’s really a digital barista that sits in your house. Push a button it grinds the beans, then presses the beans, then shoots high pressure water through it, and boom perfect cup of coffee every time!"

So does his ‘Dolce Vita’ coffee machine make all those coffee options someone would be able to pick out on the coffee menu boards say at a Starbucks?

The ‘Dolce Vita’ is pre-programed with 20 different coffee drinks but Travis wants you to learn how to program even more and he’ll teach you how once you join his exclusive entrepreneurs coffee club.

"It’s a true espresso machine", he said. "Makes a one shot espresso, or a double, or plain black coffee, or a latte, or a cappuccino - you name it!  You can even program seasonal favorites like pumpkin spice latte etc."

The best part about his machine says Travis, is the consistency of quality. Every day he says will be like waking up in the Four Seasons.

Travis is obviously passionate about coffee and passionate that entrepreneurs now working from home, never have to leave their house to have a total sensory coffee experience. Plus he’s saving die-hard coffee lovers who drive to a store to order their favorite latte ‘schmatte’ or whatever, about 70% off a cup of coffee. ( Have you ever done the math on how much you spend buying cups of coffee every year?)

By the way, coffee is 8X more complex than wine, says Travis. Which is why in addition to manufacturing their own equipment and roasting their own beans (yes they do) Travis and REVIVE brought in a 5 star Executive Chef to come up with new coffee flavor combinations. Believe it or not, the aroma of coffee is a lot more sensory than just the caffeine boost.   

It’s a good next act for Travis “The Coffee Man” Estes whose earliest memory as a child was waking up to the smell of coffee. His parents would set up their coffee maker the night before, and that smell he woke up to every day was anchored in his brain. When he had a chance to get into the coffee business he jumped at it, and he’s been making waves in the business ever since.

REVIVE’s Exclusive Coffee Club For Entrepreneurs includes the purchase of the ‘Dolce Vita’ digital barista machine, a $99 monthly coffee subscription, and a lifetime guarantee. Membership is currently limited to 50 new members a month because the machines are meticulously manufactured in-house at their main location in Charleston, SC. where Travis lives.

Membership is also limited because Travis personally devotes a good amount of time educating his customer members about how to get the best results from his products.

Travis did mention though living in SC now, he’s a NY guy by way of  Brooklyn and Long Island. Funny how many cool entrepreneurs are by way of Brooklyn and Long Island. Maybe it’s in the water.

Travis and I had a good time talking coffee innovation in our podcast conversation here. Enjoy. And find out more about  REVIVE’s Exclusive Coffee Club For Entrepreneurs at BizCoffeeClub.com

Dieticians on Tik Tok Are Begging People To Stop Dieting. According to CNN health, the anti-diet dieticians want to steer people away from what they call "diet culture," which they say prioritizes smaller sizes over health and drastic restriction over lifestyle changes.

Which brings me to todays' podcast segment about healthy food swaps.

Simple ways you can swap some snacks and drinks and nut butters you may be having regulalrly, for some other versions that are healthier and less processed.

I asked Jess Caruso, Personal Trainer & Instructor at HealthyFit for Women in Mamaroneck, NY to come up with some simple food swaps to do quickly for a healthier diet. I love her list.

Jess, is a Nutrition Health Coach, Mindfulness Educator and Mentor and has over 20 years of experience in the career field of wellness. She's worked in many different settings, and has experience with people of all ages and clients with many different goals. She's taught in schools, and even  provided yoga and meditation at the Westchester County NY Correctional facility.

Her philosophy with regard to wellness? Keep the body moving with variety and enjoyment!

Her primary health coaching focus? Helping clients with clean eating, lifestyle changes and choosing more of a natural approach to improve their overall health.

Jess Caruso shares some good tips on this Wellness Wednesday conversation podcast.

 

Know Anybody Who Doesn't Want To Get Paid Fairly For Their Work? Me Neither.

According to 322 employers who responded to XpertHR’s 2022 Survey on Pay Equity, senior management is one root cause of the existence of pay inequities at companies. But now theres a new platform that companies can use that provides data analytics to take the complexity out of pay equity and wage gaps.

It’s called Gapsquare and their CEO/Co-Founder Zara Nanu joined me to talk about the survey results and how Gapsquare helps companies build fair pay infrastructure through analytics and expertise.

Dr. Zara Nanu is a powerful advocate for workplace gender equality and wider fair pay. She started her career combatting human trafficking and campaigning on women’s rights issues. She is now at the forefront of the push for technology to build more inclusive workplaces.

Dr. Nanu says, 93% of companies want to use analytics internally to create pay parity but only 38% of companies do it because it’s complicated. She's sharing the news that her company, Gapsquare is happy to lend a hand with their new analytics platform that makes it easy.

Enjoy this enlightening podcast conversation.

This Podcast Was Produced In Support of Happiness!

Jeffrey Gurian is fascinated by people who don't let things get the best of them! A former Cosmetic Dentist and Clinical Professor at NYU, he's one of the few doctors with a long-standing career in comedy. He's a comedy writer, performer, director, author, producer, motivational speaker, and radio personality with 8 books under his belt.

The first  book in what he refers to as the  "The Happiness Series" was written during the Covid lockdown and is called  "Healing Your Heart, By Changing Your Mind – A Spiritual and Humorous Approach To Achieving Happiness". The next one in the series  is "Facing Adversity Stories Of Courage And Inspiration" and the third in the series is called "Fight The Fear-Overcoming Obstacles That Stand In Your Way".

Jeffrey knows courage. In 2021, he found himself at the height of the panemic in the hospital with Covid Double Pneumonia. Very luckily he recovered, but spent months home alone in NYC afraid to go outside. That's when he got the idea for the happiness books. 

In a folder filled with articles and news clippings Jeffrey had kept over a period of 20 years, were a collection of true stories about very courageous people who managed to overcome unbelievable difficulties to lead happy, meaningful lives. Jeffrey decided during his own struggles during Covid lockdown, to write about those triumphs as a way to help restore hope and inspiration for everyone affected by what's happened over the last two years. 

His book, "Fight The Fear -Overcoming Obstacles That Stand In Your Way”, is about learning to change your own negative thoughts that hold you back. You really can. Jeffrey tells the story of following his own principles, to cure himself of a severe stuttering problem, which plagued him through his 20's and beyond. He now works with stutterers all over the world to teach them how NOT to stutter. 

"If you allow yourself to think differently you can achieve happiness. It's a way of processing information in a way you haven't done in the past." 

Jeffrey has so many words on inspiration and so many great comedy stories too. He's worked with some of the worlds best comedians. He was a comedy writer for Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, lead writer for The Friars Club Roasts and many more. He also performs at Comedy Clubs in NYC. 

Some great stories are shared in our fun podcast conversation. Enjoy.

To see and hear more about Jeffrey Gurian check out  ComedyMattersTV.com

This one's for the girls!

Theres one thing I know for sure. As soon as warm weather hits the parts of the country where womens bodies long hidden under winter clothes will soon be exposed again, a LOT of women try and hustle to tone themselves up! Admittedly, I am one of those women.

I hate being hot and love going sleeveless and surely feel better about myself when my upper arms are stronger and in better shape. Loose upper arms do not make women happy.

(Guys have no clue what a pain in the ass they are or what it feels like to try and find a dress that hide your arms. As for the women who do not have this problem - we amire you but we are jealous.)

I asked the gals at HEALTHYFITNY the all womens gym that I joined and I'm lovin', to create a one minute video showing a few simple excercies for upper body strength and tone that work quickly.  i thought some women might appreciate it.

Fitness Director Jamie LeVine nailed it with 3 exercises that even I can figure out how to get moving on today! 

This post is about women getting the upper hand on those upper arms!  It was created with love for women by women.

Be cool to know if this helped anyone out there. Let me know.  Best! Debbie

 

Matt Vossler Co-Founder 'Swim Across America' joins me to celebrate 35 years of making waves fighting cancer. And we're talkin big kahuna waves! 

This year there will be 24 events across the country expected to raise 10M which will bring the total dollars raised by this charity for cancer research rockstars close to 120M! Matt says, it's been  incredibly impactful and effective fund raising.

Swim Across America is a national organization with 24 open water swims from Boston Harbor to under the Golden Gate Bridge, and more than 100 pool swim fundraisers across the country. It's roots are firmly anchored in Connecticut and along the shores of Long Island Sound. The 16th annual Swim Across America Fairfield County open water swim is scheduled for Saturday, June 25, 2022.

Matt Vossler is from Darien, CT. and he and his lifelong friend and college roommate Jeff Keith, who lost part of his leg to bone cancer as a teen, founded Swim Across America in 1987.

These two guys along with their other buddy Hugh Curran, graduated college, put their careers on hold, and physically 'ran' clear across the country fundraising for cancer. The 'swim' version of their efforts was only sparked when they got to the California Coast and ran out of 'land' Matt said. 

'Swim Across America' didn't exactly start out as smooth sailing. Matt shared that at their very first event in 1987 on the Long Island Sound in NY during a fundraising swim from Port Jefferson to Fairfeld Beach, their boat actually sank. OMG. If that didnt stop them...it didn't.

Swim Across America is built on a fundamental value that money raised in a community, stays in that community. This value creates a grassroots community feel for each of our charity swims,” said Matt Vossler. “Each charity swim is partnered with an academic or research hospital within the community that serves as the beneficiary.

Stamford-based Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy is the local beneficiary in Fairfield County, CT.

What isn’t limited to geography is the innovation and collaboration to fighting cancer.

Swim Across America has already granted $100M and been a major funder in the advancement of immunotherapy, personalized medicine, gene sequencing, detection and patient programs such as adolescent and youth survivorship.”

**********************************

On Saturday, April 23rd, Elizabeth Beisel, a four-time Olympic gold and bronze medalist, 2016 Team USA captain, and world record holder for the first woman to successfully swim from mainland Rhode Island to Block Island, along with Craig Beardsley, a world record holder in the 200-meter butterfly and a former member of the U.S. Olympic Swim Team, will be visiting the Darien, CT YMCA. They will hold a swim clinic with the Darien Y’s Piranha swim team from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and then participate in a Meet-and-Greet with the public from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Meet-and-Greet is free and open to the public.

Something tells me after you listen to this podcast conversation with Swim Across America Co-Founder Matt Vossler, you'll want to jump in and help.  Incredibly inspiring.

 

It's A Pretty Big Deal When Walmart Says "Yes, We'll Carry YOUR New Product"! Entrepreneurs Abby Wallach & Caroline Fabrigas couldn't be more excited. Their idea to risk disrupting the fragrance category worked! Walmart is putting their new perfume brand 'Sparti Scents' into almost 1800 Walmart stores nationwide.

As part of Walmart's fragrance innovation strategy, 'Sparti Scents' is filling the beauty aisles with it's new mini-stick powered by Scentinvent Technologies, LLC. It's portable, clean, playful, accessibly priced, alcohol free and fun to show off. The brand is powering up social media feeds with joyful content built around community.

The 'Sparti' Founders say they're really excited that after 8 years from inception, their GIRL ON THE GO campaign is going live with The NEW Cool Way to Wear Fragrance and words of empowerment. 

Girls nationwide are sharing how Sparti fragrances make them not only smell great, but give them a boost of confidence throughout the day.

Dance Sparti is a Sexy Musk (purple)

Love Sparti is a Fruity Floral (orange) 

Spring Sparti is a Citrus Blend. (Green)

Abby Wallach & Caroline Fabrigas, beauty industry veterans, join me to share the exciting news of their big launch and also share the back story of just what it takes to bring a new perfume concept to life.

They also share how the 'Sparti' brand got its name. Let's just say somebody's' son is really smart. Wink. 

If you like entrepreneur stories you'll enjoy this fun and informative podcast interview. 

These 2 gals are perfect examples of following the advice I always give here:  

"Risk It Or Regret It!

 

 

Right about this time every year, people who make it through cold winters start to shed clothing. This can feel good or bad depending how you feel about your body. Let’s face it. The pandemic made most people a little ‘softer’ than usual. But that can be changed pretty quickly if you follow the ‘Spring Shape Up Checklist’ items posted here that I asked HEALTHYFIT to put together for us.

If you’re like me, the first warm Spring day is a loud wake up call to try to speed things up a a little (understatement) to get into better physical shape as fast as reasonably possible.

(I'm not sure ordering from the Venus Swimwear catalog right this moment is reasonable) 

But noticeable progress can be made pretty quick! According to Fitness Director Jamie Levine at HealthyFit, if you just start ‘moving’ you’ll move in the right direction and everything will start to tighten up and things will start to snowball in a really good way!”

I want to share that every timeI show up at this women’s gym I joined not to long ago, I feel better about myself. I want to encourage others who are trying to get back in shape after this ‘twilight zone’ last few years to just GET MOVING. It matters. Whether you’re struggling with body image, mental strength, a little depression or just the desire to feel more alive again it’s time to make some moves. I believe! All of a sudden I’m bending to pick up stuff without grunting! Call Page Six in The POST.

So here’s The Spring Shape Up Checklist. Follow it and share it with somebody who could use a boost.

HEALTHYFIT Fitness babe Jamie Levine says, ‘ideally’ we should follow this all year long. (And all I’m saying here is let’s just reboot)

Water! Water! Water! Thats a big mention here because dehydration zaps your energy. Water flushes out fat, and it’s great for metabolism. I have trouble drinking enough water but I’m trying harder. Jamie says, says people who don’t drink enough water are usually drinking something else and if you replace all your other liquids with water for ‘awhile’ it’ll  show in your face and skin. A nicer face is. good incentive. (Why the hell wine goes down so easy I'll never know.) 

Your diet does play into how fast you get into shape. James says,  if your diet is crap it’s going to be a huge obstacle to your progress.

“Theres a saying in the gym…. You can’t out exercise a bad diet”!

And about those 10,000 steps a day? Honestly for most mortals I know hitting this number is nearly impossible. When I try and can’t live up to that number, I do end up feeling a little frustrated and occasionally also end up in a pizzeria.  But I’ll try harder.

Jamie points out, the fittest people in the world are people who walk everywhere. She also mentioned she actually knows people who get off off their couches at night and go out and walk the last couple thousand steps to make the 10,000. (Must be their couches.) 

Anyway …cheers to Spring. And to this Spring Shape Up Checklist.

This fitness shape up information is ‘gender friendly’

However If you’re woman looking to check out an all women’s gym and happen to live in the Mamaroneck, N.Y. area, I highly encourage you to just  show up and walk in to HEALTHYFIT on The Boston Post Road and look around and try it out for free. No Drama. No Pass Necessary. Jamie says any gym that doesn’t let you try it first is not worth it.

Hoping to motivate some new people with our straight up shape up podcast conversation.