The Debbie Nigro Show

DEBSERVATION: "Divorce Is A Broken Dream And Everyone Deserves Another Happily Ever After."

That won't happen, 'especially in a late life divorce' if you don't get the right financial guidance in advance. (Yoo Hoo, what you don't know CAN hurt you!)

I've watched Lili A. Vasileff over the years become a nationally recognized divorce financial expert. She's a pro and a warm and wonderful woman who understands the power and impact of divorce on you and your family. Step one she says is to get some fire power on your side so that no details are overlooked.

'Over 50' divorces have doubled for first-time long-term marriages and the older you are, the more complicated the divorce typically is financially. "Late life divorce raises many difficult questions, centering on fairness, expectations and all the “what if’s”. 

Lili has worked with thousands of divorcing individuals and couples. Most want expert guidance to make informed decisions with dignity, confidence and a sense of security.  

Her latest blog is called 'Late Life Divorce – Divorce and Negotiate as an Equal'. Find it on wealthptotectionmanagement.com.

Married  A Second Time? Lili can also help you NOT get divorced again.  She's written 3 books. "Money and Divorce", "The Ultimate Divorce Organzier" and "The Divorce Planner Checklist".

There's also a Free Guidebook on her website: "7 Steps To protect your Wealth During Transition"   

A Heart to Heart about the reality of divorce  in this conversation with Lili. A. Vasileff who also shares some signs you should be aware of that may tip you off you're headed for one.

 

If You Are An Inventor or Have An Idea For a Product You Need To Know The Name Warren Tuttle And You Need To Read His Book "Inventor Confidential - The Honest Guide To Profitable Inventing".

Warren was the guy behind the launch of several highly successful products like MISTO, The Gourmet Olive Oil Sprayer and the SmartSpin Storage Container System.

For many years now, Warren Tuttle has overseen the Open Innovation product programs for several industry leading companies including Lifetime Brands in the housewares and table top arenas (Farberware, Kitchen Aid and 40 other brands), Techtronics Industries Power Tool Group in the power tool and hardware industries (Ryobi, Rigid, Hart Tools and other brands) and Merchant Media in the Direct Response Television category (Smart Spin, True Touch and other brands).

Warren Tuttle served as President of the United Inventors Association Board of Directors for 12 years and is currently a member of the National Pro Bono Patent Commission and the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s National Council for Expanding American Innovation. 

He personally interacts with thousands of inventors every year and has initiated over 100 new consumer product licensing agreements that have collectively generated over a billion dollars in retail sales.  

Warren Tuttles'  book "Inventor Confidential - The Honest Guide To Profitable Inventing" is a heads up to inventors and those with new product ideas of what to be aware of and what to watch out for. 

BTW: Prior to developing and marketing products for the housewares industry, Warren owned 5 of his own gourmet specialty kitchenware stores (The Complete Kitchen of Southern CT), a prepared food and catering business (The Good Food Store of Darien, CT), a nationally recognized cooking school and a partnership in a kitchen design business. Food and Wine magazine once described The Complete Kitchen as “one of the finest gourmet stores in America”. He  began his career as a department store buyer of cookware and small appliances in New York City (Abraham and Straus of Brooklyn, NY).

If you need help with building prototypes, filing patents, licensing a utility patent or getting an idea to market I'm pretty sure Warren Tuttle is your guy.  Besides being brilliant at what he does - he's warm and fun . Listen in to our conversation.   Best! Debbie   https://tuttleinnovation.com  

 

 

Wellness Wednesday!

When Taylor Smith's 96-year old grandmother got news she was deficient in protein Taylor started doing some research about it. She discovered that many elderly not only lack certain nutrients but also have trouble with taste receptors.

Taylor, who earned her Masters Degree at NYU in food studies, decided to try and do something about it. She started testing recipes and finally hit upon one she thought her Grandma might like that had just the right amount of protein and tasted good too. In doing do she also hit on a new product! 

It's called BROMA. A healthy dark chocolate almond spread created with lentils and other healthy stuff. 5g of protein per serving; vegan, keto, and gluten free.

Grandma liked it for sure but so did everybody else and so the requests for orders started coming. Realizing she had a business Taylor then asked her childhood friend Stanley who has a finance background to join forces to help bring the brand to life.

BROMA has since added 2 new flavors; Dark Chocolate Coconut Spread and Dark Chocolate Cherry Spread.

Giving up Nutella might not be so hard now.

Woman Owned and Grandma approved sounds like a winner to me.

Enjoy the conversation with this young female entrepreneur on The Debbie Nigro Show.

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Cannabis Conversations Are Picking Up And There's A Company Gearing Up To Pick It Up And Drop It Off To You Anywhere It's Legal In the U.S.

Two years ago while on vacation in Montana a magazine at a rest stop called WOMEN & WEED caught my eye and peaked my curiosity so I bought it. I just finished reading it LOL. The story of one woman stuck with me. The one about Claudia Post.

Claudia Post is a driving force in the cannabis industry and a professional in the 'driving' industry. She's about to smash her two passions together. Claudia is the President of MOST, a full-service cannabis consulting, marketing, and design firm in Philadelphia, and also the CEO of Green Bar Supply Co. purveyor of the finest quality CBD infused ingredients.

Eleven years ago, Claudia's son (a famous glass artist named Snic Barnes) told her the cannabis industry was about to 'blow up' and she should parlay her amazing business skills into it. What skills?

Claudia built and ran a multi-million dollar transportation company with 12 warehouses up and down the East Coast. Her courier service, started with one location and four employees and grew to having up to 2000 drivers on the road at any one time.

This woman obviously knows a few things about logistics! Claudia has moved many things medical during her career, including human organs for operations. She's served on every trade association board in her industry and has a network of relationships across the country. She knows how to get things done. She knows the rules. She knows the laws. So now what? Combining her passions and compassion! 

Claudia and her company of professionals hope to soon be delivering medical cannabis to patients nationwide. "Discreet secure and compliant delivery" is the company tag line.

Though Cannabis is not federally legal, it is legal in many states and so it's likely the company will morph into the recreational market as well. 

Should be interesting to see how her story rolls...and it was sure interesting to chat about it all with Claudia who fits right in with the spirit of my show which is..."Risk It! or Regret It!"  

If you're curious about the cannabis industry and women in cannabis this conversation should peak your interest. 

mostcg.com

 

Post Pandemic Silver Lining ? Office space will be cheaper! But these prices won’t last forever and that’s a fact so make your deal now says Jodi Pulice, Founder and CEO JRT Realty Group, Inc. the nation’s largest certified Minority- and Woman- Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) commercial real estate firm. 

The Wall Street Journal released a ‘News Exclusive’ this week titled “After Covid-19, Office  Leases Largely Come With Bargain Rates  - Companies looking for offices in large U.S. cities are seeking less space but longer terms.” There was an analysis of U.S. office-leasing trends prepared for the Journal that suggests many companies in the biggest markets—including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles—are embracing an emerging hybrid model: maintaining a shrunken office presence while allowing remote work at least part-time. (Sounds to me like this is what people always wished for no?)

New York based commercial real estate CEO Jodi Pulice, thinks technology was pushing the commercial real estate market in this direction anyway but the pandemic just sped up the process by 5 maybe even 10 years. The rents are coming down for sure she said, but the biggest thing she’s seeing right now are landlord ‘concessions’ in the form of free rent.  

Some companies are giving up space but not all are acting so quickly. When people do come back to the office they’ll want the 3 to 6 foot distancing so there will be a lot less people occupying spaces where there used to be a lot more people. The companies that are giving up space, are subletting. Sublet space, Jodi mentions, is at a 25 year high.

The good news? She’s noticed more people are coming back into buildings in NYC and there's more activity in general. She's still heartbroken for many of the wonderful restaurants in NYC which took a tremendous pandemic hit even though some were very creative with their outdoor seating on the  street. 

Retail is another another animal entirely said Jodi, who shares that all the empty retail up and down the avenues is - frightening. To her, retail is the pulse of NYC. Should the empty retail spaces be made into living space as has been suggested in various conversations and articles more than once? Jodi thinks it’s a really cool idea because a lot of retail locations do have courtyards in the back. For now she strongly suggests retail owners seriously consider giving a lot of free rent or maybe no rent at all to give  people in retail  change to get their feet back on the ground. 

And what about all the new buildings going up in NYC and more retail being built?  About that, Jodi says, she’s baffled.

Are there any trends obvious about what kind of businesses are  leaving NYC and what kind are coming in?  Jodi sadly reports the Mom and Pop businesses are getting buried and the businesses that had the misfortune to open 5 seconds before the pandemic hit, opened and shut. 

As for what businesses are coming in? She thinks the legalization of cannabis could bring in some more shops and she thinks it’s going to be a huge industry in NYC. 

Things move fast in NY so we will see. I do wonder personally if the cannabis influx to NY will start to make New Yorkers…slow down? LOL That would be an interesting twist. 

Finally BIG Congratulations to Jodi Pulice, founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, who was recognized as this year’s recipient of The Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award!  

Great Insightful Conversation If You Have A Few Minutes To Listen.

Say Hello To My Easter Tradition. 'Olive Bread' from Madonia Bakery on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y. that barely makes it to the car! This is No Ordinary Bread!  This is psycho delicious bread chock full of a zillion olives that will crack any dieting mortal.

It's the bread my friends and I traditionally drive from the suburbs to Arthur Avenue for, and wait on line for, peering over the shoulders of people in front of us, hoping nobody buys up all the loaves up before we get to the counter!

At the counter we wrestle with how many olive loaves to buy and then we spot the jalapeño bread and have to buy that, and then the other breads, cookies and pastries call our names. It's a 'time sensitve' adrenaline pumping counter decision!

Continuing this tradition this year! Madonia Bakery knows about tradition. They've been keeping the olive bread and family bakery business going for over 100 years! I invited Peter Madonia to join me today just to give him and Jason Lalima a high five!

Peter Madonia came back to the family business after 12 years as the Chief Operating Officer of the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also Chief of Staff to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and serves on many foundation boards. He and Jason, whose father became a partner in Madonia Bakery years ago, both work really hard to keep the bakery running just as their fathers would like. Peter gives much of the credit for the bakery's success to all the really great people who've worked for them for a really long time. 

Enjoy the  inside scoop of why this bread is so famous from Peter Madonia who'll share how they've been coping through Covid and how incredible it is that his Grandfather actually started the business during the second wave of the Spanish Flu in the early 1900's.

And if you want to have some fun watching how Jason makes his fathers bread Google the cool video from Eater.com on You Tube.

Madonia Bakery is located at 2348 Arthur Avenue, The Bronx.

I Cant Help Myself! I'm playing all my favorite 4 Tops Hits and bopping around dancing today with a smile on my face as I welcome Duke Fakir, the only living member of the original legendary Motown quartet The Four Tops.

Duke Fakir is the ultimate ageless entertainer. Imagine 67 years on the road performing and still loving every minute? And he sees absolutely no reason to stop. In fact he's picking up speed! 

Duke and The Four Tops produced million-selling hits that sound just as good today as they did back when.  “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Ain’t No Woman,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," Baby I Need your Lovin', all which now have millions of views on You Tube.

Duke Fakir was a founding member of the group originally called the Four Aims, which included lead singer Levi Stubbs, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton. The four remained together for over four decades, performing from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel. 

You'll love the story Duke tells of how it all started with those four young men. Girls! All four guys hustled to a High School Prom where they heard there were going to be a LOT of girls and not so many guys. LOL A gal asked Duke to sing and he grabbed the other guys and said let's all sing...and the magic happened and the rest is history. No one could top the four of them collaborating together.

With three of his original fellow Four Tops gone now, Duke Fakir continues the magical musical tours with three talented younger vocalists, but shares a touching mention of how sometimes when he's performing he can still feel the presence of his late performing buddies and it brings a tear. 

Now that The Four Tops have been inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame,  have received the Grammy's Lifetime achievement award, and have been named by Billboard Magazine as one of the greatest groups of all time, what could possibly be next?  A Dazzling Stage Musical? A 'Jersey Boys kinda hit'?  Well since some of the very same guys who wrote the original hits for him are back doing it again I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Tune in to this sweet upbeat conversation with Duke Fakir fresh off his first gig in nearly a year because of Covid. He was excited to travel to  Washington, D.C. where he taped an upcoming PBS Memorial Day Special. He's even more excited about the upcoming Four Tops Musical.

 

 

Calling All Inventors. Experimenters, Mom n’ Pops Gadget Creators Here's A New Way To Drive Interest for Your Product.  “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” is a new 'You Tube' gadget game show best described as  where "Shark Tank" meets "What’s My Line?”

It's the brainchild of Steve Greenberg, award-winning author, TV personality and expert on innovation and technology who's on TV all the time showcasing products. Steve's a regular with Hoda & Jenna on NBC’s Today Show.

I tried to play Steve's new game with him live on my show and tried to guess what various products were after looking at some photos and asking yes/no questions that would give me clues. I still had no clue. 

The game is much better played on 'You Tube' where during each episode of  “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?”, panelists are shown a “mystery gadget" which is a new product—but it's function is not known by the general public or the panelists.

With the host’s help, panelists ask Yes/No questions to try to guess the identity and function of the mystery gadget. It's an awesome way for inventors to get a product some exposure.

If you love gadgets and new products and want to play “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” go to GadgetGameShow.com. Just click on SUBSCRIBE and start watching the episodes. There are 34 Episodes posted so far.  

BTW: Steve Greenberg wrote a book called GADGET NATION: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ECCENTRIC WORLD OF INVENTION. It features 100 off-beat gadgets and the inventors behind them.  Steve's also on the Board of Directors for the United Inventors Association. 

 

 

Can't be simple having your city filled with maskless mobs of wild partiers on Spring Break many of whom are adults in addition to the typical young Spring breakers.  Miami Beach Florida City Officials extended a state of emergency which includes an 8pm curfew in the entertainment district until April 11th. 

There's also limited access to causeways leading to the city which means if you live there and want to leave and go somewhere you might not be able to get back home. Actually with bouts of violence erupting in certain areas you might not want to even go out of your house. Sounds like a load of Covid commotion to me.

I invited Miami resident and top PR gal pal Lois Whitman-Hess who lives there - to join me for a residents' perspective and to get some insight.

Mostly you will learn that people in Miami Beach are acting like there is no coronavirus. People are walking around without masks pretty much what looks like their underwear. It's wild at night and there are a ton of outdoor restaurants buzzing with customers while older residents are still getting 'delivery'. 

Leave it to Lois to just tell it like it is in this short interview. 

I teach 'guts and resilience' but honestly that's not going to help your immune response to the vaccine so instead I got you my gal pal who really knows GUTS! Functional Nutritionist Jacqui Justice says, most of immunity resides in our gut.

"The best thing you can do to both avoid Covid-19 infection and lessen your reaction to the vaccine is to optimize your gut health".

Whether your vaccination is imminent (within days) or is weeks or months away there are things you can do to help improve your immune response. Some are simple behavior changes like avoiding alcohol for 2 days prior to the shot.

Jacqui's other suggestions include taking supplements like 'Quercitin' which can help dampen the histamine immune reaction. Listen up for the full list! 

Got more personal questions? Contact Jacqui directly: jacquijustice.com

PS  I took a little curious survey on my personal Facebook page asking if anyone had a reaction to their second vaccine shot. I expected a couple of answers but I got tons of responses ranging from no, to mild, to maddening. If you're curious about the range go to my personal Debbie Nigro Facebook page and scroll down to that post and read for yourself. Obviously we're all in uncharted waters here so it's good to collaborate. 

And because I always encourage a laugh-  in spite of it all - if you want to read about my panic attack during my first vaccine shot go read my blog about it: https://debbienigro.com/weather-or-not-to-cancel-the.../My

BTW: Got my second shot and I had some mild reactions for like 2 days.  Once fully 'vakked up' after 2 weeks  looking to get back out and doing some 'things' !