The Debbie Nigro Show

Are you a fan of ABC's Shark Tank? Me Too. Today you'll meet the only Shark Tank contestant to ever be punched in the face by another contestant. LOL. That alone is a good story to tune in for but I invited Matt Franklin to join me because I love that he created an online class on how to successfully audition for Shark Tank. "It's the ultimate insider's guide from someone who's actually been there" says Matt.

Matt's got some really cool stories including how he sadly had to turned down an offer from Mark Cuban (who he loves) because Mark wanted too much equity. (Dontcha hate that?) In spite of not walking away from the show with a Shark deal, Matt walked off a winner as the TV exposure blew up his 'posture product' website and he succeeded anyway.  

Matt's a likable guy and he's proven businesswise along the way that likeability can be more important than talent in business. He tells young entrepreneurs one of the most important tools they have in their business arsenal is their smile.

Right now, Matt's 'pre-tired' but his current passion is helping self-employed people with retirement planning. Matt says, "I have a pretty large network of entrepreneur friends and it's amazing how bad most of us self-employed people are at retirement planning and investing. (Understatement.)

Self-employed people seem to always be working on trying to build their business in the now, but fail to think about taking care of themselves when they reach their golden years. His podcast is called "The Rogue Retirement Lounge It can be found on all the major podcast platforms.

rogueretirementlounge.com

udemy.com/get-on-shark-tank

Fun & Interesting Interview If You've Got 15 Minutes. 

Masks Have Kept Us From Smelling Other Peoples Perfume and Cologne But Not Our Own! Perfume has been one of my small pandemic pleasures because it just makes me feel good! So does the fresh smell of my boyfriends cologne after he showers. (When you're confined in a house together it's good to smell good.)

Like many of you I have my favorite go-to scents that others often comment on when I walk in a room. Fragrance guru Sue Phillips says when that happens, it means that particular scent is working its magic with your personal chemistry.

For more than 40 years, Sue Phillips, one of the world’s most renowned fragrance experts, has created fragrances for brands, and celebrities.  Her many credits include senior positions at many of the fragrance industry’s top companies; Elizabeth Arden , Lancome Paris, Burberry, Chloe, Lagerfeld, and Lancaster working on the Davidoff brands and Chopard. At Trish McEvoy, Sue developed her first 3 fragrances. She even created the first ever scent for Tiffany & Co. called TIFFANY which became one of the company’s top sellers and was followed by Tiffany for Men.

Sue Phillips will tell you smell is distinctly linked to the brain and produces 'emotions'. And boy do certain smells bring back memories! Scent, scientists have long known, is the most powerful of the five senses -- and the only one that connects memory, emotion and taste. “Our sense of smell is our most powerful sense after sight,” Sue explains, “but it is the most forgotten and ignored.

Sue's long awaited and much anticipated new book is just out. The Power of Perfume: How to Choose It, Wear it and Enjoy It! can be found in bookstores and on Amazon. 

Besides amazing stories (like how the incredible success of Chanel No 5 was actually caused by a mistake), Sue gives timely insight into how certain foods may help bring back smell for those who've lost their sense of smell as a Covid virus side effect. 

Great stories  too about all the celebrity fragrances she's created and how you can create your own signature fragrance  at her “The Scentarium” on the Upper East Side in NYC.

suephillips.com

Fragrance Lovers Will Love This Interview Conversation.

PS: My Personal Perfume Picks ? Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue is a fave. I'm also drawn to Chance By Chanel (goes well with my Risk It Or Regret It! attitude). My warm weather drugstore favorite is Jovan Musk with the orange top.  And my boyfriend bought me a new perfume recently that's now a huge new favorite - Voce Viva! by Valentino. (Word of mouth? lol ) 

Yvonne Martinez is a not so ordinary extraordinary woman. She probably just saved a lot of seniors lives. An Ex Bank VP from CA, Yvonne moved to Fla. to be closer to her only son Antonio and lives in a senior community in West Palm Beach.

Yvonne got very upset at how frustrating it was for the seniors in her complex to try and get a Covid vaccine appointment. Most couldn't figure it out between the computer and the necessary multiple phone calls. Many couldn't even physically get there even if they got the appt. They were all getting...nowhere.

Yvonne decided she needed to try and get the Covid vaccine to come to the seniors instead. She got it done! She called her local Congressman's office who got right on it and then the idea was approved by the Governor of Fla. and then a mobile vaccine unit arrived at the senior community and everybody got their shots! Now that's getting it done!

Yvonne was featured on cbs12 news in West Palm Beach Fla. and I'm excited to shine a light on her here as well. Yvonne Martinez fits the description perfectly of the kind of  'extraordinary ordinary women' I'll be featuring during Women's History Month . Go Yvonne! You Rock! 

P.S. As a fellow breast cancer survivor I smiled when Yvonne mentioned her son Antonio had taken such wonderful care of her during her breast cancer ordeal. I would expect nothing less having worked with sweet dynamic Antonio in a past business venture and having met Yvonne in the past as well. It's a blessing to survive cancer and blessing to have that kind of family love and support to get through it and Yvonne just wants to continue paying forward her blessings. This story is just one example how she's doing it.

You Could Fib On Your Taxes About Your Weight But Not On Your Location. Luckily nobody asks you about your weight at tax time  but this year you will get a new question from the government asking about where you live.

Seems like a straightforward question. But if you ask a state’s tax department where you live for tax purposes the answer may be more complex than you would imagine.

COVID has made this a very hot tax topic. Mail forwarding requests doubled in March & May from the prior year in NYC. There were approximately 300,000 change of address requests in NYC from 3/1 to 10/31 2020.

Residency for tax purposes is much more complex than most people would think. Every state has their set of rules governing residency. The correct answer has to do with where your teddy bear lives. Crazy I know that's why TaxxGuy Mark Glazewski joined me for a feature interview to address this 'address' topic. 

taxxguy.com

Did You Catch 'Hitsville' on Showtime? Wow. Talk about the power of music to bring people together! Maybe it's what the world needs more of now to bring us all together.

Hitsville is a documentary film about the birth of Motown in Detroit in 1958 through it's relocation to LA in the early 1970s. Dynamo Berry Gordy created a unique system that enabled Motown to become the most successful record label of all time. Much of that had to do with the non stop hits that were being pumped out by genius songwriters (HDH) Holland-Dozier-Holland. As Showtime points out, "The creation and initial success of Motown was achieved during a period of significant racial tensions in America and amid the burgeoning civil rights movement."

Listening to Eddie Holland (HDH) tell the back stories in the film on Showtime inspired me to invite him to join me for this feature interview on The Debbie Nigro Show - in honor of Black History Month.  I'm honored I get to call him friend. 

Motown wasn’t  just a business it was a family so it's no surprise you can 'feel' Eddie's heart breaking out of the gate as he speaks of the shocking unexpected passing of his bubbly beautiful friend and ’sister' Mary Wilson (Supremes) who passed just 2 weeks ago.  

Eddie said, Smokey Robinson called him and broke the news. He’s candid he's been in deep pain ever since. One because her death was out of nowhere as Mary wasn’t sick so he couldn’t prepare for it, and two because Mary left him a phone message that week and Eddie kept meaning to call her back but he got busy. That he didn't call her back right away he says, has compounded the anxiety and pain of her loss. Especially since she was really excited about Black History Month and had planned on doing so many things to celebrate it. (We all have those phone calls we wish we had made.)

'Mortality' came up too as Eddie said while talking about Mary's passing with Duke Fakir of The 4 Tops, who was also very close to her, they talked about how 'most of us are gone now' and how very very sad it is. 

On an upbeat note, you’ll get a kick out of  Eddie Holland the hit machine wordsmith talk about choosing the 'words' to the hit songs we still react to today. He continuously asked for feedback on his work until he was sure knew exactly 'which' words would make you feel something and make a song a hit.

On the subject of writing sooo many hit songs: His  genius he said, was talking to A LOT of females to understand their feelings. 

When I asked Eddie Holland  if he was an expert on love:  He said, "I don’t care whose listening I'm better at  it that most men” LOL

On the subject of whether he still beats himself up for putting 'one' wrong word in the hit 'Stop In the Name Of Love':  YES  he still can't take it. This has gone on for many many many years. LOL

On the subject of his experience with Racism:  He tells of that 'one time' while on a record hop stop in a St Louis restaurant... that  left him with a very empty cold feeling.

On the subject of Creativity : He said, "It's very hard for a creative person  to also be a disciplinarian. "

On  the subject of Women: He said, he learned so much talking and listening to women that it’s clear that women have the power at every juncture, they sometimes forget that. They are great game players. Teenage girls in love act maternal he says, and  women truly develop their craft at 30 years old. "Men cannot compete with a 30 year old smart female." 

On the subject of whether there’s another hit song in him?  Eddie Holland is mostly talking to Duke Fakir these days about the upcoming '4 Tops Musical' in the works. Duke wants Eddie to come up with a main theme for all their hit songs and wants him to take look at the story and if he sees a song in there - give it to his brother to write.

Oh and Eddie's happy he just got his second Covid shot.

In closing, because I always liked Eddies 'ponytail swagger'  I asked about his hair. Said he just cut it a little ...himself.  He started laughing explaining that ever since he was a little boy and his Grandma let a neighbor Barber cut it too short and he ran home crying... he's always cut his own hair.

(Fun to know some  guys cry about a bad hair situation too)

 I hope you enjoy this warm interview.

In the photo below that's Eddie Holland on the left and his terrific brother Brian Holland on the right with my late Mom Eileen and me. My music lovin' Mom loved this moment and it's one of my favorite photo memories of a happy day. 

'Hitsville' is On Demand On Showtime. Check the schedule at Showtime.com

If you love backstories, and want to understand more about 'The Genius Of Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown's Incomparable Songwriters' check out The HDH audiobook "Come and Get These Memories" it's just out on audible.com

It's Not Good To Aggravate Grandma. That was my thought when I heard the latest Royal Family 'family' news. Best selling author and Royals expert Diane Clehane told me she was thinking the same thing! In this fun feature interview, you'll catch on that Diane Clehane knows everything about the Royal Family. Sometimes before everybody else. 

Will there be regrets? Let's just say poor Harry might lose big. Diane reported before anyone (even the British press) that the Queen would take away Harry's titles. (Repeat: It's Not Good To Aggravate Grandma.)

Diane explained, "The Queen and The Monarchy always play the long game. Anybody who goes up against them like Meghan and Harry are doing now, and as some may remember, Princess Diana did in the past, may win them some points with the public and some cashing in, but the  Queen rarely doesn't come out on top. She knows what she’s doing. Theres a reason she’s the longest reigning Monarch."

How did Oprah get involved? Diane knows better than anyone that there's always a story behind the story. According to Diane, Oprah always wanted to interview Princess Diana and considers it the interview that got away. Oprah and Meghan have very strong but separate agendas that work well together and obviously an interview is coming. 

Back to Harry. We all know there's a special bond between a loving grandfather and a grandson. This weeks news that 99 year old Prince Philip (Harry's Grandpa) is not doing well is unsettling. So despite all the Royal drama, Diane reported that Harry "will need to be with the family should the worst happen. " That according to a royal source. 

A leading authority on modern celebrity and royalty, Diane Clehane's twice a week 'Royals Report' can be found on BestLife.com. Diane knows things. For instance, there are so many people that have worked for the various factions of the Royal Family for so long, acting as various intermediaries, that sometimes they are the ones who keep the family apart from each other and the Royals don’t even know it. (OMG)

Diane is a terrific writer. She's a New York Times best-selling author of five books, including Diana: The Secrets of Her Style and Imagining Diana, a novel which envisioned what would have happened if Princess Diana survived the 1997 crash in Paris. A  frequent TV commentator on the royal family on CNN, CBS and NBC and today's podcast interview features the latest Royal scoop.

I Just Wrote A Love Letter To NYC. If You Love Her You Should Too.

Is the city a she? Forgot to ask Catherine Rinaldi, President of NY's MTA Metro-North Railroad when she joined me in this feature interview to explain this love-ly Grand Central Station promotion.

Since we're all 'looking to brighter times ahead' I wanted to spread the word that Grand Central Station is asking folks from everywhere who love NYC, to express themselves and write a 'Love Letters to NYC'. Just submit your letter by posting a photo of it to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter using hashtag #loveletterstonyc and tagging Grand Central Terminal. You can also email your love letter to: [email protected].

Your letters will be posted on a 'virtual' Grand Central Station wall and you'll also be eligible to win a $250 gift card to the GC shop of your choice. The promotion runs through the end of February. 

Catherine Rinaldi loves NYC and Grand Central Station. She's been President of the MTA Metro-North Railroad since Feb. 21, 2018. She's the first woman to hold that position. (Go Catherine!) She was named 2018 Woman of The Year by the Greater New York Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar. Under her guidance in the very same year, Metro-North’s customer-facing safety program, TRACKS, won the 2018 APTA Gold Award for Safety.

Catherine continually works to improve employee engagement at the railroad, including support for women in the Metro-North workforce and the formation of a professional group of women engineers. 

Fun fact: Catherine Rinaldi met her husband on a blind date long before she was President of NY's MTA Metro-North Railroad at the famous Oyster Bar Restaurant in Grand Central Station. Life's funny like that. 

You Can't Hurry Love...Or Can You? Vegas style quickie weddings are now available in NYC! (Sorry no Elvis)

The Love Chapel NYC was the 'Risk It or Regret It" pandemic inspired move for corporate photographer Bradley Lau whose core business came to a halt.

A NYC licensed officiant and ordained Interfaith Minister, Bradley has performed hundreds of wedding ceremonies and always dreamed of opening his own Love Chapel. Convincing his wife Veronica to team up wasn't hard. She owns Wedding Packages NYC, a wedding elopement company. She's also a licensed officiant and performs bi-lingual ceremonies.

Your 'Love Chapel' ceremony can be Civil or Religious. It can be 10 minutes or 2 minutes (if you do, you do, you do, really want to hustle). Guests are capped at 14 for the 10 minute ceremony where you get 40 extra minutes in the Chapel. For the 2 minute version you can have 4 guests. You at the very least ...gotta have a witness. Photos after at nearby Central Park a block away make it extra fun. Don't forget your Marriage License! 

Cupids' Covid Rules? Everyone must wear a mask but the couple does get to  take the mask off during ceremony and for the kiss.  All guests must have their temperature taken upon entering and those with fever will be asked to leave. Hand Sanitizer is available and HEPA Filters are always running. The Love Chapel is cleaned after each gathering.

Meet fun couple Bradley Lau & Veronica Moya Lau and find out who's goin' to the chapel this  week.

lovechapelnyc.com

161 W. 75th St. Suite 1A (Brown Door) New York, NY 10023

The Undies Project Just Kicked Off Mardi Bra! Underwear is the most under-donated, yet most needed item of clothing for those who struggle with basic necessities.

Lucy Langley and Laura Delaflor co-founded The Undies Project in 2015 with the help of Neighbor to Neighbor and became a registered 501(c)(3) public charity in its own right in 2016. 

The Undies Project does not provide undergarments directly to families or individuals.  Rather they provide them to their partner organizations who are then able to assist the families and individuals in the community.

This is a NY/CT area charity effort but something that should/could be a national initiative. I invited the gals to join me to learn more about 'The Undies Project' which I thought was a 'bravelous' idea. 

Listen in to what these great gals created and then open up your 'drawers' and wallets and give a little if you can to others who have so little.  

(Underwear must be new. But new and nearly new bras are welcome. Especially sizes 34+)

To Whom Will You Send The Trending 'Purple Peace Bouquet'? Flowers Often Say What Words Cannot And The Color Purple Speaks Volumes. (I wonder what my old purple shag bedroom rug was saying to me growing up?)

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Flower Power Daily has launched the “Purple Peace Bouquet” as a peace offering to 'restore' some of your relationships.

Editorial Director, Jill Brooke says she was thinking of a way to unify us — and find a way for loving feelings to rebloom especially among family and friends who stopped speaking because of political disagreements or other issues. 

“Purple Flowers for Peace." were created to remind us of what roots us together vs. tears us apart, she says. Jill also points out when you mix the colors 'red and 'blue' they become 'neutral' purple. 

Throughout history purple flowers have been known to calm and encourage togetherness. Enjoy more flower power inside info as Jill Brooke joins me in this podcast feature interview excerpt from the live radio show.