Camera Ready & Abel

A lot of creating, especially writing - whether it be music, prose, poetry or nonfiction - is a solo pursuit and often happens in isolation which is why this conversation about Collaboration is so inspiring to me. My guests for this episode, composer and author Karen LeFrak and creative facilitator and strategist, Cathleen Murphy, explain how they came together to collaborate and what they did to translate Karen's vibrant music to a global, digital audience and over 18 million (and counting) streams worldwide.  Theirs is a mature creative partnership built on trust, mutual respect, active listening, open communication and joy. Key Takeaways Find opportunity Adapt to new platforms Conform to industry standards of quality Be open Ask questions Know your audience Go to where your audience is Show up consistently Build relationships Find the right partners Think strategically and long term Be discoverable You Can Find Your Voice at Any Age Karen has released seven studio recordings since March of 2021, including her latest, Renewal. Her works have been commissioned and performed by the New York Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theater, and the Shanghai and Miami Symphony orchestras. She is an ardent champion of musical and literary education for children and has received wide accolades for her children’s books. Discover more about Karen at KarenLeFrak.com Cathleen is a widely respected music industry professional and the CEO of Key Of C Entertainment, who has established one of the industry’s most diverse and creative driven careers leading initiatives, major labels and music publishing companies, working with a staggering list of acclaimed Grammy, Tony Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Nile Rogers, the Blind Boys of Alabama, 2 Cellos, Bobby McFaren and Cindy Lauper, among many others. Find Cathleen at KeyOfCEntertainment.

If you are like me, there is a certain amount of stress you find energizing but it can be a fine line between productive and overwhelmed. Stress is the body's response to physical, mental, or emotional pressure and causes chemical changes in the body that left unmanaged can wreak havoc on your mind and body. Here to discuss how to manage stress is Sarah Vallely, lead instructor/coach and founder of TSD Mindfulness meditation center. In this episode, Sarah explains how mindfulness can be used as a powerful tool to reduce stress. Her approach to stress management removes one-size fits all rules and underscores the importance of knowing your unique stress type. Sarah has been teaching mindfulness and meditation for over 20 years in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Asheville, North Carolina, and online. She has written four books, including Sensational Meditation for Children, and Tame-Soothe-Dwell, and is the host of the mindfulness podcast The Aware Mind. Learn more about Sarah’s mindfulness coaching at www.sarahvallely.com.

Feeling a little stuck? Need to change your energy? My guest for this episode, actor-writer-sought after public speaker-instagram slayer, Franchesca Ramsey, delivers a Master Class in how to regenerzie, refocus, get back in alignment to bring back the joy and make your goals happen.  Franchesca currently has shows in development at Paramount+ and Amazon. But she didn't start there and she generously shares the steps she took to evolve from her career as a graphic designer working for the City of Miami to making YouTube videos to creating and starring in the award-winning MTV series, DeCoded, to being a writer-correspondent for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore to the triple threat, full-on CEO of her own life she is today.  Key takeaways: Don't wait for permission - take initiative! Be someone people want to work with Be a generous connector Keep a wins jar Focus on goals you can control Enjoy Franchesca on instagram and Visit www.franchesca.net to get more of Franchesca’s gems. While you're there check out her NAACP-nominated book, Well That Escalated Quickly, one of Amazon’s best books of 2018.  Good news! All of the Camera Ready & Abel episodes + grab-n-go clips of inspiration and actionable insights are now available on YouTube. 

Bookmark this episode of Camera Ready & Abel! You will want to come back to it over and over again. Joining me to discuss RESULTS is America’s only Chief Results Officer® Blaine Oelkers who generously shares not just what you need to do to achieve results but also science-backed strategies and tips on how to achieve them: Unlock what's between you and your goals by truly knowing and embracing what you want. Stress less! Do more! Win early, win often. Small daily wins are where transformation occurs ...because information is not transformation - you have to act and implement We are designed to bring about our desires...so remember What You Think About, You Bring About Choose better over bitter You can pivot your life from any circumstance To start your day with purpose begin with Next Day Planning Reframe: what can you do less of today? LUL is Blaine's strategy for creating new habits in 21 seconds Blaine is a TEDx Speaker and leading authority in personal implementation and consistency. He’s a habit master with documented streaks of 1616 days in a row and counting! As a top LinkedIn Connector he has over 25,000 1st level connections. He is powered by Selfluence, a personal development and training company. Access Blaine's free resources to get more results at http://blainetedx.com/ and  www.superresultsexperience.com. Learn more about the Pomodoro Method HERE.

A goal map is a roadmap for your career or your life that clearly lays out your goals and objectives, and per my guest for this episode, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Fuel to Fire, Midori Verity, goal mapping is a methodology that helps you stay focused in order to accelerate your success and can be applied to everything from building your business to creating the life you want. Because as Midori says, if you're trying to go from California to New York - if you're driving - you better have a map...or also who knows where you're gonna end up? The same applies in life. Having a tangible game plan to achieve the goals is also one of the kindest things you can do for yourself. It reduces overwhelm, sets you up for success, and in the end will give you back life’s greatest resource…time. Midori has generously share access to her Summit Goal-Mapping Framework here. Learn more about her work at www.midoriverity.com.

There are so many sub-titles and themes for this episode of Camera Ready & Abel with Transformational Breathing Facilitator, Kathleen Donnelly Israel: You are never too old to learn, grow and heal Healing has no timeline - it doesn't care how old you are You will never be younger than you are today, so do it now Hold on to your dreams and goals - even if it feels like they are far out of reach You never truly walk alone You have the power to rewrite your story For 17 years Kathleen cared for her husband who had Parkinson’s disease. After his passing, she decided to walk the 500 mile pilgrimage across Northern Spain known as The Camino Santiago de Compastela. Kathleen was 69 years old. She gathered her wisdom and philosophy in her book Wisdom on the Camino: A Spiritual Journey Sharing Forgiveness and Possibilities to Inspire the Rest of Your Life.  Kathleen delivers a powerful message of patience and perseverance. Learn more about transformational breathing techniques, reclaiming your power, and reimaging your life at any age in this conversation brought to you by the phrase bouncing back when bouncing back is hard.  Visit wisdomonthecamino.com to learn more about Kathleen’s work.

If you're not where you want to be, give yourself space to sit still and listen to this episode of Camera Ready & Abel with Cynthia Garrett. Cynthia shares with her signature grace, warmth and humor her very human story of struggle to surrender to belief to breakthrough. You'll smile, laugh, nod your head in recognition and open your eyes wide in amazement as Cynthia inspires you to disrupt the patterns holding you back from living to your full potential. Cynthia is an extraordinary communicator - an ordained minister, highly sought-after speaker and media personality who broke barriers when she became the first Black woman to host a network late-night show, NBC’s Later with Cynthia Garrett. She is a frequent contributor on political news channels and currently hosts The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett, airing weekly on TBN and GIRL CLUB streaming on multiple platforms including her own CGM TV YouTube Channel.  You can learn more about Cynthia at www.cynthiagarrett.org.

Do you feel like you are the world's best-kept secret? Are you stumped on how to stand out from the crowd in your space? My dear friend Vinnie Potestivo - multimedia advisor, celebrity brand executive and host of the podcast, I Have a Podcast, returns to Camera Ready & Abel to generously share how to get discovered which Vinnie explains is simply exposure X action. What action do you want someone to take as the result of discovering you? Are you making it easy for them to take that action? In our conversation we also explore discovery-moments, why and how you should regularly update your credentials (even when you have nothing new to add), and the three components of exposure- amplification, distribution, and aggregation.  To learn how Vinnie can help you create, invent or reinvent your personal or business brand business with carefully crafted strategies visit vpe.tv and hop on over to LinkedIn and follow #LinkedVin where Vinnie shares resources, tips, and leads.

Publicity has changed dramatically in my lifetime. Heck, it's changed a lot in the past few years. But The Power of Publicity remains something every business owner, subject expert and performer needs to harness. My guest for this episode, Brielle Cotterman, is a Publicity Expert and Celebrity-Maker, who distills the Power of Publicity down to one phrase we discuss here a lot on the podcast: Listen to the stories you are telling. Stories that inspire action have three parts according to Brielle: Who you were before the transformative experience who you are after (or the rise).  It is sharing your rise that inspires action. More potent takeaways: Publicity isn’t the end goal but it’s a means to an end Don’t get hung up on top tier publicity, shine in your niche and build up Publicity leads to more publicity Practice makes permanent  Brielle Cotterman is a TEDx Speaker, Contributor at Entrepreneur, Activist Against Domestic Violence, Publicity Expert, and Celebrity-Maker. She has spent the last decade helping clients to craft and scale dream careers to 7 figures and beyond by leveraging their personal stories and passions in order to create speaking tours, author award-winning books, procure media placements, and inspire the millions of people that need to hear their story.  Follow Brielle at @briellecotterman and learn about her Celebrity Incubator program, whose tagline reads “Learn the Skills, Gain The Confidence, and Create The Media Collateral You Need to Become a Niche-Celebrity and Get the Highest Levels of Publicity.”

It fills my heart to discuss Storytelling Through a Lens with my long-time friend, six-time Emmy-nominated writer-director and multimedia journalist, Michael Nigro, on this episode of Camera Ready & Abel. Michael brings heart, humanity and a powerful, fresh perspective to everything he does from photography to film to video to print. You have seen Michael's photojournalism, unforgettable images of the January 6th Insurrection, the Caldor Fire in California, Standing Rock, Charlottesville, Virginia, COVID 19 workers, Occupy Wall Street and the migrant caravan in Tijuana. You've also seen Michael's work as a director on National Geographics' Brain Games and as a writer on VH-1's beloved Pop-Up Video. How exactly does one jump from television, to film, to photojournalism? Per Michael: Diversify, diversify, diversify. When Michael knew he was ready to evolve from writer-producer to director he studied what successful directors were doing then created opportunity for himself by shooting short films and a self-funded documentary to build a body of work that demonstrated his skills, talent and point of view. From catwalks to conflicts, Michael will go anywhere (with his camera) "except shopping." View Michael's work here and consider supporting his work as an independent journalist by making a donation.