Camera Ready & Abel

This is a special episode of the podcast because while I'm away enjoying a holiday with my family I am sharing my episode as a guest on Nicole Tremaglio’s podcast, Nicstalgia, where I had a blast going deep discussing what I love to talk about pop culture, change, and personal growth.  If you're new to the podcast Nicole was a guest on Camera Ready & Abel and discussed the important difference between building a community and building an audience. Nicole Tremaglio is a brand and consultant pop culture expert, writer, and self-described millennial Sporty Spice. The Nicstalgia podcast, unlocks core memories from the 90s and 2000s while examining the past through a contemporary lens. In this episode of Nicstalgia I join Nicole to talk about how enthusiasm is valuable, how to avoid the ‘shoulds’, stand out as yourself, and find your calling when you don’t fit into neat little boxes. Interested in one-on-one training with me, for you or your team? Shoot me a message at www.abelintermedia.com and let’s get connected!

It’s time to deliver an impactful lesson on branding that will change how you think of the subject forever. Here to deliver the message on Camera Ready & Abel is DP Knudten, Chief Collaborator at his business, Collaborator Creative. DP is the author of the must read, NONFICTION BRAND—Discover, craft and communicate the ‘completely true / completely you’ brand you already are. His fresh take on branding is a call to action with an action plan, so you aren’t left wondering where to get started. When it comes to branding and discoverability DP shares: Imposter syndrome can be a good thing and can keep you honest about your deliverables False modesty will limit your discoverability, it’s your job to tell people about the value you offer  Everyone is a unique combination of expert and amateur Be the scalpel and not the Swiss Army knife. It’s the difference of being a purpose-built tool to do one thing versus an average jack of all trades…and scalpels get paid better. If you are not a brand you are a commodity  Tell the truth about who you are, what you do and how you do it DP’s worked on some of the biggest brands in the business including Coca-Cola®, The Athlete’s Foot®, and ClosetMaid® during tenures at DDB Needham (Chicago), McCann Erickson (Atlanta) and creative shops in Denver, Sarasota, and Madison, WI. He is also a keynote speaker and clinician in branding, social media, creativity and culture for groups throughout the United States.  DP is the creator-host of the popular podcasts, The ROTOMA Podcast and NONFICTION BRAND and co-author of the book ROTOMA—The ROI of Social Media ‘Top of Mind/’.

I strive to deliver positive, actionable takeaways at Camera Ready & Abel but this is an especially inspiring episode! It's not easy to stay the course in pursuit of your dreams. There's a constant din of outside noise, opinions, societal pressure and your own gremlins. Katie Linendoll shares generously how learning to keep the blinders on took her from production assistant at ESPN to Emmy Award-winning consumer technology expert and one of the leading women in media technology with television appearances everywhere (literally), partner at MetroCap Partners focused on engagement with early-stage startups, a robust speaking career and charting on the country music charts. Key takeaways: Combine your creativity with a strong work ethic Post your goals where you can see them and refer back often Schedule your day If you're not getting high fives don't worry - go ahead and celebrate yourself Give yourself permission to change Every tv appearance is an audition for the next tv appearance Keep at it, you're in charge of you! Learn more about Katie via katielinendoll.com Follow Katie on IG @katielinendoll and Twitter @katielinendoll Listen to Katie's music and watch episodes of Technically Katie

We can give approval, we can receive approval and very often we put too much time and energy into seeking approval. As a recovering people pleaser, I know this well.   My guest for this episode of Camera Ready & Abel, entertainment journalist, producer, and entrepreneur Chris Witherspoon, gets raw and vulnerable sharing how his quest for approval stalled him from getting to his next level of greatness in his career until he focused on what made him truly happy and listened to two very important women in his life.   Sister Harden - one of the church muthas at his congregation growing up in Ohio - told Chris before he left for college, “If you don’t see the example, be the example."   Oprah - no last name needed - has a soft spot for Chris as an interviewer and that early in her career she sacrificed her authenticity and integrity in exchange for approval and never made that mistake again.   Key takeaway - besides always listen to Sister Harden and Oprah - tune out the noise and tune into your own internal approval matrix:   What makes you happy? What makes you feel alive? What makes you jump out of bed in the morning?   Tapping into this led Chris to become the founder and CEO of Popviewers, the platform that helps you find what to watch next, invites you to react to the TV and movies you’ve watched, and encourages you to share the experience with fellow content-lovers.

You don't know how little you know about Intellectual Property (IP) until you interview an attorney specializing in IP on your podcast. I don't think I've ever taken so many notes during a recording of Camera Ready & Abel before. For the uninitiated, Intellectual Property is defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization as: Creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce. My guest for this episode, Francesca Witzburg, Esq., is an award-winning legal strategist, brand protection expert and phenomenal communicator, who makes the complicated accessible with energy and humor. Francesca represents top businesses, entrepreneurs, brands, and celebrities in real life and the Metaverse. Inspired by a love of culture and the arts, she helps businesses monetize their intellectual property and stay protected and profitable with their current and forward-thinking business models including NFTs and Web3.  Francesca is a partner at the nationally-ranked law firm Loza & Loza where her practice centers on all aspects of trademark, copyright, and brand protection matters, as well as commercial transactions. Prior to joining the firm, she worked in the Manhattan office of the world’s largest law firm and has in-house experience at large-scale brands including Prada and Tory Burch. Francesca has counseled top businesses, celebrities, artists, athletes and influencers, as well as an array of clients from Fortune 500 companies.  3 simple yet important things to know: Figure out what IP you have. Understand what has value and then get it protected because you want to make sure you actually own it.   Have contracts to protect your IP to set the terms and expectations with clarity and in a positive way.  Enforcing your IP protection, which requires strategy because there can be a world of difference between a person creating a meme out of something you've done and someone stealing your work or knocking off your bag.  To learn more, check out Francesca's Legal Limelight IG Live On Thursdays + great info every day or her @IPLawyerFrancesca on TikTok and contact her via her website.

Grab your journal. This episode of Camera Ready & Abel is full of nuggets you're going to want to remember. My nourishing conversation with life, business and career coach, Brian Patacca, begins with marketing and ends with dignity and respect. Along the way, Brian reframes the entire concept of marketing around generosity and purpose: Marketing is going public with your gifts and being seen for your gifts. If you build it and you TELL people about it, they will come Be determined each day, not to leave your function unfulfilled. Clarity is kindness and kindness is clarity - banish the vague and wishy washy and ASK. Your creativity is your birthright and the world is a better place when you are doing what you are called to do Effective marketing does 3 things, makes you FEEL something, makes you DO something, makes you NOTICE something. Don't be afraid of the word No. Hearing No frees you to focus your energy on where you'll find your Yes. Brian is a spiritual practitioner who engages creative professionals seeking to ignite their businesses with fierce accountability, marketing innovation and soul satisfying success. He is the founder of a coaching organization and creative community with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Now based in Los Angeles, Brian coaches nationwide in several web-based group courses including his latest programs, Agent Goals and Actor Operating System.  Get more Brian by tuning into his podcast at www.BrianBreaksCharacter.com and download his free guide to 23 stories of people growing their networks in unusual ways that you can put into practice, at  supersneakyauditons.com.

One of the best parts of having a podcast is being able to explore interesting ideas with interesting people. It was my pleasure to be a guest on the Nicstalgia podcast with host Nicole Tremaglio and something Nicole mentioned in that conversation about the difference between building community versus building audience sparked me into needing to learn more.  Nicole is a branding consultant, pop culture expert writer, and self-described millennial sporty spice and quickly gets to the heart of it in this episode: Community exists when there is a peer to peer connection, when your fans and followers begin to talk to each other. Visually, that's when your audience expands from vertical (top down - you putting out information/product) to horizontal. Music has always been a source of connection for me and Nicole breaks down how BTS has created a global, impactful community - the BTS ARMY - and how that relates, by extension, to building any brand and why building community should be part of your business plan. In addition to hosting the Nicstalgia podcast, which unlocks core memories from the 90s and 2000s while examining the past through a contemporary lens, Nicole writes the Nicstalgia newsletter, which serves as a valuable cultural commentary source that fosters belonging and advances conversations around individual and collective identity, cyclical trends, consumer behavior, and popular culture. Connect with Nicole on social @nicoletremaglio.

Giving and receiving feedback is essential to camera readiness and a hallmark of leadership. But it strikes fear into the hearts of so many of us. I said feedback but you heard criticism, shame, what you did wrong. Here to reclaim FEEDBACK from its negative reputation is returning podcast champion, Alan Ibbotson, who gave us a masterclass on resilience in episode 6 which I highly recommend you (re)listen to.  Alan is a leadership and emotional intelligence (EQ) coach, founder of The Trampoline Group, Host of WYDAF: Wisdom You Didn’t Ask For, and a keynote speaker on culture change, EQ, leadership and resilience. In 2002 he decided to take the leap of inventing a new name for himself – Changeologist, and has since been on a personal mission to make work a great place to spend half your life. Alan is here to remind us that there is no such thing as negative feedback, it’s all help! To embrace giving feedback, Alan’s advice is to give it like you C.A.R.E., that is to provide Context, identify the Action and Result, and Engage in dialogue. Hit on these 4 guide posts and your feedback will be specific and meaningful. In addition to giving feedback, Alan and I also discuss receiving feedback, and the role feedback plays in communicating expectations and managing up. To learn more about Alan’s work visit The Trampoline Group or follow him on LinkedIn at @alanibbotson. If you're interested in one-on-one training with me, for you or your team, please shoot me a note at www.abelintermedia.com I’d love to hear from you!

I talk about tapping into your superpowers all the time to grow your business and make an impact on the world. Cathy Pedrayes tapped into her innate ability as a well-prepared, analytical thinker to make complicated information around cybersecurity super simple and digestible, combined it with her natural warmth and relatability, posted a video to TikTok about what she carries in her first aid kit which got over 2 million views and "The Mom Friend" was born. Cathy found the intersection of passion, purpose and - this is key - what the world needs and built a platform with over 2.4 million followers. Also key: Cathy made herself discoverable (in a safe way - we discuss this a lot in the episode) and it didn't take long for Simon & Schuster to come calling and Cathy is now the author of The Mom Friend Guide to Everyday Safety and Security. When it comes to creating well-executed content, Cathy shares: Listen to your audience Good ideas come from everywhere If you can batch content - do it! Be prepared: Create shot lists + decide what works best for you and resonates with your audience Feeling relaxed and enjoying your content + the process makes being consistent easy Learn more about Cathy and her signature blue dress at www.cathypedrayes.com and follow her on Tik Tok or Instagram @cathypedrayes.

To build means to make, by putting together parts and materials. It's a powerful, positive, active verb. This episode of Camera Ready & Abel is a master class in How to Build with brand strategist, change agent, marketing maverick and investor, Lauren Maillian. Lauren shared so much valuable information I'm going straight to the Key takeaways: Learn how to thrive in uncertainty Failure is always an option so you ask yourself: is it worth it even if I fail? Optimize your talent Understand both how you work (skillset) and what you do (areas of expertise) because skills are transferable Develop the ability to observe Strive to work in your zone of genius Be clear on what motivates you as well as your team and the people around you. Look at systems - change and transformation require a multi-prong model Data is an equalizer - learn to read and decipher data + how to storytell around data.  Lauren has advised and invested in over 40 startups and her portfolio represents over $5 billion in market capitalization. Since 2020, Lauren has been the CEO of digitalundivided, the leading nonprofit leveraging data programs and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for black and Latin X women, entrepreneurs and innovators with the mission to create a greater world in which all women of color own their work and worth. Learn more about Lauren’s work at www.laurenmaillian.com and sign up for her bi-weekly newsletter where Lauren shares her insights and opinions on all things diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation and why storytelling matters.