Uncorking a Story

Laurie Handlers is a Sex and Happiness Coach and the author of the Amazon #1 International Bestseller Sex & Happiness: The Tantric Laws of Intimacy. Through her company Butterfly Workshops, she offers sexual health and awareness courses plus leadership courses for corporations and individuals throughout the world. For over a decade, she’s hosted the weekly radio show Sex and Happiness where she di...

Lou Aronica didn’t intend to be a writer; born on Elvis Presley’s birthday, Lou felt it was his destiny to be a rock star, but that all changed after a teacher encouraged him to develop an evident talent for writing. After graduating college with a degree in English, Lou planned on becoming a teacher, though a bad economy and a flood of talent competing for teaching jobs that simply weren’t there...

  Today is a big day for Uncorking a story because I get to share with you my conversation with Bruce Miller, the creator of Smart Alex - a new, better for you, snack food. I love talking to entrepreneurs because I’m always left feeling inspired by their stories; the drive and ability to put thought into action is a skill that few people have and I think it’s worth uncorking the stories of those w...

Karen Rands is the founder and CEO of Kugarand Capital Holdings. She’s also the author of Inside Secrets to Angel Investing. Having my career in the mid 1990s during the dot com tech boom, I heard the term Angel Investing daily at least four times before lunch. Karen’s new book is geared towards teaching potential angel investors the ins and outs of growing their wealth through what she calls Comp...

Imagine going through basic training for the US Army as you approach the age of 40. It's a pretty hard thing to do at 18, but at 40 - come on it takes a special kind of person to raise his or her hand and say, "Bring it on," but that is just what Captain James P. Carlon of the US Army Reserve did just a few years ago. If that last name sounds familiar, it should - because it's my last name as well...

John Seigel Boettner is a social studies teacher at Santa Barbara Middle School, but he’s not like one I ever had. It’s a special kind of person who can take middle school kids on a cross country bicycle trip across the United States and an even more special person who can do that through the Republic of Rwanda in central eastern Africa (Yes, that Rwanda). You see, John uses cycling and life exper...

I’ll admit it, I love a good story where the good guys win and Steve August is a good guy. I know this interview may be a bit “Inside Research” for you, but if you are looking to be inspired by the story of a guy who identified a need, built a technology to meet that need, and then sold his company to someone who saw the value in it then listen up! Steve is the founder of Revelation, a research te...

Wayne Lavender is the Executive Director of The Foundation 4 Orphans (F4O); an international organization dedicated to supporting the emotional, educational, physical and spiritual needs of orphans in some of the world’s most poor and war torn places. Listen in to hear Wayne discuss how reading books such as Death of a Salesman encouraged him to reflect on the kind of impact he wanted his own life...

Shortly before her daughter was to begin kindergarten, Allison heard the words that no parent wants to hear – your daughter has cancer.  As treatments progressed, and hair was lost, her daughter Meredith was eager to find some item of clothing that would help her blend in with her peers; scarves called too much attention to her and hats didn’t do the trick. Enter the hoodie. Meredith found that we...

In the course of my job, I have had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people who have shared their stories with me (and my clients) over the past 20 years. Of course it is fair to say that some of these stories stand out more than others. About seven years ago, I found myself in Arizona interviewing professional athletes including Brian Roberts who played for the Baltimore Orioles and Dhani J...

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dave Mezzapelle, a serial entrepreneur who founded the Contagious Optimism movement (www.contagiousoptimism.com).  He truly believes that we all have the capacity to make optimism contagious just by sharing our life’s adventures. That belief, along with a push from his Alma Mater Fairfield University, fueled Dave’s desire to write and publish a bests...

How important is curiosity in business? Andy Greenfield has a point of view.  In 1996 I was a 22-year-old kid working in the new field of digital marketing while Andy was pioneering new ways of conducting business online.  By that point in time, he was already a successful entrepreneur although he would never use that term to describe himself back then. In his words, he was simply a guy who had th...

Should qualitative researchers be thinking about adding mobile to their qualitative toolbox? Richard Owen, founder and CEO of Crowdlab says, without hesitation, yes! Who is Richard Owen? Well, Richard has been in the market research business for over twenty years and has worked at prestigious firms such as Millward Brown, Copernicus, and Hall &  Partners.  Frustrated by the pace of change (or lack...

Jim Bryson is the founder and CEO of 2020 Research; a Nashville based qualitative research firm with facilities in Nashville, Charlotte, and Miami. In addition to traditional facilities, 2020 is a leading provider of online qualitative solutions including both asynchronous and real-time interviewing solutions.   In this interview, Jim talks about the irony of hating his research classes while in c...

When I was 21 years old I thought I knew it all and that my parents knew absolutely nothing. By the time I turned 22 and was working in my first job with real bills to pay, I was amazed at how much my parents learned in just 12 short months.  Since becoming an adult and starting a family, my appreciation for the sacrifices they made for me has only grown. One such sacrifice was giving me a Catholi...

In 1996 I was barely 22 years old when I started my career in advertising.  I worked for a company called FCB direct, which was owned by a holding company known as True North Communications.  No offense to Brian Rafferty, my boss at the time, but the job kind of sucked.  I was estimating call volume for a large telecommunications client who was using long format commercials to advertise their One...

When I woke up this morning, I never could have predicted that one of my elementary school teachers, a Catholic nun named Dorothy Collins, would be introducing me to a post-op transexual named Cynthia.  Let me explain. There are people in our lives who have a profound impact on us.  Sr. Dorothy was one of those people for me.  My family moved to Connecticut when I was 9 years old which meant my tw...

I first met Shelley Zalis when I was working for Unilever and she was invited to speak at an offsite meeting.  She broke two rules during her presentation; 1.  She divulged her age and 2. She quoted Yoda.  Most women don’t do those kinds of things; then again, most women aren’t Shelley Zalis. I was excited to catch up with Shelley in the private lounge of the Ritz Carlton hotel overlooking Central...

Michael Carlon interviews Michael Carlon. Have I finally lost my mind? Should they come and take me to South 1 (the psychiatric ward of Stamford Hospital)? Don't judge me too quickly! In this episode I interview my cousin who also happens to have the same name as me; although he goes by Mick and I go by whatever name anyone in my family is willing to call me at any given time (unfortunately, my mo...

Bryan Mattimore is one of America's top experts in applied creativity, ideation facilitation and innovation management. In his career, he has facilitated more than 1500 marketing and business strategy ideation sessions.  Listen up as Bryan discusses his transformation from rational, Ivy League scholar to one of the world's leaders in creativity processes. In his new book Idea Stormers Bryan explai...

This guy is the real deal - he's the guy that Chuck Norris is afraid to Google! Listen up as Mike and Manny talk about the importance of accountability, why you don't always want to be your child's "friend," and why you need to plant your seeds before you eat your vegetables. Also, enjoy a little hair metal trivia!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen up as Mike and guest co-host Wendy talk to Sirius XM Radio Personality Dave Dwyer about his early days at MTV, his time at Comedy Central, and what can best be termed about his higher calling. This episode pairs well with a nice crisp white! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices