Politely Pushy with Eric Chemi

Juda Englemayer is the crisis communications expert who takes on a lot of taboo clients that many people won’t touch. You have heard their famous names in the media. They are controversial and, dare we say, “unsavory” (our host says it for us) individuals. Juda doesn’t take these well-known, shunned people on as clients willy nilly; he sits down with a lawyer and with his intuition first to see if...

Today we have a fascinating discussion with Alex Zekoff, the CEO of Thoughtful. It’s interesting because bots have often gotten a bad or questionable rep. But here’s the thing: bots can be your friends in automation and helping humans organize and streamline their tasks, tackling that process and more at scale. Alex founded Thoughtful to employ intelligent bots that supercharge operations for orga...

Today we welcome Katie Banks to the podcast. Based out of Dublin, Katie is Nitro's vice president of global people and workplace. Nitro helps accelerate businesses globally through digital documents resulting in powerful productivity for all. Katie discusses how important it is for companies to look out for their employees and handle the most challenging human resource situations – like layof...

Today we welcome Shamir Karkal, Chief Strategy Officer of Sila , to the podcast. Sila means “strength” in Russian, and Shamir wants you to know that having a secure payments platform (using robust APIs) is vital in a world where software is delivered over the Internet. How does Sila ensure that this payment platform is entirely secure? How does it prevent fraud and identity theft? And how are user...

As they say in the U.K., today’s episode of Politely Pushy would best be accompanied by a “cuppa.” That is because Jon Geater sits down with our host and speaks to us in the most elegant Queen’s English (the royal majesty’s accent, that is – no reference to that borough in New York). Jon discusses how complexities related to the supply chain can compromise trust and how his company developed techn...

Shekar Ayyar is a CEO committed to delivering the best network architecture for clients, the “plumbing” underneath their 5G architecture. Words like “inflation” and “recession” don’t scare him; he considers himself an eternal optimist committed to meeting the needs of companies that have to keep up with 5G networks. He founded Arrcus to enhance business efficiency through superior network connecti...

Today we are joined by Stacy Quackenbush and Paige Dansinger, two women building “worlds” in the metaverse, providing people with the opportunity to learn and engage through virtual reality spaces. The metaverse hasn’t exactly gotten the greatest rep since Facebook changed its name. But Stacy and Paige explain how there is a lot of misinformation that abounds about this fascinating technological a...

When an organization buys a product from a vendor, its journey does not end with the purchase. Instead, it has just begun. That’s because several steps must take place as the company onboards the product and it becomes a part of the business. Today, we are joined by Sri Ganesan, co-founder and CEO of Rocketlane, a purpose-built project delivery and collaboration software for client facing teams (i...

Today’s guest is Ahmed Reza, who has quite an exciting story! Ahmed started his journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur as a child actor in Bangladesh. From there, he would become a Milken scholar at Cornell University while homeless, an engineer at NASA, and eventually a successful small business entrepreneur multiple times. Ahmed founded Yobi, where he now serves as CEO; it is a company th...

Today’s guest had our host circling back, wondering how he could have begun the episode more fascinatingly. That is because Mario Juarez specializes in compellingly communicating messages as the founder and CEO of StoryCo. Companies seek Mario’s counsel on how to share their stories – their communications –  most effectively and transformatively. He discusses how strategic storytelling ultimately...

Today's guest is Rick Hammell, founder and CEO of Atlas. He has visited 117 countries, lived in Barcelona, and manages the most extensive direct employer of record (EOR) company with entities in over 160 countries. Rick discusses the idea behind Atlas, a tech platform supported by experts, delivering flexibility for companies to expand across borders, onboard talent, manage compliance and pay...

Today’s guest is Lisa Bankston, an award-winning global strategist who works with companies to market products so that the messaging around them fits into cultural norms. This means she may modify imagery and branding, provide translation services, source vendors and materials, and all other things that help to create the marketing and market expansion plan for products in respective international...

Today we welcome Larissa (“Larz”) May to the podcast. Larz is the founder of #HalfTheStory, which began as a grassroots movement and led to a larger initiative and speaking opportunities about emotional well-being and the importance of self-care in an age of social media and an obsession with posting on platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok. Larz was named a “digital wellness activist” by major new...

In this episode, we are joined by Karen Cage, the strategic marketing and partnership mastermind behind KLD Consulting. Karen focuses on helping organizations implement partnership strategies in a way that brings reciprocal value to them. She hails from Hewlett Packard where she served as the global lead in strategic brand partnerships, and she recently connected with our host when assisting Bospa...

Today’s guests are the powerhouses behind the full-service PR, marketing and social media agency Bospar’s exemplary and award-winning social media offerings. It’s not about reaching hundreds of thousands of people but about impacting a hundred of the right people! And Mega and Ruben explain what that means. Engaging with one’s audience is key to what catches on via social media, and these two expe...

A lack of transparency has always existed among airlines. It certainly is helpful to know which airline has a history of losing baggage or what the average delay for an airline is. That is why Dwight Harris, Jr. founded DataScalp and serves as its CEO - to get feedback from travelers on their experiences, amass that information and obtain inferential data about the various airline companies. After...

Today’s guest is Mye Hoang, the documentary filmmaker behind Cat Daddies, now in theaters. Cat Daddies follows nine men who discovered an unabashed pure, paternal love for their feline children, something that society doesn’t celebrate enough. In her film, Mye examines the underexplored relationship between man and cat and the surprising effect cats can have on men. We typically think of women as...

Today’s episode is a milestone one as we welcome two CEOs to the podcast for the first time. Our guests are Wendy Greenland of Openforce and Mark Warnquist of InShare. It’s particularly appropriate that they’re “sharing” the spotlight as they are both devoted to professionals who work for share platforms - i.e., Uber, Lyft - and companies that employ independent contractors. Openforce is a technol...

We are joined by Professor Luis Almeida today, who says it’s totally fine if we call him “Luis” as his students do. This is the congenial style and collegiate type of banter that Luis has with the future PR and marketing professionals he educates. Now at Claflin University, Luis has enjoyed learning from students of different backgrounds and cultures by teaching at universities around the country....

Yuval Boger, AKA "The Qubit Guy," joins us for today's podcast. He makes quantum computing understandable to the masses and hosts "The Qubit Guy's Podcast," drawing on his expansive knowledge in this area and his prior work as CMO of Classiq. Quantum computing is essential in many areas, including manufacturing data and knowing why a product fails through incidents in...

Today, Professor Mark Congdon joins us - and that’s “Mark” to his students as the world has changed since the person writing this podcast description attended college a century ago. Mark is an assistant professor of communication studies at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Many public relations professionals didn’t necessarily attend college with a major in the communications field historic...

Today our host is excited to welcome a fellow New Jersey resident to the podcast. Kelly Ford is a tech industry veteran turned growth equity investor who serves as a general partner at Edison Partners. Kelly discusses what it is like to switch from operator to investor and how these different careers compare to one another. She explains how she landed in her current position entirely by accident,...

Today’s guest is world renowned attorney Jay Edelson, Esq., once referred to by The New York Times as “the class action lawyer who may be tech’s least friended man.” Among Jay’s many cases, he has gained international attention for suing tech companies that have violated individual privacy, and most recently, for his firm's pro bono work on behalf of the families of  Lion Air crash victims. B...

Today we are joined by Ken Jacobs, the principal of Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching. In this position, he helps to empower public relations and communications leaders at agencies and corporations through leadership coaching. Since 2007, Ken has seen and guided leaders through different types of challenges that impacted the public relations industry at large. He began his career in manag...

Today’s guest is Zack Butcher, the first engineer to work at Tetrate, a cybersecurity solutions company that employs service mesh to guarantee layered security solutions for every user in a network, ensuring they are individually authenticated and authorized for all activities within that network. With his Alabam roots making him the most friendly person to describe cybersecurity, you can’t help b...