I was well into my adult years before I really started to understand how much choice I had in setting my mindset. Mindset is defined as an established set of attitudes held by someone. It’s all about the way you think and feel about someone or something. This is typically reflected in our behavior, whether intentional or not. You can attach an infinite number of descriptors to mindset, including abundant, courageous, loving, positive, negative, fearful, or closed. The one I never connected until...
Mar 21, 2023•33 min•Ep. 104
Rock N Roll Spirit is difficult to define but you know it when you feel it. I sure felt it when I met my guest for this episode, Allison Hagendorf, the first time she walked into my TV Hosting class at TVI 20 years ago. Allison brings her Rock N Roll Spirit to everything she does. That includes: a trailblazing attitude and mindset a singular vision free of distraction relentless perseverance the will to go above and beyond (again and again) being comfortable outside your comfort zone because bla...
Mar 14, 2023•25 min•Ep. 103
Embracing failure has been a throughline in many of the success stories shared on Camera Ready & Abel but this is the first time it has taken center stage. According to experts on the interwebs, failure is defined as a lack of success or the inability to meet an expectation. I'm thrilled that here to discuss with me is Ben Currier, the self-proclaimed world's number one failure, who is the host of the ironically successful Failure Guy podcast, which Chartable ranks in the 99.8 percentile for...
Mar 07, 2023•29 min•Ep. 102
My guest for this episode is legendary New York broadcast journalist and 9 time Emmy Award-winner Jane Hanson who shares her blueprint for how to thrive by successfully overcoming challenges in media, your career and life. Jane grew up in rural Minnesota with no contacts in news or entertainment, and arrived in New York with determination, a strong work ethic and the best advice she ever received from her aunt who said the secret to a long, happy life is your ability to change your attitude. Jan...
Feb 28, 2023•37 min•Ep. 101
Tapping Into Your Talent is the heart of the Camera Ready and Abel podcast and I'm thrilled to have my dear friend and co-conspirator Vinnie Potestivo here to break it all down and celebrate my 100th episode! Vinnie shares with us how to leverage your talent by identifying your strengths, weaknesses and interests to build a career you can sustain and grow. Identifying into your talent can start with a simple question: What are you good at and interested in doing? Tapping into your talent means p...
Feb 21, 2023•40 min•Ep. 100
Mastery is comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject, and to monetize is to earn revenue from it. Sounds simple. But if it were really that easy everyone would already be doing it...so I'm thrilled Nicole Sellers - seasoned media trainer, entrepreneur, producer, journalist, television host, and actress is joining me on this episode of Camera Ready & Abel to discuss how she built a thriving business on monetizing her mastery. First, to monetize your mastery you must identify what your mar...
Feb 14, 2023•33 min•Ep. 99
What is expertise? And why do you want to amplify it? According to my guest for this episode, Executive Communications and Leadership Coach (and former television producer), Laura Fravel, your expertise is your experience, knowledge and perspective delivered with personality and purpose. Laura urges us to lean into what we enjoy doing in order to do it well and always, always think about our clients/audience: What do they need to be inspired by? What do they need to be educated by? What would en...
Feb 07, 2023•30 min•Ep. 98
A wise person once said to me luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity and persistence and my guest for this episode, Cheddar News anchor, Baker Machado, is living proof of this. In this lively, fun episode Baker recounts how he hit roadblocks and heard no time after time yet persisted instead of quitting and giving up on his dream of working on camera. When he got rejected from journalism school he tried again. When he was told there was no place for him in the broadcast departm...
Jan 31, 2023•43 min•Ep. 97
No matter what industry you're in, no matter what your dreams and goals are, timing matters. As my guest for this episode, my dear friend, executive producer, creator and showrunner, Marta Ravin says, timing and reading the room really relate to one another. Timing is a combination of: emotional intelligence intentionality being clear on the result you want listening patience storytelling keeping your audience top of mind whether that's one person or a million. Marta started her career as a stan...
Jan 24, 2023•32 min•Ep. 96
To aspire means to seek to attain or accomplish a particular goal, and to aspire higher is to dream bigger and to soar. It's also the name of a book by Ken Lindner, one of the world's most respected and successful broadcast agents, and in this episode Ken makes it clear that it all comes down to the power of choices and making decisions. Key takeaways: Our life choices and decisions impact our feelings of self-esteem, self-love and self-image Talent is potential and the key to realizing potentia...
Jan 17, 2023•35 min•Ep. 95
To make something one's own is to take something and adapt it to oneself and is absolutely essential in the camera ready universe. Whether you are auditioning for a project and reading the same script as everyone else or interviewing for a job and meeting all of the same qualifications as every other applicant, how you make it your own determines if you make it to the next round and ultimately get hired. Here to discuss is my dear friend, casting director, coach, actor, documentary filmmaker, an...
Jan 10, 2023•34 min•Ep. 94
If I had a dollar (or a euro) for everyone who's ever told me they want to host a travel show, I would've recorded this episode of Camera Ready & Abel from my villa in Italy instead of my office in Brooklyn. My guest for this episode, Kathy McCabe, is here to share how she did something truly remarkable, how she made her dream a reality and turned her passion for Italy into the Dream of Italy newsletter, magazine, podcast and PBS Series distributed to 97% of the United States (and the number...
Jan 03, 2023•37 min•Ep. 93
I wish I knew who came up with the brilliant notion of replacing the traditional New Year's Resolution with one single word to focus on for the coming year. I'd like to thank them. Your word is an organizing principle or theme, perhaps even your annual north star, instead of a decision/goal you may or may not stick with (the data says overwhelmingly we don't stick with them). I chose refinement because it's the right word for where I am at the moment: making improvements by making small changes ...
Dec 27, 2022•11 min•Ep. 92
In my years as a casting director and talent development executive, I've observed that many of the most successful hosts and performers understand how television production works and how their part of the show (or segment) fits into something larger than themselves. I saw this first hand when I booked my guest for this episode, Brian Balthazar, on Page Six TV back in the day, and he was always so great because he knew how to make good TV. It's a treat to have him discuss and share actionable ins...
Dec 20, 2022•34 min•Ep. 91
Do you ever have a gut instinct about something but are too nervous to act on it? Or find yourself pulled between trusting your feelings vs accepting the facts? This episode is a permission slip to lean into your inner guidance system. Joining me on this episode of Camera Ready & Abel to generously and candidly share how following her intuition has always served her - and in turn served others - is multi-hyphenate powerhouse, Jessica Cording. Jess is a registered dietitian, health coach, in-...
Dec 13, 2022•31 min•Ep. 90
The Showrunner in television literally runs the show, like a hands-on CEO: In charge of vision, creative (often the head writer), leading (and inspiring) a crew of hundreds, managing multiple agendas from the network to the legal department, marketing and advertisers while putting out daily fires and tapping into the personal magic that earned them the role in the first place. Sharing all his wisdom on the subject is Jim Biederman, seasoned Showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer and Director spe...
Dec 06, 2022•41 min•Ep. 89
Strange but true: It's hard to slow down. My guest for this episode, Spiritual Life Coach and Marketing Mentor, Candis Hickman, changed my life forever when she taught me To Become Known You Must First Become Known to Yourself (episode #3) and now she's back gently walking me through the transformational wisdom of learning how to slow down. To put it simply, slowing down is the opposite of rushing. Remarkably, I've discovered it doesn't add more time; it's a mindset and energy shift that reduces...
Nov 29, 2022•34 min•Ep. 88
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary Accountability in a person means someone who is completely responsible for what they do. If accountability was easy we wouldn't need people like my guest for this episode, productivity and accountability coach Carol Clegg. Carol explains that accountability is really a combination of mindset and the right tools and systems that work for you in alignment with your own personal capacity, i.e. focus your goals and learn to say no because if you have too...
Nov 22, 2022•29 min•Ep. 87
Authenticity, as is often mentioned on the podcast, means to be real, actual, true to one's own personality, spirit or character. It can be hard enough day to day. Translating this on-camera is next level. Joining me on this episode of Camera Ready & Abel to discuss how to be your awesome self on-camera is Hena Doba who is an anchor for Cheddar News and the host of Cheddar News Wrap, Trending and Life on the Bright Side. Hena is a vibrant, welcoming presence who seamlessly transitions from h...
Nov 15, 2022•35 min•Ep. 86
The word authenticity gets thrown around a lot to the point that its meaning gets diluted, so producer, composer, mentor and guest for this episode of Camera, Ready & Abel, Barb Morrison couples it with credible to combine true to one's own personality with worthy of trust. In other words, don't just tell me you're authentic, show me. Barb lives it every day. Barb says authenticity is a feeling, measured not by how others feel about you but how you feel about yourself when you look yourself ...
Nov 08, 2022•34 min•Ep. 85
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) str...
Nov 01, 2022•36 min•Ep. 84
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 ...
Oct 25, 2022•33 min•Ep. 83
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 ...
Oct 18, 2022•43 min•Ep. 82
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...
Oct 11, 2022•39 min•Ep. 81
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 ma...
Oct 04, 2022•29 min•Ep. 80
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...
Sep 27, 2022•29 min•Ep. 79
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 communic...
Sep 20, 2022•40 min•Ep. 78
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? I...
Sep 13, 2022•43 min•Ep. 77
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:...
Sep 06, 2022•28 min•Ep. 76
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, Vi...
Aug 30, 2022•35 min•Ep. 75
