エピソード

  • The Entrepreneur Who Taught Businesses to Laugh | Dave Mammano

    The Entrepreneur Who Taught Businesses to Laugh | Dave Mammano
    2026/07/21
    Dave Mammano ran Next Step Magazine for 21 years — a print publication for high school students that grew to 17 editions and $5 million in revenue. When print died, he sold it, rebuilt from scratch, survived COVID wiping out his events business, and somehow ended up back on stage doing stand-up comedy. He now travels the country as a keynote speaker teaching businesses how to use humor and levity to grow leadership, culture, and retention. He's also entrepreneur-in-residence at the Golisano Institute and the U of R Simon School's Ain Center for Entrepreneurship.

    In this episode he gets into selling Next Step after 21 years and what it really feels like to let go of something you built, how he launched the Avanti Entrepreneur Network from nothing, why COVID knocked him down twice, how reviving his stand-up comedy roots turned into a full-time speaking career, what he sees in today's young entrepreneurs that gives him real hope, the value of truly disconnecting (lessons from three weeks in Sicily with no Wi-Fi), and his next big idea, a road trip TV show called The Good Business Tour.

    CONNECT
    The David Mammano Show → https://davidmammano.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

    New episodes of Positive Blatherings drop every Tuesday.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin,
    NY.

    Learn more at https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    38 分
  • Martina Barley | Being Cocky Built Her Business, Being Humbled Runs It

    Martina Barley | Being Cocky Built Her Business, Being Humbled Runs It
    2026/07/14
    Marketing insurance agents nationwide sounds like a contradiction, but Uptown Marketing founder Martina Barley built a thirteen person, all female agency doing exactly that. Martina joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about her path from an unlicensed State Farm sales assistant to the self described "Michael Jordan of sales," and why the confidence that built her business almost got in the way of leading her team.

    In this episode, you'll learn how Martina grew Uptown Marketing from three founders to thirteen employees, why she believes sales and leadership are two completely different skill sets, how she convinces insurance agents to actually invest in their online presence, and what she tells clients about AI replacing, or not replacing, their jobs. CHAPTERS

    CONNECT
    Uptown Marketing → https://uptownmarketing.com
    The Marketing Girl (book) → https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Girl-Trusting-Intuition-Confidence/dp/1956464484
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com
    Salvatore's → https://salvatores.com
    New episodes of Positive Blatherings drop every Tuesday.
    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY.
    Learn more at https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    46 分
  • Jon Goehring | From the Broadcast Booth to Building a Business on Storytelling

    Jon Goehring | From the Broadcast Booth to Building a Business on Storytelling
    2026/07/07
    Jon Goehring spent years behind the mic at Rochester radio stations before leaving it to build StoryTrust Media, a podcast production company built on one idea: your stories build trust with your audience whether you mean them to or not. He joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about what radio actually prepares you for, why collaboration beat competition in his business, and how two people running similar races figured out they weren't really competing at all.

    In this episode, Jon explains why he tells his Brockport students not to marry radio, the moment he stopped auditioning for everything and started referring work to other talent, how faith shapes the way he runs StoryTrust, and what he'd tell his 15-year-old self about ignoring everyone else's formula for success.

    CONNECT
    StoryTrust Media (Jon Goehring) → https://storytrust.media Limitless
    Leadership Lounge → https://limitlessleadershippodcast.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

    New episodes every Tuesday.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY.

    Learn more at https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    52 分
  • Sarina Morales | From ESPN to the Bronx to WeTheHobby, and Every Near-Death Experience in Between

    Sarina Morales | From ESPN to the Bronx to WeTheHobby, and Every Near-Death Experience in Between
    2026/06/30
    Sarina Morales spent years as an ESPN anchor and Los Angeles Rams sideline reporter before Bally Sports went bankrupt, she became a single mother, and everything she had built changed at once. She surveyed what came next, found WeTheHobby, and landed in the one place where every thread of her career finally connected.

    In this episode she gets into the psychological techniques she developed for drawing out reluctant NFL players, the framework she built for grieving without getting stuck, why she argued at Newhouse in 2004 that content belongs on YouTube and Facebook before either platform supported video, the near-death experiences that explain why she still has what she calls zest for life, and the Bronx baseball story she used to get into Syracuse, where a 15-year-old girl showed up to practice on Monday after an entire opposing team sat down on the field to protest her.

    CONNECT
    Sarina Morales on Instagram → @moralesmorales
    WeTheHobby → https://wethehobby.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 9 分
  • Maria Pascucci-Maciejewski | Recovering Perfectionist: Breakdown, Survival, and Bouncing Back

    Maria Pascucci-Maciejewski | Recovering Perfectionist: Breakdown, Survival, and Bouncing Back
    2026/06/29
    Maria Pascucci-Maciejewski spent over 20 years helping others manage perfectionism and anxiety. She launched a national speaking business at 27, wrote a book, delivered a TEDx talk, and coached hundreds of students through the hidden costs of needing to be perfect. In the summer of 2024, it all caught up with her.

    In this episode she gets into the childhood bullying that became perfectionism, the 3.92 GPA that came with panic attacks in college bathrooms, and why none of it was enough to stop a complete nervous system breakdown, a suicide attempt, and 34 days in a psychiatric hospital over the holidays. She also talks about what actually pulled her back, why nutrition belongs in every mental health conversation, and what she is building now.

    CONNECT
    You Can Bounce Back → https://youcanbounceback.com
    Campus Calm → https://campuscalm.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

    New episodes every Tuesday.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 8 分
  • Coach Jim Johnson | Why Relationships Win You Championships

    Coach Jim Johnson | Why Relationships Win You Championships
    2026/06/09
    (00:00:00) Welcome to ROC Vox — Introducing Coach Jim Johnson
    (00:01:03) Getting Cut and Getting Fired — A Humbling Start to Coaching
    (00:02:45) Becoming a Leadership Junkie — Zig Ziglar Jim Rohn and the Personal Growth Pivot
    (00:06:06) The One-Hit Wonder Problem — Staying at the Top Is Harder Than Getting There
    (00:07:03) Lead by Respect Not Fear — The Wrong Way to Lead
    (00:08:36) Relationships Relationships Relationships — The Three Rs of Leadership
    (00:10:06) The Intentional Trust Plan Most Leaders Have Never Built
    (00:11:24) Always On Stage — Leading by Example and the Tie Story
    (00:17:48) Advice for New Coaches — Are You In It for the Right Reasons?
    (00:21:06) How Coaching Young People Has Changed in 35 Years
    (00:23:51) Purpose Self-Reflection and Personal Mission Statements
    (00:25:21) The J-Mac Story — February 15 2006 and the Speech Career It Started
    (00:27:04) Become the Chief Storyteller — Warnings Examples and Reading the Room
    (00:34:42) Staying Fresh — Intentional Personal Growth and Servant Leadership
    (00:43:15) What's Next — Books Podcast and How to Find Coach Jim Johnson

    Coach Jim Johnson spent 35 years coaching high school basketball in Rochester with 428 wins, three programs turned around, and one game on February 15, 2006 that landed him in the Oval Office. In this episode, he gets into what it actually looks like to build trust on purpose, why the leaders who sustain success are doing something most teams never think about, and how the lessons from a gym floor translate directly into any room where someone's trying to lead people.

    CONNECT

    Coach Jim Johnson → https://coachjimjohnson.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

    New episodes every Tuesday.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Bushnell's Basin, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    48 分
  • Debra Ross | Mobilizing for Totality: How an Eclipse Built a Community

    Debra Ross | Mobilizing for Totality: How an Eclipse Built a Community
    2026/06/02
    (00:00:00) Cold Open: What is the Eclipse Effect?
    (00:00:45) Welcome Back and the Non-Conformist Oath
    (00:03:47) Ella's Five-Year Plan and the 2017 Missouri Eclipse
    (00:06:00) Building Rochester's Eclipse Task force: 750 Volunteers, No Budget
    (00:12:00) Co-Chairing the National Eclipse Task Force
    (00:14:27) The Dreadful Lack of Agency and What To Do About It
    (00:17:21) Bonding vs. Bridging: The Two Kinds of Social Capital
    (00:21:09) The Network Graph: Making Invisible Connections Visible
    (00:28:51) Stories From the National Eclipse Effort
    (00:39:09) On Failure, Grade, and Raising Kids Outside the System

    Deborah Ross watched the 2017 solar eclipse from a field in Kimmswick, Missouri and came home convinced of two things: Rochester needed to be ready for 2024, and it was going to be her job to make that happen. What she built with 750 volunteers, no budget, and six years of monthly meetings became both a defining moment for this region and the foundation of a book.

    In this episode, she breaks down how an eclipse becomes a community organizing tool, what servant leadership actually looks like when you're asking hundreds of people to work for free, and why the principles behind The Eclipse Effect apply to any catalyst, a natural disaster, a federal funding cut, or the Olympics coming to your town.

    CONNECT
    The Eclipse Effect → https://theeclipseeffect.com
    Kids Out and About → https://kidsoutandabout.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com

    New episodes every Tuesday.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com
    続きを読む 一部表示
    45 分
  • Melissa Suchodolski | Firing Bad Clients and Building Great People

    Melissa Suchodolski | Firing Bad Clients and Building Great People
    2026/05/19
    Melissa Suchodolski told someone once that getting into construction was "absurd." That was 25 years ago. Today, she runs USC Builds, a 140-person Rochester contracting firm, and a workforce development nonprofit that Governor Hochul wants to replicate across New York State.


    In this episode, she gets into what it actually looks like to build a company culture most firms won't even try, what it cost to fire a client who represented a third of her annual revenue, and why the construction industry's labor crisis is a competitive advantage for anyone who started this work early.


    CHAPTERS
    00:12 Welcome and the Non-Conformist Oath
    01:09 How Fitz and Melissa Met at the Jewish Home of Rochester
    11:25 Why More Americans Should Travel Abroad
    12:23 Meet USC Builds: 25 Years Building People Through Construction
    13:31 From History Major to Construction President
    16:26 Why a Skilled Trade Can Never Be Taken Away
    19:33 What a Trauma-Informed Workplace Looks Like in Construction
    27:43 Why She Fired Her Second-Biggest Client Over Racism on the Job Site
    30:42 The Construction Labor Crisis and Who's Already Positioned to Win
    34:39 Ascend Workforce Solutions and the Governor's Attention
    41:20 Trauma as a Superpower
    42:51 This or That


    CONNECT
    USC Builds → https://uscbuilds.com
    ROC Vox → https://rocvox.com


    New episodes every Tuesday.


    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    51 分