Biz Bevs and Bites

Renee DeMichiei Farrow is an entrepreneur, corporate director, small business advocate, and bestselling author who is highly lauded for her business branding, marketing, public relations, coaching, government, and nonprofit relations. Renee completed studies at Duquesne University and is a certified Professional Coach (PC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). She started her coaching business Results With Renee, during the pandemic in 2020-21 and restarted the award-winning Decorating Details. Besides making homes beautiful with Decorating Details, she helps people find their Ideal Self and live their Best Life as a remarkable coach. Her goal with coaching is to show people how coaching can change your life. For anyone who STILL doesn’t know, a coaching series with Renee resulted in my anthology, Twenty Won. I never would have had the guts to take such a huge step. Renee was there supporting me from the word GO! - Kelli Kelli and Cindy enjoyed some bevs and laughs with Renee – while learning valuable lessons about what a difference coaching can make in YOUR life. Enjoy! --- Hosted by: Kelli Komondor and Cindy Ellek Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Corporate trainer and motivational speaker Mj Callaway is an award-winning author of 11 books. Her sweet spots include increasing team resilience, crushing change, and boosting sales quotas. As a two-time cancer warrior and domestic violence survivor, she’s known for shifting attitudes and producing results. The time spent with Mj Callaway is never without both laughs and tears – and most importantly, lessons learned. So, grab a notebook and a pen and learn from the Bounce Up Queen herself, Mj Callaway.  Hosted by: Kelli Komondor and Cindy Ellek  Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group  Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Deb Mortillaro is a food and wine expert. She’s a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. She has WSET certifications in Sake, Wine and Spirits and she is a certified Sake Sommelier and is the Queen of Quaffing! In 1981, she moved to Pittsburgh where she was a private chef for 14 years. She met her now business partner, Mike Gonze when he came into the home to present wines. She joined Dreadnought Wines in 1996. Over the years Deb and Mike have created two additional businesses, Palate Partners and Soiree Partners. Those three companies sell wine, educate people about wine and spirits, and move alcohol around the state of Pennsylvania. Deb has traveled the world (she left for Italy a few days after we recorded this episode) as both a distributor and wine educator, so she truly has an extremely unique insight and knowledge into the wine industry. Anyone who is passionate about business, food, and wine, will enjoy the episode with the Queen of Quaffing! Hosted by: Kelli Komondor and Cindy Ellek Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Paul Furiga is the President and Chief Storyteller of WordWrite, a Pittsburgh-area firm offering brand strategy (storytelling), public relations, crisis communications, and digital & inbound marketing services to organizations that are looking to better tell their stories. Paul learned storytelling by writing and editing more than 20,000 stories during two decades as a journalist before going into public relations. He's quite literally written the book storytelling, Finding Your Capital S Story, Why Your Story Drives Your Brand. The career path that Paul traveled to PR is a story in itself. He’s been a racetrack photographer, theater usher, investigative journalist, wannabe musician, classical radio host, broadcast journalist, White House correspondent and editor. At WordWrite, Paul ponders the question: "Why should someone consider hiring us, working with us, or partnering with us?" The answers to those questions help him chart the next chapter in WordWrite’s evolving Capital S Story. Before you had a brand, you had a story – the reason why people want to buy from you, work for you, partner with you, or invest in you. That’s why we take a distinctive approach to marketing communications: StoryCrafting®. In this process, we uncover your Capital S Story, the authentic, engaging, and persuasive story that is uniquely yours. Hosted by: Kelli Komondor and Cindy Ellek Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Episode 010 – Touching the Hearts of People in Business & in Life Cindy and Kelli had a wonderful conversation with Joy Klohonatz who has been touching the hearts of clients, customers, and business colleagues for over 20 years. Making people feel appreciated is in Joy’s DNA. Joy shared stories and strategies of how to make people feel like they matter. Joy told us, “If you can find a way to get to people's hearts, then you will get their business. You will get their respect; you'll get their trust.” Joy believes in sending a card to people to celebrate birthdays, special occasions, etc. When you do this on a regular basis, especially with your clients, you’re staying top of mind with them in a nice and thoughtful way, which can lead to referrals for your business. Fun fact about Joy - she was one of only seven female General Managers with K-Mart and spent 23 years with the company. You can connect with Joy through her website or via email j.klohonatz@gmail.com. Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Your ears are not playing tricks on you!   Yep, that familiar voice you hear is our producer, Rob Oliver. Cindy and Kelli had Rob on as their first guest, so you’ll most likely remember him from when he was chatted with us in episodes 003 and 004, Podcasting 101. Rob sat in for Kelli so he dubbed this a “flip the script” episode! He asked Cindy about the tips and nuggets of advice she and Kelli received during their first four interviews with veteran podcasters. This show is a “podcaster recap” of what was learned from our podcaster guests and friends, Rob Oliver, Jeremy Shere, Ingrid Thompson, and Jess Branas. Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor  Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group  Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

We literally "shot the sh*t" with Jess Branas - we talked about so much - and learned all about her, her beloved dog Nacho, her cancer story, and how the shy kid who NEVER wanted to speak became a successful bestselling author (twice!), podcast host, and radio personality. Branas Enterprises is a full-service Philadelphia podcast development and production company and media network. They specialize in concept development, technical (audio/video) production, distribution, and podcast marketing campaigns. They also offer a wide range of audio engineering and podcast editing services to help you save time while they handle the dirty work. Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

We had the absolute pleasure of sitting down “under" with Ingrid Thompson - all the way from Sydney, Australia! Kelli met Ingrid when she applied to be on her podcast, So You Want to Start a Business – and they’ve kept in touch ever since. Ingrid’s goals are to make sure her audience understands how money works in their business and that they are financially savvy in all aspects of life, especially in their business! She fills us in on the first podcast she ever recorded, the HUGE mistake she made, and how her guest saved her! She also talks about repurposing her interviews into “snipped episodes” to stretch the marketing and rebrand the information she gathers from her guests. She also tells us her one favorite question to ask her guests. We learned a lot from our friend Ingrid – and we think you will too! Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Jeremy Shere is joining us for part 2, episode 006 because his tribal knowledge of podcasting is so in-depth, we needed two episodes to cover it all! He is the founder and CEO of Tribal Knowledge Podcasting, a podcast production agency that helps businesses start podcasts to grow revenue by connecting decision makers, establishing thought leadership, and taking content marketing to the next level. Hear how Jeremy spends a lot of time researching the guests to determine if they are a prospect for Tribal Knowledge and how he has ended the vicious cycle of endless cold email campaigns. “We don’t talk about podcasting. For the most part, we talk about audience engagement, their business, their strategies – and with this I gain a lot of knowledge and I get to know these folks,” Jeremy told us. ••••• Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Jeremy Shere is the founder and CEO of Tribal Knowledge Podcasting, a podcast production agency that helps businesses start podcasts to grow revenue by connecting decision makers, establishing thought leadership, and taking content marketing to the next level. Listen in as Jeremy dishes on time savers, why it’s not too late to start a podcast, and his tips on finding the right guests for your show. He shares the advantages of podcasting over hosting webinars, and how a podcast can provide endless content marketing pieces for your business. Jeremy will join us for episodes 005 and 006 – his tribal knowledge of podcasting is so in-depth, we needed two episodes to cover it all! Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Team Biz Bevs & Bites spent the Happiest Hour with our show producer and friend – two-time podcast host and international motivational speaker extraordinaire – Rob Oliver. Rob is also a three-time author, and one of the kindest, most helpful people we know. This is the second part of our Happiest Hour with Rob and he's encouraging all of you to start your own podcast - but he has a few suggestions and having a plan is at the top of his list. You'll also hear how he fancies himself as a bit of a teacher and how he approaches most everything in life as an opportunity to teach others. And you'll get the 215. What's the 215? You'll have to listen to find out! We hope you enjoy time with Rob as much as we do!  Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Team Biz Bevs & Bites spent the Happiest Hour with our show producer and friend – two-time podcast host and international motivational speaker extraordinaire – Rob Oliver. Rob is also a three-time author, and one of the kindest, most helpful people we know.  Rob has such a sound, sensible approach to podcasting… but admittedly that wasn’t always the case. You’ll hear about the COLLOSAL mistake he made when first starting out and how it made him pivot and create a second podcast, one that fits better with his brand and speaking career - Perspectives on Healthcare. He also gave us some really “ah-ha moment” advice as new podcasters. We always planned to provide value to our listeners – but now we have an even better idea of what our mission is. We had so much fun with Rob that we split his show into two smaller episodes. You’ll be hearing from Rob in episodes 003 and 004. Enjoy!  Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Join Biz Bevs & Bites for a terrific conversation on making meaningful referrals. Cindy and Kelli truly enjoy connecting people for a good cause – like doing business together! And Kelli is questioning: Is it cool to make a connection without alerting the third party? Should you check in with the one receiving the connection to see if they think your offer is a fit? Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

Join Biz Bevs & Bites for a lively and informative discussion on NETWORKING! Kelli and Cindy touch on a lot of different areas of networking from best practices to NEVER DO's. While you can't completely plan out your evening, you can be intentional in how you spend your time. Cindy said it best, "Don't hand out your business cards like a Vegas dealer!" Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com

"Biz Bevs & Bites: in the Burgh and Beyond" is a podcast with exceptional business content and exciting guests, featuring the incredible food and beverage scene in and around Pittsburgh. Episodes will spotlight a BIZ topic and guest, feature a BEV - wine, beer, or spirit from a local maker, or a BITE from an area restaurant, food producer, bakery, or specialty grocer. While we sip and nosh, we will chat with entrepreneurs about the topics that matter most to business owners … and foodies. Join Cindy and Kelli for the Happiest Hour! Hosted by: Cindy Ellek and Kelli Komondor Produced by: Rob Oliver, Your Motivational Speaker Supported by: K2 Creative & PR and the Cindy Ellek Marketing Group Connect with us! Facebook - BizBevsBites Instagram - BizBevsBitesPodcast Website – BizBevsBites.com