Manufacturing eConnerce Success – with Marie Incontrera

Damon Pistulka  00:05

All right, everyone. Welcome once again, it’s Friday, it’s bromance day, Kurt Anderson and I are here today with manufacturing ecommerce success. And thanks, Dan, for reminding us at 1032 we go live every day. So I’m Damon Pistulka, your co host. And I want to turn it over to my friend, brother from another mother, Kurt Anderson. Take it away, dude.

Curt Anderson  00:27

And well, how about that guy over there? So, Damon? Demon. I have a question for you. Yeah, anything? Well, you know what, let me let me let me introduce our guests real quick here. Hey, happy Friday. Everybody. Please drop a no drop a little hello in the chat box. We are so honored. We are so blessed. We are so thrilled to be here with today. With this. I am so giddy with our guests today. And Shara Marie. How are you my friend? What’s happening?

Marie Incontrera  00:54

I’m good. I don’t have a bromance t shirt but I’m good

Curt Anderson  00:58

about this. How about this ad right here Damon? I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I am just so fired up. Now Marie um, before we dig in, you have a music background can you sing? Like can you sing? No. One we have a ton of common I can’t sing whatsoever. So guys, as we get started we have Margo we’ve got Deb Jan Magdaleno our brother guys gonna need to need to connect with Murray. But Damon is there anything going on this weekend by any chance? Anything happened in on Sunday in your world?

Damon Pistulka  01:30

Hmm, not a lot Curt not a lot about what

Curt Anderson  01:33

happened like 50 Some years ago on Sunday so guys,

Damon Pistulka  01:38

I didn’t think I don’t

Curt Anderson  01:41

Well, Murray How about we will save it for later we were gonna say happy birthday for Damon. Murray. Let’s take it. Let’s take a deep dive. So guys, I want to introduce you to Marie. First off, you have to connect with me on LinkedIn you you will be thanked You’ll thank me later. Okay. She’s absolutely amazing. Multiple multiple author, multiple TED Talk speaker, social media coach, roller derby phenomenon. I could go on and on and on, Murray. Here’s my question for you. Who is your hero growing up? How did you become such as monster success? Who is your hero growing up? Let’s let’s get a little inside scoop on Marie. Oh god

Marie Incontrera  02:17

1. So I’m going to tell an embarrassing story. I used to, I used to pray to Beethoven. Before I would put so before I would practice, I would literally pray to Beethoven. So that’s my hero.

Curt Anderson  02:34

But you know what? Let’s hear for Batum Dude, that was like an awesome answer. So let’s slide right. And that was a perfect segue. So you are a music music expert and musician at heart. Let’s slide in you went to music school, you have your masters. Let’s talk let’s hear a little bit. Murray, your your journey into your sharing like your journey. Starting out your career in music. Let’s go there before you started the social media expertise that you’ve

Marie Incontrera  02:59

built. Yeah, so I went to school for composition. So I am a composer. And I also lead a big band for five years in New York. And I was one of the most performing big bands and the best paying big bands, which wasn’t very much. But I will just say that. But no kidding. All kidding aside, I had a avant garde big band. And what we did was we made music by living composers, and recently dead composers. And we really just, you know, we championed the world, you know, the music that’s happening now in jazz. But thing they don’t tell you about being a musician is that you could be bringing your 15 Pittsburgh band to Carnegie Hall, which I did. And you could be coming home with $15,000 a year, whichever was. So in New York, which

Curt Anderson  03:48

was living large in New York City on 15. Right, yeah,

Marie Incontrera  03:51

right. Exactly. So our mutual friend Dorie Clark, who’s been my very good friend for many, many years. It says to me, I have an idea, quit your job. And I was like, I’m sorry, what? And she said, Well, you could be a virtual assistant, you’d probably make more money. And I don’t think she knew how little money I was making. Because with two clients, I was already making more than I was, it was insane. And over time, people started coming to me for the same things, social media, podcasts, publicity, that kind of thing. And then finally, she had client for me who needed to get booked on a TEDx stage. And she said, You know what, Marie, you’re smart, figure it out. And I said, I needed the money, you know, like, needed client. So I said, Okay, I’ll try it. And that first client got booked, more people started coming to me. And over time, I kept saying, No promises, no promises, all of those people got booked. So and that’s, that’s what I decided to solidify my offering and really understand what TED talks were what it meant. I I did two Ted Ted axes in 2018. And really just started to walk the talk. And the rest is history.

Curt Anderson  05:08

Man.

Damon Pistulka  05:11

If you haven’t if you’re listening and haven’t listened to your Ted, Ted Talks, you need to get on YouTube and listen to them. They’re, they’re great. And very interesting and funny.

Curt Anderson  05:21

So absolutely. So let’s take a deep dive man. I have been looking forward to this for months and this is even better than I hoped. Murray so I let’s do a recap. starving artists in Manhattan. I heard you say you booked Carnegie Hall like the dream come true. Super Bowl, the Holy Grail. And so the starving artists, you take a pivot, our dear mutual friend Dorie Clark, she’s awesome. She’s coming on the program in July. Guys, check out Dorries mehrfach. I promote her books are phenomenal. You want to check out Dorie Clark, check out her books, but you take a transition she says hey, why don’t you become a virtual assistant. So you go from amazing musician, to virtual assistant to now you are a rockstar, social media guru expert. I know you’re very humble. And now a TED Talk coach, for goodness sakes. Let’s start with this. Okay, as we talked a little bit before, we love, we’d love singing to those in that scene. We’d love preaching to the manufacturers and how great manufacturing is. Let’s go there for a little bit on social media. Okay, how did you as they’re trying to make that digital transformation for manufacturers? Right COVID comes along no more trade shows? Share a little bit Marie, how was how did you go from musician, virtual assistant? Let’s take a little bit of a deeper dive. How did that work for you on your own digital transformation?

Marie Incontrera  06:37

Well, um, you know, one of the things about COVID is that people needed to be online more, right? So so my business just exploded from that. And I was very fortunate. COVID is terrible, it still is terrible. But, you know, people needed my help. And so I had a decision to make, which was, you know, do I? Do I lean into that and grow the business? Or do I just help a few people, right, and I kind of chose the ladder. You know, because there were so many great people I wanted to work with, right. But before that, I, you know, I took a pivot and I said, I’m gonna I’m gonna grow the business for a few years and see what what happens. And, you know, making that pivot from musician to entrepreneur, at first, I was already an entrepreneur, because you have to be as a musician, you really just just straight up have to know how to do everything, including your taxes. But that helped me in my, in my transition to entrepreneur, it really did it just, it all translated people who were coming to me because I was a creative person. And they still do, you know, I get people who will say, you know, now I’m not creative. So, you know, take take the graphics and run with them. Take this and run with it. You know, tell me your ideas. Tell me your team’s ideas. You know, because I think I think that’s, that’s what makes me different in the business world.

Damon Pistulka  08:07

Yeah. Oh, that’s fancy. That’s awesome. Well, let’s

Curt Anderson  08:09

slide into guys again, drop a hello, please connect with Marie, you want to check out her business, check out her website. Let’s go right into the TED Talk. So guys, if you haven’t checked it out, Maria has two TED Talks that she just mentioned, both came out in 2018. They are phenomenal. So one is about jazz, the jazz printer. I want to hit on that. The second one is about roller derby. So let’s start with jazz. How. And I tell you if you’re a musician, you love music. And you touch a little bit of history. Where did you come up with that wonderful topic for that TED Talk.

Marie Incontrera  08:41

So I knew that I wanted to talk about music and business. So this is I’m going to give you a little secret into how I work when I’m advising somebody, right. I knew I knew I wanted to talk about both of those things I knew I could maybe talk about while improvisation. I knew I could talk about creativity. I knew I could talk about collaboration, I knew I could talk about it, you know, there were all these things, right? That where music can be a model for business. And I went online, I went to, you know, the TEDx YouTube, and I did a search and I said jazz and business. And I looked at what was there and everything was on improvisation, like every talk was about, you know, what, what business people can learn about improvising, which is great and needed, but I wanted to fill a gap. So I thought about it. And I said, Okay, well, I know, you know, there are some historical stories from jazz about people doing things wrong and kind of breaking the forms and everything. And I said, well, that’s kind of like an innovation, right? When you think of, you know, the great disruptors in the business world, so I said, Okay, I think I think that’s what my talk is going to be about. And so I touched on a few stories in in history. where you can really look at how a jazz musician really just kind of broke the mold and how it changed things, you know, even now, right? The saxophone was supposed to be this like weird, quirky instrument that was just experiments. And now it’s it’s the sound of jazz. That’s pretty cool. Right? So that’s, that’s just one example.

Curt Anderson  10:21

Yeah, that and please check.

10:24

Listen to the talk. Right, David. Just listen to the talk.

Curt Anderson  10:28

I love what you tie in business and how the word disruption. This gentleman was Sachs, he took one that’s minute kind of combined with another created a sec not to ruin it. You guys have to listen to it. But you went heavy on the innovation. So you guys have we’re gonna stop there. Let’s fight into your next Tech Talk. Murray roller derby? Are you kidding me? Man, you’re on stage in your outfit. And I’ll tell you an amazing job. It is so inspiring. You’re talking about how you exploded your business. How it made you mentally healthier, physically healthier. Like roller derby. Let’s go there. Like what? What inspired you for that?

Marie Incontrera  11:08

Go ahead.

Damon Pistulka  11:09

That’s all the things. I mean, it’s just roller derby. Running it.

Marie Incontrera  11:14

That’s, it’s funny. Because after So in 2017, I played Carnegie Hall. And then right after that. So I played Carnegie Hall on June 3 2017. And in July, me too happened. And so that’s like, that’s the the knock, right part of this story is that, you know, a lot of people I knew a lot of people who had put us on stages, a lot of people who I played with, were getting called out and I said, You know what, I gotta take a break. You know, I don’t know that I can be party to this right now. And so I said, I’m going to, you know, I was I was learning. I was my business was growing. I had money for the first time in my life. You know, I had a little bit of disposable income. And I said, I’m going to try things. And a friend of mine took me to a roller derby game, which we call about, and I said, You know what, I gotta do this. I gotta try it. Next day. I went to the skate park in Prospect Park. I Michael says, After Carnegie Hall roller derby is the only next logical step. Michael

Curt Anderson  12:25

was perfect. Carnegie Hall, roller derby.

Damon Pistulka  12:31

So no Brexit.

Marie Incontrera  12:32

Yeah, exactly. You know. So I put I rented skates. And I went around the truck. And I said, if I could do this, and not really hurt myself, I’m going to try it. And so I took a class with the Gotham roller derby. The like pros of the sport, it’s an amateur sport, but the pros have a have a class every every year. So I said, I’m going to try this. I tried it. And I said, You know what, I’m gonna do this. I joined a league in Yonkers we played it’s a lot of work, I wasn’t very good. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna say that and like, people were very, very patient me with me. But I said, I said, You know what I’m gonna, I’m gonna see where this goes. And the thing is, when you play a team sport, it is, uh, you know, you learn you learn a lot, but it’s a big commitment. So after a while, it just kind of couldn’t do it anymore. But I love that part of my life. I love that, like, people still come to me, and I like roller derby. Really? It made me feel badass. It made me feel amazing, you know? So I’m still really glad I did it.

Curt Anderson  13:37

Well, that’s fantastic. So when you think manufacturers, you know, AIDS, you know, it’s a lot of you know, folks are, they’re aggressive, right? They’re physical. So there’s guidance, sports, women in sports. And you know, let’s touch on this. And then we’ll move into the next one, right? Again, you have to watch your TED Talk. But you did a beautiful job of, you know, in a very humble way of talking about how this really impacted your business. You took on a hobby, you know, could be Paris, parachuting could be whatever, whatever that hobby was, you took something and got out of your comfort zone, you talk about that. And you talk about that healthy balance and how your your clients benefited by you picking on a score, can you let’s let’s hit that for a minute for anybody that’s really stretched, stressed out or COVID, or their business share a little bit of like, what that did for you mentally and spiritually and physically.

Marie Incontrera  14:23

Yeah, absolutely. So I actually, you know, in part of part of having a TED talk is you have to be grounded in research, you know, you can’t just kind of get on stage and say anything, right. You know, and, and so I did my research on what the correlation between exercise and earning potential is and in an employment situation, employees who exercise tend to earn about 9% more than employees who don’t. And so I was I was interested in what that meant as an entrepreneur. And you know, during the time I was playing roller derby, might my income just kind of kind of dip The hockey stick. And then I got too busy for it. It works so well that I got too busy. That’s plasma. Well,

Curt Anderson  15:11

again, we have some awesome folks and guests indoors here today. Again, Michael, we’ve got Nicole Donnelly’s in a house, Dan bigger. And John, of course are here from Tessa. So guys, thank you drop a note to Murray, please connect with me with Marie. Marie, let’s go into your superpower. And so I bought in the chat box, anybody wanting dying to do a TED talk because I had a bucket list item, anybody that I talk to? I know, I’m not a great interview interviewer or I’m not supposed to ask two questions. But I’m going to slide into a couple you our approach and how to, you know help folks your superpowers helping people get into that TED talk, share a little bit about what did a TED Talk do for your business? And I’ll stop there. What did a TED talk for you and for your business?

Marie Incontrera  15:55

So the social proof that that now, of course, this is part of what I do for a living. So your mileage may vary, right? Yeah, but I will say that doing the TED Talk, even before it came out, even before I had either of those videos, all of a sudden, I was getting, you know, people, you know, in my inbox being like, can you do this for me? Right? Can I work with you? So it had it had a level of credibility that I don’t think anything else that I’ve ever done has, right? You know, because all of a sudden, I was a TEDx speaker, and then people were like, Okay, do you have room for me? Not not, hey, you know, work with right. Like it was it was just a whole different level.

Curt Anderson  16:37

Yes. That’s fantastic. Okay, so let’s go here. Damon, did you have something?

Damon Pistulka  16:41

Yeah, I was gonna say, when, when you did your first one, what was the biggest surprise that you had getting prepared for what was? I mean, what would you like? I would have never thought of this.

Marie Incontrera  16:53

Well, okay, so I have to say I practiced like 25 hours a week. And I knew about practice from, you know, being a musician, right. So I knew the the techniques that I was going to some of the techniques that I was going to use, for example, when I’m memorizing something at the piano, and I get to the point where I want to know it well enough that I don’t have to look at my hands, I keep something on TV, that’s low stakes that I can focus on while I’m playing. Right. So that’s something that I would add part of it is your brain is a little bit too distracted, you want to be able to know that your hands are going to keep going. If something you know somebody coughs or somebody makes a sound or you know, one of the bandmates messes up or something like that, you want to be able to kind of keep keep the thing going, right. So I did something similar, I would practice with the TV on I practice with music on, what I didn’t expect is that it would get really, really boring. Because you’re just you’re speaking this thing for 25 hours. So I would do it standing on one leg, I would do it on skates, I would my partner would go back and forth with me, I would say a sentence. And she would come back and say it as Robert De Niro. And I would have to keep going through that, which was hilarious. But yeah. And it really helped. Because the thing is, you aren’t going to be distracted. It’s in your face, somebody’s going to cough, somebody’s going to rustle papers, you know, the camera person is going to look at you funny. You know what I mean? Like ever something is going to happen. And you’re going to get distracted.

18:32

Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And it’s a great,

Damon Pistulka  18:36

that’s a great piece of advice for practicing because I had never thought practicing and distracted environment is is a great way to learn it really well.

Curt Anderson  18:45

Yeah, dude, that was an a phenomenal question. And so when you think about this, what I love what you did is so you did a TED talk once. And you know, sometimes we hear like that impostor syndrome. But you know, because you did it once you were the resident expert. Right? Because you did it. You went through the process, you were the navigator that guide the the Sherpa. So now people came started coming back to you. Let’s talk about that transition there. So now you start becoming a TEDx coach. What are some of the any traits are some of the things that you what are the first things that you’re going to talk to with somebody that wants to be that TED Talk speaker? What are some of the first guiding tips that you share?

Marie Incontrera  19:21

Great, great question. So people think a lot of people come to me and they’re like, I have a story. You know, my, I have a motivational, you know, I have a motivational idea. Whatever it is. Your TED talk is not just your story. And it’s not just a motivational speech. It has to be backed in science and it has to have actionable takeaways that are global, actionable and accessible. Right So just as an example, your your takeaways can’t be hire a coach because not everybody can afford to write it has to be something that absolutely anybody, no matter who they are, where they are, should be able to do All right, right. So like, as an example, right, my, my, my jazz talk. My answer couldn’t have been go take piano lessons. Right? Or, you know, it had to be something very, very simple that anybody can do.

Curt Anderson  20:17

Yeah. Okay, man, that is fantastic. So yeah, we were talking about before and so all of us were manufacturing junkie. So like, maybe man, there’s a bunch of people in this chat box. That should definitely be Oh, yeah, it’s right. In Yep. Gagliano. I know Ira Bowman just did a TED Talk. On LinkedIn. Yeah. Well, a friend of ours just gave a TED talk recently. So let’s slide into social media. I know, man, I could talk to you all day. Right. So let’s talk social media. We have a mutual friend and Richard bystronic. Right. So let’s, let’s talk a little bit about how you start. You start exercising your your social media superpowers. And and I know you have a great, great example with Richard, can we go there a little bit just talking about what you’re doing with with Daymond? This is a great story, man.

Marie Incontrera  21:04

Yeah, absolutely. So you know, part of the reason that social media and Ted Talks are related for me is because they both have to do with ideas. Yeah. And so one of one of the things I’ve been doing with Richard and lots of other folks is we’ve been working on a LinkedIn newsletter. And the great thing about LinkedIn is, it’s always coming out with these great new platforms. You know, like, like the LinkedIn live, you know, that’s a new platform, right. And when it first happened, and it first went to everybody, it exploded, people were using it, you know, people were engaging all of that same thing with the LinkedIn newsletters, I’m finding that they’re kind of like the next step down on the funnel. So, you know, social media is top of funnel, you reach everybody that way. And then you invite them in, you invite them in to subscribe to your LinkedIn newsletter. So Richard, Richard is a compliance professional, he goes in, and he trains companies on you know, how to how to build an ethical culture and all of that. He’s a former FCPA, violator, and all of this, it’s a really a fascinating story, check him out. He’s awesome. You know, and we built his LinkedIn newsletter, and he tells stories in it. We talk about, you know, all the bad behavior shows that are on on TV now, like inventing Anna, which, by the way, I watched it, and one thing I liked, didn’t go to sleep until four in the morning, and she watched, you know, the drop out, you know, things like that. And he relates them to, you know, how people can can find look at this in their own lives and their own businesses and everything like that. Right. So, you know, Richard’s really great at things like how could a bottle of wine invite, invite an ethical dilemma into into your client? For example? Yeah, things like that. So he ends with his first. I wish I could remember, remember the exact number, but I believe it was over 10,000, his first newsletter got 10,000 subscribers. And then it’s just kind of grown from there. So check him out. He’s awesome.

Curt Anderson  23:18

Yeah, this is a great story. So this gentleman, and he is amazing person to talk to, if you last time bi, strong, bi strong, close, I think first name Richard. And he was actually, and he tells a story. And this is what he does for a living. He was a corporate lawyer all over the world and got caught into a little bribery situation, right? Am I saying that correctly, and in serve federal time, served federal time. And, you know, when you meet them, you’re like, Oh, this guy’s a corporate warrior, just, you know. And so he just got caught. And so he talks about this. And so you know, Murray, you’ve done an amazing job as his social media expert for many years now. And tackling you know, in his toxic speeches, and others, all the social media that you put out, so Alright, so our folks here are super active on LinkedIn. A lot of folks that should be on TED Talks. Anyway. Let’s let’s take another deep dive on social media. What are some trends? What are some things that you talked about LinkedIn newsletters, what are some other things that you’re exercising with your clients that say manufacturers that are just getting started out? What are some tips and advice you have for social media for manufacturers out there?

Marie Incontrera  24:24

Um, definitely be on LinkedIn, because you know, manufacturers, right, your your buyers, the people who are going to be you know, making decisions about whether to work with your business or not, right, they’re on LinkedIn. You know, definitely have a LinkedIn newsletter. And the other thing is, believe it or not be on tick tock. You know,

Curt Anderson  24:47

we have a we have a mania. Yep. For Manhattan, Bonnie. I don’t know if she’s with us today. So Bonnie has a company it’s called Go lids. And she goes wrong. Manhattan haven’t gone their product all over the place. And she’s born with like millions of views on tick tock. So, what are some examples that you’ve seen that are really successful in your world on tick tock,

Marie Incontrera  25:08

um, we’re working with an author right now, who is has just completely blown up. She she goes in and she’s, she said, a corporate trainer on mindfulness. You know, it’s kind of an interesting sector. Because she can tell she can do breathing exercises, she tells stories, she does some trends, things like that. You know, we’ve served we’ve done off Broadway shows on tick tock, we’ve done reality TV stars on tick tock, where, you know, we have a lot of coaches on tick tock now, it’s really a niche that I think it used to be for kids, right, you know, and so did you know, so did Facebook Facebook came out during college, right? And it was, it was the thing for college kids right now. Now that’s Tik Tok. But everybody every age group you can think of I’ve seen, I’ve seen senior citizens blowing up on Tik Tok. I’ve seen Realtors on Tik Tok, like just be on Tik Tok.

Damon Pistulka  26:16

Girls on the Tiktok her son and her that helped her get there. And now she’s, she’s just taken off from it. So

Curt Anderson  26:21

amazing. That’s so guys again, happy Friday. We have Marie here with us today. Please connect with Marie on LinkedIn, check, absolutely check out her TED talks, you want to check out her website. So alright, let’s take another let’s take a little another twist here. On your on your TED Talks. I’m going to come back to that because we have folks on here that we strongly feel it should be on TED Talks. What are some other topics or other trends that you’re seeing? Because that’s been around for how long now?

Marie Incontrera  26:49

They started in the 80s. And you know, but but they really weren’t what they are now, I think because they’ve just become a global phenomenon.

Curt Anderson  26:56

Right? Yours. Any other any other? Are there trends? Or like what do you see now? Maybe as we’re hopefully coming down to COVID? What trends are you seeing as far as TED talks go now?

Marie Incontrera  27:05

Well, um, so when COVID happened, I said, Is this really going to be a part of my business still, because events shut down. But Ted is really good about staying, you know, finger on the pulse, right? So there were virtual events, right. And virtual events blew up. And it was the thing and people were doing these really great virtual events. They were recording in their homes or going to a studio, that kind of thing. I’m starting to see more in person events pop up. And there’s also another trend there called TEDx countdowns. And they’re all about sustainability. So if you have, you know, manufacturing, if you have any Sustainable Manufacturing ideas or anything like that, that’s a really good niche that you can plug into.

27:55

Wow, that’s, that’s, well, our speaker last week.

Curt Anderson  27:59

Right? Right. So we had Yeah, we had Alexandra Holtzman, and she did a phenomenal job. And that’s what she was talking about is sustainability and great packaging, and so on and so forth. Now on your TED talk again, I don’t you guys have to go watch it. And I’m sorry. I have to. For anybody who you’ve rattled off some accomplishments that you did physically, by when you started doing roller derby. Come close. Oh, I touched them in that, like, so been like six birds? No, it was like 530 your time and you’re like, dude, I’m busy working out. So I know Damon was working out like 530 this morning. But on your TED talk again, you have to watch it not to ruin it, but you rattle off some staggering numbers. Yeah, you accomplished and what can you share? What are some of those numbers that you accomplish? So

Marie Incontrera  28:45

we had done an exercise challenge over the team had done an exercise challenge over the summer. And it culminated in a day of 1000 setups 1000 squats 1000 Push ups, I believe it was what you do for your knees, which I did for my knees. Like I believe right? I think there might have been 1000 leg lifts or something like that. Yeah, oh yeah. Oh god the burpees That was terrible. Yeah, yeah. It was just making about Yeah, and so what you do is you do it throughout the day, right? So every hour you just set a timer and put your work and you know, the the human body is an amazing thing. And I I almost forget sometimes that I used to be able to do that so

Curt Anderson  29:34

those were the days right so let’s do this as we wind down any we ask you who your hero was growing up who who inspires you today? What who and what inspires you today with your business?

Marie Incontrera  29:46

Um, all right, well, can it can I cop out and say Dorie Clark Am I allowed to do I know

Curt Anderson  29:51

Dale, gales big Dorie Clark fans. You know, Gail Dorie Clark is going to be on the program in July. This is a dear friend. Are you here she’s part of Dorie Clark’s community. The so what else? Anybody outside of Murray or outside of Dory that that’s, that’s an inspiration to you?

Marie Incontrera  30:08

Um, yeah, I mean, gosh, there are so many people in the business world that just blow me away I shave or sell is one of them because she’s really mastered taking art and, and business and kind of bringing them together in this really beautiful way. I was at thinker’s 50 in 2019 and she had these really beautiful drawings of all the winners like it was, it was awesome, it was awesome to see that somebody can really embody artist and entrepreneur at once that way, and I, you know, I’ve been striving to do so ever since I think.

Curt Anderson  30:42

Right. Okay. And that’s cool. I’m gonna slide gears and I know you’re super busy, we’re in the wind down on the so we’d love talking about diversity, diversity in manufacturing. I know that’s a big, that’s huge to your heart. actors out there any tips or advice as far as you know, how to how to create a nice, healthy, diverse workforce at a manufacturing operation?

Marie Incontrera  31:04

Um, see people you know, see them for who they are, you know, and so my company right now I have 20 people 25% of my entire staff is trans and gender non conforming 50% of my leadership team is trans and gender non conforming, and people who have been underrepresented in the workforce, they, they can come with some baggage, right? They come with some workplace related PTSD, right. So you, you know, making space for that making space for the whole person. You know, making sure that at the beginning of a, you know, at the beginning of a meeting or a conversation, you know what I mean? Just Just ask how the how the person is first because we don’t have anything? Did she freeze?

31:52

Yep. I think so. I said,

Curt Anderson  31:55

I’m right. So hey, Damon, what are you doing for your birthday?

32:01

She’s back there. She’s back.

Curt Anderson  32:02

Hey, you know what? We plan that Maria? Are you back are back. So Damon, we were just fooling with you for your birthday. So in a previous life, Marie was also a mind. And so we just wanted to see if you caught she was just kind of my main outline. Right. So, so please feel free finishing on your comments on diversity.

Marie Incontrera  32:26

Oh, what did you miss? I said a whole thing

Damon Pistulka  32:29

you said about asking, asking about the person. And and it began at the beginning of a meeting. Yeah. Because

Marie Incontrera  32:35

and just making sure that that everybody’s okay. And, you know, we’re all going through really tough times right now. You know, and I’ve been through, gosh, in my time, I had a team member pass away and early and COVID. You know, I’ve had I’ve had crises happen and things like that. And just like, during the rough times, especially just make sure you, you know, you’re there for your people. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  33:01

I love it. So I mean, recap. And I know you’ve got to get going here, Marie, you have a busy day. So we’ve covered innovation, you’ve covered diversity you’ve covered, you know, having you know what, exercising, having that sport that hobby has done for you for your business, you took a pivot, you know, gone from a incredible musician, into a VA. And so now you’re a rock star. Do you have any TED talks coming up in your future that we can?

Marie Incontrera  33:25

No, I’ve just been, I’ve been supporting my clients on theirs. And that’s that’s kind of, you know, once you’ve done too, it’s, you know, an offender

Curt Anderson  33:35

kind of been there done it. Right.

Marie Incontrera  33:36

Exactly. Well, if I come up if I have a if truly, if I have an idea, I may I may eventually look like to be on the red circle again. But for now, no. Right.

Curt Anderson  33:47

So everybody can obviously connect with you here on LinkedIn, you want to check out Murray’s website, Marie, is there anything? Absolutely, guys, please, please, please check out her TED talks over the weekend. You will, you’ll thank us for checking that out. Any other place that we can find you or anything? Any other thoughts you want to share with everybody today?

Marie Incontrera  34:04

Yeah, if you go to encontraron.com. So it’s just my last name.com, you can download the first three questions. I asked every TEDx client that I have, and they’re there questions just to get the storytelling rolling? Because I like to, I like to see the whole person before we start working on the idea.

Curt Anderson  34:21

Oh, that is fantastic. And how cool would it be if a bunch of the folks that come here on Friday evening, and we had a bunch of folks on TED talks just sharing your superpowers sharing how great and wonderful manufacturing is and I think that’s why we had Marie here today. So guys, we’re gonna wind down not Marie, do you want to sing to Damon, Should we try it? You want to sing?

Marie Incontrera  34:41

I can. I mean, nobody.

Curt Anderson  34:44

That’s go for it. Ready? Everybody? Come on. Let’s stand up. Everybody. Give a little happy. Ready? 103. Marie, hit it. Happy birthday. Oh. Thank you

Damon Pistulka  35:00

Are they seriously? Thank you so much

Curt Anderson  35:03

to come. Happy birthday. Happy birthday dear the greatest guy in the planet David.

Damon Pistulka  35:12

guy over there.

Curt Anderson  35:15

A Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday brother. I hope you’re spoiled rotten on Sunday. It’s

Damon Pistulka  35:23

gonna be fun, Marie.

Curt Anderson  35:25

I just want to express my gratitude. I’ve been looking forward to this for months. You are special. You are a gift. I love your energy. I love what you do. And thank you. Thank you for sharing your your expertise, your passion, your energy with us. And I can’t we’ve got to do this again. So guys, connect with Murray. Happy Friday. Wish Damon a happy birthday, brother. Take How about how about this? How about this one down here, guys?

Damon Pistulka  35:53

Possible, Marie. Awesome. Well, I always get mixed up. But yes. Thanks so much. Thank you so much for

Curt Anderson  36:00

being with us for one minute. Daymond. Take take away.

Damon Pistulka  36:03

All right, we’re gonna take it away. And you know what I gotta say Dan, John Deb. Kristina Harrington. Cole. Adam. God, thanks for being here today, everyone. And I know I missed a bunch of people. But yeah, we love it that you come and hang out with us. And it’s so much fun indoor. Yeah, just so many great people here today. Thanks so much for stopping in. And we’ll continue on. We’re gonna be back again next week, right? Oh,

Curt Anderson  36:30

yes, yes,

Damon Pistulka  36:31

we have next week or

Curt Anderson  36:32

we have Snia on Monday. So we’re interviewing Nia on Monday. And so next week we were back in. Let’s see, Marie. You’re you’re in Brooklyn, right.

Marie Incontrera  36:41

I’m in Manhattan, actually,

Curt Anderson  36:42

in Manhattan. I think we have a we have a Brooklyn night. Next week. We have Sharon coming back to us. We’re talking a little about PR for me pictures and so a lot of good stuff here. So, guys, God bless everybody out there. Go out and just you know what? Spread a little awesome this weekend, right? Yeah. Awesome. So alright, we’ll see you.

37:00

Thanks so much, everyone.