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  • INTERVIEW: Sliwa fires back at Adams, talks crime and more ahead of mayoral election

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    By Lynda Lopez

    Produced by Neil A. Carousso

    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — With less than a month to go before voters head to the polls to decide the next mayor of New York City, WCBS 880 spoke with GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa for this week’s 880 Weekly Rewind.

    https://omny.fm/shows/880-weekly-rewind/curtis-sliwa-responds-to-eric-adams-labeling-his-c

    During an interview with anchor Lynda Lopez, Sliwa discussed his views on a number of pressing issues affecting New York City, including homelessness, Rikers Island, crime rates and more.

    “I’m in the streets, I’m in the public housing projects, I’m in the subway – not with antics – doing the things. For instance, in Brooklyn – which has a severe crime problem, garbage in the streets, all kinds of potholes, quality of life problems – [I’m] really doing the job that the Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, should be doing,” Sliwa said, taking a jab at his Democratic opponent.

    The founder of the Guardian Angels crime prevention organization noted he had been personally dealing with these types of issues for several years. He said his experiences can help him lead the city in change.

    “I walk the streets, ride the subways with no security whatsoever,” Sliwa said, adding that he believes the mayor should be “a role model” for New Yorkers.

    Sliwa also took a moment to respond to Adams’ accusations that he has made a “circus” of the New York City mayoral election.

    “He may call [my actions] antics, I call them doing service. When you go into a public housing complex at night…and begin to do verticals in a gang controlled public housing complex, or visit Rikers Island to meet with correctional officers on a shift change and see all the problems – that’s not antics, that’s serving the general public,” Sliwa said.

    The GOP candidate accused Adams of being too preoccupied with being “wined, dined and pocket lined” to deal with the issues.

    Subscribe and download The 880 Weekly Rewind podcast for in-depth reporting and deeper analysis of the top stories of the week, produced by Neil A. Carousso, for WCBS-AM New York.

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  • No Laughing Matter: Caroline’s on Broadway Struggles Despite Theatres Reopening

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    By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso

    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Broadway’s return is not providing the comedic relief clubs in the theatre district had been hoping.

    Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of Caroline’s on Broadway, told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso she has never experienced a challenge like the COVID-19 pandemic in her four decades in business.

    “Business was going very well until Delta hit again and people were alarmed about going out and being in crowds,” she said of the dominant strain of the virus on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.

    The iconic comedy club reopened Memorial Day Weekend with a ton of pent-up demand for laughs. It took a turn late summer.

    “When the vaccine mandate came out, it really curtailed business,” said Hirsch, explaining, “We have people who are canceling because somebody in their group is not vaccinated so they won’t come.”

    She told WCBS 880 that she believes vaccine mandates are hurting New York’s live entertainment industry, but elevated COVID-19 infections are driving hesitancy as well.

    “Some comedians don’t want to go on tour; they want to wait until 2022. So, therefore, we have a bit of a talent shortage,” Hirsch said. “First, we had a labor shortage. We couldn’t hire enough waiters and waitresses. We couldn’t hire enough staff people in the kitchen.”

    Carolines On Broadway Owner Caroline Hirsch
    Carolines On Broadway Owner Caroline Hirsch Photo credit Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Ms. Foundation For Women

    Caroline’s on Broadway had also been relying on private parties this fall to recover some losses, but some events have been postponed to next year. As a result, she predicts businesses in the Theatre District will experience a slow recovery.

    A handful of Broadway shows returned last month at full capacity for fully vaccinated and masked audience members, cast and crew. But, on opening night, Hirsch asked workers in a garage how many cars arrived and found out only two people drove in to see a show.

    “I think we need to be realistic about this and not just say, ‘Oh, Broadway’s reopening,’ but Broadway’s going to have a really tough time reopening. And, I think that we all need to help them out. I think people have to make a concerted effort to go out and buy a ticket to Broadway,” she said.

    Caroline’s organizes the annual New York Comedy Festival, which makes its return to the stage November 8-14 with pop-up shows throughout the five boroughs.

    “We’re going to do close to 150 shows around the city,” Hirsch told Connolly and Carousso.

    Bill Maher, Marc Maron and Michelle Wolf are among the comics taking the microphone.

    “You’ll have a great laugh,” said Hirsch who admits despite all the pandemic challenges and stress, she is still laughing, herself.

    Caroline’s on Broadway first opened as a small cabaret in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood in 1981 before moving to the South Street Seaport six years later. It eventually made its home on Broadway in 1992. Hirsch is known for giving Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno and countless other comedians their start.

    Watch the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above for ideas on getting Broadway back on its feet.

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  • WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind: Shining a Light on Missing Persons Cases; NJ Nurse Has Change of Heart about COVID Vaccine

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    Produced by Neil A. Carousso

    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The case of Gabby Petito has garnered national attention and her family is hoping to bring awareness to other missing persons cases. Lynda Lopez covers some of those and what resources are available for families on The 880 Weekly Rewind.

    https://omny.fm/shows/880-weekly-rewind/shining-a-light-on-missing-persons-cases-nj-nurse

    Plus, vaccination mandates lead to more Americans getting the COVID shot. A New Jersey nurse, previously vocal against the vaccine and mandates, told WCBS 880 why she changed her mind and is now promoting the shot.

    Lopez also looks at the dangers of the U.S. defaulting on its roughly $30 trillion debt ahead of a fast approaching deadline while President Joe Biden meets with Democrats to urge unity over the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion social spending package.

    Subscribe and download The 880 Weekly Rewind podcast for in-depth reporting and deeper analysis of the top stories of the week, produced by Neil A. Carousso, for WCBS-AM New York.

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  • Fall 2021 WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast: Building Back Stronger

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    Presented by Dime Community Bank

    Streaming Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 9 AM EDT

    Submit your questions for our experts by tweeting @JoeConnollybiz and @WCBS880 using #WCBSBizBreakfast.

    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – What are you doing in your business that will allow you to survive the pandemic and emerge stronger?

    The next WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast, presented by Dime Community Bank, will leave you with actionable advice on developing new products and services, and revamping your marketing and social media strategies. The time to act is now, and one way to learn how is to join us on Thursday, October 21 at 9 AM EDT at WCBS880.com.

    Host Joe Connolly will lead a stimulating conversation with one of the country’s leading Internet entrepreneurs and investors, Kevin P. Ryan, and the Head of Shopify Spaces, Cody DeBacker, covering new revenue opportunities, sales transformations, digital marketing and expanding industries.

    Kevin P. Ryan helped grow DoubleClick from a 20-person startup to a 1,5000-employee global leader that was acquired by Google for $3.1 billion in 2007. Today, as founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, Ryan funds and launches startups, including Nomad Health, Business Insider and Zola – providing mentorship to their leadership along the way.

    Ryan will explain where the new growth opportunities are in today’s world. He will also speak to the challenges in hiring talent in a tight labor market and will reveal proven steps for building a winning team.

    “We’re looking at consumer goods, we’re looking at B2B, we’re looking at software, we’re looking at healthcare, education… and a lot of (property) tech as well,” Ryan told Connolly ahead of the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast.

    Shopify has helped more than a million of the world’s most successful brands manage their e-commerce. Cody DeBacker will tell you how Shopify has put small and mid-size businesses in the position to succeed through digital sales growth.

    Shopify also recently launched a creative space for entrepreneurs in SoHo. Shopify NY at 131 Greene Street offers hands-on business coaching, a photo studio for highly quality product photos, and a podcast studio. DeBacker will talk about how Shopify NY has started networking programs in the Big Apple.

    “We’re ideally trying to provide all the tools that they need to get started,” said DeBacker. “We’re always ready to receive any and everyone who wants to learn more about how to make it in today’s world.”

    In learning digital marketing and targeting of customers, businesses have found an entirely new revenue stream. On the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast, you’ll see success stories and examples of thriving new businesses that have disrupted the marketplace.

    The WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast programs have become blueprints for pandemic recovery since our long-running series pivoted online in March 2020. Join our business reporter Joe Connolly for this enlightening free virtual event on Thursday, October 21 at 9 AM EDT and participate by submitting questions using the form on this page.

    MEET OUR EXPERTS:

    Kevin P. Ryan
    CEO and Founder, AlleyCorp

    Kevin P. Ryan
    Photo credit: Kevin P. Ryan

    Kevin P. Ryan is one of the foremost Internet entrepreneurs in New York, having founded and is Chairman of several businesses, including AlleyCorp, Zola and Nomad Health. Previously he founded and was Chairman of MongoDB, Business Insider and GILT. Combined, these companies have raised more than $700 million in venture capital funding and currently employ almost 2,000 people. Previously, Kevin helped build DoubleClick from 1996 to 2005, first as President and later as CEO. He led DoubleClick’s growth from a 20-person startup to a publicly traded global leader with over 1,500 employees. In 2013, Kevin was named one of “The 100 Most Influential New Yorkers of the Past 25 Years” by the Observer.

    Aside from his professional responsibilities, Kevin serves on the board of Mercy Corps, is Vice Chairman of The Partnership for New York City, is a member of the CFR Committee on Foreign Affairs, is on the Board of TECH:NYC and is Director Emeritus for Human Right Watch. He previously served on the boards of Yale Corporation, INSEAD, the Direct Marketing Association, The Ad Council, HotJobs and the advisory board of Doctors Without Borders. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from INSEAD graduate business school.

    Cody DeBacker
    Head of Spaces, Shopify

    Cody DeBacker
    Photo credit: Cody DeBacker

    Cody DeBacker is the Head of Shopify Spaces. His projects and experiential activations have landed coverage in Forbes, The New York Times, Hypebeast, Complex, and hundreds of other publications around the world.

    Cody’s current role is focused on leading Shopify’s physical spaces, and most recently, his team opened the first ever Shopify entrepreneurial community space in New York that features free one-on-one business support, commerce training workshops, and thought provoking panels and events with the industry’s top entrepreneurs and merchants.

    He has also lead a team that participated in consumer conventions around the world such as Star Wars Celebration, NYCC, Complexcon, Hypefest, Family Style, and more. Cody is also the owner of 143 Worldwide, a DJ, and has been working in the fashion, trade show, and tech space for more than a decade.

    The WCBS Business Breakfast series hosted by Joe Connolly is executive produced by Neil A. Carousso for WCBS-AM New York and Audacy, Inc.

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  • When to go ‘All In’ on Your Dream Business

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    By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso

    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Risk is assumed when someone starts a business, but oftentimes, entrepreneurs aim for a soft landing. At some point, founders must take a leap of faith.

    Marla Aaron left advertising agency McCann Worldgroup in 2012 where she was vice president of communications for its division MRM. Her aha moment came during a business trip in France. Away from her kids, a coffee pot exploded leaving her with burns and she decided to return home. She presented her husband with an ambitious business plan on PowerPoint and left her job a week later to follow her passion designing jewelry.

    Aaron told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank, that she wishes she started her jewelry business earlier. Even after she did, she felt rejected when she was initially turned down by major retailers and picked up freelance jobs in advertising as a safety net.

    “That was probably a mistake and that was a waste of time because I wasn’t doing anything that well,” she said. “I was probably a mediocre consultant and I was doing a mediocre job starting my business. I had to fully pull the rug out and focus 100 percent.”

    Her advice for anyone looking to leave their job to start a business or take their side hustle full-time: “You have to do it. You have to go all in in every respect.”

    Aaron went door-to-door in New York’s Diamond District selling her first pieces of fine jewelry made from industrial climbing carabiners. When one retailer took an interest, she knew she had a viable business and began designing, selling, and eventually, building the Marla Aaron Jewelry brand.

    She had just signed a lease for her showroom on 47th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues in Midtown Manhattan at the start of the pandemic lockdown. Her new space remained empty.

    Instagram helped her showcase her products and communicate her story, but she missed the personal touch with clients. Aaron and her employees had been meeting over Zoom at the beginning and end of each work day to keep everyone engaged. That gave her an idea.

    “We’re like Zoom is working for us; let’s do Zoom appointments. So, we started doing Zoom appointments, but it wasn’t just like, ‘Hey Zoom with a customer.’ We understood that it required orchestration, rehearsal, dominating the archive of photos that we had so it would be seamless,” Aaron said.

    She discovered that the Zoom appointments were most effective when two sales representatives were on each call. One person operates the technical side, showing their catalogue of product photos, while the other representative describes each piece and asks questions to determine the customers’ tastes.

    “We just figured it out,” said Aaron.

    Figuring it out was not easy, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when jewelry was far from prospective customers’ minds.

    Before COVID, Aaron vowed to donate silver heart lockets to single mothers every year, which was derived out of her own experience. She remembers feeling down on Mother’s Day as a single mom before her second marriage. Her son was too young at the time to understand the holiday and she sat at brunch empty handed while she watched families exchange flowers. So when her business suffered at the outset of the pandemic, Aaron tried to make the most out of a bad situation and lift the spirits of others.

    “We call it the ‘Lock Your Mom Project’ and we give them away to single moms. The first year I gave 50 and every year I had doubled it subsequently. And, the first year of the pandemic, we had planned to give out 800. I was thinking, we can do this. We can figure out a way to get this done,” Aaron said.

    While the showroom remained shuttered, they found single mothers online and began shipping lockets from Marla’s house for Mother’s Day 2020. Aaron told Connolly and Carousso that’s when they realized they could sell a lot of jewelry virtually.

    Marla Aaron Jewelry has more than 112,000 followers on Instagram. But, what those followers don’t realize is that the woman behind the brand is also the one operating the account.

    Aaron calls her business “rebellious” in how they’ve bucked traditional jewelry marketing.

    “We speak to people in plain language. It’s not covered in fairies and frost and Photoshop,” she explained. “It’s just really honest and authentic and real.”

    Aaron sees her jewelry designs as an extension of herself and believes her story resonates with customers.

    Today, she employs 18 people who help manage production, marketing, customer service and her wholesale accounts. Aaron continues to design all the jewelry she sells out of her office in the Diamond District.

    See Marla Aaron’s creative process, her advice for taking the leap into entrepreneurship, and the new ways of selling jewelry that has helped her expand her reach on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.

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