EXTRAordinary PEOPLE
by Shirley Wachtel
EXTRAordinary People lets you inside the world of the people you may see everyday, but those who have let their light shine onto the world because of their unique talents, contributions, and STORIES. In their own words, each discusses the hardships which they have encountered and what it took for them to rise above the obstacles and make a difference. Join Shirley Wachtel and be inspired by these EXTRAordinary people!
Episodes
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Bill Schrimmer
BILL SCHRIMMER was born on November 20, 1923, in Dresden, Germany. He was born to a Jewish family who produced lubricants and leather polish for the German military. As a boy, Bill witnessed the loss of friends and many of the horrors committed under the Nazi regime. As he continued his education...
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Understanding The Past for a Better Future
Jeff Lejfer is the child of Holocaust survivors and was the leader of several Jewish organizations. Upon retirement, after a very successful 50-year career in insurance, as the creator of New Day Underwriting Managers, an award-winning insurance agency, he became a renowned speaker, visiting...
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Ann Vipamaneerut
Ann Vipamaneerut is the owner of Rice Factory, a restaurant in Milltown, New Jersey featuring Thai foods. Her given name is Vilailuck Vipamaneerut, but all of the patrons and friends affectionately know her as Ann. Ann, who is 54 years old, has lived in the United States for over 27 years, and...
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Bea Lurie
Bea Lurie is the daughter of two child Holocaust survivors, her father, Sol, and her mother, Evelyn Rebecca Lurie, whose parents escaped from Poland with two toddlers. Bea learned by her parents’ actions the importance of helping those in need and devoted her career to making a difference in the...
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Jonathan Hunger
Jonathan Hunger is the author of Agitate!, a revealing memoir of how he was able to overcome his fears by the example of Frederick Douglass. Jonathan is a native New Yorker who grew up primarily in New Jersey. He attended the University of Maryland for his undergraduate degree, and soon after…
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Renee Weingarten
Renee Weingarten is the creator and founder of Renee’s Reading Club, featured on Facebook, since 2017. Today, the club has over 62,000 members with members in every state in the United States and in over thirty countries around the world. Renee’s Reading Club is a site for sharing book...
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Mario Fronzoni
MARIO FRONZONI was born on Valentine’s Day in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A resident of East Brunswick, New Jersey for 43 years, Mario is married, the father of two, and grandfather of three grandchildren. After retiring from a career as a professional engineer in Mechanical Engineering and…
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Milt Heumann
MILT HEUMANN received a BA from Brooklyn College in 1968, and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1976. He taught as an assistant and associate professor at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1980, was a Guggenheim Fellow at Yale Law School from 1980 to 1981, and has been a professor (1981), and...
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Sarah Esposito
Sarah Esposito, PA-C, is a certified Physician Associate at Integrated Dermatology of NJ, located in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Sarah received her Bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Delaware. She then graduated with a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies…
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Dee Gwiazdowski
Dee Gwiazdowski has been in the design field for thirty-two years, nineteen of which have been with Ethan Allen as a Design Consultant. This is a second career for Dee. She is both passionate and dedicated to creating spaces that are well designed, functional and reflect her client's lifestyle…
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Marj Billker Graves
Marj Billker Graves joined the Army Nurse Corps during her final year of nursing school in 1967. She served as a head nurse on male orthopedic wards at Darnall Army Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas, and at Ireland Army Hospital, Fort Knox, Kentucky. As a Captain, Marj volunteered for Vietnam where she...
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Ian Feibelman
Simply put…Ian is camp, and camp is Ian. He began his career as a camper, counselor, Division Leader, and administrator at a traditional day camp in New Jersey. Ian has only missed 2 summers at camp since he was 3 years old! He takes pride in his hands on approach to camping. His personal...
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Mayor Brad Cohen
Mayor Brad Cohen was elected to the office in November 2016. The Mayor began his public career in 2010 when he was elected to the East Brunswick Board of Education. Working with a dedicated group of Board members, he helped navigate the schools through difficult economic times in the wake of the...
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Rabbi Larry Brandspiegel
Larry I. Brandspiegel joined the East Brunswick Jewish Center in August 2018 as Cantor and Director of Education before being ordained as a rabbi. Affectionately known as Rabbi/Cantor Larry, the spiritual leader now serves as the President of Jewish Educators Assembly and spiritual advisor of the...
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Kate Lancaster
Kate Lancaster is in her ninth year working as a middle school teacher at Jamesburg Public Schools. She is also a certified Reading Specialist and was recognized as an Exemplary Educator for the 2023-2024 school year for her strong knowledge and skills, inspiring presence, and positive impact on...
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Aparna Parthasarathy
Aparna Parthasarathy is a high school senior passionate about remedying structural inequalities, closing educational gaps and representing Generation Z’s values to shape legislation with elected officials. Aparna is a literary advocate and author of Tales of the Invisible, a book that addresses…
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Marc Korpus
Marc Korpus, having had a fascination with maps since youth, took up the creation of of them as an occupation at age 42. He found that mapmaking is now one facet of the discipline of "geographic information systems" (GIS), which marries cartography with databases and statistics and is performed…
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Rosa Lowinger
Rosa Lowinger is a Cuban-born American writer and art conservator. The author of Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub (Harcourt, 2005) and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure American Seduction (Wolfsonian Museum, 2016), she is the founder and current vice-president…
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Neil Lawner
Neil O. Lawner’s interest in photography began when he served in the Air Force on Guam from 1966-1968. During that time, Japanese cameras such as Nikon and Pentax were being manufactured and were available at the Base Exchange. He soon became part of the Kodachrome generation and learned the…
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Shirley Wachtel talks about her novel, A CASTLE IN BROOKYN
SHIRLEY RUSSAK WACHTEL is an author, college professor, and host of the podcast, EXTRAordinary People. In December, just before the launch of her successful novel, A Castle in Brooklyn (Little A), she appeared on the podcast, Too Jewish Radio. We hope you enjoy her intriguing interview with Rabbi...
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Steve Cohen - The Rising Sport of Rugby
Steve Cohen has over 50 years of involvement in rugby. He has been the catalyst in developing player safety, refereeing, and promoting the game at the grassroots level. USA Rugby Eagle, Steve Hiatt, has said that “No conversation could take place regarding administrators and contributions to...
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Corey Caplan - Talking About Cryptocurrency
Corey Caplan is the co-founder of Dolomite, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX for short). Prior to co-founding Dolomite, Corey graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Computer Science and Business. Corey is passionate about the democratization of financial assets and...
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AnnMarie Karczmit, a passion for volunteering
AnnMarie Karczmit has a passion for volunteering. A general manager at NJBIZ, a business to business newspaper, she is a wife and mother of a 21- year- old son. She started volunteering when she was 13 years old working in a nursing home and never really stopped. AnnMarie has volunteered as a...
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Dr. Amy Rothernberg - Naturopathic Medicine Advocate
DR. AMY ROTHENBERG has practiced naturopathic medicine since 1986. The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, 2017 Physician of the Year, she spearheaded the successful licensure of naturopathic doctors in Massachusetts. She was the longtime medical editor for the Institute of Natural...
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Amy Solomon
Amy Solomon was working in the television industry for 10 years before changing careers and decided to make life a little “sweeter.” Together with her mother, she started Just One Bite, a cookie company specializing in bite size gourmet cookies and pies. Her cookies and pookies (pie+cookie =...
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Dan Mulcahey
Dan Mulcahey is a radio host and voiceover artist who brings more than a decade of communications experience from corporate marketing and communications to the microphone. Since 2012, he has been a weekend and fill-in host on Magic 98.3, New Jersey’s largest music station and one of 62 stations...
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Warren Kasdan
WARREN KASDAN is a retired lawyer with a passion for travel. After 50 years of frequent voyages, he has now visited all seven continents, 111 present or former countries and 45 states. Within days after graduating from Princeton University, he set off on a two-month, 14,000 mile automobile trip...
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Cindy Rabinowitz
CINDY RABINOWITZ is the Director of Cranford Senior Housing in New Jersey. During the past two years, she has tirelessly worked to protect the welfare of the elderly and infirm during the Covid crisis. Cindy has an extensive history caring for the senior population beginning with running the...
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Nicole Marshall, Staff Midwife in Paterson, NJ
Nicole Marshall holds a bachelor's degree from Fordham University and dual master's degrees in Nurse-Midwifery and Women's Health from Columbia University. Nicole's interest in women's health combined with her passion for social justice and women's rights drew her to a career in midwifery. She...
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Ron Stallworth, The BlackKklansman
Ron Stallworth is a 32- year, highly decorated law enforcement veteran, who worked undercover narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence, and organized crime beats in four states. As the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, Ron overcame fierce racial…
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Melissa Gelfman —Surviving and Thriving with Parkinson’s
Melissa Gelfman’s passion for the performing arts started at age 10. She began singing, dancing and acting throughout her grammar and high school years, did summer stock and regional theater eventually graduating from the University of Alabama with a BA in Performing Arts and English. After a few...
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Sharon Benjamin—Overcoming an Eating Disorder and Finding Joy
SHARON BENJAMIN is a writer, an author, and an exercise enthusiast. She has been participating in some degree of exercise most of her life. She now presents a Facebook Live Aerobics session, Monday - Friday, 6:00 AM, Facebook page, "Randall Sharon Benjamin." Sharon overcame an addiction more than...
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Karen Kaplan Klein
Karen Kaplan Klein began her career in illustration as soon as she could held a pencil and has not let go since! Karen has illustrated several books and has shown her dioramas and “clayaramas" in numerous galleries throughout the United States since the 1970’s and has taught art to children and...
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Nikki Nash
Nikki Nash is a podcast host, Hay House author, motivational speaker, and creator of the Genius Profit Society, a training and development company on a mission to equip entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to share and profit from their message. She supports a community of women...
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Ace Marrero - Actor/Producer
Ace Marrero, a New Jersey born actor/producer, holds a BFA from Stephens College for Women (yes, you read that right). Recent credits include Action/Sci-Fi thriller, INTERPRETERS, HBO’s reboot of PERRY MASON, a national Facebook commercial as well as RIDE ALONG 2, SLEEPY HOLLOW, SCORPION…
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Gert Coleman - Gardening Guru
Passionate about herbs, Gert Coleman loves, grows, eats, and reads avidly about them. Retired Associate Professor of English at Middlesex County College in New Jersey, she lives on 106 acres in Middlefield, New York where she and her husband are fixing up another old house, training a new puppy,...
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Julia Gaona
Julia Gaona has been an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in Irvington, New Jersey for the past sixteen years. A first-generation immigrant, born and raised in Moscow, Russia, she came here as a student and earned her second Master's Degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language)...
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Bernard Rothenberg
Bernard Rothenberg is a proud military veteran who was raised in Brooklyn, New York. After starting as a young teen working in supermarkets, he later served in World War II and was in Leipzig, Germany at the time of liberation, April 19, 1945. He served his country for 21 months. Upon returning…
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Benjamin Marshall--Award-Winning Playwright
B. V. Marshall’s plays have earned recognition from HBO New Writers Workshop., New York’s Theatre for a New City, Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ and in play festivals from Alaska to Australia. Recently Plainfield Audiences have seen his plays Five Husbands and Incident at Willow Creek. His...
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Eva R. Wiener –Holocaust Survivor
Eva (Safier) Wiener was one of the youngest passengers on the ship, St. Louis, on its famous Atlantic crossing of 1939. Eva’s parents, seeking escape from Nazi persecution in Germany, obtained passage to Cuba but were denied entry. Eva and her parents were fortunate to be admitted to England…
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Amy Dagliano--CoFounder of Rowan Tree, a coworking and cogrowth community space for women, open to all individuals (EP.06)
Amy is a heart-centered creative, a leader, a business owner, a culture changer, and an idea generator. Together with her best friend of 16+ years, she co-founded Rowan Tree, a coworking and cogrowth community space for women, open to ALL. Here she has created an environment that is warm,...
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James Gaffigan--World-renowned orchestra conductor. Chief Conductor of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (EP.05)
Hailed for the natural ease of his conducting and the compelling insight of his musicianship, James Gaffigan continues to attract international attention and is one of the most outstanding American conductors working today. James Gaffigan is currently the Chief Conductor of the Luzerner...
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Charlie Wachtel - Screenwriter, Academy Award Winner (BlacKkKlansman) (EP.04)
Charlie Wachtel is a Producer and Writer who earned the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BLACKkKLANSMAN (2018). He is also the recipient of the BAFTA , the British version of the Academy Awards. Charlie is currently working on several writing projects with co-writer David Rabinowitz.
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Juliette Tolode—Living the American Dream (EP.03)
Juliette Tolode is an Assistant Nurse Manager at Calvary Hospital/The Dawn Greene Hospice. She has achieved the "American Dream" journeying alone from Benin, Africa to establish a full life with friends and family as an American Citizen.
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Michele Schwartz--Breast Cancer Survivor (EP.02)
Michele Schwartz is a 38 year old elementary school teacher, mother of two boys, ages 5 and 2 years old, and is married to her husband of 10 years. In December of 2018, Michele was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. While going through aggressive treatments, she was determined to be involved…
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Santi Buscemi-Educator, Author, Lecturer (EP.01)
Santi Buscemi is the son of Italian immigrants from Sicily. Former chairperson of the English Department at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey where he still teaches, Santi has authored several college textbooks and translated the literary novels by Luigi Capuana.
About this show
EXTRAordinary People lets you inside the world of the people you may see everyday, but those who have let their light shine onto the world because of their unique talents, contributions, and STORIES. In their own words, each discusses the hardships which they have encountered and what it took for them to rise above the obstacles and make a difference. Join Shirley Wachtel and be inspired by these EXTRAordinary people!
Hosted by
Shirley Wachtel