Close Up Radio
Close Up Radio with veteran award-winning broadcast TV and radio hosts/media personalities Jim Masters and Doug Llewelyn is an exciting, informative, entertaini
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Close Up Radio Welcomes Back Infant Apparel Innovator Janet DeMaria of Skadoosie
Placerville, CA - Many famous discoveries were made pretty much by accident, such as penicillin when mold grew on a piece of bread or the microwave oven when a candy bar melted in a radar technician’s pocket. This was also the case for Janet Demaria and her Skadoosie infant wear.Janet had a lengthy career as a designer in the home furnishings industry at top named retailers but left when her husband was stricken with Mesothelioma, a rare cancer. After losing him, being around babies helped boost Janet’s spirits and she began working as a caregiver for infants. As she tried to dress them with aging hands, she realized how hard it was to fasten those little snaps and get a child ready to go out. This was the impetus for the Skadoosie, a re-formulated onesie that is not only easier to get little ones in and out of, but it also enables dads, young siblings, and arthritic grandmas to be more involved in the changing process.Janet finally got the patent for her product, which she named Skadoosie in 2016. Today she is an active lobbyist in Washington, DC for patent processes and protecting the ideas of inventors and entrepreneurs like herself.A Skadoosie, she says, is a revolutionary infant bodysuit designed to simplify things for parents. It differs from the conventional bodysuits in its design and materials. It is a product intended to make the first months with your baby as stress-free as possible. Janet met a new Mom at a Seattle baby show and offered her a Skadoosie to her baby who was suffering from a severe diaper rash and clearly was uncomfortable. After the change, Mom declared that her baby had never been that calm and quiet after a change!The Skadoosie products have experienced moderate sales success, mostly because there is not much repeat purchase of something sized for infants and not all retailers carry their product. The line did have an upsurge in sales during COVID, when it was important to keep fragile newborns warm and cozy. It is also cherished by modern parents who seek out something that is made from organic materials, breathable cotton, and produced here in the USA. There is even a rear pocket so a diaper can be checked without undressing. The bodysuit goes on like a blouse, no squishing of a delicate head. No metal that could cause irritation on sensitive new skin. I’m excited to have created something that is both cute and practical.”Janet’s company was launched with her own funds, and she fights daily to keep a one-woman-show going. She cites her greatest challenge as keeping ahead of the competition in changing times. Also, it’s a struggle not to get ripped off by copycats. These are some of the reasons she has been recognized time and again as a woman of vigor and empowerment. Janet also received an award as Top 100 Inventor of 2023, The National Parenting Seal of Approval and Mom’s Choice Award. She further deserves applause for donating a portion of every purchase to research asbestos cancer (mesothelioma) that her husband succumbed to. She says our driving force, our why, our reason for waking up and getting down to things every day.Janet had the insight to improve a product that had not been changed for 100 years. She went on to lead operations, marketing, product development and sales of her infant bodysuits. She also oversee the prints on the suits, such as animals and cars, which can be customized on request. These cute, smart garments were named a top pick by Parents Magazine in 2018.Janet has new ambitions now, with an idea for a product line extension, continued D.C. speaking engagements related to patent efforts, and aims to travel for pleasure (a luxury she did not have as a single mom.) She is also working on a jingle and children’s book to help promote her flagship product. Hear Janet talk about past accomplishments, current struggles, and future aims on her pre-holiday show.For more information about Janet and her infant products, please visit www.skadoosieusa.com
Part 2: Close Up Radio Welcomes Back Topnotch Social Worker Doris Iheagwam
Brooklyn, NY - Doris Iheagwam (pronounced He-ah-gwam) is a noteworthy woman, not just because of her work history but also her personal story and ethics. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from CUNY College in Brooklyn, where she was first exposed to the social work field and realized it was the perfect calling for someone with her love of family and helpful nature. She went on to earn an MSW at New York University and take additional courses in Human Behavior and Social Policy at Fordham University. She has pursued specialized training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the University of South Carolina. Doris is recognized as an asset to parents, families and other professionals, and conducts workshops in numerous educational and community settings.Doris has been recognized for excellence and achievement by media (like Who’s Who), the American Red Cross Transitional Housing Program, and others. Most recently, she was named by this radio station as one of their Empowering Women in America.“My values stem from my family. As a young girl they took me to church and enrolled me, my brother, and my sister in Holy Innocence Catholic School. This instilled values in me-- like service, compassion, and the worth of human life. It helped me set the direction for my career. I even went to a special high school for the helping professions.”For one still fairly young, Doris has compiled an impressive family activities and casework history in programs from The Stanley S Isaacs Beacon Center, Jewish Board of Family and Child Services, The American Red Cross, The NY Foster Care System, the New York City Board of Education, where social workers help students and their families, and Platinum Community Care.Doris has conducted preventive services and family counseling, worked with disabled people, and served as a school-based parent liaison. She had a record 141 students when she was a social worker in a temporary housing program! Doris also ran programs for families from other countries, helping them find asylum, secure work permits, and apply for higher education. When she began her career, she did not think about working with such populations, but quickly realized this was another group she could help.“I fought hard for every achievement. I tell people never lose hope. Just stay focused on where you want to be. We all experience challenges at some point in time but still stay determined. If you have hope and drive, you can achieve any goal you set.”That advice is as helpful to other professional women, the dreamers and doers, as well as the students and teachers under her counsel. We salute Doris as a compassionate social worker dedicated to providing essential services that help people overcome challenges, navigate community resources, and find support for a better future. Her unwavering commitment to assist vulnerable populations and advocate for their rights makes her a human services star.For more information about Doris and her multi-layered career visit her profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/diheagwam/
Part 2: Close Up Radio Welcomes Back Jeremy Haster of HGP Investments
Bradenton, FL - Jeremy Haster is on a mission to help organizations leverage the power of strategic intelligence to strengthen decision-making, enhance resilience, and unlock new market opportunities. As a recognized strategic thinker and thought leader, Mr. Haster attributes his success to an unwavering work ethic — a principle that has guided him through a remarkably diverse career spanning investment research and analysis, risk intelligence, copywriting and specialty contracting.Since 2024, he has served as principal of HGP Investments (the advisory practice of Highpoint Growth Partners LLC) in Sarasota, Florida, delivering specialized project contracting and consulting solutions that enhance the value of your organizational assets and market dominance while safeguarding them from internal vulnerabilities and external risks. He leads strategic research and advisory initiatives, drawing on proprietary data analysis and market intelligence techniques to evaluate financial trends and identify promising new innovations, opportunities, investments and blind spots. His approach is rooted in uncovering high-quality, low-risk opportunities that create long-term value for clients and partners. By combining rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods with strategic insight, he has built a reputation for delivering reliable, intelligent and highly accurate strategic assessments, action plans, contingency plans and emergency response plans that are easy to read and understand, easy to use and implement and are immediately actionable.Jeremy emphasizes how Strategic Intelligence has become essential to modern corporate decision-making. Organizations can use intelligence-driven insights to navigate uncertainty, make smarter choices, and stay ahead of emerging risks. Jeremy exemplifies how Strategic Risk Management—when implemented correctly—acts as a performance multiplier, protecting organizational value while driving stronger results for stakeholders. Together, these disciplines form a powerful blueprint for building companies that are both adaptive and resilient.Long before entering the world of finance, Mr. Haster demonstrated a talent for navigating high-stakes environments. In 2017, he founded Specialty Contracting Group, LLC, in the Denver metropolitan area. His work in threat identification, disaster planning, and risk mitigation has provided essential support to clients facing complex recovery scenarios after unexpected disasters. Under his leadership, the firm handled and led specialized contracting projects, including government-supported research projects involving covert information operations, open-source intelligence, and advanced AI systems development in the area of algorithms and influence campaigns.He also serves as a non-executive director for R3D Roofing, LLC and K2 Disaster Response in Golden, Colorado. Since 2017, he has contributed to strategic planning for these organizations, which specialize in disaster restoration, including flood, fire, and mold remediation as well as contents recovery and rebuild services.Earlier, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Haster was president of CW Inc. in Boulder, Colorado, where he oversaw design-build and management of retail environments for multi-unit seasonal retail concepts in Colorado and Wisconsin and advanced the company’s direct-response advertising capabilities. His creative leadership helped position the firm as an innovator in high-impact “pop-up” retail environments.Earlier still, from 2007 to 2012, he worked as a real estate investment specialist with Westernbay Real Estate Investments, LLC in the Denver area, identifying profitable opportunities and executing successful transactions. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2007, he served as a business finance broker at Capstone Financial Associates, LLC, helping businesses secure essential funding and originating residential mortgage loans.His entrepreneurial mindset emerged early. During his college years, Mr. Haster launched Storm Fireworks Inc., a seasonal retail chain, and operated a summer painting franchise. These ventures gave him firsthand experience building and running companies — a foundation that continues to shape his business instincts today. He has been blessed with a lifetime of experiences.With his down-to-earth practical approach, Jeremy is a pro at what he does. Throughout his distinguished career, he has been active in several professional organizations, including the Risk Management Society, the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification, and the Veblen Directors Program. These affiliations reflect his commitment to industry best practices and executive leadership.Mr. Haster holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also briefly attended Concord Law School before choosing to pursue a different professional path. His academic background supports his abilities in proprietary research, predictive intelligence, and business development.His career, however, is not limited to professional achievements. Mr. Haster remains civically engaged as a supporter of the Christian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado. He values family life with his spouse, Kristyn, and their three children — one daughter and two sons. Outside of work, he enjoys travel, food, reading, writing, and political science, interests that fuel both his creativity and analytical strengths.Looking forward, Mr. Haster plans to continue his behind-the-scenes work in information operations and AI system innovation while expanding his public presence through publishing and speaking engagements. He also intends to pursue opportunities to serve on corporate boards, further broadening the impact of his leadership and expertise.For more information, please visit: www.hgpinvestments.com
Close Up Radio Spotlights Mikhail A. Urinson of Ark Quant Crypto and Legacy Quant
Miami, FL - There is more market data available today than ever before—and for most retail traders, it’s overwhelming and results in “analysis-paralysis”. Data, software, processing, and analysis all require significant capital expenditures and professional skills. Humans simply can’t process that level of complexity, only machines can. That’s why 85% of institutional trading today is done by algorithms, not humans. This results in retail traders’ significant disadvantages against institutions.For the past 5 years Dr. Mikhail Urinson has been actively engaged in solving this problem. In 2024 he founded Ark Quant Crypto. In 2025 he joined forces with four other experienced quantitative traders, developers and FinTech visioners to extend his reach through foundation of Legacy Quant. In both ventures Dr. Urinson leads quantitative research, investment thesis determination, models and strategies development, evaluation, live deployment, as well as ongoing improvement.Together with his Team Dr. Urinson is building hybrid of Research Lab, Quant Platform and Education Hub. By merging over 20 years of institutional expertise, quantitative discipline with cutting-edge AI, they empower retail traders to make precise, data-backed decisions — free from emotion, noise, or guesswork.Strategic Partnerships, both internal and external, enabled Dr. Urinson to combine leading industry practices and domain specific expertise, rather than rebuilding the wheel from scratch. This approach allowed Legacy Quant to significantly accelerate development, and position for scalable mass adoption in 2026.At the same time strategic partnerships have enabled Dr. Urinson to expand beyond original horizons. The platform was renamed to reflect its multi-asset trading intelligence framework, moving beyond the previously narrow focus on digital assets. Today Legacy Quant operates across Cryptocurrencies, Equities, Futures, and FOREX markets.In addition to models and strategies developed in-house, the Platform provides strictly secure environment for verified external Developers to safely deploy quantitative trading strategies in full autopilot mode without logic and code being disclosed to the End-users. This feature closely aligns with Dr. Urinson goal - enabling wider access for retail traders and family offices to quantitative trading strategies currently mostly available to institutional investors and/or used privately.Another key feature that Dr. Urinson actively advocates for and implements throughout his professional journey is enabling maximum level of transparency while stimulating highly competitive environment among Developers with elements of gamification (e.g. Leaderboards). The Platform empowers End-user for educational and time-efficient decision-making based on verified historical performance metrics combined with useful institutional-grade investment insights and comparison analysis.Dr. Urinson leads Legacy Quant internal research and development processes, as well as actively collaborating with external developers from around Globe screening for high performance quantitative strategies. Considering institutional background he believes in diversification through market-regime adoptive investment portfolios, and strictly against going all in on a single thesis independently of how strong it may look. Similar solutions exist—eToro is one example—but they typically provide software only, leaving traders to figure out what works and what don’t. That requires a level of quantitative sophistication that most retail traders don’t have time to develop.Out of all Dr. Urinson highly values independent verification and audit in investment decision making process, as well as performance results. Prior to public deployment all strategies are qualified by internal Investment committee. In 2026 Legacy Quant is launching Live-stream “reality trading show” with 100 000$ starting capital and hosted by founders Dr. Urinson and Ziggy Zeigler to showcase validated strategies comparative performance, Leaderboards, our portfolio allocation, performance metrics, and historic/current trades. Dr. Urinson’s philosophy - follow data, not emotions — and back your models with real capital.Dr. Urinson started his career in traditional finance during the aftermath of the Dot-com crash and Enron collapse (2000–2002), he quickly recognized the critical importance of systematic data-driven analysis, disciplined risk management and quantitative investment decision-making across the industries and jurisdictions.These early market disruptions, followed by the 2008 Global Financial Collapse, along with in 20 years of interdisciplinary experience in institutional trading, bad debt restructuring, private equity, real estate and construction, wealth management, and, most recently, deep dive into digital currencies, have profoundly shaped Dr. Urinson into a quantitative decision-maker and risk-conscious investor.With PhD in Statistics & Economics, Master’s of Science in Big Data Analytics, and Bachelor’s in Finance & Accounting, Dr. Urinson brings a unique blend of academic excellence and hands-on expertise in financial engineering, risk management, and ML/AI-powered decision-making.Dr. Urinson comes from a world where algorithms are owned by the institutions and strictly protected as their intellectual property. Quant developers working in such institutions are limited by non-disclosures and non-competes that don’t allow them to share their research for up to 5 years after they leave institutional trading desks. Independent quant developers are also highly protective of their intellectual property since it often takes them years to gain the edge. That’s why intellectual property security is a key priority at Legacy Quant.Throughout 2025 Dr. Urinson continued to establish himself as Thought Leader in the field of Quantitative Finance. He has prepared several manuscripts and scientific studies, to be published in academic Journals early in 2026. Throughout the year Dr. Urinson actively participated as Featured Speaker and Special Guest at Major Industry Events: QuantStrats 2025 (NY), University of Miami Blockchain Series (Coral Gables, Florida), Wealth Management EDGE (Boca Raton), BizMatcher Global (Miami, Florida), Blockchain Conference (November 2025, Hard Rock Hotel, Miami, Florida).And the year hasn’t ended yet for Dr. Urinson. On 28th of December he will be speaking at the American Business Expo XMAS in Aventura, Florida. In his session, he will be sharing how his quantitative frameworks help cut through noise, transform intuition into structured intelligence, and shape market expectations for 2026 and beyond.In November 2025 Dr. Urinson was included in Marquis Who is Who biographical listee in recognition of his leadership and professional accomplishments in FinTech and beyond. He joined the longstanding global network of distinguished leaders. In December 2025 Dr. Urinson received U.S. Congress recognition acknowledging his contributions to entrepreneurship, innovation, and business development in the United States.Looking forward into 2026, Dr. Urinson plans to continue actively contributing to Legacy Quant expansion as an institutional-grade trading intelligence and copy-trading ecosystem powered by advanced AI/ML. The roadmap includes ongoing enhancement of proprietary quantitative models, deeper automation, and expansion of quant developer and traders’ networks, combined with significant improvements to user experience.With around 100,000 current followers Legacy Quant aims to achieve their first 1,000 paid subscribers by the end of 2026. At the same time Legacy Quant plans to expand into HNW, Family office, and Institutional worlds. They are also currently in active talks with several trading platforms about technology integration.With such ambitious plans for the year ahead let’s wish Legacy Quant Team good luck and hope to see them again next year to report on the progress and achievements!For more information about our guest, please visit www.arkquantcrypto.com
Close Up Radio Spotlights Book Publishing Expert Jennifer Welsch of JLW Publishing Services
Massillon, OH - Jennifer L. Welsch is the owner of JLW Publishing Services, a one-stop source for everything an author needs to prepare a manuscript for publication and sale. She has been recognized as an empowering woman by radio teams, clients, and friends for her exceptional ability to help others realize their dreams. In fact, Jennifer was so adept at her role that when she was no longer with the publishing services company where she served as project director for over 20 years, clients sought her support and encouraged her to start her own company.Jennifer’s background in the book publishing industry includes experience at Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, where she coordinated with authors, publishers, and production staff to ensure projects were completed on time and within budget. She truly brings books to life!Jennifer oversees and coordinates the entire process—from raw manuscript to eBook production, including securing Library of Congress approvals, ISBN numbers, and Copyrights. She offers a wide array of services and has brought to life a diverse range of books, including true crime, memoirs, and works by first-time authors. Jennifer collaborates with authors and consulting experts on all aspects of interior design, cover design, typesetting, copyediting, proofreading, indexing, copyrights, and eBooks.“I provide a service. The work is offered a la carte and customized to each author’s preferences and budgets.”Jennifer emphasizes that her expertise makes the publishing process smoother for authors than going it alone. She guides, supports, and advises clients from start to finish, supplying valuable information at no extra cost. Reviews on her website highlight how important her guidance has been for many authors.“I stake my reputation on each book. I want my customers to succeed. They felt the same about me. I took the plunge. It was daunting at first but so rewarding now.”Jennifer encourages others to pursue their dreams, regardless of fears or lack of business experience. She believes in leveraging one’s strengths and seeking additional resources when needed. Her strong ethics set her apart; she would never act unethically with a title or a watermarked file and would never sell cast-off books on the side.One client, media personality Howie Carr, says: “Jen Welsch is by far the most competent person I have ever worked with in the book publishing industry. She can handle everything for you! She has improved all of my books, and her suggestions invariably make the finished product better.”Jennifer had a distinguished career with Bookmasters/Baker & Taylor Publisher Services before launching her own venture. She is confident in managing projects from manuscript to print-ready PDFs. Many customers use her final products for Amazon, print-on-demand printers, or commercial publishers.“It takes a lot of up-front work to produce a book. We help you do it right, and you will have a polished, professional-looking book in the end.”While coping with the loss of her father and building her publishing dream, Jennifer has also worked part-time in other fields. She aims to one day devote herself solely to JLW Publishing Services. Her efforts are gaining recognition; she was recently featured in POWER Magazine and has received many rave reviews and endorsements on LinkedIn. Our radio team has also named her one of America’s Empowering Women.Learn more about Jennifer L. Welsch’s life and career in the December podcast with this publishing powerhouse.For more information on Jennifer’s career, visit: www.jlwpublishingservices.com
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