Stacey Pfeffer

Korth & Shannahan Paints Picture Perfect Homes for 40 Years

August 24, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

In the process of buying a home, it’s widely agreed that a home’s curb appeal is a key purchasing factor. A well-maintained home’s exterior appearance sends a signal to buyers that the owners cared for their property. And one of the most important features of the exterior is a good, neat paint job. That’s where Korth & Shannahan, a 40-year old residential painting and carpentry business with New Castle roots comes in.

A Company with Local Roots

Will Korth, the owner of the business started painting at 14 years old as a summer job while attending Horace Greeley High School. He can still recall the first house he ever painted, a yellow Victorian on Roaring Brook Road in the 1980s. At the time, the company was called Shannahan & Shannahan and run by two local brothers Greg and Kevin who also attended Greeley. They did most of their work within Chappaqua, Mount Kisco and Millwood during the summer. People came to rely on the company because they were honest, hard working teens who made every effort to make the customers satisfied.

Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, Korth held a number of successful sales positions but when Greg offered him the opportunity to buy the company, Korth decided to pursue it and he’s never looked back.

Korth’s company counts notable customers including the Clintons, Clive Davis and the Zabar family. “Painting the Horace Greeley House was certainly a feather in our cap,” notes Korth, who has done it several times over the past four decades. His company’s commitment to high quality workmanship and service results in many repeat customers and long-standing relationships with his customers. He also offers customers a four-year warranty which is double the industry standard.

Currently the company consists of 32 painters and four carpenters who do everything from crown molding to replacing decks and they’ve expanded their customer base to include Southern Westchester towns. But Chappaqua and Armonk homes still account for one-third of his business. “The customer will always get a team I know and trained which ultimately results in consistently happy customers,” says Korth.

Cutting corners isn’t part of Korth’s mentality. When his team preps for a paint job, they sand rather than scrape the old paint which is more labor intensive but results in a smoother finish. He will also at times consult with a color consultant if a customer can’t decide on which color to choose. “The worst thing is to make a client feel pressured to choose a color,” explains Korth.

Painting Through the Pandemic

Like many other home improvement companies, Korth has seen an increase in demand for his services during the pandemic. “People are home more now than ever and really seeing the value in investing in their home,” notes Korth. When the pandemic started, Korth ensured that all his employees took COVID safety protocol courses.

Korth is proud of his company’s “squeaky clean reputation.” Whether it is learning the latest COVID protocols or becoming certified EPA lead renovators, Korth cares deeply about the safety of his customers and his employees. “Lead paint can be particularly dangerous to young children and is actually way more toxic than asbestos,” explains Korth. “If you are getting rid of lead paint, you don’t want to be sanding it off and get it on the children’s swing set. It needs to be removed properly to ensure everyone’s safety but it isn’t as costly as many customers initially think.”

Painting Tips

Most paint jobs tend to last eight to ten years. If you are thinking of painting your home in the near future, Korth suggests painting a few rooms each year and asking to see the company’s liability insurance. Fall is actually a great time to paint as Korth’s crew continues to do exterior work through early November so that your home will be picture perfect just in time for the holiday season and beyond. For more info or to contact, visit: korthpainting.com

“Today I am Grateful” – Podcast Launched by Local Student

August 17, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

If you are one of the 100 million people who listened to a podcast while stuck at home during COVID, you are not alone. The medium’s popularity has grown exponentially and industry experts anticipate the number of listeners to exceed 125 million by next year.

While you don’t need to be a sound engineer to launch your own podcast, it does take commitment and dedication to expand your listener base and produce interesting content. And that’s exactly what rising Armonk-based 8th grader Anika Bobra did during the pandemic. Launched in December 2020, Bobra’s weekly podcast titled “Today I Am Grateful” focuses on leaders in various fields from education to medicine to non-profits. She interviews one per episode and has had notable guests such as County Executive George Latimer, Senator Shelley Mayer as well as President and CEO of White Plains Hospital Susan Fox.

Bobra asks these community leaders how they have faced the challenges of the pandemic and what they have learned by living through it. She has also profiled many hyperlocal leaders such as Leisa Palmer, a former teacher of Bobra at Wampus Elementary School, District Superintendent Jen Lamia and Peter Simonsen, Police Chief in Armonk. Lamia’s podcast was one of Bobra’s most popular episodes as was the one featuring Christina Brisson, affectionately dubbed the Vax Fairy.

As a student at Random Farms Theater Group, Bobra honed her public speaking skills. “I love to use my voice and I thought a podcast would be a great way to highlight and honor members of our community and share their extraordinary stories,” says Bobra. Bobra credits New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin’s “Happier” podcast as a key influence on her as she conceptualized her own podcast.

A lot of frontline workers were interviewed on Bobra’s podcast and she was keenly aware of having diverse voices represented. While doctors and nurses were interviewed, she also sought out other perspectives such as that of Mr. John DeCicco owner of DeCicco and Sons grocery stores which went above and beyond at keeping both their customers and employees safe during the pandemic.

Bobra estimates that she spends about two to three hours researching a potential guest, an hour editing the interview and then uploading it into a short podcast that averages eight to 10 minutes. With help from her parents, Bobra researched different platforms on Spotify and ultimately decided on Anchor. Her podcast streams on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. In terms of equipment, Bobra’s set up is pretty basic–a school laptop, microphone and Zoom to conduct the interviews.

The concept of gratitude was instilled in Bobra at an early age. Her parents who are both doctors have always emphasized that the secret for happiness is gratitude and appreciating everything you have instead of what you don’t. “You are never too young to be grateful,” notes Bobra.

Bobra believes that her sense of gratitude for these community leaders comes across in her initial communications with a potential guest and has helped her secure influential guests.

Asked if she is an aspiring journalist, Bobra is undecided but she has found it very rewarding to interview people from different career paths. To date, she found the interviews with Senator Mayer and Sheila Patel, CEO of vegan skincare line Graffiti Collective to be her favorites and she has plans on the horizon to interview sources from outside the US as “gratitude is a universal feeling.”

When she’s not out playing on the tennis courts, scheduling interviews or editing her podcast, Bobra has plans on starting an Instagram page for her podcast this summer and possibly a book. With her youthful energy and passion for promoting positivity, Bobra is set to turn all her dreams into reality.

Bobra’s podcast is available on:

Apple Podcast

Spotify Podcast

Flourishing, Despite COVID: Musician & Consummate Artist Drew Bordeaux

April 2, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

Drew Bordeaux recalls a time when the music scene in Northern Westchester and its environs was bustling. The Mount Kisco born and bred singer/songwriter who plays both guitar and violin would play upwards of 150 gigs a year at local venues including the now defunct Winston’s in Mount Kisco, Village Social in Mount Kisco and Lucy’s in Pleasantville. At these smaller venues, he enjoyed getting to know his fan base. But he also played larger venues in the tri-state area with some well-known musicians including Lauryn Hill, Boz Skaggs, KT Tunstall and the Gin Blossoms.

All this, in addition to holding down a job in his boutique digital marketing firm, Silver Rush Media, and doing fashion photo shoots and portraits of celebrities like actor Kiefer Sutherland, and musicians including Grace Potter, Ani DiFranco and Steve Earle. To say that he’s a Renaissance man is an understatement. And COVID hasn’t stopped him from creating and coming up with innovative solutions to continue his many creative pursuits albeit in new formats.

A Musician at Heart

The eloquent Harvard educated Bordeaux first fell in love with playing violin in first grade. He recalls many afternoons spent at the Westchester Conservatory of Music and Hoff-Barthelson Music School. Growing up blues music was a fixture in his household. “BB King was my first concert,” he recalls.

After picking up guitar and playing in some indie bands in college, he credits musicians such as John Mayer and Dave Matthews for influencing his music. He played at several Manhattan venues in the eponymous Bordeaux Group post college such as The Bitter End and the National Underground. The managers from those venues recommended him for several gigs which led to a jam-packed gig schedule “much to the chagrin of my friends and family,” notes Bordeaux.

A Pandemic Pivot

But of course all of that came to a screeching halt in March of 2020 and with that Bordeaux’s gigs. In the beginning of the pandemic, he was literally itching to perform. “Every day felt like a year.” But after talking with his fellow creatives, he decided to experiment and try new platforms to perform. By April, he was performing from his Tarrytown home via Livestream. “This gave me the opportunity to be in pajamas one minute and performing the next.”

Bordeaux used several of his Livestream performances to raise funds for causes near and dear to his heart such as MusiCares COVID-19 Relief, a Grammy created program to help music industry professionals during the pandemic and also a local beloved landmark, Tarrytown Music Hall. “It was great to have family and friends donate too to these causes who normally might not be able to see me perform.”

A silver lining of the pandemic is that Bordeaux has had time to finally start working on an album which will be released this spring titled Impulse/Instinct. Bordeaux fans will be happy to hear him playing loop-based acoustic guitar a la Ed Sheeran. “If you’ve seen me perform, it won’t deviate too much from that.” He’s been busy researching platforms for him to release the album himself like Spotify.

He’s also found that the pandemic can actually be liberating for creatives like himself. “Now is the time that we can literally do anything–all preconceived notions about what would or wouldn’t work have gone out the window.” For instance, he has been doing virtual Zoom photo shoots. One photo shoot featuring local Chappaqua fashion model Danielle Zinaich wound up in Vogue.

Elevate20 Photography Project

Bordeaux also used his photography skills this past summer for a photo series project he titled Elevate20. Bordeaux’s wife Tammy started working at the Tribeca Film Festival about three weeks before the pandemic hit. They watched a Tribeca-produced documentary in partnership with MCM about the music and fashion scene in NYC together called “The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion” and Bordeaux was instantly inspired by this amazing community of musicians and fashion designers.

“The Elevate20 series was the nexus of my photography with the Black Lives Matters movement,” he explained. Bordeaux posted to his Instagram this summer that he was looking to do pro bono photo shoots for 20 Black creatives. So for instance if a model needed to update his/her “look book” or a musician needed a new album cover, Bordeaux would photograph it. “I wanted to uplift people and do my best work for people of color. I met amazing musicians and designers through the project.” Photos from the series can be viewed on drewbordeaux.com.

Raising Awareness About Racial Inequality

The subject of race also propelled him to write several essays on the topic after the George Floyd killing this past spring. “When the video came out, I didn’t want to watch it. I was cynical enough to know how it ends. But when I did see it, it was a turning point.

I had friends calling me and asking me what they could do to help. My Facebook became a diary and chronicle of my thoughts and feelings about the social unrest that was happening and a way to have a dialogue with people [about race] at a time when I didn’t necessarily feel it was that safe to go out and protest.”

His social media feed and essays caught the attention of editors at Bedford & New Canaan Magazine and they approached him about becoming the arts/culture editor there as well as photographing for various stories. “Any chance I have to be creative this year, I’m like, let’s go,” he explained.

Obviously, Bordeaux has a lot on his plate but when he has downtime, he enjoys spending time at the Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow (TASH) farmers market of which his wife is co-president. With both in creative fields, they’ve had to pivot and rethink how to approach their jobs. “The Tribeca Film Festival this year is going to be this immersive and reimagined experience. I can’t wait,” he said.

Like all of us, Bordeaux is waiting for some sense of normalcy to resume. Once Covid is behind us, he wants to go to his favorite restaurant Mint in Tarrytown for brunch with his wife. “I just want to sit in our window seat and feel transported like you are in Europe.” He also wants to go to a rock concert. “That was one of the last things I did before the pandemic started and I remember standing there thinking this is the last time I am doing this for a while. I just want to feel the music wash over me again.”

More Locals with a Writing Flair: Kat Nemec

April 2, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

Graphic artist Kat Nemec didn’t originally intend to write a blog. A few years ago, she took her college age son on a cross country trip to the West Coast to help him relocate there. Along the way she chronicled their journey on Facebook with twice daily photos and posts. She posted frequently to keep her daughter updated on their journey as she felt mom guilt that her daughter was missing out on the experience. Facebook readers liked her posts so much that they encouraged her to keep writing and start a blog. One of her Facebook followers was writing coach Wendy Fried who owns Pleasantville-based Wordcraft. She strongly encouraged Nemec to start a blog and suggested the Swoon name as Nemec frequently used that word or signed off her posts with it.

Nemec describes herself as an over-sharer who uses a lot of adjectives and prefers stream of consciousness writing. Topics covered include childhood memories, her parents love affair and the joy of cooking. She is not afraid though to tackle more difficult subjects such as talking about sex with your kids, 9/11, and even her family’s experience with the Armenian genocide.

“I’m not a writer,” claims Nemec but after reading her refreshingly honest posts you may feel differently. “People are savvy and they will respond to something that is truthful and comes from the heart.” Nemec isn’t interested in amassing a huge number of followers, monetizing her blog or cross-promoting products. She writes her blog as a creative pursuit. “I’m not doing this for fame or fortune. When you do something creative for yourself the need for approval goes away and the best stuff is going to come out.”

Before starting her blog in February 2020, she read books on the subject that suggested she had to write 2-3 posts per week with no dry spots. It didn’t work with her schedule initially. When COVID hit though the timing proved to be fortuitous as a lot of her workload decreased and she was able to write more frequently. “If I don’t feel it, I’m not writing it,” explains Nemec. For example, this past October and November she was depressed about the upcoming holidays and not being able to be with her son. “We are a big holiday family. Writing at that time just wasn’t in my bandwidth.”

As someone who works in a creative field, Nemec encourages others who want to start a creative pursuit to do it for themselves. “If people respond and like it, then that is just the cherry on top,” she says.

From Kat’s Swooning: “T-Rex and Kong”

“Pleasantville is about 30 miles north of Manhattan. More suburb than vacation destination, people fleeing the city due to the pandemic drive right past our exit while heading upstate. We do have one new family since lockdown…a family of dinosaurs. First, it was just one lone T-Rex, checking things out for the rest of the clan, he* ran through the neighborhood feeling out his welcome. We did not tell him to go back to where he came from, we embraced his uniqueness. After a few weeks, the rest of the family showed up. They are a healthy group…some days they run together, other times they take a solitary stroll. Their presence brings joy and laughter during this time of ever growing fog and confusion. T-Rex sightings posted in real time on FB update us when they are out and about…they are on Romer Avenue, they just turned onto Bedford Road…quick go look! The family made an appearance at the farmers market and at the teacher appreciation day drive by at the elementary school. They remind me of one Halloween during elementary school…when I was kidnapped by the Son of Kong….

People who are willing to be ridiculous…are gifts to the universe. I would like to imagine, years from now, someone will be writing their memories of being a child during “The Pandemic of 2020”. There was no school, no parties, no trips to the pool, no playdates, and no grandparent hugs… but there was a T-Rex, who jogged through town, spreading so so so…very much joy.”

How Locals with a Writing Flair are Gaining Fans

February 18, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

There are currently 600 million blogs on the Internet and more than 30 million bloggers in the U.S. Without too much trouble, you can discover and enjoy the work of bloggers (whose ages run the gamut!) located in our hometowns writing about everything from their passion for pizza to parenting dilemmas. The common denominator for success? Prose composed in their own authentic voices.

In this edition, we start with two young bloggers, one a college aged student (a Greeley grad and regular Inside Press contributor) and a second, an Armonk-based fourth-grade student!

Megan Klein, Chappaqua

Megan Klein, a junior at Boston University, started her blog freshman year of college as a way to help her process the transition to college life. She ultimately transferred after her freshman year to Boston University. The process made her want to destigmatize transferring, and other unpredicted college road bumps in her posts, which she says many people still view as taboo.

“Everyone tells you that your four years in college are the best years of your life. But that’s not true for everyone, so I started writing about that,” said Klein. Originally the blog was a distracting outlet for her, doubling as a way to build her writing portfolio as a journalism student. While she initially didn’t tell many about the blog, that eventually changed. A year later she asked people for submissions of times where college was hard and got immediate positive feedback from long lost friends and other followers on Instagram telling her how relatable she was.

The first section she developed was titled “No Lifeguard on Duty”. “I called it that because this really is the first time that you are own without your parents,” notes Klein. Then College Confessions stemmed from the submissions, ranging in aspects of college life from Greek life to friends to transitions. She also added a Freshman Survival Guide section.

Klein is always looking for ways to make her blog more interactive and expand her readership by uploading photos, adding links and buttons. She also created stress balls and stickers for purchase with her blog’s tagline “Smile. It’s good for you.” This year she also started a podcast called Happiness Talks, where she interviews “positivity professionals” on various topics such as cognitive behavioral therapy and even therapy dogs.

Klein hopes to one day compile her experiences into a self-help book similar to the You are A Badass series but for the college set. “I’d love it if it was a book that parents gave to their kids when they entered college,” she notes but for now she is happy about the blog’s growth from 1,600 visitors when she started in 2019 to 4,000 visitors this past year from more than 33 different countries. Acknowledging that those numbers aren’t astronomical, she still is proud of what it’s accomplished. “It’s all baby steps,” she says, but no doubt a part of her journey on her pathway to adulthood, albeit online.

Keira O’Sullivan, Armonk

This fourth grader at Wampus Elementary School is a pizza aficionado. After trying the perfect trifecta of bread, tomato sauce and cheese at the tender age of three, pizza quickly became her favorite food. O’Sullivan decided to start her own pizza blog after reading an article on the best local pizzerias in Westchester Magazine in 2018. She loves trying out different pizzerias in the county often accompanied by her father, Kevin. To date, she has visited more than 40 pizzerias and tried their classic slices along with an occasional side order of garlic knots. She’s even stopped at pizzerias on vacations in Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore and Upstate NY. She likes the fact that writing her blog has helped her become more computer literate and brush up on her photography skills.

One of the more unusual qualities that O’Sullivan likes to write about is the pizza’s “floppiness” which she says happens when the crust flops over and you can fold the pizza in half. “I like a little bit of flop and sweet sauce but no air bubbles in the crust.” She rates the pizza on a scale of 1-10 and is a tough critic claiming that she will never give out a 10 because no pizza is perfect.

COVID hasn’t stopped her as pizza is the ultimate casual food and perfect for curbside pick-up. She’s still updating the blog and while she has no plans of becoming a restaurant critic she hopes her blog points people in the right direction to good pizza. “There is some good pizza and there is some bad and I just wanted people to know what’s good,” she explains. Thanks for the advice Keira!

Excerpts from both blogs follow!

From Megan Klein’s ‘Operation Happiness’

You know when a book changes your life? Not to sound dramatic, which we all know I am, but after years of hearing people say that, I finally found the one.

It’s called 14,000 Things to be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer. It’s literally a book filled with an ongoing list of 14,000 things that have made her happy throughout the years: squooshing ice-cream sandwiches, TV football on mute, a good Monday and the movie We Bought a Zoo are just four of thousands.

I’ve always been one to keep a journal. My first one was a gift from my sister for Christmas one year. It was blue and had a big M on it and was from Justice. It was a gold mine of middle school gossip. I wrote down a list of my fifth grade crushes. I wrote down a list of the most annoying people in my class, girls and boys. Too bad I haven’t been able to find that sucker in years – Mom, I give you permission to tear apart my room to find it.

I eventually graduated to leather bound books, where I tried to keep a daily record of what happened and how I was feeling.

And honestly, I now realize that the way I was journaling was counterproductive. Yes, I was writing down my thoughts and my feelings. But, I found that if those thoughts or feelings were negative, I was just re-hashing them on paper instead of letting them go.

Then I found this book.

Every night I write five things down that made me happy that day, whether it be something I ate, something I did, a song I like, or if nothing comes to mind, I think back on happy memories and write those down. I call it Take 5 Write 5 journaling.

Here are a few things I have written down in my book: a hot shower after a cold rainy soccer game, ABC Family Harry Potter weekend marathons at home, sourdough bread and falling asleep to the Dear John piano soundtrack.

Now it’s your turn.

For more blog posts from Megan, visit www.operationhappinessblog.com

Reviews from Keira O’Sullivan’s Pizza Ratings

Hartsdale House of Pizza
Rating = 8.9

We got a plain slice, tomato slice, and some kind of pepper cheese slice, which my Dad ate. The tomato slice was really good and the plain slice was good. The garlic knots were HUGE. I couldn’t really eat the garlic knots because I had a wiggly tooth. My mom wanted to try this place for a while. I recommend this place. It was good.

Villagio Pizzeria – Tuckahoe, NY
Rating = 7.4

I was going to review Roma Pizza because Westchester Magazine said it’s the best pizza in Tuckahoe. But they were closed so my mom went to this place instead because she thought it looked good for me. I got a plain cheese slice and a focaccia slice that just had tomato sauce on it. The plain slice was pretty good. It was not floppy. I liked the amount of cheese even though I sometimes take it off after 5 bites. The sauce was good too.

The focaccia slice only had one chunky tomato on it which I was not very happy about. Overall I would go there again and recommend it.

Sal’s Pizzeria, Mamaroneck, NY
Rating = 9.2

This pizza was really good. We got a plain cheese and a Sicilian. It was really good. It had the right amount of flop. Bread was really good. Just really good pizza in general. I liked everything about it. I would highly recommend this pizza. It was so good. My mom and dad have been telling me about this place for a while.

For more blog posts from Keira, visit, www.keiraspizzarating.home.blog