Don’t seek superficial compliments. 
Seek coaching and real feedback
from people who appreciate
Authentic Speaking.

Our collective background is in broadcasting, sales, marketing and management.  Our faculty teaches an innovative curriculum that emphasizes engagement and impact--beyond sheer expertise.  Our single-minded passion is to help business executives to speak to one another in an authentic, memorable way.

Interact founder Lou Solomon is a broadcast veteran who established her career as Public Relations Director for WSM-AM, Home of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.  She was also Public Relations Director for Gaylord Syndicom, the syndicated television arm of Gaylord Broadcasting. 

Solomon was Marketing Director for Cox Broadcasting during the dominance and national recognition of award-winning WSOC-FM103.  She left broadcast in 1993 and began a PR consulting business, which evolved into Interact by 2000.

Lou is the immediate past president of Leadership Charlotte; a 2006 Charlotte Business Woman of the Year finalist; past president of the Executives Association (EAC); member of Women Executives (WE); member of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Circle (ELC) for the McColl School of Business; and a 2004 recipient of the Business Journal’s Women in Business Achievement Awards.

Peter Popovich (center) is trilingual, a top ranked tennis player, business owner and one of the reasons we have so much fun doing what we do.  A first-generation immigrant from the former Yugoslavia, Peter spent the first part of his career traveling the globe for Westinghouse Electric international sales.  Since then he has served as the Athletic Foundation Director at the UNCC; built a successful career in Charlotte real estate; and is co-owner in a real estate franchise.  He is also a certified business coach and a beloved member of the faculty at Interact.

Interact’s media training is headed by an award-winning investigative reporter and Charlotte’s first woman news anchor, Janet England.  Janet’s work has ranged from one-on-one speech coaching for senior executives to media training and consulting for an online marketing company facing an appearance on 60 Minutes and a critical Federal Trade Commission hearing.  Janet is described by her clients as tough, caring and fiercely committed to the right outcome.

Patrick McLean teaches authentic writing.  A 14 year veteran of creative advertising, Patrick's humorous and humanistic approach to writing will change the way you think about it forever.  Before writing happens on the page, it must first happen in your head.  Yet most instruction focuses on the page rather than the person.  Patrick’s approach will improve your writing by helping you focus your thoughts and reducing anxiety.  It is this process that makes writing clear, succinct and relatively painless to produce.

Sally Mitchener (far right) is a North Carolina native and a graduate of UNC/Chapel Hill. She began her broadcast sales career at legendary radio stations WAYS and WROQ, before accepting a position with the Village Companies in Raleigh.

Mitchener was so successful in Raleigh that in 1988 she was lured back to Charlotte and began a ten-year relationship with WSOC-FM of Cox Broadcasting, which included setting revenue records as General Sales Manager.  When WSOC-FM became a part of the CBS/Infinity radio group of Charlotte, Mitchener was eventually named Director of Sales for seven stations.  Sally is not only a respected name within the broadcast industry, she is leader in the community and invaluable course leader at Interact.  

A scholarship gymnast at the University of Michigan, Terri Murphy (third from left) lettered each of her four years and was team captain.  As the daughter of a football coach she developed an unstoppable attitude early in life, which she eventually brought into broadcast sales and marketing in 1989.  As director of new and non-traditional revenue for CBS/Infinity stations, Terri broke records and earned a stellar reputation in the business.  Terri continues to work in broadcast, and is an energetic speaker and teacher.