Several years into a successful chiropractic practice, Mitchell Mays puzzled over the patients who kept returning with recurring conditions, no matter what he tried. Then, he had an “ah-ha!” moment that took his practice in a whole new direction.

Dr. Mays is the #1 best-selling author of MIND GATE: Demolish Fear, Overcome Anxiety and Create the Life You Want. He’s been a licensed chiropractor since 1978 and is a certified master hypnotist and hypnotherapist employing functional medicine, biofeedback, nutrition, guided imagery and hypnosis for chronic anxiety, stress and pain. He and his wife Terry, also a hypnotherapist and mind/body practitioner, maintain a busy practice in northern California.

Morgan Gist MacDonald began her career in academia, as a Sociologist, but soon found the entrepreneurial pull to take her skills as a researcher, writer, teacher, and leader into building a publishing company, from the ground up.

She is an author, speaker, and the founder of Paper Raven Books, an innovative publishing company designed to help first-time and experienced authors alike through the writing, publishing, and marketing process so they can get their books published and build a loyal readership and a long-term career as an author.

Morgan believes that even an unknown debut author with no connections, platform, or following truly can sell tens of thousands of copies of a book, gather thousands of reviews, and attract fans of their work that will come back for more, year-over-year.

“I was 28 and living back in Chicago. To pay the bills, while I painted on the side, I worked in the HR department of a national company. After a long day I’d go home and paint into the wee hours of the morning. I realized that I couldn’t continue to do this, so I called my parents and asked them for a little money. My parents are generous people and had even dipped into their pension to help me pay for school at The Art Institute of Chicago a few years earlier. At this point, however, they were simply not able to help me, not even a little bit.

“That was my wake up call. I realized I did not have a back-up plan. There’s nobody else, just me. So I decided that if I didn’t put 110% into my work as an artist, it’s not going to happen. I quit my job in Chicago, moved to Atlanta and lived with my brother while I put together a small body of my work. I sold it all, and ever since then the work flow has been consistently growing—for 21 straight years.”

Jennifer J L Jones is an American artist known for her elegant multi-layered glazed abstract paintings inspired by nature. Her work is exhibited and sought after worldwide by private and public collectors. Jones was born in 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia, and received her BFA from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She works full time as an exhibiting artist going on 21 years. After living in cities growing her career, Jones now resides in Port Royal, S.C. At the time of this interview, she was working on her second coffee table book, memoir and preparing for several upcoming shows.

“I think that, number one, we are in a customer service role. Over 95% of our interaction with people requires the highest possible communications skills. That’s what you’re there for. You’re there to communicate and find out what they’re scared of, what they need, what their wants are, what their likes are, how you can help them. But without being able to communicate, how do you connect with people? This is foundational to our occupation.”

Captain Maria Yturria, since the original recording of this episode, has has been named Deputy Chief of the Professional Development Unit of the Richmond County Police Department . She is an FBI National Academy graduate. She has been in law enforcement since 2003, before that serving in the U.S. Army. Her assignments have included uniform patrol deputy, investigator, victim services, and Public Information Officer for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD). She has served on the Deputy Advisory Council and been the team leader of the Crisis Management Team. Maria has worked with federal, state, and local agencies on illegal immigration, drug prevention and human trafficking. Her certifications include Hostage/Crisis Negotiator, Statewide Peer Support Team Leader, Self Defense Instructor and board member for the AUSA SC Palmetto Chapter. She’s received numerous awards throughout her career.

“I have always been very vocal about sharing my black experience with my friends and family members, and as I’ve mentioned, I have been a natural leader in bringing people together. So, I decided to go public with my own video about what it’s like raising black boys in this country, and what some of the experiences are that we go through, as well as the talks I have to have with my boys to keep them safe. That video ended up with 20,000 views within two days on Facebook–all organic. It was just off the cuff: I set up my phone and started speaking. Lieutenant Governor Cox, who was then running for governor of Utah, got wind of the video. His campaign reached out and said he and his running mate for Lieutenant Governor, Henderson, had seen my video and wanted to come chat. They came over, along with now First Lady Cox, and I was very frank with them. I said, ‘I know you are a politician and I’m sure that you have an angle–I’m not here to play that game. However, if you are going to help get the message out in a good way, that I can get behind. I began sharing some of the stories and experiences of my family and we ended up with this deep connection and became very good friends. Once they won the election, they commissioned me to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah.”

Aundrea DeMille is the author of “Is It Racism? How to Heal the Human Divide.” She’s an International Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Podcast Host of The Wake Up Stories. She is a business owner with years of study in diversity and inclusion and has a degree in community health and human services. She has been appointed to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah. Aundrea is a maker of men (she has 5 boys), lover of peanut butter and hater of chocolate. She feels most like herself when she is barefoot and connected to nature.

“The Milton Hershey School is unlike any other school in the world, and I have been exposed to many other schools in the course of my career. To be here at this critical point when we are redesigning our Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and adding new offerings, revamping…looking to create a ‘gold standard’ for CTE and a model for other educators to look to for guidance–this is a very inspiring and exciting time!”

Rachael Mann is the Director of Career and Technical Education at Milton Hershey School, a cost-free, private residential school for boys and girls from low-income families. Rachael is well-known in the education community as a speaker, author, and thought leader—with expertise in STEM, classroom innovation, and CTE professional learning. She is a founding member of the Council on the Future of Education. Rachael will lead the CTE program at MHS, which combines tailor-made instruction and hands-on learning with the ability to gain certifications and real-life experience through internships, co-ops, and pre-apprenticeships. Rachael holds an MA in educational leadership and has 14 years of classroom teaching experience in a range of subjects, including child development, science, technology, and culinary arts. Her experience includes work as the Network to Transform Teaching State Director, the Professional Learning Director of STEM, and the Arizona State Director for Educators Rising. She is also an author of several childrens’ books about careers and business books about STEM and AI in education.

“My mom and my dad were 16 when I was born. My mother was an amazingly loving woman all her life. My father, although I worshipped the guy, had his own issues and took it out on me in the sense that, by me being born, his life changed materially and he didn’t like that. Looking back, I now know he was bipolar and a narcissist.

“My self-esteem was knocked pretty low, and I didn’t take a lot of chances in life in those days. In fact, I was probably best served staying in my room with the door closed.  I had to spend years overcoming the scars that came from that relationship.

“I got my first accounting job as a public accountant. What I enjoyed was that my work was being delivered to a client who then was going to rely on that work for security and understanding of what their financials look like–so that they can get a loan from a bank or secure their publicly traded equity in the stock market, or whatever they needed.

“It was this first kind of professional validation that I was not that broken person I thought I was growing up, that my dad unfortunately instilled in me. I felt like I was discovering myself as being very service-oriented with my clients, and I really enjoyed that.

“In my next several jobs, I was also mostly looking ‘back’ at numbers to interpret them for clients, and that was great.  But looking forward with numbers would be even better. I decided to go to work with one of my old audit clients where I was in charge of their pension plan and all their investments and all their debt issuances. I thought this was the best job in the world. It didn’t pay me much, but it was a whole new world for me. During the three years of that job, I got my MBA at night and a professional designation on top of my CPA called a Chartered Financial Analyst designation or CFA.

“With my new degrees and experience, I transitioned into portfolio management and worked in several positions in different cities and companies, ending up in Los Angeles for 12 years. I remember the first three months I was there. I was living in a corporate apartment with all of the movie studios and all of the nicer restaurants and the glitz and glamour of L.A. right outside my window. I don’t want to say I got hooked, but in the beginning I was enjoying it an awful lot and embracing it.

“My career started to really accelerate. I felt that L.A. was ‘that place’ for me – the last place I was ever going to live. I was going to be hugely successful and crazy happy.

“I think what ended up happening with me was that I began to indulge, if not overindulge in Los Angeles. Because of my struggles in my youth and the fact that I wanted to please my father, all of my successes were measured by nothing other than how much money I made this year versus last year. I became obsessed with that and with what that money could acquire. I had everything in life that money could give me, and I wanted more. There wasn’t a reason why I wanted more–other than to prove my father wrong about my ability to be successful.

“I had to cut that cord somewhere, somehow.”

Tom Harrison has spent his career in the world of finance, traversing the four corners of the United States and beyond. Currently he is the owner of a thriving consulting firm, where he continues to channel his rich experiences into assisting others.

He is also an author with a passion for weaving captivating narratives. Born and raised amidst the vibrant rhythms of Memphis, his deep-rooted connection to the South shapes his unique storytelling style. His new book, From Punishment to Peace, Road Trips to Forgiveness, is a thought-provoking, philosophical memoir full of raw, spiritual insights and the healing of deep emotional and physical traumas.

“In the summers between years in college, I got a lot of really good work experience. My first year I worked for the FDIC, the government agency that insures the banks. My second year I worked for a hedge fund, and then my next two internships were both at big investment banks, which was really interesting. Those are intense and grueling jobs, but they sure do teach you a lot about that domain.”

“One of the things I’m most proud of at Kin, my current company, is we have a lot of really young, talented people who might have started as customer service people straight out of college. Maybe they didn’t go to college. Maybe they were waiting tables, but they happen to be smart and ambitious, and they worked their way up into very heavy positions at the company. And we’ve been able to help them do that by giving them an opportunity and the materials and the information that they need.”

Sean Harper is the co-founder and CEO of Kin, an insurance company built from scratch on modern tech to make it easier and more affordable to insure a home, especially in areas prone to extreme weather. A self-proclaimed tech geek, Sean has spent his career developing apps to revolutionize antiquated industries. When he realized that the homeowners insurance industry was still being managed unlike any other consumer financial products today, he co-founded Kin as a tech-based insurance agency in 2016 and has grown it to a fully licensed home insurance carrier supported by a team of over 400 employees. With a focus on world class customer service, insurance literacy, and smart coverage, Sean and his team are changing the way insurance is done.

“After serving 8 years as a paramedic in the U.S. Army, which I believe I was very good at, I really thought I would do that job until I was unable to physically do it. I transitioned from the service, took 5 days off and took a position at a level one trauma center in my local community as a paramedic. Again, I thought that this role was what I would do for the rest of my career. I learned pretty quickly, however, that a car wreck looks pretty similar to a gunshot wound or an IED explosion and particularly that 18-hour days were not beneficial to me or my family. I realized that it was something I had to give up.

“I found myself lost again during that transition period. Once again, it was my Dad who stepped in and said, ‘You have a job that is killing you. You have to get your foot in the door at the VA and you will find something.’ And that is exactly what I did. I became an administrative officer for the chief nurse, Juan, at the local VA. I did that for about 6 months and hated every minute of it.

“One of the folks I met there was a Vietnam vet, Dave Long, who happened to be a social worker. At that moment I was totally adrift with no direction at all. I was hearing from a lot of people—‘Hey, this is normal, just get used to it, it’s the way things are.’ Fortunately for me, Dave overheard a couple of these conversations, and he took it upon himself to pull me aside and gave me what I described as a good, swift kick in the pants, and said: ‘You’ve got a couple of choices. I’ve been where you are at and you can listen to what they’re telling you, or you can prove them wrong. Because I see great potential in you.’

“Honestly, outside of my Dad and my Grandma—my Mom was great, too—this was one of the first times that anyone had given me such positive reinforcement for the work I was doing. He went on to say, ‘I’ve seen you working with Juan (the chief nurse), and it’s clear you have a talent for communicating with people, for connecting with them with respect and compassion. That’s a rare gift that most people don’t have.’

“At that point, I was just going through the motions: get up, go to work, make it through the day do boring work, go home, then repeat the ritual the next day.

“Because of Dave’s encouragement I began applying for every job the VA had open because I realized how much I truly missed working with and engaging with people. And pushing papers was not cutting it! I applied for 6 or 8 jobs, but nothing was a fit. Then two weeks later, out of the blue I got a call from the chief of mental health asking me to join his team, in a position called a Health Tech, which evolved into the role of Peer Support. The role was all about helping other veterans through your own personal experiences—making yourself vulnerable by sharing your own recovery journey.

“The last 17 years that I have served as a Supervisory Peer Specialist with the Peer Support Outreach Center and Veterans Crisis Line has been the most gratifying and fulfilling work of my entire career.

“I’d also like to acknowledge the VA’s updated version of its mission statement:

On March 16, 2023, the VA announced an updated version of its 1959 mission statement. The new motto will still be based on President Abraham Lincoln’s original words but instead reads: ‘To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.’”

The new mission statement acknowledges all who have served in our nation’s military, as well as Veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. VA serves more than 50,000 Veteran caregivers and more than 600,000 Veteran survivors. Additionally, VA serves more than 600,000 women Veterans, the fastest growing cohort of Veterans. Millions of Veterans who did not serve in combat are also served by VA and provided benefits earned through honorable military service. There is no greater calling than to care for those who ensured our freedom.

Jason A. Zimmerman is a native of Appalachia and a US Army Combat Veteran, serving as a Combat Medic with the 1st /505th Parachute Brigade. He has served for the last seventeen years plus as a Peer in the VA Healthcare System, working currently as a Supervisory Peer Specialist with the Peer Support Outreach Center (PSOC)/Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). He is a married father of two daughters, avid golfer, and a history and philosophy enthusiast.

Jay is a nationally respected speaker regarding improving the understanding of Veteran’s experiences and care needs. Over the years, Jay has had the opportunity to serve in various roles assisting in the evolution of Peer Services and serving on numerous VA national work groups and committees. He is a nationally published subject matter expert in the delivery of peer services.

He has served on several details to the VA Central Office–Suicide Prevention Office, filling the role of the Lethal Means Reduction Veteran SME. Most recently Jay served as a member of the Presidential PREVENTS workgroup as a SME on both Lethal Means as well as community engagement and partnerships.

“It was seven years ago that I began my road to recovery. Once I started taking lithium as a medication, it stabilized my brain. We moved to Florida, and I’ve essentially been rebuilding my career and creating a whole new life. I discovered my purpose about three years ago: It is sharing my bipolar story to help stop the stigma around mental illness, promote recovery and save lives. I’m accomplishing my purpose through speaking, writing, and conferring. It is very rewarding. I’ve gotten great feedback from all kinds of people: military, veterans, medical professionals, and the general population. And that’s really the sweet spot for me, given my talents and natural inclinations. The response to the 20 plus articles that I’ve had published has been phenomenal. There’s probably 60 or 70 interviews and podcasts on my website with overwhelmingly positive response. So I want to keep sharing my story and I’m basically increasing my reach. For example, more medical professionals are interested in my story. They call a person like me an expert because of my lived experience. Some of the leading psychiatrists and researchers in the mental health field in the world are calling on me, asking me to be a part of their research teams. Would I come and speak at their medical school? And so I’m hoping that the combination of speaking engagements and the promotion of the book will continue to propel the story forward with the hope of saving lives.”

Gregg F. Martin, PhD, Major General, US Army (Retired), served on active duty for 36 years, until May 2015. He is a combat veteran, Bipolar Survivor, Airborne-Ranger-Engineer qualified soldier, and Army Strategist. He holds a Ph.D. and two master’s degrees from MIT, master’s degrees in national security strategy from both the Army and Naval war colleges, and a bachelor’s degree from West Point. He commanded an engineer company, battalion, the 130th Engineer Brigade in combat during the first year of the Iraq War, commanded the Corps of Engineers Northwest Division, was Commandant of the Army Engineer School, commanded Fort Leonard Wood, and was Deputy Commanding General of Third Army/US Army Central, Commandant of the Army War College, and President of National Defense University.

It was really, really powerful to get into a project like the one the tap dancer and I did in schools, because I love using music as a tool. Until then music for me was kind of the goal, to go and perform and play music. From that point on, music for me became a tool to connect people, to connect on a human level. In the past I was really scared to go out on a stage and the drum kit was like a wall between me and the audience. This show with the students taught me to be brave and to go out and speak to people, and to see the impact and the natural wisdom that we have as human beings.”

Yaron Engler delivers one-on-one and group coaching programs that are based on his CROP method. The focus is on men who are entrepreneurs or those who work in leadership roles. Yaron has a vast experience working with large groups of people from different countries and cultures. His direct, playful and honest approach inspires and motivates his clients and audience to create simple positive changes that lead to growth and well-being. He is also a professional drummer who has performed in front of over 500,000 people all around the world and he is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Berklee College of Music.

“From the time I was six or seven years of age, I always enjoyed reading. When I should have been reading textbooks, I was reading novels. When I was 13 or 14, a watershed moment was when I picked up a book in my dad’s home library. It was a book called Casino Royale. This is in 1958, and the author’s name was Ian Fleming.

“It changed my life entirely. I knew that this was the kind of work that I could see myself getting steeped in. And that kind of led me, in many respects, to what I did in the Air Force. And then when it was time to start writing, I just had a natural bent towards the thriller aspect of novels.

“I joined the Air Force after college and during the Vietnam war I was stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. I was attached to 13th Air Force Headquarters and part of the 13th Air Force headquarters. They were responsible for all of the reconnaissance work being done in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. So my duties brought me into Vietnam and Thailand on a recurring basis for that year and a half that I was over there.

“After that, I moved to Miami and joined an Air Force Reserve Squadron. My favorite part of that work, although I enjoyed all of it, was being involved in national security management. Sometimes it was like living inside a novel, but it was a very real life novel. It was all stuff that you couldn’t really talk about to other people, but fascinating. When the first Gulf War came around, I was given command of an active-duty squadron at Homestead Air Force Base. It turned out that I was the only reserve officer at the time to be given command of an active-duty Air Force squadron during wartime.”

Ian O’Connor is a retired US Air Force Colonel and a recognized expert in the field of national security management. This background serves him well as the foundation for his novels. He’s the author of “The Seventh Seal” and “The Barbarossa Covenant,” both Justin Scott Thrillers. Copies of these books are in the US Naval Academy and US Air Force Academy Libraries. He co-authored “ Scrappy, Memoir of a Fighter Pilot in Korea and Vietnam.” And his thriller, “The Twilight of the Day,” was awarded a bronze medal by the Military Writers Society of America. Ian’s newest novel, “The Pegasus Directive,” focuses on who really killed President John F. Kennedy and all the fiendish machinations behind the assassination.

“For the first time in many years, I felt as if my life had value and a purpose. And then my friend, who had taken me into his parents’ home, also got me a job. That really inspired me to see how a person could literally respond to a need and just share his entire life. That was a huge turning point in my life and started giving me an idea that even in tough circumstance something good could be waiting around the corner. That was completely 180 degrees from when I was always waiting for something bad to happen.”

Daniel E. Kennedy is a healthcare executive, counselor, author, and filmmaker. His passion for disease prevention was ignited professionally while working with thousands of cancer patients at Oasis of Hope Hospital, and personally, by witnessing cancer and heart disease-related deaths of his grandmother, uncle, aunt, and father. His philosophy is simple: its not good enough to live a long sick life when there’s the opportunity to live a healthy long life. Through the process of writing and ghostwriting 12 books on cancer and heart health, Daniel honed the skills necessary to create, write, and direct the 8-episode Healthy Long Life documentary series. His relationships with researchers and clinicians, developed over the last three decades, has given him access to the world’s top experts on healthy life expectancy.

“My dad was brought up on a farm that raised Angus cattle. When my brother and I were around 11 years old he decided that we needed to have a similar experience that would keep us busy and engaged and because he had learned so many valuable lessons during his early years. Because cattle farming was so intense and arduous every day, he wanted to find a better option for us. Over the holidays one year we went to Oklahoma where he shopped around and finally decided to buy four English Pointer dogs that would be the starting point for what became the Cooper Brothers’ Kennel. Taking care of this growing family of purebred dogs became the focal point of my life during the next ten years. We started each day at 5:00 a.m., worked until 7:30, then went to school. We returned home around 4:30 p.m. and worked with the dogs until dark. Our kennel raised around 250 puppies every year. In the summer months I spent my days training the dogs to hunt so that we could sell them in the fall. From those myriad experiences with our kennel, we learned so many powerful lessons that were foundational in my life and career going forward: of course, the results of hard work, as well as how to be resilient and consistent, how to deal with all types of people, how to run a small business and finally the basics of how to market and sell. I thank my father for having the insight of giving us this atypical and powerful experience along with our solid traditional education.”

Chuck Cooper is the Founder & Managing Member at WhiteWater Consulting. He sets the Mission, Vision and Values for the company. Over the past twenty-five years, he has had the experience of starting, acquiring, building, and selling businesses in multiple industries. During this time, he’s experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. His passion for founding WhiteWater Consulting is to help enable employers and HR practitioners to drive their organization to realize: An improved company culture; enhance employee engagement; grow revenues; control expenses; maximize profits and all the while taking care of the greatest asset: their people. Chuck subscribes to the belief that our client’s success is our success.

“After university I had three jobs offered to me. I decided that I should get some experience in the tax department of Canada. It is there that I became a business auditor. I knew I was only going to be there about a year, but I learned an awful lot about how the tax department functions. And I actually was able to help some businesses that were being audited get on the right path, shall we say.

“After one year I went to work for Century 21 Canada, which was part of the biggest real estate global franchise organization at the time. I was put in charge of auditing all of their 550 franchises and keeping them on the straight and narrow. I became adept at auditing things and lining things up, and it was a good background for me, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever. Balancing Numbers all day long so that somebody else benefits greatly from it is not very exciting, shall we say.

“What I learned about myself, when I decided to step over the line and become a risk taker, is that I like stuff that scares me and where I don’t know what I’m doing. And that’s not auditing!”

Brian Collins, B.Comm accountant, has been an entrepreneur since the age of 31, when he quit his job with a large American customs and trucking company where he was C.F.O for the Canadian region. Brian got the fever to be his own boss and has not looked back. He started four businesses, all in very different business sectors, with zero experience in any of those fields. Today, Brian spends his time growing his gold mine business in Nevada, CA, he is at the gym three times a week, and he is always on the hunt for the next challenge in an arena he has not tackled before.

“I was really always trying to do the best I could both for my clients and for the partners that I was reporting to. But one of the things I don’t think I really had until I took the Dale Carnegie course was empathy. It really helped me with human relations more than anything I had experienced in the past–understanding and feeling real empathy. When you’re in the practice of law, in many ways you are a solo performer, right? You’re going to court, you’re working on a legal brief, you’re doing research, you’re doing different things. Yes, there are other lawyers you work with, but it’s very independent and somewhat isolated.

“I went from that environment to a corporate environment, which was very team-based. So as a developer I was working and sitting around a table with people who were in charge of leasing and marketing and construction, and a whole range of other fields. There might be 10 people representing 10 different disciplines there at any one time.

“So now, all of a sudden, I had to really work with and engage people much differently. And that’s where the Dale Carnegie course was so important for me, because it really gave me the skills of listening intently, asking better questions, caring about other people and their feelings, maybe more than I did as an arrogant twenty-something lawyer who thought he knew it all. And I realized in taking the Dale Carnegie course that I didn’t know it all–far from it! And I really had a lot to learn from other people. The lessons I learned changed the course of my life.”

Joe Hart began his career as a practicing attorney. After taking a Dale Carnegie Course, he reassessed his career path and future, ultimately leaving the practice of law, going to work for a top real estate company, and then founding an innovative e-learning company called InfoAlly. After selling that business five years later, Joe became the president of Asset Health, a U.S.-based health and wellness company—all before becoming the President and CEO of Dale Carnegie in 2015. Founded in 1912, Dale Carnegie is a workplace training organization with operations in 75+ countries and delivers solutions in 29 languages.

“I wasn’t alone. This was during the 2009 meltdown where everyone was going through foreclosure, when everyone was losing their job. But, because of knowing it wasn’t just me, I was able to release the guilt and the shame around it.”

Lisa Phillips helps African American Professionals build profitable rental property portfolios by investing in minority neighborhoods. After her own foreclosure in the 2009’s bloated real estate market and her second job layoff, she was left with a 35k condo and only enough money to renovate the place doing the work herself to stretch her unemployment check. This led her to learning the hard and the easy ways of real estate investing in rural, inner-city, and mid-sized city properties. She is now focused on doing what she loves: showing how anyone with a little ingenuity can affordably start real estate investing for high profits and cash flow.

“Man, the biggest thing for me was just being exposed to a brand new world. I think that is one of the biggest hardships with people growing up in the inner city areas like I did: a lack of exposure to opportunities to develop yourself in a positive way. You know, for me it was exposure all the way down to the level of me traveling to Atlanta to attend the camp for Usher’s New Look. It was my first time actually being on an airplane…my first time being outside of the perimeter of my community in Kansas City. Once I came down here and I became involved in the culture of Atlanta, I was exposed to prominent African American people doing business in different capacities, in ways that I’d never seen.

“Most of the successful Black people I knew were doing every day working-class jobs. I had never met Black doctors, lawyers, music executives, and other professionals. So, that experience just dramatically broadened my perspective on what another level of success could look like. Also, it dramatically changed my perspective on what was available for people like me. I’m one of those people who takes advantage of an opportunity once I see the value in it. I put my whole being into the opportunity with Usher’s New Look on every level and it altered the course of my entire life in countless positive ways. I am forever grateful.”

James Harris, a.k.a, Dewey Da Don, coming from Kansas City, Kansas, is the answer to the streets right now. Delivering gangsta rap with a west coast vibe, he’s often compared to the late, great Nipsey Hussle, not only physically but because his influence has always been the streets and he has always been one to give back, even as he establishes himself as a hip hop star. The moment Dewey Da Don knew he wanted to pursue music, was when his father was incarcerated for ten years in a federal penitentiary. At that point, he knew he had to find a different way out of the streets. He chose music. When hip hop fans hear his music, he wants them to feel his struggle but also understand that the street has many sides to it. Not everyone raised on the streets is one-dimensional. Like Dewey, many are hustlers, parents and game tellers. Music is his way of turning his pain from living the street life into power.

“You asked me how I chose what to study. I wanted to study writing, but my father said, ‘Nobody makes a living as a writer. Do something sensible.’ So, I studied economics instead. But now I hope my most recent book, Turn Words into Wealth: Blueprint for Your Business, Brand and Book, helps people think: ‘Actually there are a bunch of ways to make money as an author, or as a speaker, or as a YouTuber. There are different ways to monetize my message.’ If you really want to be an author, read the book, or some other books to help you think about what the best ways are to do it. How can you add the most value? Yes, it is true that it is quite difficult to make money just from royalties on a book. But on the other hand, there are many stories (and a lot of them are in this book) that show the success people have found.”

Aurora Winter believes that if you determine how you can bring the most value to others, you can make money. And she demonstrates it in her own life story. She is a bestselling author, TV-producer, media coach, ghostwriter, and successful serial entrepreneur. She uses her film-making expertise and neuroscience training to help people communicate and get results, whether it’s raising seven figures for a startup, negotiating for a raise, or enrolling a new client. If you have ever wanted to write a book, become an in-demand speaker or communicate more effectively, Aurora has the expertise and insights to help you achieve your goals.

“I was born in Iran and lived there until I was 13 years old. I was told that this is the best system in the world. Islam is the best religion in the world. Then I went to India and they said, no, our system is the best, and Hinduism is the best religion in the world. In 1974 I went to England and of course their system was the best. This was when the whole Irish Republican Army conflict was happening. Then I came to America when I was 17 or so and began to reflect on the obvious question: how many best religions, best systems of government, et. al. are there? What is best and what works? It then became obvious to me that each individual must trust his own judgment and make up your own mind.”

Kam Majd is an Edgar® Award-nominated author of edge-of-your-seat suspense novels. Kam was an airline pilot for 44 years, most recently as a Boeing 777 captain for American Airlines. Born in Iran and educated around the world in India, Great Britain and the United States, he graduated high school in Arlington, Texas, and attended the University of Texas.

His new book, “High Wire,” has just been released worldwide. This riveting, 286-page novel, which has achieved Amazon Bestseller status as the #1 New Release and #2 Bestseller in the “Terrorism” category, follows Captain Kate Gallagher, an airline pilot who finds herself under vicious scrutiny in the aftermath of a plane crash.

“I come from a video filmmaker background. In the beginning it was just a lot of short films sketch comedy bits that I was doing with friends and family. And really that’s where it started for me–that creative storytelling entertainment aspect of video. Eventually that turned into more corporate type videos, lots of interviews–people explaining about their business and their promotions or whatever they have going on. Eventually we started moving into producing more broadcast TV commercials with actors and things like that. Really that’s where my heart is. That’s the stuff that I really enjoy doing for businesses, creating that story-driven scripted content. We still do tons and tons of every other type of video and explainer videos, tutorial videos and training videos. Anything a business needs video related, we do it. But really I feel like our bread and butter, where we excel, is storytelling. Creating content that is engaging and connects deeply with people and ultimately drives them to the businesses that we are trying to market.

“I’m really excited that currently we’re into post-production on the first feature film that I’ve produced. So I’ve worked on a number of feature films, been involved in a number of different capacities from production and post-production, but this is the first one that is my project. I didn’t direct it, but I was part of the production staff. That’s the big one that we’re doing right now.”

Orlando J. Gomez is the founder of the video production company Stellar Lense Productions, a video strategy expert specializing in visual storytelling for business, and the online video marketplace COOPT. Orlando has worked with companies like Uber, Dove, and Samsung, as well as small businesses across America to create video campaigns as engaging as your favorite Netflix shows. He is known for a storytelling approach that has successfully established local and national brands, ultimately leading to a higher ROI, brand awareness, and overall success.

“I’m really excited about the new program that we launched recently: Conquering Breast Cancer with Conventional Treatments and Natural Remedies. The reason I added this aspect of healing breast cancer and supporting women is because we realized, after many years of working with women around the world along with medical and integrative doctors, that there comes a time in a woman’s journey that she may need some support with traditional medicine or perhaps she chooses that as her first option. Regardless of her choice, she still needs to get to the root cause of what allowed the cancer to develop in the first place. Plus, she needs support to get through the side effects of the treatment and build her immune system back up.”

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers, better known as Dr. V, is the founder of BreastCancer Conqueror® and the 7 Essentials System®. Her signature process has empowered thousands of women in over 60 countries around the world. Her mission is to “change lives, one breast at a time.” Dr. V has personally conquered breast cancer twice, which gives her an empathetic perspective to understand other women facing a healing journey. Her signature book, Heal Breast Cancer Naturally, is a #1 Amazon Best Seller in 10 categories and in 5 countries. Dr. V has been featured in the world-renowned Truth About Cancer Docu-series and TTAC LIVE stages, as well as many other stages, summits, and podcasts including JJ Virgin, Wendy Meyers, Wellness Mama, NBCNews affiliate shows Tampa, etc. She has been a guest contributor to Natural News, Green Med Info, Natural Health 365, Mind Body Green, Wellness.com, and many other sites.

“My most desired client is a high-end real estate investor from another country who is coming to the U.S. to invest in real estate, build a business and potentially get a visa as a result of these investments. They could buy a franchise, bring their existing business from another country, start a new business or they could buy an existing business here. That’s what my typical client looks like.”

Serial entrepreneur Lauren Cohen is an International Lawyer, Realtor and Cross-Border Expert. Originally from Toronto and now in south Florida, Lauren is also a best-selling author and sought-after speaker, and she launched her podcast, INVESTING ACROSS BORDERS, in late 2020. After her then-husband’s deportation on the return trip from their honeymoon, Lauren was devastated. She felt compelled to find solutions for herself and others, and knew that she could make a difference, so she turned to the ever-changing world of immigration and international law and has served as a concierge quarterback in the field ever since. Today, Lauren and her turnkey team believe in overcoming obstacles.

“When I was 12 years old my mother died of cancer. I didn’t realize it until years later, but the tragedy of losing my mother was actually my greatest gift: My mother gave me a story that could inspire others and a mind that could find the answers the world was literally dying to know. My purpose in life is to ensure that no child has to go through what I did, ever again.”

Mark Sloan has published a number of books including the six time number one international bestseller Red Light Therapy: Miracle Medicine and two monumental works on cancer called The Cancer Industry, and Cancer: The Metabolic Disease Unravelled, both of which include a combined total of over 2400 scientific and clinical references. Never before has the root cause of cancer been so well documented and easy to understand. Mark has been researching health for over 15 years and has many unique evidence-based insights to share with the world. His website is EndAllDisease.com. He believes the goal of ending all diseases is not only possible, but it’s only a matter of time before his message becomes universally known throughout the world.

“It all began in 2004. I took the real estate licensing classes, then the exam, got my license and started. I’d never done sales, never done anything like it. I’ve approached the industry and my career in multiple different ways and creatively had a lot of fun with it along the way. There’s no ceiling, you can be as big as you want to be, you can be as small as you want to be, and I’ve done it all. I love the marketing piece of it, and I love the people part of it.”

Kimberly Falker is the founder of The Falker Group Real Estate company in Safety Harbor, Florida. With a background as a prosecuting attorney in Boston, an elementary school teacher in Florida, and a mother of two, she brings a unique level of professionalism and service to the real estate industry, which she has been actively working in since 2004. Kimberly graduated from Florida State University in Elementary Education and the Cumberland School of Law in Trial Advocacy. During college, she performed in FSU’s Flying High Circus in acts including high wire and trapeze. Today, Kimberly lives in her hometown and is enjoying an “almost” empty nest as her two children STUDY AT her Alma Mater, FSU, Her Real Estate business is thriving.

“My thesis, my view of the world and what it was going to become, really came into being at AARP and I am forever grateful to them for that. My fundamental belief is that because we are on average extending human life, because we are extending our healthy years much longer, we can live and be active in the community for a longer time. These are the more reality-driven outcomes than what our systems had been designed to do. Also, because there is a shift in demographics in the labor market such as lower birth rates. Our systems are pushing too many people out of work and into retirement and we have too few people coming in. Older workers have become an essential part of our economic harmony. That people retire at 65 seems crazy to me. We need to keep people engaged for longer periods of time as income earners and also consumers if we want our economy to flourish. If we are unable to do that, which is my big fear, the economy slows down and we begin to lose some things we’ve built over the past hundred or so years such as the social welfare programs that are the bedrock of Western civilization. And this is coming in just a few years without some pretty significant change. This is the biggest issue outside of climate change that we are going to have to focus on.”

Bradley Schurman is an expert on demographic change and how it disrupts social, cultural, political, and economic norms. His deep understanding of population shifts, coupled with his grasp of emerging trends, makes him an authoritative voice on the future of our world.  He’s the author of THE SUPER AGE: DECODING OUR DEMOGRAPHIC DESTINY and the founder and CEO of the global research and advisory firm, The Super Age. He’s written for Newsweek, been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today. He’s appeared on CBS News and NBC’s TODAY Show and as a guest on podcasts, radio, and television shows in the U.S. and around the world.

“We lived in Cornwall, New York, which is only about 7 miles from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. I delivered newspapers in the neighborhood for two and a half years as a kid. It was a really good experience. I had to get out there and interact with the customers, about half of which were either active service members at West Point, graduates of West Point or retired military officers. Over time you want to be like people that you admire, or as the classic TV commercial intoned: ‘I want to be like Mike.’ In my case, my ‘Mike’ were those West Point graduates and cadets and their influence and example is what ultimately led me to attend the United States Military Academy. I enrolled at West Point July 1st of 1970, and studied and trained there for the next four years.

“West Point is where I immediately began to realize that life is a very competitive endeavor and that you really need to strive to be the absolute best that you can be as well as the best team player. I realized that I did have the aptitudes and talents for academics, athletics and leadership. In our class of about 850 cadets there were only two of us who were: varsity lettermen, so-called ‘Star men’ who were in the top 5% of the class academically and captains in the Corps of Cadets leadership structure.

“There are three core components of military life: physical capabilities, mental acuity and finally the joy and privilege of leading others that inspired me throughout my 37-year military career.”

General David H. Petraeus (U.S. Army, Retired) is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in mid-2013. He is also a personal venture investor, engaged in various academic endeavors, and co-author with Andrew Roberts of the forthcoming book titled Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.

Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat. Following retirement from the military, and after confirmation by the Senate in a vote of 94-0, he served as the Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the war on terror.  

General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy and later earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is the only individual to have been the top graduate of both the year-long Command and General Staff College Course and the demanding U.S. Army Ranger School. 

Over the past 15 years, General Petraeus has been named one of America’s 25 Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report, a runner-up for Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the Daily Telegraph Man of the Year, twice a Time 100 selectee, Princeton University’s Madison Medalist, Prospect Magazine’s Public Intellectual of the Year, three times one of Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 public intellectuals, and a LinkedIn Top Voice.

“I walked into the classroom and learned that someone had just published a book on creative counseling techniques. He was using three dimensional models to teach theory. Later, I brought in a bag of three dimensional tools that I had created over the previous 15 years of my work with clients. The instructor was blown away and told me I needed to come and teach my approach to others, which I did. Really, all I did was–when some approach was not working–I figured out another approach that did work to access what individuals were experiencing. I have taught this model to people with low IQ’s, to blind people, to deaf people, to people with every imaginable mind and body trauma–the concept is that teachable. I stumbled upon it because I was driven to solve this proverbial puzzle.”

Ernie L. Vecchio is a mentor, spiritual teacher, and trauma psychologist. During his 30+ years career, he has treated over 10,000+ patients who suffered severe trauma that ranged from amputation, head injury, sexual assault, and paralysis. Vecchio is a Licensed Clinical & Rehabilitation Psychologist who has written four books including his latest release, Feelings & Reason: Activating Your Heart as Compass Despite the Ego’s Interference, an international best-seller in four self-help categories.

When Leigh asked his father if he should go to art school, his father, the artist, said no. “What I really want you to do is go to the museums, and start
spending time with the paintings that you are attracted to. Let the paintings become your teacher. Look at how a Vermeer created the colors or the transitions or the sense of texture─not with the distraction of the painting but to use it as a way of teaching.”

Leigh McCloskey is a modern Renaissance man, an artist, author, well-known actor and visual philosopher. His highly creative life has been devoted to exploring the symbolic, archetypal and hidden aspects of the psyche and inner self through his art, scholarship, books and experiences as a professional actor for many years. He has hosted weekly discussion groups in his home, Olandar, for over 38 years. His deep knowledge ranges from arcane wisdom, religion, depth psychology and quantum physics to the mythic imagination and the creation of art. He is the founder of Olandar Foundation for Emerging Renaissance, and gives regular tours of his home and art.

“The business of being an artist dominates all artists’ lives. I probably spend less than 5% of my time actually creating art. Most of my time I’m doing all the many aspects of marketing, selling, promoting, positioning my work to the various niches that I want to appeal to. For that reason I created a program I call, ‘The Art of Selling Art.’ It is based on the fundamental principles of marketing that I have learned by intense research and study and especially on the ground, hands-on experience over that last couple of decades. The program includes free webinars as well as access to proven, real-world, actionable tools and resources because, the greater number of my fellow artists that have a better foundation in the business of art, the better we all do. In the near future I want to grow this into a small enterprise of six or so people that can serve specific segments of the artist population.”

Jason Matias is a contemporary photographer and the author of “NakedThoughts,” who lives and works in the Greater Seattle Area. His work focuses on the ideas of isolation and introspection, with photographs of nature from locations around the globe. Jason began exploring photography as a medium of expression during his service in the United States Air Force. His artwork has been shown in exhibitions in the US including Art BaselWeek and Art Expo New York and has been featured in National Geographic, Weather Channel, and TED.

“I just wasn’t happy in my role. I felt like I kept trying and failing in terms of finding something I was really passionate about, something I was naturally strong at. I started doing some sales and marketing consulting again to put a paycheck in my pocket. Throughout my consulting work, I saw so many projects go into the ditch because of either under-developed leaders or leadership teams, or team dynamics. So that created a spark in the back of my head. I also have a mentor who was going through a coach training program. I thought that sounded interesting. I didn’t think I wanted to be a full-time executive consultant, but I could see how the coaching would be complementary to the consulting. I found the coaching program to probably be the most exciting and profound days in my professional career because it started to tap into things that really did get me excited.”

Darren Reinke founded Group Sixty, an executive coaching and training company based in San Diego, to bring his purpose to life and to transform leaders, their teams, and their organizations. Group Sixty works with leaders and teams at Fortune 500’s, mid-market companies, fast-growing startups, visionary non-profits, and transitioning military special forces. Darren fundamentally believes there is greatness within each one of us. His mission is to unleash the inner lion within leaders so that they can lead more authentic and joyful lives while creating stronger and more resilient teams, organizations, and communities.

“Other than my uncle who was a lawyer, and watching lawyers perform on TV series, I had no experience with the profession at all. Once I began my law studies at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, I gravitated to the practice of litigation because I found it very energizing and demanding. The idea of being challenged every day by a lawyer on the other side of a case who was using the best of his talents and experience to present his client’s position, and knowing that I always had to be my very best, I could not imagine a more gratifying career. I’m happy to report that my career as a business litigator has proven to be everything I hoped it would be and more.”

Thomas Tierney attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated with high honors in 1987. He moved to San Francisco and taught middle school for two years. He soon was accepted in law school, also in in San Francisco, at the University of California, Hastings College of Law and graduated cum laude in 1992.  Once out of school he worked at litigation boutique law firms in San Diego for eight years before moving to Vero Beach, Florida where he began working at the Rossway Swan firm. Tom continues to work there today and is now a Member and the Chair of the Civil Litigation Department. He is married to Lisa Kahle and has two children, Ella and Gavin.

“It was easy to become a great dermatologist because I stood on the shoulders of giants in the profession and these giants were there to lead and guide me. Doctor Martin Victor Dal, one of the greatest dermatologists ever, along with Doctor Peter Lynch, another equally renowned doctor, were chairmen of my department. They looked at me and said, ‘Allen, all you have to do is be who you are and you will become a great dermatologist.’”

Dr. Allen Lycka has been acknowledged as one of the leading cosmetic dermatologists globally for three decades. A pioneer in cosmetic surgery, he helped develop laser-assisted tumescent liposuction, an advanced body sculpture technique, and Mohs Micrographic Surgery, an advanced means of removing skin cancer with 99% success. He has lived and practiced in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada since 1989. He’s written 17 books, 30+ academic papers and hosted the number one internet radio show in the world on cosmetic surgery: Inside Cosmetic Surgery Today. He is a co-founder of Doctors for the Practice of Safe and Ethical Aesthetic Medicine and founder of The Canadian Skin Cancer Association. He has won the prestigious Consumers Choice Award for Cosmetic Surgery for 16 consecutive years.

“I am out there with my young colt that I had raised from a kid and loved dearly, and I am using the same kinds of harsh training techniques from the successful trainers I was emulating in the industry. As I was using my whip to move my colt from side to side, he saw an opening, reached out and clamped his jaws on my shoulder, lifted me like a rag doll and threw me to the ground. My first thought was to discipline him harshly. All of a sudden I heard that innate voice in my mind that I wasn’t being true to myself or true to my dear horse. I stood there with my frightened and shivering colt I loved so much, who was just following his instincts trying to survive. I hugged him and cried while apologizing to both my colt and God for not following that innate voice that God gave me. That epiphany changed everything. From that moment on I walked the path of being a horse listener: horses whisper in our ears and we become listeners.”

Mark M. Hanna grew up in Inglewood, California adjacent to the Hollywood Park horse track. This is where his love of horses began and he pursued his passion to become an Arabian horse breeder and imported horses from Europe. His compassion and spiritual bond with horses led him to become “The Horse Listener.” Hanna can help people with the fundamental and proper way to be with your horse, a lifetime partnership. Hanna shares his life story in his book “The Horse Listener.”

“Dr. Bales told us that the university would give us some ‘seed money’ only if we were able to deconstruct more than what had ever been recognized in previous traumatic brain injury circles. There had never been a mechanism to reduce brain injury by more than 1%. So, if we blocked 2% on this particular study he would open the doors to future development with contacts, seed money and more….Well, we blocked a whopping 83% of brain injury on that first landmark study. I had expected a 30% to 40% reduction and was as blown away by these results as Dr. Bales. Our journey from that point forward has been exciting and life-saving for countless individuals, from athletes to members of our military.”

David W. Smith MD, ACP, BS, is a visiting scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital/North Shore Division of Neurosurgery. Over his 30-year medical career, he served as Chief of Medicine at Reid Hospital. He founded commercial companies–Xennovate Medical LLC, TBI Innovations LLC, and Delta Chase LLC. He was a consultant to GENTEX Corp. (manufacturer of USAF helmets) and Materials Modification Inc., nano–materials and coating pioneer to the military complex.

David has 40+ patents and 20+ peer-reviewed publications. He presented several novel battlefield dressings to the Department of the Army Research Lab. He discovered “SLOSH Theory,” which represents the basis of the first and only FDA-cleared device for claims against Traumatic Brain Injury, The Q-Collar, which is the basis of his new book “When Heads Come Together.”

“I want to be of service to more military veterans. I do speaking engagements and things of that nature, but I want to do more of this on a larger scale. This information I have now really helped me transition from being a military service person of almost 28 years to an entrepreneur. And that’s not an easy transition. No matter what career you are in, if you’re in something for that long, it becomes a part of you. It becomes a part of your self-identity. To shift your identity to something completely different is a process in and of itself. I want to help people transition…much more smoothly.”

Laura Noel, as a Certified Proctor Gallagher Coach and 27-year military leader, helps high-performers live empowered, fulfilling lives all while achieving their highest potential. Knowing that leaders are being pulled in multiple directions with zero time left for themselves, she helps them focus on what really matters so they can stop feeling out-of-control, become more effective with their time, and spend more time discovering what they love doing.

“The Milton Hershey School is unlike any other school in the world, and I have been exposed to many other schools in the course of my career. To be here at this critical point when we are redesigning our Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and adding new offerings, revamping…looking to create a ‘gold standard’ for CTE and a model for other educators to look to for guidance–this is a very inspiring and exciting time!”

Rachael Mann is the new Director of Career and Technical Education at Milton Hershey School, a cost-free, private residential school for boys and girls from low-income families. Rachael is well-known in the education community as a speaker, author, and thought leader—with expertise in STEM, classroom innovation, and CTE professional learning. She is a founding member of the Council on the Future of Education. Rachael will lead the CTE program at MHS, which combines tailor-made instruction and hands-on learning with the ability to gain certifications and real-life experience through internships, co-ops, and pre-apprenticeships. Rachael holds an MA in educational leadership and has 14 years of classroom teaching experience in a range of subjects, including child development, science, technology, and culinary arts. Her experience includes work as the Network to Transform Teaching State Director, the Professional Learning Director of STEM, and the Arizona State Director for Educators Rising.

“What we learned from the Harvard admissions scandal a few years back–I looked through all the transcripts out of curiosity–was top schools really value a personal development journey. Elite colleges cannot rely on grades and test scores only. They really want to understand a student’s character, drive, engagement, impact and their dreams. As you know, with artificial intelligence, Chat GBT allows a student to plug in some prompts and it delivers a college essay that’s pretty good, maybe even better than what they could write themselves. The schools and the admissions people are talking about making their essays much more creative and much more personal. That’s where storytelling is going to be even more important. Students have to identify their own focusing lens or thread to hang their content hat on, getting really creative to the degree that AI can’t generate an application essay. That’s where personal storytelling is going to be even more important. Students will need to ask themselves if they are skilled enough as a writer to best express their values, what’s important to them, obstacles that get in their way around those values, are they allowing their true self to emerge, etc. If not, they will need to find support on how to express and differentiate themselves. I don’t do the work for my students. I usually spend two to four months helping them dig into themselves and craft their own college entry essays.”

An experienced, accredited college admissions consultant and essay coach, Kate Stone received her B.S. in Communications and a minor in Creative Writing at New York University. She continued as a Princeton University teaching fellow in Asia shortly before starting University Gurus. She transformed her passion for creative writing and storytelling into actionable strategies for the college admissions process, essays, and the application as a whole. Through her program she coaches students to develop and strategize their most powerful narratives based on their individual ideas and achievements.

“The most important part of being an educator, and it’s really crucial, is ‘Doing right by kids.’ You cannot do right by them if you don’t form strong, appropriate relationships with them. Kids need to know that you truly care about them and are genuinely invested in their success. The most important thing I can do as a classroom teacher is to ask my students questions about themselves that have nothing to do with our productive time together. Intrinsically they feel and understand that I have a vested interest in their growth and development as a person. The work I do is not about me, it’s about how I can better serve people, how helpful I can be to other people.”

Dr. Troy Podell, Supervisor of ELA and Humanities for the Downingtown Area School District and with responsibility to also coordinate Career Readiness Initiatives, is a disruptor and thought-leader in the education space. He has created innovative programs for career exploration and soft-skills education for the District and is also an Adjunct Professor for Secondary Social Studies Education at Relay Graduate School of Education in the Philadelphia area. Dr. Podell is recognized as a leader in curriculum, instruction, and the application of people analytics to education.

“I had never thought of myself as an author really. The ‘bug’ to start writing definitely began after I retired, and in 2015 books began to be published right after our government finally began to declassify files about the 1983 nuclear war crisis. Two well-regarded authors, one American, one British, wrote books about the crisis in early 2018. Later that year I was talking with a good friend about the books, who was himself a very successful writer, and I said to him that even though I had first-hand experience on the topic, in my view the world did not need another non-fiction book describing what really happened. He quickly replied, ‘Well, why don’t you write a novel then? You have deep personal insight and can humanize the story while making it both educational and entertaining. Why not take a shot at it? Your book will probably stink, but maybe it won’t.’ I took his comment as a dare and in October of 2018 I began writing the first draft of “The Able Archers.” While writing came fairly easily to me, I want to say here that my wife deserves a great deal of credit on so many levels–from character development, to story arc, editing and much more. I’m happy to report that a major motion picture company has optioned the rights to this book and the other six that I plan to write. One possibility would be a TV series.”

Brian Morra has spent his career in intelligence and national security beginning with his time as a decorated Air Force Intelligence officer and through his many years as a senior executive in the aerospace and defense industry. He was encouraged to write the story of “The Able Archers” by many friends who convinced him that his unique, personal insight could bring the story to life of how humanity narrowly avoided extinction in the fall of 1983. His writing is based on first-hand experience. When Brian isn’t writing, he is a corporate board member, enjoys cycling, playing guitar and piano, and visiting with his two grandchildren.

“The main thing about creativity is being open and curious. Curiosity is a huge factor because it makes you want to learn. And I think learning should be a lifelong pursuit. If you are going to make that change or do something different, there are also ways you have to approach it to make sure there is a market for what it is you want to do. And, everybody’s personal situation is different. So, it’s not simple, but it is a process like everything else is in terms of that ‘hero’s journey.’ It’s going inside before you even make those decisions.”

B. Jeffrey Madoff’s first career was as a fashion designer. He was chosen one of the top 10 designers in the U.S. Switching careers to film production, he has directed award winning commercials, documentaries and web content around the world for clients such as Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, and Tiffany. His book, “Creative Careers: Making a Living with Your Ideas,” is an Amazon Bestseller based on the class he teaches at Parsons School of Design in NYC. Madoff’s play, “Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical,” about the life of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Lloyd Price, had its world premiere in 2022.

“One of the key things I did at a critical point in my business growth was to bring in an advisory board. They ended up staying with me for seven years. These were not paid positions. These were friends or mentors that I had met through life, although some were also strangers. For example, if I met somebody at a conference and hit it off with them, and they were intelligent and had succeeded, and I felt that they could bring value to the company, I asked them onto my advisory board. I didn’t give them money or stock or anything. They just helped me! They help me become sophisticated in my business approach. You know, the hand-to-hand combat that I had done up to this point needed to be processed, educated and sophisticated. The Advisory Board is a big reason that I was able to sell the company profitably when I was ready and for what I am able to do now.”

Raised by a Marine Corps pilot on a cattle operation in the mountains, Jess learned the keys to running an entrepreneurial company from the ground up. Grit, hard work and getting things done the right way were infused in her. She started a software-based company from her kitchen table and through tough times she learned how to assemble a company and leadership team that operated on world-class systems. Fifteen years, two national locations, and one international division later, Jess sold that company at an exceptional price point. Today, Jess is devoted to sharing what she’s learned. She brings world-class tools and long-term resources to help leadership teams run better businesses and live better lives.

“After I completed my PhD in clinical psychology, I began working in the so called ‘human potential movement.’ People wanted to dig deeper into who they really are on every level: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical and social. I loved doing that work and would have done it for free! I did my post-doctoral work in Zurich as an International Diplomat and Jungian Analyst. After reading Carl Jung’s book–The Symbolic Life–I quickly realized the vital importance of dreams in helping people discover their inborn talents. I continue to work with clients, which uses my best talents, while I devote an increasing amount of time writing. My favorite life lesson from my very supportive parents: ‘Lean into the thing you are trying to resist. Always lean in.’”

Dr. Cara Lee Barker is an international keynote speaker and visionary artist. She served as an Army nurse during the Vietnam era at Walter Reed Hospital. She has a Master’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Union Institute and University in Ohio. Her post-doctoral work was completed in Zurich as an International Diplomat and a Jungian Analyst. She was a columnist for HuffPost for five years and is the author of three books: World Weary Woman; The Love Project; and her latest release, Nightlight: My Soul Calling, Body Listening, Heart Speaking.

“I was working in New York City for over 6 years as a criminal prosecutor when my father got ill. My wife and I decided to move our family to Florida temporarily to take care of him. Having that time with him allowed us to reconnect in very meaningful ways. I came to realize that there was a lot of life that I had missed while chasing the brass ring in NYC. I had missed being with my parents, with my extended family. And I actually realized that, even with my own wife and children, there was a lot of time that I missed because I had such a concern to ‘bring home the bacon.’ I knew I needed to change what I had been doing, but once you start chasing that brass ring spinning around on the carousel, it becomes the only thing you know. Taking care of my father allowed me to slow that cycle. I knew I wanted to use my skillset but not chase that hot-shot trial lawyer lifestyle. I found a really great position as lawyer-editor with a small publishing company in Florida. The business was involved in publishing the laws of local government, which included ordinances, resolutions, charters, and things of that nature. In that publication system, it was not adversarial like when you are a trial attorney and you have to prepare for a fight and make sure you cover your nose so it doesn’t get broken. When you’re not in an adversarial position but in more of a consultant position, you’re working with a friend, you are working with and assisting them in what they’re trying to do. And that’s what we did: We assisted the local governments in positioning their local law and making sure that it was up to snuff and met up with statutes in federal law.”

Jimmy Jenkins, before writing stories and books, earned his law degree from the University of Maryland. After graduating law school, Jimmy undertook a commitment to public service by becoming a criminal prosecutor for several years. Jimmy wrote Green Rush Fever because he felt a need to tell the story about how his family’s small farming operation entered the nascent Florida hemp industry in 2019. Aside from his analysis about growing hemp, in Green Rush Fever Jimmy also writes about his family’s tradition of having a strong conviction in their faith and a tenacious belief in the power of having the robust loving support of one’s family members.

“I had been working as a medical illustrator in my first job at a company called MLI: Medical Legal Illustration, recreating illustrations of injuries usually from car accidents or so called slip and fall accidents so that a jury can understand what physically happened to people in those accidents. Because of my educational background and long-standing passion for the work, I was thriving. After three years we had a big shake up in the company that led to a contract dispute. I decided that it was time to go out on my own at the age of 28 and have been running Medical Visions Inc. for over 30 years creating over 15,000 custom medical legal illustrations for clients across the country. You can’t just have a degree in art to be a medical illustrator. You have to have half art and half science. And that’s difficult because a lot of artists don’t like math or science. We don’t like the technical aspect of things. And a lot of scientists have problems with visual communication. So we’re kind of a rare breed because we’ve got to be good at both.”

Elizabeth Shick graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia with a degree in Scientific Illustration, then went on to study Medical Illustration at the Medical College of Georgia. She was the senior medical illustrator at MLI before opening her own company, Medical Visions, Inc., in 1991. She is one of the top medical legal illustrators in the country with extensive experience, personally producing over 15,000 exhibits. Elizabeth’s motto is “Do what you love and delegate everything else.”

“Entering community college was a life changing experience. It was all group work, and I thrived. It was magic! I ended up starting a business to help pay for tuition. I became class president, worked for the school newspaper, ran the marketing club, planned the school graduation….  I found that working in teams in a collaborative environment under high pressure was the absolute best thing for me. I didn’t even realize how impactful it was at the time, but in hindsight, it was absolutely life changing.”

Kevin Lawrence is a strategic advisor and coach to CEOs and executive teams across North America and internationally. Driven by a relentless passion to help business leaders get what they really want, in business and life, Kevin has coached clients across a wide range of industries during the past 20 years. His unique perspective working with hundreds of leaders inspired him to write “Your Oxygen Mask First.” The book deals with the dark side of the leadership dichotomy and offers 17 practical steps to triumph in business, without being trampled in life. Kevin lives in Vancouver, Canada.

“Norway is a country that is very conforming. I think it’s part of our culture from way back because of living in a place where it was important to stay in a group to survive, because it is cold and dark in the winter and not much grows. It’s really a harsh environment. So, people needed to stay within the group and to be accepted by the group. You have to play by the rules.”

Norwegian-born Unni Turrettini is the author of The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer. She is also the author of Betraying the Nobel which focuses on the lack of leadership in the world and on the Nobel Peace Prize’s importance as a beacon of hope and inspiration. Through writing and speaking, Unni is on a mission to restore trust in leadership by encouraging women to fully step up and into their true feminine power. She also works as a coach for high-achieving women. She has law degrees from Norway, France, and the United States, and is a member of the New York Bar. She worked numerous years in law and finance before she began writing.

“My father was by far the greatest influence on my education and career choices. He was in technology and worked for a defense contractor, so he would bring all sorts of technical things home with him that I found fascinating from a very early age. We had the very first terminal in our house and he plugged in the phone so that we got to play games on the pentagon computers for the first time. I was the type of person who would not read the textbooks but would go to the library and check out all the books on a topic that would be relevant and inspirational to me. One day in the early 1990s I picked up a book on the new Microsoft technology and read it over the weekend and by Monday I felt I was ready to do contracting work. From early on, real world, feeling, touching technology stayed with me all of my adult life.”

Patrick Greenwood is an avid cyclist, author, coffee brand creator, veteran and advocate for kids in Vietnam. After a career in the military, Patrick embarked on a 25-year career in information technology. Many of his inspirations for writing came from his business travels to Asian countries. A true believer in listening to one’s passion, Patrick began writing in early 2020 based on several trips he made while cycling in various countries. In his first novel, Sunrise in Saigon, Patrick draws upon several non-fictional events that happened in Vietnam.

“I hadn’t gotten promoted for a couple of years. So I asked my boss why. In an irritated voice he said, ‘Do you really want to know why? I’ll tell you if you really want to know. You laugh and smile too much, And until you change that, you’re never going anywhere else in this company.’ Guess what? I quit. I honestly do not know how I had the confidence to do this, because I was 40 by then, and now I know that is when ageism really kicks in. But I was determined that I was not going to stay somewhere that wanted me to change my entire personality for a company.”

Kathy Goughenour, after finding the courage to say “bye-bye” to her corporate marketing career, built a 6-figure virtual assistant business from her tiny house in the middle of a forest. Today, she teaches professional women how to create their own work-at-home VA businesses so they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and financial security they desire and deserve. Kathy also offers VA Matchmaking sessions to business owners interested in working with Expert VAs® and Virtual Experts®. Kathy and her Expert VA® and Virtual Expert® Training program have been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, All You, and The Wealthy Freelancer.

“My father gave me a gift that I treasure. He had the ability to take a complicated subject or intricate process and explain it to people in terms that they could understand. To this day I have that talent. I can take a very complex issue and break it down into words that the average person can understand without digging into the weeds, without getting too technical. And then they understand it. Then they know the importance of taking some action to fix the problem they didn’t even realize they had. That gives me tremendous satisfaction in the work I do every day.”

Mickey Batsell is an experienced industry professional, specializing in long-term care, retirement planning and surrounding issues. With over 40 years of professional, and personal family experiences, Mickey has an in-depth understanding of the challenges his clients face. As a protector of people’s independence and dignity, he currently represents industry-leading, financially sound companies and assists families, groups, and associations throughout the United States. He is a retired USAFR Lt. Colonel, served in the USAF Special Operations on active duty and as a Deputy Commander of Resources in the USAFR. Mickey and Nancy have four children, eleven grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. If he isn’t with family, you can find him in his garden in the spring.

“I do ‘practice tests’ with my high school students when they first come to me. Typically, I give them both the SAT and the ACT. These are official tests in that the materials are official, but we don’t report the results. Taking one of each test is useful because, based on which one you get a higher score on, you can pursue just that one. If your scores are kind of equal, then you can choose one. (The schools that accept test scores will accept either the SAT or the ACT.) Once we have those test scores, there are certain lessons that I do with all students which are the basics of test prep strategy that everybody needs to know. Once we get past those basic strategies, then I am free to customize their program however we need to do it. And along the way, I have them take more practice tests that give us a sense of where they are improving, where they are not improving and what we still need to work on.”

For over 20 years, Dr. Kelly S. Frindell has made a career she is passionate about, helping students exceed their expectations and achieve testing success and providing students with tools to get into the schools of their dreams. She is an expert in test preparation styles, techniques and study material, specializing in SAT, ACT, SSAT, PSAT, GRE, TAKS and ISEE. She helps high school students prepare for college entrance tests and younger students prepare for boarding and private school entrance exams. Dr. Kelly graduated with honors from Trinity University with a BA in psychology, then obtained her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Texas. After gaining invaluable experience at various institutions, she started InHouse Test Prep in 2007.

“I think I would recommend that a young person who is interested in nursing today find a nursing mentor who can really help guide them through their decisions. Because nursing is such a wonderful profession and there are so many opportunities, and nursing education has changed dramatically over the years. I think it’s being set up in a way that there’s more support for the students and that the students have the ability to form stronger bonds with their faculty. I would suggest talking to as many nurses as you can, looking at the different areas of nursing based on what your interests are. Today there are so many areas to explore in the profession. I feel like you need a guide and mentor.”

Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently entering her 20th year as a school nurse in Camden, NJ. She serves on several national boards and is the Legislative Co-Chair for the New Jersey State School Nurses Association (NJSSNA). Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing. She serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. Robin writes a blog called The Relentless Nurse.

“It took many, many years–my twenties, my thirties and even some of my forties–where I had all of these goals and dreams that I wanted to accomplish. And I accomplished most of them. And still, no matter how many accomplishments I had and how many successes I had in my life, there was this underlying feeling that I just wasn’t good enough. That’s exactly what my work is based on because I think that is a cultural phenomenon. I think we live in a culture that breeds people to feel unfulfilled and dissatisfied. It breeds people to look at what we want and where we want to get to instead of looking at who we already are, what we’ve already created, and the magnificent lives we are already living.”

Joanna Kleinman is a licensed psychotherapist, life and corporate coach, author, podcaster, motivational speaker, and the founder of Dethroning Your Inner Critic. She is an unconventional therapist and is driven by the conviction that the most powerful life you can live is when you know the difference between YOU and your Inner Critic. She developed the M.I.N.D Method, a time tested, proven system that brings together practical psychology, neuroscience and the power of intention to discover who you are separate from the critical voice in your mind. With over 25 years of experience, she has worked with corporations such as Campowerment, Cigna, Nestle, and TD Bank, and has transformed the lives of thousands of people.

“The thing I’m so proud of in my career within the industry trade groups–from manufacturing to chemical distribution to the formulation of end-use products–is I served with people who were saying, ‘You know, we’ve got to find out where the common ground is with the lead environmental groups, the thought leaders. Let’s see if we can find the way forward.’ And we were able to do that together by asking those groups across a table ‘What’s on your mind? What is it you are trying to get done?’ Having that frame of mind to say ‘Yes, we can do it’ has carried through for years on so many issues that we worked on. We didn’t always have a successful resolution because sometimes the issues were far too complex. But for the vast majority of issues, we were able to do that. I’m grateful for those people who say, ‘Yes we can’ and that even in today’s environment, things don’t have to be that derisive if someone wants to find common ground.”

Chris Cathcart joined the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) as its president in January of 2000. He retired from the association in January 2017. During his tenure at the association, Cathcart initiated the formation of Product Care®, the industry’s product stewardship program; and the founding of the Alliance for Consumer Education, the association’s non-profit educational foundation. Prior to joining CSPA, from 1992 to 1999, Cathcart worked for the National Association of Chemical Distributors, as President and Chief Operating Officer. From 1990 to 1992, he served as President, Hazardous Materials Advisory Council, and from 1981 to 1990 he served in various management positions with the Chemical Manufacturers Association, now known as the American Chemistry Council. From 1974 to 1981 he served in both military and civilian government positions. He earned his Bachelor’s of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Master’s of Arts from Central Michigan University, and completed other postgraduate work at George Washington University. Cathcart enjoys sailing, and motorcycling. Additionally, he is a pilot and holds a commercial certificate with multi-engine, instrument, and glider ratings. Chris and his family live in Potomac, Maryland.

“The worst thing that can happen to you is if you regret that there was a time when you have really wanted to do this and you did not.  Go for it. Yes. Try as many things as you can and then you can decide. And it does not matter what age you are, as long as you realize your dreams. There is no better day to start than today.”

Marina Barayeva is an international photographer, speaker and a host of the popular podcast: Marketing for Creatives. Marina is a known authority in helping entrepreneurs become influencers in their niche. She is a TEDx speaker, has presented to audiences in Asia and North America, and has been featured in such media as ArtPeople, CCTV, China Radio International, and others. Born in Russia, she now lives in China.

“One of the many wonderful things about working in this profession is that you can structure the work that you do based on your circumstances at any turning point of your life. The setting you work in, the kinds of clients you work with, the specific modalities that you offer, can all be created by you. When my son was born I wanted to be home every evening and on weekends, so I structured my private practice to make that happen. Earlier in my career my schedule and client base was quite different, which was ideal for that time in my life. But whatever the structure of my work, the thing that I really love about practicing speech language pathology is my one-on-one time with kids–there’s something beautiful that happens in those moments when I am able to use my passion and expertise to help kids that stutter become happy, healthy, effective communicators and help families better understand how to best support their loved one who stutters.”

Susie Harder, M.A., CCC-SLP is an experienced clinician who devotes much of her passion to working with children who stutter. She works in private practice and the school setting to help support children and provides workshops and consulting-based support to school districts. She recently created the Junior Authors Program, a revolutionary literacy-based platform. This community project engages students around the world in collaboratively writing a children’s book.

“I had a life-changing event when I had a close encounter with three dolphins off the coast of Bimini. I was hanging off the bow of a 65-foot terra cement boat. This was before GPS, so I was being dragged in the water with a snorkel on, looking for The Blockade Runner, the last sailboat that was sunk while trying to get stuff to the South during the Civil War. A dolphin came up within 18 inches of my face mask and looked at me. I thought it was trying to communicate to me. And then there was a second dolphin, maybe about five to eight feet off, and then a third dolphin 20 feet off. A guy on the boat thought they was sharks, and he did a cannon ball off the other side of the boat to scare them away. I know today that what happened was, the one that came closest to me was a female because she had the huge bulge of a baby dolphin in her belly. The second dolphin would have been an aunty who would be there when the dolphin is born. If there are any problems, she would take the baby up to the surface to breathe. The third dolphin would be either a male or female who would be watching for shark attacks. By the way, to know the difference between a shark and a dolphin, if it comes up to the surface and the fin goes back down, that’s a dolphin breathing. If the fin keeps on the surface of the water, that’s a shark, and you should get out of the water as quickly as you can without splashing on the surface because that’s an indication to a shark of a sick or dying thing, and it might come at you. Anyway, I wanted to get to know dolphins more after that, and the next big step for me was to sell some tracks of land I had invested in during my earlier years in real estate. I bought a 51-foot sailboat up above Detroit, sailed it down to the Virgin Islands, got a captain’s license, and tried to make a living by chartering my sailboat for the next four and a half years. I couldn’t really make a living at it, but it was a lot of fun doing it! I could work with scientists some and observe dolphins a lot during that time period. But then I had to come back and work another 10 years in real estate to make enough money to retire at the age of fifty-four, when I sailed off for 11 years on a 38-foot sailboat.”

Penn Clarke, the author of “Dolphins & Penn: Tacking Through Life,” is passionate about dolphins, sailing, and travel. He has studied dolphins since a close encounter with three of them in the Bahamas in 1976. Penn is the founder of the non-profit Dolphin Relief and Research. His volunteer efforts include work with scientists studying the health of dolphins in the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. Tacking through life with its joys and trials is made better by the dolphins Penn encounters while living aboard his sailboats for 15 years, traveling around the world four times, and his numerous side trips.

“Is there a big demand for voice coaching? Because of the prevalence of video, podcasting, Facebook Live, YouTube and the ways that this pandemic has forced most everyone to do their business on Zoom or Skype, we’re having to use our voices in different ways more than ever before. So yes the demand for voice coaches has increased dramatically. To learn more, study the masters–Lesak, Skinner and Rodenburg–their concepts, methodologies and frameworks. Today it’s easier than ever to access their books and videos, and find out if this field is one you want to learn more about and pursue.”

Tracy Goodwin has taught thousands of celebrities, professionals, and entrepreneurs, how to transform their lives and the lives of their listeners with their voice by stepping into the power of their natural voice so they amplify their authority and captivate the room. Tracy’s unique approach, Psychology of the Voice gets to the core of limiting voice habits and transforms voices from the inside out. People all over the world seek her out for her expertise to free voice barriers and get them to the next level in their business and life. Her game-changing voice training teaches you how to captivate the room, no matter the message, the venue, or the size of the audience.

“When I was working at a large kids’ camp in Michigan, I learned about Milton Hershey School and the houseparent role from some relatives who had done this, and I was instantly sold on the idea. I looked at the requirements on their website and my wife and I made the decision to postpone applying for family reasons, but I knew it was a job of a lifetime. I took a position at the Michigan camp to oversee a team of people who were in charge of guest relations. It was a promotion, but my interactions and relationships with students was lessened. I did that for about five years and was then offered another promotion which would include moving into a beautiful lake house with my wife and two daughters. But that promotion would take me even further away from working directly with children, which is where my talents and my passion really lie. I told my wife I wanted to say no to the promotion and the house on the lake to pursue the houseparent position at Milton Hershey School. We ended up going through the hiring process and were selected to be houseparents. In 2013, we moved everything to Hershey, Pennsylvania and began our life at the school. There are roughly 2,100 students now across three schools–an elementary school, a middle school and a high school all spread out over 10,000 acres. In total, we have 180 student homes and 180 houseparent couples that live in residence on our campus. My wife and I can see doing this until we retire because when you use your talents in a way that impacts the lives of others, it is really a beautiful thing.”

Sal Hanna is a houseparent at Milton Hershey School, a cost-free residential school for children from low-income backgrounds. At the school, students are given everything they need to remove barriers to education, including meals, clothing and health services. Students live in small groups of 10-12 in on-campus houses, and each house is overseen by a houseparent couple. After working as a camp director, Sal began his career at Milton Hershey School as a houseparent before working to recruit new houseparents. He and his wife, Melissa, loved and missed houseparenting so much that they returned to the role in the summer of 2022.

“I’ve spent my entire life studying personal development–I work on it every single day. I believe the desire to own a business comes from a voice somewhere deep inside of us that says: ‘I want more–more freedom, more control, more growth, more challenges….’ I think it’s bringing out those feelings and desires in people to help them create a vision for their future that has allowed me to become one of the most successful franchise consultants in franchise history. It is the most gratifying work I could ever imagine.”

As America’s top franchise consultant, Kim Daly (“The Daly Coach”) has inspired thousands of people to realize and follow their dreams of business ownership over the past two decades. Kim coaches her candidates to take control of their future and finances by strategically investing in a franchise brand that aligns with their unique goals. She commonly works with entrepreneurs, veterans, investors, and those in career transition. An avid marketer, Kim’s YouTube channel features franchising advice, FAQs, mistakes to avoid, and enlightening interviews with powerful business leaders.

“People are starting to segment. I think that is a really slippery slope for businesses. I don’t believe most of the political stuff belongs in business. I think there is a role for mindfulness on a couple of levels. One is that it is primarily focused. Teaching people to focus makes their stress levels go down and improves their performance. At least that is my experience. And when someone learns it at work, they take it home and share it with their family, they take it to the school board, to the teams they coach, their kids get it, and it filters throughout the community. My idea is that mindfulness is not something you need to do just 10 minutes a day. It is something you can really incorporate in your workday. And I also think there is room for leaders to be more mindful, less political and less derisive. I think business is the greatest catalyst for change.”

Eric Holsapple has a PhD in Economics, has been a real estate CEO and developer for nearly 40 years, lectured real estate at Colorado State University for 20 years, and practiced yoga and meditation for 30 years. Eric was awarded The Colorado State University Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010; and Bizwest Bravo Entrepreneur of the year award for Loveland, CO in 2015. He has a unique perspective on how merging business and mindfulness can be a catalyst in changing lives. Eric is the Founder of Living In The Gap. His popular workshops teach CEOs and professionals a different way to operate mindfully while improving the bottom line. Eric has written numerous published articles in real estate and economics, and a book entitled Profit with Presence that will be published in early 2023. Eric is a regular speaker at public and private events, and a popular guest on business podcasts.

“From the time I was a young girl, I never wanted to do anything else. That doesn’t mean I didn’t meet any skepticism in my family about it. I didn’t necessarily say it out loud at first, but I was determined to do it. By the time I moved to New York in 1988, pursuing a career in acting was what I was planning on doing. Okay, it seemed like a mountain to climb and sometimes it still feels like a mountain to climb, but there weren’t other things I wanted to do. I think most actors do other things to help support themselves when they’re not acting. And I think different actors have different paths with that kind of thing. I personally wanted to do something that was a little more fulfilling and so I have always taught as well, which I truly love.”

Carine Montbertrand is a professional actor, teacher, and audiobook narrator based in New York City. She was born in France but grew up in the US with an American mother and French father. As a theatre actor, she has performed off-Broadway and throughout most of the United States, including Alaska! Recently, she also made a brief appearance on THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL. She’s the award winning narrator of more than 80 audiobooks for companies such as Recorded Books, Penguin Random House, and Audible. As a teacher she specializes in physical theatre and mask work, as well as Voice and Speech.

“What has been most gratifying in starting and growing my own company has changed over time, but it always comes back to the mission of putting more money into the hands of more women and being able to do that in so many different directions. Number one, we have our clients. Literally we have generated tens of millions of dollars for women-owned businesses. That is really cool, especially when every once in a while we have clients who come to us at a low to mid 6-figures and we are able to scale them to seven figures for the first time and create women millionaires. That is major! But beyond that, something that developed over time is that all the women on my team who are fully remote and work from all over the world have the quality of life that they have because of something that I built. That is still hard for me to wrap my mind around. And lastly, tied back to my mission and my story, we have a partnership with a really amazing organization called “Free From.” They actually are one of the only organizations that I know of that specifically deals with the financial abuse element of domestic violence. We have donated about $40,000-$50,000 to them over the last couple of years. Just hearing some of the individual stories of their clients, knowing that some of our revenue went toward that, is hard to even put into words. And to think it all started with my really unfortunate experience in Harlem, NY, and now look at what has come of this.”

Jennifer Spivak is the CEO of The AdGirls Agency, an all-female Facebook Ads agency. She has helped hundreds of businesses generate millions of dollars on Facebook & Instagram, with many seeing a 1000%+ return on their ad campaigns. Her all-female team enjoys crunching data, helping women-owned businesses make tons of money, and breaking the rules when it comes to Facebook ads. Jennifer has been featured in Forbes & The New York Times, listed as a Top Facebook Ads Manager to Watch in 2019, and is an adjunct professor of digital marketing at The City College of New York.

“At the end of medical school I still did not know what I wanted to specialize in. My last rotation was in obstetrics. I told a friend that I hoped that I would find this area more interesting than the others I had been studying because if I didn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Thankfully, obstetrics was a perfect balance of my skills and interests, and I fell in love with it. Obstetrics is a ‘happy specialty’ for the most part and it offers you a little bit of everything: internal medicine, radiology, a lot of surgery and I was interested in all of those areas. I was fortunate to be accepted to a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at St. Louis University. From pretty early on I realized that I wanted to be a high-risk obstetrical specialist because it was a way to help women who were truly in need.

“The three things I teach my students are: hypertension disorder, diabetes disorder and pre-term birth. All of those can critically affect a pregnancy. In order to pursue this specialty, described as maternal-fetal medicine, I had to pursue two more years of training, which I did at Wayne State on a fellowship. I was also super fortunate that one of the top researchers on perinatal issues in the world, Dr. Roberto Romero, came to our university and he recruited me to work with him. We did some studies together that will probably never be repeated due to their breakthrough results. My educational foundation has been gratifying on so many levels and prepared me to maximize my talents so that I can serve my clients to the best of my ability. For that I am eternally grateful.”

Dr. Stanley Berry has been a Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist and provided care to women with high-risk pregnancies for 37 years. Although Dr. Berry has authored or co-authored a large number of medical publications, “A Fight For Full Disclosure” is his debut novel. His professional musician father & social worker mother, passed to him a love of music, reading, and a respect for hard work. Although he refers to himself as a “failed English major,” Dr. Berry never lost his passion for creative writing or his goal of communicating his ideas about the world of medicine and medical research through the medium of fiction.

“Unfortunately, it was tragedy turned into purpose. In high school, my son was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, which is a colon disease. He was an overachiever and held everything in his gut. His senior year in high school, the doctor informed me that his colon needed to come out. Christopher was an AP student. He had goals to be a Navy seal. A really disciplined kid. He ended up having complications in the surgery and we went home from the hospital with 90 Oxycontins. Purdue Pharma had released the wonder drug Oxycontin to relieve all pain. I was told to give them to him every four hours, which I did. I didn’t even think about questioning what the doctor told me to do. Then my son had to keep having different surgeries, which put him back on the Oxycontin each time. And ultimately, he fought addiction the second half of his life. We had every resource to help him, but I still could not save my son’s life. We lost him February 26th, 2016, at 32-years-old. That is the whole reason I do what I do today to save other mothers and fathers. What’s staggering is, since my son’s passing, there have been over 300,000 people who have died in this country due to Oxycontin. Right now we should be screaming to the rooftops to bring awareness and education to parents and to youth. Saying no to drugs didn’t work. And that’s really what the Christopher Wolf Crusade is all about. I launched the charity in 2018. When you lose a child, there are no words for it because it is out of the natural order of life. They say the sixth stage of grief is finding purpose. I think I went straight to stage six. The only way I know how to describe it is there was a fire inside of me. I had to save other mothers and fathers from going through what I’m going through. If I looked at it deep enough, I felt like there’s a missing position in our healthcare system. It’s something that Christopher didn’t have and that I did not have as his caretaker. We have coaches for everything else in our lives, But when you’re in a health crisis, in a hospital, where’s your coach? There’s no coach. So, I’ve had a clinical trial for the past 2 years going on at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, the third largest trauma hospital in the country. We developed a Life Care Specialist as the position is to educate the patient and the parents on the dangers of those medications and how fast you need to taper off. And we provide non-pharmaceutical solutions to pain. In addition, we provide mental wellness techniques. My team and I are all certified instructors with the Trauma Resource Institute, and we teach skills at the patient bedside on how to address and manage your pain.”

Cammie Wolf Rice is a mother, an advocate, an author and an agent for change. She has personal experience dealing with the dangers of opioid misuse through her own son’s battle from childhood through his passing at 32. Cammie has transferred her pain into purpose. She has made it her mission to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic and alternative pain management strategies.

“To me, the biggest breakthroughs in this country are our broad and sweeping environmental standards that are enforceable. Many countries around the world have just passed in total our environmental standards, and they’ll say that. The question is not what your standards are. The question is how are you prepared to enforce those standards. And that’s where you see Bobby Kennedy and others roll in behind you to insist on enforcement. I tend to involve myself in what some people would call counseling attorney and counselor-at-law. It’s the counseling side of helping not only big business, but also governments, like the government of Fiji and others, where I go in and try to find that higher ground, where we can have the highest level of environmental protection while also ensuring that we’re not destroying the economy at the same time. People often ask, why do you care about that? The reason is that the places I’ve been around the world that have the most robust economies also have the highest level of environmental protection.”

Major General Tom Mullikin, who chairs the South Carolina Floodwater Commission, was once referred to by the South Carolina Governor as “the most interesting man in the world.” An energy-environmental attorney and a university professor, Tom is a former U.S. Army officer and retired commanding general of the South Carolina State Guard who has spent the last four decades leading expeditions to many of the most remote regions in the world, traversing every continent on earth, climbing mountain ranges of the world’s seven tallest peaks—including reaching the summits of more than 20 mountains across the globe—and logging scuba dives in all the world’s oceans.

“While I have always been entrepreneurial, I had no intention at all of going into the family business and there was no pressure to do so. After graduating from the University of Scranton with a degree in marketing, I worked for two different companies in New York City for a couple of years as a list management broker. When my middle brother graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology and joined the family business and I saw how he enjoyed working with my dad and uncle, I began to realize that joining Ballantine might be a smart path for me. They’d never had a marketing person in house and both agreed my expertise could take the company to the next level. That was in 2003 and it’s been an amazing journey.”

Ryan Cote is the Director of Digital Services and Partner at The Ballantine Corporation, a third-generation family-owned direct mail and digital marketing company based out of Fairfield, NJ. With them since 2003, Ryan manages the digital marketing division, including account management, sales and strategy, and founded The Morning Upgrade Podcast.

“While I had always included diet and nutrition as a vital part of my clinical practice, along with the more traditional medical procedures, as I continued to research and study the science that increasingly reported that the majority of the chronic conditions people in modern Western cultures face are induced predominately by diet and lifestyle choices, I began to question whether I was making my greatest contribution to my patients. The catalyst that gave me the courage to walk away from my successful clinical practice was reading Doctor Walter Willett’s groundbreaking book: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, which was rooted in studies that tracked the health of dieters over twenty years. The work I do is fascinating and gratifying in every way.”

Dr. Ann Kulze has distinguished herself as a one-of-a-kind, “real world” nutrition and wellness expert. She received her undergraduate degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition from Clemson University and her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina where she graduated as valedictorian. She’s the Founder and CEO of the wellness education firm Just Wellness LLC. She’s also the author of six books, including her bestselling Eat Right for Life series. She’s been featured in many national media outlets, including the Dr. Oz Show, Oprah, Time Magazine, and many others.

“About a year after I graduated with an MBA, I joined Morgan Stanley and went into their Financial Advisor Training System. When you are first starting out, you are trying to do a combination of learning everything you have to learn, building your own confidence, and you have to work in the operational side and the client development side of the business. That was a little different than what I was expecting, but it was fun. I was at Morgan Stanley for about two years, but I knew I wanted to go independent, which is a different type of advisory. I became an independent advisor with a large firm, and then I joined a team of about 30 independent advisors as well. That was great because you get more independence when you work for a firm that’s also independent. Through time, I realized that the specific niche that I wanted to focus on is the alternative investment space, specifically 1031 Exchange, Syndicated Real Estate. My business partner and I offer financial solutions to individuals who own multiple pieces of real estate but are tired of managing it and dealing with the headache that comes with that. They are looking for the next chapter of their life, to have the freedom to really live with design– to travel, to spend time with their grandkids, or whatever they want to do with the rest of their lives. We help them to a 1031 Exchange, which is a process of selling real estate and buying other real estate and, when done correctly, getting to defer the tax on profits.”

Ken Kladouris is an esteemed wealth advisor and author of “Get There! Chart Your Course to Financial Abundance and Live the Life You Desire.” He believes life should be lived, by design. Charting his own course in the wealth management industry, he earned the respect of his peers and the trust of his clientele. Most recently, he developed an online course entitled “Stillness to Success” which provides a valuable resource for individuals who are ready to create real change in their lives.

“The kind of person that succeeds as a firefighter is typically a Type A personality: motivated, competitive, achievement oriented. You obviously have to make on-the-spot decisions—you can’t be wishy-washy. It’s far better to deploy a poor plan well than have a perfect plan executed poorly. Often people’s lives are on the line. The training that each individual receives at the intensive, four-month long Firefighting Academy covers all the basics: building construction, fire science, how the different apparatuses work, how to use tools and raise ladders, how to deal with motor vehicle accidents and much more. There is also a thorough Emergency Medical Services (EMS) component. The typical schedule for a firefighter is one 24-hour day followed by three days off. It is a very challenging occupation to say the least, but it is equally gratifying on so many levels. I am proud to have served the Paterson New Jersey Fire Department for the last 9 years and honored to now be a Captain.”

Jonathan Salmond offers two decades of extraordinary success in a series of high-level roles as an Inspirational Speaker and as a Fire Captain. Jonathan’s invaluable expertise and broad business range have powered a history of developing successful process improvements that drive productivity, reliability, and client satisfaction. Upon beginning his career as an Inspirational Speaker, Jonathan has the innate ability to inspire people to do their best with their most valuable asset: action. He has dedicated himself and his vision as a leader who engages in projects with an “All-In” attitude. Jonathan is able to help other people due to his adeptness in Leadership, Team Building, Teamwork, Customer Service, and Overcoming Adversity.

“My sister was a psychologist, my mother was a budding psychologist, and I figured that is just what I am going to do. So, my bachelor’s degree is in psychology. I liked it from the start. I am interested in how humans behave. I loved the different methodologies. I loved everything about it, and I learned I did not want to become a therapist. I watched my sister and my mother and their clients and knew that I wanted to do something that affects more people, but I also had a liking for–this makes no sense at all but–renewable energy. My first career was working for an electric utility’s energy conservation program in Austin, Texas.”

Audrey Eger Thompson, MS, is a Certified Leadership Coach with Just Mind Counseling. Her lessons in coaching go back as far as the age of 10 when she was a competitive swimmer and was specifically coached to compete against herself. Today, that simple, yet powerful philosophy is at the core of her coaching practice. Audrey’s goal in coaching is to help you be your best–not in a way that glorifies perfection, but by giving you the tools, insights, and clarity to grow. Whether your goal is to advance in your career or discover what you are born to do, Audrey works with you to envision your long-term priorities, and then helps you create a path to reach them.

“I think that where we are right now we are seeing that the generation that’s coming of age truly doesn’t know what it is they want to do. And there are many reasons for that. I can totally understand that, but if they position themselves in a way that they can test drive a number of different things, just to see how it fits, just to see how that makes them feel, then I think it is really a powerful way to begin the journey for them. So obviously we specialize a lot in that process. And I really believe that so much of that happens outside of school.”

At the time of this interview, Steve Robertson was the CEO of Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs (JKCP), an organization specializing in youth-to-adult programming that turns curiosity into passion and skill. Steve was with the company for 20 years. In this role, his primary responsibility was to cultivate a culture that results in memories lasting a lifetime. Steve is an expert on youth development and education as well as understanding and adapting to youth. He is now, 2022, the CEO of Bold-Education.

“I do think anything you can do in college to experience as many work environments as you can is very helpful, even if it is finding a connection or reaching out through LinkedIn and asking if you can shadow someone for a day or finding an internship that many of the stations, ad agencies and marketing firms offer. The internships I had completely influenced my passion to work in television.”

Robbin Steed is the owner of Robbin Steed and Associates, while continuing to serve as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Networks of 11Alive/ NBC Atlanta/TEGNA Media. She is responsible for providing business, civic and philanthropic leadership for TEGNA Media’s Atlanta broadcast and digital properties. Additionally, she manages the TEGNA Foundation for the Atlanta market. She is a purpose-driven marketing, sales and communications leader and a cum laude graduate of the Henry Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia.

“I remember starting at Sony in Soho, London and I was in the situation where there was no onboarding, there was no Human Resources. We had just started the PlayStation division. It was like this mini startup. We were young, scrappy, and hungry and trying to make it work, trying to generate revenue and to get the license for the PlayStation. I felt like I was this odd person that had just been added to a team without any formal integration on what the goals are, what the challenges are, how we need to work together. Instead of there being a cohesive collaborative culture being formed, we were all just shooting off in our particular areas. And that’s where I think the first “100 Days Concept” came about and which repeated itself time and time again. Every time I moved to a new country, every time I changed jobs, I thought: ‘Okay, I’ve had enough. I’ve REALLY got to change this model.’”

Caroline Stokes leads an executive search and emotional intelligence coaching company for successful leaders and global technology organizations to move forward together. Her entire approach to executive search, the employer brand, the candidate and employee experience is included in her business book “Elephants Before Unicorns: Emotionally Intelligent HR Strategies To Save Your Company,” published by Entrepreneur Press (2019).

“I was in the security systems business for 20 years. One day I found myself in the number one position in national sales and I couldn’t go any further than that. There was a glass ceiling. So I left my job with ADT and I became a financial advisor. Now this is an interesting thing: It was the worst mistake I ever made. I went into the financial services business and found I wasn’t wired for the relationships that could ebb and flow with the markets. It’s all fun and games when we’re all doing great, but when everything goes down, people get fuzzy memories. Although I just said this job move was the worst mistake of my life, it really wasn’t–because if I hadn’t done that, I would not be at a place where I can do what I do now that is so exhilarating for me.”

Tony Wall is the founder and president of Noesis, a non-profit that’s dedicated to human education and the elimination of perpetual conflict. Wall spent most of his career in the financial services industry but continually found himself drawn back to the study of humankind. In 2019, he established Noesis and created a series of educational videos to explain his concept of the human injury and how primitive instincts drive today’s human interactions.

“I got to a really dark place because I felt like I had to make that choice: That I could either be financially successful but I could only do so if I sell my soul, sell my values─or, I could be broke. Neither one of those options was acceptable to me.”

Sean Sessel is a voracious learner with a fervent belief in the ability of the individual to better himself or herself. After an epiphany that he derived intrinsic enjoyment from, continual learning and the sharing of knowledge with others, he decided to make a career of it and started the Oculus Institute. Sean developed a unique system called psychohacking and helps individuals escape burnout jobs and craft careers that truly inspire AND pay well. He works with people to prevent self-sabotage, dissolve stress, and discover their personal power and value.

“You really delay a lot of life for this profession. Neurosurgery in particular is always calling you back, and you’re always thinking about these high risk patients and how to do better and what you can innovate to make things better for them. But you do pay for it. I can’t emphasize that enough because it does come at a cost, but I can’t imagine doing anything different. Neurosurgery is a very atypical medical career with one of the smallest number of doctors nationally, but my older brother’s example as a neurosurgeon inspired me to pursue the path I chose. I am forever grateful to him because the work that I do every day is gratifying on so many levels.”

Stephen Kalhorn is a husband, father of three, inventor and a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of South Carolina. He deals with adult patients with conditions that affect the brain, spinal cord and vertebral column including brain and spinal tumors, degenerative conditions and traumatic injuries. He has a particular interest in minimally invasive, complex and adult spinal deformity surgery.

“I was about seven years old when I saw the movie Cleopatra, and I was just enthralled with the hair and makeup that movie portrayed. That was a long time ago with the original Cleopatra being Elizabeth Taylor. I went home and was so inspired, I got my crayons out and drew a picture for my Aunt Flo, and my Aunt Flo kept that picture that I drew with crayons, and I still have it today. That drawing that I did was the inspiration for hair and makeup and nails.”

Rhonda Barrymore is the founder and president of Help Me Rhonda®, Inc., a worldwide provider of physical appearance products and services. Rhonda has worked locally and globally to make up and style some of the most well-known and prestigious people in the world. Some of her services include beauty and special effects makeup, as well as skincare, hair styling, wardrobe styling, prop styling and her extensive skin care and makeup product line for all branches of the media and personal use, including but not limited to film production, high definition television production, print photography and live performance.

“Many people are afraid to try something outside of their comfort zone. I truly believe most people—after the age of 18 or maybe 22—get sucked into the status quo. Then they’re very afraid to try anything new. I found that if I could get one foot out of that comfort zone and leave the other foot in, the comfort zone got bigger. The more risk I took and started heading toward my talent area, the more fun life became, and the more joy I got in my life by doing that. But, it took a lot of courage to break out.”

For the first 25 years of his business life, Robert Mallon was a successful executive in the restaurant and software industries. In 2002, he became a professional speaker and business coach and has conducted nearly 2,000 full-day seminars and inspired thousands with a focus on leadership, business and life. In 2013 he and a partner began working with businessmen and key leaders, between the ages of 30 and 49, who hadn’t yet realized their full potential and who felt as if they’d lost their freedom to their work lives. Note: Since the recording of this interview, Robert has started Elite Coaching Solutions and consults with individuals and companies to open them to their full potential.

“When I was very young, my grandmother would take me into Boston for lunch and shopping. She took me to the cosmetic counters or jewelry counters of top retail stores–some days it was about the diamonds and some days it was about the beauty. Around 8 or 9 years of age my mother gave me a kit to make my own perfume, which I also enjoyed a lot, and friends and family liked the fragrances I came up with! I guess you could say I was indoctrinated into the field, purely by accident, but these childhood experiences greatly influenced my later decisions. After graduating from college I joined my brother who had just started a skateboarding company in California—Powerflex—which is still going strong today. While I enjoyed working with my brother and loved skateboarding, I realized that this industry was not where my passions were. I knew that the beauty industry, which was very much in its formative growth stages, was where I wanted to focus. I did a great deal of research and homework into the entire industry worldwide and then sat down and over a period of weeks outlined what I call a ‘Career Pie’ that summarized, with the many product and service segments inside of a large circle (‘pie’), the many facets of the field and where my interests and passions lay. Over my entire career, that Career Pie, which is always evolving, has been my compass, if you will, whenever I face important decisions at any turning point of my life and career. I believe that every one of us should follow their passions in our career, and having a vision and plan of action, in my experience, are vital to success.”

Karen Ballou has been a leader and innovator in the skincare and wellness space her entire career. Most recently, she is the founder and CEO of Immunocologie, an all-natural skincare brand focused on skin health and immune protection as well as co-founder of LB Equity, a growth equity fund investing in emerging brands in beauty, wellness and personal care. During her career, Karen has helped formulate, position, and launch more than 75 brands. In addition, she is a licensed esthetician, has founded and owned day spas in Atlanta, Chicago and Connecticut and authored curriculum for the American Esthetician Association.

“I love this country. Our people and especially our youth do not know how lucky they are to be born in this country as an American. They take their freedom for granted.  And that’s why I am running for U.S. Congress now. Besides my regular speaker-educator role, I am a Congressional Candidate in New Hampshire. People are interested in my background. I am the first Chinese woman in the history of the U.S. to run for Congress as a Republican. There is one Chinese person also running as a Democrat in N.Y.  With all my rich personal stories, I wanted to tell people as Americans how we move forward. We should not go down the path of socialism and communism or globalism. It was the rights and liberty as a concept in our Declaration of Independence which brought me to this great county. I am very blessed. I am living my dreams–even if just by running for U.S. Congress¡ But I don’t take my freedom for granted. I tell people that the reason I’m running is because I fear that this great country I love is becoming increasingly like the country I left. I want to keep the American Dream alive for my children.”

Lily Tang Williams was a law school assistant professor in Fudan University, Shanghai, China who became an American entrepreneur, an educator and a motivational speaker. She is now running for Congress in New Hampshire. Born to illiterate working-class parents in China’s western Sichuan province just before Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Lily Tang Williams grew up experiencing extremely poor living conditions, food rationing, social chaos and Communist indoctrination. She came to America in 1988 to study in a graduate school. Today, she has her own businesses, and relishes the freedom, independence, and prosperity she found in America. She loves her new country and travels frequently throughout the states to share the story of her American Dream and to educate people about horrors of Communism. Lily is on the Speakers Bureau of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. She has been speaking to students in middle schools, high schools and colleges across the country for the past five years.

“After graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in advertising, I worked as a media planner at McCann Erickson figuring out the best media and advertising strategies for the movies that Columbia and TriStar released from 1989 to 1992. I figured out a more effective way to complete the reach and frequency efficiency of our campaigns across 200+ markets–my analytical skills at play–which cut the planning time of most planners from over 2+ hours to 20 minutes or less. After questioning me about my method for solving the problem so efficiently, the New York office asked me if I’d like to transfer there as supervisor and a pay raise that was literally three times greater than what I was earning at the time as a 25-year-old ‘newbie’ in the world of advertising. My immediate response was: ‘No thank you, I want to make movies.’ Soon thereafter I accepted a job as a production assistant on a TV show called Dream On which was featured on HBO, for a tiny fraction of the salary I was offered in the ad business. My gut told me that if I took that high-paying job I would be shackled by the proverbial ‘golden handcuffs’ and never be able to pursue my passion for the film and TV industry. My gut was spot on and I have been creating a career that I love every day ever since.”

Tim Tortora has spent his impressive career in the entertainment industry garnering extensive financial and producing experience before releasing his second book “An Effective Guide To Build Your Path In The Film And TV Industry.” His latest book and companion community guides aspiring filmmakers through the black box that is building a durable network in film and TV production.

“I started doing career counseling on the side of a full-time job, mostly for fun with friends and family members. Then I was getting referrals, and referrals from referrals. Before I knew it, I had this part-time budding business. I did this very successfully for a number of years. Then I came to a crossroad in my career. I thought long and hard about what it is that I really enjoy doing: what gives me that sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and the meaning I want to have in life. It really is through coaching, consulting and advisement. So, I decided to take the leap and focus on my career coaching business full-time.”

Sonja “Dynamo” Price is a Top Career Strategist, Salary Advisor, and Leadership Coach. Her mission in life is to support professionals have greater meaning in their lives, better work-life balance, and significantly higher pay. She is the distinguished author of 2 books: The Pivot Point System and The Infinite Leader. She has worked directly with Tony Robbins, trained with Al Gore to become a Climate Reality Leader, and won an Honorable Award from the Women’s Economic Forum. She has helped many clients land their dream job with prestigious organizations such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Starbucks, AT&T, Nordstrom, and many other large and small organizations. In her downtime, she enjoys skiing, playing piano, and geeking out over strategy board games.

“When we sold our executive search firm, for a couple of years we had non-competes. My partner and I decided to develop training programs for the recruiting industry, and one of them became one of the biggest training programs of its time. We would go to different cities around the world for a week at a time and would share the Rice Cohen Training model with a hundred recruiters and 50 recruiting firm owners. We ended up with over 2,000 recruiting firms buying our training model. But after 2 years, I was just bored out of my mind! Once a month we were doing the exact same 5-day training. I missed doing the searches myself. That’s just what my passion was, that’s what I loved doing and where my talent was. So, we ended up re-acquiring our old company. I think one of the goals every human should have is to find something they sincerely love doing, and then doing it well enough that they can make a living from it. I found that! I found that in the executive search business.”

Gene Rice’s business career includes working for a Fortune 100 firm–where he was promoted 5 times in 7 years–to co-founding Rice Cohen International, a successful executive search firm. He has placed over 1,000 C level executives while mentoring many young professionals. In 2008, Gene and his wife started a nonprofit charity, The Plant a Seed Inspire a Dream Foundation, which has enabled over 800 children from low-income households to pursue their passions. Gene and his daughter, a teacher, have recently co-authored the book “Grad to Grown-Up.” His greatest successes are his marriage, his children and grandchildren.

“I like being part of a team. I work alongside great physicians and nurses and others, and it’s fun to do that. It’s highly rewarding to care for others–to see somebody who is struggling with a painful condition and help them to make that more manageable. I enjoy working with my hands. I enjoy problem-solving. I enjoy the marathon of building a practice. I’m starting a pain fellowship here at MUSC, which we’ve not had for a couple of decades. Just being a part of something new and always growing and improving on every level–professionally and personally–makes me grateful every day that I wake up.”

Dr. Michael “Gabe” Hillegass is a board-certified interventional pain management physician and anesthesiologist. He is medical director of the Chronic Pain Clinic and an associate professor within the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC. Dr. Hillegass completed his anesthesiology residency at MUSC, where he was a chief resident, before moving on to Harvard Medical School’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital for his pain medicine fellowship training. He subsequently served four years on active duty with the navy at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia. He has won research and teaching awards and has published research articles in peer-reviewed medical journals as well as numerous chapters in pain medicine textbooks. He is dedicated to educating his patients and their loved ones as well as rotating medical students and residents on safe and effective comprehensive pain management strategies.

“This is when the story really gets interesting because at this point, in some ways you might have described me as a typical Ivy League yuppie living in New York at the time. And I had done the Wall Street thing, I had my own business, and I was succeeding in much the way that culture and society expects one to succeed. I felt though that something significant was missing from my life. I wasn’t really satisfied. I was finding my success to be empty in many ways and I didn’t know why. And so, I bought a one-way ticket to Bangkok….”

Mort Fertel is the creator of Marriage Fitness, a relationship renewal system that’s been used by millions of people in marital crisis. People from all over the world schedule private tele-sessions with him by joining the Marriage Fitness tele-bootcamp. Over 3 million people have subscribed to his free report, Seven Secrets to Fixing Your Marriage. He’s the subject of Back from the Brink, a documentary written and directed by Torres Thomas, which chronicles people in marriage crises. Mort graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and was the CEO of an international nonprofit organization. He lives with his wife and five children, including triplets, in Baltimore, Maryland.

“After six months doing a deep dive into AI [Artificial Intelligence] from every perspective I could imagine, I wanted to figure out an application of the technology that would make the world a better place. The more I learned about the security industry, I quickly realized that what was being offered by companies in this market was utterly ineffective–mostly smoke and mirrors frankly. The net result is that security cameras alone cannot stop crime at all, yet they promote their cameras and alarm systems as if they can. I am a family man who believes that everyone deserves to feel safe, especially in these stressful times. My team and I created a security system that is empirically light years ahead of every competitor in the industry. Our system does not merely monitor perpetrators of home security, trespassing, package theft, auto tampering and even loitering on your property. Once our surveillance system detects these perpetrators on camera, within a few short seconds, literally seconds, our security guards–actual human beings who are wired into the system–immediately verbally confront the individual to ascertain if they are friends or not. If they are not friends, the security guard tells them to leave the property immediately, which of course they do because they have been ‘caught red-handed’ so to speak. If the perpetrator(s) persist, the security guard calls the Police who can be on the premise in just a few short minutes to apprehend the criminal. While over 95% of calls to the Police from other systems are false alarms, none of ours are because of the personal engagement of our security guards. My team and I are utterly proud of the effectiveness of our system, and our client satisfaction rate is unmatched. We continue to learn more every day about how to become even more effective at keeping our customers safe.”

David Selinger was an early employee at Amazon, working directly under Jeff Bezos. He led the R&D arm of Amazon’s data-mining and personalization team. He co-founded Redfin (now a multi-billion-dollar real estate company) and founded Rich Relevance, a company that offers personalized shopping experiences for large retail brands, including Macy’s, Barneys New York, Office Depot and others. He is now inventing the next BIG thing in home security.

“I’m also interested in disclosing the dark history of psychiatry and other systems. I couldn’t have written this book without doing a whole lot of research. I learned about our country’s historical work and found out that not only mental patients, but prisoners, institutionalized children, newborns, African Americans, Native Americans, our own military and cities at large were all used as unsuspecting research subjects. As I reviewed declassified records, what I discovered is that they were used in that way, myself included, because we were described as less desirables. I believe that my history is a reflection of a much larger story, and that history reveals what needs to be known. We need to learn from those grievous errors of the past and begin to change things. And I also believe that we’re in a time in which everything that has been hidden is coming up to be looked at. Unless we look at this, nothing can change. Awareness is the first step of change. And so I want people to be aware of our collective history…and I hope to see a shift in consciousness.”

Lora DeVore is a writer and catalyst for change for individuals and systems. Her wisdom comes from the field of psychology, transpersonal development and spiritual psychology. Most importantly, it comes from facing the darkest aspects of human experience. She is a respected professional – and has experienced trauma that once lay secreted in a dark inner world. Lora is a survivor of abuse, sex trafficking, illegal pharmaceutical drug research, and institutional abuse. Lora can show those who’ve experienced trauma the way through the dark.

“If you want to be a professional women’s soccer player, you have to know that there are going to be a lot of unknowns, a lot of ups and downs. We love the game and we’re trying to help the game grow. Hopefully later down the line we will be able to say that whoever is joining our league, they’re going to be well off, they’re going to be well taken care of, and eventually the financial side of things will catch up. We are doing this for the future generations that want to be professional soccer players.”

Abby Smith is a Professional Soccer Player in the National Women’s Soccer League based in the U.S. She is in her 5th overall season and her third with the Utah Royals FC located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Abby grew up in Dallas, Texas, playing for the Dallas Texans Soccer Club. In her youth and into her professional career, Abby has been able to participate in the United States National Team at all levels, including U15, U23 and most recently with the Senior National team.

Since this podcast was recorded, Abby has played for several other teams and now (March 2022) is the Goalkeeper for Kansas City (NWSL).

“I realized that if I really wanted to help people with their physical problems, we also had to start talking about things like belief systems and how they talk to themselves and how they’re managing stress. Are they using their emotions as a tool or something that they get all wrapped up in? That really started to expand how I work with people.”

Laurie Warren, a Master of Science in Nutrition, is a change agent for empowered well-being in body, mind, and spirit. She works as a corporate consultant, wellness clinician, sought-after speaker and is author of the new book, “Wild World, Joyful Heart: Unlock Your Power to Create Health and Joy.” A regularly featured expert in the media, her approach to health, healing and joy is grounded in three foundational beliefs:
1. The body is a self-organizing organism that is hardwired for healing.
2. Our mind can be used as either a bridge or a barrier in our quest for well-being.
3. What matters most is who we are as we move through this world.

“The students I’ve enjoyed most are the ones who are clearly smarter than I am. Every once in a while you get these amazing students, sometimes a group of amazing students, who just blow you away and say ‘No, professor, that’s not right.’ And they’re right. And you’re wrong. That’s the biggest pleasure in the world.”

Professor Tom Banks grew up in Brooklyn NY and has lived in OR, MA, CA, NJ, GA and Israel. He was determined to be a theoretical physicist since high school and is a founding member of the New High Energy Theory Center at Rutgers, a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He works in particle physics, cosmology, condensed matter physics and the attempt to quantize Einstein’s theory of gravity. He’s still active in research at the age of 71.

“NationsBank was 80,000 people when I started there and 160,000 two and a half years later. So, it was just this whirlwind. That’s where I learned so much about core values. I got to experience working with the best boss I’ve ever had–she’s still one of the female execs at that bank. And that’s actually where I started forming my opinions on cultural compatibility in the mergers and acquisitions world, because what I saw was the deal guys were not addressing that at all. They were just slamming the deals together. Then, before the ink was even dry, the cultural compatibility issues and the differences between corporate cultures really could become problematic. And that was also part of what I uncovered in my MacGyver role with the acquisition of the 11-state Boatmen’s Bancshares Inc., the biggest acquisition in history at that time.”

Gary Frey is a connector, “MacGyver,” and confidant for CEOs as well as the co-host of the Anything but Typical Podcast featuring vulnerable, behind-the-scenes stories of ripple-making entrepreneurs to encourage others. He has served as president of four successful companies, including Bizjournals.com, a business news portal which he helped transform from a three-person organization to a $100 million company. He has done two turnarounds and held executive positions in two Fortune 100 companies. He leads business growth coaching and business development efforts for a regional CPA firm that serves privately held businesses and their owners. He does a Murph every Monday (Google it!), is a triathlete, drummer, father of two grown sons, “Papa” to four grandkids, and married to the wife of his dreams.

“One of the most important turning points in my life happened when I was serving as dean of my university. Our president always took a sincere interest in the growth and development of his leadership staff. One day, after the other staff members had left the lunch room, he and I were having a final cup of coffee, and he said to me, ‘You know, Martha, we have been working together for quite a while now, and I want you to know that I believe you would make an excellent university president.’ I was quite taken aback as I’m sure he realized by the surprised look on my face. He went on to say. ‘Yes, you absolutely would, but you need to learn more of the skills you’ll need for that role and to do that you need to experience other university settings. I hate to lose you but I only want the best for you and your career.’ That was the most generous and timely advice anyone had ever given me. Six months later I accepted a position as provost at Columbus State University, and from there I continued on my journey to many more positions as president of several fine educational institutions.”

Martha Saunders is the sixth president of the University of West Florida. In her 30-plus years in higher education, Dr. Saunders has served in academic and leadership roles at universities in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Mississippi. Her area of academic expertise is in public relations and crisis communication for which she has won numerous awards.

When asked what the best part of his job is, without hesitation Matthew Stewart responds, “The sparkle in the students’ eyes! We have other companies in my partnership that don’t work with college students, but I’ve consistently stayed with the students because I see them when they don’t think they can do our internship program. And then at the end of the program, they think they can do anything. Their whole attitude changes, their confidence changes, and the ceiling they put on themselves is lifted. It’s just miraculous to be part of that.”

In today’s episode, Matthew discusses his roles from internship to ownership of College Works Painting, now a proven training platform for future business professionals. This internship program strives to provide highly motivated college and university students with a premier, hands-on leadership development experience. It provides an extraordinary opportunity to build an impressive resume and gain marketable skills–which can be applied to any profession–by teaching them how to build and manage their own residential painting business.

Matthew Stewart is co-founder and CEO of National Service Group (NSG), which operates College Works Painting, Empire Community Construction, Home Genius Exteriors, and SMJJ Investments. NSG has grown from a small California-based business into an international company over 28 years. Matt serves on the board of directors for multiple organizations. He is past chairman of the global board for the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), a worldwide-business network comprising over 15,600 leading entrepreneurs in 60 countries.  He has traveled extensively across the world speaking on the topics of entrepreneurship, strategic planning, and business development. Matt hosts “The Edge of Excellence” podcast.

“I remember my first ‘AHA moment’ regarding my love of music. I was only five years old and my mother was playing an episode of Austin City Lights. One of my favorite bands–Nitty Gritty Dirt Band–was playing one of their biggest country hits: ‘Fishin’ in the Dark’ and band member Jimmy Ibbotson was center stage. He had this energy about him, like a radiant light that surrounded him. I thought: Man, whatever it is that’s making him feel that way–it was utterly infectious–I want to do that! I watched that video hundreds of times and it wasn’t until many years later I realized this was the moment in my life when music made me deeply feel something–emotional energy and excitement that I passionately wanted to be around. My love of every aspect of music continued to grow and expand from then on.”

Drew Smith is an RIAA-Gold award-winning professional songwriter and country artist based in Nashville, TN. He is the owner of Gray Sound Recording LLC, working as a producer and senior mixing engineer and the creator of “The Before You Record Course,” for new artists. Drew’s work has been recorded in many countries by legends like Merle Haggard, Nashville powerhouse Randy Houser, Rob Snyder, Jason Charles Miller, Kevin Denny and Australian-Canadian country singer, Gord Bamford. Drew has toured coast to coast and shared the stage with Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Big & Rich, Lee Brice, Lady A and many others.

“When I went to college I was planning to be a psychologist. That’s what my sister was, and my mother was a budding psychologist. I just figured that’s what I was going to do, too, and I got my bachelor’s in psychology. I am very interested in how humans behave and I love the different methodologies. I loved everything about it … but I did not want to be a therapist. I watched my sister and my mother and their clients and decided I wanted to do something that affects more people. I had an interest in renewable energy, and my first job was working for the electric utility in Austin, Texas. I implemented a very new program–an energy conservation program–and found I’m pretty good at doing that. I also learned about a small department in the company called Organizational Development. What they did was help groups be more efficient and work better together–teamwork, that sort of thing. I told the people who worked there that this is what I want do when I grow up. They said they would love to have me, but I would need a master’s degree. And so that’s what I did: I went back to school. I worked my fulltime job, I had my two small children, and I went to school at night–for four years. It was very part-time but I got my masters in Leadership Development. And then, I got recruited by Del Computer.”

Audrey Eger Thompson, MS, is a Certified Leadership Coach with Just Mind Counseling. Her lessons in coaching go back as far as the age of 10 when she was a competitive swimmer and was specifically coached to compete against herself. Today, that simple, yet powerful philosophy is at the core of her coaching practice. Audrey’s goal in coaching is to help you be your best–not in a way that glorifies perfection, but by giving you the tools, insights, and clarity to grow. Whether your goal is to advance in your career or discover what you are born to do, Audrey works with you to envision your long-term priorities, and then helps you create a path to reach them.

Hilde Larsen passed away the week of February 13, 2022.  In memory of her, we are replaying her last interview on our podcast from February 2021.

“Eight years ago, I decided I was done being sick and I was done struggling. I was so filled up on medications, hospital visits, anxiety and pain that I decided to just stop. I had been diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis several years before, and was heavily medicated for a ‘severe’ case. The medical society tells you… you will be sick the rest of your life and that medications will help you live as ‘normal’ as possible. What they don’t tell you, is that it is not our only option. From being a mother, a sister, a wife, a business owner, an athlete, and a friend, I just became sick. My world changed overnight. I was alone, and I did not know what to do to save myself. As soon as I stopped all of the medications that were keeping me in my poor state of health, I got even worse. Now, my body was showing me how sick I really was. Something inside me told me that health was there if I could just let it come forth. I studied all day, every day and slowly changed my way of thinking and connection to spirit. Along this journey, I have seen stones turn into diamonds. I have seen life become magical and I have seen my body transforming before my very eyes. How amazing is that? I had finally made a choice to follow my inner guidance.”

Hilde Larsen is the owner and founder of Inspired by Hilde. She is a certified Health and Mindset Coach, an author, and a certified Detox Specialist. She is also an inspirational keynote speaker, a blogger, and has her own YouTube channel. She is the author of three published books: From HELL to Inspired, Know The Truth and Get Healthy, and No More Bullshit. She also creates online video programs and has her own membership site Inspired Members. Hilde works with those who are ready to heal their health and life. She is highly intuitive and has a strong connection to Mother Earth and the spiritual world. Called by nature and spirit, she is inspiring many to take back their power. Her glowing enthusiasm for health and vitality has the leading role in her work.

“I started leading frontline employees at Pepsi. These are men and women who are driving trucks to make deliveries at grocery stores, these are merchandisers who are in the stores merchandising the products and services. I really had to focus on what was important to them. I’ll share a story with you. As I started leading frontline employees– and you know we all make mistakes–I remember one of my employees saying, ‘Look, young man, I think you have great talent and great potential, but there are two things you need to understand: Number One–Never disrespect your employees, and Number Two–You make sure my W-2 grows every year!’ Because when you are dealing with frontline employees, a lot of them are living paycheck-to-paycheck. They are saving money, but they’ve got aspirations about sending their kids to college or helping a parent retire, and every dollar matters. As a leader your job is to make sure you are making decisions so that your teammates can grow their W-2. Isn’t that an interesting point? ‘Help me grow my W-2 every year.’  That brought me great clarity about what my role was as a leader and it changed my focus and helped me evolve even more as a leader. You have to listen more to them, figure out what they need to be successful, and decide how you put them in a position to win–because in some cases it makes a significant difference in whether a kid went to college or not. So I take that as a great responsibility. You know, we talk a lot about what makes a good leader–and it’s something that you never stop learning– but here’s something I can tell you: Listening is a critical part of leadership. It is not talking, it is listening!”

As president of Comcast’s West Division for 11 years, Steve White created a culture defined by the philosophy of Working Together to Win Together. Driven by continuous learning, radical responsibility, and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Steve was responsible for all Comcast Cable operations in the Western U.S., leading nearly 30,000 employees, serving over 11 million customers, and driving annual revenue of nearly $18 billion. Today, Steve applies the same winning philosophy to his new post as president and special counsel to the CEO of Comcast Cable. Steve is the author of “Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and Lasting Legacy.”

“For eight years after college I worked for two highly-regarded Atlanta advertising agencies in account management. In that role I collaborated with every department of the agency–the marketing team that developed the communications strategy, the creative team, the media team, and the production team. I especially enjoyed interacting with our clients about their ongoing research and refinement of their company’s vision, mission and strategy. I felt like I had earned the equivalent of a PhD in business after those years. A friend who worked at Smith Barney, a national wealth management firm at the time, suggested over and over that I consider entering his field. I told him that I could not imagine a more divergent field from my work in advertising than the world of stocks and bonds and investment strategies. Plus, I had zero experience in this field. What I did like about the idea was that it is highly entrepreneurial and I would have an opportunity to have my own business, be my own boss, and I really was attracted to that since my father had instilled the values of an entrepreneur in me! After more indepth research into the field and how my talents and abilities could be deployed there, I took an entry level role with Merrill Lynch, one of the top investment management firms in the country. My nearly 10 years there, coupled with my earlier business experiences, proved to be an excellent fit. After taking a year off to welcome my dear daughter into the world, I decided to take on a few freelance clients. To my great joy, the word spread like wildfire and the firm of CLF Financial, LLC, took shape. It’s been a gratifying journey on every level and I feel very blessed.”

Carol Fromhagen is a Wealth Management Advisor and Founding Partner of CLF Financial, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia. She focuses on helping high net worth individuals and retirees manage all aspects of their financial lives. She begins planning-based discussions around a client’s financial needs, their short and long-term objectives, their time horizons, and their risk tolerance. Recommendations can include investing in stocks and bonds, while also addressing wills, taxes, education funding, and business continuation.

“Some of the really interesting work that we’re doing right now that I’m finding a passion for and enjoyment in is understanding The Great Resignation going on right now. We’ve been looking into the research a lot around what causes people to think about leaving a job and what causes people to want to stay, so that we can share those insights with employers who can create a work environment where talented people really want to be and do their best work. We have found some interesting insights. For example, employees that feel they’re on a career trajectory at their current company are much more likely to stay if they have good communication with their leader and are kept well informed. Also, people who feel they are valued by the company, who know that what they do makes a difference and they have an important role to play are also more likely to stay.”

Sarah Wirth has over 20 years of experience in leadership development and executive coaching, as well as a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Sarah joined EcSell Institute in 2011 as VP of Client Service. In late 2019, she was promoted to President, and now leads the company in all aspects of its operations. Sarah is co-author of the Amazon best-seller, The Coaching Effect: What great leaders do to increase sales, enhance performance, and sustain growth. She is also a sought-after presenter, sharing her common-sense insights with executives from organizations such as Mercedes Benz, Estee Lauder, and Ritz-Carlton.

“I had a vision of making a difference in the world and helping people who were less advantaged, and I really wanted to work overseas. Soon after I graduated from the University of Arizona, a professor of mine told me about an opportunity in West Africa with the USAID, The United States Agency for International Development. The country is called Burkina Faso today and the project involved doing a baseline data inventory of the South Saharan Desert, which was in the midst of a seven year drought. The work was fascinating and engaging, but after one year our project was suddenly terminated. On reflection this was a major turning point in my life, because I began reflecting on all the feedback I had gotten from my professors and my significant other about how my lifelong passion for drawing and design were ideally suited for the profession of landscape architecture. When I came back to the United States, my significant other and I got married and I enrolled in graduate school at the University of Arizona and after three years launched my career as a landscape architect. The work I do every day continues to inspire me.”

Shawn T. Kelly is a licensed, practicing Landscape Architect, Principal of Kelly Design Group, LLC, a design build firm in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. He opened his firm 25 years ago after moving his practice from San Diego, California. He is also a full time faculty member and Distinguished Faculty Associate in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has taught for 24 years. He is a Fellow and past president of the American Society of Landscape Architect,  having completed his Presidency in 2019.

“Writing a book was never on my list of things to do–ever! It was always a very foreign thing that other, very literary types do. In early 2020 I found myself without a conventional job and I could tell this was not the time to jump into a job just for the sake of it–except I don’t like long periods of time when I don’t have a lot to do. I consider myself to be action-oriented. I’ll take risks and I’ll make decisions, but sitting back and waiting is hard. I was reflecting on my career in this downtime in 2020, and I started wondering why my story until then was always creating a correlation between the actions I took and the successes I had. Even in my telling you the story today, I kept pointing out the decision to come to the U.S., the decision to take the job, as if that was what lead to success. What I didn’t notice until I was doing this thinking is that before every period of big, bold action, there was a period where I was very deep in reflection. I might have even called it an unproductive stage, a thoughtful stage when I wasn’t doing anything. My book started as a question: What really drives major progress? Not the incremental, everyday progress, but big jumps forward. Is it the big action or is it the reflection that came before a big, bold move?”

Jinny Uppal is no stranger to driving contrary and innovative thinking. Her 20+ years of experience driving transformational growth by challenging existing norms in business is key to her success working with Fortune 500 telecom, ecommerce and retail companies. As a business and tech growth strategist, board advisor and thought leader, she continues to pave innovative paths to progress and success. Most recently, she was Vice President of Strategy at a $12B North American retailer. Jinny grew up in Mumbai and is a graduate of Florida International University and Harvard Business School. She has been a practitioner of Vedic and Buddhist meditation and breath work since 2008. Her other interests include hiking and horseback riding.

“As a business process engineer with Dell Computers, my main focus is transforming the way that the organization I work in is getting the work done–specifically making their business processes more efficient and effective. Of course the key to that is making the people within my business unit more effective at delivering the outcome that they want. This involves a number of different approaches and modalities, which help each individual work in the job roles that use their strongest talents and abilities thereby adding the greatest value they can and giving them the most satisfaction and highest levels of performance. As their individual effectiveness increases, so does their team’s and the company’s. They are happier and committed, as are our clients. Everyone wins.”

Steve H. Lawton holds a BS and MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and an MBA from St. Edward’s University. He holds two US Patents, ans is an author and TEDx speaker. He has 30+ years of business experience in roles ranging from an engineer in the Astronaut office at NASA to an executive at Dell. Steve has been with Dell for 23 years and served in a variety of leadership roles across the company. In addition to his full professional life, Steve’s inspirational story about how his attitude literally saved his life from a near fatal skiing accident in 2014 became the acclaimed book “Head First! A Crash Course in Positivity.” Intertwined in the story is the science behind the power of mindset along with practical takeaways that will improve your attitude.

“In my fourth year of med school at the University of Connecticut, I applied for residency. I got into Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. That was a 5-year training process where they have you rotate on many, many different surgical sub-specialties, and then you choose one. I did my breast cancer surgery in my second year. I never thought I wanted to do breast cancer surgery. It wasn’t even on my radar. I had done all my research on cardiothoracic surgery! I walked into breast cancer surgery and it was something very special. I sat down and the patients starting talking to me. And I started to talk to them. They confided in me. Breast cancer surgery sort of chose me, you know? And that was it. It was a done deal.”

Dr. Rachel Wellner was drawn to medicine at a young age, inspired by her father’s work in the medical field. In college, she pursued international mission trips, and this passion for service and health care is reflected throughout her illustrious career. From founding several international medical programs, to providing free breast cancer screenings and services to the underserved and uninsured, Dr. Wellner truly embodies the values of her oath. She is also the acclaimed author of the Dr. Roo children’s series, where Dr. Roo the Kangaroo and her group of friends teach children the importance of staying healthy.

“In the very early stages of my mother’s Parkinson’s condition, when I was 18, I went with her to a doctor’s appointment to get a thorough diagnosis. After he shared his thoughts with us, I asked him if there was something we could do, anything we could do, to improve her symptoms and the way she was living, such as some kind of exercise or dietary options. He quickly replied that there were none: ‘It’s just how the disease manifests and there is absolutely nothing you can do.’ My instincts, even at that young age, with modest knowledge of health and nutrition, told me that could not be true. That doctor’s visit was one of the earliest catalysts that propelled me into doing a deep dive at UCLA, where I got my PhD, into neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders because I wanted to empower patients, their families and physicians with knowledge that would profoundly improve the quality of their lives on every level.”

Dr. Nicole Tetreault is a neuroscientist, writer, meditation teacher, and speaker. She specializes in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders and translates the promise of neuroscience and positive psychology for individuals to live the best quality of life. She is dedicated to enhancing lives through a holistic approach that integrates development of positive thought processes, cultivation of self-compassion and awareness of bodily sensations with our environment. She is the author of “Insight Into a Bright Mind,” which explores groundbreaking research examining experiences of unique, creative, and intense brains through interviews, storytelling, and literary science.

“I was working at the Miami affiliate for PBS as the producer for Arts and Culture with a lot of hands-on work, and I loved every minute of it. But I had an experience while working there that was life changing. Just before getting this job, I was doing some freelance work and did a project with Burger King headquarters. They reached out to me, after I started my producer job, to see if I wanted to come and do in-house communications for them––at 4 times the salary of what I was making at the TV studio. I am not exaggerating! Four times my current salary made a big difference to our young family, so I took the job. I went to Burger King on the first day and they took me into a screening room, sat me down with a projector and a lot of “films” about Burger King, and that was how I was supposed to spend my day: learning what they had already done with their in-house communications and what their messaging was. At about four o’clock that afternoon, I called my husband Ray and said ‘I can’t do this. This is just not ever going to be where my heart is. I can’t write about hamburgers every day.’ And I quit that job at the end of my first day. Fortunately. the TV station took me back. But I learned a life lesson: you have to do what you love. You have to be able to get up every day and be excited about what you are doing, or you can’t be your best. That was a major turning point for me.”

Penelope McPhee is an author, journalist and philanthropic executive. She is President Emeritus of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in Atlanta, GA, where she served as president from 2004 until her retirement in February 2021. From 1996 to 2004, she served as vice president and chief program officer of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, FL. A national leader in the arts, she joined Knight Foundation in 1990 to launch its Arts and Culture Program.

Penny has also had a distinguished career as an author and television producer. She co-authored “Martin Luther King Jr., A Documentary: Montgomery to Memphis,” which was recognized in 1980 as one of the “Best Books of the Decade” by the American Library Association. Her 1986 book, “King Remembered,” received the New York State Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom. Her PBS documentaries and performance programs won five Emmys, as well as prestigious awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Association of Television Program Executives.

Penny has a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and graduated with honors from Wellesley College.

“During this pandemic people have been forced to slow down and get out of the so-called ‘rat race’ of working brutally long hours in too many cases, with very little time for reflection on seminal issues such as the work they do every day and how they feel about the work that they do. In our several decades of experience working with people of all ages in Fortune 500 companies in global industries, one key reason for the increasingly high rates of worker dissatisfaction and turnover is that individuals typically do not take the time to slow down and reflect on how their careers have a profound impact on their lives on many more dimensions of themselves than the skills they ostensibly get paid for. As the famous organizational consultant Chester Barnard said many decades ago, ‘We hire people for their skills, but the whole person shows up for work.’ Whether working with individual employees, the teams they are a part of, or the leadership of those teams, our priority is to ensure that as many people as possible are able to deploy not only their skills, but the many other dimensions of themselves that have for many decades been proven to directly impact their performance, collaboration and personal satisfaction. The positive impact on the company’s culture, employee and client satisfaction and profitability is profound and enduring.”

Dr. Thomas Tavantzis is an organizational and leadership psychologist who uses psychometric tools, like the Highland Ability Battery (HAB), to develop teams, leaders, and career options for individuals. For the past 35 years, Tom has worked with leaders and teams in the global pharmaceutical, energy, communication, and manufacturing industries. Tom has done extensive research in psychometric tools. Since 1993, he has specialized in the Highlands Ability Battery and is now one of the worldwide experts in the HAB. Tom has served as Professor and Director of Organizational Psychology and Leadership Program at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He currently teaches in the Organizational Development and Leadership Graduate Program in Haub School of Management, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA. Dr Tavantzis is the author of HardWired: Taking the Road to Delphi and Uncovering Your Talents, and co-editor of Don’t Waste Your Talent (3ed). He and his wife Martha are the Founders(1986) of Innovative Management Development (IMD), P.C.

Dr. John H. Wilson is an entrepreneur, intrapreneur (corporate entrepreneur), and scholar with more than twenty-five years of experience as a business leader in the software & services industries. He brings a multi-dimensional perspective on market dynamics and a lean, iterative approach to building thriving, profitable businesses. Currently, Dr. Wilson is a teaching professor on the faculty of Drexel University’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship. He has done extensive research and has published numerous studies, articles, and books on the topics of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, organization design/leadership, employee empowerment, and emerging educational technologies. He is in demand as a public speaker, executive coach/trainer, and board advisor for companies actively seeking to infuse entrepreneurial practices into their organizations in order to be more agile and adaptive in an increasingly complex business environment. Prior to joining the Drexel faculty, Dr. Wilson served as Director, Global at Vertex, Inc. He is also the Founder of Strategic Collisions International, LLC.

“What we try to do with our students in Divergence Academy is focus on the question of what are the important factors for getting your first job, your second job? The key is getting a job! We focus more on actually getting a job because once you are in the job, and gaining experience, then your world changes. With a little bit of income in your hand and an opportunity to change the way you think about the world of work, you start exploring new areas and new facets of the economy: do you want to buy a new car, a new house, go on vacation? People’s perspectives change very fast. So that is what we are preparing them for. Once you are able to navigate on your own, the world is your oyster. Once individuals make that transition, it’s amazing how rapidly their career moves forward.”

Sravan Ankaraju started his career as a developer of large-scale transactional systems applying various tree-based algorithms. His twenty-five years in the field of data science and innovation provided him with a robust understanding of the intersections between technology and the economy. From 2001 to 2014, Sravan worked at Microsoft as a strategy and innovation leader. In 2015, Sravan co-founded Divergence Academy, where he is responsible for the vision and business development for industry-focused technology education. Divergence Academy offers immersive programs in data science, cybersecurity, and cloud computing and was ranked one of Inc.com’s fastest-growing privately-held companies in America in 2021.

“One of the things that bothered me about Motorola was, no matter what we worked on, we never felt like it made any difference to anybody. But when I moved to a video game company, the distance between an engineer’s effort and a customer’s happiness was immediate. Everyone on the team could do something that mattered to a client. They could do something to make the game more fun. They could make it less irritating. It was like everybody understood the connection between their personal effort and the outcome for a consumer. Recruiting employees there was easy because people want to make a difference–and it’s a cool job! We ended up making some phenomenally successful games because our people really cared about getting it right for our customers.”

Scott Novis is the founder of Bravous, a company that is helping businesses with remote teams increase retention by hosting fun workshops that improve culture and team-health. Scott comes from an eclectic background of professional influences: he has two engineering degrees, spent decades as a video game executive, and worked as a Disney executive before leaving to found GameTruck, the leading national franchise company best known for its video game birthday parties.

When the financial crisis hit in 2007, I owned a real estate and mortgage company and we were doing close to $100 million a year in transactions. Within a year our transactions fell to zero. I decided to pivot into financial services because with my experience I could help a lot of people in need. I asked a couple of experienced friends of mine what they would do if they were in my position of trying to reposition yourself in a brand new field. They each said the same thing: Write a book. I had zero experience and made a ton of mistakes, but I finished the book and it became number one on Amazon. That notoriety got me radio and TV interviews and speaking engagements and was the primary catalyst for relaunching my career. Nothing gives you credibility like a book does.”

Rob Kosberg is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling author and the founder of Best Seller Publishing. Through his trademarked Publish. Promote. Profit. program, Rob helps his clients to create their own professional, best-selling book (guaranteed) and then teaches them how to use that book to grow their income and impact via speaking engagements, free PR and media, and cutting-edge lead generation strategies. Rob’s latest book, Publish. Promote. Profit., was not only the number one business book on Amazon but also became a Best Seller on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best Sellers Lists. Rob has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and scores of other publications, podcasts and media.

“I was in a sales position in a new territory for my company. I was trying my hardest, making close to 80 cold calls every morning, but that wasn’t really working. I had been Googling the people I had been cold calling, wanting to see who they are. I realized those people would also want to know me if they were going to work with me. They were most likely Googling me, too, and the only thing they were finding was my out-of-date LinkedIn profile. That’s when I had an epiphany: Your LinkedIn profile isn’t your resume. It’s your digital introduction, the first impression you make. And people want to be moved; they want to be impressed. You have the control on LinkedIn to actually tell them your story and really let them understand who you are and why you do what you do. When I optimized my profile, I started using storytelling and I started to use LinkedIn as another way of getting past the gatekeeper and forging relationships. There are certain touch points that you need to have with a person before they’re willing to purchase anything from you. I began using LinkedIn for those touch points, as a way of connecting and messaging. LinkedIn turned out to be quite useful in my success at growing my territory.”

Donna Serdula pioneered the concept of LinkedIn profile optimization, realizing that the LinkedIn profile was so much more than just an online resume. A job change in 2006 led her back to LinkedIn as Donna looked for tools to help her build a sales territory. In 2009, she walked away from her successful sales career and founded Vision Board Media and LinkedIn-Makeover.com. Donna and her team of over 40 writers have helped thousands of executives, entrepreneurs, business leaders worldwide create professionally branded LinkedIn profiles. She is the author of the book “LinkedIn Profile Optimization for Dummies,” published by Wiley.

“Having been one of the earliest female stage directors as an opera director, I have a wealth of knowledge to share. I now work with corporate women to help them break through the glass ceiling. What I’m really excited about is that I lead groups of women called ‘Visible and Valued Masterminds.’ We spend three to six months together, online and in-person, talking and discussing the issue–how do you be seen as the person that you want to be seen as? How do you present yourself in a manner that you are taken seriously if you happen to be in a position where you are not taken seriously? It is some of the most deeply satisfying work I have ever done and I’ve always been blessed to use my talents to make the world a better place.”

Elizabeth Bachman is the go-to person for advanced level training in Speaking, Presentation Skills, Sales, and Leadership. With a lifetime spent perfecting the art of presenting, she helps high-level clients master a message that brings:

• the Funding they need
• the Allies they want and
• the Recognition they deserve.

A sought-after speaker and strategist in Silicon Valley, nationally and internationally, Elizabeth works with leaders and influencers who need to become concise and compelling presenters. She helps them present as smart, down-to-earth, loose, friendly even funny and still be taken seriously. Elizabeth has directed such luminaries as Luciano Pavarotti & Placido Domingo in more than 50 operas around the world, giving her a wealth of tools to help business professionals become respected presenters. Fluent in 5 languages, she is adept at working with presenters from many countries, bringing her global experience to her clients.
Strategic Speaking for Results * When you want to make a difference, not just a point!

“I have always been very vocal about sharing my black experience with my friends and family members, and as I’ve mentioned, I have been a natural leader in bringing people together. So, I decided to go public with my own video about what it’s like raising black boys in this country, and what some of the experiences are that we go through, as well as the talks I have to have with my boys to keep them safe. That video ended up with 20,000 views within two days on Facebook–all organic. It was just off the cuff: I set up my phone and started speaking. Lieutenant Governor Cox, who was then running for governor of Utah, got wind of the video. His campaign reached out and said he and his running mate for Lieutenant Governor, Henderson, had seen my video and wanted to come chat. They came over, along with now First Lady Cox, and I was very frank with them. I said, ‘I know you are a politician and I’m sure that you have an angle–I’m not here to play that game. However, if you are going to help get the message out in a good way, that I can get behind. I began sharing some of the stories and experiences of my family and we ended up with this deep connection and became very good friends. Once they won the election, they commissioned me to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah.”

Aundrea DeMille is the author of “Is It Racism? How to Heal the Human Divide.” She’s an International Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Podcast Host of The Wake Up Stories. She is a business owner with years of study in diversity and inclusion and has a degree in community health and human services. She has been appointed to serve on Project Gateway: Equity and Opportunity Commission for Utah. Aundrea is a maker of men (she has 5 boys), lover of peanut butter and hater of chocolate. She feels most like herself when she is barefoot and connected to nature.

“What’s really fascinating about behavioral science is that it’s a combination of a number of specific fields. Behavioral science takes psychology, sociology, economics, behavioral economics and anthropology and brings all the insights around anything that has to deal with why people think or do or act the way they do. It’s a concept of trying to understand what are those underpinnings of human thought and human behavior.”

Kurt Nelson is a sought-after consultant, speaker and recognized leader in human motivation and behavior change. For over 20 years, he has worked with global companies to apply behavioral science principles to drive change in their organizations. He is founder and president of The Lantern Group, a behavioral design and communication agency. He also is the co-founder, with Tim Houlihan, of the Behavioral Grooves podcast, where they interview leading academic and business executives from around the world and explore how they apply behavioral science to their work and lives.  All his work focuses on understanding ways to positively influence how people behave. Kurt has his MBA from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Capella University.

“Everyone hits those moments in their lives where they just have to strip down to the bare minimum. They’re just “getting through”; they’re just surviving. But a funny thing happens when things start getting better in your life. A lot of times we have so much angst we’ve already built up, a lot of fear or uncertainty or frustration, that we hit a crisis point of trying to figure out what comes next. I was at one of those crisis points myself, although I would not have been able to explain what was going on at the time. A dear, dear friend of mine was listening to me go back and forth about how I should I go forward, what marketing I should be doing, how that should look. She finally stopped me by saying, ‘Becca, you’re a coach. You help people with this every day!’ That hit me like a ton of bricks. I went into my office and wrote out every prompt I could think of that I used with clients–every single question I’d ever asked to help inspire them to think deeper about their own problems. I had an epiphany when I started to respond to those questions. I realized that just having the questions in front of me, not approaching the questions from my own head, my own thoughts, but rather having those questions to pull me outside of myself was so helpful. It is important to be able to ask questions of yourself that bring you out of being stuck or that naturally draw you out of the way you’ve looked at a problem and can help you think about it in a new way. It was from this kind of thinking that I ultimately developed my first book, The Clarity Journal.”

Becca Ribbing is the author of The Clarity Journal and has been a coach for over a decade. She’s on a mission to help people break out of the cycles of uncertainty and struggle that hold them back. She helps women going back and forth with the seemingly endless question of what to do next—so they can finally figure out what they truly want and create the clarity and momentum they crave. Using journaling prompts and helping people become more honest with themselves, she moves her readers forward and empowers them to embrace their strengths while letting go of any negative self-talk that has held them.

“Getting my PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA was a huge shift for me. Answering some of the most difficult questions about mental health, human functioning and behavior was particularly influential because it trained me to understand how people might be thinking, why they behave the way they do, how to motivate people, how to understand their struggles more deeply. At the time I didn’t recognize what a powerful impact those insights would have in the world of business. Over time, however, through direct experience in the roles that I had in in the world of work, I soon realized their profound impact in marketing, team building and leadership. Then in our work creating and growing Shemmassian Academic Consulting, we quickly saw the huge value of this knowledge relative to our students’ motivation and commitment to creating a vision and strategy for achieving their personal and professional goals in their lives and careers.”

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world’s foremost experts on medical school admissions, college admissions, and graduate school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school and top colleges using his systematic and proprietary approach. His admissions expertise has been featured in various media outlets, including The Washington Post and Business Insider. Moreover, he has been invited to speak at Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and other prestigious institutions about various aspects of the admissions process.

“In that year off from Duke University to alleviate my anxiety at school, modeling in Europe was simply a means to an end. I just wanted the money. It was fun. I was very good at it and I was very successful. But I had a previously planned path in front of me to go into medicine. I wasn’t about to veer from that path because an alternative had popped up.

“When I returned to college, I had all this life experience. I had supported myself and traveled the world. I felt the pressure was off at Duke. I took upper-level courses in biomedical engineering that were considered to be very difficult–I aced them. They were easy because I had cleared my head of the anxiety that school had provoked in me previously. That experience made me realize that I had now accomplished my academic goals to the point where I knew that I could succeed! This gave me the first real ‘binary choice’ that I had in my life. I could do one thing I love by going into medicine, or I could do literally everything else that I wanted including travel the world and learn new languages as a model, and have an acting career and financial freedom. The ‘everything else’ just weighed more and it made the choice. I’m so grateful that I had the faculties to be able to recognize and distill it down to two clear choices.”

Sam Sorbo is an accomplished actress, author, radio host, and international model. Her acting career spans films such as Bonfire of the Vanities and Twenty Bucks, as well as television, with recurring roles in Chicago Hope, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Gene Rodenberry’s Andromeda. In 2015 Sam won “Best Supporting Actress” from the Utah Film Awards for her performance in the feature, Just Let Go. Sam wrote “They’re YOUR Kids: An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate” to inspire parents to home educate and “Teach from Love: A School Year Devotional for Families” to encourage Christ-like characteristics in youth. The Sorbos home school their three children. Sam co-wrote, produced, and co-starred in the feature, Let There Be Light (Christmas, 2017; Executive producer, Sean Hannity; director, Kevin Sorbo.) She and husband Kevin published its accompanying devotional, Share the Light. and they are currently in post-production on Miracle in East Texas, due out in 2022.

“Empathy, which is the key dimension of EQ–emotional intelligence–has been until quite recently so dramatically underutilized in our day-to-day communications, in spite of the fact that it is the root cause of so many communications issues. With almost every client I have worked with over the many years I have been coaching, I find that I spend a large amount of time helping them understand and then improve their capacity for empathy. A while back I even coined the idea, ‘Empathy is the difference between compliance and commitment.’ I truly believe that. If you are unable to meet somebody half-way during a discussion or debate, you will find it exceptionally difficult to influence them.”

Dawn Cook Causey is an ICF certified professional executive coach with six certifications in emotional intelligence. Her mission in life is to raise the bar on emotional intelligence in leaders around the world. She likes to say she is in the polishing business, helping leaders and teams shine their brightest by making the best choices every moment of every day. Her personal motto is, it’s your choice, so make it count.

“I used my first book to just get me through doors. I would send my book with a handwritten note and say, ‘Hey, I think I can help your people. Give me a shot.’ Or I would say, ‘If you’ve got a sales meeting, let me come and I’ll give you a free sales presentation. And if your people get fired up, maybe we’ll talk about doing more.’ I gave the books away to get an opportunity. And I believed that people were going to want what I offered. It’s going to be self-evident. I just need to show up and be my best. And if nothing else, I’ll give people a great show for a day. And that’s been my philosophy the entire time.”

Beginning his entrepreneurial journey as a single dad at age 19. Jeremy Brown’s motivation was to spend as much time with his son as possible. As his business development and sales expertise grew, he decided to write his first book in order to establish authority, generate leads, and increase his credibility. The result? His business exploded and Jeremy knew he had found his calling: empowering leaders to share their stories. Almost two decades later, Jeremy firmly believes that writing a book is one of the best ways to leave a legacy for your children and loves to discuss how his faith and family keep motivating him to educate purpose-driven leaders to grow their business, share their stories, and put their family first.

“After getting my undergraduate degree from Boston University in business administration, I moved to the Los Angeles area where my parents had relocated. I had a really hard time finding a job. Not being from the United States, we had virtually no contacts, but I finally got a job with a large national financial services firm in what I thought was a management training position. It turned out that the job was in entry-level sales–selling loans and collecting the loans. I hated it and couldn’t wait until 5:00 for the day to end. (It turns out that those sales skills have come in very handy as a lawyer!).

“I highly recommend that everyone experience at least one boring job. It will always be a reminder that you have to search for a job and career that you are truly passionate about. There are aspects of every job that are a grind, but if you are passionate about the work and you are using your talents and skills most of the time, then it doesn’t feel like a grind at all.

“After 18 months, I realized that I had to dig down into myself and make a decision about a career that would inspire and guide my own personal growth and satisfaction as well as provide a financial foundation for my family. I was always fascinated by the profession of law on many levels–from human rights issues to the myriad business applications. I applied and was accepted at the George Washington University in D.C. and it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I love the work, the people on our team, and our clients, and there are opportunities for personal and professional growth every single day.”

Since joining Nixon Peabody more than 27 years ago, Phil Taub has been advising investors, middle-market private companies, large public companies, entrepreneurs, and C-level executives in many different kinds of corporate transactions all over North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Phil was born in Southern Africa and finished his secondary education in the United States. His love of family, travel, outdoor adventure, and community permeates everything he does. He is a frequent lecturer and presenter on the latest trends in mergers and acquisitions, business strategies, and issues most important to PE funds, independent sponsors, family offices, CEOs and general counsel.

“Not making a decision is the worst thing you can do. You never know whether you’re going to make a right or wrong decision, but making no decision is worse. You make a decision and then it triggers the next decision. And as long as you keep moving forward and you keep deciding and making decisions, then you’re in flow, you’re moving and eventually you get a feel for where you’re going and whether you need to change tack. But staying in indecision and doing nothing is terrible. You’re sitting on the fence of life and you’re not playing the game.”

Barbara Turley is an investor, entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of The Virtual Hub, a business she started by accident that exploded in the space of 12 months. It has become one of the leading companies that recruits, trains and manages virtual assistants in the digital marketing and social media space for businesses who need to free up time and energy so they can go to the next level. Barbara is also Mum to her gorgeous daughter Ruby, wife to her best friend Eti and an adventure lover with a passion for horses, skiing, tennis and time out in nature.

“My absolute favorite class was creative financing and that’s where I learned about buying real estate with other people’s money that people would invest with you. It turned out to be a really good fit with my background as a financial advisor, and so I transitioned over the next few years into advising people on real estate investments instead of mutual funds. And then it transferred over into coaching people through the whole purchase cycle. We mostly buy for the long-term and hold. My all-time favorite part of the real estate business was that the tenants pay off our mortgage.”

Edna Keep is a real estate entrepreneur and real estate investment advisor, coach and trainer. With $60 million in real estate assets built since 2007, primarily with “Other People’s Money,” she feels like she is exactly where she is meant to be: coaching and training people in all the skills that she has acquired throughout her life.

“You know I love my businesses, but I’m transitioning now toward entertainment full-time. I love writing screenplays. I love directing. I did my first feature film last year–a real low budget, quirky comedy with a lot of my friends and it did really well. I would like to continue that as we move forward. I don’t see Aztec Warrior God, my graphic novel series, ever going away either. I currently have 24 separate chapters written and each chapter is a novel. That’s six years of material from that one idea alone and we’re just getting ready to print number three. I don’t see a time in my future where that project doesn’t exist. And ultimately I’d like to transition that either to the small screen or a feature film franchise as well.”

David Towner is an American Entrepreneur, Comedian, Writer and Filmmaker. Prior to pursuing his business and entertainment ventures, he served as a US Army Paratrooper with missions in Somalia, Haiti and Cuba. He is most known for his feature film, Our Scripted Life, which was downloaded half a million times in the first three months. David is also the Creator and Head Writer for the graphic novel series, “Aztec Warrior God,” which has gained millions of fans around the world. He is married to model Brandi Mendoza. The couple has triplet girls and reside in Palm Beach County, Florida.

“Two things every teacher should do–both to make themselves more employable and to make more money in teaching–is to, first, add a master’s degree, and then a specialist degree. These put a teacher on a different scale and have more than paid for themselves since I obtained them.” 

In the spring of 1978, John Donegan received the news that he had sufficient credits to graduate from the university of Florida with a BA in history and move on to the next phase of his life. While many would be thrilled to graduate in three years, he was terrified. The job market was wretched, inflation was rampant, and the energy crisis had Americans turning out lights and waiting in long lines for a tank of gas. Partly to avoid graduation, and partly due to some sage advice from a trusted professor, John applied to the College of Education for their one-year teacher certification program. Four decades later, it is clear that advice paid off, as John has enjoyed his career as a social studies teacher for 40 years.

From an early age, Marc was good at math and chess. It was no wonder everyone told him he should be an engineer. After getting a degree in computer science, what he learned about himself on the job was he is a “geek who can speak”–an unusual combination that for 22 years let him change jobs every few year, all within the walls of his first employer.

Marc Miller’s career journey included 22 years at IBM, several thriving tech startups, a stint as a high school math teacher, a gig raising funds and a near fatal bicycle accident that changed his perspective forever. Thirty years of wandering the proverbial career desert, often repeating the same mistakes over and over, taught him his most crucial lesson: Most people don’t really know what makes them happy at their core, what fulfills them. Marc’s latest endeavor “Career Pivot” uses his extensive training experience to help others—especially Baby Boomers—find careers they can grow into for the decades that lie ahead.

“Two years after I graduated from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, I was contacted by the admissions director, who offered me a job as the number two person in admissions. I was very interested because, while I grew up in Washington, DC, I missed the small town environment of Salisbury. The next day I got a call from the fellow who ran development who wanted me to be his number two man and start something called a ‘planned giving program.’  I had no idea what that was, but the development job paid $1,000 more a year than the admissions job did. So for a meager $1,000 a year, $83 a month, I picked fundraising over admissions and I have built my entire career in the fundraising space from that day forward!”

Benjamin R. Case is a professional fundraising consultant, who has served in the nonprofit sector for 41 years. He has personally been involved in the successful solicitation of over $1.1 billion in gifts and worked for and been engaged by organizations that have raised $4.8 billion. His fundraising experience includes working with The Metropolitan Opera in NY, Duke University and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, among others. He recently launched an online learning webinar “The Daily Dozen: Habits of Highly Successful Fundraisers.”  He is the CEO of Focused on Fundraising, Inc. and the author of 21 Tips for Highly Successful Fundraisers, an international best-seller.

“Most people do not honor their life experience, especially the negative, or what I call unpreferred experiences hidden within your life experience that help makes you who you are. If you connect the dots, you find out who you are, what you’re good at, what you love and what you want to do. The other part of that is understanding how absolutely valuable you are. When you begin to honor your life experience, converge that with your skill set, your gifts and talents, you begin to realize who you are and what you’re capable of, how valuable you are—uniquely and wonderfully made.”

Gay Thomas Wilson is a keynote speaker, personal development & business strategist. She coaches and mentors business professionals, entrepreneurs and creative talent. Gay launched two successful international careers as a trained method actor, model and cover girl. Motivated by her sister’s diagnosis of schizophrenia, she has been an advocate for changing the stigma of mental health. Gay’s journey has given her the skill set to create powerful tools and techniques that facilitate the ability to break through to success by converging life experiences, gifts, talents and skills, which accelerates one’s ability to produce sustainable success in both life and business.

“As a nurse practitioner in a leadership role, one of the most meaningful assignments I’ve had has been when I was working with and developing teams of nurse practitioners. I understood that it’s a unique role and that not everybody understands it. A lot of times people will say, ‘Are you a nurse? Are you a physician? What are you?’ Quite frankly, we have a foot in both worlds. We’re very strongly rooted in the nursing world, and we’re very strongly rooted in the medicine world and the practice world. Being a nurse practitioner, I was able to understand that unique position. Because of that, I was able to give back to our growing Nurse Practitioner team and really understand what priorities were meaningful for them … and what would be supportive to their practice so when they come to work, they could have joy and job satisfaction and really live what they were seeking when they decided to be a Nurse Practitioner in the first place.”

Dr. April Kapu is president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners®. She is a certified acute care nurse practitioner who holds both a master’s and doctoral degree in nursing from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She has served as associate chief nursing officer for advanced practice nursing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. As a nursing executive for the health system, Dr. Kapu worked to establish innovative, high-quality health care services and provide resources and professional practice support for more than 1,400 advanced practice nurses. She is a professor of clinical nursing and recently was appointed Associate Dean for Community and Clinical Partnerships for Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.

“Almost every day I had to get over that fear of approaching people I don’t know. And asking them where I can sleep, asking them where I can find food, and building that nervousness up to a point where I realized the more vulnerable I was, the more willing people were to help me. And I still find that today, if I am sometimes in a business negotiation and I realize that we have both dug in deep, I somehow allow a vulnerability to creep in where I need their help somehow.”

Recommended Steps to Success:

1. If you hit a barrier to using your talents, do not be deterred or discouraged, but find new ways to use them.

2. Find ways to combine your knowledge, skills and talents and create something new. Keep growing and challenging yourself. Make your own niche.

3. Help others. It is the best way to create both success and fulfillment in life.

4. Write down your goals and work on achieving them each day.

Erik Seversen has lived an amazing life, from hitchhiking from London to Central Africa to living with a remote Indian tribe in the Amazon to building and selling businesses. He has forged a path filled with extreme adventure and success. He published 2 books, “Ordinary to Extraordinary,” that reveals his personal search for meaning and highlights how anyone can create a life of purpose and success, and “. His focus is business development and English language training. He lives by the idea that helping others is the best way to create both success and fulfillment in life. 

“After graduating with my degree in cartography, I was hired by a former colleague as the first employee of his cartography business, where I literally learned everything about running a business from the ground up. After 5 years I opened my own business and was fortunate that a client from my past business committed to buying my services for at least a year—which financed the whole enterprise. My work is now a nice balance between using my talents as a cartographer and as a businessman who markets top-of-the-line software products and training courses for the cartographic market.”

Hans van der Maarel is a professional cartographer from The Netherlands. He runs his own business, Red Geographics and is a partner in another company, One Stop Map. Red Geographics focuses on map production for a wide range of international clients as well as reselling and supporting software products for the cartographic market. This also involves developing production workflows for clients and offering consultancy and training courses. One Stop Map is a website selling stock digital maps but also takes on custom map production projects, again for a wide range of clients. In his spare time he enjoys cycling and photography (sometimes together).

“As a seventh and eight grade social studies teacher, I really enjoyed the ability to connect with kids at such a transformative age. When I started my first job, I thought it would be all about the teaching. I thought the hard part was going to be the ability to connect with the kids and create lesson plans and scope and sequence. But what I quickly realized was, of all the things that are asked of teachers, it’s the administrative tasks that really began to weigh on me. I had 150 kids. I was trying to do all of these things to help them. I really wanted to be able to have an understanding of who every kid was. I wanted to know: What are their passions? What are their interests? What is their current level of reading and writing? What is their ability to think critically and independently? And I would make these cheat sheets so I could remember things such as, I had this student last year, I had this person’s brother as a student, this person is into soccer, this person likes …, etc. I would try to know these things so that I could connect with the kids. But it turned out the connection part was actually not as difficult–for me at least. It was all of the administrative tasks. They wanted so much information, like you have to track this, you have to submit that to the secretary, and so forth. There had to be a way to become more efficient in all of this. And that’s actually the story that brings us to the start of “Otus” and my work with a colleague to use technology as a tool to help us and other teachers do the job at hand better than we could do by ourselves.”

Chris Hull is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Otus, a Chicago-based edtech company. After 13 years as an educator, Chris wanted to minimize the chaos of disconnected edtech tools for K-12 administrators, educators, students, and their families. Otus is one system to teach, grade, analyze, and plan. With Otus, school leaders can focus on student learning, not technology.

“You know there were times that I would work in New York City during the day. And then a driver would come pick me up, bring me to the airport, I’d fly overnight to Paris, go straight to the studio, take a quick shower and work all day there. I’d only do that if both jobs were great, but the travel was pretty tricky.”

Susan Miner is the founder of Beauty From the Inside Out. As a supermodel, Susan graced the covers of Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Self, Bazaar, and more. Some of her beauty campaigns were L’Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, and Nivea. She followed this up by becoming a Professor of Psychology and therapist. Susan’s expertise as a therapist is anxiety reduction and eliminating panic attacks. Her company now combines both of her careers as a model and a therapist. Collaboration with other models is a fun part of her work as she lends her face and intelligence to projects.

“You have to keep evolving. After a while I got a little tired of focusing strictly on health and fitness and came to the realization that if I had been so successful in motivating people to lose weight, and that’s one of the hardest things people will ever do, then I can be successful in motivating them to do other things as well. That led to my new book contract and rapid expansion of my speaking career.”

James S. Fell, MA, MBA, has bylines in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the Guardian, TIME Magazine, and many other publications. His blog, BodyForWife.com, has millions of readers and he is the author of two books: “The Holy Sh*t Moment: How Lasting Change Can Happen in an Instant” (St. Martin’s Press, 2019), and “Lose it Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Help You Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind.” (Random House Canada, 2014).

“For those students interested in exploring the many possibilities in this fast-growing occupation, there are many fine film schools. But here’s what I’d say to those students: If you have the fascination, if you have the interest: Start doing it!”

“For the first time in history really, the opportunity is there for anyone to pick up either an iPhone or a camera with its broadcast quality potential and get started: See what you have, explore what your talent is.”

“Never give up! Just keep doing it with your friends and family and others who are in your tribe!”

“Of course, there are dozens of books and YouTube videos on screenwriting, camera work, directing and so much more.”

“You’ll be amazed at what you learn and how fast you learn it, which will open up doors you may not have even considered before!”

Bob Yari is the producer of over 40 motion pictures. Some of these include Best Picture Oscar winner Crash, The Illusionist, the action-thriller Hostage, starring Bruce Willis, Matador, starring Pierce Brosnan, and Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. Yari also recently completed his second directorial effort with Papa: Hemingway in Cuba. He is currently executive producing the hit cable series “Yellowstone,” starring Kevin Costner, which is shooting its 5th season. Other TV projects currently in production include the series, “1886: Y” and “Mayor of Kingstown,” starring Jeremy Renner.

Bob is CEO of the production company Yari Film Group and is a major shareholder, founder and board member of 101 Studios based in Los Angeles. 101 recently released War with Grandpa, starring Robert Deniro, and Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, among many others. Drawing on life lessons and his experience in the film and business world, he has published his first book, The Human Condition: A Pathway to Peace and Fulfillment. Here he offers a pathway to happiness based on a balanced lifestyle, a positive attitude and gratitude for the world’s abundance. His next book, On Creation and the Origins of Life, An Exploration of Intelligent Design, is being be published shortly after the original airing of this podcast in October 2021.

“A family friend, an author, reached out to me and asked if I would illustrate a book he was working on. I fell in love with the process of creating stories and learned all the ins and outs on what it really takes, including the not-so-glamorous side of writing a children’s book. That gave me a lot of direction. Even though it was really a very challenging path, I decided I wanted to go down that path.”

Angela Ferrari is a painter, children’s book author/illustrator and podcaster based in Portland Maine. Her picture book titles include: “Digger’s Daily Routine,” “An Extraordinary Book,” “The Shape Escape,” “What Do You See?” and “Lawrence the Lighthouse.” Most recently Angela has launched “Story Spectacular,” a children’s story podcast. The show features original stories and classic retellings.  

“I majored in management and accounting at Binghamton University thinking I’d become an accountant for my career. In my senior year I was lucky enough to take a graduate course in Systems Science. Systems Science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the complexity of systems in nature, social or any other scientific field. At the end of that fascinating course, which was far outside the courses I had been taking, I came to believe that we all have a purpose and mission in our lives. When we feel good about what we are doing, are in the flow, that’s when we know we are doing what we are supposed to be doing with our talents. For me, that became working with people and doing something positive for humanity and the world. I became a community organizer on energy issues.”

Ron Kamen is CEO of EarthKind Energy Consulting and host of The AWESome EarthKind Podcast. His life mission is to empower everyday people to make clean energy transitions to reduce their carbon footprint and save them money. For more than three decades, Ron has energized communities, governments, non-profits, and businesses to take their next step to increase energy efficiency and use renewable energy. He’s now building an online community of AWESome EarthKind people ready to “Go Clean and $ave Green.”

“The thing I’m so proud of in my career within the industry trade groups–from manufacturing to chemical distribution to the formulation of end-use products–is I served with people who were saying, ‘You know, we’ve got to find out where the common ground is with the lead environmental groups, the thought leaders. Let’s see if we can find the way forward.’ And we were able to do that together by asking those groups across a table ‘What’s on your mind? What is it you are trying to get done?’ Having that frame of mind to say ‘Yes, we can do it’ has carried through for years on so many issues that we worked on. We didn’t always have a successful resolution because sometimes the issues were far too complex. But for the vast majority of issues, we were able to do that. I’m grateful for those people who say, ‘Yes we can’ and that even in today’s environment, things don’t have to be that derisive if someone wants to find common ground.”

Chris Cathcart joined the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) as its president in January of 2000. He retired from the association in January 2017. During his tenure at the association, Cathcart initiated the formation of Product Care®, the industry’s product stewardship program; and the founding of the Alliance for Consumer Education, the association’s non-profit educational foundation. Prior to joining CSPA, from 1992 to 1999, Cathcart worked for the National Association of Chemical Distributors, as President and Chief Operating Officer. From 1990 to 1992, he served as President, Hazardous Materials Advisory Council, and from 1981 to 1990 he served in various management positions with the Chemical Manufacturers Association, now known as the American Chemistry Council. From 1974 to 1981 he served in both military and civilian government positions. He earned his Bachelor’s of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Master’s of Arts from Central Michigan University, and completed other postgraduate work at George Washington University. Cathcart enjoys sailing, and motorcycling. Additionally, he is a pilot and holds a commercial certificate with multi-engine, instrument, and glider ratings. Chris and his family live in Potomac, Maryland.

“There are a lot of young people that are entering the field of public relations that still do not have a clue what it is that we really do. It’s really important to understand that public relations is a field that offers a lot of variety because there are so many industries that you can go into: from fashion to the film business and countless others. If you’re interested in business, you can join a company as a part of their corporate communications department. If you like giving back to the world, you can join a nonprofit and be their public relations director. I think it’s important for young people to study what the field is, and to recognize that there’s a big difference between the publicist you see on TV versus real public relations professionals.”

Alexis Davis Smith is the president and CEO of PRecise Communications, an award-winning marketing communications firm. With more than 20 years of experience and a reputation as a trusted communications strategist, Alexis is a leader in Atlanta’s public relations industry and a national voice for multicultural marketing. She is responsible for creating breakthrough, strategic communications programs for major consumer brands, including Coca-Cola, Toyota and Pfizer. A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, native and proud graduate of Florida A&M University, Alexis has a passion for women and giving back to the next generation of public relations professionals and entrepreneurs.

“Because I was frugal with my money, I bought real estate and other solid investments which allowed me to go back to school for 10 years, support myself during that time, then set up a private practice that allowed me to focus on what mattered to me most. My passion is how we can make ourselves more resilient: the relationship between health, behavior and stress. I want to help individuals understand these vital influences so that they can thrive, not merely survive.”

Dr. Lara Fielding is a Los Angeles based clinical psychologist and author of “Mastering Adulthood: Go Beyond Adulting to Become an Emotional Grownup.” She specializes in teaching science-based mindfulness skills to young adults, who are working through the challenges of the transitioning roles of adulthood. She studied psycho-physiology of stress and emotions at UCLA and Harvard, before getting her doctorate at Pepperdine, Graduate School of Education and Psychology, where she is a regular guest lecturer and former Adjunct Professor. She frequently offers training to clinicians and students in the community in the service of her value of therapy for all.

“I never could have imagined if someone asked me five years ago, ‘Did you know that you’re going to be an author?’ I would have just laughed and said something like, ‘That’s cute. Thanks’. No, I never thought that I would be doing the things that I am doing. I’ve always needed to know where I am going next and having a viewpoint and vision. Now I want to leave the door open for whatever comes my way. I don’t want to limit myself by saying no. I won’t know what is next until I try it, like working on my eighth book. I want to just see what the universe throws at me.”

Habiba Jessica Zaman has over 15 years of experience working in the counseling field, including advocacy, guidance and education. She believes that as a person becomes more aware of their fears, perception, desires and strengths, they can make successful life changes. She is author of 13 publications and seven books, including the new release, Beautifully Bare, Undeniably You. She has also been featured in Forbes Magazine.

“There are so many more opportunities today for pharmacists that we haven’t even dreamed of. In the future, pharmacists are going to provide more direct patient care, like pharmacogenomics, such as point of care testing for influenza and strep throat, and collaborative practice agreements that allow us, through a physician sign-off or medical practice sign-off, to manage and monitor medications.”

Steven Simenson, BPharm, FAPhA, FACA, DPNAP is the CEO and Managing Partner of Goodrich Pharmacy, Inc., with five community pharmacies in Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy along with his wife, Wendy, also a Pharmacist. Steve was the 2013-2014 President of the American Pharmacist’s Association and is on the Board of Directors of Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Companies and the Community Pharmacy Foundation. He is actively advocating for the pursuit of Patient Access to and Coverage for Pharmacist Patient Care Services. Steven is at his best taking care of patients.

“I love to go out there speaking and educating–on top of the franchising. It’s a great time to be exploring franchising. Our placements year-to-date are up over 50%, which was up 50% over the previous year. Whether you are thinking of switching careers or getting a side hustle going or looking at expanding your investment portfolio, I just think the time is ripe. A lot of people coming out of Covid have said, ‘Now’s the time to have a little more control of my life. I’ve always thought about business ownership, but it is risky.’ The fact is, working for somebody may be even riskier. There has definitely been a large shake-up out there. I often give talks to investors about franchising as an asset. There are tax benefits and all kinds of benefits that come from business ownership. I love being able to help others and later hear them tell their success stories.”

Jon Ostenson is a consultant, investor, author, and international speaker specializing in the area of non-food franchising. He draws on his experience as both the President of an Inc. 500 franchise system and as a multi-brand franchisee in serving clients across these capacities. He serves as CEO of FranBridge Consulting where he helps clients understand all aspects of non-food franchising in the process of introducing them to opportunities from the over 300 high growth brands that he represents. Additionally, Jon oversees FranBridge Capital where he and his partners own 17 territories across 5 property service franchises.

“I came to the United States when I was 18 and planned to continue my education at San Francisco State University in geology, which I had been fascinated with during my boyhood in Iran where we lived so close to nature. Early on I realized that geology did not interest me any longer. So, I took photography as a last resort, as my final elective. My photography professor was highly supportive, encouraged me and was a great guide and muse. Basically I abandoned what I came here for and thanks to him set off on a career that has been my life’s work and passion ever since.”

Parish Kohanim is a self-taught photographer with a degree in film, who started his career by photographing hundreds of advertising campaigns for major clients both domestic and international. His paradigm and commitment for his personal life and career is “to stay original, diverse, timeless and unique while capturing beauty. I feel privileged and fortunate to be able to spend time capturing the infinite and sublime beauty of creation. A gift that humbles and centers me, letting me escape from the excessive noise in our world.” Recipient of many prestigious awards, Parish has been committed to focus on his true calling to stay fresh and inventive to photograph a broad range of fine art photos.

“The thing that excites me the most about what I’m doing (as a Certified Addiction Professional) is I get to travel the country, talk to people from all walks of life, and educate them on the disease of addiction. And not just educate them on how it’s affecting the country, but educate them on what we can do to help prevent it for future generations─prevent it in the workplace, prevent it at home. And to really foster an environment that is warm and connecting, to combat people’s needs to use substances.”

Blake Cohen began his career in the field of substance abuse treatment in his home state of Florida, fueled by passion and gratitude for having overcome his own battles with addiction. His two-fold goal is to combat the stigma surrounding the disease of addiction and educate those who are in the dark about it. He is the proud co-founder of Next Level Recovery Association, is the author of “I Love You More, Short Stories of Addiction, Recovery and Loss from the Family’s Perspective,” and the host of The Overcoming Adversity podcast. He completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Florida Atlantic University and earned a state certification as an Addictions Professional to better assist those struggling with substance use disorders. Blake is currently earning his Master’s degree.

“A few years into my job at one of the top health clubs in New Jersey, I got a package in the mail–a direct response, long-copy marketing letter if you will, that was offering a home-study program for fitness professionals to teach them the basics of marketing. I knew absolutely nothing about advertising and marketing, but this approach intrigued me. I immediately ordered it and a few days later received this massive home study kit–a bunch of binders, folders and diskettes. I started reading through it all and was absolutely blown away! I became instantly enamored of the idea of being able to create a single marketing message that generates hundreds or even thousands of sales without having to generate brand new sales presentations. I began using everything that I was learning about these marketing techniques in the health club where I was employed and over 12 to 18 months, I became the poster child for breakthrough marketing in the entire club. Soon after, on my own time, I took these powerful marketing principles and created a marketing program for massage therapists. That was my first step into the world of being an entrepreneur. A couple of years later, after I had more thoroughly developed my skills and expertise in both my day-job and my side gig, I realized that my true dream wasn’t built around merely making a comfortable income, but mainly it was about autonomy. So, I set out on my own.”

Todd Brown is considered the #1 authority on engineering profitable customer acquisition campaigns, and the creator of the renowned E5 Method. He is one of the most sought-after marketing experts other experts go to when they need help with their own business. With clients in over 64 different countries, operating in over 71 different mass and niche markets, Todd has helped his students engineer more six and seven-figure marketing campaigns than any other expert online today. His list of coaching students, consulting clients, and subscribers reads like a Who’s Who of A-List Entrepreneurs. His Agency has created the promotions behind some of the biggest direct response marketers and companies online today.

Cindy learned as a little girl that the cards were stacked against her. The casts on her legs, the scars and pain drove home the point. But somewhere inside, she knew one day the world would hear her roar.

By age 3 Cindy Ashton was already wearing sequins, singing classics and dancing around her living room to her growing audience of fans. Since then she has worked with countless others, gracing thousands of stages. After over 20 years as a singer and entertainer, she is now the TV host of Cindy Uncorked on e360tv, syndicated worldwide on 186 million screens. Bringing her flare for stage craft to the speaking world, Cindy is also a professional speaker, presentation strategist and CEO of Speaker Stardom Booking Agency. She has received awards from former president Obama and Queen Elizabeth II for her lifetime of volunteerism, and has appeared in multiple media, including Investment News and Inc. Magazine.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so like so many of us, I followed in my older brother’s footsteps. He’s an exceptionally talented engineer so I took an engineering class in high school. I liked the math and science part of it but was awful at the practical side–nearly electrocuted myself on one occasion! Nevertheless I enrolled at the City College of New York in their 5-year engineering program, which included a number of classes in the humanities. My sophomore year I was introduced to Sigmund Freud via his landmark book: Civilization and Its Discontents. It frankly blew my mind and I realized that psychology was the direction that I wanted to take my career. Nevertheless I didn’t have the confidence or honestly the courage to make the change. By the end of my third year I had successfully completed all of the most difficult and demanding courses in the engineering curriculum–electromagnetic theory, differential equations, et al. Once I had completed these courses, I knew that I had what it took to go forward in engineering–that I was not simply ‘copping out.’ I instantly knew that I had the freedom to choose the direction of my career path. While I knew not one person in the psychology program, I went to my advisor, told him I wanted to switch majors, and the course of my life and career was profoundly changed for the better. My career as a forensic psychologist has been professionally and personally satisfying on so many levels.”

Richard Lettieri, PhD, is a forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst with over 25 years of experience. Whether privately retained or appointed by the court, he is frequently called upon to assess individuals for a number of reasons, including competency to stand trial and insanity, and to evaluate individuals accused of sex crimes and violent offenses. Dr. Lettieri received his PhD from the University of Southern California and is a member of the Expert Witness Panels of Orange County and San Bernardino County Superior Courts. He has taught at Chapman University in Orange County, California, at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, and at Pepperdine University in the master’s and Doctorate programs. He lives in Santa Ana, California.

“No one in our lives knows us and what we want to do in our deepest selves. They are concerned about our financial security and survival, which is fine, but listen to yourself and follow what actually interests you, because you know what that is, even at a very young age. The military turned out to be the best decision I could make because it married both security along with giving me a platform from which to grow and expand my artistic talents and deep love of photography. After I retired, this foundation was the springboard I needed to launch my life forward as an entrepreneur and business owner.”

“I left behind so many wonderful people that didn’t make it home from the Iraq war and every single day I strive to live in their honor and to live my life to the fullest for those who can’t.”

Stacy L. Pearsall got her start as an Air Force photographer at the age of 17. During her time in service she traveled to over 41 countries. During three combat tours, she earned the Bronze Star and Air Force Commendation with Valor for combat actions in Iraq. Though disabled and retired from military service she continues to work worldwide as an independent photographer and founder of the Veterans Portrait Project. Her work has been exhibited at The Pentagon and Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

“I was in a new faculty position, which I loved at Minnesota State University Moorhead, when out of the blue I received several emails from individuals in Belcourt, North Dakota, telling me that the president’s position at Turtle Mountain Community College was open. They encouraged me to apply. I told them that I’d look at the opportunity but immediately thought–why would I leave this position that was ideal for me, that was the best position of my career so far? Then I reflected on the last twenty years when I had won the Bush Fellowship and told the board members my long-term goal was that one day, I want to be a tribal college president because that’s where I got my start, and my life will come full circle when I do that. After much soul-searching and discussions with my family, I decided to apply. As I went through the application process, learned more about the history of the college and its community involvement, I realized that this was my true calling and that I really wanted this position. When I looked at the description of the president’s role and considered my long experience working with American Indians, and as a faculty member and administrator on a university president’s cabinet, it looked like it was written for me. I was deeply honored to be chosen as Turtle Mountain Community College’s new president and could not be more excited about our future here.”

Dr. Donna Brown (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) grew up on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Her professional life has been devoted to education, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. She is currently the President of Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), a tribal college located in Belcourt, North Dakota. Dr. Brown is committed to service to Indian Country and Education on a local, regional and national level. She served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, the Cass-Clay YWCA Board of Directors, and as Chair of the YWCA Racial Justice Committee.

“All of a sudden the girl who couldn’t function or hold responsibilities or find fulfillment in what other people did, was over functioning. There were things I was starting to realize, and one was that my bi-polar disorder has high highs and low lows; entrepreneurship has high highs and low lows. So, in many ways it worked beautifully within my mind. Another thing was, for me to really show up, it has to be all on my shoulders. I can have no out: I can’t have the psychologist’s note, I can’t have the ‘Hey, can you cover my shift.’ I have to be the one to show up. By adding to my shoulders more burden and responsibility that only I could bear, it allowed me to show up significantly. I found a dance and a power and a grove within me that was untapped. That’s really when I started my entrepreneurial journey. It became very clear to me that the only way I’m going to succeed is if I create my own thing. I suddenly found the path forward that works with my bipolar disorder, that helps my bipolar actually calm down within the confines of entrepreneurship.”

Scout Sobel is the founder of Scout’s Agency, co-host of the popular Okay Sis Podcast, and the host of SCOUT Podcast. She is a trailblazer in the media industry for utilizing podcasts as a powerful form of PR. After starting Okay Sis, which focuses on female guests, Scout fell in love with spreading women’s stories and identified the rising popularity and influence of podcasting. She started Scout’s Agency with an emphasis in podcast PR for women entrepreneurs, podcasters, and brands. Scout has also lived with bipolar disorder for the last 15 years. She was once unable to function in society but after finding entrepreneurship and taking radical responsibility over her emotions, she is now able to live a life of purpose. Her debut book, The Emotional Entrepreneur, provides the mindset and emotional tools she learned from managing her mental illness and that have helped her succeed in business.

“In 1988 we visited Beaufort, fell in love with the area, and soon after moved here and opened our firm. When we first started we were doing whatever work we could do—churches and schools and buildings of all kinds. But after we had been in business about 10 years, we realized the projects we really enjoyed doing were the customer residential ones. So that’s when we started focusing exclusively on custom residential work. We do everything from a small bathroom remodeling to designing a brand new house—creating a house from the ground up for a particular client. You know, when you move into an existing house, you make the house work for you. You might turn the dining room into a study, or you might make the space work for whatever needs you have. But when you start from scratch or when you’re doing a major remodel, you can really make the house work for the particular needs of the people that are living there.”

Jane Frederick, FAIA, was the 96th President of The American Institute of Architects. She is a principal at Frederick + Frederick Architects, which received AIA South Carolina’s 2017 Firm Award and Southern Living magazine’s Best Renovation of 2009. The Beaufort, SC firm specializes in custom residences and has earned over 20 design awards. Jane has served AIA in many roles, at-large director on the national Board of Directors, as chair of the AIA Small Firm Round Table, president of AIA South Carolina. She has also chaired numerous local planning boards and is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

“At 18 I said to myself that by the time I’m 21, I want to make a hundred thousand dollars a year. Legally! This was important because my uncle was in prison for life, my family members and friends were getting arrested, and by 26, three of my best friends had been murdered. I said to myself, money is the solution–the solution for abuse, for poverty, for the water getting turned off when I was a boy. So I made that declaration to myself to do it legally. At eighteen and a half I became a general manager in training for a Wendy’s restaurant. By 19, I had a leadership role with 52 people under me. By the time I was 21, I was making six figures, working in sales for a Fortune 10 company. But I would call age 20 to 26 the most chaotic period of my life. You know, you hear all the time that money brings more problems. That’s true if you haven’t done the work, if you haven’t stepped into the place of creating massive change in your life. And I hadn’t! So I found myself in the day-to-day throes of working for a corporation, making all this money, and not even understanding how to manage it. I was making six figures and living paycheck to paycheck. I was going out for $500 dinners, buying $300 shoes, spending five grand in the mall…I’m driving a $95,000 car! It was chaotic because I thought money was the solution. I didn’t understand that money is only a tool. I thought that money was going to fix everything, but it did not. By the time I was 25, I’m 300-plus pounds, I’m smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and I’m drinking myself to sleep. It was way past time for a change!”

From homeless to hero, Michael Unbroken is the founder of Think Unbroken, best-selling author, award-winning speaker, podcast host, coach, and advocate for adult survivors of childhood trauma. Since 2016, Michael has empowered over 100,000 trauma survivors to get out of The Vortex, learn to love themselves, and become the hero of their own story. Michael has spoken in over 80 countries, won investments from Undercover Billionaire Grant Cardone, and is on a mission to end Generational Trauma in his lifetime.

“When I’ve had a tough case, and the dog or cat or lizard or whatever I’m treating is really in a life-threatening type situation, and I’m able to apply my skills, pull that pet through, and then when that pet’s coming up to the front to meet the client to go home…you know, that’s IT, right there. That moment where you see the people and the emotions and the tears, and knowing that I was able to be a part of that, you know? That’s it.”

Dr. John Robb is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Connecticut. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis in 1981 and his DVM from that same institution in 1985. Dr. Robb started the Protect The Pets movement in 2006 to bring morals back into veterinary medicine. This has helped clients by establishing pet safe hospitals and veterinarians by giving them the opportunity to live their oath. He currently owns and operates a small animal veterinary hospital in Newtown, Ct called Dr. Robb’s Protect The Pets – 98 South Main Street, Newtown, Ct. He practices the new standard of titering first before routinely over vaccinating pets who already have immunity. He plans on putting Protect the Pets Hospitals all over the world.

In the early 1990’s and early in his career, Jim Kukral joined a “new media agency,” the first name used for companies that built websites. Very few people knew anything about the internet, so the people being hired were learning on the job. For Jim, that meant getting a first day assignment to read a book on how to use HTML to build websites. “It was a great job in many ways. Two of the first websites I ever built were for Ernst & Young and Sherwin Williams. These were their first websites, too. But, the day I decided I was going to become an entrepreneur, was at an office Christmas party. “I had just spent three to four months sleeping in the office, busting my butt to help the company make a lot of money for their biggest client. Christmas party time came and I thought, ‘Boy, I’m going to get a huge bonus!’ And that day the two owners of the company went to a furniture store and spent $50,000. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be great.’ Well, they spent $50,000 on furniture for their offices upstairs. And then I thought they were going to give us money as a bonus. So, I went to the Christmas party and they gave me a check for $250. That was the moment I knew I was never going to work for anybody ever again, because I did not like not being in control of my own income, my own finances. I was gone within three months to start my first company.”

For 25-years Jim Kukral has been writing books (10), keynote speaking (150+), and building successful lifestyle businesses as a marketing entrepreneur. But the pandemic and a near-death diagnosis of colon cancer changed everything for Jim in 2020, so he threw away all his past success to start something completely different, a new brand called Life Apocalypse. As an almost fifty-year-old successful businessman, husband, and father of two, Jim realized that he needed to spend his remaining days on this planet helping people figure out how to live a life of significance, impact, and purpose.

“My advice to anyone contemplating entering the profession of law is to get to know themselves—what makes you tick? The more you can explore yourself from every dimension—not merely intellectually, but emotionally, spiritually and more—the better you will be able to research and evaluate the possibilities to use your talents and skills and work with your values and goals towards a meaningful life and career.”

Arnie Herz is a lawyer, mediator and speaker. He has delivered over 100 programs and keynotes on topics related to the attorney-client relationship, negotiation, conflict resolution and work-life balance. His work has been covered in numerous publications and he has received a host of acknowledgements and awards from his colleagues.

“To say ‘intense’ is underestimating a medical education. If you can imagine putting 130 of the most obsessive, dedicated, brilliant people in one room, in one class, and you are with them for 10 hours a day for 7 years, just imagine that process. Imagine the competition. Everyone wants to get that A+. Everyone wants to outdo the other. That’s how it is. Competition is good for the most part. I think it is helpful in any field. It pushes the boundaries and makes you better. But there are a lot of people that took it too far and I think they burned out, and some dropped out, and some couldn’t do it. And I don’t blame them. There’s a lot of stress involved. But at the end of the day, surviving that experience made me a better person, taught me a lot about what is important and valuable in life and made me a better doctor.”

Dr. Paul Kaloostian is a Los Angeles neurosurgeon who, aside from saving lives every day, is an avid writer. He wishes to improve the importance of building compassionate relationships between doctors and patients, something he feels is too often lost nowadays. His main goal is to break the stigma that doctors are rigid, book smart people who lack a creative and artistic side. He wrote a poetry book with case studies to share with people in order to show that doctors are not all about science. He has some insights to share on how to improve the doctor/patient relationship, especially in trying times like these. He feels that once this barrier is lifted, the doctor/patient relationship will improve tremendously.

“What I would love to do in the next 10 years or so is focus very much on getting underrepresented minorities in general and African Americans in particular, more interested in mathematics. I personally love math and I want as many people as I can to take as many math classes as they can. I know that there are a lot of underrepresented minorities that are very nervous about questions such as: What kind of career could I have in math? Might I make more money being an engineer or a doctor? What are some of the specific career opportunities I might have? And I definitely want to spend time explaining what those opportunities are and much more.”

Edray Herber Goins is Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College. He has worked as a researcher at both Harvard and the National Security Agency, and has taught at both Caltech and Purdue. Professor Goins has published over 20 journal articles in areas such as applied mathematics, graph theory, number theory, and representation theory and on topics such as Diophantine equations, elliptic curves, and African Americans in mathematics. He has acted as a referee for 20 different journals in mathematics, served on dozens of panels for the National Science Foundation, and has given more than 150 invited addresses on his research.

“One thing that is unique about my background is that my clients, who are tech entrepreneurs and CEOs, value that I came from a business background, a finance background, and a tech investing background. So they know that not only can I provide a tactical strategy, but I can also address the underlying issues that are behind those challenges for them.”

Victoria Song is a leadership advisor to visionary founders and CEOs of the fastest growing technology companies in Silicon Valley, and celebrities with power, platform and influence. A Forbes 30 Under 30 investor, Yale College and Harvard Business School alumna, Victoria has helped her clients achieve multi-billion dollar exits, write patents in 24 hours, and more. She is the author of the new book, “Bending Reality: How to Make the Impossible Probable.” The book is designed to help readers tap into their hidden potential, so they can access extraordinary (seemingly supernatural) abilities they didn’t even know they had.

“As a history student in college I quickly noticed that behind every significant historical movement or trend, there has always been a powerful communicator–Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II, and Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement are a few examples. The more I learned about the profound impact of communication skills at every level of our society, I realized that I wanted to not only learn those skills myself, but I also decided to dedicate my career to teaching them to others.”

After earning his Ph.D. in communication, Bill Lampton taught at the University of Georgia and then spent two decades in management at the vice-presidential level. Since 1997–through his company Championship Communication–he has served as a speaker/consultant/coach for top-tier clients, such as Gillette, Procter and Gamble, Oceania Cruises, Missouri Bar and the Ritz-Carlton Cancun. Bill has written two books and hundreds of articles. He produces instructional videos about business communication. Weekly he hosts a video podcast and a radio show. Obviously he fits his tagline: “The Biz Communication Guy.” Based in Gainesville, Georgia, he serves clients without boundaries.

“I like to write. In fact, I’ve always found time throughout my adult life and in my legal career to put aside time to do it. I used to do it because I wanted to be a published author, even just out of college. I kept writing, realizing the reason I’m doing it is because I like it. It’s very satisfying and enjoyable for me to write fiction. Then I got to a point where I said to myself, ‘I ought to just make a go of it.’ So about four or five years ago, I developed a main character, and series of interrelated characters, and a concept for a series of stories. I wrote the first one, which is Friends Like These, and then wrote the second, which is called Friend of a Friend. All of a sudden I realized that these characters are interesting because they will continue to have tension and conflict between them, and I think that will work. All of a sudden, I’ve got a series of books.”

James Irving spent two years employed as a private detective pursuing wayward spouses, locating skips, and handling criminal investigations. Then, after getting his law degree, he started his career practicing criminal law. With his investigative experience and trial work, and becoming a member of the bars of Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Massachusetts, he finally decided he was ready to write a fiction book series.

“Because my dad was friends with the owner of a radio station in Dallas, Texas, at not-quite 15 years of age I got an internship as a ‘gofer’ on a popular show–Texas Money in the Afternoon. My voice had already dropped so the owner graciously let me do a few on-air segments. I had developed a passion for radio and voice work for several years by that time, so I was very excited by the opportunity to learn more. After a while, working part-time at the station, I began to get hired by sponsors to do their commercials. I was paid a reasonable amount of money even at that age and began to wonder if perhaps voice over work might even be more lucrative than being a radio show host. By the time I graduated from college at the University of North Texas, I was already making a modest but decent living doing part time voice over work. After graduating with a degree in political science, I moved back to my hometown of Washington, D.C., got an agent and began working full-time as a voice over talent.”

J. Michael Collins, with over twenty years as a professional voice actor, has worked with some of the biggest companies, brands, sports leagues, and organizations on the planet. In addition to his work in the classic, agency-based world of voice over, J. Michael has established himself as a leading authority in the online casting marketplace and has become recognized as an industry leading voice talent coach and demo producer as well. J. Michael is a 38-time Voice Arts Award winner as a voice actor, demo producer, script writer, and casting director.

“My dad said that people who are always educating themselves have a better quality of life and can contribute more to society. So, I have always been on a learning path. And a wonderful sprinting coach told me early on, ‘Don’t turn around to see what everybody else is doing. Play your own game, stay in your own lane, because every time you turn around to look and see who’s coming behind you, you lose a little bit of speed.’ So that’s what I’ve done. Yes, there’s competition out there and yes, I’ve got to notice it, but I must play my own game to the best of my ability.”

From surviving cancer to making history by saving a billion-dollar industry from ruin, award winning strategist and best-selling author Nicola Grace—the mission mentor—helps entrepreneurs and visionaries clarify and monetize their life’s big mission so they can make a bigger impact, transform the world and build their legacy. Nicola’s intuitive, visionary strategy skills have made her the secret weapon of politicians, business owners, social entrepreneurs and innovators and thought leaders around the world.

“Even individuals who eat what I would call an optimum diet–no junk food and a balance of organic fruits, vegetables, and some organic seafood or meat–even these folks have significant deficiencies in magnesium, potassium and iodine. To focus on iodine for a minute, it is a vital mineral that helps you in smog congested cities or when you are around second-hand smoke. Remember too that our world is 900 times more toxic than it has ever been! Even super-healthy people are iodine deficient. Japan is overall the healthiest country in the world and per capita they consume the most iodine per day–up to 12 milligrams of iodine via the seafood they eat along with the brown algae seaweed such as kelp, kombu and wakame. I recommend that Americans consume on average 3 to 5 milligrams of iodine a day by way of organic supplements or fish, seafood, seaweed and eggs.”

Barton Scott is a chemical engineer, nutritionist, and the founder of Upgraded Formulas. Barton is passionate about helping people combat the stressors of daily life, the toxicity of the modern world, the utter lack of nutrients, and the mineral absorption issues that we all face, and he has made it his mission to reduce suffering by increasing the public’s understanding of the human body’s interrelationships.

“I went to law school at age 49 at Washington University School of Law, which is an Ivy League-level law school. I graduated with a 4.0, the highest GPA in my class. When people ask me how I did that while doing all this other stuff at the same time, I like to joke and say ‘I cheated.’ At Orientation they told us we should spend four hours per class per, week preparing for lectures. I spent eight hours preparing. Most people say, that’s not cheating. Yes, but nobody does it. If you want to be the smartest person in the room, you have to be the most prepared person in the room. See, there’s nothing extra-ordinary about me. I was a below average student in high school. I just start with the conviction that failure is not an option and I cannot be outworked. Then I move on to: ‘I’m going to out prepare everyone.’ You see, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Stephen Nalley is the owner and Managing Partner of Black Briar Advisors, which is a Small Business Administration and Veteran’s Affairs Certified-Disabled Service-Connected Veteran-Owned Company. He has owned and operated over 200 hotels across the United States and has managed over $2 billion in Hotel & Resort Assets. He is the author of “Relentless Pursuit,” where he describes the secret to success as knowing what you want and having a compelling reason why and the discipline to sacrifice what we want right now for what we really want later.

“There was actually a specific month and year that was the turning point for my entire career. It was October of 1985. Quite coincidentally my father had just passed away at the same time that a friend of mine’s father had also passed. I had just gotten my master’s degree in international business and had been offered jobs in England and Southeast Asia. I knew I didn’t want to stay in Maryland, and I had travelled around the world as a young man, so I was inclined toward these opportunities. But my dad’s death threw me off track. So, when my friend, Joel Solomon, invited me to come visit in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, I took him up on his offer. I didn’t have a job other than my juggling gigs, which I had been into since I was a young man. Joel’s family had been in the real estate development business his entire life, so I decided to get my real estate license to help out any way I could. Joel was part of a streetscape committee that was trying to develop the rather hollowed out center of the city, which had been abandoned to urban flight. I was working in Hillsboro Village there, and when people asked me what I did, I answered: ‘I sell houses within a one-mile radius of Hillsboro Village. Houses are coming on the market, Vanderbilt University across the street wants the area developed, along with the musicians who have their studios in the area, and of course the merchants.’ With that pithy unique selling proposition, I started selling in-town properties at a rapid clip–27 houses turned into 43 turned into 62 and the neighborhood began to thrive and so did my real estate business. I never left.”

Mark Deutschmann is an entrepreneur and community builder who has worked with neighbors, city leaders and social profits for 30+ years to help shape Nashville development, revitalizing its most sought-after neighborhoods. He is founder/chair emeritus of Village Real Estate Services and president of Core Development Services, which activates Nashville’s urban center with adaptive reuse and mixed-use infill development. His Village Fund and CoreFund nonprofits have granted millions to organizations helping to enrich and strengthen Nashville. Deutschmann is the author of One-Mile Radius–Building Community from the Core. He holds degrees in zoology and Spanish and an MBA in international management.

“I asked a general officer that I’d known for a while what we could do to help transitioning veterans. He said, ‘You know, Phil, for some veterans, the transition can be more than a little difficult.’ And that’s when the portion of American Dream U. in 2013 came alive. I did a little research and found the transitioning of all veterans was run by the Department of Labor and the Veterans Administration. At that time, the goal of the curriculum was two resumes: a civilian resume and a government one. I thought ‘Wow. I think there’s a lot more to it!’ So, I called some entrepreneurs that I knew, and we did our first event at Fort Lewis. All the soldiers thought that we were going to have dozens of PowerPoint slides: the military lives off of PowerPoint presentations. But that day, all of a sudden there were no PowerPoints. There were only entrepreneurs there sharing their stories. The soldiers started leaning forward, paying close attention, and taking notes. The general officer of this team said, ‘You’ve really got something here.’ That’s when I discovered that bringing other successful people, both veterans and non-veterans, to share what’s possible, really was a powerful idea. Since then, we’ve done over 170 events, in front of 17,000 or more live attendees. And then, of course, with Covid we had to pivot to be online. I’m proud to say we’ve helped a lot of military people and their families since 2013 and will continue to do so going forward.”

Philip J. Randazzo is an MBA professional, leveraging multiple sustainability disciplines within health care, financial planning and education industries of civilians, veterans, and current military individuals. He was given the key to the city of Las Vegas in March of 2003, testified in front of the U.S. Congress, was invited to the White House, and is actively involved in the Las Vegas community serving on the Advisory Board of the YMCA of Southern Nevada and served on the Veterans Services Commission. He’s the founder of American Dream U. and Clarity Council. His organizations bring the world’s top entrepreneurs together to help those making potentially difficult transitions.

“My dad was brought up on a farm that raised Angus cattle. When my brother and I were around 11 years old he decided that we needed to have a similar experience that would keep us busy and engaged and because he had learned so many valuable lessons during his early years. Because cattle farming was so intense and arduous every day, he wanted to find a better option for us. Over the holidays one year we went to Oklahoma where he shopped around and finally decided to buy four English Pointer dogs that would be the starting point for what became the Cooper Brothers’ Kennel. Taking care of this growing family of purebred dogs became the focal point of my life during the next ten years. We started each day at 5:00 a.m., worked until 7:30, then went to school. We returned home around 4:30 p.m. and worked with the dogs until dark. Our kennel raised around 250 puppies every year. In the summer months I spent my days training the dogs to hunt so that we could sell them in the fall. From those myriad experiences with our kennel, we learned so many powerful lessons that were foundational in my life and career going forward: of course, the results of hard work, as well as how to be resilient and consistent, how to deal with all types of people, how to run a small business and finally the basics of how to market and sell. I thank my father for having the insight of giving us this atypical and powerful experience along with our solid traditional education.”

Chuck Cooper is the Founder & Managing Member at WhiteWater Consulting. He sets the Mission, Vision and Values for the company. Over the past twenty-five years, he has had the experience of starting, acquiring, building, and selling businesses in multiple industries. During this time, he’s experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. His passion for founding WhiteWater Consulting is to help enable employers and HR practitioners to drive their organization to realize: An improved company culture; enhance employee engagement; grow revenues; control expenses; maximize profits and all the while taking care of the greatest asset: their people. Chuck subscribes to the belief that our client’s success is our success.

“I went to the University of Kansas, majored in advertising and graduated with a 2.8 GPA, which is not anything to write home about. I’m sitting at home one Saturday night watching the TV show ‘Common Ground.’ A guy by the name of Warner Sanders was interviewing a woman named Barbara Proctor. Barbara Proctor was the first African-American woman to start an ad agency in the U.S. Now, I don’t have a job, I don’t have any prospects, I have nothing going, but that Monday morning I put on the one suit that I had, made a few copies of my not-that-strong resume, and went to Barbara Proctor’s office at nine o’clock. I just walked in with no appointment. The receptionist was very nice to me, and said, ‘Have a seat. I’ll find out if anybody can see you.’ After about an hour I met with a guy named Tony Moore who ran their media department. He liked me, but he had no jobs. He said, ‘You seem to be a good kid. I’m going to help you with something.’ He picked up the phone and called another gentleman who worked for Vince Cullers Advertising. He told him, ‘I’ve got this young man sitting in front of me who is fresh out of school and wants to get into advertising. I think you ought to take a look at him.’ So, I walked down the street to Vince Cullers offices. Now Vince Cullers was a genius, and a pioneer. I say that because he was the very first African-American in the U.S. to start an agency to target, primarily, the needs of the Black consumer. I met with the media director there. We talked for about a half an hour. Then he introduces me to Vince. We talk another half an hour. I was back home by noon, and I had a job.”

Kevin Newell is a retired C-Suite executive of a Fortune 500 and Dow 30 Company. He began his career in the advertising industry in Chicago before joining McDonald’s Corporation where he spent 27 years, rising to the position of Division President and Global Chief Brand Officer. Upon retirement in 2016 he became the Executive Advisor for tech company HubKonnect. He also serves on the boards of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, the Off The Street Club and Louis Carr Internship Foundation.

“I was into animals at a very early age. When I was growing up my dog, Peggy, was absolutely my best friend. She inspired me in so many ways. I remember sitting on the stairs one day when I was 12 looking at her and thinking how much feeling and wisdom I could see in her eyes. I realized then that all animals are sentient beings–they feel deeply and care deeply. I could no longer eat animals after that. My belief in animals and their rights continued to grow from that day on.”

Nina Jackel is an activist and journalist affecting change for animals through her non-profit media organization, Lady Freethinker, dedicated to exposing and stopping the suffering of animals, humans, and the planet. Nina believes that humans can evolve for the better through reason and compassion and feels that the issue of animal rights is among the most important social justice issues of our time: one that is centuries behind and overdue for advancement. She seeks to achieve this social evolution by exposing injustice, educating the public, and working to change the laws and policies that allow abuse and neglect of all species to go on.

“School really wasn’t my jam. I did okay in it, but I’m not a math person at all; I couldn’t really think that way. I was good at English, good at writing, that kind of stuff. My favorite classes in high school included wood shop and metal shop where I excelled. We had a class that was called World of Construction. It was in a bus garage attached to the school and was taught by an ex-Marine I liked a lot. He really shaped who I was. He saw the genius in me as far as being a builder. I picked it up really fast. Anything I did was right on target, and he loved working with our group of guys. We would build a part of a house in the bus garage: the walls, the floor, the drywall, the roof, the shingles. I could not wait to get to that class every day. That’s really what drove me. I fit there, you know what I mean? Like you have a place where you fit. I didn’t fit in algebra. For the year in algebra, I got a grade of five out of a hundred because I just didn’t get it. I would always say to the teacher, ‘Please tell me where I’m going to use this in my life, and then I’ll really try to understand it. But right now, I have no idea where I’m going to use this. My mind just doesn’t think this way.’ Part of my work now is helping people to understand where they fit. Just because some people are fantastic at calculus doesn’t mean that you need to be. We need to find our own way. We need to find where we fit and excel in those areas.”

Scott Sunderland found himself going from a 35-year-old athletic father, husband, and business owner to lying in a hospital bed unable to move in 2001. Using visualization techniques over the course of a year, Scott was able to heal himself. However, limiting beliefs, past traumas, and disempowering mental habits came back to haunt him when, in 2012, he watched his best friend drown in front of his eyes. Blaming himself, he was broken once again. Standing in a room on fire, Scott was faced with running through those flames to end up at the empowered life that he lives now.

“At the height of my senior year at Lane Tech College Prep High School I had received scholarship offers to run track at most of the top colleges and universities in the country: my future path was clear and quite promising. The day after our team had set the record for the fastest indoor mile relay in the country of 3:19:05, at the Chicago City Indoor Championship, I was competing in a 60-yard dash event and tore my hamstring in half. The doctors told me I would never be able to run competitively again and would likely walk with a limp from here on out. Every scholarship offer disappeared, and my dream of higher education was broken. I resigned myself to getting a job at the U.S. Post Office or UPS. Out of the blue a high school friend of mine–Phil Ferguson–who was playing football for Drake University, recommended that their Relays Team Director, Bob Ehrhart, take a look at my stellar record of multiple high school championships via newspaper articles that had been written about me and my team. Coach Ehrhart had never heard of me, but he agreed to check me out. Once he read my record of high achievement in every area of track and field, he reached out to me and my mother and offered me a full scholarship to Drake University. The course of my life and career was forever changed thanks to Phil Ferguson’s kind gesture and coach Ehrhart’s decision to give me a try. I am forever grateful to each of them.”

Louis Carr has been with BET Networks for 35 years, serving as the President of Media Sales for the last 19 years. During his tenure with the company, he has transformed the multicultural space for some of the world’s biggest brands. He also founded the Louis Carr Internship Foundation (LCIF) 18 years ago to help improve diversity in corporate America through paid internships. The foundation has provided 188 paid internships, in which 50 alumni now have full-time jobs within the industry. Staying true to his commitment of giving back, Carr launched his latest brand–WayMaker–to help provide direction, wisdom and inspiration to people wanting to grow their life and change the world.

“At night, I would edit audio recordings of live workshops with a big reel-to-reel machine, a razor blade and tape, and then my associate would develop the packaging and the catalog copy, which we would mail or hand out. That’s how we started growing the mail order business. But some of our customers brought the catalog to bookstores in their local towns and asked them if they would carry the recordings in the bookstore. Before you knew it, we were getting orders from bookstores. Then the bookstores said to us that the customers love the audio workshops, but the packaging is not really meant for bookstore display. So, we developed bookstore packaging, and then we expanded to Amazon, which far outgrew our direct mail business. We developed a world healing music division of the company, followed by offering instructional videos of spiritual practices. In 2001 we started publishing books and became a book publisher. Our other programs went from CD to downloadable media and all of them became available at Audible. We also developed online learning courses, and now we offer full certification programs that are combinations of in-person events with online learning. There’s been a very organic flowering or unfolding through all these different media over the years. And, it’s been 36 years now!”

Tami Simon is the founder of Sounds True, one of the world’s leading wisdom-based multimedia companies whose mission is to wake up the world. Sounds True publishes groundbreaking authors and teachers with topics ranging from mindfulness, neuroscience, psychology, trauma therapy and more. Tami also founded The Inner MBA, a collaborative effort between Sounds True, LinkedIn, Wisdom 2.0 and MindfulNYU to train the next generation of conscious business leaders by teaching them the inner skills required for success in today’s environment.

“We were having trouble early on finding the right employees who would help our business scale. I read a book by Steve Jobs about a program he used at Apple called ‘community hiring.’ Here’s how it works. Every employee we are considering joining our company, at whatever level, must be interviewed by four different members of our team. Once all four interviews are completed, all four team members get together and compare notes about our direct experience with the employee being considered from every possible perspective. Using this hiring model our retention rate has more than doubled over the last few years to 85%, because we empirically track it. The ‘community hiring’ model has been outstanding for us and equally as positive is that when a candidate is actually hired and joins our team from the first day they feel like they are already a part of our culture because they have each gotten to know our key leaders and learned from each of us something unique about our goals, values, vision and mission. This is a true win-win: for the employee, our company and the clients we serve.”

Eli Marcus Smith founded and runs successful businesses in construction and real estate development with offices in Washington, DC, and Syracuse, NY. A committed and energetic entrepreneur, he is following in the footsteps of his parents who were successful business owners for over 40 years. Eli has been recognized by Governor Cuomo for his entrepreneurial spirit and achievement in contracting. He continues to give back to his community by mentoring students at area high schools and colleges including Syracuse University and Onondaga Community College. He also hosts a yearly event to recognize, honor and empower established and rising minority and women-owned businesses.

“You asked me how I chose what to study. I wanted to study writing, but my father said, ‘Nobody makes a living as a writer. Do something sensible.’ So, I studied economics instead. But now I hope my most recent book, Turn Words into Wealth: Blueprint for Your Business, Brand and Book, helps people think: ‘Actually there are a bunch of ways to make money as an author, or as a speaker, or as a YouTuber. There are different ways to monetize my message.’ If you really want to be an author, read the book, or some other books to help you think about what the best ways are to do it. How can you add the most value? Yes, it is true that it is quite difficult to make money just from royalties on a book. But on the other hand, there are many stories (and a lot of them are in this book) that show the success people have found.”

Aurora Winter believes that if you determine how you can bring the most value to others, you can make money. And she demonstrates it in her own life story. She is a bestselling author, TV-producer, media coach, ghostwriter, and successful serial entrepreneur. She uses her film-making expertise and neuroscience training to help people communicate and get results, whether it’s raising seven figures for a startup, negotiating for a raise, or enrolling a new client. If you have ever wanted to write a book, become an in-demand speaker or communicate more effectively, Aurora has the expertise and insights to help you achieve your goals.

“I had the good fortune of working for a company, Paychex, my second job after college, which provided payroll, benefits, and insurance services to CPAs whose clients were mostly small entrepreneurs. This proved to be a seminal learning experience for my career because over the course of a couple of years working with hundreds of these clients, I quickly saw a couple of key patterns that gave me early insights into the work that I am doing today. These highly motivated individuals typically had a keen interest in a business niche or had an idea they had come up with that they wanted to test out in the marketplace. Too often, however, when they moved past the start-up or launch phase of their business and into the vital next step of recruiting, training, and developing their workforce, these talented individuals did not possess the experience or knowledge essential for moving their organization to the next level. Over the next decade working with Vertex in sales and ultimately high-level management roles serving their much larger companies, I added a broad and deep perspective regarding the cultural and leadership dimensions of a business. These experiences were the foundation for my own company, Strategic Collisions, International, LLC, where we work with start-ups and established businesses to help them produce profitable growth through consulting, learning and executive coaching services.”

John H. Wilson (PhD, MBA), also known as The-Entre-Professor, is an entrepreneur, intrapreneur (corporate entrepreneur), scholar, and public speaker with more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry. Recently, Dr. Wilson left Corporate America to pursue a full-time faculty position at Drexel University as a teaching professor in the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship and to launch Strategic Collisions International LLC, a development consultancy dedicated to helping entrepreneurs to launch, grow, and thrive. Dr. Wilson provides unique expertise and inspiration to start-up and scale-up businesses seeking to produce profitable growth through consulting, learning, and executive coaching services.

“When my oldest was heading off to college, I thought, well now maybe my time is here to do that business or that creative thing that I’ve always wanted to do but never allowed myself to do. So that is when we started looking into the food business for Grey Ghost Bakery.”

Katherine Frankstone never got that Easy-Bake Oven she wanted when she was 6. Instead, her father taught her to bake in the real thing—and she got a life-long passion instead. After working as a banker, becoming a mother to three sons, cofounding EdVenture Children’s Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, and going back to law school at 40, she decided to turn her passion into a business, and Grey Ghost Bakery was born. Grey Ghost Bakery produces made-from-scratch cookies in ten delicious flavors using Southern family recipes and are found in over 300 stores in 32 states.

“I was raised in a loving Catholic family, the oldest of eight other siblings, in Columbus, Georgia. By the time I was in the 9th grade I decided that I wanted to be a priest. With the guidance of our bishop, I spent over two years studying in a cloistered monastery in Little Rock, Arkansas–St. John’s Seminary. While the experience was meaningful to me on many levels, I decided that the priesthood was not the best use of my talents. I later came to understand that there are many common themes between my studies in religion and later in history and the classics, that influenced my final decision to enter the profession of law. So, the foundation was quite helpful. From the beginning of my interest in law, all I ever wanted to do was litigation. I was drawn to the courtroom–enthralled by the intellectual and interpersonal interactions, and of course by the profound impact every final verdict had on the lives of each participant in the case at hand.”

Keegan Federal became a lawyer at 22, a judge at 33, and, after 55 years, he is still practicing law, specializing in high-dollar catastrophic injury cases throughout the Southeast. He also mediates and arbitrates cases for other lawyers and assists other judges by serving as a Special Master presiding over their more complicated and time-consuming cases. Judge Federal is an honors graduate of Emory University, a Vietnam veteran with a Bronze Star, and a member of the Board of Councilors at The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. He and his wife Rebecca also own and operate an historic inn in St. Mary’s, Georgia, known as “The Federal Quarters.”

“Nigeria is such a closed culture place. Everyone knows what you are doing. When you tell people with excitement that you are going to apply for an American visa, and you come back and say you didn’t get it, everybody laughs. And when you do that 13 times … then people start saying, ‘He is never going to make it out.’ The whole process took a minimum of 5 years, but I kept going back. I was not giving up on my dreams. When I got it, I wanted to go to the radio station and just scream, ‘You told me I wasn’t going to make it, but guess what? I made it!’”

Maxwell Adekoje is a native of war-torn Nigeria. A survivor of numerous adversities and crises, he moved to the United States to get a better life. A 20-year veteran in the airline industry, he moved up the corporate ladder and became airport supervisor at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. He is the CEO and Founder of Higher is Calling. and is a motivational speaker, online marketing training coach, and author of three books. His current release “Just Eat The Worm: Six Strategies That Will Help You Earn More Money and Never Waste a Crisis” is an international best-seller.

“My high school mathematics teacher, Mr. Miller, had a unique way of making mathematics look interesting and exciting. I thrived in math under him, took advanced placement calculus and other courses, which helped me in my later life and career much more than it did in college. My appetite for mathematics and the idea that you didn’t have to rigidly stick to the textbooks, that math was much more than memorizing multiplication tables or cosigns, but that you could research and investigate the many other facets and the broader applications of math–what it was really about and how it permeates all dimensions of our world–was a powerful and positive influence on my life and career from that point forward.”

Steve Orrin offers three decades of extraordinary success in a series of high-level roles at top-tier companies that include Intel Corporation, Sarvega, Watchfire Inc., Sanctum Inc., First Genetic Trust Inc., Lockstar Inc., and SynData Technologies Inc. He has developed a reputation as an industry leader, leveraging a history of delivering results in Innovation, Intrapreneurship, and Entrepreneurship. He is a Tech-enabled business professional who has launched and scaled companies and brought innovative industry-leading products to market. As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior PE for Intel Corporation, Steve orchestrates and executes customer engagements in the federal space, overseeing the development of federal solution architectures to address challenges in government enterprise, national security, and other federal areas of focus. Mr. Orrin has dedicated himself and his vision as a leader who engages in projects with an “All-In” attitude.

“As you might guess, I was very big into math and science. And as an added little bonus, I’m dyslexic. So my least favorite topics were anything that was heavy with reading. I could do around seventh grade math in third grade, but I couldn’t read yet. I was ridiculed quite a bit and I was struggling to find my place and where I could belong. I had a teacher in sixth grade who pulled me aside and she said, ‘Melissa, you are too smart for this. You have to stop letting what people tell you your limitations are dictate what you can do. You are much better than this.’ Everything shifted because it went from ‘I can’t do it’ to ‘No, I’m going to show you.’ You can have these moments in life that just shift your entire path. I became a straight A student from there because it was all about not letting other people dictate what’s possible.”

Removing bias from talent evaluation is more than just opening the door to a wider candidate pool in today’s fierce competition for talent. It drives diversity, efficiency, and compliance. That’s why Melissa Dobbins formed Career.Place, an anonymous candidate evaluation solution that removes bias from the screening process. Career.Place removes bias-laden resumes and time consuming screening calls from the hiring process and replaces them with a systemic solution that equips the hiring team with the ability to easily and objectively identify those best qualified for the job.

“Two comments my father made to me when I was in middle school had a powerful and lasting impact on my life. He served in World War II in the United States Navy as an enlisted man. One day he said: ‘When I looked up at the Captain of the ship there in the crow’s nest, I’d ask myself, what would I be doing if I were running this ship?’ That comment opened my young mind to the notion that at whatever level in an organization you are, you have the opportunity to always be thinking at a higher level, to imagine what you would do in that role, not merely what your current tasks at hand required of you. The second comment happened when I was creating a poster for a friend of mine who was running for student body president. Dad saw me working diligently on this poster for my friend and he asked me why wasn’t I creating a poster for myself and why wasn’t I running for student body president? I had always been struggling in school with ADHD, had a hard time concentrating and studying, but when he made those two comments, a light bulb went off in my head, the seeds of ambition were ignited and I said to myself–OK, I’m going to give this a shot, I’m going to always do my very best at whatever I set out to do and never sell myself short.”

Jamie Turner is an internationally recognized author, university professor, and management consultant who speaks about leadership, persuasion, and marketing at events and conferences around the globe. You may have seen Jamie in Inc., Entrepreneur, Business Insider, or Forbes. He’s also a regular guest on CNN and HLN, where he delivers segments on marketing, persuasion, and leadership. Jamie is the co-author of several essential business books, including How to Make Money with Social Media, Go Mobile, and An Audience of One (to be published by McGraw-Hill in September of 2021). Jamie’s YouTube channel was designated one of the “Top 10 Business YouTube Channels” in the nation by Wishpond.com.

“After seven years as a consultant, I landed at LivePerson. Rob, the CEO and founder of LivePerson, is a really visionary guy. As part of discovering your talent–I think this is really important for anyone–you need to be discerning and know who you are working for and why you are working for them. It’s super important if you are in your 20’s or 30’s to learn how they lead, too. One of the things I value at LivePerson is that Rob is not afraid to bring in people who are high potential people that may not fit perfectly into a square, but he gives them the room to be entrepreneurial and creative. Two pillars of what we felt would make people successful at LivePerson were curiosity and seeing failure as a learning opportunity. You can’t fear failure. It is just a natural part of life that you learn from and you continuously use to improve.”

Marco Ambrosio is a transformation expert, a serial intrapreneur, and the VP of Expert Engineering at LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN), the leading Conversational AI company in the world. In this custom role, Marco focuses on Growth Mindset, Strategy, and Innovation helping reimagine the company for its future.

“Serving in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment-Blackhorse I was fortunate to know leaders who were truly outstanding. They were points of light during all the challenges that we faced and demonstrated a level of tactical patience, coaching and mentoring that inspired us. An analogy to the Band of Brothers (and Sisters) comes readily to mind. I was continually interacting with individuals who were role models. I’m proud to have served as deputy executive assistant to General Colin L. Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as working with General Crosbie E. Saint and a host of other senior military leaders who personified the guiding values of Duty, Honor and Country and Service Above Self. I am proud to have served my country for 33 years and to command soldiers at a number of different levels. Leadership is a privilege not a right.”

Major General Robert W. Mixon, Jr. has achieved over three decades of extraordinary leadership success in diverse organizations, including the United States Army where he commanded the 7th Infantry Division in Fort Carson, Colorado prior to his retirement in 2007. Subsequently, he served in executive leadership positions in both for-profit and not-for-profit companies prior to starting his own leadership company, Level Five Associates, in 2014. He is a published author in several key aspects of business excellence: Co-author of “Cows in the Living Room: Developing an Effective Strategic Plan and Sustaining It.” Author of “We’re All In: The Journey to a World-Class Culture.” Author of “Who Saw This Coming? Now What Do We Do?” He also publishes a bi-weekly blog with over 2,000 subscribers.

“If you don’t get comfortable with being uncomfortable, you’re just never going to grow. There’s so much we have to offer just as a human race in this world. There’s so much more that we are capable of. There’s so many amazing things that we can come up with as a people, but we have to let go of our fears and our comforts first.”

Donny Hamilton is a husband, father and former army captain who was deployed to the Middle East and currently as a deputy sheriff. He’s lived a rollercoaster life that included growing up in a broken home to joining the army at 19 years of age in search of a better life. His story of perseverance to conquer his childhood fears led him to become a better man, successful entrepreneur and COO of Vigilant Tiger Security, a veteran-founded security business. He’s also the author of “A Tiger’s Fury: How to Start Overcoming Your Fears Right Now,” an international bestselling book in four categories, including motivational and self-help, in eight countries.

“I walked into the classroom and learned that someone had just published a book on creative counseling techniques. He was using three dimensional models to teach theory. Later, I brought in a bag of three dimensional tools that I had created over the previous 15 years of my work with clients. The instructor was blown away and told me I needed to come and teach my approach to others, which I did. Really, all I did was–when some approach was not working–I figured out another approach that did work to access what individuals were experiencing. I have taught this model to people with low IQ’s, to blind people, to deaf people, to people with every imaginable mind and body trauma–the concept is that teachable. I stumbled upon it because I was driven to solve this proverbial puzzle.”

Ernie L. Vecchio is a mentor, spiritual teacher, and trauma psychologist. During his 30+ years career, he has treated over 10,000+ patients who suffered severe trauma that ranged from amputation, head injury, sexual assault, and paralysis. Vecchio is a Licensed Clinical & Rehabilitation Psychologist who has written four books including his latest release, Feelings & Reason: Activating Your Heart as Compass Despite the Ego’s Interference, an international best-seller in four self-help categories.

Julie was implementing a half-million-dollar educational technology program in her school, and loving it. Then, her husband got an attractive promotion and transfer. Starting over in a bare-bones country school, where none of the furniture even matched, she knew she would have to ask for a computer. It was a request she never regretted. “I got a call one day from the Orange County office, asking me to come speak to them about a grant. About 15 minutes into the conversation, I asked, ‘Is this an interview?’ He said, ‘Yes. We are looking for a principal to lead a web high school.’ I accepted.” She had stepped onto the front lines of the emerging, web-based learning, expanding her horizons from the local school to students all over Florida.

Julie Young is Vice-President, Education Outreach and Student Services for Arizona State University and Managing Director of ASU Prep Academy and ASU Prep Digital. She is a leading voice for revolutionizing K-12 online education on the global stage. As the founding president and CEO of Florida Virtual School (FLVS), she and her team grew the organization from a handful of students in 1996 to a highly acclaimed online school using personalized, next generation learning solutions. Young and her team grew FLVS into a diversified, worldwide organization creatively serving over two million students in 50 states and 68 countries worldwide.

“The most influential person in my life growing up was the choir director at the San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, California–Ken Abrams. Ken saw a lot of leadership capability in me along with the grit and determination to achieve whatever I set out to do. I was president of our choir of over 250 people for two years. I also was invited to join an elite choir of chamber singers when I was just a sophomore, which had only happened two times before in the 80-year history of the school. Ken taught me the fundamentals of leadership: the power of hard work, showing up on time, sharing tough lessons, setting good boundaries in all my relationships and more. His insights and experience inspired me to be a leader in every aspect of my life. Ken’s wisdom continues to guide me today and he remains a dear friend and ally.”

A.J. Mizes is a talent and human potential aficionado with over a decade of experience in Career Coaching and Human Resources. He has been featured in NBC, CBS, FOX, The International Business Times, and Yahoo! News. Most recently, he left Facebook as a Global HR Leader where he supported an international team, and launched many innovative leadership programs under his guidance that are still in full swing at Facebook today. Currently, A.J. serves as the CEO of The Human Reach, a human potential institute guiding high-achieving professionals to land their dream careers in record time, and coaching Silicon Valley leaders to be thoughtful, effective leaders.

“I just wasn’t happy in my role. I felt like I kept trying and failing in terms of finding something I was really passionate about, something I was naturally strong at. I started doing some sales and marketing consulting again to put a paycheck in my pocket. Throughout my consulting work, I saw so many projects go into the ditch because of either under-developed leaders or leadership teams, or team dynamics. So that created a spark in the back of my head. I also have a mentor who was going through a coach training program. I thought that sounded interesting. I didn’t think I wanted to be a full-time executive consultant, but I could see how the coaching would be complementary to the consulting. I found the coaching program to probably be the most exciting and profound days in my professional career because it started to tap into things that really did get me excited.”

Darren Reinke founded Group Sixty, an executive coaching and training company based in San Diego, to bring his purpose to life and to transform leaders, their teams, and their organizations. Group Sixty works with leaders and teams at Fortune 500’s, mid-market companies, fast-growing startups, visionary non-profits, and transitioning military special forces. Darren fundamentally believes there is greatness within each one of us. His mission is to unleash the inner lion within leaders so that they can lead more authentic and joyful lives while creating stronger and more resilient teams, organizations, and communities.

“Other than my uncle who was a lawyer, and watching lawyers perform on TV series, I had no experience with the profession at all. Once I began my law studies at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, I gravitated to the practice of litigation because I found it very energizing and demanding. The idea of being challenged every day by a lawyer on the other side of a case who was using the best of his talents and experience to present his client’s position and knowing that I always had to be my very best, I could not imagine a more gratifying career. I’m happy to report that my career as a business litigator has proven to be everything I hoped it would be and more.”

Thomas Tierney grew up in Minneapolis. He is the oldest of four children. He attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated with high honors in 1987. He moved to San Francisco and taught middle school for two years. He attended law school in San Francisco at the University of California, Hastings College of Law and graduated cum laude in 1992.  He worked at litigation boutique law firms in San Diego from 1992 to 2000. In 2000, he moved to Vero Beach, Florida and began working at the Rossway Swan firm, became a partner in 2003, and continues to work there today. He is married to Lisa Kahle and has two children, Ella and Gavin.

“I hadn’t gotten promoted for a couple of years. So I asked my boss why. In an irritated voice he said, ‘Do you really want to know why? I’ll tell you if you really want to know. You laugh and smile too much, And until you change that, you’re never going anywhere else in this company.’ Guess what? I quit. I honestly do not know how I had the confidence to do this, because I was 40 by then, and now I know that is when ageism really kicks in. But I was determined that I was not going to stay somewhere that wanted me to change my entire personality for a company.”

Kathy Goughenour, after finding the courage to say “bye-bye” to her corporate marketing career, built a 6-figure virtual assistant business from her tiny house in the middle of a forest. Today, she teaches professional women how to create their own work-at-home VA businesses so they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and financial security they desire and deserve. Kathy also offers VA Matchmaking sessions to business owners interested in working with Expert VAs® and Virtual Experts®. Kathy and her Expert VA® and Virtual Expert® Training program have been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, All You, and The Wealthy Freelancer.

“One of the most important turning points in my life happened when I was serving as dean of my university. Our president always took a sincere interest in the growth and development of his leadership staff. One day, after the other staff members had left the lunch room, he and I were having a final cup of coffee, and he said to me, ‘You know, Martha, we have been working together for quite a while now, and I want you to know that I believe you would make an excellent university president.’ I was quite taken aback as I’m sure he realized by the surprised look on my face. He went on to say. ‘Yes, you absolutely would, but you need to learn more of the skills you’ll need for that role and to do that you need to experience other university settings. I hate to lose you but I only want the best for you and your career.’ That was the most generous and timely advice anyone had ever given me. Six months later I accepted a position as provost at Columbus State University, and from there I continued on my journey to many more positions as president of several fine educational institutions.”

Martha Saunders is the sixth president of the University of West Florida. In her 30-plus years in higher education, Dr. Saunders has served in academic and leadership roles at universities in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Mississippi. Her area of academic expertise is in public relations and crisis communication for which she has won numerous awards.

“I had always wanted to become a doctor, even as a child. So in high school, when the teachers were talking about our careers or going to college, I told my mom I wanted to go to college and become a doctor. And what she said to me was, ‘Honey, you haven’t got the brains to be a doctor. You need to stay home, get married and have children.’ So it wasn’t until I was 53 years old that I finally attended college and ultimately got my masters in nutrition. I graduated summa cum laude in the honors college, and then I became an adjunct lecturer at the university.”

Since the late 1970s, Cindy has shared her nutrition and herbal medicine expertise with thousands of people both at home in Ann Arbor and in 95 cities across North America. Cindy is a board-certified nutritionist and a certified Master Health Educator by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Eastern Michigan University teaching the graduate-level course, “Functional and Integrative Medicine.” A long-time health program writer and presenter, Cindy is a sought-after speaker and author of “Your Body’s Environmental Chemical Burden.”

“High school was the first big turning point in my life. I attended Lane Tech College Prep High School–a 4-year public magnet high school on the north side of Chicago with 4,500 students. While I came from a fairly large neighborhood in the city, the first day I walked into Lane Tech as a freshman I was scared stiff. It was my first time being immersed in such a large demographic of people and it opened up my eyes to a wide range of ethnicities, and backgrounds with strikingly different beliefs, and opinions and values. I quickly realized that for all the seeming dissimilarities that every one of us is basically the same. We each want the same things: an opportunity to work hard, earn our place in this world and create a meaningful life and career for ourselves and those we love. I also learned right off the bat that everyone has their own very unique talents across a huge spectrum of abilities. My four years there were, and still are, some of the most cherished memories of my entire life. I’m happy to say that there is a very active alumni association of over 20 thousand individuals, and I often go back and visit for various alumni events.”

Raymond Giese helps people align their purpose, their passions, and their paycheck to achieve financial freedom. After a corporate career of 30+ years, he has devoted his “encore career” to pass on what he has learned to help people realize their dreams. Ray earned a Master of Science Degree in Personal Finance from Kansas State University and provides coaching and education services to individuals and families as a Certified Financial Planner Professional, Certified Career Services Provider, and a Highlands Certified Consultant. Ray enjoys spending time with family, golf, traveling in his RV, and leading people to “best fit” careers and improved personal finances.

“I want to be of service to more military veterans. I do speaking engagements and things of that nature, but I want to do more of this on a larger scale. This information I have now really helped me transition from being a military service person of almost 28 years to an entrepreneur. And that’s not an easy transition. No matter what career you are in, if you’re in something for that long, it becomes a part of you. It becomes a part of your self-identity. To shift your identity to something completely different is a process in and of itself. I want to help people transition…much more smoothly.”

Laura Noel, as a Certified Proctor Gallagher Coach and 27-year military leader, helps high-performers live empowered, fulfilling lives all while achieving their highest potential. Knowing that leaders are being pulled in multiple directions with zero time left for themselves, she helps them focus on what really matters so they can stop feeling out-of-control, become more effective with their time, and spend more time discovering what they love doing.

“I was working at the managed care company, Aetna, and began to resonate with my role as a leader charged with the task of motivating my staff. I read the book, ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and It’s All Small Stuff’ by Richard Carlson, which inspired me to share the book in team meetings followed by discussion groups. Slowly the lessons in the book became more important than the day-to-day work I was doing at the for-profit HMO. I began to ask myself the question, ‘Could I actually build a career around what I truly love doing’–sharing this kind of personal growth content by way of speaking engagements, and trainings that make a real difference in people’s lives? And I spread my wings from there.”

Kevin Stacey, MBA, is a productivity and effectiveness expert, author, and former brain imaging specialist who removes barriers to performance, boosts resiliency, and accelerates results, no matter what. He combines his military background, management training, experience as a healthcare clinician, and successful manager at the nation’s largest managed care company to be a catalyst for workplace improvement. After starting his medical career at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Kevin now brings the principals of neuroscience into the modern business world to effect change from the inside-out. He works with organizations and leaders to help them become more effective, productive and profitable. His programs provide concrete information and practical solutions for business problems.

“I am out there with my young colt that I had raised from a kid and loved dearly, and I am using the same kinds of harsh training techniques from the successful trainers I was emulating in the industry. As I was using my whip to move my colt from side to side, he saw an opening, reached out and clamped his jaws on my shoulder, lifted me like a rag doll and threw me to the ground. My first thought was to discipline him harshly. All of a sudden I heard that innate voice in my mind that I wasn’t being true to myself or true to my dear horse. I stood there with my frightened and shivering colt I loved so much, who was just following his instincts trying to survive. I hugged him and cried while apologizing to both my colt and God for not following that innate voice that God gave me. That epiphany changed everything. From that moment on I walked the path of being a horse listener: horses whisper in our ears and we become listeners.”

Mark M. Hanna grew up in Inglewood, California adjacent to the Hollywood Park horse track. This is where his love of horses began and he pursued his passion to become an Arabian horse breeder and imported horses from Europe. His compassion and spiritual bond with horses led him to become “The Horse Listener.” Hanna can help people with the fundamental and proper way to be with your horse, a lifetime partnership. Hanna shares his life story in “The Horse Listener,” the first book of an anticipated trilogy.

“It was easy to become a great dermatologist because I stood on the shoulders of giants in the profession and these giants were there to lead and guide me. Doctor Martin Victor Dal, one of the greatest dermatologists ever, along with Doctor Peter Lynch, another equally renowned doctor, were chairmen of my department. They looked at me and said, ‘Allen, all you have to do is be who you are and you will become a great dermatologist.’”

Dr. Allen Lycka has been acknowledged as one of the leading cosmetic dermatologists globally for three decades. A pioneer in cosmetic surgery, he helped develop laser-assisted tumescent liposuction, an advanced body sculpture technique, and Mohs Micrographic Surgery, an advanced means of removing skin cancer with 99% success. He has lived and practiced in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada since 1989. He’s written 17 books, 30+ academic papers and hosted the number one internet radio show in the world on cosmetic surgery: Inside Cosmetic Surgery Today. He is a co-founder of Doctors for the Practice of Safe and Ethical Aesthetic Medicine and founder of The Canadian Skin Cancer Association. He has won the prestigious Consumers Choice Award for Cosmetic Surgery for 16 consecutive years.

“It took many, many years–my twenties, my thirties and even some of my forties–where I had all of these goals and dreams that I wanted to accomplish. And I accomplished most of them. And still, no matter how many accomplishments I had and how many successes I had in my life, there was this underlying feeling that I just wasn’t good enough. That’s exactly what my work is based on because I think that is a cultural phenomenon. I think we live in a culture that breeds people to feel unfulfilled and dissatisfied. It breeds people to look at what we want and where we want to get to instead of looking at who we already are, what we’ve already created, and the magnificent lives we are already living.”

Joanna Kleinman is a licensed psychotherapist, life and corporate coach, author, podcaster, motivational speaker, and the founder of Dethroning Your Inner Critic. She is an unconventional therapist and is driven by the conviction that the most powerful life you can live is when you know the difference between YOU and your Inner Critic. She developed the M.I.N.D Method, a time tested, proven system that brings together practical psychology, neuroscience and the power of intention to discover who you are separate from the critical voice in your mind. With over 25 years of experience, she has worked with corporations such as Campowerment, Cigna, Nestle, and TD Bank, and has transformed the lives of thousands of people.

“The most important part of being an educator, and it’s really crucial, is ‘Doing right by kids.’ You cannot do right by them if you don’t form strong, appropriate relationships with them. Kids need to know that you truly care about them and are genuinely invested in their success. The most important thing I can do as a classroom teacher is to ask my students questions about themselves that have nothing to do with our productive time together. Intrinsically they feel and understand that I have a vested interest in their growth and development as a person. The work I do is not about me, it’s about how I can better serve people, how helpful I can be to other people.”

Dr. Troy Podell, Coordinator of Career Readiness of the Downingtown Area School District, is a disruptor and thought-leader in the education space. He creates innovative programs for career exploration and soft-skills education for the Downingtown Area School District, is the Academic Director of two rigorous pre-college summer programs, and serves on multiple non-profit boards. Dr. Podell is recognized as a leader in curriculum, instruction, and the application of people analytics to education.

“I lacked a lot of confidence until…I had a teacher come up to me one day, and she challenged me to do something I’d never done before. It wasn’t anything major. It was to run a 5K. I went and ran that 5K, and at the end of that 5K, that’s a 3-mile race, a thought crossed my mind that, I just ran 3 miles without stopping. I wonder what else I can do. I wonder how much further I can go. And that three turned into six, six turned into 13, 13 turned into 26, 26 turned into 31. I ran a 31-mile race on the beach in Destin, Florida. Won the thing with first place overall. And another thought crossed my mind, that was I ran further than I even thought possible. I wondered what other areas of my life might I be holding back in. And it was because of that teacher. You know her title was teacher, but she’s really a leader, because a leader sees talent and potential in other people and they extract that talent and potential.”

Cory Lee is an entrepreneur, business builder, and leader developer. He was trained and mentored by the world-renowned leadership expert John Maxwell and is now an executive director with The John Maxwell Team. In 2012 Cory and his wife opened their first business, a physical therapy clinic located in a town of only 1,100 people. Within 5 years they were billing over $2 million per year from that one location and had opened and successfully sold 2 physical therapy clinics and 4 gyms. He is an accomplished speaker and is often invited to speak and train employees at companies looking to develop a culture of leadership. He also provides individual leaders with opportunities to maximize their own growth through one-on-one coaching and mastermind groups. Cory is most passionate about helping entrepreneurs navigate business growth but not at the expense of their faith, family, and fitness.

“Eight years ago, I decided I was done being sick and I was done struggling. I was so filled up on medications, hospital visits, anxiety and pain that I decided to just stop. I had been diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis several years before, and was heavily medicated for a ‘severe’ case. The medical society tells you… you will be sick the rest of your life and that medications will help you live as ‘normal’ as possible. What they don’t tell you, is that it is not our only option. From being a mother, a sister, a wife, a business owner, an athlete, and a friend, I just became sick. My world changed overnight. I was alone, and I did not know what to do to save myself. As soon as I stopped all of the medications that were keeping me in my poor state of health, I got even worse. Now, my body was showing me how sick I really was. Something inside me told me that health was there if I could just let it come forth. I studied all day, every day and slowly changed my way of thinking and connection to spirit. Along this journey, I have seen stones turn into diamonds. I have seen life become magical and I have seen my body transforming before my very eyes. How amazing is that? I had finally made a choice to follow my inner guidance.”

Hilde Larsen is the owner and founder of Inspired by Hilde. She is a certified Health and Mindset Coach, an author, and a certified Detox Specialist. She is also an inspirational keynote speaker, a blogger, and has her own YouTube channel. She is the author of three published books: From HELL to Inspired, Know The Truth and Get Healthy, and No More Bullshit. She also creates online video programs and has her own membership site Inspired Members. Hilde works with those who are ready to heal their health and life. She is highly intuitive and has a strong connection to Mother Earth and the spiritual world. Called by nature and spirit, she is inspiring many to take back their power. Her glowing enthusiasm for health and vitality has the leading role in her work.

“What gives me the most gratification is seeing the change within people. Most clients who come in to the Beyond Fitness program, have a goal in mind, an understanding of where they want to be. They are focused on that one thing. But I also have to help them turn into that person that they need to be to achieve their goal. What really gets to me is when they are able to reflect and say “Wow! I achieved my goal, but I actually changed as a person.”

David Pereira, a Navy Combat Veteran and Purple Heart Recipient, is the owner of FENIX, a high-end personal training facility located in New Jersey, and the creator of the Beyond Fitness program. As a well-trained fitness professional, he is passionate about helping successful people develop a mental toughness mindset that allows them to shift their perspectives and excel in more aspects of their lives. He enjoys helping his clients excel in fitness and in business and knows that high achievers sometimes need help translating what they do in their careers over to their health goals. In short, David helps people become the CEO of their lives.

“One of the many wonderful things about working in this profession is that you can structure the work that you do based on your circumstances at any turning point of your life. The setting you work in, the kinds of clients you work with, the specific modalities that you offer, can all be created by you. When my son was born I wanted to be home every evening and on weekends, so I structured my private practice to make that happen. Earlier in my career my schedule and client base was quite different, which was ideal for that time in my life. But whatever the structure of my work, the thing that I really love about practicing speech language pathology is my one-on-one time with kids–there’s something beautiful that happens in those moments when I am able to use my passion and expertise to help kids that stutter become happy, healthy, effective communicators and help families better understand how to best support their loved one who stutters.”

Susie Harder, M.A., CCC-SLP is an experienced clinician who devotes much of her passion to working with children who stutter. She works in private practice and the school setting to help support children and provides workshops and consulting-based support to school districts. She recently created the Junior Authors Program, a revolutionary literacy-based platform. This community project engages students around the world in collaboratively writing a children’s book to raise funds for families who lost their home in the Central California Creek Fire in the fall of 2020.

When his business as a tour guide in NYC began to take off, he realized, “This is what I loved about the Army and leadership and the chaotic and uncertain nature of Iraq. I was finding the risk was there again in entrepreneurship. And it was only financial risk, which can be quite stressful, but it is not life and death.”

Samuel. P. N. Cook is the founder and creative director of James Cook media, a documentary filmmaking marketing agency. He is also the creator of the story funnel software, which helps business owners tell their story online.

“I’ve spent my entire life studying personal development–I work on it every single day. I believe the desire to own a business comes from a voice somewhere deep inside of us that says: ‘I want more–more freedom, more control, more growth, more challenges….’ I think it’s bringing out those feelings and desires in people to help them create a vision for their future that has allowed me to become one of the most successful franchise consultants in franchise history. It is the most gratifying work I could ever imagine.”

As America’s top franchise consultant, Kim Daly (“The Daly Coach”) has inspired thousands of people to realize and follow their dreams of business ownership over the past two decades. Kim coaches her candidates to take control of their future and finances by strategically investing in a franchise brand that aligns with their unique goals. She commonly works with entrepreneurs, veterans, investors, and those in career transition. An avid marketer, Kim’s growing YouTube channel features franchising advice, FAQs, mistakes to avoid, and enlightening interviews with powerful business leaders. Please subscribe for new franchising content shared multiple times a week at http://kimdaly.tv

“We’re in lockdown in Italy, so I’m quite limited. I was a traveling musician before, but the coronavirus put a stop to everything. I decided to promote my most recent album, “Deeper,” by going on podcasts. I enjoyed these podcasts so much that I decided to use my own talents by doing a podcast called “Podsongs,” where I interview people and then write a song about them that is included at the end of the recorded interview. I have to write one song for every person, so that is 12 songs a month or 156 songs in a year. I’ve been interviewing really famous people. I’ve been able to talk to some of the top minds in the world, and I’ve learned so much. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the quarantine. My biggest problem became my biggest opportunity.”

Jack Stafford is a singer-songwriter on a mission to serve others and help people overcome the materialistic message that is distorting modern society. His new album,“Deeper” is a series of self-help songs that will help people get perspective on the current crises plaguing our world. The songs are inspired by his own life experiences and mental struggles. Jack lives in southern Italy, and when he is not making music, he is practicing yoga, teaching meditation, gardening, cycling, or studying metaphysics.

“In my early twenties I was diagnosed with a genetic kidney disease. I was told it would kill me unless I had a transplant or I went on regular dialysis treatments for the rest of my life. That was the story that was my wake-up call: I realized that life might really be limited and I’d better figure out what I really wanted to do with it and not just be swept along like flotsam and jetsam. I also realized that I needed to experience living in my body instead of just in my head. Because if I had a healthier body I would feel better day-to-day and I would probably live much longer. I spent a couple of years exploring and adventuring, which led me to Canada for the first time, where I became interested in the natural world, started gardening and learning how to grow food, which I’m still fascinated with today and far healthier for it!”

Joel Solomon is a Founding Partner of Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission venture capital firm, at $240 million assets under management. Investing in organic food and climate tech in Canada and the USA, Renewal Funds is GIIRS-rated, a founding Canadian B Corp (5x “Best for the World”), a “1% for the Planet” member, recognized as Impact Assets “Top 50 impact fund managers.” Joel is a frequent public speaker, board member of the University of British Columbia, co-producer of the Integrated Capital Institute with RSF Social Finance, and co-author of “The Clean Money Revolution: Re-Inventing Power, Purpose & Capitalism.”

“At major turning points in our lives, the circumstances are rarely perfect for us to make the next move or decision about what to do next. The obstacles may be vast, but it’s at this point that you may need to ‘throw your hat over the fence’ or, in other words, ‘just go for it!’ I was in the publishing field as an editor and while I was very good at it, I felt I should be doing my own work. My brother was quite unhappy with his work at an architectural engineering firm. We went out to dinner together and made a pact that, instead of continually complaining about our circumstances, we would go into work the next day and hand in our notices by noon. I was almost 30 and he was almost 35. We each did just that with no plan whatsoever about what we were going to do next. Our main goal was to simply quit whining about our lives and do something about it. Jason become a successful freelance architect and designer, and I landed a job working for a film distribution and production company. And our stories evolved quickly from there!”

Allegra Huston is the author of “Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found” (audiobook 2019), the novel “A Stolen Summer” (paperback 2019), and many screenplays including the award-winning short film “Good Luck, Mr. Gorski,” which she also produced. In 2019 she co-founded Twice 5 Miles, to publish how-to books on “the stuff nobody teaches you.” The first two titles are “How to Read for an Audience” by Allegra and “How to Edit and Be Edited” by Allegra and James Nave – both are the only books available on these subjects.

“Is there a big demand for voice coaching? Because of the prevalence of video, podcasting, Facebook Live, YouTube and the ways that this pandemic has forced most everyone to do their business on Zoom or Skype, we’re having to use our voices in different ways more than ever before. So yes the demand for voice coaches has increased dramatically. To learn more, study the masters–Lesak, Skinner and Rodenburg–their concepts, methodologies and frameworks. Today it’s easier than ever to access their books and videos, and find out if this field is one you want to learn more about and pursue.”

Tracy Goodwin has taught thousands of celebrities, professionals, and entrepreneurs, how to transform their lives and the lives of their listeners with their voice by stepping into the power of their natural voice so they amplify their authority and captivate the room. Tracy’s unique approach, Psychology of the Voice gets to the core of limiting voice habits and transforms voices from the inside out. People all over the world seek her out for her expertise to free voice barriers and get them to the next level in their business and life. Her game-changing voice training teaches you how to captivate the room, no matter the message, the venue, or the size of the audience.

“The main thing about creativity is being open and curious. Curiosity is a huge factor because it makes you want to learn. And I think learning should be a lifelong pursuit. If you are going to make that change or do something different, there are also ways you have to approach it to make sure there is a market for what it is you want to do. And, everybody’s personal situation is different. So, it’s not simple, but it is a process like everything else is in terms of that ‘hero’s journey.’ It’s going inside before you even make those decisions.”

B. Jeffrey Madoff’s first career was as a fashion designer. He was chosen one of the top 10 designers in the U.S. Switching careers to film production, he has directed award winning commercials, documentaries and web content around the world for clients such as Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, and Tiffany. His book, “Creative Careers: Making a Living with Your Ideas,” is an Amazon Bestseller based on the class he teaches at Parsons School of Design in NYC. Madoff’s play, “Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical,” about the life of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Lloyd Price, will have its world premiere in February of 2022.

“I majored in management and accounting at Binghamton University thinking I’d become an accountant for my career. In my senior year I was lucky enough to take a graduate course in Systems Science. Systems Science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the complexity of systems in nature, social or any other scientific field. At the end of that fascinating course, which was far outside the courses I had been taking, I came to believe that we all have a purpose and mission in our lives. When we feel good about what we are doing, are in the flow, that’s when we know we are doing what we are supposed to be doing with our talents. For me, that became working with people and doing something positive for humanity and the world. I became a community organizer on energy issues.”

Ron Kamen is CEO of EarthKind Energy Consulting and host of The AWESome EarthKind Podcast. His life mission is to empower everyday people to make clean energy transitions to reduce their carbon footprint and save them money. For more than three decades, Ron has energized communities, governments, non-profits, and businesses to take their next step to increase energy efficiency and use renewable energy. He’s now building an online community of AWESome EarthKind people ready to “Go Clean and $ave Green.”

“I discovered that we truly have our own self-healing mechanism–something within us that is there to work for us. When I finally decided to write my first book, this was the subject that I chose because people need to know that they have so much more power than they think. If they go to a traditional medical doctor or someone who knows Eastern medicine, they are asking someone else to help them with their body. Don’t take me wrong. Those practices have their place. But I think the very best place to start is always within themselves. If they learn how to check in with themselves and they learn how to engage their own body, they can have the power to start healing. I really want people to know the power they have and what can happen when they awaken it.”

Otakara Klettke is a coach and international bestselling author of Hear Your Body Whisper; How to Unlock Your Self-Healing Mechanism, and newly released Hear Your Brain Whisper, How to Unlock Your Mind’s Potential. Her passion for the human body and the self-healing mechanism we all possess has earned her the nickname Body Whisperer. Besides our brains and bodies, she is enthusiastic about anything from nature. She is an avid supporter of eco-friendly life and education, fascinated by scientific studies, and an incurable traveler.

“As a history student in college I quickly noticed that behind every significant historical movement or trend, there has always been a powerful communicator–Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II, and Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement are a few examples. The more I learned about the profound impact of communication skills at every level of our society, I realized that I wanted to not only learn those skills myself, but I also decided to dedicate my career to teaching them to others.”

After earning his Ph.D. in communication, Bill Lampton taught at the University of Georgia and then spent two decades in management at the vice-presidential level. Since 1997–through his company Championship Communication–he has served as a speaker/consultant/coach for top-tier clients, such as Gillette, Procter and Gamble, Oceania Cruises, Missouri Bar and the Ritz-Carlton Cancun. Bill has written two books and hundreds of articles. He produces instructional videos about business communication. Weekly he hosts a video podcast and a radio show. Obviously he fits his tagline: “The Biz Communication Guy.” Based in Gainesville, Georgia, he serves clients without boundaries.

“I do think anything you can do in college to experience as many work environments as you can is very helpful, even if it is finding a connection or reaching out through LinkedIn and asking if you can shadow someone for a day or finding an internship that many of the stations, ad agencies and marketing firms offer. The internships I had completely influenced my passion to work in television.”

Robbin Steed is the Director of Strategic Partnerships responsible for providing business, sales and marketing and philanthropic leadership for TEGNA Media, Atlanta’s broadcast and digital properties which include WXIA-TV (Eleven Alive/NBC), WATL-TV, and TEGNA Marketing Services. Additionally, she manages the TEGNA Foundation for the Atlanta market. She is a purpose-driven marketing, sales and communications leader and a cum laude graduate of the Henry Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia.

“Whatever profession they’re going to explore, I think the most important thing is for them to explore themselves and know themselves. Meaning, what makes me tick, what excites me, what interests me? How do I do in groups? Do I like to take the lead in a group? Do I not like to take the lead in the group? What things that I’ve done have been most exciting to me? And then why. Then when you could really start understanding templates and your sensitivities and your sensibilities, then you start getting to know yourself. And then also to learn about psychology, emotional intelligence, personal growth to develop oneself, because that’s the most important thing. And that also includes developing not just your emotional capacity, but your mental capacity.”

Arnie Herz is a lawyer, mediator and speaker. He has delivered over 100 programs and keynotes on topics related to the attorney-client relationship, negotiation, conflict resolution and work-life balance. His work has been covered in numerous publications and he has received a host of acknowledgements and awards from his colleagues.

“One of the reasons I’m here today is that I didn’t get to do a lot of traveling prior to this accident of mine, but afterwards I had some opportunities to do so, and I found a huge passion for it and a way to open up my life. Unless we are challenged to grow and shift our perspectives, we will forever live small stories. And as humans, we were never meant to live small stories.”

Jessie Owen is an adventurous, spirited, silly person whose path was traumatically interrupted in 2012 when a tree fell on her family car while on a family vacation. As a result, she lost both of her parents and became a quadriplegic. After the accident, Jessie began the long journey to figure out how to do life and where she fit in again. For the first two years she focused solely on her body and regaining as much function as she could. But Jessie wanted more than simply being alive; she wanted to be more than just a broken vessel in constant need of maintenance. She wanted a life, and set out to create one.

“People in the aviation world love their jobs. It’s a part of them. It’s in their blood. If you are interested in any specific occupation in the aviation world, my recommendation is to reach out to somebody who’s doing the job that you want to do. Everybody is so excited about sharing what it takes to get there and what their job is all about. United Airlines and the other major airlines have opportunities all the time for you to go to the training center and see the simulators, or go to the operation centers and see what the dispatchers do─just to give people an opportunity to see what happens on the ramp and how everybody goes through the processes that they need to move into those positions.”

Vince Kramer is a thirty-seven-year airline and military pilot with over 20,000 hours in aircraft and flight simulators. He flew seven different models of the Boeing-135 aircraft, as well as the T-37 and T-38 aircraft as an Air Force pilot, instructor and evaluator. He is a combat veteran with over one hundred combat hours during Desert Storm. Vince has flown for United Airlines and American Airlines as an airline transport pilot. He type rated in the Airbus 319/320 aircraft and the Boeing 737. Vince held positions in management and as an instructor/evaluator at United Airlines. He is currently an active pilot at United Airlines.

“For the first time in many years, I felt as if my life had value and a purpose. And then my friend, who had taken me into his parents’ home, also got me a job. That really inspired me to see how a person could literally respond to a need and just share his entire life. That was a huge turning point in my life and started giving me an idea that even in tough circumstance something good could be waiting around the corner. That was completely 180 degrees from when I was always waiting for something bad to happen.”

Daniel E. Kennedy is a healthcare executive, counselor, author, and filmmaker. His passion for disease prevention was ignited professionally while working with thousands of cancer patients at Oasis of Hope Hospital, and personally, by witnessing cancer and heart disease-related deaths of his grandmother, uncle, aunt, and father. His philosophy is simple: its not good enough to live a long sick life when there’s the opportunity to live a healthy long life. Through the process of writing and ghostwriting 12 books on cancer and heart health, Daniel honed the skills necessary to create, write, and direct the 8-episode Healthy Long Life documentary series. His relationships with researchers and clinicians, developed over the last three decades, has given him access to the world’s top experts on healthy life expectancy.

“I went to Marty Edelston, who was the owner and the founder. And I said, ‘That job just opened up in editorial and I’d like to take it.’ And Marty looked at me and he said, ‘You know, I think you have a nose for marketing.’ And when you’re 23 years old and the president of the company says you have a nose for marketing, who am I to argue? So I didn’t take the editorial job. I stayed in list management. And I’d say that was a pivot point in my career because then I just went whole hog on direct marketing lists. For my first 10 years I am in list management. The next 24 years I’m running the marketing department.”

Brian Kurtz has been a serial direct marketer for the past 40+ years. He’s never met a medium he didn’t like, and he spent the first 34 years of his career helping Boardroom, Inc., become a state-of-the-art direct marketing and publishing company. As founder of Titans Marketing, he now advises many of the most admired direct marketers in the world and writes and speaks regularly on direct marketing.

“I’ve created an amazing life for myself. I overcame a divorce early on that was crippling, and I’ve had both parents pass. When you’ve lived a little and you’ve been humbled, it makes you realize what’s important. What’s most important is that while you’re young, you need to figure out: who am I, what’s my dream, what’s my plan, how will I fund it, and how will I be healthy in my mind, body and spirit to pull off this magnificent life? You want to get to your ‘golden years’ and be healthy and wealthy. And the choices you make in your twenties, thirties, and forties? You are either going to hug yourself or curse yourself when you reach your sixties, seventies and eighties.”

Tim Rhode has done all they teach in 1Life Fully Lived and Gobundance about creating one’s best life. He has come from a humble beginning and crafted a life few could dream of. He is living in the mountains skiing, hiking and biking pretty much daily, all of his family nearby, financially free by forty, and now helping thousands of others strive to create their own 1Life Fully Lived.

“I would like to continue to beat the drum for entrepreneurship in dentistry. I would love to still see solo practitioners or associate and doctor businesses stay open. I love the mom and pop idea of a dental office. I think most people have a good relationship with their dentist. I hope they do. Because that’s what we go into the profession for, to help people. We want them to appreciate us and what we do. And so that’s what I want to do. I want to continue to help my fellow dentist be happy in what they’re doing and be profitable and fulfilled.”

Dr. Jeanette Kern is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of cosmetic and restorative dentistry. She taught at both the UCLA and the USC Schools of Dentistry. In her business community, Dr. Kern received the Monterey Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Award for Health Care in 2009 and 2016 and the Professional Women’s Network Woman of the Year Award in 2007. In 2018 Dr. Kern sold her successful dental practice in Monterey. She created the Profitable Dental Academy. Armed with over 40 years in the dental industry experienced as a dental hygienist, associate dentist and as a practice owner, she shares her knowledge by consulting with other dentists as a Dental Success Coach. She is very happy and honored to continue being an active dental professional.

“I’m going to join up with my sisters here and we’re going to create new policy changes that are going to drive bottom line change in the world…the big changes we want to see, like the green movement and taking care of the environment and making sure children have their needs met. These are the things women have always cared about throughout history, and now we have realizing we are actually capable of leading these movements. And more and more women are running for office as well, which is another fantastic reflection of seeing this change.”

Kaia Alexander is an award-winning author and filmmaker. Her novel, “Written in the Ashes,” is the untold story about the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt, and the life of Hypatia, the world’s first female mathematician/philosopher. Kaia’s new documentary feature film “Chalice: Women Leaders Rise,” explores how and why women were written out of history, how this has influenced the treatment of women globally, and the exciting rise of women leaders today. Her mentors are American novelist/humorist, Tom Robbins, and the late comedian, Garry Shandling. A mystic misfit and pagan surfer, she is proud to be the “B” in LGBTQ.  

“If you’re really interested in law enforcement, just contact your local law enforcement agency and go by and visit them. Do ride-alongs. I did a ride-along when I was in college and we do ride-alongs with students now all the time. It kind of gives you a view of what real police work is all about. And Live PD, the TV show. That will also give you an idea of what we do. You can see the danger and you can see the excitement. You can see some of the stuff that we have to deal with now. Do your research, but there’s not a more rewarding career than being in law enforcement because you really can change people’s lives. And you can save lives.”

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott leads one of the largest sheriff’s departments (1,000 employees) in the Southeastern U.S., and is one of the regularly featured law-enforcement agencies on A&E’s television series LIVE PD. In 2010, Lott traveled to Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help that country establish its first-ever female police academy. RCSD continues an officer exchange program with Iraq and other foreign LE agencies. Under Lott’s leadership, RCSD was the first LE agency in the nation to establish a pre-PTSD conditioning program for deputies. Lott is also commander of the S.C. State Guard.

“When people say, why do you care about this? Why is this important? I say, we all eat, right? We all have to have food to survive. And when our food has become poisoned for profit, we deserve to have the truth about that. We deserve to know as much as we can so we can protect ourselves. And that is the motivation for everything I do.”

Carey Gillam is a veteran investigative journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering corporate news, including 17 years as a senior correspondent for Reuters international news service. She is the author of “Whitewash—The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption of Science,” an exposé of corporate corruption in agriculture. The book won the coveted Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists. Gillam works now as Research Director for the non-profit U.S. Right to Know.

“As I say, I plant seeds, I manage my garden, and that includes planting new seeds. So, at a certain moment when I started working with schools and children, and then fast forward to this year where I heard on NPR that 50% of teachers don’t teach about sustainability because either they don’t have the tools, they don’t have the knowledge, or they deem it too political. Well, that means that 50% of kids are not aware of the reality they’re living in and are probably not aware of the opportunities as well. Crisis equals opportunity. So, if we’re dealing with the crisis–which in my opinion is a human development crisis by the way–there is a chance that we equally have as many opportunities to turn this Titanic around. So, I am more and more and more invested in education for youth.”

Pamela Peeters is an environmental economist and sustainability strategist. She consults with companies globally and develops educational programs for youth with her “Eco Hero” program now established in nine countries. An author, filmmaker, and educator, she was on the marketing team of the U. S. Partnerships for the UNESCO Decade for Sustainable Education and received an honorary fellowship from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels in 2015 for her contributions to the field of Sustainable Development. She’s also a former Research Fellow in Economics from Columbia University and current Fellow of the Explorers Club. She just launched a wisdom card deck called “ELEMENTS” that features her photography and poetry.

“Norway is a country that is very conforming. I think it’s part of our culture from way back because of living in a place where it was important to stay in a group to survive, because it is cold and dark in the winter and not much grows. It’s really a harsh environment. So, people needed to stay within the group and to be accepted by the group. You have to play by the rules.”

Norwegian-born Unni Turrettini is the author of The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer. She is also the author of Betraying the Nobel which focuses on the lack of leadership in the world and on the Nobel Peace Prize’s importance as a beacon of hope and inspiration. Through writing and speaking, Unni is on a mission to restore trust in leadership by encouraging women to fully step up and into their true feminine power. She also works as a coach for high-achieving women. She has law degrees from Norway, France, and the United States, and is a member of the New York Bar. She worked numerous years in law and finance before she began writing.

“I like being part of a team. I work alongside great physicians and nurses, and others and it’s fun to do that. It’s highly rewarding to care for others–to see somebody who is struggling with a painful condition and help them to make that more manageable. I enjoy working with my hands. I enjoy problem-solving. I enjoy the marathon of building a practice. I’m starting a pain fellowship here at MUSC, which we’ve not had for a couple of decades. Just being a part of something new and always growing and improving on every level–professionally and personally. I’m grateful every day that I wake up.”

Dr. Michael “Gabe” Hillegass is a board-certified interventional pain management physician and anesthesiologist. He is medical director of the Chronic Pain Clinic and an associate professor within the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC. Dr. Hillegass completed his anesthesiology residency at MUSC, where he was a chief resident, before moving on to Harvard Medical School’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital for his pain medicine fellowship training. He subsequently served four years on active duty with the navy at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia. He has won research and teaching awards and has published research articles in peer-reviewed medical journals as well as numerous chapters in pain medicine textbooks. He is dedicated to educating his patients and their loved ones as well as rotating medical students and residents on safe and effective comprehensive pain management strategies.

“I did want to continue to be a musician, but to just go and do gigs and do weddings was really not my thing. I love to work in theater. I love the whole creation and the craziness and the lights and the whole madness of that. Playing music, as I said, became a tool for expression for me. It was no longer the goal.”

Yaron Engler delivers one-on-one and group coaching programs that are based on his CROP method. The focus is on men who are entrepreneurs or those who work in leadership roles. Yaron has a vast experience working with large groups of people from different countries and cultures. His direct, playful and honest approach inspires and motivates his clients and audience to create simple positive changes that lead to growth and well-being. He is also a professional drummer who has performed in front of over 500,000 people all around the world and he is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Berklee College of Music.

“The students I’ve enjoyed most are the ones who are clearly smarter than I am. Every once in a while you get these amazing students, sometimes a group of amazing students, who just blow you away and say ‘No, professor, that’s not right.’ And they’re right. And you’re wrong. That’s the biggest pleasure in the world.”

Professor Tom Banks grew up in Brooklyn NY and has lived in OR, MA, CA, NJ, GA and Israel. He was determined to be a theoretical physicist since high school and is a founding member of the New High Energy Theory Center at Rutgers, a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He works in particle physics, cosmology, condensed matter physics and the attempt to quantize Einstein’s theory of gravity. He’s still active in research at the age of 71.

“Once my parents were both gone, as I’m an only child, I had no other family than my husband and our dog. He posed to me at the time, ‘Honey, what do you want to do now?’ I’d never been asked that question before in such a balanced way. I’d been asked it in terms of what-do-you-want-to-do-now? I-hope-you-give-me-the-right-answer, but his question was just pure innocence and love: What do you want to do now? And I said I wanted to get out of California. And we did so. We literally took a dart and threw it at a map. And we ended up in Vermont.”

S.M. Kelly is a New York-based writer from Tokyo via Los Angeles with 20 years’ experience. She has written five ghostwritten books and more than 3,500 articles for numerous industries, including entertainment, finance, beauty, education, advertising, lifestyle, parenting, food and cooking, and travel/hospitality. Her freelance clients include Google, L’Oréal Paris, Paramount Studios, Marvel Comics, Warner Bros., TheWeek.com, Prevention.com, LendingUSA.com, and Mamapedia.com. Kelly lives with her husband, Mike, and their rescue bulldog, Sherman. “Here’s Your Pill, Kitten!“ is her first non-ghostwritten book.

“I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do next and I’d heard about this career assessment and course called The Highlands Program. I really enjoyed it and it led me down paths of what experience I already had, which dealt with sales management and dealing with customers. And then it also showed me ability combinations I wasn’t aware of regarding what I was naturally good at. This new self-knowledge pushed me more into an independent type of job or career that I could pursue and enjoy and use my innate abilities in.”

Josh Steed is the founder of Steed Properties Construction and Renovation, LTD. He has been in the home building, renovation, historic preservation and real estate development business for more than 35 years and has built, renovated and restored more than 300 homes and buildings all across Atlanta and North Georgia. Josh is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and is married to Robbin. They have three adult children and live in Sharpsburg, Georgia.

“There are so many ways to explore different aspects of yourself while you’re still gainfully employed and providing for your family or yourself. I think a part of that is just the discipline and the commitment that you aren’t going to settle anymore. That you’re not going to settle for second best.”

Deepa Natarajan, founder of Meet My Potential, is a leader in the field of personal and professional change. She has a wealth of knowledge about leadership and brings humanity to the center of the workplace in organizations. She communicates with her soul, putting your mind, heart and gut at peace. She is Indian and today lives in Toulouse in southern France and brings with her a mix of eastern and western philosophy.

“My greatest source of satisfaction? I’d say it’s seeing people succeed. To see our team do the best work. Now my role is the most rewarding role ever–to be in a coaching and mentorship role and to celebrate others’ success. It’s one thing to be in the room and be doing it, and that was exciting. But it’s actually even more rewarding and exciting to see the team succeed. I’d say that for sure.”

Tom Shepansky is one of the three founders of Rethink, a creative agency in Canada. Rethink has just celebrated its 20th anniversary and was named Agency of the Year. Tom is transitioning to a governance role with the company allowing the business to remain independent. He’s also active in the community on two non-profit boards. Tom loves cycling, hiking and skiing and has recently taken up bass guitar. He plays in a band called “Never Too Late.” Tom lives with his wife Roxanne on the North Shore of Vancouver.

“There are too many people who are waiting to get to a certain place in order to live life. I feel that is such a shame that they are missing out on the 99% of life which is the journey.”

Ben Ivey is CEO and founder of The Entrepreneur Lifestyle, an international speaker, mentor and most recently, podcaster. He specializes in helping successful entrepreneurs reduce stress and overwhelm to improve their efficiency in business whilst living a lifestyle they enjoy. Ben is also the founder of the Lifestyle Coach Academy, training lifestyle coaches the coaching skills, knowledge and business strategies to build a six-figure coaching practice online.

“Well, you can’t just have a degree in art. You have to have half art and half science. And that’s difficult because a lot of artists, you know, we don’t like math. We don’t like science. We don’t like the technical aspect of things. And a lot of scientists have problems with visual communication. So we’re kind of a rare breed. You can’t be just a good artist. You have to be good at science, too. You have to be good at both!”

Elizabeth Shick is originally from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, but has lived in Atlanta, Georgia since 1988. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia with a degree in Scientific Illustration, then went on to study Medical Illustration at the Medical College of Georgia. She was the senior medical illustrator at MLI before opening her own company, Medical Visions, Inc., in 1991. She is one of the top medical legal illustrators in the country with extensive experience, personally producing over 15,000 exhibits. Elizabeth’s motto is “Do what you love & delegate everything else.” She also creates original Sci-Fi paintings.

“There are a lot of talented people that would be very interested in the domain of insurance because it is actually fascinating, but it’s just sort of closed off to you unless you have certain credentials or unless you work for the right company. That’s actually a big problem. There’s a big disconnect between the work that needs to be done and young people, who increasingly aren’t getting exposure to these jobs or to these crafts from their schooling.”

Sean Harper is the co-founder and CEO of Kin, an insurance company built from scratch on modern tech to make it easier and more affordable to insure a home, especially in areas prone to extreme weather. A self-proclaimed tech geek, Sean has spent his career developing apps to revolutionize antiquated industries. When he realized that the homeowners insurance industry was still being managed unlike any other consumer financial products today, he co-founded Kin as a tech-based insurance agency in 2016 and has grown it to a fully licensed home insurance carrier supported by a team of over 100 employees. With a focus on world class customer service, insurance literacy, and smart coverage, Sean and his team are changing the way insurance is done.

“I realized that I was seeing patient after patient and they were on 10 medicines, maybe more. They couldn’t keep them straight. I couldn’t keep them straight. And all had diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. They may have had a heart attack in the past. And what I realized was that it didn’t have to be that way. They didn’t have to have type two diabetes; they didn’t have to have those heart attacks—those illnesses could have been prevented if they had been leading more healthy lives beforehand. And I realized after practicing medicine for 18 years that all I had ever been taught in medical school and in residency was how to treat diseases. We never learned how to keep people healthy.”

Dr. Erica Blank graduated from medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx in 1996. She then completed a residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Her first job was at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York where she worked as a primary care physician. She moved to New Hampshire in 2012 where she worked at Exeter Hospital and developed an interest in Lifestyle Medicine, which focuses on treating the root causes of disease. She realized that all of her training in medicine up to that point was about treating disease and she never learned how to promote health. Erika became board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine in 2017, and moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where she now practices Lifestyle Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.