My guest is Sheldon Epps who is one of the all-time most influential African-American theatre leaders, as well as a prolific director of television. He’s directed on Broadway, the West End, and is the director of the upcoming BET+ movie Christmas Party Crashers. He received the NAACP Community Service Award and the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his many accomplishments. His new book, a memoir, is titled: MY OWN DIRECTIONS A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre. Mr. Epps is a long-time member of the Executive Board of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and served as Chair of the SDC Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also on the board of the Ten Chimneys Foundation. Mr. Epps is a two-time recipient of the Theatre Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artists Residency Grant. Currently, he is honored to serve as Senior Artistic Advisor at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.

Biography taken from IMDB.com at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0868782/

One of the most successful Cuban-American actors of a generation, Oscar Torre currently stars as Vinny Malone on Tyler Perry's hit series, "THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS." He is best known for his critically acclaimed performances in the dramas "THE BOATMAN" (which earned him a 2017 IMAGEN Award nomination for Best Lead Actor); Lionsgate's "LADRON QUE ROBA A LADRON"; the boxing drama "COUNTERPUNCH" and the political drama, "LIBERTAD," and is widely recognized for his scene-stealing performance as Officer Vasquez opposite Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in the hit comedy franchise, "THE HANGOVER 3."



Torre has worked consistently in TV and film; shifting seamlessly from comedy to drama. The New York Times has called Torre "brilliantly funny," while The Los Angeles Times described his performance in "THE BOATMAN" as "powerful" and "darkly charismatic." Torre's TV credits include the hit shows "QUEEN OF THE SOUTH," "CSI: MIAMI," "NCIS," "THE MENTALIST," CBS' critically acclaimed series, "CANE" (opposite Jimmy Smits) and a heartbreaking turn on CBS' "COLD CASE." Torre infuses his performances with empathy, authenticity and soul.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lee Hernandez

The founder and Executive Director of Baseball Process, Walter Beede, was drafted out of high school and played a stint for the Chicago Cubs organization. One of his sons, Tyler, then became an elite and sought-after prospect in high school. Drafted in the first round, the younger Beede opted instead to attend college, playing for a perennial national powerhouse, Vanderbilt. Three years later, with an All-American season and a National Championship, Beede was drafted again in the first round. This time, seven picks higher than he'd been selected out of high school. All told, Walter has more than 35 years of experience as a mentor to other young men, a coach, a father, and a player himself.

Chris has spent the last 20 years helping individuals reach their most important financial goals. In 1999, Chris started his own financial services practice, and since then, has traveled the U.S. working with athletes, key executives and minorities. Chris specifically focuses on the areas of individual and corporate Life Insurance, Disability Income Insurance, Investments*, Unique Tax Reduction Strategies, Retirement Income Optimization and Pension Maximization.

Chris was a communications major at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Outside of the classroom, he played on the Fighting Illini basketball team where he was co-captain and earned 2nd Team All Big-Ten honors. After college, Chris played basketball professionally for the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, and in L’Hermaine and Vichy, France.

Early in his career, Chris worked as a Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Representative. While there, he received numerous awards and was a top producer.  He became a Million Dollar Round Table Member in 2001 - the premier association of financial professionals. In the spring of 2005, Chris moved his financial services practice to the Molyneaux Financial Group, LLC, a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he received the Impact Award in 2006 and Management Council and Leaders Conference Honors in 2007. This agency eventually became MassMutual Chicago.

In 2010 he started his own Agency, where he leads a team of highly skilled advisors, meanwhile still developing his clientele nationwide. He has been featured in numerous magazine articles; Crain’s Chicago Business, GQ, Black Enterprise and African-American Career World.

In 2012 Chris found a way to give back to sports by becoming a member and sitting on the board of the Chicago Concussion Coalition which goal is to make the games safer for children in amateur sports, Founded by Chris Nowitski of the Emmy Nominated movie “Head Games” he finds passion in helping resolve the issue of CTE in sports.

Chris donates his time and efforts to many organizations.  He is on the Board of Directors for the Urban League, is part of the United Way’s Young Community Leaders, volunteers for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and joined the board of the SAME Network of  Chicago’s RUSH medical center.

In 2013 Chris was nominated to the NBARPA Chicago chapter and served as a Board member; while again qualifying for the Court of the Table of Million Dollar Round Table. He is now considered a Lifetime member of the highly esteemed MDRT.

Chris is a lifelong advocate of diversity and inclusion. He serves as the current Vice President for the Board of Directors for NAIFA DuPage (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) & serves on NAIFA’S prominent national committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. He travels nationally and speaks to diversity groups such as NMA, SNMA, LMSA, CCPA, GAMA, LAMP, ITKAN, MDRT, and NAIFA.

Chris is dedicated to helping individuals develop personalized financial strategies and goals. Chris lives in the western Chicago suburbs with his son, Jordan. Chris is an independent advisor who works on your behalf to represent you the client with all the major insurance carriers and investment providers in the marketplace, to help find the best plan and product for the client.

Call or email Chris today to find out how he can help you build and execute your life-long financial game plan.

Rodger Ruge is a retired police officer, master law enforcement instructor, resilience coach and published author. Rodger took his diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder into his own hands and 'cured' what most psychologists say can only be managed by taking a deep dive into every alternative modality he could discover. Rodger now shares his discoveries with other first responders to empower them to the grandest expression of their human potential.