As a young German-speaking refugee who fled with her parents from Nazi Germany in 1940 at the onset of World War II, Barbara Sommer Feigin spent her childhood and teenage years in tiny Chehalis, Washington, yearning to become an “authentic” American girl.

Feigin’s parents impressed upon her the power of education to open doors to opportunity. With the help of scholarships and work grants, she attended Whitman College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She then completed a graduate program in business run jointly by Harvard Business School and Radcliffe Graduate School at a time when women were not admitted to the Harvard Business School.

Encouraged by her parents’ admonition to “dream big, work hard, and never quit,” Feigin became a pioneering executive who found success in a completely male-dominated business—advertising—when career-building opportunities for women were virtually nonexistent. In her illustrious thirty-year career at Grey Advertising (now Grey Global Group), she solidified her reputation as a visionary thinker. In all her years as a senior advertising executive and a corporate director, she was more often than not the only woman in the room. In 2017, Feigin was named one of the century’s Legendary Pioneers by Grey.

Feigin and her husband, Jim, built a strong, loving family of three sons, including identical twins. Their lives were shattered when Jim had two very serious strokes when he was quite young. For the next twenty-five years, she was Jim’s caregiver-in-chief. The family’s strong bonds and great love for Jim helped them navigate this traumatic time.

Feigin currently lives in New York City.

Dr. Gary Sprouse, also known as The Less Stress Doc had been a primary care physician on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for over thirty years. He retired in 2024o. He is a member of the American Medical Association, president of Queen Anne's Medical Society, and MENSA. He is extremely passionate about bringing happiness into the lives of those he serves through humor, compassion, and understanding. He was a down to earth physician who was honored that patients would seek his advice. His goal as a physician was to help each patient feel better by the end of each encounter. He took his job seriously, but he also found room for having fun by wearing elaborate Halloween and karaoke costumes, such as Elton John or Pitbull. He has spent over three decades researching better ways to heal the mind and body, which has led him to writing this book. His book is titled “Highway to Your Happy Place: A Roadmap to Less Stress”. He hopes he can help you find a more peaceful state of mind with his new insights and tools!

A columnist for The Washington Post's local team, Petula Dvorak writes about homeless shelters, gun control, high heels, high school choirs, the politics of parenting, jails, abortion clinics, mayors, modern families, strip clubs, gas prices and DC statehood. Dvorak has been with The Post for more than 15 years.

Before joining The Post, Petula covered social issues, crime and courts in New Orleans, New Jersey and Los Angeles. She earned her BA in Journalism and International Relations at the University of Southern California.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Henning enjoys a versatile music career in both film and live performance. Paul has composed the original music for the feature documentaries Foreman, Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives, and The Town That Was. He has worked on the score orchestrations for over 50 feature films, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The BFG, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Chocolat. In addition to his film writing, Paul also works on orchestral arrangements that have received performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and London Symphony.

He has helped create concert suites from the film scores, Spider-man, The Passion of the Christ, and Peter Pan, as well as multiple works from the catalogs of the Golden Age film composers Dimitri Tiomkin and Elmer Bernstein. Paul has also completed band arrangements for the Television Shows “American Idol,” “The Singing Bee,” and “Sunday’s Best.”

An accomplished pianist and violinist, Paul has performed with the Hollywood Studio Symphony on the soundtracks to Moana, Storks, Furious 7, Frozen, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Maze Runner, Monsters University and Alice in Wonderland,, among many others. He has also played violin for Barbra Streisand, Michael Bublé, Neil Young, Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. Paul has served as Concertmaster for the Golden State Pops Orchestra since 2004.

Paul grew up on his family’s 125-year old wheat farm near Pullman, Washington. He studied music at the University of Southern California and Washington State University.

Frank White is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Rhodes Scholar. He earned an M.Phil. in Politics from Oxford University.

He is president of the Human Space Program, a nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring a sustainable, ethical, and inclusive evolution of humanity into the solar ecosystem. Frank also acts as curator of materials for the SpaceTech and AI practices at Intro-act, a financial technology company.

His best-known work as an author, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, is considered by many to be a seminal contribution to the field of space exploration. A film called “Overview,” based largely on his work, has had more than 8 million plays on Vimeo.

Since the first edition of his book on the subject was published in 1987, “the Overview Effect” has become a standard term describing the spaceflight experience. The fourth edition of The Overview Effect was published in 2021 by Multiverse Publishing.

Frank’s book on the Apollo program, The New Camelot: Quest for the Overview Effect, offers a radical new interpretation of John F. Kennedy’s approach to the lunar missions that culminated with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

White considers himself to be a “space philosopher,” and has long advocated developing a new philosophy of space exploration. His book on this topic, The Cosma Hypothesis: Implications of the Overview Effect, was published in 2019. In it, he asks the fundamental question, “Why has the evolutionary process brought humanity to the brink of becoming a spacefaring species?”

In Cosma, he shares the idea of “the Human Space Program” as a “central project” that will engage all of us in the process of becoming “Citizens of the Universe.” This concept has now become the nonprofit Human Space Program, cited above.

Frank is a frequent speaker at conferences that focus on space exploration, space development, and Large-Scale Space Migration.

White has also written about Artificial Intelligence, and his book on the subject, The (Neo) Singularity is Here! anticipated many of the developments in AI that are creating a worldwide paradigm shift today.

White has taught in Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education since 1995, and is a professor and dean at Kepler Space University.

Beginning his career in the film, television and recording industry in 1974, Chris
Boardman has consistently worked at the top echelon of the entertainment industry. He
has received an Academy Award nomination for “The Color Purple”, 6 Emmy Awards, 13
Emmy nominations, ASCAP and BMI film awards and multiple platinum records for his
work with such iconic artists as Quincy Jones, David Foster, Steven Speilberg, Julie
Andrews, Shirley MacLaine, Barbara Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch and Josh Groban.

Well known in Hollywood circles as one of a handful of musicians who can write
anything, Boardman’s credits span both industry and genre. Whether it be conducting
David Foster’s “World Children’s Day” for television, composing the 70’s inspired score for
Mel Gibson’s “Payback”, arranging period dance music for “Swing Kids” and “Meet Joe
Black”, orchestrating Anthony Newley’s “Chaplin” for Broadway or leasing and producing
solo recordings as an artist, Boardman embraces these challenges with characteristic
integrity and passion. He is one of the most uniquely versatile and highly respected
musicians in the industry.

In May 2018 Boardman finished a six year stint as the Director of the Media Writing
and Production program at the acclaimed Frost School of Music at The University of
Miami. Boardman was twice nominated for “Mentor Of The Year” honors by The Graduate
School of the University of Miami. Continuing his commitment to sharing his expertise
Boardman has launched an online education company to continue impacting the lives of
those desirous of pursuing a career in the music industry.

Always looking for new challenges, Boardman founded a successful social media
content consulting practice in 2010 and is at the forefront of the fast-moving online media
space. His current project include bringing his talents and expertise to bear to create and
promote music as therapy for those suffering from anxiety and depression. “The Missing
Link” project uses the power of music, breath and movement to counteract the onset of
symptoms related to anxiety and depression. The Missing Link is due to launch in 2025.

Nan and I and other notable presenters are speaking in September at the Portal to Ascension Glastonbury UK Conference. Tickets:  https://ascensionglastonbury.com/ref/2/