Entered the North American pet industry in 1989 by introducing roasted pig ears, bully sticks, chicken jerky and many other all-natural pet treats under the Muttley’s® and Nat’ Chews® brands.  Chris has been instrumental in developing, sourcing, launching and managing national brands including Barnsdale Farms®, Bullwrinkles®, Canine Prime®, DogAde®, Hartz®, Peidi®, SmartyKat®, Snoopy Pet® and Sticky Paws®.  An expert in private-label, he is deeply involved with U.S. and Canadian store brands.

 

Named one of the inaugural Pet Age ICON Award recipients in 2015, Chris is founder and CEO of Creative Marketing Resources, an omni-channel consultancy specializing in all things PET!  He also hosts the Adopt-A-Shelter® “Adopt-A-Senior & Special-Needs Animal” segment on the SMART ANIMAL TALK radio show with Deb Wolfe.

RANDY BECKER

A graduate of Brown University, Becker started his career as an award-winning actor, starring on Broadway (Tony Award-winning play), film and TV.

In 2000, Randy embarked on a distinctly new path when he decided to produce, rather than act. He produced a successful play in NYC, and his own film (screening at the Cannes Film Festival), before partnering to form a literary management & production company, which marked the end of his acting.

With the mission of ‘transitioning writers to filmmakers,’ Randy set up projects all over town, and helped raise independent capital to enable literary clients to direct their own work (often marking their directorial debut). The last project the company had a hand in before the the partnership ended was The Great Buck Howard, written and directed by client Sean McGinly (with John Malkovich, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks).

In 2009, Randy formed NexTV Entertainment, a new kind of media company that places artist advocacy at the center of its model.

“NexTV gives talented artists and entrepreneurs a chance to fulfill their potential, by educating, connecting and advocating for those who are driven to make a significant impact in the world.

I began as an artist, then spent years as a business-owner in the entertainment industry. I saw that too many talented people embraced the notion that it was someone else’s job to steer their careers or develop the essential skill sets needed to succeed in any business. Today our innovative competitions, coaching programs and live events bring powerful opportunities to artists and entrepreneurs. I’ve enjoyed seeing the entertainment industry discover and embrace so many in the NexTV community. You can see the mission at work at the Social Impact Conference on June 16, 20126 at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles.

LUCA CECCARELLI

Luca Ceccarelli is an Italo-American Director/Producer, based in Los Angeles with strong ties to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is festival programmer and creative director of the CineFesta Italia Film, Food & Culture festival launching this year. The festival runs in Santa Fe, June 1-4, 2016 and showcases current Italian films. CineFesta is honred to host emcee, Filippo Voltaggio.

Luca is currently developing two features and a TV series co-authored with his producing partner, Eileen Street. Together they own and operate development and production company, HDNM Entertainment and their Los Angeles shingle, EDGY Pictures.

His passion for directing moved Luca to spearhead The Director’s Edge, which offers unique tools and coaching programs designed to help emerging and established directors maximize their creativity, preparation and practice, featuring the unique Get-Set-Ready! Method.

For Luca It all started in 1979 with his big sister’s Fisher Price record player and a collection of Morricone cuts from Leone classics. He buckled his holster, readied his caps in his plastic six-shooter, tipped his hat low above his 5-year-old brow, and stared into the mirror. That was it. In that moment he knew he was a filmmaker. Luca is extremely excited to be developing his own features, Noah’s Ark and Eve Angelic.

Luca directed and produced the reality-tv pilot Planet Snowkite – Episode 1, Ushuaia/Argentina (FilmCom 2011). Before that, he was primarily engaged in producing and line-producing film and television features. Titles include Italian “spaghetti westerns”, Triggerman (Lionsgate 2009) and Doc West (Lionsgate 2009), starring European favorite Terence Hill, and Paul Sorvino. Other titles include the Santa Fe Film Festival – Independent Spirit Award winner, Shoot First & Pray You Live (Lionsgate 2008), as well as grind-house exploitation flick Naked Fear (Cinetel Films 2007).

Luca studied at ARTTS International, UK, and St. John’s College and graduated from the College of Santa Fe with a BA in Moving Image Arts (with honors). He spearheaded HDNM Entertainment in 2004.

Luca was Founding President of the New Mexico Post Alliance (NMPost.com) and creator of ShootSantaFe.com.

Alice Austin is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Vermont, currently living and performing in Los Angeles. Her sound ranges from vintage to modern, crossing over from a Classic Rock vibe to Americana.

Austin’s latest release from October of 2014, ‘Left One In The Rain’, is a compelling three-song EP containing elements of isolation, hope, acceptance, and surrender. Produced by Patrick Avalon in Los Angeles, the music the lends itself well to a sunny electro-acoustic style, yet retains its grounding in the solo artist’s Classic Rock attitude.

‘To A Star In The Yard’, her album released in 2009, is Austin’s fourth full-length album, but her first solo record on which she has composed, arranged, recorded, produced, and performed all the the tracks. Some of the highlights on this album are the edgy 60’s throwback, ‘Sharp Side of the Knife’, and the garage-blues inflected ‘Graveyard Before Dark.’

Prior to solo performances, Alice Austin played with the Boston-based bands The Stark Raving Mad and The Lavas, and from her hometown Burlington, Vermont, Queen Tangerine and Zola Turn.

Signed to now-defunct Los Angeles label, Brick Red Records in 2002, (subsidiary Gold Circle Entertainment), Austin hasn’t missed a beat from the trials and tribulations of being signed and dropped all within a six-month span, rather persevered and thrived. The evolution of her songwriting has gone from irreverent punk-pop to an evocative perspective of the human condition. She has toured all over the east coast and southern United States, playing in such legendary venues as The Middle East Downstairs, The House of Blues Boston, The Knitting Factory, as well as South by Southwest and CMJ music festivals.

Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution.

His on-line writings have generated a vast following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts.

Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and four sons.

In his own words:

"I will give you some of my background, although the intense transitions of the last few years have left me feeling like a new person. Hmm, I wrote that sentence two years ago, and it is still true today. I was born in 1967 and was a very sensitive, intellectual and dreamy child. I was always consumed by questions like, “Where did I come from?””Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” so of course, embedded as I was in a culture that sees science and reason as the source of truth, I tried to “figure out” the answers. I graduated from Yale University with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, but my development of reason and intellect brought me no closer to any truth I really cared about.

I didn’t know what I was searching for, but I knew that none of the usual options life presents a Yale graduate attracted me. I went to Taiwan, learned Chinese, and soon found myself working as a translator. I spent most of my 20s there, educating myself broadly (though not at all rigorously – it was more through osmosis) in Eastern spiritual traditions. I also read voraciously: books on health, nutrition, globalization, physics, and biology. Translation led to other business opportunities, and I became familiar with this dimension of the human experience. In Taiwan, I met my dear friend and ex-wife Patsy, with whom I have three children, all boys.

In my late 20s I entered what was to be a long period of intensifying crisis. It started when all my professional work became intolerable. It became excruciating to do work I didn’t care about. Even though a million reasons told me why it was irresponsible, impractical, and foolish to quit, I eventually could not make myself do it anymore. An irrepressible feeling, “I am not here to be doing this!” took control of my life. So I entered a long period of searching. I spent time teaching yoga, learning about herbs, and teaching at Penn State’s department of Science, Technology, and Society. All of these endeavors have contributed to my present and future, but none were really me.

The next five years were much like a birthing process. The old world dissolved, and the contractions birthing me into the new took the form of a collapse of all that I once held onto. Crises in health, marriage, and money forced me to let go of a “life under control.” In my helplessness, I accepted help, discovering a generous universe that has always met my needs, somehow, in unexpected ways. I have never made much money, but I have become rich in connections to other people. Friends and strangers from all over the world write to tell me how my books have affected them; they sustain my faith and nourish my passion for my work.

In addition to writing books and essays, I have been doing a tremendous amount of public speaking. Sometimes, especially when I am tired from traveling, I wonder if the world needs yet another man performing “speaker up in front of an audience.” Why not stay at home and use technology? But I find that something happens in person that is irreplaceable. For one thing, at live events I can see the expressions on people’s faces, and I respond to that in real-time, engaging in a sort of dialog. Secondly, my speaking is not just about conveying ideas. Something else rides the vehicle of the words, even if the topic is something mundane like steady-state economics. I sometimes describe my experience as a speaker as being plugged into a field that is not my creation, but is generated by the audience and by something beyond the audience. Besides, I find that my thinking stagnates and my heart atrophies when I am in front of my computer too much. I need to interact with real people, face to face. That’s why I travel and speak.

On the other hand, I am increasingly drawn to developing the non-verbal, embodied gifts that I’ve neglected. Like many people, I have a feeling that there is a Next Step about to happen, in my work and beyond. I don’t know what it is, but I do know its revelation will come through transforming experiences that reveal and heal things I was blind to. My work, my play, my family, my deep soul connections, my wholeness, my wounds… all of these are bound up together, evolving as one.

I am now remarried as of 2011 and have a baby, my fourth son, Cary, with my wife Stella. Besides mothering, Stella practices Chinese Medicine and other healing modalities. The two teenagers, Jimi and Matthew live with us too; the 9-year-old Philip only sometimes. My favorite moments are watching Jimi and Matthew play “pass the baby” with Cary, who thinks it is the funnest game in the world. Of course we have our challenges and I have occasional moments of seeing my whole life as a father as a collision-course of errors, but overall I feel extremely lucky to have such amazing, sensitive, talented, kind children.

Lately people sometimes treat me like a celebrity, which makes me feel uncomfortable, because I know I am just me. On the other hand, it has become impossible to answer every email and say yes to every offer to interact. I have to turn down most offers to speak, travel, write blurbs for books, and so on. Also the attention focused on me can get overwhelming. I understand why real celebrities need to insulate themselves. Even receiving appreciation can be too much to handle sometimes, although it has sustained me too through periods of setbacks and doubt. I do my best to stay accessible and answer as many contacts as possible.

I can’t really tell you my plans for the future; it all depends on what is revealed to me in the next phase of my personal exploration. Besides, the world is approaching a state of flux that could easily render most plans irrelevant. I will continue writing and speaking for at least another year or two. My main interest now is in exploring the boundaries of what is “possible” according to our received beliefs, received habits, received technologies, and received ways of knowing. For humanity to take that Next Step, we are going to have to violate what is politically practical, socially practical, and even technologically practical. The same holds on the personal and relational level. I have caught glimpses of the impossible in all these realms and I am excited about what lies ahead."

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW WELCOMES AUTHOR AND ENTREPRENEUR

TERESA HAILEY

Bringing together the minds and voices of authors across the country, author Teresa Hailey worked to create a volume that will empower readers through inspiring short stories. Her new collection of short stories, “‘Shining Stars’: Inspiring Stories and Simple Steps to Empower You to Achieve Your Highest Potential” (published by Trafford Publishing), was written to give readers the motivation to do whatever their hearts desire.

“‘Shining Stars’” consists of 12 motivational and inspirational stories told by 12 authors across the U.S. They are Paul R. Bryant, Shirley Clark, Teresa Hailey, Harold Parker, Sarah Bryant, Staff Sgt. Joshua Harris, Stan Harris, Joshua Schuler, Evelyn Bethune, Hasaan Rasheed, Jamal Rasheed and Katrina Ferguson. They come from a range of locations across the country including Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Florida and Maryland.

Each author contributes one chapter to the book. The book shares the message that people must learn to work together and that, regardless of life’s challenges, drugs and alcohol are not the answers. These themes unite the variety of voices present in the book. Hailey designed the book to empower others to reach their highest potential.

A Colorado businessman paid for the book to be published. Because of this, Hailey wanted this book to be a blessing for others. She will be giving 1,000 copies of the book to her church, Scott United Methodist Church of Denver. The church will sell the books and keep the proceeds. Books will also go to the United Way of Greater St. Louis to benefit a business owner that lost their business to the rioting in Ferguson, Missouri.

Teresa Hailey discovered her organizational talents at an early age. At 14, she founded and directed TWIGS, Tiny Workers In God’s Service. TWIGS members, ages 5 through 15, sponsored various fundraising activities for Scott United Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado. As a teen, Teresa was First Vice President of Thomas Jefferson High School’s chapter of the Distributive Education Club of America. Denver Public Service Company recognized Teresa as Student of the Month in October 1977 and awarded her a cash prize. In September 1979, Teresa began laying the groundwork for a Denver youth chapter of the NAACP, and served as President of that group until 1983. Under her direction, the chapter initiated numerous educational and youth-oriented programs. Politics is a very important part of Teresa’s life. She has worked in political campaigns from the State Representative level up to the Presidential level. Gaining her most rewarding experiences while living in Atlanta, GA., Teresa traveled throughout the state working on Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 Presidential campaign. After an incident during a voter registration drive, Teresa calmly faced down five Ku Klux Klan members dressed in full KKK regalia. Her will and determination to stand-up and fight for justice rewarded her with an opportunity to travel with the late Rev. Hosea Williams, a renowned leader on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s staff .

"Shining Stars" 

Inspiring Stories and Simple Steps to Empower You to Achieve Your Highest Potential

(5) Star Reviews

Shining Stars is a must read, 11 different people from all over the U.S. came together and wrote one chapter in the book. The book shares the message that people must learn to work together and that, regardless of life's challenges, drugs and alcohol are not the answers. These themes unite the variety of voices present in the book.

As a co-author of Shining Stars I had no Idea what the other authors were going to submit. I can attest that it has been a pleasurable experience reading their personal stories, testimonies and receiving wisdom through their many varying walks of life. An inspirational piece that anyone can connect with!!

A book of hope and determined passion. A delivery of person hood in the face of life and being human. A book that will push you to keep reading with a better understanding and appreciation for struggles and break - outs despite the expected situations and circumstances.

Teresa Hailey on Twitter-

https://twitter.com/teresahailey67

JoEllen is a Certified Angel Card Reader through Hay House training with Doreen Virtue and a SomaEnergetics Practitioner Intern.  She offered readings to live callers. You can reach JoEllen at 704-351-2841

Victoria is a mentor to minds, a champion of spirits, a tender of dreams and a yin yogi.  She’s a therapist and spiritual mentor, but most of all, she is a believer in women waking up to themselves.

She has been on a mission to help women heal and raise their consciousness.  She started her career as a nurse, and from there, she’s dedicated over two decades as a transformational therapist and seminar leader.  she earned her Bachelors in Nursing and certification as an OB-GYN Nurse Practitioner, she has a Masters in Psychology with a license in Marriage and Family Therapy, and she holds a certification as a New Agreements Coach. She is also trained as a Svaroopa-style yoga teacher and steeped in DreamWork.

Along the way, Victoria discovered that some of our deepest openings into LOVE come from our most painful experiences: for her, that included heartbreak, divorce, breast cancer, and recognizing and clearing the pain from her own faulty beliefs and habits.

But through these challenges, she’s gained the gifts that have brought her into greater states of love and contentment.