Laura Rubinstein is a Certified Hypnotherapist, Master Leadership Coach, Bestselling Author, and award winning Social Media and Marketing Strategist. She is the creator the Savvy Social Media Success course, and founder of Social Buzz Club. During the past 20+ years, Laura has optimized brand marketing strategies for over 1,000 businesses.

She is the author of the bestselling book Social Media Myths Busted, Transform Your Body in the Mental Gym and the Feminine Power Cards (endorsed by John Gray, PhD of Mars Venus). These wisdom cards offer practical tools that allow people to make profound shifts in their relationships and professional life. Laura’s writings are featured in a variety of publications including the Amazon bestselling books Women Living Consciously and Journey to Joy, as well as on genConnect.com, YourTango.com and her popular https://www.transformtoday.com/ blog.

Greg Lovett is a professional media executive with over 30 years experience in production and management.

He began his career in the U.S. as a Director of the Houston Astros and Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) live television broadcasts.  After relocating to Holland he set up his own television production company and produced for both Dutch and international broadcasters.

Later, he was a founding member of Europe’s first Pay Per View platform, spearheaded the launch of Holland’s first broadband Internet service, and managed a start-up that specialized in interactive television and personalized programming.

He most recently produced and directed the award-winning documentary “Delay, Deny, Hope You Die” which tells the story of American soldiers poisoned by open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The film is being released in October 2017.

Andrea is the founder and CEO of YourTango, the leading media company dedicated to love and relationships. YourTango’s mission is to help women love better and connect more meaningfully, engendering greater happiness, more confidence, and a deeper sense of belonging within the community we serve. YourTango has built a powerful platform where a community of readers, writers, brands, thought leaders, and the world’s leading relationship and mental health experts connect and engage where it matters most: the heart.

Andrea is making her debut as an author through her first book, Radical Acceptance, The Secret to Happy, Lasting Love, was published in May, 2017 by the Atria Division of Simon & Schuster.

Andrea has been featured frequently in the media, including multiple appearances on The Today Show, The Early Show, Better TV, CNN, E!, Fox News, ABC, and radio stations across the U.S., as well as in national publications such as USA Today, The Huffington Post, The New York Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Business Week. Andrea is a frequent panelist and guest speaker on industry panels including Internet Week and SXSW, as well as for classes and events at Harvard University, Columbia University, Fordham University, The Wharton School and NYU Stern School of Business.

A graduate of Tulane University (B.S. Mechanical Engineering), Andrea earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where she was the managing editor of The Bottom Line, the school’s student newspaper. Prior to launching YourTango, Andrea achieved a rewarding career in finance and consulting, including positions with Goldman Sachs, ICF Consulting and Enron’s international finance team—which gave her the opportunity to live in Mumbai, India, for three years.

Andrea serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York Theatre Workshop. She has been awarded a black belt in Shotokan karate by the Japan Karate Association (JKA) and is a licensed private pilot. Andrea and her husband live with their two little boys in New York City.

Alexia Mae is a Vegan advocate, nutrition specialist, and animal rights activist.

Barbara Lima is a multi-disciplinary artist from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, who has danced and taught professionally for the past fourteen years. Barbara has studied various movement mediums and uses dance to give form to sound waves and images.   ​

Both Barbara and Jocelyn believe that there are healing messages and potent grids for transformation, which can be activated through the tool of authentic embodiment. Their work with movement seeks to nurture and ground the innate energetic intelligence in every human. 

Jocelyn Edelstein has been studying the Mayan calendar for the past twenty years and gives Mayan readings in Portland. She is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose mediums include dance, writing and filmmaking. She teaches dances classes for adults and children at Polaris Contemporary Dance Center.

George Antone, the author of 3 best-selling books on investing and finance, is an award-winning educator, investor, and an entrepreneur. He is also the creator of the world’s largest network of private money lenders. George’s approach and methods have made him a popular keynote speaker around the country.

Travel as a Way of Life

Stefan and Sebastien are a gay couple travelling the world. Nomadic Boys is their blog and one of the biggest names in the gay travel world, with over 75k monthly visitors to our blog and a further 200k followers on our social media. We have been together for over 8 years and recently got engaged in Colombia, where we have been based for the past few months. Stefan used to be a lawyer and Sebastien an IT consultant for the finance industry. We left our lives and jobs in London in 2014 for a big 2 years trip around Asia and have been travelling in Latin America over the past year.

Professor Neta C. Crawford of Boston University is the author of Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America's Post-9/11 Wars (Oxford University Press, 2013). Crawford is also the author of two books, Soviet Military Aircraft (1987) and Argument and Change in World Politics (2002), named Best Book in International History and Politics by the American Political Science Association. She has written more than two dozen peer reviewed articles on issues of war and peace. Crawford has served on the governing Board of the Academic Council of the United Nations System, and on the Governing Council of the American Political Science Association. She is also a Co-Director of the Costs of War Project of Brown University.

Areas of Interest: International relations theory, normative theory, foreign policy decision making, sanctions, peace movements, discourse ethics, post-conflict peacebuilding, research design, utopian science fiction, and emotion.

Professor Catherine Lutz is the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. She is also a co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University. She recently received a Guggenheim Foundation grant to write a book on how Americans across diverse communities understand war and its consequences. Lutz is the author of numerous books on the US military and its bases and personnel, including Breaking Ranks (with M. Gutmann, 2010), The Bases of Empire (ed., 2009), and Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century (2001), and a co-founder of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists.  She has also conducted research on UN peacekeeping in Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, and Lebanon. Lutz is past president of the American Ethnological Society, the largest organization of cultural anthropologists in the US.

Ric Burns is an internationally recognized documentary filmmaker and writer, best known for his eight-part, seventeen and a half hour series, New York: A Documentary Film, which premiered nationally on PBS to wide public and critical acclaim when broadcast in November 1999, September 2001, and September 2003.

Burns has been writing, directing and producing historical documentaries for over 25 years, since his collaboration on the PBS series The Civil War, (1990), which he produced with his brother Ken and co-wrote with Geoffrey C. Ward.  Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed some of the most distinguished programs for PBS including Coney Island (1991), The Donner Party (1992), The Way West (1995), Ansel Adams (2002), Eugene O’Neill, Andy Warhol (2006), We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision (2009), Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (2010), and Death and the Civil War (2012), a film based on the best-selling book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by historian and Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust.

His work has won numerous film and television awards including six Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards,  two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards,  three Writer’s Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing;  the Eric Barnouw Award of the Organization of American Historians, and the D.W. Griffith Award of the National Board of Review.

2015 saw the release of three more films by Burns.  American Ballet Theatre: a history, which aired on PBS as a part of the American Masters series, celebrates the rich history and legacy of America’s national ballet company. Debt of Honor: Disabled Veterans in American History, a moving tribute to the history of disabled veterans, aired nationally on PBS in November in honor of Veteran’s Day.  And The Pilgrims broadcast as part of the acclaimed American Experience series, also in November of 2015.  The film brings to life the story of the men and women of the Mayflower: both the ardently evangelical English Protestants who led the mission, as well as the less fervently evangelical “Strangers” who went with them.

Burns was educated at Columbia University and Cambridge University. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Prospanica – The Association of Hispanic Professionals – is here to help you grow personally and professionally through:

• Valuable employment opportunities for MBA students
• Undergraduate assistance to pursue graduate education
• Expanded business networks and guidance to advance your professional career

We have 46 professional and university chapters to support you, and we’ve created strong partnerships with prominent universities and Fortune 500 companies. Whether you’re looking for exciting job connections or a roadmap to graduate education, Prospanica will help you chart the path ahead.

Formerly the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) and founded in 1988, Prospanica’s nearly 30-year history emphasizes on educational and professional development programs to improve the Hispanic community as a whole.

Strategic Plan and Mission

Hispanics will contribute in the affluence of the U.S. in proportion to their share of the population, as they attain higher education and leadership positions in record numbers. The entire country will become even stronger as a result of greater participation from the Hispanic community. 

Prospanica's mission is to empower Hispanic business professionals to achieve their full educational, economic, and social potential. The organization works to fulfill this mission to our members through three strategies:

1. Provide access to higher education for Hispanics seeking professional advancement in business 
2. Offer resources, information and a sense of community to business students and professionals to increase their development and advancement opportunities
3. Propagate a culture of participation and leadership to advocate for the growth of Hispanic professionals in corporate America

Vision

The Prospanica vision is to be the leading catalyst for Hispanic professional achievement through diversity of thought, expert collaboration, and community engagement to create and develop Hispanic leaders.

Deepak Chopra (born October 22, 1946) is an American author, public speaker, alternative medicine advocate, and a prominent figure in the New Age movement. Through his books and videos, he has become one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternative medicine. Chopra studied medicine in India before emigrating to the United States in 1970 where he completed residencies in internal medicine and endocrinology.

Rev. Steph is a recovering non-denominational reverend who likes to walk a little on the wild side of God.  The title of her latest book, recently released on Amazon, says it all: 

“The Miss-Adventures of an Irreverent Reverend: A Spirit-ed Guide for Rebels and Renegades.” 

Born in London, England, she came to South Africa for the first time in 1985 on a 2-month holiday to see her mum, fell in love with South Africa, found the Science of Mind teaching and emigrated! 

In 1987, she had a vision of starting a multi-racial ministry which would heal the wounds of Apartheid and, in 1989, moved to America where she studied  for the ministry at Agape in Los Angeles under Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith of “The Secret” fame.

Brian Donovan has been a professional actor for over twenty-five years in film, television and radio. He’s worked on-screen with such luminaries as Angelina Jolie, Jim Carrey and Jim Belushi. He’s been the voice of countless animated heroes -- currently as Rock Lee from the juggernaut hit, Naruto. Next year, he can be seen in the indie film, Somebody’s Mother. His award winning documentary about his sister, 'Kelly’s Hollywood' is currently playing on Showtime Networks. In addition, Brian is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Repertory Theatre. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with his family and dog, Cosmo.

Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s in Buffalo, New York, Brian and Kelly Donovan were inseparable siblings. Kelly had Down syndrome, and Brian was her protector from the time she was a child. Honest and raw, Donovan's documentary film 'Kelly’s Hollywood' intimately reveals how an aspiring actor brings his sister, born with Down syndrome, out to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a Hollywood diva. But as her health begins to fail and she becomes increasingly jealous of Donovan's fiancée, he is forced to confront his co-dependent sibling relationship and the threat it is posing to his engagement to Tempany. When Kelly's condition plummets, Brian desperately tries to fulfill her last wish of performing in front of a live audience. But will they be able to pull it off? And will Brian’s own dream of marrying Tempany survive?

Brian Donovan's Statement about his film:

"There’s a saying, ‘love is the only true adventure’, I would add, ‘making a movie about love is the only true adventure’. When I picked up the camera 15 years ago and started shooting my sister Kelly, I did not have much of an agenda. I was capturing moments in her life that intrigued and inspired me, but when those moments started to affect me more directly, I got more serious about making this film. I had a unique perspective on an intimate relationship with a disabled sibling, so intimate that my romantic relationships became increasingly complicated and constrained, leading me to this exploration on human connection, commitment and the choices in life that effect one’s fate. 

When I heard that 90% of expecting parents were choosing to abort their fetus upon discovering potential disabilities through genetic testing I started to worry. I’m not here to judge and my film stays far away from the pro-life/pro-choice battle. However, growing up, my father was deaf, my sister had Down syndrome and my best friend was born with Kyphosis or in lay man’s terms, a ‘hunch back,’ and I can’t imagine my life without them. They have contributed more to humanity than almost everyone else I know combined. I felt it was important and necessary to make a film about my sister who personified to me that ‘it’s not who you are when you’re born, but who you are when you live.’"

Mary Knebel is a certified Money Breakthrough Coach, a Money Intuitive, and the founder of MoneyPreneurs. She is known as the Moneypreneur, because she helps strong, spiritual businesswomen take control of their money to take control of their lives. Mary is especially known for helping women create that first 10k breakthrough in their business, which quickly turns into 15k and 20k months.

Mary shows women how to transform their {dysfunctional} relationships with money so they can create lives of financial freedom, fun, and fulfillment from anywhere in the world! She is highly intuitive and combines both practical and spiritual tools to quickly get to the heart of what is holding you back, often breaking through life long patterns in a single session. 

ELIANA GILAD

Born in the United States, Eliana left for France in 1991 and then moved to Israel in 1994. Professionally, she has dedicated her life to reviving the conscious use of voice and rhythm as natural healing instruments, as they were used in ancient matriarchal times. This wordless healing sound modality helps people find their authentic voices and connect to their inner calm and wisdom.

It has been clinically researched in a neonatal intensive care unit, where it was proven to lower blood pressure and heart rate, increase focus, and improve the quality of sleep. Her work has been featured in publications like Drummer, Yoga Journal, Mothering, Music and Medicine Journal, Global Rhythm, and Hindustan Times. Documentarian Emmanuel Itier also features Eliana in her award-winning film Femme (2013), narrated by Sharon Stone.

Eliana is a frequent keynote presenter, teacher, and performer at healing music, leadership, health, and mindfulness conferences throughout the world. Such events include TEDxSanJuan (2017), International Conference of Traditional Music (2017), Globe Sound Healing Conference (2014), TEDxVailWomen Conference (2012), Chinese Spa Conference (2011), Music and Medicine Symposium (2010), and the Legends of Nonviolence Conference (2007). She has also presented at the United Nations, the Chopra Center in New York City, and the Thank Water Conference (2003), alongside Masaru Emoto, author of Messages from Water, whose research revealed the profound effect of her music upon frozen water molecules.

Through the Voices of Eden Ancient Wisdom and Healing Music Institute, Eliana researches and teaches the principles of feminine power and the voice.

In addition to Miriam’s Secret, she is the author two books: Rhythms of the Natural Voice Workbook (2002), a companion to the CD Rhythms of the Natural Voice (2001); and Quiet in the Eye of the Storm: Living Peace in a War Zone, a digital book and audio program written, recorded, and published during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon War. She has produced five music CDs and a groundbreaking relaxation music program used by dentists worldwide.

Eliana also narrated the “The Forgotten Jews,” a PBS documentary broadcast in November 2005. In 1992, she broadcast the voiceovers for CBS television during the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

She alternately makes her home in Los Angeles, California, and Galilee, Israel.

DR. M L NICHOLS

One of the world’s leading authorities on stress and coping and an expert on post traumatic stress disorder is innovative, insightful, and created The Five Step Stress Coping Model and  How to break the Threshold Barrier of Rewiring the Nervous System, meaning, “How to Solve a Problem During the First Session,” and enhance personal success – WIN TIME: these include, Loss, Trauma, Grief, PTSD. Self Sabotage, Performance Anxiety, Military Personal Operational Readiness, Performance Choking, and Brain DEFRAGing.  He retired from the US Navy as a Lieutenant Commander and from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). His peers and superiors said, “He is twenty years ahead of his time!” He is currently President of  MOAASWRC Military Officer’s Association of America meeting in Murrieta CA.

At Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, he was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for creating the “most innovative and effective correctional religious program in the United States,” which lowered the incident rate by a documented 60 percent.  Dr. Nichols graduated number one in his two Navy leadership and management courses, earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary,  did post graduate work in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and was awarded Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and Time Line Therapy ® Certifications. Board Certified. Colleagues and mentors include: Anthony Robbins, Richard Bandler, Arthur Lydiard, Tad James, Emil Couer, Daniel Amen, Lanny Bassham and Eldon Taylor.

His published works include: Communicate: through the Windows of the Mind, the “Four Key Elements of a Successful Institutional Intervention,” Playing In the Zone Made Easy, When Time Doesn’t Heal, and The One Minute Leader: 52 Weeks to Success and posts on  “How to DEFRAG  Your Brain.” Coming: “5 Step Stress Coping Model.

Dr. Nichols recognizes everyone is a Genius in something. And now with the new applications he is there to help you deal resourcefully with your future.  He teaches you how to achieve your goals and dreams, overcome obstacles, and become who you are destined to be via his  Stress and Coping  process  which is the short cut common denominator to pulling together what is already on your inside found in the Genius you. During his training you will activate you vision, create success and become the real you by turning on your success endorphins and neurotransmitters.

TORREY MERCER

Torrey Mercer is more than just a music artist. She is a survivor, an activist, and has been told her and her music are alight in the dark for many. An award-winning recording artist and songwriter from San Diego, Torrey brings bold charisma to the stage through her jazzy-pop vocals and inspiring lyrics. Being trained in pop, jazz, rock, blues, and Broadway in her youth has guided Torrey to become the vocalist and performer she is today. With influences from pop artists such as early Maroon 5, Alessia Cara, and Lady Gaga, Torrey’s performances exude sheer power, layered with thoughtful lyrics on her experiences with bullying, low self esteem, body image, and relationships.

Torrey’s love for music emerged early on in her life, when she was 9 she got involved in musical theater, hoping to find her place in the world. She was bullied and excluded throughout her childhood, and this continued through the end of high school. Feeling like an outcast growing up has made made empathy and compassion for others a defining quality of her music endeavors. Torrey went on her first National Music Tour with the “No Bully Tour” in 2011 at 17, visiting 15 different east coast cities, and 7-8 west coast cities. The same year, she posted a YouTube video defending her idol of the time, Lady Gaga, for her career feats, which landed her 500,000 views on YouTube. Her first single “Looking Glass”, written about her experiences with low self esteem and body image, was released in 2012, winning her the Indie Music Channel Award for “Best Pop Song” in 2013, and was nominated for numerous other awards. “Looking Glass” was featured on the popular YouTube series, “The Most Popular Girls in School” (850,000+ channel subscribers). In 2014, she was named “Best Teen Artist” and “Inspirational Artist of the Year” by the Artists in Music Awards.

In addition to her music feats, Torrey became a motivational speaker and performer at K-12 schools in 2013, where she’s spoken on the subjects of bullying, kindness, and character development. Torrey has impacted over 5,000 students with her program in the state of California, and has spoken at over 15 California distinguished schools. Her individual success led to the founding of her own company, “The Pledge Tour,” an assembly program challenging kids and teenagers to take a “pledge” for self improvement. In 2015, she was awarded the “Peacekeeper of the Year” award for her antibullying efforts by the Encinitas Rotary, becoming the youngest recipient of this award in the rotary’s 50 year history. For more information on The Pledge Tour, and Torrey’s speaking engagements, visit www.ThePledgeTour.com.

Some of her notable performances outside of the No Bully Tour and her assembly work include singing the National Anthem for a pre-season NFL Chargers game, and for the US Tennis Open. She has performed at renown venues such as LA’s Whisky-A-Go-Go, The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, the San Diego Convention Center, the USS Midway, House of Blues San Diego, House of Blues on Sunset, The Music Box, and Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, among others.

In early 2016, Torrey independently released her debut EP, Exhale, which reflects on her past, and her personal growth over the last four years. The EP, produced by Tario Holmes (Flo Rida, Melanie Fiona, Big Time Rush, Chris Brown) and co-written with Lena Leon (Christina Grimmie, Coco Jones), was received well by her fans and the press, earning a premiere on PopDust.com, as well as a release party with her largest San Diego draw yet.

Torrey is currently writing new music, and collaborating with other artists and industry professionals to take her next steps. She is grateful for all the support her fans have given her, and can’t wait to see what her career has in store for her next.