JUAN ESCOVEDO, aka The J

As a child, Juan taught himself to play bongos, congas, trap drums, timbales, percussion, and other instruments. When he turned 14, he went from studying his father, Pete Escovedo, to proudly performing with him.

Juan has toured, performed, and recorded with many artists, including Prince, Tony Toni Tone, Miguel, El Chicano, Con Funk Shun, Patti LaBelle, Amerie, Chingy, Jody Watley, Lou Bega, MC Hammer, Lionel Richie, En Vogue, El DeBarge, Freddie Hubbard, Barry White, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Teri Lynn Carrington, Bobby McFerrin, Tito Puente, Cheryl Lynn, Raphael Saadiq, Bobby Womack, his sister Sheila E., and, still, his father, Pete Escovedo.

Juan tours, writes, and records as a solo artist with his father’s Latin Jazz Orchestra and The E Family: his father, his brother, Peter Michael Escovedo, and his sister Sheila E. Produced and arranged by Peter Michael Escovedo, The E Family’s latest CD, Rhythm of the Night, is a collection of nine “Old School” Soul & R&B hits, re-arranged and transformed into an explosion of Latin Jazz articulated through a fourteen-piece Latin Jazz Orchestra. The album features guest vocalists Peter Michael, Simon Russel, Sy Smith, Sheila E., Peter Michael, and Debi, as well as Escovedo’s great grandchildren.

Juan Escovedo released his first solo CD, THE J, on November 8, 2021, at his official record release party with two sold-out shows in Oakland. This CD elevates your soul with a masterfully crafted sound and rhythm meticulously created with an orchestra of seasoned sound that promises to take your breath away. Angel, the first single, features singer-songwriter El DeBarge with Martin Kember from Color Me Badd. Raphael Saadiq plays bass on two songs, Eddie M plays saxophone on two songs, and Andy Fargas of Santana sings on another piece. The video Angel was released on December 1, 2021!

STACY GOLD

Award-winning adventure romance author Stacy Gold would rather be in the middle of nowhere than almost anywhere else.

To that end, she’s run more than 50 rivers in three countries, been heli-dropped into remote ski huts multiple times (and made it into even more under her own steam), and most recently completed a self-support kayak trip in the Grand Canyon.

She has worked for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service as a backcountry ranger, river ranger, and naturalist, and spent fourteen years as a commercial river guide and kayak instructor in the southeast, Rocky Mountains and PNW. Her last “real job” was serving as Communications Director for a state-wide mountain biking non-profit. 

When she’s not busy kayaking, skiing, mountain biking, or hiking, with her husband and happy dogs, she writes stories about independent, capable women finding love and adventure in the great outdoors 

TIFFANY BAILEY

It’s my love for Pop music. And I do really love it. I’m the girl that’s singing the pop songs at the top of my lungs in the car and hoping other cars don’t think it’s road rage. That’s actually a part of my make up. 

I grew up with a Jazz trumpet player dad, Alan “Buddy” Bailey. He wanted me to be a great Jazz singer, and I just didn’t know how. It affected how I chose music, and how I viewed myself as a singer. I started this project knowing that I wanted to collaborate with my dad on a CD. We had a mutual love for Chet Baker. 

Chet Baker could break your heart and bring you joy with the way he sang and played his trumpet. This is what makes a great musician. They find a way to touch your soul.



Jazz with POP is a collection of funk, Jazz, and Pop. I picked the songs I love, and I hope you will love them too. 

SHEILA O’DONNELL

This Chicago born singer-songwriter is a thoughtful lyricist that attributes her ability to weave intoxicatingly beautiful entrancing songs into the hearts of her listeners to her musical family upbringing. Sheila’s father Sean, a folk musician from Donegal, Ireland first started teaching her to sing when she was old enough to talk and from that point on, Sheila focused her incredible talent and energy into developing her diverse musical career. Today, she is a dynamic, charismatic performer whose passionate and clear voice blends world, folk-rock, Celtic and pop styles



On November 11th, 2000 at the Hothouse in Chicago, Sheila released her first CD of original songs entitled “Waking Up” produced by Greg Crook and Allen Burnett of Tic Toc Entertainment. Sheila’s songs communicate a heartfelt invitation to live life fully and playfully, with love and respect for all people and her lyrics invite the listener to dive into a new way of thinking. Ultimately she hopes that her music has a positive effect in the hearts of her listeners and that it will in some way have an impact on creating world unity.



In October 2001 she moved out to Los Angeles and continues to perform throughout LA at venues including Genghis Cohen, The Viper Room, The Knitting Factory, The Mint, the House of Blues and the Derby and in November of 2003 she was a featured act at the VH-1 Save the Music Foundation party in Beverly Hills.



Six of her songs, from her album, “Clear”, a collaboration with poet and musician Richard Fammeree, are featured in the independent short film, “I Heard the Mermaids Singing” which won a Silver Award for Excellence for the soundtrack at the Park City Film Music Festival. “I Heard the Mermaids Singing” continues to make the Film Festival circuit and was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival.



On the electronic music front, her song “She She Land”, a mix with DJ/Producer Carlo Astuti, was #3 Top Beatport Weekly Releases for two weeks on a row and #15 on Beatport Progressive House Charts worldwide.



She continues to perform live around the LA area and she is working on writing her new album and upcoming film and TV projects. 

CATHERINE SHAINBERG, PH.D.

Catherine Shainberg, Ph.D, is an internationally renowned transpersonal psychologist, lecturer, visionary, teacher, and award-winning author. She is the founder of The School of Images® – a New York-based institute and global network of study centers that use the power of dream images and imagination for transformational purposes. Grounded in the Kabbalah, her work integrates ancient wisdom and teachings with modern Western knowledge and techniques to catalyze creative manifestation at all levels, in all areas of life, including personal, professional, communal, and global.

 

Drawing on more than a decade studying the Kabbalah of Light in Jerusalem with renowned kabbalist, mystic and teacher Colette Aboulker-Muscat and her own lifelong scholarship, she has developed proprietary techniques such as Saphire® Imagery, DreamOpening® and other unique, powerful methods for communicating with one’s subconscious. This work has helped thousands of students and private clients over the years in the US and at SOI’s eight international locations.

The bestselling author of Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming: Awakening the Visionary Life and DreamBirth: Transforming the Journey of Childbirth Through Imagery, her upcoming book, The Kabbalah of Light: Ancient Practices to Ignite the Imagination and Illuminate the Soul will be published in June, 2022 by Inner Traditions.

 

An in-demand speaker, guest lecturer, and teacher, she has been a highly acclaimed presenter about her own groundbreaking work with The School of Images® as well as Kabbalah, dreaming, imagery, and the subconscious at such leading organizations as Esalen, The Open Center, the NYC Jewish Community Center, New York’s 92nd Street Y, The Kitchen, Bodhi Tree, the Rubin Museum, the Deepak Chopra Center, the Wellfleet Library Lecture Series, and the American Institute of Mental Imagery.

 

Internationally, she has spoken extensively in cultural and academic institutions in Europe, the Middle East, and South East Asia, including the Guggenheim (Venice, Italy), the Waitah’a Air Gathering (New Zealand), the Transpersonal Psychology Institute (Melbourne, Australia), the London YPO, and the American Institute of Mental Imagery (Jerusalem, Israel), and she has been.

REV. ESTHER MIRIAM JENKINS

Reverend Esther Miriam Jenkins is founder of the School for the Shamanic Arts in Glendora, CA. A former high school teacher, she began her journey in the late 1950’s studying with the late Dr. Wm. V. King. He was a teacher of Eastern and Western Mysteries and a channel for St.Michael.

Her work continued when she joined the Healing Light Center Church in 1985. Here she learned Hands-On-Healing with the profound healer and psychic, Reverend Rosalyn Bruyere. She also began studying with Alberto Villoldo, a psychologist and medical anthropologist who studied with the Q’ero Indians of Peru.

She traveled to Peru and received sacred Inka initiations with Juan Nunez del Prado and Americo Yabar. Esther has also worked with Jose Luis Herrera, Ruben Orellana,and Jorge Luis Delgado.

Her mission is to share the knowledge and wisdom she has received from these great teachers as well as the information and enlightenment she receives from her own Guidence. 

MICHÉAL CASTALDO

michéal CASTALDO is the living embodiment of authentic Italian culture for modern North Americans. A native of Calabria in the “tip of the toe” of Italy, michéal is an accomplished pop-classical crossover singer of his native songs and a purveyor of his family-made, heirloom Italian luxury products in North America. 

michéal’s music is a life-long passion. His businesses began as gifts for friends from his family’s pursuits in Calabria. Today, in addition to performing his heart-warming Italian songs to adoring audiences, michéal CASTALDO rents his refurbished childhood home (Villetta Mimma Vittoria) in the heart of Calabria and imports his family’s high-quality true extra virgin olive oil, Aceto balsamic vinegar and Musica perfume fragrances, as well as the planning and staging of full-service, high-end Italian-themed events through his Tuscan Weddings and Events division. 

michéal CASTALDO’s name has become synonymous with authentic Italian experiences and products for North Americans in love with Italian culture. 

As a young child when his parents immigrated from Calabria to Canada in the 1960s, michéal was exposed at an early age to both American rock & roll and Italian pop music as well as the various Italian languages. His father, who originally crafted wooden barrels (a “Cooper”) for wine and balsamic vinegar in Calabria in the 1950s, became a general purpose carpenter when the family moved to a lively Italian community in Toronto, Canada. 

At nine years old, young michéal—a member of his Catholic church’s choir—was chosen by a priest to sing a solo. After the mass, parishioners came up to the young man and praised his voice. At that moment, the music bug bit michéal and a singing career was born.michéal CASTALDO.

He began studying guitar, piano, trumpet and songwriting. He studied voice with the renowned Maestro Pisapia, a protégé of the great Italian operatic tenor, Enrico Caruso, and songwriting with the legendary Doc Pomus.

michéal practiced Bel canto, the cousin of opera, while at same time soaking up the Italian performances of Andrea Bocelli along with Elvis Presley and Tom Jones. This meshing of global musical interests would form his crossover future.

After an education at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, michéal moved to New York City to pursue a professional music career. He developed his skills as a songwriter—at first writing in English—and producer working with, among others, singer-guitarist José Feliciano, trumpeter Chris Botto, jazz saxophonist Teo Macero and dancer Martha Wash.

“Goin’ Krazy,” a 1994 song written by michéal for Feliciano, entered the Billboard dance chart; the first CD for michéal’s pop band, Lives of a Cell, charted on the Gavin Report; and a dance remix for Martha Wash ascended Billboard’s dance charts. michéal’s last three CD releases—Olive You, Extravergine and Bergamot, went to number one on Amazon.com’s music charts.

Though he began singing in English, michéal switched to Italian when audiences responded to his unique hometown repertoire. Though he mostly sings in Italy’s “official” Florentine language, he is equally adept at the Neapolitan and Calabrian languages and has recorded songs in each language.

A lifetime of Italian living has brought a smooth texture, rich flavor and romantic hue to michéal’s Italian crossover music. As a vocalist, he has toured North America and Europe, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rainbow Room, Citifield and Shea Stadium. His passionate singing consistently transports audiences to his native Italian world of beauty and sweeping romanticism.

In 2012, michéal was chosen third among “Europe’s Best Crossover Performers,” and in 2011, named “Indie Artist of the Year” by Classical-Crossover UK. He was also awarded a prestigious Abe Olman Scholarship by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In addition to his music, there are michéal’s culture-bending “family” businesses, which came almost by accident. On a visit to his native Calabria for a wedding in 2000, he and his fiancé (now his wife) visited his old home, which had been abandoned by his family and had fallen into disrepair. Having just read the book, Under the Tuscan Sun, she had the idea that he fix up the house and offer it as a rental villa.

The idea took hold and michéal, with the help of skeptical family members, began a three-year project to rebuild and refurbish the building, which is centrally located in Gioia Tauro in Calabria. The work was completed in 2003. By the second year, the villa was rented 48 out of 52 weeks in a year. His family suddenly gained new respect for michéal’s budding entrepreneurship.

Calabria, unlike the rest of Italy, is still old world natural and undeveloped. The people are warm and friendly, and costs remain low. The location has grown as an ideal vacation spot for those seeking to visit the “real” Italy.

Near the villa are the family’s olive groves. There are 20,000 olive trees, many from 20 to over 300 years old. Because michéal’s family is large, they use only family members to work in the groves. This assures a higher level of quality because the people who do the work also consume the olive oil for their personal use.

The certified organic oil made by michéal’s family with traditional farming methods has a brilliant dark green hue, the scent of green olive and a wonderful buttery texture with subtle peppery finish. During trips to Calabria supervising the remodeling of the villa, michéal brought small bottles of his family-made olive oil home to give to friends as gifts.

The bottles were so popular that michéal was asked to if he could import and sell larger quantities of the olive oil in the states. In response, he formed the New York Olive Oil Cooperative, a group modeled after a farmer’s market, to import his family’s olive oil to the United States.

The olive oil was an instant hit and the small business took off. Then, michéal was asked by friends to import another Calabrian staple—authentic balsamic vinegar. This one was more difficult and took michéal on a journey to learn the vinegar-making process and, along the way, some more family history.

Made from the “must” of freshly pressed juice from the Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes, the must is cooked down in open copper kettles to half its original volume, then put into wooden casks to age for a dozen years. After that, it’s tested and returned to the wood for another five, ten, twenty or a hundred years or more. 

During the aging process, the balsamic vinegar is shifted (topped off) from one type of wood to the next. Cherry, chestnut, oak and mulberry all leave their imprint on the flavor of the vinegar. michéal learned that some woods are trade secrets. 

The result of this age-old process is an almost unbelievable concentration of sweet-sour flavor in a dense, intense, brown-black vinegar that hints of berries, grapes and vanilla. Tasting a well-aged balsamic vinegar is an experience that can last a lifetime.

michéal learned that a family member, who owns a gourmet restaurant in Italy, buys his balsamic vinegar from a Modena family who processes its vinegar through ten successively smaller barrels. They sell only to other families, not to businesses.

michéal was told he must buy a minimum of a single barrel to purchase vinegar from the family. “How much could a single barrel cost?” he asked himself. “Well, I learned it can cost thousands of dollars.”

michéal remembered that his own father had once been a Cooper, making wooden barrels for a family of balsamic vinegar makers of Modena. To give the process his own family’s touch, he contacted his father to see if he still had an old barrel—the older the wood the better. His father found one of his hand-crafted barrels for vinegar and cleaned it for use with michéal’s new balsamic vinegar enterprise.

Today, michéal’s balsamic vinegar is prized by connoisseurs throughout North America. It is sold in two ounce bottles through the same co-op that sells his olive oil.

Finally, michéal added a perfume fragrance to his line of family products from Calabria. Eighty-percent of the world’s Bergamot, the primary essence for many perfumes, comes from Southern Italy’s Ionian coast. The essence originates from an un-editable citrus plant about the size of a grapefruit. By combining Bergamot with other essential oils, michéal has produced Musica, a new perfume fragrance to add to his co-op products.

“Musica means music in Italian,” michéal said. “The terminology in the fragrance world is extremely similar to that of the music world. You have your top notes, your mid notes and your bass notes. You compose a fragrance.”

michéal began by giving perfume samples to buyers of his olive oil and even sprayed some of his CDs—appropriately named “Bergamot”—with his unique fragrance. Since much of the cost of perfume is in its packaging, he sells the initial order of the perfume in a beautiful refillable bottle. The refills cut the cost of the perfume dramatically.

As he performed at high-end events at venues including the Waldorf Astoria, The Pierre, the Rainbow Room, Cipriani, The St. Regis Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton, michéal took his Italian entrepreneurship even further by creating a high-end event planning service, Tuscan Weddings and Events. 

The new service celebrates the glamor of Italy in the 1950s and 60s. michéal has combined carefully selected caterers, musicians, photographers and videographers, florists and even a mozzarella maker to produce weddings and other events with an authentic Italian theme. He keeps the events exclusive for quality control—doing only two or three events a year. So far, the company has successfully done more than ten such events.

What began for michéal CASTALDO as a passion for music, has transformed into his family’s personal story through a series of family-made products that brings his authentic Italian culture to North Americans. 

“I’m telling my story through these products,” said michéal. “I’m sharing my love for my family and what I treasure with anyone willing to try and experience it.”

A Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” award winner, Linda Katherine Cutting’s Memory Slips (Harper Collins) was published in seven languages. It won the ASCAP  Deems-Taylor award for excellence in writing about music, was optioned for film by Columbia-Tristar, and Harper Audio’s recording of Linda reading the book and performing at the piano was a finalist for the Audie Award. Linda launched her memoir with an interview and piano performance on The Today Show.

Linda has also published essays, articles, short fiction, and poetry in The New York Times Magazine, The London Guardian, The New Republic, The Boston Globe, Pangyrus, Wired, Salamander Magazine, Lithub, The Drum, Silver Birch Press, Think! NBC, The Beacon Book of Essays by Contemporary American Women, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and Cosmopolitan Magazine.

 A is for Always, a children’s book about adoption written in verse, was published by Familius/Workman August 2, 2022 and was #1 for new releases in children’s alphabet books and children’s books on adoption on Amazon.  Linda is the author; Leonie Little-Lex the illustrator. 

Sherri is a Multidimensional Healing Practitioner, Content Creator, Light Language Channel, and Autoimmune Energetic Practitioner™ who connects the quantum dots to bring forth a deeper understanding of the core aspects that are preventing people from thriving and living in freedom and wellness. 

Her clients include Lightworkers, Starseeds, empaths, and those challenged with autoimmune disorders.

Through group and individual sessions, Sherri quickly pinpoints and unlocks the many aspects of the individual that are ready to move into transformation and integrate as the creative Self, restoring the Divine blueprint.

In this multidimensional approach, she employs ancient techniques for Transcendence, which reach the physical, energetic, emotional, and spiritual bodies.

She calls this approach Human Alchemy™ the merging of the Human and the aligned, most embodied Soul.

As a Light Language Channel and Artist, Sherri connects with Higher Beings and Galactics to support others in their Light Language and Origin journeys.

You can find Sherri’s work or contact her at the links below.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherribausch/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SherriBausch 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sherribausch 

Kat’s experience includes working as a Crime Scene Specialist for the Austin Police Department, a WWII Casualty Analyst for the Department of Defense Missing/POW Personnel Office, and a Forensic Investigator in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware medical examiners’ offices. She now works on the missing and unidentified persons crisis. She volunteered with Operation Identification excavating unidentified migrants on the Texas/Mexico border and responds to mass fatality incidents when needed with DMORT. She is the chair of the Society of Forensic Anthropologists. She has been happily alcohol free since February 2021! 

Suzanne has the ability to channel, do automatic writing, perform psychic readings, tune into interdimensional planes and download advanced knowledge and wisdom about creation, the true nature of reality, consciousness, & DNA.

This episode is a conversation to explore limitless possibilities, multidimensionality, missing time, and the paranormal. My guest, Suzanne Ross, has dedicated her life to the awakening and ascension of humanity. Through her books, shows, events, TV network and nonprofit organization, she has reached millions with her message of hope for humanity and a new earth. Suzanne speaks worldwide and has been seen on GAIA TV and featured on The Global Peace Tribe. 

Holly at Altitude

- De-platformed freelance journalist

- Entrepreneur

- 2020 Election Judge

- Political junkie

- B.A. Poli Sci, M.A. Journalism

- Karens hate me

This episode features an expert in the field of Emotional Energy Transformation in humans and homes. My guest,  Siobhan Nicolaou, is a Medium. She utilizes guidance and tools from higher consciousness, and helps clients and students overcome the divided perspective in their minds and hearts which keep them from living the truth of who they are. Siobhan is a natural clairsentient, clairvoyant, and clairaudient, who has been consciously sharing her gifts through readings and classes since 1988. Her mission is to empower others with a sustainable path of wholeness and peace.

Patrick Wills is a 46-year fire service and law enforcement professional, serving as fire Captain/Investigator, with the Long Beach Fire Department, including 17 years as supervising investigator of the ATF Arson Unit. Wills was also involved in hundreds of arrests of adult and juvenile arson suspects, as well as testifying in state and federal courts as an expert witness.

His newly published book, The Reality of PTSD When Children Die, chronicles: a tragic and preventable fire that claimed the lives of three young sisters; his personal struggle with such tragedy; and how he made it back to the real world thanks to a police psychologist who took the time to ask a very basic question.

Guest Tiffanie Kellog - Speaker, Coach and Author of “4-1/2 Networkling Mistakes: Maximize your Networking Efforts!” is having more fun with follow-ups and networking!



After being "restructured" in 2003 and looking after her terminal mother, Tiffanie learned key skills for success as a female entrepreneur. Join us and learn the art of networking, critical techniques to develop and what others make mistakes doing that waste time and precious energy. How to build your business with referrals - your BEST source of excellent clients!

 

Tiffanie Kellog entered the entrepreneurial world in 2003 and since then has enjoyed being able to help her clients MAKE MONEY, SAVE TIME, and have FUN! Since then, Tiffanie has spent her time traveling across the globe helping thousands of entrepreneurs create amazing businesses and have spectacular lives – through keynote presentations, workshops, online programs, and more!

Whether sharing her expertise (with her southern accent) on referral marketing, networking or maximizing your time, Tiffanie will knock the socks off the audience with her fun and entertaining presentations while leaving them with eTiffanies (epiphanies from Tiffanie) to help create RESULTS in their world!!!

Tiffanie shares, “My goal is to help people achieve their dreams by giving them the tools needed to make more money in less time so they can have more fun!”

Tiffanie is the author of 4 ½ Networking Mistakes: Maximize Your Networking Efforts by Avoid Common Mistakes, Knock the Socks off Your Audience: Delivering Presentations with Power and Passion to Audiences Large and Small. and Socks to Success: Be memorable! Branding to Generate More Referrals.



More about Tiffanie here:

Website: TiffanieKellog.com

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/morewithtiffanie

https://www.facebook.com/TiffanieKellog

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffaniekellog

https://www.facebook.com/TiffanieSpeaks

http://www.instagram.com/tiffaniekellog

https://www.youtube.com/tiffaniekellog



Audience Gift: Free ebook, "Why You Ain't Getting Referrals"...

I am a therapist in private practice in Dallas, specializing in social anxiety. I graduated from Cornell University and have an MSSW from the University of Texas in Arlington. My book is “From ‘Loser’ to Legend- How 60+ Celebrities Survived and Thrived after Bullying”, a book for kids and teens dealing with bullying (and their parents).

Tim Roemer, former U.S. Member of Congress, 9/11 Commissioner, and Ambassador to India, is Executive Director and Strategic Counselor at APCO Worldwide. He works with clients on government relations and provides strategic advice. With his background in international trade, education policy, and national security, Ambassador Roemer is a trusted consensus-builder, problem solver and international expert.

In 2009, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to India, one of America’s largest diplomatic missions. During his time in office, Ambassador Roemer helped move India from being America’s 25^th largest trading partner to 12^th. He oversaw the signing of the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative, which broadened U.S. – India coordination in intelligence, homeland security, border security, money laundering, and terrorist financing. He worked with the U.S. Government to assist India on the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership. Ambassador Roemer strengthened U.S. cooperation with India in technology transfers and sales in the defense and space industries.

Earlier, Ambassador Roemer proudly served for 12 years in the United States Congress as the Representative for Indiana’s 3^rd Congressional District. Coming from a family of educators, he fought to improve access, standards and achievement for American education. He was known for his bipartisan work on getting laws passed and his insights on the Intelligence Committee. Ambassador Roemer was appointed to serve on the 9/11 Commission and helped pass the Commission’s recommendations into law. Later, he was a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Presidential Task Force on Combating the Ideology of Radical Extremism, the 21^st Century National Parks Commission, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, and the 9/11 FBI Review Commission.

Ambassador Roemer is a board member of the United States India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and a member of the Aspen Institute’s US-India Strategic Dialogue. He is also a member of the U.S.-India Friendship Council Advisory Group and the Center for American Policy’s U.S.-India 21^st Century Institute. He is a strategic adviser to Issue One, a non-profit organization working on a non-partisan basis to address the insidious impact of big money on American democracy. Ambassador Roemer has traveled around the United States to speak on national security, market entry, and the U.S.-India relationship at numerous conferences and public venues, including Columbia, Notre Dame, Tufts, Indiana and UCSD universities, among others. He is also a lecturer at the Washington Campus Executive MBA Program.

He completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of California at San Diego. He earned a master’s and a doctoral degree in American government from the University of Notre Dame with his dissertation on: “The Senior Executive Service: Retirement and Public Personnel Policy”. Both schools have recognized his achievements with distinguished alumnus awards.

Ambassador Roemer is married to Sally Johnston Roemer.  They have

Michael Van Meter has seen first-hand the devastating effects of addiction on the public, himself, and his profession. Michael began his career as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy. After eight years, he became a Corrections Officer, Washington DC Police Officer, and then FBI Agent. In 2010, Michael became an instructor at the FBI Academy.

In 2013, he created a course titled “Leading At-Risk Employees” geared toward Police Executives to help them understand alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, PTSD, suicide, and domestic violence as it relates to policies and procedures for their agencies worldwide. In 2019, Michael retired from the FBI but his passion for helping others continued. He is currently working on a Master’s in Addiction Counseling: Integrated Recovery for Co-Occurring Disorders from the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies. Pulling from his personal and professional experience, Michael shares his thoughts on this sensitive, complex, and controversial subject.

Samantha overcame physical limitations from congenital hip dysplasia and smashed the glass ceiling to become South Australia’s first female urological surgeon. She is a passionate businesswoman, founder, and entrepreneur.

She advocates gender equity, disability inclusion and cultural diversity, reducing the stigma of urinary incontinence and raising awareness about preventable chronic diseases.

Her first two books, The No Recipe Cookbook and When I’m a Surgeon, were Amazon No 1 best-sellers. Her Inspirational Careers picture book series inspires children to Dream Big and Aim High, instilling self-belief.

Samantha was one of four finalist nominees for South Australia, Australian of the Year 2022.