V.J. Stanley is an ex Division 1 recruited athlete and a 21 year head coach in college hockey. He has also coached youth, Middle School, and High School, USA Hockey, NSCA Regional, and to NYSHS football coach’s’ annual conference.

 V.J. has been on WFAN in NYC and Toronto, The Wease Show 95.1 and WXXI in Rochester New York, and Connect FM in Dubois Pa. His most recent appearance was on 570AM The Mission in NYC.

He has published three books. His research and presentations on the connection between the mind and body for both physical and mental health are being recognized and used by experts on a national level as an integral part of long term athletic development and life skills. The balance between the two is integral for long-term performance and Holistic Long Term Athletic Development.

His latest presentation, “Creating the Championship Mindset”, has been endorsed nationally by Lou Vairo, the 1984 US Olympic Men’s Hockey Coach and USA Hockey Hall of Famer.

VJ and his company, Balanced Excellence, the parent company to Frozen Shorts, promote balance versus specialization. Their motto, peace of mind is victory, applies to athletics, academics, and life.

Welcoming: Melissa Ross, BA, CMCP, RYT200, RCYT

Mindset Mentor and Clarity Coach

"How to Embrace the Mess and Forget the Stress"

With 20 years experience in the field of yoga and mindfulness, Melissa is a leading authority on healing and growth. As a leader and the founder of Breathe With Me Yoga, Melissa has influenced thousands of kids to connect with their mind, body and spirit through breathing, relaxation and mindfulness. As a speaker, coach, and author, and the founder of Rise2Wellness Inc., she uses her own experience with postpartum depression and anxiety to work with a wide range of individuals inspiring and empowering them to navigate – and overcome – stress, anxiety and depression. As a founding partner of the League of Giants, Melissa is on a mission to change 100 million lives.

After helping her son navigate anxiety at an early age and spending time in the classroom with so many children, it became Melissa’s biggest passion to help children and their parents navigate their way through anxiety, bullying and positivity. Melissa has helped countless families to find strategies that work. It has also become her passion to help all women step into their purpose and power. Melissa is the host of Story Time Yoga (for children 5-9 years and families 2-9 years) on the Roku, Apple and Amazon “In the Limelight” channel (https://www.bingenetworks.tv/channel/in-the-limellght-14192), Mat Chat (where she discusses wellness topics from her yoga mat), and the Wake Up With Giants show on Kat Country Radio (www.thedonpearsestudios.com). She is an international best-selling author, an award-winning speaker and entrepreneur, a 200-hour RYT, a 95-hour RCYT, and a proud mother of two.



Her story...

"Buried. As I ran from my home leaving behind my baby girl and my 2-year-old, the tears streamed down my face. I got into my car and drove into the night, not knowing where I was going. Anywhere, in the quiet car was enough. I knocked on a friend’s door not knowing how I got there or why, and when I entered her home I was acutely aware of her own children, the same age as mine, sleeping not far away. I apologized for intruding and as I fell into a chair, buried, was the only word that came to me. Not buried beneath piles of dirt per se, but having fallen into that deep dark place. Unable to climb from the bottomless hole, alone, cold and dark. As I cried sitting in her living room, not even her presence took away the feelings of despair and loneliness that I felt. I didn’t know how to climb out of the hole. It would be another year before I discovered that ‘buried’ was a gift, an opportunity to grow..."



There is so much more to share with the deeper learnings in this story of rising from tragedy to triumph!

More about Melissa here:

https://linktr.ee/melissaross

Meghan E. Brooks is a Clinical Lecturer in Law, Associate Research Scholar in Law, and Robert M. Cover Clinical Teaching Fellow at Yale Law School. Previously, she was a Justice Catalyst Fellow in the Special Litigation Unit and Public Benefits Unit's Veterans Practice at New York Legal Assistance Group, where she handled veterans benefits appeals and worked to advance pro-veteran policy.

J.D., Yale Law School, 2019

A.B., Harvard College, 2014 

Website:  https://law.yale.edu/clinics/vlsc

Luke Powell is a 1999 Watkins Award Honoree.  He was a 4.0 GPA,  5Star Academic All-American QB from Smyrna High School in Tennessee.  He attended and graduated from Stanford University where he was a First Team All-American as a kick returner and one of the school's all time best.  Luke had an opportunity to play for the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers prior to entering the coaching and administrative ranks in high school and college.  He is now a successful Corporate Sales Exec waiting to jump back into the world of collegiate sports as an Athletic Director at a Power5 School.  

Robert Spencer, author of Rating America’s President

Director of Jihad Watch

BIOGRAPHY TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM: 

https://www.jihadwatch.org/about-robert

ROBERT SPENCER is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is the author of twenty-one books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (Regnery Publishing) and The Truth About Muhammad (Regnery Publishing) and the bestselling The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS (Bombardier Books). His latest book is Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster (Bombardier Books).

Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry. He is a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy.

Spencer is a weekly columnist for PJ Media and FrontPage Magazine, and has written many hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism. His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, Fox News Opinion, National Review, The Federalist, The Hill, the Detroit News, TownHall.com, Real Clear Religion, the Daily Caller, the New Criterion, the Journal of International Security Affairs, the UK’s Guardian, Canada’s National Post, Middle East Quarterly, WorldNet Daily, First Things, Insight in the News, Aleteia, and many other journals. For nearly ten years Spencer wrote the weekly Jihad Watch column at Human Events. He has also served as a contributing writer to the Investigative Project on Terrorism and as an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.

Spencer has appeared on the BBC, ABC News, CNN, FoxNews’s Tucker Carlson Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, the Sean Hannity Show, Geraldo Rivera Reports, the Glenn Beck Show, Fox and Friends, America’s News HQ and many other Fox programs, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-Span, CTV News, Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News, France24, Voice of Russia and Croatia National Television (HTV), as well as on numerous radio programs including The Sean Hannity Show, Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor, The Mark Levin Show, The Laura Ingraham Show, The Herman Cain Show, The Joe Piscopo Show, The Howie Carr Show, The Curt Schilling Show, Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, Michael Savage’s Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Rusty Humphries Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Peter Boyles Show, Vatican Radio, and many others.

Robert Spencer has been a featured speaker at the University of California-Irvine, Temple University, Dartmouth College, Penn State University, the University of California-Los Angeles, Stanford University, New York University, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, State University of New York-Binghamton, State University of New York-Stony Brook, Florida State University, DePaul University, the College of William and Mary, Washington University of St. Louis, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Boise State University, Cal Poly, Portland State University, and many other colleges and universities. He has also addressed the Heritage Foundation, Westminster Institute, the Gatestone Institute, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in New York City, the Hudson Institute, the Temple of the Arts in Los Angeles, the San Diego Jewish Book Fair, the Christian Rights and Freedom Institute, the Young Presidents’ Organization, Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), FreedomFest, Young America’s Foundation, Hershey’s Sweet Retreat, the John W. Pope Civitas Institute, the Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, Train the Trainer, and many other audiences.

Spencer’s books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, Korean, Polish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia. His Qur’an commentary at Jihad Watch, Blogging the Qur’an, has been translated into Czech, Danish, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980

Most people experience fear and stress around money and they’re not aware how much it’s influencing their business, financial and family life, and their impact in the world. 

Sarah McCrum is a teacher and author who helps you create a healthy relationship with money. She teaches you how to grow the inner skills you need to handle the challenges of money, business and family life so you live more generously towards yourself and others.

She offers a practical, relaxed approach through her courses based on the principles of her book, Love Money, Money Loves You. Her work is founded on 30 years of personal practice, 22 years of training with Chinese Masters and two decades of coaching business owners and leaders.

Sarah has influenced the lives of tens of thousands worldwide to expand their consciousness around money and generosity.

JAYE YATES

My name is Jaye and I’ve thanked The Heavenly Father above for the gifts I have received in music, art and the 6th sense but most of all the spiritual awareness of love and vibrations. I started taking my music more seriously after a car accident at 29 years of age that changed my thoughts about life.

Left my full time job and I bought two old speakers and a second hand desk and started singing around cafes and sporting clubs as background music till I was approached by an agent to do Tribute Shows.

The agent VIP Entertainment Steve and Jennifer thought I had a tone of Cher in my voice so from there I had costumes made, wigs and backing music at Alfredos Studio and off across all sorts of places, entertaining I ventured.

I also then did tributes of Eurythmics, Dusty Springfield, Stevie Nicks and Marilyn.

I was blessed to be able to travel to many places with the tributes, Sydney, Brisbane, Northern Territory, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali and UK.

I always had original songs floating round in my head and eventually recorded quite a few whilst performing and holding down a part time job in the funeral industry with which I also had the privilege of singing on Funeral Services.

I wrote a song for Suicide prevention with which I help as one of a few charities along with Animals Australia and Romeo Rabbit and guinea Pig rescue.

I love music of all sorts as it has been my love, therapy and balance.

The latest song co-written with Tim Sacke Love Is Like The Ocean…..is just that! Ups and downs on waves!

A great Italian producer Papik produced the song beautifully and the video was produced by a great talented friend Vaughan Adam’s that took me out on his yacht along with our mate Andy to record on nothing better but the Indian Ocean off Perth Western Australia. The song has a Sade kind of feel as I’ve always loved Sade from the 80s.

I create music for the love and will continue to create with anything that inspires me.

As knowing the funeral industry so well now I also know how short life can be and every day is a precious experience

Phil Portlock retired from Metro, where for 29 years he was a photographer chronicling such things as the construction of the transit system.

Phil hadn’t had his first camera very long when he went to the  Washington National Cathedral to see the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a sermon titled “Remaining Awake During a Great Revolution” on March 31, 1968.

After King's assassination, Phil saw parts of his hometown aflame and walked through DC taking pictures. And then got into his car and drove to the National Arboretum. Seeking peace — and seeding it — became part of Phil’s life.

He became active with the Poor People’s Campaign and a student of the civil rights movement and the legislation that resulted from it: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Voting is the way citizens — Black and White, young and old, native-born and immigrant — make their voices heard.

In 2013 the Supreme Court considered the case of Shelby County v. Holder, which sought to strike down parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. For 29 days, Phil and his wife, Pat Sloan, held a vigil outside the court, urging the justices to leave the protections in place. On June 25, 2013, the court declared that Sections 4(b) and 5 of the act were unconstitutional, relaxing federal oversight of jurisdictions with a history of voter suppression. It would be harder to vote, but even more important, Phil and Pat decided.

Phil Portlock and his wife Pat Sloan put together a documentary on how Black Americans gained the vote after the Civil War, saw it threatened by Jim Crow laws and violent voter intimidation and protected by the 1965 act, only to see it threatened anew.

Phil delivered “Voting Rights: The Struggle to Be Counted” in libraries, churches and on campuses. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, he started offering his voter education seminar online. Phil and Pat spent every Sunday evening since early August 2020 remotely offering a whirlwind history of African American voting rights in the United States — and the recent threats to it.