About Vanita Lott:

As a Certified Nurse Midwife, RN, and BSN, my passion is sharing my 35 years of experience, knowledge and wisdom to empower women to make fully informed choices for a safer, easier and more beautiful birth. Today’s extreme techno-medical approach treats birth as a disaster waiting to happen and imposes many dubious interventions on even normal labors. Our maternity care system has become infected with the profit and power-driven agendas of insurance companies; hospital, pharmaceutical and medical supply corporations; and even the medical societies. Despite pretty labor rooms and more female Ob/Gyns, the cesarean rates skyrocketed. Unbelievably, our current system was never designed to be mother & baby friendly and has been criticized as pseudo-scientific by independent researchers. Our dangerous “unnec-cesarean” epidemic is the most glaring example that this very unbalanced approach needs a dramatic overhaul to become wellness & prevention oriented to meet the real needs of mothers, babies and their families.

Background:

• Called to be midwife at the age of 16 while reading about the U.S. Air Force’s CNMs.
• Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from William Patterson College in New Jersey in 1981. Cum Laude (with Honors).
• Frontier School of Midwifery, graduated with GPA of 3.87 in 1997.
• American College of Nurse-Midwives board certified.
• Hospital experience including high-risk in N.J., N.Y., Washington, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
• Professional & community lecturer, seminar leader and researcher.
• Avid student of alternative holistic healing practices, including naturopathy, herbal medicine, sound and spiritual healing.
• Certified yoga teacher and Reiki (hands-on-healing) practitioner.
• Loves kayaking, hiking, ecstatic dance, yoga, meditation, being in nature, being with family & friends.

Dr. Kovacs is a renowned performance physiologist, researcher, author, speaker and coach with an extensive background training and researching athletes and elite performers. His unique skillset has made him one of the worldwide leading performance experts in the area of optimizing human performance through the application of cutting edge, evidence-based information. He formerly directed the Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning and Coaching Education departments for the United States Tennis Association (USTA). He was an All-American and NCAA doubles champion in tennis at Auburn University and earned his PhD from the University of Alabama. He is a Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS) and Master Tennis Performance Specialist (MTPS) through the iTPA, and in 2012 he was the youngest ever recipient of the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award. He has worked with more than two dozen top professional tennis players on all aspects of physical training including John Isner, Robby Ginepri, Ryan Harrison and Sloane Stephens.



As a sports administrator and executive he has worked at the highest level of sports and industry. Most recently he was the Director of the Gatorade Sport Science Institute which was established in 1985 and is committed to helping athletes optimize their health and performance through research and education in hydration and nutrition science. He was also an executive at Pepsico working in the area of long term research and innovation focused on improving athletic performance and monitoring using science and technology. He also directed the Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning and Coaching Education departments for the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The USTA is the largest National Sports Governing Body in the US. During his tenure at the USTA he created the integration of the medical and sport science services for full time athletes at the National Training Center in Boca Raton, Florida as well as the development of full service care and training at satellite facilities in Los Angeles and New York. He was instrumental on securing a long term partnership with Cleveland Clinic Florida as well as creating a systematic approach to the training and treatment of tennis athletes throughout the US.  He is also the co-founder of the International Tennis Performance Association (iTPA), which is the worldwide leader in tennis-specific performance enhancement and injury prevention education and certification. It is an international organization with members in over 23 countries focused on improving standards in the training and treatment of tennis athletes from the weekend warrior to the top professional players. The organization offers in-person and online educational opportunities for Strength & Conditioning professionals, athletic trainers, physical therapists, medical doctors, chiropractors, tennis coaches and other healthcare providers who work with tennis athletes. The iTPA is also the official education provider for major tennis federations throughout the world. Dr. Kovacs has also served on the investment and finance committees for the National Strength & Conditioning Association and gone through a Finance program for executives through the Emory University Goizueta Business School.

As a leader in the scientific community Dr. Kovacs has earned Fellow status in the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The ACSM is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles and abstracts in top research journals, in addition to presenting workshops and keynote addresses on five continents and well over 100 presentations. His research has been published in top tier scientific publications including the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, Sports Health, International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance, Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research among others. In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Plagenhoef Award for sport science achievement (youngest ever recipient), and in 2012 he was the youngest ever International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award winner. He currently chairs both the PTR Sport Science Committee and the ITF Health Benefits of Tennis Taskforce. He also is a member of the USTA National Sport Science Committee and the International Relations Committee of the ACSM. Over his career he has served on editorial review boards and as a peer reviewer for more than a dozen scientific journals.



Along with his academic and scientific background, Dr. Kovacs is also a coach and former professional athlete. He was an All-American and NCAA doubles champion in tennis at Auburn University. After playing professionally, he completed his graduate work at Auburn University and earned his Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from The University of Alabama. Dr. Kovacs is a Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS) and Master Tennis Performance Specialist (MTPS) through the International Tennis Performance Association (iTPA), Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, a certified Health/Fitness Specialist through the American College of Sports Medicine, a United States Track and Field Level II Sprints Coach and USPTA-P1 Certified Tennis Coach. Over his career he has worked with more than two dozen top professional tennis players including John Isner, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Robby Ginepri, Donald Young, Taylor Townsend as well as dozens of top professional athletes in the NBA, NFL and MLB.



Best Selling Author, Speaker Consultant and Media Expert: Dr. Kovacs has published six books which have been translated into more than a dozen languages on sport and exercise science topics focused on stretching, recovery, mental skills training, anatomy and training.  His expertise has been retained by major corporations, academic institutions and media outlets including Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Southern California, University of North Carolina, New York University Medical Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pepsico, Gatorade, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ESPN, NCAA, National Athletic Trainers Association, National Strength & Conditioning Association, American College of Sports Medicine, International Tennis Federation, Association of Tennis Professionals, Women’s Tennis Association among others.

Sharkie Zartman is a former All-American volleyball athlete and champion competitor at UCLA where her jersey was retired. She was a member of the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team and also competed in the Women's Professional Volleyball Association for five years and is a member of the California Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Sharkie Zartman is a professor of health and fitness.  She teaches Classes in health and power yoga. She is also the host of Sharkie’s PEP Talk on Healthy Life Radio  and a Holistic Health Coach. She is the author of nine books.  Her best selling Youth Volleyball book was ranked as a number one best seller on Amazon for youth sports,  Shark Sense, is a fun empowerment book that has 5 five star reviews on Amazon and compares human goal searching behaviors to sharks. So You Think You Can Coach Kids? is a great resource for anyone who is coaching youth sports or just getting started.   Take on Aging as a Sport: The Athletic Approach to Aging is a must read for anyone who doesn’t want to be complacent and let aging beat them up!  Have Fun Getting Fit: Simple Ways to Rejuvenate Your Mind and Body will motivate, educate, and inspire people to get off the couch and make fitness an essential part of their lifestyles. And her new book, Empowered Aging: Expert Advice on Staying Healthy, Vital and Active  is a plethora of advice on how to stay healthy regardless of age.

Her newest book '#HeySportsParents: An Essential Guide for any Parent with a Child in Sports' co-written with Dr. Robert Weil, DPM is a best seller on Amazon. Dr. Robert Weil, also known as 'The Sports Doctor' is a sports podiatrist and has treated many of the world's premier athletes in a wide variety of sports.  He is the host of The Sports Doctor Radio Show and has written many articles for newspapers and magazines on sports parenting. This new book gives practical covering the basics of parenting a young athlete including the perks and pitfalls of youth sports, how to choose the right program for your child, how to feed a young athlete, what your role is as a parent, coaching your own child,how to navigate the college recruiting process, and a special chapter on stress management. In the first of three sections, Sharkie Zartman offers smart, clear advice. She returns the importance of character-building to the sporting enterprise which reminds us that’s what parenting should be about too.

Sharón graduated from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at the age of twenty. She began teaching that same year in a public Junior High School in California. During her three years there, she obtained her Master of Arts degree from Azusa-Pacific University in education administration with an emphasis in math.

Sharón initially taught in California before moving to Germany where she taught for the Department of Defense Schools. She continued to move around as she married an Air Force soldier. She was fortunate to always find a teaching job in each location. After Germany came Texas, and then Japan. Eventually she would also teach in New Mexico, Nebraska, Washington state and China, besides being a high school administrator in both Texas and Oregon. She retired as a high school principal in 2002, only to come out of retirement in January 2008 to become involved in schools for an additional two and a half years.

It was during her time in the schools that she linked the patterns in names to a person’s mindset or personality. She worked on figuring out the patterns of the different letters for fifteen years before she fully comprehended all of the nuances. Sharón took the opportunity to travel a large part of the world testing her theories for the first three years after leaving the education field. Many people requested that she write a book so that they could learn what she had realized about names.

It was during this time that she wrote "Know the Name; Know the Person", with the first edition being published in December 2006. The second edition, published in May 2010, added chapters on mnemonic devices to help people remember the patterns explained in the book and also how to compare two names. She is currently working on the third edition. She is also is working on her second book which combines story telling with logic to challenge people to think again about some commonly accepted beliefs that may no longer be serving us. Since the publication of her book, she focuses her time writing, traveling and sharing Neimology with others, and researching her theories.

BOOK REVIEW:

Profoundly valuable and highly recommended.

This book posits the science of "Neimology, the study of names" and is ground-breaking, of potentially historic importance, and it affords broad-spectrum practical application. The empirical research and experience behind it has substantial credibility.

The notion behind the research and this book is that a person's oft-repeated name is initially inspired, releasing a resonance and predictable potential within the person's life expression. The author systematizes how people with names bearing the same initial vowel, initial letter, last letter and middle letters show consistent tendencies. Hence, the resonance of the name demonstrates correlated patterns of conduct due to the structure of the name. This observation is consistent with the ancient knowledge of most cultures' approach to naming children, where the given name "says it all." Offering this as a framework for decoding, she does not, for example, clam that every "John" will be the same, but that every "John" will share certain traits. Her system explains how and why these traits will be distinct from those shared by persons named Jemal, or James, or Jim. The resulting correlations are nuanced and valuable. Socially, this book can help make interaction with friends and strangers alike far more effortless and productive.

Unlike common "cookbook" approaches that merely share the meanings of names, the Wyeth system explores the personality traits associated to vowels and consonants, with interpretive weight given to their placement in the name. She enriches the reader with a systematic exploration and many illustrations. The reader is thus equipped with an interpretive framework applicable to any name. She tested the work in many countries who use the English Alphabet and found consistent results with only minor adaptations. This is significant. In addition she addresses nicknames, changed names, and other permutations involved in naming. In sum, rather than providing a fish to the hungry, she has provided a hook and bait so the hungry can catch fish and eat for a lifetime.

Cymatics, the study of the physical impacts of sound, demonstrates that sounds create visible geometries. Medical research has proven that cell structures, neurological systems, and the body generally does respond directly to sound. It shows that repetition of sounds can create or ameliorate disease. Making a connection between behavior associated to the oft-heard name and cellular responses proven in hard science is not an untenable leap.

Neimology offers a wealth of very useful applications for anyone who seeks to gain a sense of what lies beneath the surface in other people. The range of applications is broad-spectrum. Among readers who could benefit from Neimology are people in business, sales, counseling, politics, ministry, education, military leadership, and anyone seeking to refine simple interaction among other people in any capacity.

Mikaya Heart: Spiritual Mentor: Spiritual Mentor and Counselor, Ordained Minister of Holistic Health, and Award Winning Author "Operating From A Place of Trust...Instead of Fear". Mikaya Heart grew up in Scotland, and lived twenty years in California, where she built her house from recycled lumber, which she considers one of her greatest achievements. She is an inveterate traveler, a prolific writer, most at home in the wilderness, and has experienced once in a lifetime adventures all around the world! She is often referred to as the “ultimate environmentalist, exceptional lover, courageous woman, and a true inspiration for humanity.” Cell or Text: 707-985-8085 Email: mikayaheart@myfastmail.com

PHILIPPO FRANCHINI

Also known as “The Musical Alchemist”, Franchini began his study of music at eight years old; yoga and meditation soon followed at age fourteen.

The son of an Italian father and American mother, Franchini always loved music and fell in love with the guitar as a young boy listening to folk tunes and cowboy songs. He began studying classical guitar with a passion when he was eight years old. With this strong foundation, he began exploring a wide range of musical genres, with interests as far and as wide as Indian classical and chant, Brazilian pop, Reggae, Rock n’ Roll, Blues and Gospel. Amazingly, Philippo weaves it all together in a beautiful, uplifting Musical Alchemy – and his exploration continues!

Philippo was fascinated by the power of music to evoke and transform emotions and states of consciousness, and began studying Nada Yoga and Sound Healing with noted teachers such as Dr. John Beaulieu and Sylvia Nakkach. Many of his compositions are infused with compelling tones and sonic healing energy and are beneficial for yoga practice, meditation and, of course, dancing!

“I wanted to create music that would be a doorway for others to enter into meditation, healing energy, a sense of the sublime… perhaps to accompany yoga practice or comfort someone who felt out of balance. I also wanted to express a sense of gratitude, wonder, and openness.”

–Philippo Franchini

A longtime bandmate of sacred music artist, David Newman, Philippo has toured around the world, playing festivals, yoga retreats and teaching workshops. He has five albums available, both solo and with his ensemble Blues Divine, and has contributed to dozens of other artists work as well. Currently Philippo lives in both California and Europe.

CARMEL RIVELLO MAGUIRE

Carmel Rivello Maguire had been influencing the design world for twenty-five years. As founder of Carmelot Interiors, Inc., and then as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development for two major interior design firms specializing in hotel and resort/hospitality design in California and Florida.

One of the first women to be invited to join Rotary International in the San Fernando Valley area of California, she is the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow award, as well as one of the first women in the country to be elected “Rotarian of the Year”.

Carmel wrote and produced her own 12-segment interior design show for local cable viewing.

During her time as Executive Vice President for the hospitality design firms, she became a much sought-after industry speaker, taking her knowledge and enthusiasm into the professional community throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada the Bahamas and Hawaii.

She has spoken at the American Resort Development (ARDA) conventions and to the timeshare industry across the country. Carmel is also a member of ARDA, a Registered Resort Professional (RRP), and held membership in the International Society of Interior Designs (ISID), as well as being a frequent contributor to “Developments Magazine”, one of the resort industry’s premiere international publications.

Carmel is the mother of four grown daughters and four amazing grandchildren.

After 48 years, Carmel returned to complete her university studies At Cal Lutheran University. She earned her degree, a triple Major in Art, Drama and Women’s studies, completing this work with Dean’s Lists honors, twice and spoke as the Valedictorian for the commencement at age 70!

She and her late husband traveled the world, bringing hope and valuable information to thousands of clients, from Dubai to Kuwait, Buenos Aires, to Rio, China to Ireland, London to Paris, and many local cities throughout the United States!

Her workshops and seminars, filled with humorous stories enable Carmel to bring her wisdom to many who value her work.

Most recently, Carmel has been honored as the International Ambassador of PEACE for the Rainbow Bridge, bridge to Inner Peace and to World Peace.

One of Carmel’s speaking topics to Women’s groups is titled:

MEMORIES, MOTHERHOOD AND MARINARA.

Giving back is important to Ms. Rivello-Maguire; her work with “Support for the Kids,” distributing food, clothing and toys to the needy in many communities  in Southern California, is part of her generous spirit! And, speaking Donald Duck in Spanish to the little ones evokes squeals of laughter.

As Docent in the “Gardens of the World”, she thrills to meeting people from all over the world welcoming them in their native language, as well as greeting close neighbors.

Her love of plants and horticulture found her donating her time for over seven years at a women’s center in Ventura, CA., working with women and their children in recovery from drug, alcohol and spousal abuse, teaching the clients to plant, grow their food, and cook a great Italian dinner!

She and her partner Jerry reside in Ojai, CA.

Below are her most requested topics where she will inspire and delight your audience.

Memories, Motherhood & Marinara

Creating Serenity Through Adversity

Using the metaphor of cooking in my NY Italian family’s kitchen I take your audience on a journey with stories of adversity and triumph, heartbreak and unconditional love. They will be deeply moved and inspired as they discover:

• How to look for the gift in the dysfunction.
• Laughter is the shortest distance between two souls
• How to find strength from early childhood trauma

What You Put Into The Sauce Of Your Life Makes All The Difference!

DAVID NEWMAN

David Newman is a renowned sacred mantra artist, singer-songwriter, author, and inspirational teacher. David, also known as Durga Das, travels extensively sharing his music, and teachings on the path of love as a vehicle for spiritual awakening. He has released numerous chart-topping world music albums, and is the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller The Timebound Traveler. David is also the founder of the Stay Strong Project and Yoga On Main. He has been featured on NPR, and in The Washington Post and Yoga Journal among many others.

“David Newman is reminiscent of George Harrison, Dylan and Paul Simon when they are in soul mode.”

LA Yoga Magazine

“At David Newman’s concert, the event’s volume knob seemed to go from low-level joy to full-on bliss, the kind you feel after climbing a gorgeous mountain or ending a tough run on a strong sprint.”

The Washington Post