HEATHER POWERS “GRATEFUL GIRL”

Heather is an award winning, internationally acknowledged, recording artist, writer and speaker. She has recorded two albums and is currently working on a third release set to come out in the Summer of 2015, as well as writing songs for licensing for feature films, TV and web corporate advertising campaigns. ​ ​Heather’s music has been featured on national television and in motion pictures for Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures. She was a breakout voiceover talent in the movie version of the Broadway smash hit, “Rent”. 

Her music has also garnered widespread radio play on stations around the world. Heather has recorded, toured and performed with many Hall of Fame and Grammy Award winning artists such as Huey Lewis and the News, Broadway Musical Director Tim Weil, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Bryan Duncan, John Schlitt (Petra/ 40 East), Bob Carlisle (Butterfly Kisses), Kurt Carr, Martha Munizzi, Rachael Lampa, Kevin Max (Lead singer of DC TALK/ Virgin Records) Wynonna Judd, and many others. ​

As both an artist and speaker, Heather has traveled the world entertaining and encouraging audiences through her music and her dramatic life story of young adult trauma, chronic illness, eating disorder, drugs and eventually finding complete life transition and learning to live day to day on a new path. ​ Heather has represented various humanitarian organizations including World Vision, Convoy of Hope (Heather Powers “Undone Disaster Relief “Tour Support), Food For The Hungry, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, EmancipateME (Human Trafficking), Compassion International and the Global Federation of Eating Disorders.

Donaldo Macedo is a professor of English and a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. A critical theorist, linguist, and expert on literacy and education studies, Macedo is the founder and former chair of the Applied Linguistics Master of Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

In 2014, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in the Republic of Cape Verde. In 2015, he was also inducted into the Academy of Letters in the Republic of Cape Verde. In 2003, Macedo was named a member of the Laureate Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi—International Society in Education, one of the world’s most prestigious awards in education. Past recipients of this award include Albert Einstein (1950), Walter Lippman (1960), Margaret Mead (1962), Charles E. Skinner (1966), and Jean Piaget (1974). The award recognizes Macedo’s scholarly contributions over the years and the influence his work has had both in the United States and abroad.

I have received numerous accolades over the years, but my proudest accomplishment is the more than 30 million dollars I have secured in grants ( this includes grants I wrote for various school districts that serve large numbers of linguistic minority students), which have enabled me to award an average of 75 scholarships annually since 1981. These scholarships support students who would not be able to pursue their university studies without such assistance. My reward has been the gratitude of these students, many of whom are immigrants and who say that their lives were transformed by Macedo’s efforts, as they are now university professors, authors, doctors, lawyers, educators, and policymakers in the United States and abroad.

Macedo has been a central figure in the field of critical pedagogy for more than 30 years. His work with Paulo Freire broke new theoretical ground, as it helped to develop a critical understanding of the ways in which language, power, and culture contribute to the positioning and formation of human experience and learning. Macedo was Freire’s chief translator and English language interpreter. His published dialogues with Paulo Freire are considered classic works not only for their elucidation of Freire’s theories of literacy but also for adding a more critical and theoretically advanced dimension to the study of literacy and critical pedagogy. Macedo’s and Freire’s coauthored book, Literacy: Reading the World and the Word, is central to critical literacy in that it redefines the very nature and terrain of literacy and critical pedagogy.

In addition to his seminal work with Freire, Macedo has played a central role in constructing a literacy of power for use in critical pedagogy. Contrary to popular belief and the dominant ideology, schools do not always serve the best interests of their students. Both the schools and the cultural pedagogies of the media and other social institutions often perpetuate ignorance or, as Macedo puts it, stupidification. As schools and other institutions fragment knowledge and deny contextual understanding, students find it increasingly difficult to make connections between school information, their lived worlds, and relations of power and privilege. Macedo’s work directly challenges the educational experts who attempt to keep issues of power and social struggle outside the purview of education. Macedo argues that questions of power vis-à-vis socioeconomic class relations, gender dynamics, and racial discrimination are suppressed by many mainstream political and educational leaders. Their position, Macedo asserts, conveniently ignores questions of ethics. As long as such questions are suppressed and a literacy of power isignored, schools will remain tools of the status quo.

Macedo ties this literacy of power directly to what he describes as emancipatory literacy, which is characterized by students becoming knowledgeable about their own histories, experiences, and the culture of their everyday environments. They also learn to discern the dominant culture’s codes and signifiers in order to deal with them in their own environments. In an educational context shaped by emancipatory literacy, therefore, teachers must teach a dual curriculum. Macedo argues that a language of possibility permeates a two-tier curriculum, which both empowers students to make sense of their everyday life and gives them the tools that are valued in the dominant culture, which they need to achieve upward mobility. Macedo writes that students in this context celebrate who they are while learning to deal with ways of seeing and being that are not their own. In this way, students from marginalized backgrounds can create their own histories (see below, Freire & Macedo, 1987; Macedo, 1994; Macedo& Bartolomé, 2001). For more information on Macedo’s work in this area, go to www.freireproject.org/content/donaldo-macedo.

Donaldo Macedo has published more than one hundred articles, books, and book chapters in the areas of linguistics, critical literacy, and multicultural education. His publications include Literacy: Reading the Word and the World (with Paulo Freire, 1987), Literacies of Power: What Americans Are Not Allowed to Know (1994), Dancing with Bigotry (with Lilia Bartolomé, 1999), Critical Education in the New Information Age (with Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, and Paul Willis, 1999), Chomsky on Miseducation (with Noam Chomsky, 2000), Howard Zinn on Democratic Education (with Howard Zinn, 2005), and Imposed Democracy: Dialogues with Noam Chomsky and Paulo Freire (2012).

Neeta Singhal is the founder of Rudraksha Ratna Science Therapy. For more than a decade she has researched Rudraksha Ratna, the correct methodology of their usage as per ancient Upanishads and Puranas, and the positive influence on people ’s lives. Her Aura/Counseling programs have benefitted thousands of people worldwide.

Through her over 10 year research on Rudraksha beads and Nava Ratna, she has identified how to tap the power of these miraculous holy items to achieve good health, wealth, success, bliss and completeness in all areas of life.

Neeta’s sessions have benefited CEOs, film stars and the masses in general. With a Masters in Computer Science, (MCA from Delhi University), Neeta Singhal is aligned to ‘logical’ reasoning and is revered by her admirers within India and throughout the world. She has received various recognitions and awards such as ‘Jyotisha Vaghdevi’ title by International Astrological Association, ‘Best Research in Rudraksha Ratna Science Therapy’ by NDTV Profit, ‘Indian Achiever for Jyotish Shiromani Award’ by All India Business Development Association and many more.

Guest for Your Show

From Chaos to Clarity: Getting Unstuck & Creating A Life You Love

By Alex Bratty

A soup-to-nuts guide for how to recognize why you're stuck, how to unstick it, and how to create a life you want - a life that works for you!

Amazon #1 Bestseller!

Alex Bratty was a superstar in the public-opinion polling field. One of the youngest partners ever in a prestigious Washington research firm, her job was to listen to people and find out what they think and how they feel. She tuned into their emotional responses to get deeply in touch with their "whys" in life.

The irony is that during the 15 years she was rising to the very top of her field, she wasn't listening to her own inner voice to discover her true emotions, to pay attention to her deepest desires and to understand why she was so miserably stuck in her own life!

Through tremendous trial and error, she finally found her way. And now she's giving other people the shortcut--through her remarkable book From Chaos to Clarity: Getting Unstuck & Creating a Life You Love--the essential quick-start guide to getting your life back on track.

Who amongst us hasn't felt stuck at one time or another? Maybe you're stuck right now! We all know that feeling of not knowing what to do next, or how to break out of the same old patterns of behavior, or listening to all that negative chatter that tells us we're not enough. As Alex puts it, when this happens, we keep ourselves running in place, playing small and safe.

Help is on the way! Like having a personal coach encouraging you, urging you gently and specifically, From Chaos to Clarity,  an Amazon.com #1 bestseller, gives you the tools to take back control of your life, to stop struggling and to focus on how to create a life you truly want, rather than one you think you should want.

Alex knows that empty feeling. She wasn't fulfilling her life's purpose and she felt trapped in a life that was like a hamster wheel she couldn't get off. In her quest to find the missing piece, she embarked on a personal development journey that helped her uncover the true essence of what she wanted: to help people and to be of service in a way that would contribute positively to the world. In the book, Alex shares her own struggle with being stuck and how she moved from a life that felt unfulfilled, constricted, and frustrated to one that is expansive and filled with love, abundance, and joy.

From Chaos to Clarity provides a step-by-step guide for clearing the gunk from your path and getting you moving with alacrity to the REAL life awaiting. Alex offers examples, charts to fill out and questions to ponder that lead you to the answers you may not have been able to discover on your own. Along the way, you will learn:

• To understand what's really keeping you stuck (not always what it appears)
• To reprogram your mind to dash those limiting and long-held beliefs about yourself and others
• To connect with your true self and recognize you already have the answers to your burning questions
• To release the past once and for all
• To embrace the present and the future whilst being open to all possibilities
• To clear your mind so you can find space and time to create
• To identify what you really want, your calling, and your higher purpose

Alex's From Chaos to Clarity puts you back in the driver's seat of your life and reminds you that you can have a life you love! Each chapter provides the tools to get unstuck and to be a deliberate creator of your own life!

To book Alex Bratty for an empowering and dynamic interview that can get your listeners unstuck in their own lives, please send an email with the name of the show, your contact information, a proposed date and time, and the calling details.

"From Chaos to Clarity is a step-by-step, soup-to-nuts guide to reclaiming freedom, joy, love and abundance in any area of your life where you are not creating the results you desire. Learn the art of getting unstuck, and you will forever have a reliable formula for transforming any challenge and manifesting any outcome you want to create."-- Christy Whitman, NY Times Best-Selling Author

"A powerful book that charts a clear course from the darkness of being stuck to the bright light of clarity and opportunity. Read this book and transform your life!"- Tom Bird, Renowned Book Whisperer & Best-Selling Author

"A profound renewal of self! With passion and enthusiasm, Alex gives us a step-by-step guide to reprogramming our belief system. It's Your Turn to leave burnout, depression, and exhaustion behind. You only have to read this book once to reach the richness and goodness that is within you. UNSTUCK is a personal transformation experience." - Tom Puetz, author of Secret Choices

"An inspiring call to self-action and betterment, packaged in an easily digestible and approachable form. This book will help to prepare, challenge and guide the reader to receiving the amazing life that awaits those willing to receive it, by re-calibrating from an outward to an inward focus in the personal search for answers and direction."-James "Mick" Andzulis, MBA, MSF, PhD, Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University.

Esther Hunter is a gifted orator, lifestyle & business coach, author and  ordained minister, with over 15years of experience hosting women’s conferences and workshops designed to holistically lift women out of the ashes of life into beautiful new beginnings.

As a local church communicator, television, radio media guest, and radio personality, she gives practical demonstrations and strategic leadership insight conveying the dynamics of how faith and action lead to fulfillment of destiny.  Esther’s passion is to bring awareness to society of the immense value of the individual, shifting the lives of people from pain to progress, from shame to success, from negative to positive outcomes. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Counseling degree.

Email: estherhunterministries@yahoo.com

FB: Esther a Hunter, MBA

Twitter: @BeauTfulYou

Lisa Marie is a professional speaker, executive coach, consultant, and workshop facilitator specializing in feminine leadership and a regular blog contributor to the Huffington Post.

At age 8 my father died abruptly and my mother became emotionally unavailable for many months. I can distinctly remember believing that I was not as good as other people, because I didn’t have a dad. The feeling snowballed into a major inferiority complex throughout most of my childhood. Around adolescence, I began blossoming and made the decision that the more insecure I felt in any situation, the higher I would hold my head to appear outwardly confident. Though this started as a coping mechanism for feeling insecure and intimidated, I unknowingly was learning how to “act as if” and eventually I truly did become confident.

 In the business world, this attitude born of my childhood trauma worked to my advantage, and I confidently pursued my career. It was natural for me to bite off more than I could chew, but I just kept focused on what I brought, and trusted that I could figure the rest out as I went along. I spent over 20 years in senior sales and marketing roles at hi-tech Fortune 500 companies and was recognized as one of the 200 most influential women in my industry. I went after what I wanted, stayed focused on my goal, instead of where I lacked.

In my personal relationships, specifically the romantic ones, I could not have been more opposite. My childhood wounds of feeling abandoned, and subsequently, ’less than’ translated into; I am not okay without a man. Over and over again, I gave my power and worth away to keep a boyfriend, partner, or husband. It was a pattern that created immense suffering throughout much of my adult life and led me down the path of a 15 year personal development and spiritual journey to finding peace and happiness within.

 Then, as if a brick hit me over the head, my true “a-ha” moment came. I realized there were many women in the world experiencing the same thing that I had experienced. I knew with certainty that my healing and transformation on the personal side, combined with my years in a successful corporate career, had groomed me perfectly to work specifically with professional women. I could work with them to develop the clarity, courage, and confidence to play big and lead authentically by overcoming self-doubt. I could use my experience to encourage other women to use their inherent natural feminine strengths.

 I love working with women to ignite their own passion and purpose, and most importantly realize that, they are the one they have always been waiting for. I now work to create a bridge that connects the conventional business world to personal development and mindfulness – It is fulfilling work that I love! 

Douglas Newsom is co-founder and CEO of BBS Network, Inc. (BBS Radio)

I am also a traveler, excited at new things, enjoying the experience, and living in the moment! I am a reader, writer and poet, with an entrepreneurial, mathematical mind. I love to theorize, think and meditate, but I hope not to miss an opportunity for play!

I am a kind and romantic soul, with a grand zest for life and the desire for exploration. I am humorous and thought provoking with old fashioned manners. I enjoy fine wine, unique cuisine, and conversations about unusual subjects.

I am a spiritual person. I am a true believer in diversity and synergy, and the power of thought! I believe everything ever created has purpose, is perfect, and will change!

I have reached higher levels of consciousness; increasing my capacity to love and be aware in the present; to understand information quickly and to connect to all that is.

I have used meditation to gain i, and I accept people for who they are. But I do not hang around forever! I am too complex, too intelligent, and too quickly bored.

I love to work with my hands; woodworking, landscaping, and just about any home project. I build companies for a living, so it’s no different with other creative outlets, I like to build! When an activity allows me to drift without thinking or stress, like wood working or playing an instrument, it’s a treasure.

My humor is abundant, intense and often dry.

If someone’s emotions are indiscernible to the naked eye, and yet every action they take, or movement they make, is on a comic par with John Cleets – I’m their huckleberry! But, if you’ve stopped laughing at yourself, allow me! I’m still bemused by seeing a lady turn down a polite request to dance! If I find you’ve stubbed your toes, because you over-paid for a trendy pair of shoes, or purchased a size too small to fit, I will laugh! I find that quite funny really!!

If survival depends on scheming, plotting, thinking, and wondering how to guard yourself, get your piece, and do it fast! Don’t make me spank you!

I prefer to hang among those whom Aristotle would have found interesting!

My faults (and this is tough to write about): I sometimes lack patience. I can appear somewhat aloof. I allow others to walk on me at times. I am extremely outgoing, but I rarely do extracurricular activities, perhaps because lately I’ve put too much emphasis into work and not enough into life. I can be stubborn. I am a charmer. I’m self actualized so I often overlook or reluctantly listen to stories of woe. I am just too damn optimistic. I am somewhat old fashioned, and may be  too much of a romantic, because I like to open doors, pull out chairs, and walk on the correct side of a sidewalk. And, whether I can afford it or not, I usually pay the tab!

Doug is Kundalini Experiencer! A keen, bright eyed participant of thought and activity. A unique soul traveling new roads - deeper, more aware and full of Energy!

40 years experience in corporate business development from inception through till profitability and/or fully operational status. A creative, operations and entrepreneurial background; responsible for the successful creation, startup, management and development of a veritable dozen companies over the course of his career, and has raised in excess of $25 million in private equity on behalf of start-ups.

Deep experience in corporate finance; financial structures, funding strategies, methods, planning and structural implementation.

Deep experience in public relations, investor relations and the development and creation of investment materials.

Deep experience in research, organization, formulation, writing and implementation of business plans, offerings and agreements for the formulation of corporations, joint ventures, associations, partnerships and limited liability companies.

Background in sales and marketing of consumer products.

Advanced communication and problem solving skills.

Proficiency in computer hardware, software and the Internet Web development.

Specialties: Bilingual - German