Moments With Marianne

Reina is an inspiring author and mentor, and a fun, enthusiastic speaker. She’s also the past President of a Toastmasters Chapter, President of Why Wait, LLC and the mother of two adults, independent children. In her former career, Reina represented a pharmaceutical company as an Oncology Consultant and was awarded the honor of #1 Salesperson in the Nation. http://reinaweiner.com

Mark Guerin is a 2014 graduate of Grub Street’s Novel Incubator program in Boston. He also has an MFA from Brandeis University and is a winner of an Illinois Arts Council Grant, the Mimi Steinberg Award for Playwriting and Sigma Tau Delta's Eleanor B. North Poetry Award. A contributor to the novelist’s blog, Dead Darlings, he is also a playwright, copywriter and journalist. https://www.mark-guerin.comBorn to a teen mother and a child of the foster care system for four years before she was adopted, Dr. Krista Driver started out as the epitome of the “underdog.” Today a licensed marriage and family therapist with a doctorate in psychology, Dr. Driver has dedicated her career to working with the most vulnerable in her community. https://kristadriver.com

JoAnne Jones is Professor Emeritus at Springfield College in Massachusetts, where she worked for twenty-five years. While at Springfield College, Dr. Jones served as Associate Dean of the School of Human Services and Acting Dean of the School of Social Work. Before Springfield College, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the University of Calgary, School of Social Welfare. Her teaching and research focused primarily on social justice issues. https://joannejonesauthor.com On June 1, 2019, 15 year-old Lily Kelly was tragically killed when the car she riding in was hit by a drunk driver. In the days that followed, a song emerged that Lily had written and recorded just six months before. Her mother Faith Zember shares about Lily, her legacy and her music. https://www.lilykellyministries.org

Cynthia Li, MD, is a board-certified physician in internal medicine, having completed her medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Her practice has centered on public health in underserved communities (HIV/AIDS in San Francisco, Doctors Without Borders in rural China), environmental health, and evolutionary health. She is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine. In 2017, she joined the faculty of the Joint Medical Program between the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley, in co-teaching the Healer's Art program, which trains medical students to develop the art of healing. Her family, friends, and community circles are wide-reaching and transect academia, public policy, public health, environmental health, integrative health, and complementary medicine. https://cynthialimd.com Jacqueline Thea, Ph.D., LMFT Licensed Psychotherapist and Dream Counselor. Former Profess

Alejandro Frid, Ph.D., has for over two decades inhabited the worlds of science, modern Indigenous cultures, and climate activism. An ecologist for First Nations of British Columbia’s Central Coast, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, Frid works collaboratively with First Nations on the integration of traditional knowledge and Western science to advance conservation and revitalize Indigenous control of their resources. His research experience has spanned conflicts between industrial development and terrestrial wildlife, the plight of endangered species, and the effects of overfishing on marine predators. https://alejandrofridecology.weebly.com/Mary McNerney earned her law degree from Georgetown University, had a fellowship with the UN Commission on International Trade Law, and then worked for many years as a corporate and international lawyer in Boston and Prague. It was not her plan to write this book. She never imagined that the Spirit of the

Cheryl Hale is a writer, blogger, and business owner who founded the Girl Be Brave online community, website GirlBeBrave.com, and product line in 2016. She started Girl Be Brave after reading a note that her grandmother, Frances, left her mother in her Bible, which ended with "girl be brave." Cheryl's hope is that Frances' words reach every girl and woman who needs a reminder of her own bravery. https://girlbebrave.com Karen Crowley-Susani is a sacred geometry and earth energy expert. She is the founder of the Boulder Centre for Master Builders, and co-author of: Secrets of Sacred Geometry which shares how our ancestors used the patterns of the sun and earth to create their sacred structures and how you can use this knowledge to improve your environment. As a former Air Force pilot, her career trajectory changed after she became a mother, and wanted her children to grow up in a healthy environment. She became determined to share this ancient wisdom to help heal the toxic energies of our modern world. https:/

Robert Boyers is editor of Salmagundi, professor of English at Skidmore College, and director of the New York State Summer Writers Institute. He is the author of ten previous books and the editor of a dozen others. He writes often for such magazines as Harper’s, The New Republic, The Nation, Yale Review, and Granta.Stuart Eisendrath, MD, is the author of When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough and the founding director of the University of California San Francisco Depression Center. A senior clinician and research psychiatrist at UCSF, his lectures on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for University of California TV have been viewed more than 1.5 million times. http://www.stuarteisendrath.com

Robyn Spizman is the author of Loving Out Loud. She is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and popular keynote speaker who has appeared in the media for over three decades, including NBC’s Today show more than thirty times. http://www.robynspizman.comKeisha Blair is a trained economist, with extensive experience in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. She was part of the Prime Minister's delegation to the World Economic Forum in 2018 as well as the East-Asia (ASEAN) Summit in Singapore. She is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and has an MSc in public policy from Carleton University in Ottawa. She has been profiled in The New York Times and is a contributor to the New York Observer and Thrive Global. After losing her husband suddenly to illness, Keisha was left to care for two young toddlers and embarked on a journey of self-discovery that allowed her to focus on the most important lessons for achieving ha

Filippo Voltaggio is a Business and Personal Life Coach, Keynote Speaker, Author and former Junior Manager at IBM.  While studying at the University of California, San Diego, Filippo, created a coursework for an emerging field, which was not offered at the time. The creation of this field of study, set the tone for Filippo’s professional career. http://therecalibration.com http://filippovoltaggio.com

Amy Herrig is a mother, wife, business owner, and lifelong Texan. She currently resides in Dallas with her family, but she also enjoys spending time in remote Alaska, helping run the family business there. She loves spending time in the outdoors, hiking and fishing, and she is a self-professed “foodie” who enjoys cooking with her family and hosting dinner parties for friends. Her story is an example that faith and perseverance can lead to overcoming obstacles and that people can learn from their mistakes and use them to experience growth and self-improvement.https://amyherrig.com https://hopefultuesdays.org Herman Williams, MD is the Managing Director of the BDO Nashville Healthcare Advisory Practice and is a leader in the BDO Institute for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation. He has extensive experience as a senior hospital executive with healthcare expertise that includes the management and operations of large and small-scale, national clinics and hospitals. His successful leadership has resulted in ac

Dan Willis served as a police captain, homicide detective, wellness unit coordinator, and SWAT commander. He is a graduate of San Diego State University and the FBI National Academy. He currently instructs nationwide on trauma, PTSD, and the process of healing.  https://firstresponderwellness.com Michael Ungar, Ph.D., is a Family Therapist and Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience. Since 2002, Dr. Ungar has directed the Resilience Research Centre, designing multisite longitudinal research and evaluation projects in more than a dozen low, middle, and high-income countries, with much of that work focused on the resilience of marginalized children and families, and adult populations experiencing mental health challenges.  http://www.michaelungar.com/

Dr. Marika Lindholm founded ESME.com to ignite a social movement of solo moms. A trained sociologist, Lindholm taught courses on inequality, diversity, and gender at Northwestern University for over a decade. In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles, she has been a regular contributor to Psychology Today, Working Mother, Mind Body Green, and Talk Space. She has published essays and fiction in the Daily News, Elephant Journal, The Hill, Ms., Silent Voices, and the Southern Indiana Review. https://esme.com www.WeGotThisBook.com

Andrew Hackett has more than 20 years of experience helping people think outside their limitations and move beyond their fears so they can accomplish amazing things in their life, business, and relationships. https://andrewhackett.com.au

Myra Mossman is a federal criminal appeals attorney who has handled complex cases before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and appeared before the US Supreme Court. She is also an archival hand bookbinder and paper restorer, a martial artist, and a reader and teacher of the tarot and Kabbalah. https://www.myrandomdeath.com Michelle DesPres is a certified clairvoyant medium trained under the Berkeley Psychic Institute program for inner development. She is an author with books designed to help others discover personal and collective fulfillment. She also published the Intuitive Ethical Standards establishing guidelines for alternative therapists. https://michelledespres.com

Karen earned an MA in poetry from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D in fiction from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and presently teaches writing workshops at Lighthouse North and film, pop culture, and storytelling to freshman at the CU – Boulder. https://www.karenauvinen.comJeanne Mackin is the author of several historical novels, including The Beautiful American. She taught creative writing at Goddard College and has given numerous workshops. She lives with her husband in upstate New York. www.jeannemackin.com

Ananda Devi is the author of the boldly honest spiritual autobiography Intimacy with the Infinite: The Truth about Life after Awakening. A powerful heart-centered Zen style spiritual teacher, she has transformed the lives of hundreds of students around the world. Born in South Africa, she is a single mother with triplet teenagers. Her spontaneous spiritual awakening in 2014 shattered her conventional materialistic existence and culminated in her giving up a multimillion dollar inheritance. She and her Twin Flame life partner Ramaji deliver the RASATM spiritual blessing via online sessions. She teaches that spiritual awakening is about vulnerability, integration and love so that you become authentic and truly human. https://www.rasatransmissioninternational.comBrad Warner is an author, Soto Zen teacher, punk bassist, filmmaker, and popular blogger who leads workshops and retreats around the world. In addition to his books, his writing appears in Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and Alternative Press. He li

Author John Snyder pens a story of love, hardship, and reconciliation that will leave readers filled with Christmas joy. In his second bookJacob’s Bell, Snyder returns to a historic Americana setting in the 1920s and 40s. Set in Chicago and Baltimore in 1944 with flashbacks to the 1920s, Jacob’s Bell follows Jacob McCallum on his arduous journey to redemption. Sometimes the road to forgiveness and restoration can be a rocky one. www.johnsnyder.netCorin Grillo is the author of The Angel Experiment and founder of the Angel Alchemy Academy. A trained psychotherapist, angel channel, healer, and teacher, Corin has helped thousands of people all over the world go from angel-curious to angel-powered. http://www.CorinGrillo.com

Danielle Ledezma grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and later moved to Austin where she attended and graduated from The University of Texas with a BS in Public Relations and a concentration in Spanish.  After graduation, she moved to Houston for a job in the hospitality industry. When an opportunity arose for an exciting new career move to tropical Mexico, she jumped on it.  https://www.danielleledezma.com/Jack Woodville London is the author of French Letters: Children of a Good War, the winner of the 2018 Gold Medal for Fiction Book of the Year in war and military fiction, as well as other novels, non-fiction, and articles on history and literature. https://jwlbooks.com

Ruta Sepetys (Rūta Šepetys) is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over sixty countries and forty languages. Sepetys is considered a “crossover” novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is renowned for giving voice to underrepresented history and those who experienced it.  Her books have won or been shortlisted for over forty book prizes, are included on over thirty state reading lists, and are currently in development for film and television. http://rutasepetys.com Abbi Waxman was born in England in 1970, the oldest child of two copywriters who never should have been together in the first place. Once her father ran off to buy cigarettes and never came back, her mother began a highly successful career writing crime fiction. She encouraged Abbi and her sister Emily to read anything and everything they could pull down from the shelves, and they did. Naturally lazy and disinclined to

Mark & Kirsten Palm are founders of Samaritan Aviation, a 501-3C organization that provides life flights, medicine delivery, hospital ministry and medical outreach to people living in remote villages in Papua New Guinea. The organization operates the only floatplanes in the region and often partners with international health organizations to fly supplies and personnel into the area to respond to outbreaks and natural disasters. Samaritan Aviation works in partnership with Unicef, World Health Organization, Papua New Guinea National Department for Health, the Digicel Foundation and many others. https://samaritanaviation.org Kerri Murray is the President of ShelterBox USA, a non-profit organization that provides aid, like tents, cooking tools, lights, and more, for families that have recently suffered disaster. ShelterBox is a global charity, and a world authority on providing innovative, rapid and practical shelter to families in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places and most devastated disaster z