Cindra Kamphoff had just reached a personal best in the 2013 Boston Marathon. Exhausted but feeling on top of the world, she walked slowily back to her hotel. Suddenly her mind began racing as she started asking core questions about her life focus. As a mental performance consultant, popular keynote speaker and author, she works with professional athletes, executives and championship teams around the nation. She is the author of “Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High Performance Edge.”
Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa T. Grimes are two former competitors who discovered how well they complement each other. In a dual guest interview, they explain how women can support each other in the workplace rather than competing. Fierce competitors 20 years ago, Paula and Lisa eventually formed a friendship and now, as a team, speak to corporations and women’s groups on a number of topics including Complementing Beats Competing and The Juggling Act.
When Clayton Morris left Fox and Friends Weekend, everyone thought he was nuts. Leaving one of the best broadcast jobs in the industry, when he had the number one cable news show? But he realized it was mostly fear and ego that was keeping him there. He achieved financial freedom through his real estate company, Morris Invest and now devotes himself to helping others buy their first rental property and build passive income to achieve their own financial freedom.
Stephynie Malik has been 100 percent self-reliant since she was in her mid-teens when she became legally emancipated. Looking back at her dynamic career accomplishments and life choices, she finds her teenage decisions explain a lot. From entry-level sales fresh out of college to one of the youngest directors in Silicon Valley at a company now publicly held, to the CEO of a 500+ person software integrator at the age of 28, Stephynie has amassed tremendous experience and a track record of success.
John Vespasian is the author of nine books about rational living. He has turned his international background and his personal interest in history into a breed of personal-development books that emphasize rationality, resilience, and learning from real-life examples. His latest books are On Becoming Unbreakable, Thriving in Difficult Times, and Sequentiality: The Amazing Power of Finding the Right Sequence of Steps, which came out in 2017.
Amber Baker saw the early signs of what she would like to do in her future through being in a peer counseling leadership group as a teen. But when she found herself writing a fan email to a neuroscience textbook author, she knew she was crazy for psychology. A clinical psychologist today in private practice and the host of the Go Friend Your Self podcast, her goal is to help people improve their relationship with themselves, investing energy in being their own best friend instead of worst critic.
Richard Maddox was working 16-hour days–often seven days a week– marketing Silicon Valley start-ups. But through it all he did one thing consistently every day since 1975, which gave him a story to tell hard-charging Westerners about finding enlightenment. His 9-part novel, “Remembering Eternity” and “The Whisper of a Saint” are double international Amazon bestselling enlightenment novels.
Greg Centineo has followed the entrepreneurial path for three decades, mastering the art and psychology of what moves people to believe in an idea, invest in it and commit their time and energy to help create the idea. His ground-breaking animation project, “Legends of Oz, Dorothy Returns,” illustrated his skills to raise $122 million through 1,300 investors in the midst of a recession, and to engage thousands of people to believe in and invest their energy in creating the dream.
Laura Sandefer had no plans to start a school, much less turn education on its head. But as she looks back, she has vivid memories of a pre-dawn chat with her father on the morning she left for college. His advice, “Be curious,” has become a consistent thread in her life’s journey. As co-founder of Acton Academy, her school has sparked a global awakening in education. Her book, "Courage to Grow,” documents the journey to pursue the big questions around learning and unleashing human potential.
Jake Carlson was in a career that was mostly satisfying. When his tightly scheduled life made him miss his daughter’s gymnastic tournament, he realized he and his career were not in sync. After 11 years as a tax attorney, he took his three kids out of school for the adventure of a lifetime. They spent a year living in 12 countries. What he had not expected was to observe the need for strong leadership everywhere he went.
Joel Solomon believes that although financial success and power can have great value, it is most important to learn to be successful as human beings. Solomon chairs Renewal Funds, a $98 million mission venture capital firm, delivering above market returns while catalyzing positive social and environmental change. He is also the author of the book, “The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose, and Capitalism.”
Emily Pereira played by the rules, giving her highly competitive job 110%. She had proven to others that she could excel in whatever she put her mind to. But when a personal crisis began to crush her, she needed a more radical way to be responsible for herself. A women’s love coach, yoga teacher and international retreat leader, she lives at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica with her beloved and baby girl. Together they are building the Spirit Nature Retreat and Wellness Center.
Arnie Herz knew he was heading to law school, but he took an indirect path that surprised everyone. A brush with his own mortality in college turned his life upside down and sent him on a global search for meaning that changed everything. As a lawyer, mediator and speaker, he often speaks on negotiation, conflict resolution, work-life balance and the attorney-client relationship. Covered in numerous publications, Arnie has received a host of acknowledgements and awards from his colleagues.
Dustin Peterson is the author of "RESET: How to Get Paid and Love What You Do," founder and CEO at Proof Leadership Group, and a career coach. After working an unfulfilling job in public relations, he set out to find his passion and live it, learning along the way the steps to identify purpose and articulate talents. He now dedicates his time to helping others discover their best-fit career.
Julie Young was implementing a half-million-dollar technology program in her school, and loving it. Then, her husband got a promotion and transfer. Starting over in a bare-bones country school, she asked for a computer, a decision she never regretted. Today, she is a leading voice for revolutionizing K-12 online education on the global stage. She is deputy vice-president of education outreach and student services for Arizona State University, and the CEO of ASU Prep Digital High School.
David demonstrated his talent again and again in challenging sales and sales management jobs. But as much as he loved sales, he finally admitted to himself he was not very good at working for others. So, he quit–with no plan whatsoever on what to do next.
As a speaker, coach and best-selling author, he builds on 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and sales professional to combine nuanced strategy and real-world tactics. His goal: to help professionals become more effective, efficient, and happy.
Cindy Ashton is CEO of Speaker Stardom Booking Agency, an elite-level presentation strategist, speaker, singer, and national TV host of Cindy Uncorked! She’s an authority on presentation, voice, body language, delivery, and leadership presence. Canadian-born, Cindy lives in the USA, with a green card for a person of “extraordinary ability.” In the top 1% in her field of training, speaking, and performing, she has received awards from former President Obama and Queen Elizabeth II.
Catherine Rains realized, after a particularly overwhelming day at work, she must find a new way to relieve stress. She was convinced she did not have an artistic bone in her body, but she decided to take on collage as a hobby. “Who can't rip up paper and put it back together!” In 2015, Catherine decided to integrate her job with her art and set up an art studio in every hotel where her job took her, and created a ton of art as she traveled. In January 2018, she returned full time to her greatest passion—ART.
Tony Guerra struggled to pay attention in school. His test scores were high, but his grades lagged behind. He felt misunderstood. Understanding those feelings from his youth was a prescription for being happy in his job today as a community college professor of pharmacology and chemistry. He’s also a pharmacist, entrepreneur, host of the Pharmacy Leaders Podcast and father of triplet 6-year-old girls. His book, “Memorizing Pharmacology: A Relaxed Approach,” has sold over 10,000 copies on Audible.com.
Dr. Diane Hamilton is a certified emotional intelligence and Myers Briggs instructor and the author of several books including “It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality.” The former MBA Program Chair at Forbes School of Business, she has taught more than 1,000 business courses. Top companies, including Forbes, have hired her to speak to improve employee relationships, increase engagement, improve productivity, and reduce conflict.
Josh Haynam was creating websites with a friend in college–an easy way to make some money. Clients often had random requests like, could you make a quiz about what kind of salesperson you are? There was nothing he liked better than an interesting problem. That led to him co-founding and self-funding Interact, a quiz software used by 40,000 brands including The American Red Cross, Forbes, and Home Depot. Interact is one of the fastest-growing marketing software firms in the world.
Aimee Teesdale was pursuing her new career in psychology, when she began to feel trapped by the expectations of others. She needed to experience life on her own terms. She needed to break free! By following one of her hobbies fulltime, she began a transformational journey of personal growth. Today, she is a successful transformational life and mindset coach, using her education and experience in psychology and personal development to help people committed to significantly changing parts of their lives.
Caroline Stokes founded The Emotionally Intelligent Recruiter training platform and podcast to help recruiters, leaders who hire, and HR execs adapt their human strategies to the age of artificial intelligence (AI). She’s an executive headhunter, certified executive coach, and EQ.2.0 trainer serving leaders in global technology and entertainment innovation. Her clients have included Microsoft, Disney, Amazon and Google. Widely published, she blogs for The Huffington Post, Thrive Global, LinkedIn and Medium.
Justin Devonshire was full of confidence as he left Wales to begin a new life in Cyprus. He thought, “I'm such an experienced marshal arts trainer, people will just throw their credit cards at me.” But that is not how things turned out at all. He has since consulted some of the top names in coaching on how to attract consistent leads, widen profits and scale a business quickly. Today he helps coaches, consultants and professionals to create businesses that provide freedom and scalability.
Milana Perepyolkina arrived in the U.S. and was absolutely delighted. She decided to become 100 percent Western, leaving behind her Romani culture and spirituality. For years, it worked very well. Then, a sudden accident thrust her onto a different path. Reconnecting with the energetic world she’d glimpsed in her past allowed her to heal and live a happy, fulfilled life. She saw that the simplest techniques could transform the lives of others. She wrote Gypsy Energy Secrets to share her valuable knowledge.