Dr. Tom Tavantzis asserts people can be taught to identify and work with their strengths. “I believe deeply in the power within each of us to harness our natural abilities as well as develop our own career and life vision, so that we can live lives that are satisfying to ourselves and others.” Coaching managers to “be in the here and now and really listen is vital for understanding problems,” Tavantzis explains. “When people talk about situations, they're also making comments about the relationship that exists between you and them.” Helping people through their relationships helps a manager deal with the team in a different way.
Brown's Guides develops and publishes high-quality editorial content about a wide variety of where-to-go, what-to-do topics through multiple channels and platforms, explains publisher Fred Brown. “I have been involved with all aspects of print and online publishing, writing, editing, promotion and sales for over 35 years. It’s what I love to do.” Fred was recruited by the editor of his college newspaper, although he’d never considered journalism. Editing the newspaper “convinced me journalism was my calling. I’ve never been able to escape it. Although I've tried on numerous occasions, I always come back to it.”
Helen Duffy, as a bilingual court interpreter based in her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, uses the fluency in Spanish which she developed in Managua, Nicaragua while teaching English to university students in the war-torn country. Born to activist parents, she learned early how to navigate controversy and dissent. Armed with only a B.S. degree in English, Helen plunged herself into learning Spanish on the job in Nicaragua. The nation was engaged in a major literacy campaign, and there was also a thirst among college students for learning English. She spent 20 years teaching English as a second language.
Ward Rinehart, as co-manager of Jura Editorial Services, is an American who lives and works in the Jura mountains of France. The firm edits and writes English-language publications for the international organizations in nearby Geneva, Switzerland, and for clients worldwide. He worked in communications at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore for 30 years. At age 6, Ward recalls creating “a little neighborhood newspaper” with a friend, an early indication that writing might be in his blood. Years later, he was in Paris in 1968 during the student uprising. Returning home to Middletown, CT, he edited a newspaper covering the student strikes in 1969.
Dr. Nicoline Ambe, founder of Nicoline Ambe International, an educational training and consulting company, is a #1 bestselling author, speaker and entrepreneur, teaching parents how to help children excel in school and prepare for a successful future. Proving her belief in the life-changing power of reading, Nicoline came to Canada and the U.S. on scholarships and earned her undergraduate degree, two master’s degrees and a doctorate, entirely on scholarships. Her initiative, belief in herself and hard work paved the path to forming her own company. She has been an educator nearly 20 years.
For 30 years, Bob Lancer has helped clients toward authentic living. Clients include Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses, associations, schools, community service organizations and coaching clients. He also teaches parents and childcare professionals to raise children to reach their full potential. Success must begin with the question, asked early and often: “What is the point of my life?” Using geometric terms, Bob describes “the point” as the first of several forms in nature that guide and help us understand our success journey, including the line, the wave, the circle, and the spiral.
Alf Nucifora, MBA (Harvard) is founder and chair of The Luxury Marketing Council chapter in Northern California, a global organization representing 1000+ leading consumer luxury brands. A native of Brisbane, Australia, his career in advertising and marketing spans corporate and agency work. After earning a B.A. from the University of Queensland, he worked for Fortune 500 companies in Australia and the United States. Leaving the corporate side to move into agency management, he settled in the San Francisco area in 2005, where he says the quality of life is incomparable.
Helena Hötzl, Swedish painter and illustrator, spent much of her childhood in pain, enduring many surgeries, using her dreams and art to satiate a hunger for escape. London’s Saatchi Gallery helped her art go international with her first exhibition in Budapest in 2008. Her career focus is on empowering girls and women. Even if it’s tough, and life is really bad, it always changes in some way, if you really want to follow your dreams. Have faith, believe in yourself, even though it's a battle every day. I've learned that every time I thought I had failed, something better came.
Keith Freund is trained as a music production engineer but spends most of his time as a web entrepreneur who hates to be bored. His first company, Fix Your Mix, has been providing audio mixing and mastering services over the internet since 2008. Fix Your Mix is not a recording studio, but manages engineers who perform these services remotely. “I'm willing to live with financial stress to do what I love to do,” Keith says. “I hate being bored more than anything else. Security is good but, I'm more afraid of being ordinary.” Now that he’s doing what he loves, he adds, “I haven't been bored for many years.”
Kalpana Murthy, a therapist certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), uses brain science-based approaches to help clients achieve their goals by identifying and resolving root causes of present day problems. She works as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Career Coach in her private practice Genuine Connection®, in Atlanta, Georgia. “Too many people get into a mindset that says, ‘I’m too old to make a radical change.’ I believe you have a psychological imperative to grow, and that your soul is going to push you to keep redefining yourself. It’s a choice between growth and comfortable, stable misery.”
Lee Ellis, founder and president of Leadership Freedom® LLC, guides the consulting firm focused on leadership and team development. Soon after retiring from his military career, Lee established and led the Career and Life Pathways Division of Crown Ministry, developing career assessment materials used globally by more than 200,000. Life and career decisions should be based on the uniqueness of each person, Lee explains. “Begin with this understanding: ‘I am made this way for a purpose.’ In my work, helping the person align their passion and their purpose becomes the challenge, but a really fun one.”
Bill Lowe, gallery owner for almost 30 years, has viewed art as a means of delivering a heightened consciousness and a higher frequency into the viewer’s heart, soul and energy field. “Art is a mechanism for psychic surgery that can bring about spiritual and emotional healing. As a boy, Bill was fascinated with understanding metaphysics, perception, energy fields, frequencies and wavelengths. It persisted through a successful career in radio ad sales in his 20s and provided a conceptual framework for his move into the art world. He says, “An art object is a microchip of consciousness.”
Andrea Lakes' company Delinquent Distribution owned merchandise sales rights on mega-brands Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Walking Dead, The Hobbit, etc. As CEO of Lessons.biz and Co-Founder of Mentor Mojo, Andrea founded 14 companies such as StickerJunkie.com. With the early success of Rhythm Sticks she knew she was a real business person, not a hobbyist. Heartsick when PBS stores placed an order for 50,000 which she could not fill in time, she learned about scalability, finding items to produce quickly in vast quantities.
For 30 years Bob Lancer has helped people follow their unique path of inspired living. Clients include Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses, associations, schools and community organizations. He teaches parenting and provides individual life coaching. Author of numerous books, he hosted a radio show for 15 years. “Your calling, inspiration and talents all converge along the true life path for you. On that path, when your main goal is the betterment of humankind, you'll always be provided for as abundantly as you desire, as long as you work for the fulfillment of a higher purpose in life.”
“I am your Dream Accelerator,” Lorelei Robbins explains. Using her diverse skills as an astrologer, counselor, interviewer and minister she helps people allow their dreams to come true by surrendering to Divine timing and dropping whatever is in the way of reaching their dreams. “Each of us has within us a cast of characters, though few people are acquainted with them. For much of my life I didn't even understand my own cast of characters. I have a fiercely independent side with a gentle, compassionate side. Lorelei helps individuals listen to the voices of all those inner characters.
A certified career/life management coach, author and motivational speaker, Kathleen Brady brings 25 years of experience to helping people identify their goals and embrace their dreams. She is Director and Instructor of Career Development at Georgian Court University and head of Brady & Associates CareerPlanners, LLC. When people start looking for a job, “They ‘should’ all over themselves,” explains Kathleen Brady. They go to what “makes sense. My dad is an accountant so I should be an accountant. “I always try to get them to put that ‘should’ aside and start by asking, "What's my dream?"
During his 40-plus years in advertising, Brent Kuhn brought 30-minute infomercials to the mainstream, greatly expanding direct response advertising. Before founding Bennett, Kuhn, Varner (BKV), he worked for leading ad shops McCann-Erickson and Tatham-Laird & Kudner. Now in active retirement, he continues to pitch new clients as Vice Chairman of BKV. Bolstered by the confidence he gained as a 10-year-old watching his father prepare for business meetings, Brent says he learned how to do well in interviews. Self-assurance overcame his academic background and landed him a job at an ad agency that typically only recruited from top-notch schools.
An entrepreneurial spirit has helped Jeanne Rivard adapt to new interests and career opportunities—including advertising, real estate, construction, food and entertainment, to alternative healing. At each new venture she added skills and explored new talents. Now she’s writing a book on chronic illness and practicing acupuncture-related Tong Ren. Learning to trust her instincts has rewarded Jeanne richly. Mentioning her interest in real estate, to her employer, the president of the company listed his house with her. When it quickly sold, word of mouth referrals followed, leading her to a 20-year successful career in real estate.
Calling himself a serial innovator, Mike O'Horo’s current venture is Varsidee, software that reimagines the broken hiring process, relying on concrete demonstrations of capability. This eliminates screening bias completely, opening opportunity to all. It eliminates all but qualified, genuinely interested candidates. After college, a top advertising executive told him he’d “end up living under a bridge” if he held out for an ad job during the recession, Mike set his eyes on precious gems, loving it. Unwittingly, he created a manager training program that eventually paved his way into a career coaching executives.
Practicing yoga for 25 years, Sarah Boler has been teaching it for one. She is also a certified health coach and teacher, using yoga and meditation to help her through some difficult times. Sarah is passionate about sharing yoga with as many people as possible. At 22, she tried yoga, loved it, and found it compatible with her athleticism. Moving to Australia at 23, she continued practicing and learning, as she worked full time as a dental hygienist. Taking a teaching job in the U.S., she began teaching yoga to fellow teachers, viewing it holistically.
With a passion for understanding people, Tom Tavantzis, Ed.D., has helped thousands develop their strengths in his 35-year career. A top leadership psychologist and career development expert, his workshop participants and students call him a transformational leader. You can't truly “know thyself” without other people helping you, Dr. Tom explains. His methods blend self-examination with agenda-free feedback from people on a similar journey of discovery. Freed from the influence of family or unconscious expectations, clients often discover things they already sensed, but at a profound new level.
Woodworking artist Arthur J. Stevens, has loved “making stuff” since kindergarten. His shop does full service woodworking and exhibit fabrication, finely crafted furniture exhibits and woodwork, specializing in bent laminate veneer and vacuum press marquetry. Connecting with the American Craft Council Shows, the Philly Fine Furniture and Providence Fine Furniture Show in the early '90s, Art says, “It was just interesting to see people making a living ‘making stuff’.” Seeing his work displayed alongside that of “people with actual qualifications was a fantastic experience.”
Diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2009, Rosanne Lindsay set out to heal herself naturally. Delving into her own healing for lessons, she is working with others and seeing the same reversals when they can really embrace the idea that they are their own healers. “My biggest turning point happened between ages 40 to 44. I began to question why I was where I was, to explore my interests in natural health and our connection to the planet. I could see from the perspective of my own kids how important that was,” Rosanne explains. “People are afraid of thinking with their own minds. They give up their power to somebody else.”