Eric Abrams, Chief Inclusion Officer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education: Passion for educational access, diversity, and inclusion.

Ever wondered what it is like to create intimate and sex scences for television or film? Casey Hudecki, has worked professionally for over twenty years in film, television and theatre. She is a choreographer, educator and has worked in front and behind the camera as an actress, stunt performer, stunt coordinator and intimacy coordinator. Casey is an IDC Certified Intimacy Coordinator with over twenty credits to her name, including Sex/Life, The Boys, Ginny and Georgia, The Handmaids Tale, and Tiny Pretty Things. In this episode she shares with us her journey and the life and times of an intimacy coordinator and discusses: proper protocols for scenes containing intimacy, simulated sex, nudity or high emotional content; how to be an effective liaison between production and actors to facilitate communication; and much more.

https://www.intimacycoordinatorscanada.com/casey-hudecki

AJ is a skier, a mountain biker, a runner, and an overall outdoor enthusiast. She loves to capture photos and create videos centered around her progress and experiences. When she’s not spending time outdoors, she loves to cook plant-based meals, cuddle with her cats, and thrift vintage clothes.  

Melissa operates at the intersection of the left brain and right brain. This sweet spot is where she unlocks the full potential of teams to drive better results.

On the one hand, she is a serial content creator: writing, directing, producing and performing since her 2nd grade autobiography was published in the Field School Flash. On the other hand, she works with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists to best create the impact they desire.

It's all on the same creative continuum. Through leading creative teams and organizations in the film/ad world, she learned that sharing tools to develop leaders was just as important (and fun) as doing the work itself. So over the past ten years, she shifted her focus to emotional intelligence and leadership skills.

Melissa and her team work with their clients to turn intangible concepts and into tangible outcomes for leaders of all levels. Whether it’s a virtual presentation on emotional intelligence or a multiple session program for women leaders, client collaboration and customization are the foundation. The approach is equal parts inspiration and perspiration to drive results.

Kelly's creativity and passion for solving complex social problems are endless. Her early career included foundational expertise as a management consultant before pivoting to social impact consulting and entrepreneurship. Her work has been noteworthy for significant international and cross-sector experience, having spent years abroad working and living in Africa, Europe and the UK working for private companies, government and corporate philanthropies. Wanting to transform the hiring process for individuals and businesses, she started her first venture in 2016, which grew quickly and led her to be her own “customer 0” for Skillful.ly as she began piloting new ways of moving away from resume based hiring. By focusing employers on what matters most, an individual's skills professional potential Skillful.ly is filling a need in the overall concept and process of hiring.

She recently graduated from Berkeley Haas in Sprint ‘21 after launching Skillfull.ly with co-founders Brett and Johnson. Skillful.ly, the equitable employment alternative is a public benefit corporation that reframes and enhances corporate recruiting possibilities through targeted job skilling, neuroscientific insights and relevant mentoring to create precise matches between job candidates and roles.

Just over 19 years ago (after hanging up her cleats from a brief stint of semi-professional soccer), Katie moved to Napa Valley to pursue a career in food and wine. While managing events at a local winery, her mentor’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare disorder, Rett Syndrome. Although she had just recently moved to the wine country, Katie saw this as an opportunity to give back and make a difference, while bringing together everything that inspired her.

In 2004, Katie co-founded the Erika Van Giesen Foundation, alongside an annual epicurean gala, Erika’s Dream, to support it. With the monies raised, in 2006 she helped establish Katie’s Clinic at Children’s Hospital Oakland, which to this day still serves girls and their families afflicted with Rett throughout the Western United States. This fundraising gala was a way to incorporate all her passions;  FOOD, WINE & PHILANTHROPY, while throwing one heck of a party and sharing her love for entertaining. 

In 2009 Katie helped launch Wine, Women & Shoes; A food and wine based event that would become a successful national fundraising platform. Later that year she released her first wine label Toolbox Wine Co., with a mission to craft affordable, quality driven wines that gave back. That same year at Erika’s Dream a few conversations led to Katie taking a leap of faith to make her dream a reality. With “slow and grow” global concept in mind, the last 10 years have been dedicated to building the Feast it Forward brand. She first launched Feast.Network, a digital platform seeking to entertain and inspire alongside master chefs, actors, tastemakers and musicians. After filming original content for five years, Katie opened her flagship “click & mortar” in 2018, The Studio by Feast it Forward. This highly visible live marketing venue in downtown Napa is a film studio + experiential showroom shifting fans to consumers as everything experienced is an on-camera sponsor – essentially a sandbox for brands to engage visitors with a shop-the-look virtual hub alongside a multi-winery tasting collective. Pandemic hit and Katie began to construct The Yard by Feast it Forward, her newest outdoor event and live music venue with two-story shipping containers for brand activations, instagrammable moments and stage – a year round festival-like experience. An entrepreneur (aka take no prisoners) at heart, all of Katie’s experience has led to Feast.

She is also the co-founder of My Wine Society, a global wine app that hit the market in June 2018. In August 2020 received the
coveted award “Top 20 Emerging Leaders in Food & Ag” while most recently receiving; “Top 30 Inspiring Women To Look Out For in 2022” from Disruptors Magazine, “The Top 10 Leaders to Follow in 2022” from Insights Success, “5 Bes Women Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2022” from CIO Bulletin and “50 Fastest Growing Companies in 2022 to Watch” from Silicon Review.

Jennifer Vollmann is a triathlon coach, age group triathlete, and mom. She is the founder and head coach of Finding Endurance, helping all individuals discover their potential through sport. She is endlessly passionate about helping other women and new triathletes discover their love of endurance sports and take on new challenges and adventures. Jennifer is also the co-owner and operator of the Pura Vida Cycling Challenge. A cycling climbing camp that pushes riders to their limits on steep tropical rides through Costa Rica.  This episode is a deep dive and inspirational conversation on the transformative nature of endurance sports, making an impact on people's lives and helping people achieve their big dreams.

Jennifer never grew up as an athlete. It wasn't until after the birth of her daughter and stepping down in her role of Executive Director of New Global Citizens, a global education non-profit, that she discovered triathlons as a way to find herself again amidst being a stay at home mom. 

Over the last four years, she trained and competed in multiple sprint, Olympic, 70.3 and full distance triathlons. She made 2018 and 2019 USAT All American, placed in the top 10 age group seven times and qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI. As much as she loves the competitive aspects of endurance sports, it goes beyond that for her. She loves pushing herself to new levels and taking on new adventures like running up and down the Grand Canyon, climbing up mountains on her bike as many times as I can, and swimming across lakes!  Jennifer believes that triathlon is not just about a race. It is about the journey to build mental fitness, confidence, resilience, patience, and the ability to push in all aspects of life. As a coach, she is passionate about helping her athletes find their journey and discover their potential through endurance sports.

Eric is the Chief Inclusion Officer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. His passion for educational access, diversity, and inclusion have led him to some pretty interesting places: Berkeley Haas, the Stanford GSE, 826 Valencia, the Making Waves Academy, and 826 National, among others - but his favorite thing remains connecting with smart people and working together toward shared goals!

Eric is fascinated by issues of diversity and inclusion in the classroom and the workplace and believes that we must move from diversity and inclusion to equality and justice. Of course, diversity and inclusion are important steps on the pathway to equality and justice--but Eric believes that it's time to move past tolerance to appreciation and understanding. The importance of dialog can't be overstated, and he creates space for people of different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, genders (both fixed and fluid), sexual orientations, disability statuses, faiths, even size (said the 6-5 guy!) to have the conversations that can lead to understanding.

The key is “cultural dexterity”: the ability to work with people no matter their background, and to meet them where they are. It's not about changing hearts and minds, it's about developing the ability to work together. I never want to tell people “how”  to think--Eric’s goal is to inspire people “to” think. 

Jen DeAngelis is a 2x CEO and founder of @1987active — limited edition loungewear for trendsetters. Jen launched her first company out of UC Berkeley during her time as an MBA candidate through winning UC LAUNCH Demo day, the UC Berkeley Entrepreneurship grant, and acceptance into the TechStars/Blackstone program. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur Jen led the digital strategy for Fortune 500 companies and Instagram coverage for red carpet events such as the Golden Globes. Jen is a UCLA alumna and has dedicated time to philanthropic pursuits such as her time as a Haas Beyond Yourself Fellow and Peace Corps Volunteer. Follow Jen on TikTok @jenndeangelis and Instagram @jendeangelis. 

Founder Jen DeAngelis knew two things in 2020. She was running the wrong company and she was in the wrong relationship (for her).

After a breakup, which involved Jen leaving NYC with three duffle bags and not much else, she took a leap of faith and decided to move to Boston to launch 1987. As a self-funded venture, this meant selling hoodies out of her closet.

With the help of a few viral TikTok videos, she sold out of her first season (Jen may have cried like a baby as she pulled out the last hoodie from her formally stacked closet) and we’ve been selling out ever since.

Unlike some other high fashion brands 1987 Active democratizes the entire experience by asking (not telling) their fans what they want and by building the company alongside their early adopters.

Betsy share's her life journey from basketball play to coach to entrepreneur. In the time since she graduated from Claremont McKenna College as a highly competitive basketball player and with a degree in Psychology, Betsy Butterick has blazed trails for female coaches, business leaders and entrepreneurs. 

As a coach and communication specialist, she works with individuals ready to improve and teams of all kinds from the locker room to the boardroom. With a background in athletics and a talent for people-centric design, she offers an experiential approach towards learning and development. She improves communication effectiveness while strengthening relationships and working collaboratively to create positive change. 

The results of her efforts are her constantly evolving career, which includes transformative work with leaders at Stanford University, UCLA, Women Leaderships in College Sports as well as many other team workshops and personal training. Betsy’s growing list of achievements has done little to dampen her palpable excitement  for making people’s lives better.

Fia Fasbinder shares her life journey from "failing "so miserably and publicly on stage and how she used that experience to become the  Founder and CEO at Moxie Institute: Transforming Presenters into World-Class Performers.

For Fia there is nothing more beautiful than seeing someone, who was once afraid of the spotlight and sharing their thoughts, step in front of thousands of people with exhilarating confidence and inspire them with their message—this is why the Moxie Institute exists.

What began as a fierce challenge against the status quo of boring presentations and monotonous speakers. Our phenomenal founder and CEO Fia Fasbinder, alongside our magnetic president Gregg Fasbinder, have since impacted people and businesses all over the world with their powerful vision that combines the performing arts with proven neuroscience.

As a professionally trained actor from NYU and theatrical instructor, Fia discovered that the techniques used by top performers—such as diaphragmatic breathing, projection, nonverbal communication, visualization—perfectly translated to the corporate world of presentations and events. Drawing from her Masters in Adult Education, Fia fused practical methods with excitement and experiential learning into every Moxie workshop and coaching session—now a core pillar of our services.

Moxy Institute has trained everyone from accomplished CEOs, entrepreneurs, and TED speakers to acclaimed athletes, media personalities, and ambitious professionals. Each time witnessing incredible moments of insight, personal discovery, and breathtaking results.

No matter who you are, Moxie Institute will put you on a transformational, life-changing path that you never thought possible.