Participants
Rich Bella Anthony Chavez Sukh Chugh Zaid Gayle
Danielle Gram
Christina Litman Nipun Mehta Mikuak Rai
Gina Rene
Ocean Robbins Molly Taylor Sonia Weksler
Susana Wolds
Rich Bella is a Lover of Life and a Seeker of Truth. Rich is a proud father of three amazing children whom assist in his ability to teach his life lessons from a place of compassion, understanding, patience, perseverance and LOVE. Rich's humble upbringings in a military lifestyle were at times challenging, due to the continuous travel and displacement sometimes felt by all the adjustments. These changes inspire his will to "keep pressing on".
Rich was in route to becoming a Baptist Minister when the murders of a good friend and cousin occurred weeks apart from each other. This pivotal moment would shift his life into direct action. Rich began speaking and mentoring in various public schools, juvenile correctional facilities and faith-based communities including Agape. The respect garnered from these actions resulted in him being "ordained" by the youth of the inner-city. Rich has placed an emphasis on relating to the three dimensional struggles of Urban America; he uses the challenges of life to relate to the youth and softly interject messages of faith, hope and love to light a way.
FocusBella.Com was birthed to deliver the message of faith, hope and love, by using various multi-media avenues such as music, poetry, writing and film. FocusBella strives to provide a perspective on Love Beauty. Co-Founded by Rich Bella, Operation Inspiration is a non-profit company dedicated to educating and mentoring the youth in the fields of green technology, creative arts, multi-media, sports and fitness.
Rich Bella co-authored the Best-Selling Book titled, "Wake Up..Live the Life
You Love", with Dr. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, Steven E. and other inspirational authors. Rich Bella's poem, "The Desire of a New Love", was recognized as the
Editor's Choice in 2008 for Poetry.com and the International Library of
Poetry.
Project Links:
Myspace Page
Solo Project
DiYartistTV
FocusBella
Bella Transmutation
Computer Empowerment Project
Phone interview notes
Raised in the farm worker movement his grandfather founded, Anthony Chavez, 23, grew up participating in United Farm Workers’ marches, picket lines and political campaigns. The oldest son of Socorro and Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavez’s middle son, Anthony speaks around the country before numerous student and community groups on behalf of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, established by the Chavez family to further his grandfather’s life and work. The political trail has captured his attention, including campaigning for President Obama during the fall 2008 general election in the key swing state of Colorado, service as campaign manager for a successful Phoenix city council candidate in the nation’s fifth largest municipality and an internship with one of California's most prominent political strategists in Sacramento. The past two years have seen him serve as travel assistant to Benedictine Brother David Steindl-Rast, a world-renowned author, lecturer and spiritual guru, on his national and international tours. Anthony graduated from California State University, Bakersfield with a B.A. degree in religious studies. Anthony is currently exploring master's programs focusing on a multi-disciplinary study of economics, global affairs and public-policy.
Project Links:
Cesar E. Chavez Foundation
A Newtork for Grateful Living
Phone Interview Notes
Mahatma Gandhi once said that "happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony". While many of us constantly struggle to conduct all three actions in parallel, thirty-four year-old Sukh Chugh seems to have figured it out. Regardless of where he may be today, Sukh is quick to point out that his path to self-fulfillment was crossed by the allure of corporate-world perks. Having previously high-powered professional positions at various consulting and financial companies, Sukh didn't have to pay for his car, gas, apartment, or even food. As Sukh puts it, he "had it made". Yet it soon dawned upon him that he was studying the wrong numbers. Having always prided himself upon an extensive knowledge of stock prices and NBA standing, Sukh suddenly realized that he had no idea how many people were starving and suffering each year. After reevaluating the direction of this life, Sukh immediately quit his job and founded Be the Cause, a fully volunteer-run non-profit organization. And he has never looked back.
Be the Cause is a network of individuals who not only wish to make a difference in the world, but also wish to change their own lives in the process. Despite having no paid staff and no office space, Be the Cause has established several chapters around the globe and have conducted more than 200 community service projects. The purpose of the entire network is to inspire and encourage individuals to engage deeply in the spirit of selfless giving.
Project Links:
Be the Cause
Food for Life
Seva Cafe
Walk for Hope
Phone Interview Notes
A co-founder of Peace4Kids, Zaid Gayle is a powerful voice for foster children and is well-known both locally and nationally among advocates. Zaid currently charts the course for Peace4Kids, serving as a tireless advocate for the youth served by the organization. As Executive Director, Zaid oversees an ambitious organizational growth plan, with the intended impact of helping foster and at-risk youth transition successfully into adulthood. As the former Executive Director of the Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan, Zaid brought together a remarkable coalition of corporations, foundations, celebrities, and community leaders in support of foster care in Los Angeles . Every Saturday for the last eight years, Zaid has led the opening and closing activities for up to 80 foster and at-risk children at Peace4Kids. Zaid is universally respected by the volunteers, the Board, and foster parents. But most importantly, the foster children look up to Zaid as a role model and mentor.
Project Links:
Peace 4 Kids
The Village: Visioning phase for bringing together social advocates/community based organizations with Corporations who have an interest in developing balance and sustainability for the planet. This collaboration between the private sector and social change agents would be about “Peace ProFits” shifting the paradigm on the planet so that being of service is just as valued as the being in the black on your bottom line.
I-Pro Music: Early development phase of developing a shared creative forum for socially conscious hip-hop music to be co-created and shared with the planet.
Phone Interview Notes
Danielle Gram is a Junior at Harvard University where she is working toward a double major in Religion and Sociology. When she isn´t studying, Danielle works for the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, a think-tank for humanitarian crises, is a leader in campus politics, currently serving as the Secretary of the Harvard Democrats, an active member of her religious community, the captain of her House´s crew team; a peer tutor; and a volunteer teacher of environmental science to underprivileged children.
Since a young age, Danielle has held leadership roles to create positive change. In high school, she founded a campus organization called Future Voters of America to engage young people in the Democratic process. She led her school´s environmental club, speech and debate team, and served as the National High School Coordinator of the Student Peace Alliance after becoming involved in the Department of Peace Campaign.
At age 16, Danielle co-founded Kids for Peace with Jill McManigal, an organization whose mission is to cultivate every child´s innate ability to foster peace through cross-cultural experiences and hands-on arts, service, and environmental projects. Kids for Peace has grown to over 50 chapters worldwide, with chapters on nearly every continent. In its third year, Kids for Peace is in an exciting stage of growth and development, with children-inspired projects for peace occuring every month.
Danielle has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her political and peace leadership including Nestle´s Very Best in Youth Award, the Tariq Khamisa Foundation´s Ghandi Award, and the Sons of the American Revolution´s Medal of Honor. Danielle hopes to continue strengthening the programs of Kids for Peace and growing the organization so that all children have a space to cultivate peace for themselves and others. In the future, she hopes to see more Kids for Peace chapters where non-violence and positive reinforcement education is most needed, including economically disadvantaged areas, orphanages, and communities of abused children around the world.¨
Project Links:
Kids for Peace
Great Kindness Challenge
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Harvard Democrats
Phone Interview Notes
Christina: a name meaning “Annointed of Christ”. As Jason Mraz sings, our name is our virtue, and Christina Litman has definitely been bringing the Christ Consciousness forth into the world for her whole life as a loving light and guardian of children
Christina has been involved in the entertainment industry off and on since she was four years old. She believes in the untapped potential of television, the Internet and other media to transform the way that we communicate and relate to each other. Her vision is to bring compassionate and empathic parenting and teaching methods into the societal mainstream. Using a new model of reality television combined with on-line education, she seeks to transform the dominant violent paradigms currently used to educate and discipline children to compassionate, peaceful methods that respect the Whole child.
Christina is the compassionate mother of two beautiful Indigo children who are her primary spiritual teachers. While pregnant with her first child, a reiki master told her that her children would be great spiritual leaders and it was her job to help them to remember who they chose to be. She has been practicing and teaching non-violent parenting and communication in a variety of settings since 1999. She has taught parenting and teacher workshops for the Agape International Spiritual Center. She has led the youth at Agape Summer camp as well as youth programs at Agape’s Revelation Conference. She has facilitated Magic In The Moment camps for kids in Santa Barbara and has led teacher training for tutors at California Learning Center. Christina is currently a Youth Leader at Unity of Santa Barbara and, with her husband David, proudly runs ChildShift; an organization helping parents and teachers learn and implement emotionally intelligent and empathic child development strategies.
Christina has also written a television treatment for a new kind of reality show which, combined with online education resources, will teach those who care for children to communicate and guide children in connecting and loving ways. By shifting the way we communicate with one another we have the power to create peace right now, and we need to begin with our children to create a world where connection matters and we all support each other in meeting our needs and living our dreams.
Projects:
ChildShift
Meeting the needs of the Whole Child by using empathic communication tools as well as metaphysics in creating a shift in child growing paradigm on this planet.
Reality Show
A New Reality transformational tv show that educates and enlightens people with new ways to create connection and communication with children.
Nipun Mehta is the founder of CharityFocus.org, a fully volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free. The recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service and the President's Volunteer Service Award, his work creatively leverages web technologies for collaborative and transformational giving, lending him insight into service, leadership, organizational design, and spirituality. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, Dalai Lama Foundation, and Airline Ambassadors.
Nipun's high-school goal was to either become a tennis-pro or a Himalayan Yogi. However, by the third year of his Computer Science and Philosophy degree at UC Berkeley, he started his software career at Sun Microsystems. Dissatisfied by the dot-com greed of the late 90s, Nipun went to a homeless shelter with three friends to "give with absolutely no agendas." They ended up creating a website, and also an organization named CharityFocus. Today, CharityFocus's 18,500 members incubate compassionate action in a multitude of ways and its inspiration portals get 100 million hits a year. In 2001, at the age of 25, Nipun quit his job to become a "full time volunteer." He didn't have a plan of survival beyond six months, but so far, so good.
In January 2005, Nipun and Guri, his wife of six months, dropped everything to embark on an open-ended, unscripted walking pilgrimage in India to "use our hands to do random acts of kindness, use our heads to profile inspiring people, and use our hearts to cultivate truth." Living on dollar a day, eating wherever food is offered, sleeping wherever a flat surface is found, the couple walked 1000 kilometers before ending up at a monastery where they meditated for three months. Today, both Nipun and Guri live in Berkeley, do small acts of service with great love, and run CharityFocus.
Nipun's mission statement in life reads: "Bring smiles in the world and stillness in my heart."
Project Links:
Charity Focus; Enlightening Messages; Help Others; Trustosity; Daily Good; iJourney; Karma Clinic; Karma Kitchen; Karma Tube; Pledge Page; CF Sites; Pro Poor; Works & Conversations; Wednesday Meditations
Phone Interview Notes
Known as an Ambassador of Peace in many circles, Mikuak Rai has successfully combined his musical and creative talents together with his inherent sense of social justice and spiritual service. From the American inner-cities of Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., to communities across the planet, he has made it his mission to bridge worlds, raise awareness, foster compassion, and bring solace and encouragement to the human family during these times of tremendous change. Often compared to the likes of soul-singers Gil-Scott Heron, Seal, and Kem to name a few, his sound has been deemed 'high-resonance music', intended to help transform hearts and minds of those who hear it. In addition to his musical pursuits, Mikuak Rai is a co-founder and creative visionary of One Common Unity, Inc., a decade-old Washington, DC-based non profit organization that supports the global peace movement and empowers youth through creative arts, multi-media, and peace-education services. Mikuak, following his life's calling, continues to raise awareness about various peace-focused grassroots initiatives around the world. As the 'social media & creative outreach coordinator', he has been working with the 13 Moon Walk 4 PEACE, a 13-month national peace walk which began on 10-10-10 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolence & Social Change in Atlanta, and continues until it returns to Atlanta on 11-11-11. Currently, Mikuak resides in the Los Angeles area where he works with the Youth & Family Ministry at Agape International Spiritual Center, frequently providing creative-expression and music-media workshops, as well as performing his original music. He is also the founder and creative director of WorldBridge Media, a 'new media' production and consulting company that supports creative artists and conscious movements. In late 2010, Mikuak was invited to serve as a Generation NOW (GEN NOW) representative of Association for Global New Thought (AGNT).
PROJECT LINKS:
www.reverbnation.com/mikuakrai
www.OneCommonUnity.org
www.13MoonWalk4Peace.org
Born into a multi-ethnic family, Gina Rene grew up in the Bohemian setting of Santa Cruz, California. Gina sang in both jazz and concert choirs during her high-school years. She was accepted into both the regional and All-State Honor Choirs in 1994. After graduating, Gina moved to San Francisco and became the lead singer/co-songwriter of her Brother Gabriel's band, Soulstice. She writes and sings her own songs, blending R&B and Pop melodies with the wit and lyricism of a true MC. One original of hers, U Must Be was featured in the 2006 film Step Up, released theatrically by Buena Vista Pictures, a part of the Walt Disney Company.
Gina is also a part of the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community that stands for Peace and Unity of all humanity. Agape is also where the world renowned spiritual Teacher; Rev. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith resides as founder and leader. Beckwith was featured in the film The Secret and has also recently come into the studio and recorded some powerful words of wisdom on Gina Rene's up and coming single "Be the Change". This song of Gina's reflects on what isn't working only to then bring about a mentality of positive possibility that will inspire us to take even the simplest actions that will bring Great change in these times of war and Pain and extreme climate changes.
Gina Rene sees her music as a tool for her own personal growth, healing and self-discovery. She has had her share of ups and downs, living as an artist in urban America. She sees all of the violence and misunderstanding on the streets and around the globe and feels the need to speak up. Recognizing the influence Hip-Hop music has on youth the world over, Ms. Rene feels a great need for positive role models and she is especially concerned with the imbalance of the role women play in the music scene. Their negative portrayal perpetuates stereotypes that prevent people from seeing how truly powerful women are. Through honesty and taking back responsibility, Hip-Hop becomes the communication tool it was originally intended to be. This energy, of raw creative self expression and glorification of Unity in a diverse world, is what Gina Knows will bring forth global change. Gina speaks on this issue with class and grit, intending on inspiring the possibility of a better world, where all people can create what each of us wants while respecting one another in the process. Life is good. It's time to Wake up to your dreams.
Project Links:
Artist Page
www.ginarene.com
DiYartistTV
Global Community Network of Change: coming soon at www.wearethechange.us
Phone Interview Notes
Ocean Robbins, age 35, is founder and director of YES! — “Young Leaders Connect, Inspire and Collaborate”, which he founded in 1990, at age 16. Ocean has spoken in person to more than 200,000 people and facilitated many dozens of gatherings for young leaders from 60+ nations. Ocean is author of Choices for Our Future: A Generation Rising for Life on Earth, and of The Power of Partnership, and has served as a board member for Friends of the Earth, EarthSave International, and many other organizations. In 2002, he was selected by Audubon and Time as among the heroes of the new millennium. He is a 2008 recipient of the Freedom’s Flame Award, and of the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Community Service by an Individual 35 Years Or Younger. He and his wife Michele are the parents of River and Bodhi Robbins, identical twin boys born in 2001.
Project Links:
Yes World
Ocean Robbins Speaking and Facilitations Services
Phone Interview Notes
Molly Taylor grew up on a cattle farm in rural Lockwood, Missouri. She left her 1500 cows, three dogs, four cats, one donkey, and 988 other Lockwood residents for Tucson, Arizona to attend the University of Arizona. While there, she took an interest in the mind, as well as the interplay between science and religion, majoring in Psychology and Microbiology, with minors in Chemistry and Religious Studies. She participated in ground-breaking research on the effects of Mindfulness Meditation and Homeopathic remedies. The profound promise for healing she saw in these areas led her to become involved with Andrew Weil’s Program in Integrative Medicine.
After graduating from Arizona in 2007, she moved to Santa Barbara and served as the Program Coordinator and Executive Assistant to Barbara Fields at the Association for Global New Thought. With a special interest in children, she helped guide the Youth Peaceport Program, a tool to help educate children around the world about peace and nonviolent conflict resolution.
She is now a second year student and Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she has gathered a group of committed administrators to establish a Center for Integrative Medicine at Dartmouth. She hopes to help bridge the gap between academic allopathic medical training with integrative healing philosophies.
Project Links:
Working on a Dartmouth Integrative Medicine Center
Dartmouth Medical School
Phone Interview Notes
Sonia Weksler is a 26 year old marketing professional who is currently working to promote her family’s furniture stores, which have suffered a lot in these trying economic times.
Her background is in video production, a skill that began at UCSD where she studied communication and became very interested in the way knowledge is produced in our global society. She is especially interested in the way you can mobilize people to solve social issues with a mass media message.
Sonia is also currently working with the ImagineTheGood.com team on “The Heart to Lead, Women as Allies for the Greater Good”, a documentary that aims to awaken women to their own transformative power with regard to themselves and their communities, global and local.
Sonia is honored and humbled to be amongst the Now Generation leaders and AGNT to co-create the narrative of the truths brought out at this retreat. She is truly enthralled by the opportunity to participate in furthering social evolution by communicating to the world the collective work of Now Generation Leaders and AGNT.
Project Links:
www.ImagineTheGood.com
Phone Interview Notes
Susana Wolds is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder where she received her BA in International Spanish for the Professions with an emphasis on Sustainable Tourism. With a desire to enhance and protect the environment, society and economy of travel destinations, Susana co-founded Roam Responsibly Productions: Visual Media for the Globally Conscious Traveler. Over the last year Susana has embarked on various filming adventures, most notably to Central America and the Abraham Path through Turkey and Syria, sponsored in part by AGNT. Susana lives in San Diego where she teaches yoga and enjoys her circle of amazing friends, family and collaborators.
Phone Interview Notes