Cynthia Barnes, founder & CEO of the National Association of Women Sales Professionals and creator of THRIVE: Success Strategies for Women in Sales (delivered to more than 500 companies, including Toyota, Google, and Michelin). See blog interview.

Allan Biggar, CEO of Allan Biggar & Company Limited, a business strategy and branding firm. Allan was managing director of global PR and communications firm Burson-Marsteller (UK) and later chairman of its global corporate and financial practice. See blog interview.

Jeffrey Breslow, founder, Big Monster Toys, LLC, and author of A Game Maker’s Life: A Hall of Fame Game Executive and Inventor Tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry. Book.

Mark Cuban, billionaire investor, owner of Dallas Mavericks, and star of Shark Tank.

John Cummins, former head of youth programs at Channel 4 TV UK who became senior media advisor to CEOs at Walt Disney International, Comcast, Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting, Mattel, HarperCollins Publishing, Bacardi Group, and many others.

Dave Dahl, founder and former CEO of Dave’s Killer Bread. Wikipedia

Michel Elings is the founder of Vev, an all-in-one business tool. Before Vev, Michel helped create TRVL, which won the “Best Mobile App” award at The Next Web Conference 2012. Michel then helped found Prss for the iPad. The platform was acquired by Apple in 2014, where Michel went on to work as a senior software manager for several years. In 2021, he moved on from Apple to create Vev, which raised $5.4M (€5M) in seed funding in 2023. See blog interview.

Marty Gilbert, founder and CEO, NorthShore Executive Networking Group, Glenview, Illinois. Website.

Robert Griffin, president, Griffin Financial Strategies, Inc., Evanston, Illinois, served in the U.S. Air Force in the Vietnam war. Website.

Robert O. Harder, former vice president consumer electronics, Montgomery Ward, and author of numerous books on military aviation. Website.

Thomas Hilgardner, founder of Nationwide Fund Recovery, worked as a life coach for 13 years, a CranioSacral Therapist, supported long term care for seniors with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and today runs a financial firm that helps recover money for people that lost homes in foreclosure. Website.

Rocki Howard, among the Top 100 profiled on the HERoes Women Role Model Executives (2020), host of The Voices of Diversity podcast, and founder of Diversiology.IO.  See blog interview.

Dr. Sonja Kelly, vice president of research and learning, Women’s World Banking. See video.

Don Lessem, president and CEO of Dino Don, Inc., the world’s leading supplier of animatronic dinosaurs and a creator of scientifically accurate exhibitions internationally. See blog interview.

Jim Lew, diversity consultant for Hollywood producers, correctional institutions, police departments, and corporations including Hyatt Corp., Proctor & Gamble, and Texas Instruments. See blog interview.

Brian Little, vice president and global head of corporate human resources, Intel Corporation. His leadership was recently recognized by the magazine HRO Today, which named him its for-profit Chief Human Resources Officer of the Year.  See blog feature.

G. Dan Lumpkin, a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) widely regarded as one of the top 1% of management consultants in the areas of change management and internal negotiation. He is president of Lumpkin & Associates.    See blog interview.

Diana Mudenda, DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging) champion and founder of Dueal Consulting.

Virginia Muzquiz, CEO at Master Connectors, Inc., executive director with Business Network International (BNI), and host of podcast Business by Referral. See blog interview.

Wayne Paprocki, named Realtor of the Year in 2020 by the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors, as well Educator of the Year in 2017 by the Association of Illinois Real Estate Educators. Article.

Raven Anne Parr, owner of Pure Harmony Massage, Cody, Wyoming. See blog post.

John Qualls, founder and president of Purpose HQ, a talent management consulting company. John’s leadership in Ai and technology earned him accolades including runner-up for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He is founder of Blaizing Academy. Website.

Elena Scott, principal and partner with Norris Design, a Denver-based planning, landscape architecture and branding firm.

David Tupaz, founder of David Tupaz Couture and founder of the Las Vegas Fashion Design Council, a non-profit mentoring local designers, students, and artists. See blog interview.

Brian Vandenbroucke, marketing strategist and innkeeper with a collection of luxury Caribbean vacation rentals in St. John USVI and the Dominican Republic. Website.

Manny Veiga, a marketing professional and content strategist living in Boston. More info at LinkedIn.

Dr. Michelle L. Buck, clinical professor of executive leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Mark Elliott, faculty and music director at the Theatre School at DePaul University.

Kevin Golden, former teacher at a Catholic school in Chicago. He obtained an MBA, returned to Catholic nonprofit work, and is working to complete a Master’s in Theology.

Catherine Brownstone Stillwell, teacher at Acero Schools, Chicago.

Dr. Janice L. Woodhouse (1947-2010), graduated posthumously with a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Adult and Higher Education from Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Janyce Agruss, PhD, APRN-BC, has over 20 years of experience as a Family Nurse Practitioner, which she teaches at Chicago’s Rush University College of Nursing

Charity Cox-Hayden, chief nursing officer, Atlas Healthcare Partners, LLC, an ambulatory surgery center development and management company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. See blog interview.

Elizabeth Even, emergency department nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago; associate director, Standards Interpretation, The Joint Commission; founder of Straight Talk RN. See blog interview.

Dr. Dylan Fogel, DDS in Oshgosh, Wisconsin, and clinical faculty and board member at Fox Valley Tech’s Dental Hygiene School

Russell Leander, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with over three decades as a clinician and educator in medical and psychiatric settings. See blog story.

Muriel Patay, LCSW, has been in private psychotherapy practice in Evanston, Illinois since 1998. She has studied Gestalt Therapy, EMDR, Hypnotherapy, and Breath Work Therapy. She received a D.Min. in Spirituality in 2006. murielpatay.com

Patricia Peters has worked in the field of Addictions for over 25 years, holding roles as Counselor, Clinical Director, and Interventionist. She has traveled nationwide assisting centers, corporations, individuals and families.

Angalia Bianca, author, In Deep: How I Survived Gangs, Heroin, and Prison to Become a Chicago Violence Interrupter, and recipient of 2017 Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers (Illinois)

Ida Paluch Kersz, holocaust survivor, volunteer at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and author of Unveiled Memories: Twins Reunited After the Holocaust. See blog story.

Trass Lyons, since moving back to Ireland, is relearning Irish. She volunteers with various refugee agencies, tutoring English and helping newcomers integrate into their communities.  She looks after her own large garden and, along with volunteers tends the gardens at Wicklow hospice. She’s also part of a rota of volunteers with the local lifeboat rescue service. 

Windy Matil Pearson, Illinois-based community activist and recipient of the Dorothy Richardson National Award for Resident Leadership and the President’s Volunteers Award.

Kieran Meeke, Northern-Ireland-born travel writer and photographer who has explored more than 100 countries, lived in eight, and was editor-in-chief of TRAVL, the world’s first iPad travel magazine. He now lives between UK, Ireland, and Spain, where he loves hiking, horse-riding, mountain biking – and travel.  See blog interview.

Janet Susan R. Nepales, award-winning journalist, the first Filipina member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and writer of the weekly column, Hollywood Insider. See blog interview.

Barry Offitzer, former vice president/ director of sales at various media organizations (CBS, Fox, Katz Television) in New York and Philadelphia.

Kevin Sessums, former executive editor of Interview magazine best known for his in-depth profiles of Beyoncé, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Matthew McConaughey and other celebrities for publications including Vanity Fair, Playboy, ELLE, and Interview. The author of two New York Times bestsellers, Mississippi Sissy and I Left It on the Mountain, he also writes the Substack column SES/SUMS IT UP.

John Ziomek, a former Chicago Sun-Times reporter and assisitant dean and  associate professor at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. He is the author of Collision on Tenerife: The How and Why of the World’s Worst Aviation Disaster.

Cynthia Beebe, former senior special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and author of Boots in the Ashes: Busting Bombers, Arsonists and Outlaws as a Trailblazing Female ATF Agent (2020). See blog interview.

Jennifer Gladston Butler, author, Jennifer James Georgina (designer: Irma Boom), part of the collections at the Vatican Library and The Art Institute of Chicago. Website.

Robert O. Harder, distinguished Strategic Air Command B-52D aircrewman with 145 missions during the Vietnam War, and author of several military histories. Website.

Kathryn Hutchinson, poet, writer, and teacher; author of A Matter of Dark Matter; The Gray Limbo of Perhaps; and Map Making: Poems of Land and Identity. Website.

Bridget Piekarz, former territory manager for Penguin Random House.

Robert O. Harder, distinguished Strategic Air Command B-52D aircrewman with 145 missions during the Vietnam War, and author of several military histories. Website.

Robert Eshbach, former mayor of Ottawa, Illinois

Valerie M. Jones, president of Valerie M. Jones Associates and author of Nonprofit Hero. See blog interview.

Adele Nandan, donor cultivation and engagement strategist and international travel expert. See blog interview.

D.C. Anderson, actor and recording artist best known for his portrayal of Monsieur Andre in Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera. See more

Susan Bennett, the original voice of “Siri.” See more

Matt Walsh Egan, Los Angeles-based director of photography for films and television

Joshua Ellis, former press agent for more than a dozen Tony-award-winning Broadway shows. See more

Sean Grennan, whose plays have received hundreds of productions in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Australia, China, the Middle East, England, Latvia, Bosnia, and Spain. SeanGrennan.net

Meribeth Kisner Griffin, founder, ChiTown Dance (retd.)

Ben Hollis, received eight regional Emmy Awards for creating and producing shows including the trailblazing Wild Chicago and Ben Loves Chicago. He is host of the live performance program What’s It Like to Be You? and regularly shares his videos and blogs on Substack.

Jane Lynch, multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winner best known for her iconic roles in Glee, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, and as the host of Celebrity Game Night and The Weakest Link. See more

Errol McLendon, actor, director, teacher, and two-time Moth Slam winning storyteller. InnerStateStories.com

Margaret Moira “Peg” O’Brien (1949-2014). See blog post.

Jeffrey Saver, music director whose Broadway credits include Into the Woods, Chicago, Sister Act, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Sunday in the Park with George, and many others. See more.

Karen Vaccaro, actor’s coach and winner of three Joseph Jefferson Awards who has appeared in productions on Broadway, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, and many others. KarenVacarro.com

Mari Weiss, actor and voiceover artist whose voice has been heard in TV and/or radio commercials for Yoplait, McDonald’s, Chrysler, Clorox, Intuit, and many others. See more.

Wendy Wise, a paralegal for a retirement firm for the past 25 years, is a 14-year member of the Maxinkuckee Players & Singers (Indiana) and president for the last two. She has judged the local “Distinguished Young Women” competition (Junior Miss) for four years.

Sonya Perez, certified leadership coach at sonyaperez.com.