EPIC Impact Society: Recent Episodes
None
Discovering the stories behind those artists, innovators, educators and creative leaders making an EPIC Impact in our world today.
Niclas Gillis is an award-winning screenwriter and film director from Stockholm, Sweden, currently in pre-production on The Nix, a scandinavian folklore drama film starring Academy Award-winning actor Liv Ullmann. The film is produced by Patrik Andersson (Midsommar), with distribution by Nordisk Film.
Gillis first garnered attention for his drama short film Hold Me Down, which depicted a day in the life of a 19-year-old single mother and sex worker in The Bronx, New York, where Gillis lived for 11 years. The film was based on true events and featured a cast consisting entirely of real life survivors of sexual exploitation and domestic abuse. Through a partnership with the NGO, Project Rousseau, the women involved were able to escape the clutches of prostitution, gain access to safe housing and higher education. Hold Me Down received universal praise by critics, including CNN, and won the award for Best Short Film at the Harlem International Film Festival.
His fashion film for Native Son was compared to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema by New York Magazine, and he has been championed as “the premiere talent to watch” by Nike. He is currently represented by XYZ Films in the US.
Dorte Nielsen is the founder of Creative Thinker and Center for Creative Thinking.
Dorte is a creativity expert, author and keynote speaker. Born in Denmark, she studied at The Graphic Arts Institute of Denmark and later at The School of Communication Arts in London. Dorte Nielsen holds a Master of Science degree in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo, New York, where she was awarded the Firestein Family Creative Achievement Award for her graduate work.
For most of the 90’s Dorte Nielsen worked in advertising in London. Her creative work won her recognition at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, D&AD, the British Television Awards, Epica, London International Advertising Awards, Campaign Poster Awards among others.
Since moving back to Denmark, Dorte Nielsen has been teaching and researching creative thinking at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, where she founded the Creative Communication education, a bachelor degree programme for art directors and conceptual thinkers. Under her leadership Creative Communication became one of the most award-winning advertising bachelor programmes in the world.
After her success training creativity at university level, Dorte Nielsen took her uniquely effective creativity curriculum to primary schools. Dorte Nielsen is the author of eight books and numerous articles on creativity and creative thinking.
Dorte Nielsen is the founder of FourSight Denmark and holds the position of Chairman of Creative Circle, the Danish society for the creative industries, which holds the biggest creative award show in Scandinavia, celebrating creative excellence.
James Haven is a social innovator, director, and founder of Safe Haven protecting the rights and laws that safeguard children. He is dedicated to youth-related causes around the world, developing comprehensive solutions to this incalculable systemic problem. His mission is to ensure that children are guaranteed their fundamental human rights to a safe childhood.
Meshach Weber applies behavioral science, applied anthropology, and cognitive empathy to create more human-centric and impactful digital spaces, marketing, and content.
Recognizing that marketing often lacked rigor and specificity, Meshach created science-based frameworks to illuminate a repeatable path to success. Harnessing the irrational yet predictable science of human behavior, his unique, evidence-based approaches create humane experiences that nurture deeper engagement and enduring affinity—driving sustainable growth for social impact organizations, startups, and Fortune 200s.
His mentorship on growth mindset and the science of behavior change has also driven positive company culture change for both fledgling startups and global enterprise businesses.
Sarah Thurber is a creativity evangelist.
She’s an author, speaker, and researcher on the subjects of creative thinking and collaborative problem solving. In 2010, when she started her Master of Science degree in Creativity and Change Leadership at Buffalo State University, she made a personal pact to spread the science of creativity more widely through the world. That year, she took over as Managing Partner of FourSight, publisher of the FourSight ThinkingProfile assessment. Working with researchers, consultants, and the FourSight team, Sarah grew the FourSight business six-fold and built up a database of more than six million data points on cognitive diversity.
Now serving corporations including Disney, Nike, Intel, Mars, and GrubHub as well as teams in government, special forces and military intelligence, FourSight has become a premier purveyor of science-based training in creativity.
Sarah is a coauthor of The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker, Creativity Unbound, and Facilitation: A Door to Creative Leadership all of which have been translated into multiple languages.
Donna Brodie joined The Writers Room in 1994 as executive director and continues to lead what has become the nation’s oldest and largest urban writers’ colony. A native New Yorker, she studied English Literature and Theater at the City College of New York in Harlem. She was a founding member of P.F. FLIERS – Poetry Fiction Free Liquor in Evening Reading Series and co-founded INDIGO, a downtown theater company that pioneered non-traditional casting in repertory theater. Prior to leading The Writers Room, she worked in development for the International Center of Photography and the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in Chelsea, NYC’s largest free-lunch program. She is a painter and studies French, Spanish and Latin Ballroom dance. She is writing a first novel called HAVING A COKE WITH YOU.
Monica H. Kang is the Founder & CEO of InnovatorsBox® and the Author of Rethink Creativity. An internationally recognized expert in workplace creativity, she facilitates culture transformation, leadership development, and team building in a way that is fun, actionable, and relatable. Monica works with clients worldwide including Fortune 500 companies, higher education, government, and nonprofits. Her work has been recognized by The White House, Ashoka Changemakers, National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), and Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Prior to InnovatorsBox®, Monica was a nuclear nonproliferation policy expert. She holds an M.A. from SAIS Johns Hopkins University in Strategic Studies and International Economics and a B.A. from Boston University.
Harry van der Schans (BA, MEd, MA) is a creativity expert, author of the book iDNA (about the inventiveDNA, the innovationDNA or the idea(D)NA), creator of the ICE-Model (the Model for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship) and, since 2019, he has been the director of the School for Construction, Architecture & Furniture Design at King William I College for the Future in the Netherlands. The college embraces the teaching and learning of creative thinking skills and competencies for students, faculty, and staff as part of the 21st century skills.
Harry lives in the Netherlands with his wife and has three adult children. He started his professional career as a teacher. He taught English at a Business School for seven years and in that period he wrote A Basis for Business, an English textbook for business students. After that he worked as director of various educational departments for 15 years.
After he was invited to take a certification course in Six Hats in Dublin in 2004 he got hooked on creativity. A year later he went back to get certified in Lateral Thinking (Dublin 2005). Harry became an expert in De Bono techniques and in 2012 he was appointed de Bono Master Trainer in Six Hats. Until 2019 he was director of the De Bono Center of Expertise. This was the center for creativity and innovation at King William I College / School for the Future.
He is also a FourSight Certified Facilitator (2017) and LEGO Serious Play Facilitator (2017) and next to that he has been trained and certified in various other thinking techniques and approaches like Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking, Scenario thinking, Polarity Thinking, Time Management and Memory training which he incorporates in his daily (working) life and which he uses when facilitating groups both in business and education.
He graduated from Radboud University in Applied Linguistics and, since 2004, he has trained and facilitated thousands of people in the field of creative and critical thinking at national and international conferences and at companies and schools in the Netherlands, Belgium, the USA, Canada, Ireland and Italy.
In his new position Harry is now very much inspired by the so-called 5P model. The 5P model is based on the work of Mel Rhodes (Person, Process, Press, Product) and Bob Eckert (Policy) and is used as a framework for innovation in his school.
Even if you haven’t heard of Actress, Voice Over Artist and Singer/Songwriter Melissa Disney, I can just about guarantee that you have HEARD Melissa Disney - this 3-time Emmy nominated actress is, according to Variety Magazine, the most successful female voice artist working today -the voice of the Oscars, Emmys and the Billboard Music Awards. Animation fans know her as Ginger Foutley from Nickelodeon’s “As Told By Ginger. As an accomplished singer and songwriter, Melissa’s talents have taken her around the world, performing in Spain, Greece, Costa Rica and Fiji as well as numerous engagements here in the states. For her humanitarian work, Melissa received the “Lifetime Legacy Award of Humanities - established to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents, dreams and work have created systemic positive impact in the lives of youth.
Van invites clients to think with their hands and use right brain creative tools to disrupt traditional training methods. As the founder of worksmART advantage, a progressive team and leadership development company; Van proposes that we are all innately curious and creative, good ideas can come from any level of an organization, and by cultivating idea sharing in the workplace through creativity, everyone has a chance to have their voice heard. And when that happens - company culture, performance, and innovation can skyrocket! She studied Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned her MBA from Pepperdine University. She brings over 15 years of corporate and start-up experience to game changing clients including Google, LinkedIn, and Pandora.
Eric J. Farber is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Creators Legal, the online legal platform for content creators. He is also the Founder of Farber & Company and it’s affiliated companies: Pacific Workers’ Compensation Law Center, with six offices in Northern California and Hustle & Flow Marketing, LLC. (Hustle & Flow is an angel investment company with a strange name.)
From 1994 to 2014, Mr. Farber worked in the Sports and Entertainment Industry. After short stints with a top talent agency and a film company based at Sony Pictures, Mr. Farber became a go-to attorney and crisis management expert for athletes, entertainers, and high-profile entrepreneurs. As an attorney, he represented Amaru Entertainment (the Estate of Tupac Shakur) for more than 18 years, as well as dozens of professional athletes and highly visible businesspeople. His clients included first-round draft picks, all-Pro NFL Players, Andre Ward (Olympic Gold Medalist and undefeated boxer), the founder of MySpace, and Charles Yim, (founder of Breathometer, the most successful company to come out of Shark Tank). Mr. Farber is an AV Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbel and has been named a SuperLawyer by Law and Politics Magazine over 8 times.
In 2020, Eric published The Case for Culture, How to Stop Being a Slave to Your Law Firm, Grow Your Practice and Actually Be Happy. The Case for Culture, quickly hit #1 Bestseller on Amazon and was named by Forbes as a top 8 book to “rethink work relationships”.
In 2021 he launched Creators Legal, the online DIY legal platform for Creators. Creators Legal is the first and only legal platform build just for content creators.
He grew up in Toronto, Canada and Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Farber has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Arizona State University and a J.D from Golden Gate Law School. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife Diana and their dog Auggie.
Glenn Kalison is a visionary entrepreneur with two decades of experience in education and a proven track record of success in the media and entertainment industry.
He is the Founder of Studio School in Los Angeles -- the first and only accredited college created with a major motion picture studio, Relativity Media. He was the founding President of Relativity Education, a division of the studio dedicated to the development of educational content and training programs alongside major entertainment titles. Glenn created the offshoot production company, Studio Sidecar Productions, and collaborated to build entertainment industry training programs across the world in China, Africa, Curacao and with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Glenn is also a producer, director, and trained professional actor, who has spent two decades in creative roles in front of and behind the camera.
Tige is an author, educator and activist. After the recession in 2009, Tige found her calling and shifted her career to focus on bringing the entertainment industry to youth in foster care by founding kids in the spotlight. Since then, Kids In The Spotlight has empowered over 500 young filmmakers by providing Hollywood-level film training in the Heart of Los Angeles. Over 75 films have been produced by student filmmakers in the program and 25% of her graduates have gone on to work in the industry. In 2019, Kids In The Spotlight was recognized with the "EPIC Inspiration Award" at the EPIC Innovation Awards for their creative and transformational work empowering foster youth through their filmmaking programs.
Tige' s work has been recognized by numerous government, social justice, entertainment and news organizations but the most important validation of her work has come from her students themselves - in learning to believe in themselves, dream bigger and tell their inspiring stories.
Lene Jensby Lange is CEO and Founder of Autens – a leading Danish consultancy dedicated to re-imagining education and creating schools of the future. Twenty-first century learning practices, vision-driven school development, and a new generation of inspiring learning spaces in school facilities are combined in bold transformation projects in Denmark and around the globe. Lene also leads and coordinates The Global Schools Alliance, a family of cutting-edge innovative schools from California to New Zealand who all inspire education communities far beyond their local reach, affecting education world-wide. Lene is also a mentor and board member for several independent school initiatives and has the pleasure of serving as an academy member on the HundrED Academy.
A media artist, director, educator and humanitarian, Douglas Herman has been guiding young adults to develop professional media creation skills for two decades. In Philadelphia, Douglas pioneered Rough Cut Media, a film and digital media production program and nonprofit, which gave birth to the annual Rough Cut Film Festival. In 2017, he felt compelled to relocate to Greece, and co-founded ReFOCUS Media Labs to ensure asylum seekers denied formal education could have the same access and training as their American and European counterparts.
ReFOCUS has certified hundreds of asylum seekers in media skills and assists them in securing employment as freelance creators. In 2019 ReFOCUS premiered their first feature documentary “Even After Death”, which chronicled deaths at sea and the struggle of identifying the missing. In the face of extreme challenges in 2020 well-beyond Covid, ReFOCUS felt compelled to launch a citizen journalism program to report on the structural violence being faced every day, fueling their 2nd feature documentary “Trapped in the Playground”, premiering Fall 2021. ReFOCUS continues to shed light on the ongoing human rights abuses faced every day along the borders of Europe.
Dalida Arakelian classically-trained pianist, self-taught composer, and creative strategist. She is most excited about being able to help any listener feel understood and comforted through the piano keys. Her musical style is free flowing evoking relaxation, inspiration, and introspection.
As an Armenian-American raised in Santa Barbara, California, Dalida grew up in a contrast between deep heritage and the seaside Californian lifestyle. Her experiences led her to value the power of culture, stories, and the natural world in how it shapes our lives, which can be heard in her sound. As a classically-trained pianist, she performed with orchestras at age 13 and 17, and continued to privately study piano with Walter Ponce, distinguished faculty, at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Her music is inspired by what happens in her life, such as a hopeful dream, a loving conversation, a difficult argument, or a heartbreaking loss. She doesn’t follow any rules on the piano; there are no limits, because her goal is to simply be honest, to connect, and to comfort.
With the help of her mentor Jane Semel, she launched the Mindful Music Program, which became a part of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. For over half a decade (Pre-COVID, of course) the program hosted regular concerts for health professionals, patients, and scientists. During COVID-19 she brought the Mindful Music Program to the virtual space via YouTube garnering thousands of views per video concert episode. Her work has been featured on HuffPost, TedX UCLA, International Arts & Health Conference in the UK, as well as Southern California newspapers.
She brought the Mindful Music Program to a place it can exist and thrive without her leadership. She now takes on creative projects by day at Oniracom in the marketing and business strategy space (to keep a roof over her head) while continuing her musical journey. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Public Health from UCLA. She went on to earn a Certificate in Leadership and Management from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Executive Program.
Jeffery David is a ASCAP Pop Award winning Producer & Songwriter. He's worked w/ Zedd, Seal, Echosmith, Audien, Hunter Hayes, Ally Brooke, Mat Kearney, Steve Aoki, Jon Forman, Gerard Way, O Town & many more.
Jeffery founded Cranberry Mgmt whose motto is to "hustle with kindness" because they believe it never costs you anything to be nice.
Cranberry Mgmt represents Echosmith who have built a global career with triple platinum hit “Cool Kids” & double platinum hit “Bright” with their debut album going platinum. Other hits include the Over My Head and their new album "Lonely Generation" which is an amazing commentary on the effect of social media on all of us. To Date the band has well over a billion streams on their music.
**Cranberry Records is a boutique label w/ homes @ Warner/Ada & Sony/Red. Their first signing is Audien. His second single “Favorite Sound” hit the top 10 on billboard’s dance charts.
Jeffery has had over 350 syncs (Monday Night Football, MTV, VH1) and has also written for TV shows, including The Voice, Glee, American Idol, The Biggest Loser and ESPN. Additionally, David scored 12 worldwide commercials for brands including Guess, Southwest Airlines and Lamborghini.**
Vicky is Partner at World Innovation Lab (WiL), heading up US Operations & Marketing. WiL is not a typical venture capital firm. In addition to venture investment, WiL also helps US portfolio companies enter Japan and Asian markets, and works with corporate investors (including Sony, Suzuki, 7-Eleven, and others) to build their innovation capabilities, including organizational change and new business incubation projects.
Vicky brings to WiL deep operational experience from building products and teams, from the ground up and at global corporations. Previously, she led Global Retail Products at Sling Media, including product design, development, and marketing for all Slingbox hardware and software. Together with her team, she received a Technology & Engineering Emmy, a National Design Award, and was named Innovation Winner at CES.
Early in her career, Vicky co-founded eHow.com and led product planning and business development at Sony PlayStation. These products continue to engage millions of users worldwide.
Vicky is also an improv newbie. Her creativity springboards into her approach to culture-building and interpersonal relationships. Vicky completed her MBA at Stanford, and she also cheers for her undergrad alma mater Cal at Big Games.
Jacquie Lloyd Smith is the founder of Strategic Play Group Ltd., a Global Training Company specializing in Certifications in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods and named Best in Class by Procter and Gamble. Clients include small, medium, and large organizations around the world like the LEGO systems group, United States Air Force, Ernst and Young, and all levels of Government in Canada and the USA. She has an MA and an MBA, has taught at the University of Western Ontario (1988-2000), she has also taught in the business department at Lakehead University and the MBA program at Royal Roads University (2011-2018). She has been a registered Art Therapist since 1991, has been a certified management consultant since 2009. In 2012 she was nominated by her peers and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
She lives and plays with her family near Whistler, Canada.
Coonoor Behal is the Founder & CEO of Mindhatch, a consultancy that helps organizations create the conditions for innovation and creativity to thrive. Through Mindhatch, Coonoor delivers her unique mix of expertise in Design Thinking, Organizational Improv™, Innovation Facilitation, and Diversity & Inclusion.
Coonoor has helped Deloitte create, prototype, and launch an in-house design thinking consulting arm; be a part of a “stealth” team of design strategists and researchers guiding numerous teams at Starbucks; trained more than 100 people at Bethpage Federal Credit Union in design thinking; helped the Department of State and the Pentagon use improv to be more creative and collaborative thinkers; and has helped the Inter-American Development Bank’s Gender & Diversity Division generate and come to consensus on their strategic vision.
Coonoor is also the author of I Quit! The Life-Affirming Joy of Giving Up, which will be published by New Degree Press in April 2021. The book seeks to help readers rethink and reframe quitting by sharing stories from everyday people who summoned the courage to quit things in their lives.
Coonoor has been an improv comedy performer for over 10 years, is an avid fan of professional tennis, and dotes on Nikka, her Bernese Mountain Dog.
Liberty Worth is an artist, quilter, designer, teacher and poet. For Liberty, art and creating are a way of life - helping us make sense of the world - its beauty and pain - and enabling us to take part in the act of creation. Liberty teaches workshops and lessons in mixed media, meditation and healing through art, sewing and quilting.
Theme Park Designer Jerry Designer takes us inside his creative process for the wonder-filled worlds he creates.
Art Director, Designer, Illustrator, and Story Teller Jerry Sabatini has more than 15 years in the themed entertainment industry. His love of architecture, the built environment, along with a desire to create unique immersive moments has helped him cultivate a varied and diverse portfolio of work with projects spanning the globe working with many of the major Hollywood studios, including Universal Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, Paramount Studios, and presently Lionsgate Films where he serves as Vice President, Creative for the Global Live and Location Based Entertainment team.
Bradley Rapier will help you find your groove.
Bradley Rapier is an award-winning creative director, choreographer, activation speaker, performer and educator - lecturing on history and culture of street dance at USC and the Kaufman School of Dance. Bradley was uniquely positioned to teach the history of the vibrant art form because he’s had a hand in creating it. He founded the visionary dance group The Groovaloos and has taken his groove from the street to the stage, film and television as an award winning performer and choreographer for the last 25 years. His passions for dance and education have come together in Bradley’s Groove Theory - a transformational perspective on living authentically which he shares with appreciative audiences everywhere.