
Affectionately known as "America's #1 Success Coach," Jack Canfield is the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a leading authority in the areas of self-esteem, achievement motivation, and peak performance. [www.jackcanfield.com]

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post and the author of twelve books. [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Seth Godin is a prominent author, blogger and speaker. [www.squidoo.com/linchpin]

Krishna Kaur is the founder of YOGA for Youth, a program that takes yoga, meditation, and stimulating discussions on the philosophy of yoga to urban youth. [www.yogaforyouth.org]

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is also a political and social activist and philanthropist. [www.normanlear.com]

Leilani Münter is a professional race car driver and an environmental activist who uses her voice in the number one spectator sport in America as a catalyst for change. [www.leilanimunter.com]

By going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders, Kevin Bales exposed modern slavery's penetration into the global economy. He co-founded Free the Slaves, which has helped to liberate thousands of slaves. [www.freetheslaves.net]

Sophie Chiche, lifebyme.com founder and curator, enjoys asking deep questions and living a life of meaning. Today she's launching Shape House, an urban sweat lodge, a place to melt away fears and fat. [www.shapehousela.com]

Entrepreneur and writer Mastin Kipp founded TheDailyLove.com, which merges pop culture with inspiration, and co-founded The Love Yourself Company, an apparel company that has started a global self-esteem movement. [www.TheDailyLove.com]

Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. [www.lizphair.com]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is Chairman of The Elders, a group of world leaders who address some of the world's most pressing problems. He works energetically for human-rights and in his ministry. [www.tutu.org]

Zainab Salbi is the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a group dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. [www.womenforwomen.org]

Despite his physical challenges, Sean Stephenson has taken a stand for a quality of life that has inspired millions of people around the world. He's a professional speaker, psychotherapist, and author. [www.timetostand.com]

Kia Miller teaches Yoga at Yoga Works in Los Angeles, leads teacher trainings, and runs retreats and workshops on meditation, chakras, pranayam, and mantras, and other practices. [www.kiamiller.com]

Simon Mainwaring is an ex-Nike/Wieden creative, former Worldwide Creative Director at Motorola/Ogilvy, branding/advertising writer, author/speaker/blogger, Australian, idea geek. [www.simonmainwaring.com]

Shannon Bindler is a style editor, life coach, and the co-founder of Get Up Girl, an empowerment company that inspires women to shine. [www.getupgirl.com]

Grammy-nominated art director/designer/photographer Mathieu Bitton has designed over 450 CDs and movie posters. He's a renowned collector of and authority on black films and their soundtracks. [www.candytangerine.com]

Opus Reps founder and agent-producer Jorge Perez travels the world producing photo shoots with great photographers and celebrities. He's also very involved with Meals on Wheels in Los Angeles. www.opusreps.com
voltaic

Energy is ELECTRIC. It’s a kinetic experience of being “turned on” by ideas, actions, and intentions. When I’m living in alignment with my strengths, I’m an unstoppable live wire. But when I take on a project or enter a relationship that’s misaligned with my values, I feel it – physically – as a full-body electrical outage. And frankly, that blows.
A year ago, I was a walking, talking, city-wide black-out. Ungrateful, unmotivated, underwhelmed by my chosen career track. I’d lost my spark, my sense of purpose, and – more critically – my sense of possibility. I was 25. I was dimming out. And I was terrified.
Then, in the midst of the Great Recession, I quit my 9-to-5 job and became a full-throttle freelancer. I hustled. I prayed. I polished my portfolio. I made peace with my worst-case scenario – slinging beer in a biker bar and eating saltine crackers for dinner. And my electrical currents began to crackle.
Reveling in the world of digital entrepreneurship, I found what’s most meaningful to me: helping extraordinary people package, present, and promote their gifts to the galaxy. By ecstatically rolling around in that realization, like a puppy with its belly to the sky, I discovered my own gifts and my inner electricity.
As a promotional writer, I’m constantly searching for evocative, underutilized words to weave into marketing materials for my clients. I recently landed upon the word voltaic: (adj.) pertaining to electric currents, especially when produced by chemical reaction. I became fixated on the word and found myself writing it on Post-It notes, in journals, on shopping lists … it became a textual mantra. A symbol for the life – and the world – I want to co-create.
The ability to design a VOLTAIC life – a life of unbridled enthusiasm and authentic engagement – is a privilege, a thrill, and the essence of entrepreneurship.
So, what’s meaningful to me? E-l-e-c-t-r-i-c-i-t-y. Soulful self-promotion. Supersonic storytelling. Sizzling synchronicity. Striking symbiosis. I want everyone on earth to feel like an active switchboard as often as possible. Screw light bulb moments … I want lightning bolts of brilliance!
– Alexandra Franzen
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