author. speaker. motivator.
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]
political powerhouse. media mogul. author.
Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post and the author of twelve books. [www.huffingtonpost.com]
author. speaker. linchpin.
Seth Godin is a prominent author, blogger and speaker. [www.squidoo.com/linchpin]
yogi. philanthropist. dynamic teacher.
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]
producer. philanthropist. tv legend.
Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is also a political and social activist and philanthropist. [www.normanlear.com]
race car driver. activist. carbon free girl.
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]
Freedom Fighter. Philanthropist. Game Changer.
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]
mom. big dreamer. lady in red.
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]
Writer. Entrepreneur. Daily Lover.
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]
singer. musician. crier.
Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. [www.lizphair.com]
archbishop. author. peaceful leader.
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]
author. ceo. humanitarian.
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]
speaker. psychotherapist. life embracer.
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]
yogi. meditator. teacher.
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]
creator. writer. idea geek.
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]
Strategist. Writer. Life Coach.
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]
Designer. Art Director. Passionate Creator.
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]
Agent. Producer. Photography Enthusiast.
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
elemental
Mileece I'anson
Artist. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Ambassador.
Mileece I'anson is a multi-disciplined sonic artist and hydrogen fuel cell ambassador. She designs installations that enable human interaction with plants and other elements and organisms in our galaxy. [www.soniferousearth.com]
Our place here, in this universe we know, is especially strange. We’ve pointed our various forms of radar far and wide, but thus far found no other planet such as ours – blue Earth, 4.5 billion years old, and responsible for the proliferation of all biological life as we know it.
It’s no stretch, then, to think that it’s unlikely we came from anywhere else. Even if we did, everything here on this planet is a recycled form of elemental sources originally from of stars. That means we’re the result of interconnectedness, not the exception to it. With this information, how should we be interfacing with what is, essentially, ourselves?
In honor of this question, I’d like to take a moment to feel what’s around me, in a cosmic sense. Sometimes I picture the whole Earth spinning in its orbit around our fizzing sun, take a peek into the gaseous clouds of burgeoning stars, watch comets silently burn through the nothingness, stop for a moment in the dark empty, where light bends … then I bring my sight back and land on Earth somewhere I feel drawn to, which is often the dense rainforest. I smell the heavy, humid air and let drops of water slide down the backbones of leaves into my mouth. The rainforest is clean and pure and everything is buzzing, humming, and singing with life. I stay for a while then zoom out. Sadly, in this scenario, I also sometimes see swaths of burned landscape, and animals running from flames, a scene of panic and horror that makes me feel like crying. Sometimes I do cry, but most of the time I turn and look back into the rainforest, where I stand for a while and breathe again. Then I snap out of it and get to work.
I create projects that help us remember or, in some cases, that reveal that we are actually in love within our natural world, that we really want to use our incredible minds and technologies to get closer to it, not to eliminate it. This is part of the work I believe we all have to do, in some way or another. It is work that’s invariably the most meaningful thing we can do for ourselves at this time, as part of a living, dynamic, harmonic universe. Luckily, this is work comes with a generous bonus package: sustained, miraculous life!
– Mileece I’anson
Explore More Meaning
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jewelry artist. yogini. goddess.
Author, teacher, jewelry artist, and Yogini Laura Amazzone teaches goddess classes and workshops and is adjunct faculty at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. [www.lauraamazzone.com]
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education reformer. author. genius.
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, is an author and internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, and human resources in the new global economies. [www.sirkenrobinson.com]
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grief embracer. courageous survivor. midlife midwife.
Jennifer Boykin's vision is to "rebrand a gazillion crones." She speaks, teaches, and writes as the Creative Visionary and Chief Rabble-Rouser of the MidLife Reinvention site Life After Tampons. [www.LifeAfterTampons.com]
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painter. philanthropist. wonder enthusiast.
Chaz Guest creates inspiring paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Over the past 20 years his work has been acquired by a growing number of private and public collectors, including U.S. President Barack Obama. [www.chazguest.com]
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legacy architect. earth mama. celebrity stylist.
Maya Corinne teaches conscious creative visionaries how to magnify privilege. Her studio has raised millions, and crafts values-infused giving plans for clients collectively worth more than $14 billion. [www.moon-storm.com]
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melody maker. peanuts appreciator. energy seeker.
Gabe Morgan, music and business student at CSU Northridge, is a musician, songwriter, lyricist, and producer. He is a 2004 graduate of Teen Insight and our featured contributor for Giving Tuesday. [www.givingtuesday.org/partner-detail/insight-university]
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soul-full musician. self seeker.
Ifé Sanchez Mora is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter. Her latest album, "Fire Inside of Me," has received praise from NY Daily News, Billboard, and American Songwriter. [ifesanchezmora.com]
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insightful author. curious explorer. obstacle conqueror.
Dennis N.T. Perkins is the author of Into the Storm and Leading at The Edge. He is CEO of The Syncretics Group, a consulting firm dedicated to helping leaders and teams thrive under conditions of adversity, uncertainty, and change. [http://www.syncreticsgroup.com]
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