
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
pleasure

I’m in the midst of celebrating sisterhood and community – women standing for one another’s radiance and celebrating one another. Women have not been taught about the privileges of being a woman and the incredible consequences of a community of sisterhood where women stand for each others’ dreams.
In our culture, there’s a virulent epidemic of self-hatred, self-doubt, and self-deprecation in the way women treat themselves. Women tend to create affinity through suffering, through talking about and sharing misery. But we women were designed with 8000 nerve endings dedicated to pleasure (men have 4000). Our pleasure is the ingredient that makes sisterhood such a creative, generating space.
My goal is to teach women to celebrate themselves for no reason – just for the pure fun of it. That’s only possible through women standing for themselves, learning to treasure themselves, and then being willing to shine their light in front of each another. When bonds are formed through pleasure, there’s so much that women can contribute.
At my first book signing, a red-haired 15-year-old girl came up to me and said, “Mama Gena, your book is my favorite book I’ve ever read in my whole life.” I said, “Girl, you shouldn’t be reading my book. It says ‘pussy’ in it.” She said, “Well, my mom brought me here.” I said, “Whoa. Why are you reading this book, and why do you like it?” She said, “Because in high school all the girls hate themselves and reading your book is the first time I’ve ever heard the sound of ‘a woman loves herself’ and it made me feel that way about myself and I wanted all my girlfriends to read it so we could all just change our minds.”
I was so moved by her because I remember being that girl in high school who hated herself, who never felt qualified or acceptable or chosen or pretty or any of those things. At that book signing, I saw that it’s possible to infect another person with self-love simply by loving myself. That was huge because I realized that in my lifetime I could see a world of turned-on women celebrating the privilege of being a woman and standing inside our beauty, our brilliance, and our power.
I think women are the greatest untapped natural resource on this planet. Woman standing in her pleasure creates solutions. My mission, my deepest desire, is to see a world where women value their pleasure and look in each other’s eyes and see sister, even when they’re walking down the street.
– Regena Thomashauer
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