Alisa Miller
Alisa Miller seeks to transform and invent media and technology that positively impacts people’s lives. Recently, she was the executive chairman of PRI-PRX, the broadcast network formed when Public Radio International (PRI) merged with Public Radio Exchange (PRX). She led this first-ever public media network merger and created an organization that reaches more than 28.5 million users each month and has more than 58 million monthly podcast downloads - within the top three podcast sources in the US.
She was named CEO of PRI in 2006, the first woman and youngest CEO to head a major public radio network. Before her time with PRI, Alisa headed new digital business development for Sesame Street.
Alisa speaks on how media and technology shapes our lives and on building purpose-driven companies and careers. Her TED Talk on media's power to shape knowledge and action has been viewed 2 million times and been translated into 48 languages. She was named by Fast Company as a Most Influential Woman in Technology, is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and in 2015 won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
She’s a proud Cornhusker and holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degrees in business administration and public policy, both from the University of Chicago.
When Alisa isn't working or with her kids, she can be found singing or hiking on a mountain trail somewhere.
3 words to describe Nature?
Space. Time. Standstill (I find that the power of nature connects and touches me in these powerful moments — time literally standstill. Its about being awestruck by the scale, beauty and rawness of it.)
3 things Nature taught you?
We are temporary
We are small
Make it matter
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Bridal Veil Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park. My family has had a 3, now 4 generation affair with the Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park. Bridal Veil Falls is a hike I first walked as a child and each time I go back, it is not only beautiful but reminds me of family roots and connectedness.
Crescent Meadow, Sequoia National Park. This place literally shimmers and those trees, those ancient trees, are magical.
Sneffles Range, Colorado. The air, the sun, the exertion to get there and to the top. Worth it.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Calm, humble
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Life, hushed
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Awestruck and a touch of fear
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Reflective, grateful to breathe
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Like a little kid
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Alone
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10+
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Floating.
Summer rays.
In a prairie freshwater lake.
Watching the bubbles come out of my nose. Diving and feeling the water cool ....
as it becomes darker and deeper.
Down further.
Holding my breath.
Watching fish watch me.
Currents pulsing through my fingers. Freedom
Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy is an American artist, sculptor and pioneer of the Perceptual Art movement. Murphy became widely known during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, after creating the first portrait of candidate Barack Obama in 2007 that influenced thousands of artists to contribute to the “Art for Obama” movement, documented in Shepard Fairey's book Art for Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change.
His approach is to challenge the viewer’s boundaries using multidimensional techniques in order to create three-dimensional renderings of flat images. His inventions of "Expanded Graphics", the "3D Halftone" and "Suspended Narrative Mobiles" have established an entirely new formula for rendering images.
His work has been featured in numerous publications including TIME Magazine and New York Magazine and can be seen in numerous permanent installations around the world. His client list includes some of the largest brands in the world including Google, Nike, The Jordan Brand, LG, Lexus, Subaru, The Big Ten Network, ESPN, Disney, and the Atlanta Hawks to name a few. One of his pieces, COME TOGETHER, is currently touring with an art instalation show known as "Point of View" hosted by Wonderspaces.
3 words to describe Nature?
Inspiring. Rejuvenating. Essential.
3 things Nature taught you?
The beauty of light.
The rewards associated with being present and observant.
How important it is to be a good steward of the earth.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The woods in the backyard where I grew up in Ohio. I built this great treehouse and spent countless hours up in the tree looking over the trees. It was especially magnificent in the fall.
Mill Creek Park in Ohio where I spent much of my childhood hiking and exploring.
Central Park.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Invigorated
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Fragile
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Like I’ve been up too late. No really it makes me appreciate the beauty of the earth and its relationship to the sun
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Excited. I love thunder and lightning. As a child my family and I would always gather on our porch to watch thunder storms. It’s one of my most fond childhood memories.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
I get a rush of excited from strong winds.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Oceans, mountains, and forest.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
When I was a child I used to lie on my back in the grass and watch the clouds roll by searching for naturally occurring images. This is the inspiration for much of my work. To date I’ve spent hundreds of hours filming and photographing clouds.
Ari Weinzweig
Ari Weinzweig is CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman's Community of Businesses, which includes Zingerman's Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Creamery, Catering, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Coffee Company, Roadhouse, Candy Manufactory, Events at Cornman Farms, Miss Kim and Zingerman’s Food Tours. Zingerman’s produces, sells and serves all sorts of full flavored, traditional foods in its home of Ann Arbor, Michigan to the tune of $65,000,000 a year in annual sales.
Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the 2006 James Beard Foundation and has awarded a Bon Appetit Lifetime Achievement Award among many recognitions. In 2017 Ari was named one of “The World's 10 Top CEOs (They Lead in a Totally Unique Way)” by Inc. Magazine. In 2018 he released the pamphlet, “The Art of Business; Why I Want to be an Artist.” Another pamphlet, “Going into Business with Emma Goldman” came out in June, 2019.
Ari is the author of a number of articles and books, including Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon (Zingerman’s Press), Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating (Houghton Mifflin), Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business, and Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 2: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Being a Better Leader. Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 3; A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Managing Ourselves. Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 4; A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to the Power of Beliefs in Business was released in summer of 2016.
3 words to describe Nature?
Lovely. Loving. Amazing
3 things Nature taught you?
To understand that imperfection is normal
To understand that good things usually take a long time to happen
That success and failure are pretty much always happening simultaneously.
3 most treasured Nature spots? -
Beaches in Ireland (there are some beautiful ones!)
The North Coast of California
The desert in new Mexico
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Full
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Don't know -it's been a while.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Amazed!
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Scared!
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Alone
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Desert! but i live in michigan :)
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Going to the beach on the Southside of Chicago with my mother. We used to go all the time. I still love sitting in the sand in the sun!
Clyde Butcher
Clyde Butcher is an American large format camera photographer known for wilderness photography of the Florida landscape. He began his career doing color photography before switching to large scale black-and-white landscape photography after the death of his son. Butcher is a strong advocate of conservation efforts and uses his work to promote awareness of the beauty of natural places.
In 1992, PBS aired a documentary about him, Visions of Florida, which won a Wolfson Award.
Butcher and his work has also inspired other artist-conservationists, such as film producer Elam Stoltzfus, who was struck by Clyde's art. The pair have formed a friendship over the years and have collaborated on several multimedia projects together as a result. Butcher hosted the documentaries "Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades" and "Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades," sister films that highlighted the importance of conservation and art in the state of Florida.
His photographs have been exhibited in many museums across the world. He received in 1998 the Florida Artist Hall of Fame Award, the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club in 2000, the Wolfson Telly Award in 2004, the North American Nature Photography Association Lifetime Achievement Award in Nature Photography and the Florida International University Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2005, the Distinguished Artist Award from Florida House Embassy Washington, DC in 2012, the Biff Lampton Conservation Communicator of the Year Award - Florida Wildlife Federation in 2013, and the Voice of the Arts Award - Naples International Film Festival in 2016. In 2004, Clyde was named Top 100 Most Influential People in Florida.
3 words to describe Nature?
Primeval. Beautiful. Healthy
3 things Nature taught you?
Peace
Beauty
Connectiveness
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Big Cypress National Preserve
Redwood
Yosemite
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
As Capt’n Jack says, “Give me the horizon.” I get a sense of the possibilities of adventures that lay beyond, and the need to sail away fills my soul. (We raised our kids on a sail boat, so I did sail away for a while, but still the freedom of it lingers in my heart)
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
An ancient forest humbles me and makes me feel one with the world.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
The only live volcano I’ve seen is Mt. Reiner. I was not ready for the power and energy vibrating off that mountain. It was both humbling and amazing.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
When they are the pastel sunsets of a tropical summer, I feel at peace…rested and satisfied. When they are the bright red sunsets of winter there is a feeling of expectation in the air.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
I feel the power of nature and wonder at the hubris of humans to think they can control anything.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Mostly, I want it to stop so I can take a photograph. But when you ask about HOWLING wind, I immediately think hurricane, and then, of course, I just want it to be over.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I love both the ocean and the forests. If I could think of a perfect place to live it would be on a beach with the ocean in front of me, and a forest of palms and tropical trees behind me.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
TEN
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
The first time I saw a redwood tree and came to realize it was alive before Christ was born, I was humbled. There really weren’t words to describe how I felt. All I could think was, “How much did this tree see? What all has it gone through?”
John Hendicott
John Hendicott is a sound designer and platinum selling music producer who has a passion for working with artists to realise their musical vision. John has spent 10 years at the top of his craft, winning national and international awards in a range of disciplines including music production, film, installations and most recently, immersive 360° media.
In 2015, John Co-Founded Aurelia Soundworks, an audio post-production and creative content studio providing world class 3D sound mixing services, consultation and original content to the Virtual and Mixed Reality industries.
John’s latest VR Experience ‘Reeps One: Does Not Exist’, was launched with YouTube at Cannes Lions and has since won ‘Best Sound Design Experience’ at Raindance Film Festival, as well as nominations at the UKMVA’s and The Proto Awards.
currently lives in Los Angeles where he enjoys fostering pit bulls and cooking Sunday roast dinners.
3 words to describe Nature?
Embracing. Nourishing. Inventive
3 things Nature taught you?
That we have all we need
How to get lost
Rhythm
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The Malvern Hills
Regents Park
Canyonlands
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Reassured. Part of something bigger
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like taking a deep breath and going to explore
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
That change is the only constant. It also makes me feel small
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Limitless, transported
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Awe, excited, charged
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Change is coming
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I was lucky to grow up in the countryside, next to a sheep farm in South Wales, UK. My happiest memories were of adventuring in the surrounding fields, getting lost for the day making bows and arrows or hides. To this day, the smell of sheep dung is the most relaxing scent for me!