Quinn Christopherson

photo credit - Emma Agnes Sheffe

Quinn is an Athabaskan and Inupiaq songwriter who was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. Quinn addresses his childhood and navigating Alaska’s social landscape through his music. In 2019, he won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest with his entry "Erase Me," a song exploring his experience coming out as a transgender man and was recognized by NPR for his submission in the 2018 contest with his song "Mary Alee". 

3 words to describe Nature?

Safe. Humble. True

3 things Nature taught you?

To listen

Not to sweat the small things

Patience 

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Anywhere near a lake, mountains, or hot springs

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

Free

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

Curious 

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Hot

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Gratitude

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

Quiet

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Heard

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?

Going camping every summer weekend with my dad


Jay Faires

Jay Faires is an entrepreneur and founder of The Wellness Agency, the first agency dedicated to companies and founders in the $4.2 trillion wellness industry. TWA combines his personal passion for wellness with a proven ability to spot talent, both in entrepreneurs and creatives, at early stages in their career. Jay is recognized as a leading force in the burgeoning wellness industry and advises, drives growth, and connects the dots for the world's leading talent, founders and CEOs, and wellness brands as they together change the future of wellbeing.

Prior to his focus on health and wellness, Jay had a successful career in music as the founder of Mammoth Records, Head of A&R at Atlantic Records, and President of Music at Lionsgate. Jay grew up in Tennessee, holds an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and currently spends most of his time between Los Angeles and Asia.

3 words to describe Nature? 

Awe inspiring. Powerful. Beautiful. Oh and I must add, unforgiving when she needs to be.

3 things Nature taught you?

The impermanence of things

We are a piece of a much larger whole

The deep interwoven nature of humanity to Mother Earth and subsequent consequences when we ignore this

Can I add one more? That we are here only briefly 

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles

Powder Mountain, Utah

North Shore of Maui

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?

I breathe deeper. It calms me to look at the broad horizon. And that I want to get back on the waves.

When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?

How can I go deeper into it.

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?

Have only been in the crater on top of Maui, looks like the moon. Love the silver plants that only exist up there.

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?

Like I want to see a lot more of them. LOL

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?

I rarely get to hear thunder anymore like I did growing up in the Midwest and south.

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?

Try and sort what she is trying to tell me.

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

I want to say each. But ocean the most.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

Camping with my dad in Brown County Indiana at probably around age 7. Pouring rain. We set up our tent and the floor got soaked, an inch of water. It didn’t matter. Earlier that evening before it was raining turning over a rock 10 feet away and seeing a rattle snake, didn’t matter we set up camp there. A lifetime later on my fathers death bed we shared that story naturally finishing each others sentences. We had each remembered it.

 


Justin Willman

Justin Willman is a magician/Comedian, recent Critics’ Choice nominee and one of today’s most prolific entertainers.

In 2018, Willman premiered his six-episode magic series on Netflix entitled “Magic For Humans” where the show instantly became one of the most streamed shows on Netflix with clips from the show garnering over 150 million views to date across social media, even sparking a viral meme. Indiewire called Willman the “perfect magician/hybrid prototype with incredible comedic timing,” and Rotten Tomatoes currently has the show listed at an 88% audience approval. Soon after the premiere, Magic for Humans was picked up for a second season which premiered December 4, 2019. Season 3 is streaming now.

In 2018, Willman had a residency aptly called “The Magic Show” at the historic and swanky Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles where all shows sold out almost immediately and attracted many of Hollywood’s most well-known names.

The L.A. Times said of Willman to be a "A new breed of magician who's making magic cool again for grown-ups." Playboy Magazine dubbed him "The freshest and funniest magician working today," and Time Out hailed that his show "Has to be seen to be disbelieved.”

Justin has appeared on The Tonight Show, Ellen, Conan, Kelly Clarkson, The Today show, The Late Late Show and has performed live at the White House for the Obama Family.

Willman is also a consultant & writer for film/television productions like America's Got Talent, The Goldbergs and Disney's feature film Magic Camp.

He was born in St. Louis, lives in Los Angeles, and does not own a rabbit.

3 words to describe Nature?

Meditative. Humbling. Itchy.

3 things Nature taught you?

Be humble. We’re small and insignificant in the big picture. Take that as a relief.

Be prepared. Nature is no joke. Don’t underestimate her.

Leave things better than you found them. This applies to everything.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

The Mississippi River banks near Grafton, Illinois. As a kid I spent my summers fishing in the muddy waters. It’s still my happy place.

 The Path of the Gods hike in Italy. I proposed to my wife mid-hike on the roof of an abandon hut overlooking Positano. I’ll never top that one.

 Napali Coast in Kauai. No reason needed, just go.

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

Home

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

Adventurous

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Vulnerable

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Present

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

Quieted

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Grounded

 Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

Ocean, 100%. If there’s sand in my car’s floor mats I know I did something right that day.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10. I need more nature in my life though. The mere act of answering these questions is making me want to get the hell out of dodge.

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

When I was 10 I camped out in the woods behind my house for the first time. I made a campfire all by myself and everything. The next morning I remember the smell of the fire still lingering on my clothes and fingertips. To this day, every time I smell a campfire it takes me back to that moment and makes me feel like a kid again.


Seamus Blackley

Seamus Blackley is an American video game designer, a theoretical physicist and entrepreneur who has collaborated technically with Bill Gates and creatively with Steven Spielberg. He is currently the CEO of Pacific Light & Hologram. In 2003, Seamus founded the Interactive Entertainment department at the Creative Artists Agency, where he was the Head of Interactive for 9 years. Fun Fact #1: If you have a Xbox in your leaving room, its because of him! Fun Fact #2 Blackley is a GastroEgyptologist (hardcore amateur baker and Egyptologist). He once made bread using 4,500-year-old Egyptian yeast. Listen to his interview on Ologies here.  

3 words to describe Nature?

Beauty. Power. Symmetry

3 things Nature taught you?

Respect

The biggest change often comes from the smallest place. 

There is beauty everywhere, if you simply look.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

El bosque del apache

The gardens at Belsay Hall, Northumberland

The spot just under a big cloud in high summer

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?

Powerless, but connected to all life everywhere.

When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?

Serene, relaxed, worried

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?

Lucky that our planet can sustain life despite the enormous power of the mantle and core.

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?

Connected with everyone, as we all share it; but it’s also a reminder that we live in a thin shell around a planet, and it’s all very tenuous.

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?

It reminds me of my childhood, the big storms in New Mexico in the summer, and the smell of rain in the high desert

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?

Lonely, and a bit sad

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

I am a desert person

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10 +, as it is for all of is, whether we admit it or not.

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

Its very simple, actually. We lived in the foothills of a big, rocky mountain range. My childhood was very difficult and abusive, and I survived by climbing (rather disturbingly far I must say now that I am a parent) into the hills, sitting on the tops of the enormous boulders, and letting the light and the smells and the sounds sooth and recharge me; to wipe away the human ugliness. One day I noticed a big rattlesnake sunning not far from me on the rock I had chosen. I thought about it, and then I closed my eyes and we sunned together. After half an hour or so, he left, but I was sure we had shared something important.