Liza Gershman

Best-Selling Author and Winner of the Gourmand Cookbook Award (2018), Liza Gershman has nearly two decades of industry experience working in all facets of Commercial and Editorial photography and writing, including 12 published books and hundreds of newspaper and magazine stories. She specializes in Lifestyle, Food, and Travel. Her passion for people, culture and cuisine, has taken her to more than 51 countries and 47 U.S. States during her career.

Her 12th book, Cuban Flavor, has garnered many accolades, and has been featured on CBS, in National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, NPR and many additional local and national publications and radio shows. Liza was honored to speak for Talks At Google, and on the prestigious campuses of Twitter, Oracle, and Disney to name a few.

As a photographer and Art Director, she regularly teaches, writes and presents for celebrated companies: Creative Live and Canon USA. She was honored to nationally launch the 6D for Canon, and the T6. Prior to that she worked as the in-house Senior Digital Photographer for Williams-Sonoma and continues to freelance for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Hyatt Hotels, Restoration Hardware, Safeway, Party City, Getty Images, AirBnB, Visa. In 2010, Liza was Governor Jerry Brown's campaign photographer, and in 2014 was a photographer for the RedBull Youth America's Cup.

She has been a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle Travel Section, writing tips on top destinations for a monthly column called “5 Places”, and continues to write about travel, food and culture in articles and book form.

Many of Liza’s notable clients include celebrity chefs, restaurants, wineries, beverage brands, fashion brands, spas and hotels.

3 words to describe Nature? 

Beauty. Peace. Serenity

3 things Nature taught you? 

How to go into my inner self 

How to be still

How to observe

3 most treasured Nature spots? 

The Russian River in Sonoma County

The beaches of Nantucket 

The open skies of Wyoming

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

Introspective

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

Grounded and most like myself

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

In awe

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

Lucky to be part of the world, inside of a painting

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

Excited! I love a great storm as long as everyone is safe

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

Like getting under covers

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

Forest and lakes first, then ocean, then desert, but I love all of it!!!

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

11

Share with us a childhood nature memory? 

Canoeing down the river. That's my happiest activity. Smelling the ferns and mint and redwood trees all around.

 


John Wood

JOHN WOOD is the founder of Room to Read, an organization that believes World Change Starts with Educated Children. Room to Read envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and the world.

At age 35, John left his position as Director of Business Development for Microsoft’s Greater China region to found Room to Read.

John’s award-winning memoir, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children tells how he raised millions from a “standing start” to develop one of the fastest-growing nonprofits in history. The book was described by Publishers’ Weekly in a starred review as “an infectiously inspiring read.” Translated into 20 languages, it is popular with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and educators alike, and was selected by Amazon.com as one of the Top Ten Business Narratives of 2006 and voted a Top Ten Nonfiction title of 2006 by Hudson Booksellers. The book was also featured during John’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the resulting “Oprah’s Book Drive” with Room to Read raised over $3 million from viewers.

John’s follow up book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy, tells the story of how the organization successfully tackled the next steps of scaling beyond his wildest dreams while maintaining integrity and raising money in a collapsing economy.

John has been named by Goldman Sachs as one of the world’s 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, has been a three-time speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award. He has been honored by Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” Award, selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, is a Lifetime Achievement Honoree of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Disruptive Innovation Awards, and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He was selected by Barron’s as one of the “25 Best Givers” in 2009 and 2010, ranking 11th and 9th on the list, respectively. In 2014, John won the World’s Children’s Honorary Award Laureate through the World’s Children’s Prize, the annual educational program for the rights of the child and democracy—often called the Children’s Nobel Prize. In recognition of his passion to open libraries for the most under-served populations, he was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world.”

John also serves on the advisory board of the Clinton Global Initiative and New Story.

Since 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of ten million children across Asia and Africa through its programs in Literacy and Girls’ Education. It aims to reach 15 million children by 2020.

3 words to describe Nature?

Best. Thing. Ever.

3 things Nature taught you?

Take time from work to enjoy it.

Breathe deep

Stay in shape, stay young.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Annapurna Circuit of Nepal, because a hike there inspired the formation of Room to Read

Sand dunes of Namibia

Any hiking trail in my adopted home city of Hong Kong

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

Grateful to live near it.

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

Like I need to put on my hiking or running shoes, grab my wife Amy, and get out there!

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

Assuming it’s dormant, like climbing to the top.   If active, then reminds me that I need to update my will    ☺

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

I’m hugely nocturnal, so sunrises not happening for me.  Sunset makes me do a reality check on whether I’ve accomplished all the work goals I’ve had that day, and if not, to get on it.

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

Like I need to grab a good book, lie on the sofa, and enjoy the warmth and security

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

Like I should be out hiking

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

The latter 3, impossible to decide

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

10.  I globe-trot constantly for Room to Read, and in every city I always try to find Nature, and of course build my holidays in places like the Dolomites and Namibia and Nepal so that I can over-dose on it.

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

The first time I skied in Colorado I knew that I needed to abandon dreams of university on the east coast, and so I ended up having four very happy years at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


Mark Tercek

MARK TERCEK is president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, the global conservation organization known for its intense focus on collaboration and getting things done for the benefit of people and nature. He is the author of the Washington Post and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling book Nature’s Fortune:  How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.

A former managing director and Partner for Goldman Sachs, where he spent 24 years, Mark brings deep business experience to his role leading the Conservancy. He is a champion of the idea of natural capital — valuing nature for its own sake as well as for the services it provides for people, such as clean air and water, productive soils and a stable climate.

In 2012, Mark was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve on the New York State 2100 Commission, which was created in the wake of Superstorm Sandy to advise the governor and the state on how to make the state’s infrastructure more resilient to future storms. In 2016, Mark was appointed by President Barack Obama to the president's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Mark is also a member of several boards and councils, including Resources for the Future, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED),Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative, and SNAPPTNC's science joint venture with UC Santa Barbara and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Drawing on his professional background in the financial sector, Mark is leading TNC’s impact capital initiative and serves as board chair of NatureVest.

3 words to describe Nature? 

Inspiring. Spiritual. Valuable

3 things Nature taught you? 

Interconnectedness. Shortcuts don’t work. We’re all (all species) in this together.

3 most treasured Nature spots? 

Very difficult - I lead The Nature Conservancy, so it is like asking me who is my favorite child. So I will answer: Mountains, Jungles & Oceans.

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

At peace

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

Happy

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

Respectful

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

Calm, happy

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

Like rain is coming.

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

Like I'm outside

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

All of the above

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

10

Share with us a childhood nature memory? 

Early in my TNC days and for various reasons, I was feeling stressed about my new job. I had to go to the Great Bear Rain Forest in British Columbia. My anxiety and stress vanished as soon as I arrived and took in the majesty, beauty and glory of the area. I also realized that I had myself a very good job!

Photograph by Emiliano Granado