IN-Q
IN-Q is a National Poetry Slam champion, award-winning poet, and multi-platinum songwriter. His groundbreaking achievements include being named to Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 list of the world’s most influential thought leaders, being the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque Du Soleil, and being featured on A&E, ESPN, and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He’s inspired audiences around the world through his live performances and storytelling workshops. Many of his recent poetry videos have gone viral with over 70 million views combined.
As a songwriter, IN-Q’s hit single “Love You Like a Love Song” by Selena Gomez went multi-platinum, winning him a BMI award. He has written with renowned artists including Aloe Blacc, Miley Cyrus, Mike Posner, and Foster the People. His songs have accumulated over one billion views on YouTube alone.
Leading organizations including Nike, Instagram, Spotify, Google, Lululemon, Live Nation, Shazam, The Grammy Foundation, and many more have brought IN-Q in to motivate their teams through his keynote speeches and acclaimed storytelling workshop, a transformational bonding experience for companies who want to share their story more authentically.
Ultimately IN-Q writes to entertain, inspire, and challenge his audiences to look deeper into the human experience and ask questions about themselves, their environment, and the world at large.
3 words to describe Nature?
Beautiful. Wild. Alive.
3 things Nature taught you?
Presence
Presence
Presence
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Eden in Utah. I have spent so much time over there. It is such an integral part of my life.
Road to Hana, Maui, Hawaii. That road for me is filled with life. It is so beautiful, vibrant and alive. It feels like a neon sign for nature.
Kenya. I was recently on a safari there and I have never experienced anything like this. It is a particular nature, that is raw and truly powerful. I really felt small but also part of it.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Relaxed
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Peaceful
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Awe
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Gratitude
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Power. Not that I feel powerful, but that I am amazed by it. The physical sensation of experiencing the hugeness of the sound all around you is breathtaking.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Brings me back to a childhood memory.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest the best, though honestly, it is the jungle that calls me.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Well, I don’t remember much for my childhood, unfortunately. But there is indeed one memory that comes to mind. My mom and I went camping. She is really not your outdoorsy type. Anyhow, we ended up in the forest of California, somewhere up north. I was 7 I think. We set up camp and during the night, there was this insane storm, pouring rain like crazy. There were lightings and thunder. Bang and Boum! We stayed up all night. My mom was so scared that she made me sleep with my sneakers on because she thought that the rubber would protect me, not conducting the electricity in case lightning would hit us. I felt so small and so vulnerable.
Eric Whitacre
Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre, is among today’s most popular musicians. His works are programmed worldwide and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from more than 145 countries. Born in Nevada in 1970, Eric is a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music (New York). He completed his second and final term as Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2020 following five years as Composer in Residence at the University of Cambridge (UK).
His compositions have been widely recorded and his debut album as a conductor on Universal, Light, and Gold, went straight to the top of the charts, earning him a Grammy. As a guest conductor, he has drawn capacity audiences to concerts with many of the world’s leading orchestras and choirs in venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), the Royal Albert Hall, and Buckingham Palace (London). Insatiably curious and a lover of all types of music, Eric has worked with legendary Hollywood composers Hans Zimmer, John Powell, and Jeff Beal as well as British pop icons Laura Mvula, Imogen Heap, and Annie Lennox. Major classical commissions have been written for the BBC Proms, Minnesota Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The Tallis Scholars, Chanticleer, Cincinnati Pops, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, National Children’s Chorus of America, and The King’s Singers.
In 2018 his composition for symphony orchestra and chorus, Deep Field, became the foundation for a collaboration with NASA, the Space Telescope Science Institute, Music Productions, and 59 Productions. The film was premiered at Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, Florida), has been seen at arts and science festivals across the world. Deep Field has been performed in concert on several continents, and with simultaneous film projection by the New World Symphony, New World Center (Miami), Brussels Philharmonic, Flagey (Brussels), Bergen Philharmonic, Grieghallen (Bergen) among other great orchestras. His long-form work for choir, cello, and piano, The Sacred Veil, is a profound meditation on love, life, and loss. It was premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2019, conducted by the composer, and will be released on Signum Records in 2020.
Widely considered to be the pioneer of Virtual Choirs, Eric created his first project as an experiment in social media and digital technology. Virtual Choir 1: Lux Aurumque was published in 2010 and featured 185 singers from 12 countries. Ten years-on in 2020, Virtual Choir 6: Sing Gently – written for the Virtual Choir during the global pandemic that shook the world, COVID-19 – featured 17,562 singers from 129 countries. Previous Virtual Choir projects include ‘Glow’ written for the Winter Dreams holiday show at Disneyland© Adventure Park, California, and the Virtual Youth Choir, a major fundraiser for UNICEF. To date, the Virtual Choirs have registered over 60 million views and have been seen on global TV.
A charismatic speaker, Eric Whitacre has given keynote addresses for many Fortune 500 companies, in education and global institutions from Apple and Google to the World Economic Forum in Davos and the United Nations Speaker’s Program. His mainstage talks at the influential TED conference in Long Beach CA received standing ovations. His collaboration with Spitfire Audio resulted in a trail-blazing vocal sample library, became an instant best-seller, and is used by composers the world over.
3 words to describe Nature?
Breathe. Connected. Right.
3 things Nature taught you?
Patience
Focus
Inevitability
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The high desert in Northern Nevada
Regent’s Park, London
Big Sur, California
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Open and alive
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Ancient, quiet
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Elemental
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
How small I truly am, and how vast is our universe
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Young
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Lonely
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Yes! I think I have all four of those places deep in my heart.
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 young I lived in the desert. Northern Nevada, high in the Sierras, my childhood filled with endless sky. I would spend my days outside, the natural world vibrating all around me, mystical, magical. I believed I could speak to falcons. I believed I could shape the wind. And I believed the veil between the real world and the dream world was just an illusion, that if I quieted myself enough I could slip freely between the two worlds. I think I still believe that.
Kirstine Stewart
Kirstine Stewart is the Head of Shaping the Future of Media and a Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum where she leads a team working with the CEOs, Chairs and other CSuite execs from more than 40 major global media companies including Google, Facebook, Tencent, NBCU, Bytedance and more. The team works with these media leaders to keep the industry on the leading edge in a disrupted marketplace.
Kirstine first worked at the intersection of tech and media when she led the Media and Content Teams as VP North America for Twitter, transitioning after she built the fastest-growing Twitter ad sales office in the world, located in Canada. As VP Media in New York, Kirstine led teams driving content creation and business partnerships in News and Government, Entertainment, Music, and Sports.
Before moving to Twitter, Kirstine was the Head of Canada’s national broadcaster the CBC. She is credited with reviving the public broadcaster by introducing such hit shows as Dragons’ Den, Murdoch Mysteries, Heartland, and more, expanding CBC’s reach across TV and Radio and taking the Corp through a major digital transformation marked by the 2014 Olympics.
Over her career, Kirstine held series of executive positions in Canada, and the US focused on the global expansion of US brands including leading Canada’s HGTV and Food network and management and programming 37 international channels for Hallmark with offices in Denver, Hong Kong, New York, and LA.
Prior to her work at the Forum, Kirstine held C-suite positions at two successful tech startups, the most recent being digital transformation company TribalScale working with John Hancock and Emirates among other international Fortune 1000 companies. She has served on a number of public, private, and nonprofit boards and advisories including TheScore, WOW (Creators of Castlevania) PSP Investments, and Ryerson University’s DMZ.
Kirstine is also the author of the bestselling leadership book published by Random House “Our Turn”.
3 words to describe Nature?
Overwhelming. Beautiful. Respect
3 things Nature taught you?
That there are literally things bigger than yourself.
That humans are not in control.
But that humans can do damage on a horrendous scale.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The pitons of St Lucia
The Niagara escarpment
The Colorado Rockies
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Inquisitive
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Trembling
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Alive
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Guttural
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Displaced
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Lake & river
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Falling in the 16mile creek catching crawfish at school
Melinda Moore
Melinda Moore is the founder of the impact fund, Moore Ventures and is the co-founder of TuesdayNights, a female networking organization. She is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor and global speaker with over 20 years of experience, and two exits (STV Communications and LovingEco). Melinda is the author of How to Raise Money: The Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding and has raised over 100 million via equity crowdfunding. She served as the Senior Vice President for Entertainment Media Ventures. Her work has been widely recognized by Digital LA (Top 50 Digital Women in 2015), the Green Business Bureau and the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Hall of Fame. Melinda serves on the Board of A Sense of Home and has a B.A. from UCLA.
3 words to describe Nature?
Alive. Grounding. Calming
3 things Nature taught you?
To be more present in this fast paced world
To see creativity and inspiration in all the shades of green in nature
To find strength and beauty being immersed and isolated in nature.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The coast of Big Sur
The jungles of Tikal, Guatemala
Floating along the rivers in Indonesia
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Expansive
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Small
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Alive
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Connected
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Alert
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
A little anxious
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I feel deeply connected to all but if I have to select one, the Ocean.
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 little girl, I loved riding my bike to an open field in my neighborhood and I would just sit and listen for hours to all the sounds of nature...the birds, the wind, the butterflies, the sound of the trees, and the bees.
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.
Rachel Payne
Rachel Payne is the CEO and co-founder of FEM Inc., a holding company focused on research and development at the intersection of media, technology and gender. In 2015, FEM Inc. launched Prizma, an Artificial Intelligence tech startup for major media, telecom and tech companies. Prizma was acquired by Nielsen / Gracenote in June 2018.
She has built an exceptional career as a technology executive and entrepreneur, while actively involved in philanthropic activities. A recognized thought leader in the advancement of technology to reshape our world, she champions policies that make a meaningful place for everyone in the new economy.
After graduation, Rachel worked for International Data Group and the publisher PC World to help build their digital network, which is where she discovered the power of technology and joined the first wave of Internet companies in Silicon Valley, including eBay, Hotwire and Razorfish.
Rachel returned to school at Stanford Graduate School of Business, studying public management and international development, working in Mexico City and Kampala for microfinance organizations that provide financial services and access to technology for low-income individuals in Latin America and Africa. After earning her MBA, Rachel joined the founding team of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, which focused on Poverty Alleviation and Climate Change in their grants, projects and investments. Rachel and the early Google.org executives created the first blueprint for this type of organization – a hybrid corporate philanthropy and investment vehicle.
While at Google, Rachel led International Business Operations in Emerging Markets, spending several years living and working in sub-Saharan Africa. Rachel served as Country Manager, Africa Leadership Team, with the goal of building the foundation for an Internet Economy. She focused on infrastructure, localization, strategic partnerships, and public policy to ensure broad-based participation in the opportunities created by mobile phones and emerging technologies. Her team’s work was recognized in 2010, where she accepted Google’s first award at Mobile World Congress for “Best Mobile Apps for Economic and Social Development” for building and scaling critical mobile services in agriculture, trade and health that serve people in poor, rural areas. She also worked with heads of state on policy relating to Internet access and job creation. She moved back to Southern California to lead the Technology vertical for Google, managing cross-platform media sales teams. She later became Principal, Global Strategic Alliances, and managed Google’s most important strategic partnerships in Media & Entertainment
Rachel served on the Board of Directors for BRAC USA, ranked the #1 NGO in the world. She is a Guest Lecturer on Business Applications of Artificial Intelligence at Loyola Marymount University.
3 words to describe Nature?
Profound. Awe-inspiring. Harmony
3 things Nature taught you?
Self discovery
Infinite possibility
Humility
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Patagonia, Argentina
Amazon, Peru
Pacific Ocean (anywhere!!!)
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Free, joyful, in alignment
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Protected, safe, joy
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Power, feminine, creation
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Sublime, tranquility, peace
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Exuberant, curious, alive
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Curious, respect, humble
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
All of the above, don’t make me pick one.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
As a child, we want camping a lot in National Parks like Bryce Canyon and Zion. Our parents taught us about living on the land in harmony with nature, appreciating the bounty and beauty, reminding us we were only visitors and needed to show respect and care. These golden memories are filled with joy and awe.
Amanda Slavin
During her career as an educator, Amanda realized that any platform can be a classroom with the right perspective. She learned to listen deeply to the young minds around her, and applied her teacher’s appetite for active, informative engagement to develop the award-winning brand consulting firm CatalystCreativ. As Founder & CEO of CatalystCreativ, Amanda has counseled global, national, and local organizations in planning for and achieving their branding goals. Through projects with Coca Cola, The Raiders, Google, WeWork, NPR, The Nature Conservancy, and the New York City Ballet, Amanda was featured as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Advertising and Marketing.
Amanda guides brands to do good for the world without having to sacrifice their bottom line. To do this, she utilizes her well-tested proprietary method for quantifying and scaling engagement for employees and customers. Known as the Seventh Level Engagement Framework, this technique springs from Amanda’s expertise marketing to Millennials, Gen Z and what she has coined "the Millennial Minded." She’s spoken at SXSW, TED, Summit Series, and INBOUND about how The Seventh Level Engagement Framework is the future of meaningful, personal connections. Amanda’s groundbreaking thought leadership has been covered by Inc Magazine, Forbes, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine.
3 words to describe Nature?
Majestic. Important. Emotional
3 things Nature taught you?
How to give myself permission to let my imagination lead me
How to remember how small I am in comparison to the tallest of trees and the highest of mountains
To appreciate quiet
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Sedona, Arizona
Hana, Hawaii
Makhtesh, Israel
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
At peace from the sound, in awe of the power
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Completely at home
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Lack of control, the importance to surrender
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Like a kid again, to remember the little moments in life to be thankful for
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Scared but also kind of excited
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
If i'm inside a warm home, it makes me thankful to be in warmth
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?
9
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
My 95 year old grandma recalls no matter how many toys I was given, I would always go outside and prefer to play with "my tree." There was a big tree outside my window that I thought was my tree, and I remember pretending to be a witch and stirring the wood chips around the tree as a part of my witch couldron, (I definitely had a big imagination!)
Michael Shainblaum
Michael Shainblum is a landscape, timelapse and aerial photographer based in San Francisco, California. He has been working professionally as a photographer and filmmaker for 11 years since the age of 16. Michael first made a name for himself through his unique creativity and the ability to capture scenes and moments in his distinct style of surreal, visual story telling. A dedication to challenging the boundaries of creativity, as well as a flair for coming up with unique ideas, has since resulted in this dynamic visual artist being commissioned by large clients including Nike, Samsung, Facebook, LG, Apple and Google. You will also be able to find Michael's work published widely by media outlets such as National Geographic, Wired Magazine and The Weather Channel.
3 words to describe Nature?
Majestic. Unpredictable. Therapeutic
3 things Nature taught you?
How to truly appreciate the world we live in and just how much we need to protect it.
It has given me a sense of purpose in my life to be honest, through my photography and my art.
It had also taught me to appreciate the little things in life and to drown out the daily struggles. Laying down for a nap in the Sand Dunes, or enjoying the reflection of a mountain in a lake, these moments have helped me through some tough times.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Just my most recent nature spot I have been too. Each place is special and I feel like my most recent trips are the ones I have fresh memories about capturing.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
At home, I grew up by the ocean and I do not think I could live far from it.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Adventurous, nothing like a good hike through the forest.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Conflicted, so much powerful, yet devastating beauty.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
I have been shooting sunrise for over a week now here during winter in Utah and it has been bone chillingly cold. Yet every time I wake up and get to witness that beautiful morning light, it is worth it. I suppose it makes me feel fulfilled.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Excited, I absolutely love capturing and witnessing lightning strikes.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like hopefully the timelapse camera I have set up is not going to blow over :P
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean just based on how I grew up, but I love capturing everything. The desert is my favorite at the moment, with all the incredible shapes, colors and textures.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10, I have dedicated my life now to capturing the beauty of nature and I would not have it any other way.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Funny enough I was never fully able to appreciate nature as a kid. I mean I went to the park and to the beach. But camping and hiking came a bit later on in my life during college. My family never had the ability to travel and the outdoors was never something that interested them. I found my appreciation of being outdoors through photography and I am so appreciative of that.