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.
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.
Shari Sant Plummer
Environmental philanthropist and ocean activist Shari Sant Plummer is President and co-founder of Code Blue Charitable Foundation, Secretary/Trustee of the Summit Charitable Foundation, founding board member of the Sylvia Earle Alliance, board member of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and former Vice President of Seacology. Shari is also a member of the Ocean Unite Advisory Board, WWF National Council, and Nature’s Best Photography Advisory Council. A proponent of impact photography and filmmaking, she served as board chair of the International League of Conservation Photographers for five years and is currently an affiliate.
In addition to her philanthropic work, Shari also produces documentary films including the Emmy award-winning Netflix documentaries “Mission Blue” (Executive Producer), and “Chasing Coral” (Associate Producer). She is also Executive Producer on the award-winning films “Anote’s Ark,” “Sharkwater Extinction,” and “Ghost Fleet.”
A graduate of NYU, Shari worked as Senior Stylist and Design Director for Ralph Lauren in New York for nine years, then as Visual Director at Esprit. She later founded the environmental lifestyle store, Worldware, in San Francisco in 1994. She sold the business in 2001 and now devotes herself full-time to conservation work, with a focus on producing impact media to inspire change.
An avid diver, photographer and ocean activist, Shari travels extensively throughout the world promoting ocean conservation and environmental awareness and lives in New York and California with her husband Dan and their dog Brody.
3 words to describe Nature?
Miraculous. Humbling. Fragile
3 things Nature taught you?
Respect
Love
Resilience
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Millennium Atoll, Kiribati
Our farm in the Catskill Mountains, New York
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Curious, energized, alive!
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Comforted it’s still there!
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Afraid and exhilarated
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Reverent awe
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Apprehensive.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
..like diving under the covers!
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Definitely ocean
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
Is this a trick question? More than 10!
Share with us a childhood nature memory.
Body surfing is a tradition in my family, so at an early age, I regularly braved the icy waves in Santa Cruz, where we had a beach house.
I would run intrepidly into the frigid sea, dodging the crushing turbulence of the waves by diving deep beneath them. I loved the feeling of the oceans power passing over me, almost as much as the thrill of catching a ride!
One day after diving through several waves, I surfaced to realize there were no more waves coming. I had inadvertently moved into deep ocean and was now caught in a riptide which was rapidly pulling me out to sea! I was alternating treading water and trying to swim back to shore when a vigilant stranger noticed and swam out to rescue me.
Though It was a frightening experience, it didn’t deter me from continuing to spend long summer days salty and sunburned in the waves, nor did it diminish my love for all thing’s ocean. But, it was a valuable lesson in humility, and in respect for the ultimate power of nature.
Charles Michel
Charles Michael connects art, gastronomy, experimental psychology, crossmodalism, human-centered design, theory of change and ritual to catalyse communities and foster human development. He has recently starred as a master chef in Netflix’ latest food show The Final Table, but my work has taken many shapes.
Charles has published over 12 papers in peer-reviewed journals on multisensory science, co-created a multisensory VR experience to take the viewer to the Amazon forest, and a spoon that enhances flavour perception and nudges towards healthier, more mindful eating.
At the intersection of community and social change, he’s helped design a sustainable village project in Ecuador (Tanusas), founded an artistic movement (Crossmodalism) inspired by total art and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Charles also has designed transformational gatherings (Domus) and directed events for hundreds of young leaders (Sandbox) in Kenya, Europe and South America.
He’s given over 30 talks on the future of food and eating, on stages such as The Royal Society with Prof. Brian Cox, at The Royal Institution’s famous “Faraday Theatre”, Tech conferences, Burning Man, TEDxHackney and TEDxMogadishu. He currently teaches through Patreon, and have designed courses on Culinary Leadership, Sensorial Exploration and Luxury Gastronomy for the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon.
3 words to describe Nature?
LIFE. UNIVERSAL. SACRED.
3 things Nature taught you?
That humans are the nervous system of the planet, in the way we exchange information and resources.
That it is the greatest source of wisdom and innovation, if we know how to look, and if we pay enough attention to what is really going on, putting time into perspective.
That contemplation is a natural state of humans, and that doing it more often is healthy, just like meditation.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The “Heart of the World” - Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta in Colombia, home to the largest indigenous tribe still operating in pre-Columbian ways.
The forest where we build a treehouse with my father, near Bordeaux.
Iceland in the winter… I felt like traveling on a different planet.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Small… I have a deep sense of reverence to the Ocean, it is a mystery that we are not able to understand fully.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Connected to everything. Abundant.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
The immense power of the flying rock we are standing on and we call home. A mix of fear and full presence.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Pure Awe…
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
A blend of excitement and humility. And extreme comfort, if I find myself in a warm, dry place.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Energised. I feel it carries a message.
In ancient pre-columbian wisdom, the wind is a woman who carries a song, a message that we must listen to carefully.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I think I’m a forest person. The trees reaching their arms up to the sky, roots deep into the black earth, the mycelium web intimately and discreetly interconnecting everything. The vegetation capturing and storing sunlight, water and carbon to sustain life and ignite the cycles. Breathing organism, pulsating to the energy of solstices, dancing with light and dark.
I relate to Forests more than any other living ecosystem.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10. We should listen to nature more often…
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I was 7 or 8, in the eastern Orinoco plains of Colombia. My family owns land and are farmers and ranchers. I remember the day I went on a full day of work with my cousins, all barefoot riding horses, to go check on the cattle in remote parcels of land. Crossing rivers, passing by caimans and seeing flocks of birds flying. The journey lasted for about 8 hours, I remember well the feeling when we got back to the ranch at sunset… the smell of the tired sweaty horse, the mud on my feet, the companionship of family and the comfortable shelter where the mothers had prepared warm sancocho soup and cold “agua de panela” - water with raw cane syrup and lemon… I was proud to have made it!
TOKiMONSTA
Jennifer Lee "TOKiMONSTA" is one of the top producers and DJs in the world. In 2010, she was invited to attend the Red Bull Music Academy in London. Making her mark on the music scene, Jennifer became the first woman to sign with Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label. Following the release of her first album Midnight Menu, Lee was rated the #1 Hottest Los Angeles Lady DJ by LA Weekly. In 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with an extremely rare and potentially fatal brain disease known as Moyamoya (Read story here). After undergoing two brain surgeries, Lee was left unable to speak, create, or even listen to music. Through perseverance and faith, Lee’s memory returned and shortly after taking a break, she was finally able to regain her music making abilities. After regaining much of her memory and music-making talent in March of 2016, Jennifer made her triumphant return with jaw-dropping performances at SXSW and Coachella. In 2019, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance / Electronic Album. Lee was featured on Vox-Netflix series Explained. Check her latest album, Lune Rouge.
The name Tokimonsta originates from the Korean word for rabbit (tokki), which she took from a Korean's children's song "San Toki”
3 words to describe Nature?
Beautiful. Freedom. Enigmatic
3 things Nature taught you?
Beauty
Patience
Mindfulness
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Big Sur
Joshua Tree
All the beaches of SE Asia
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
At peace
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Connected to all of nature
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Chaos
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Joyful to end or begin another day
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Fear
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
A bit spooked
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I remember driving with my family to Palm Springs almost every weekend. I used to find the monotony of the landscape quite boring while sitting in the car, but grew to appreciate the landscape more.