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.
John Montalbano
JOHN MONTALBANO recently served as Vice Chairman of RBC Wealth Management and Head of RBC Global Asset Management during the period of 2008 to 2016. RBC Global Asset Management ranked among the largest 50 asset managers in the world, with more than $375 billion is assets under management. John is a Trustee of the Killam Trusts, and is a director on many community boards, including the foundations of St. Paul’s Hospital, The Vancouver Police, Take a Hike Youth at Risk, Junior Achievement of BC and also chairs the capital campaign for The Vancouver Public Library. Recently appointed to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Asia Pacific Foundation, John holds a finance degree from the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
3 words to describe Nature?
Miraculous
Precious
Vulnerable
3 things Nature taught you?
1. Whenever I am in nature, it always re-educates me that there is so much more to life than my urban reality.
2. Nature has taught me to be respectful of it, to relish in it and to rediscover myself with it.
3. Nature has taught me that it rarely lies. If it looks distressed, then it is likely distressed.
3 most treasured spots?
1. Haida Gwaii
2. A savanna in Botswana
3. The tidal pools off Sonora Island
When I look at the ocean, it makes me feel…?
Whole
When I see a forest it makes me feel…?
The need to get into the trees.
When I see a volcano, it makes me feel…?
Wondrous of what lurks within it.
When I see a sunrise, it makes me feel…?
Renewed; when I see a sunset, it makes me feel… that I have lived to have seen another day in my children’s lives.
When I hear thunder, it makes me feel…?
Unsettled
When I hear the wind howling, it makes me feel…?
Concerned for those who do not have shelter.
Am I an Ocean, Mountain, Forest or Desert person?...?
Vancouver is deep within me, therefore, I am an Ocean, Mountain and Forest person. One is not complete without the others.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
9- being near an ocean, mountain or forest is important for me to feel grounded.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Growing up in a working class family did not afford us an opportunity to see the world very often. The anticipation of my first overseas vacation had me all excited about the destination, only to find that it was the journey that I remember most. Flying through the clouds, for the first time, at a window seat, left me in awe and feeling like I was flying along side the angels…ok, in truth, I thought I was on a magic carpet, flying above earth and into space; but being raised Catholic, I quickly found myself becoming consumed with guilt because of my indulgent thoughts and, therefore, traded the carpet in for wings. Until that trip, I could never have imagined how beautiful clouds were, or how big, how broad and how bumpy. I have flown over 3 million miles and every take off would bring me back to that magic carpet ride.
Charlene Winfred
CHARLENE WINDFRED is a Fujifilm X-Photographer who captures exquisitely the byproduct of a life in perpetual transit. She was born and raised in Singapore. She lived for 15 years in Australia. In 2013, she sold everything and began the life of a nomad.
3 words to describe Nature?
Overwhelming, longing, life
3 things Nature taught you?
That life persists. That death comes for us all. That to be able to walk, to test my body against the earth, is one of the finest abilities I am lucky enough to take for granted (at the moment, anyway)
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Arches National Park. The open ocean. Any inner city park, being the closest I normally get to Nature... sad but true!
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Overwhelmed and calmed at the same time
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like I want to go for a very long walk and look at everything. This very rarely happens, however.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
I've never actually seen one, so I'll get back to you when I do!
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Sunrise - it's been a while since I've seen one of those. Next! Sunset - whenever I'm in a position to see an entire sunset vista, it honestly makes me feel like having a glass of wine.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Glad to be inside!
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like I want to be outside, running around like a crazy person.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Of the 4, the Ocean has been the only one I can say I've been to enough to be familiar with its many moods. I like to think I'd be a mountain person, because I find rocks strangely comforting to be around (and climbing is one of the things I've wished I could afford to do since I was a kid), but that could be me romanticizing both mountains and my affinity for them! Again, will get back to you if/when that actually happens.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10, because it's everything. We can't live without nature can we?
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
There are no maritime background, or lineage of proud/rogue sailors in my family’s runaway past. My father was a mad keen fisherman though, and that’s probably where my draw to the ocean started. Dad would disappear for days on these extended fishing trips in the South China sea when I was little, bringing back ice chests full of all sorts of fish and a bunch of awesome stories each time (he was a sensational story teller). I begged to go for years and kept being told it would happen as soon as I was old enough.
So that was my 8th birthday present. My parents worried for their small, sickly child out at sea during the onset of the monsoon season, but as Dad would recall about 20 years later, I’d positively flourished in those 5 days. That was the beginning of yearly trips in Malaysian waters.
The things I remember about being at sea: Stormy days – large approaching masses of angry water waiting to eat the boat, securing anything that would fly when being tossed around. Listening to the boat creak and moan woefully in the thrash. Afterwards, small fish roiling on the water as the clouds moved away, far as the eye could see in every direction; a lone marlin worrying a frantic ball of its prey in the water, the glorious still-frame of a sailfish in flight, a line of sunlight gleaming off its saltwater lacquered dorsal fin, down curved flank and flashing off its sickle of tail. The curious, heady mix of brine and diesel fumes (and in this case, old fish) that to me, will always mean “port.”
But what I retain most about those days is staring up at clouds puffing into existence, wavering shards of sunlight converging conical to a point in the water, or at a horizon that was never really still, the way it is on land. I never took to fishing, but it allowed me to spend days dreaming in any available spot on the boat, with or without a rod in hand.
Erick Tseng
ERICK TSENG is a Product Director at Facebook where he oversees product management for the company’s global advertising growth and solutions. Erick joined Facebook in May 2010 as the Head of Mobile Products.
3 words to describe Nature?
Magical, beautiful, essential
3 things Nature taught you?
To take risks, how much beauty there is in the world, how fragile our existence is on this earth
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Yosemite, Galapagos, Himalayas
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Small
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Fresh
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Empowered
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Excited
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Cold
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?
Traveling to a beach near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and going tide-pooling amongst the rocks. I loved looking for little fish, crabs, and mussels tucked away in the shallow waters. I'd also collect fresh seaweed, and my mother would clean it up, and cook seaweed pork soup that night. Delicious!