Erik Nissen Johansen
Erik Nissen Johansen is the founder and creative director of global award-winning hospitality design studio Stylt in Gothenburg, Sweden. For more than 25 years, Stylt has combined concept development, interior architecture, design, and branding to create unique hospitality experiences for clients all over the world, including more than 400 restaurants and 250 hotels: the Pater Noster Lighthouse and the Niehku Mountain Villa in Sweden, the ANDAZ by Hyatt in Dubai, the 25h hotels in Düsseldorf, Copenhagen and Melbourne, the Downtown Camper by Scandic in Stockholm, the Smoki Moto JW Marriott in Dubai, the LEGO House in Billund, the Huus hotel in Gstaad, the Lydmar in Stockholm, the Spedition hotel in Switzerland, the Klaus K hotel in Helsinki, the Well Spa in Oslo, Le Rouge in Stockholm, Le Pain Français in Gothenburg, Creekside Villa in Canmore Canada, and the Stenungsbaden Yacht Club in Gothenburg.
Under Erik’s leadership, Stylt has won several awards: Global UNESCO Prix Versailles for Best Hotel Interior (twice), National Geographic Traveller Big Sleep Awards (twice), several AHEAD awards, Best New Boutique Hotel in the World, IH&P Award for Worlds Best SPA design and many more.
3 words to describe Nature?
Calm. Enchanting. Enriching
3 things Nature taught you?
Be humble
Be respectful
Feel alive
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The Solomon Sea
West Sweden Archipelago
The Norwegian Fjords
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Creative
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Alive
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Rejuvenating
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Stunning
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Majestic
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Captivating
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?
The first time I tried snorkel gear, I was 4, a new world opened up in the Oslo fjord.
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.
Terry Giles
Terry Giles was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from California State University at Fullerton and his Jurist Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law, where there is now a Terry M. Giles Honor Scholar. In 1975, he established what would become one of the largest and most successful criminal law firms on the West Coast. Some of Giles’ clients have included Richard Pryor, Kenneth Lay, J. Howard Marshall III and Martin Luther King Jr.’s remaining children. In 1983, Terry withdrew from the firm, disillusioned with the criminal legal system.
Starting over, he took a small Toyota dealership and built it into the fifth largest in the world. He then helped build a Canon copier distributorship into the third largest in the country and negotiated the sale of ComputerLand, a company with $2.5 billion in annual sales. He also reestablished his legal practice, but this time focused exclusively on civil trial matters and only for clients and causes that he believed in. In 2008 he was runner up for “National Jury Trial Lawyer of the Year” for his work in the Catholic predator priest cases in California.
Through the course of his career, he has bought/built 35 companies in a variety of industries. Today, his company, Giles Enterprises, has diversified interests in biotech, time management, European 5-Star hotels and restaurants, and financial portfolio investments. Part of his portfolio includes the Chateau Eza on the Mediterranean French Coast and Grand Hotel Son Net on Mallorca in Spain.
He is chairman of Landmark Worldwide Corporation, a San Francisco-based enterprise with 43 offices in 20 countries and Pacific Biomarkers, a diagnostic laboratory enterprise in Seattle. Additionally, Terry serves on the Boards of Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, the Pepperdine University Board of Regents, and The Giles O’Malley Foundation.
Terry has received the Medal of Honor Alumni Award from Pepperdine University, Alumnus of the Year from Pepperdine University School of Law, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Award, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award of California State University of Fullerton. He further serves as an adjunct professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law.
3 words to describe Nature?
Beautiful. Powerful. Terrifying.
3 things Nature taught you?
Respect
Aloneness
Oneness
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Red Wood Forrest in California
The deserts of Arizona
The canyons and rock formations of Utah and Colorado
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Small
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Peaceful
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
In awe
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Happy
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Uneasy
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Nervous
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain. The majestic nature of mountains inspires me.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
8, except when I am in it. Then it is definitely a 10.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Even as a kid, it occurred to me that we have a finite number of sunsets in our life. We do not know in advance how many that is, but I try to make sure to enjoy each one as much as I can.