Sheri Salata

Sheri Salata is the author of The Beautiful No: And Other Tales of Trial, Transcendence and Transformation. Named an Amazon best-selling new release and an Apple Must Listen audio book, the memoir has touched thousands of readers and inspired them to reimagine their lives.

Sheri is the cohost of The Sheri + Nancy Show, a popular podcast about living the life of your dreams, and the cofounder of the aspirational lifestyle brand, The Pillar Life, a guidance system focused on 8 foundational areas of living. Health + Wellness. Spirituality + Happiness. Romance + Sex. Family + Friends. Creativity + Innovation. Adventure + Discovery. Sanctuary + Beauty. Money + Abundance.

Sheri has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Happier in Hollywood, The Good Life Project, Marie Forleo, and Almost 30. 

Sheri’s new venture in media is the evolution from her life-altering 20-year career with Oprah Winfrey. Sheri’s day-to-day hits and misses as the final Executive Producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show were featured in the docu-series Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes. Sheri served as President of Harpo Studios and OWN.

Sheri has been named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business and The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100.

3 words to describe Nature?

Awe-full. Humbling. Holy.

3 things Nature taught you?

Beauty is in everything.

Everything is alive.

There are a gazillion shades of green.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Hawai'ian Islands

Lake of the Woods, Canada

Napa Valley

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

The ocean makes me feel on the edge of a great big mystery. How gigantic creatures can live submerged but still sing their songs for me. How the waves come in and out in rhythmic perfection without missing a beat. I feel wild and messy and sacred and beautiful as I take it all in.

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

When I see a forest, it makes me feel like I am in the cathedral of all cathedrals.

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

Like Mama Earth is sending a message.

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

Like the Universe is blessing me.

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

Safe and secure in my humanness

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

Like crying

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

I am an ocean mountain forest person with a little desert on the side.

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

9

Share with us a childhood nature memory? 

I am a tiny thing dipping my toes in the pacific ocean for the first time and it feels like my home.

 


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.