ACHiEVE

Dean Bragonier's family history includes a prominent whaling ancestor from Nantucket Island and an uncle who presented the credentials of the Kingdom of Thailand (Siam at the time) to a tribunal at The Hague in The Netherlands. Dean was diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade, thanks to a mother who was an education professional and was able to provide supportive services at a young age. After spending a number of years visiting Southeast Asia regularly and enjoying commercial success launching a number of business enterprises, Dean founded NoticeAbility to help those diagnosed with dyslexia benefit from non-text-based learning modalities. He is married to Sally Taylor, the daughter of Carly Simon and James Taylor.

Kyra Pahlen built a career in media working with such luminaries as Walter Cronkite and Pierre Salinger. She resided in Japan for several years and authored a novel and several scripts. She speaks five languages and this was an inspiration for her to launch LingoZing, which leverages comic book content to teach languages, as this was how she learned Italian. She was on the verge of a partnership with Stan Lee, but unfortunately, he passed away prior to it being formalized.

Dr. Barry Sandrew began his career doing neuro-science research at Harvard.  He became an expert in imaging modalities for studying the brain, particularly in colorizing images to observe progression.  At a medical conference, he was connected with some entrepreneurs who wanted to convert black & white films to color.  Barry had developed a superior technology for it, so he launched a business and switched careers.  Barry leveraged this expertise to create successful platforms in educational content, visual effects and 3D conversion.  A tireless innovator, he is the holder of 34 patents.  He is now involved with a number of incubators and startups that are exploring the evolution of technology in entertainment.

Jackie Ceonzo was born and raised in NY and began her career in the textile industry and working for a family business. When her oldest son was diagnosed with autism, Jackie created a program for him when she saw that there were no meaningful alternatives for his education. Founded originally as SNACK and now called SNACK*, the name stands for Special Needs Activity Center for Kids & Adults. It has grown significantly over the years and enables children, teens and adults on the autism spectrum to thrive.

Danilo Alvarez was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. He came to the US and landed a prestigious job in advertising. He has worked for Bates, a WPP firm, Young & Rubicam, Disney and The Discovery Channel. He has traveled the world pursuing his passions of motorcycling, para-gliding and photography. He recently launched his own advertising agency, focusing on his life-long desire to facilitate the interpretation and expression of ideas through creative content across cultures.

Animah Kosai studied law in both the UK and Malaysia. From an early age, she adopted a doctrine of advocating for social justice. After serving in a law firm and being in-house counsel for large oil & gas concerns, she decided to pursue her passion. In recent years she has become a strong advocate for whistleblowers, victims of sexual harassment and others who are marginalized based on following the right path. She has founded a group called "Speak Up At Work".

Nate Bailey followed his passion for sports and played football in college. He earned a degree in teaching and while coaching school-age students, he launched an insurance agency. He then joined the military and was deployed in the Middle East. Upon his return, he grew his insurance company and real estate businesses, selling the former over time. Based on a childhood admiration for Ironman competitions, Nate began running 100-mile marathons and has successfully completed three such courses. He also runs a thriving coaching business and a podcast. Hosted by Aseem Giri. https://achievepodcast.com.

Jason Boog fed a passion for writing at a young age and always sensed it would be his calling. He has incorporated it in all facets of his life, including during a two year stint in the Peace Corps. Jason studied journalism in college and pursued a Master's Degree from NYU, where he also taught, while working for a number of different media outlets. He re-located to Los Angeles and recently released the book THE DEEP END, a ten-year passion project that shares how writers survived during the Great Depression, lessons which feel very relevant to the pandemic of today. Hosted by Aseem Giri. https://achievepodcast.com.

Danny May has been good with his hands since youth and began his career in a craft trade, focusing on plumbing. His entrepreneurial spirit has always been strong in him and he dabbled in a number of other business areas, including solar energy. On a trip to China where a bad software translation nearly landed him in trouble, Danny saw an opportunity to create a more effective translation tool that focuses on speech recognition. He launched LingMo and now has a suite of consumer and business translation products, including translation watches. Hosted by Aseem Giri. https://achievepodcast.com.

Craig Kramer began his career with the International Human Rights Law Group and monitored the 1987 election in South Korea that ended the country's 26-year military rule. He then practiced corporate law for five years before joining the staff of Michigan Congressman Sander Levin. From there he moved to Johnson & Johnson in a Governmental Affairs capacity, building the company's business globally throughout Asia and South America. After a family mental health issue came to light, Craig has devoted his career to transforming mental health care worldwide as the Mental Health Ambassador and Chair of Johnson & Johnson's Global Campaign on Mental Health. Hosted by Aseem Giri. https://achievepodcast.com.