Career Stories

Host Natalie Brunell sits down with fitness power couple Mike O'Hearn & Mona Muresan. Mike is a bodybuilder, personal trainer, actor, and model who has been featured on hundreds of magazine covers, was Fitness Model of the Year seven times, and is a four-time Mr. Universe title holder. His partner Mona is a first generation immigrant from Romania, a famous fitness model, figure competitor and Ms. Universe title holder, a former magazine Editor-in-Chief and entrepreneur.

Mike & Mona share their inspiring origin stories, career paths, and how they built a Titan-strong relationship.

Follow Mike on Instagram at @MikeOHearn and Mona at @MonaMuresan.

To learn more visit https://mikeohearn.com.

Logan Hollowell is a fine jewelry designer, an alchemist and a social media influencer. 

Her celestial-inspired creations are handmade in Los Angeles using 14k and 18k recycled gold, conflict-free diamonds and rare precious stones sourced sustainably around the world. 

Her pieces are meant to become instant heirlooms that can be passed down for generations by the Modern Goddess. Her jewelry has adorned celebrities like Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, Jenna Dewan and Alexis Ren. 

Check out her collection at LoganHollowell.com and subscribe to her podcast, The Diamond Mind. 

Rachel Brown is the weekend morning co-anchor and a general assignment reporter for ABC7 Eyewitness News. She joined the station in June of 2019 and is thrilled to become a member of the Los Angeles' #1 news team. Rachel is a native of Chicago's South Side. She received a bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Illinois. From there she went on to pursue a master's degree in communication management, and graduated from Northwestern University one year later. She landed her first reporting job not far from home in South Bend, Indiana. There, she received her first Emmy nomination for her reporting during a winter storm. On the search for warmer weather, Rachel's next job took her south to Charlotte, North Carolina. She joined NBC Charlotte and served as a weekday evening anchor and nightside reporter for three years. Outside of the newsroom Rachel is passionate about kids. During her time in Charlotte she volunteered weekly at Levine Children's Hospital. Working as a Child Life Specialist, Rachel's goal was to make children feel as happy and as comfortable as possible during their stay.

Rachel recently launched a talent consulting company to train people hoping to get media jobs or polish their on-air presentation.  You can learn more at TopTalentMedia.com.

Dr. Evan Antin is Instagram’s most-followed veterinarian with over 1.3 million followers. Evan went viral after being featured in People Magazine ’s "Sexiest Man Alive" issue in 2014, and again in 2016 & 2017. Dubbed “the sexiest veterinarian,” he took the Internet by storm.

He recently released his book “World Wide Vet,” which covers his life from young wildlife/animal super enthusiast all the way to his veterinary and wildlife conservation work around the world.

His Summer, 2020 FacebookTV show “Tusks To Tails” with ‘Seeker’ (under Group-9) is dedicated to educating viewers about some of our planet’s most unique animals and what wild adaptations they have to contribute to their success. Seeker’s digital platform is all about bringing accurate, modern science to followers/subscribers/viewers and this show is no exception, delivering fascinating, fun, wild information while incorporating a variety of Evan’s experience with wildlife so far in his professional career.

In February 2019, Evan’s new television show Evan Goes Wild premiered on Animal Planet. In the show, viewers watch Evan chase his wildlife bucket list as he swims alongside humpback whales in Tahiti, explores caves with bats in the Philippines, and tangles with crocodiles in the Yucatan. Evan brings his passion and love for all wildlife to each adventure where, as a practicing veterinarian, he also lends a helping hand to animals in need along the way.

In 2018 Evan debuted HAPPY PET, his pet wellness brand that is available online . The products use natural and eco-friendly ingredients and are available in three convenient categories—Clean, Fresh, and Active.

Evan will be launching his first book “World Wild Vet” in October 2020 with his publisher Henry Holt (under Macmillan). This book covers Evan’s life from young wildlife/animal super enthusiast all the way to his veterinary and wildlife conservation work around the world.

Evan originally hails from Kansas City, Kansas where he grew up spending the majority of his childhood in search of native wildlife including snakes, turtles and insects. He went on to study evolutionary and ecological biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and spent multiple semesters abroad in Australia and Tanzania to learn more about their respective ecosystems and fauna.

In addition to his love for cats and dogs, Evan’s passions lie in exotic animal medicine and interacting with exotic animals in their native habitats around the world. For more than a decade Evan worked with wildlife in locations such as Central America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Eastern and Southern Africa, South East Asia and a variety of North American ecosystems.

Courtesy AngelaMartini.me:

Angela Martini was born in Shkoder, Albania during a time of political instability as communism started to dissolve in the region. Her early childhood was plagued by kidnapping attempts, neighborhood violence, and at one point, a short stay in a refugee camp. Concerned for her safety, Angela's mother sent her to Switzerland to live with her father at the age of ten. After leaving Albania, she would go on to live a lonely childhood, often feeling neglected and isolated from the outside world. During these years, Angela dreamed of building a better life--a dream that often seemed impossibly out of reach. At the age of 21, in hopes of pursuing a professional modeling career, Angela boarded a one-way flight to Miami. The very next day, she was signed by Front Management Agency in Miami, and only 3 months later, by Elite Model Management New York--one of the world's premier modeling agencies. She quickly started booking campaigns with retail giants such as JCPenney and Macy's. In 2010, Angela was crowned Miss Universe Albania. A few weeks later, without a hairstylist or makeup artist, she placed sixth in the Miss Universe pageant, the highest finish for any Miss Albania in history. This platform catapulted her to celebrity status throughout Europe and allowed her to cement a successful modeling career. To date, she has been featured in GQ, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Maxim, and Esquire, to name a few. Throughout the years, Angela has had various business ventures, including the building of a successful swimwear line that was featured in major events such as Miami Fashion Week. Despite the glitz and glamour that surrounds her, Angela's outlook on life has evolved. She is focused on transforming herself into a person that reveals her soul and deep sense of spirituality. Through her movie production debut in 2020, with the short films Fusion and A Way Out, Angela combines fantasy, spirituality, and humanity to piece together complex themes into cohesive narratives. In her memoir "Love. Hope. Light." she commands the attention of the reader through her vulnerability, but at the same time, her resounding strength. She reveals an intimate part of herself through her life experiences and the difficult lessons she learned along the way. Those lessons--some more painful than others--combined with her mother being the outstanding role model that she was, is what molded Angela into the incredible woman she is today. The lived experiences revealed in this book inspired her to become a certified life coach in 2017. In love with her new path, Angela hopes to look beyond the vanities of this world and looks forward to writing the next chapter of her life--one that will certainly take the world by storm.

Jennifer Lahmers is co-host of the syndicated entertainment show Extra and is an Emmy-nominated journalist based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Extra, Jennifer was one of the main morning anchors on FOX 5's Good Day Wake Up in New York City.

An Ohio native, Jennifer grew up always wanting to work in news and television thanks to a love for creative writing. She talks about getting her on-camera start in Jackson, Tennessee, where a boss ended up making a big impact on her career by demoting - yes demoting her, and teaching her you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Jennifer jumped from her first market to Hartford, Connecticut before taking a huge leap of faith by applying to reporter gigs in NYC. 

Jennifer recently launched a relationship podcast called Ex Appeal and you can follow her on social media at @JennLahmers.

(Via ABC News) Maggie Rulli is a multi-format ABC News correspondent based in the London bureau where she covers stories all over the world.

Maggie was on the fire line in Australia during the heat of some of the worst wildfires in the country’s history, and also on the ground during France’s historic country wide strikes and riots. In the Galapagos she reported on tourism’s environmental impact and in Chile’s Atacama Desert she showed us the world’s largest array of telescopes.

While closely covering the royals, Maggie has been front and center on multiple royal tours. She visited South Africa and Angola with Prince Harry and Megan as well as traveled with Prince William and Kate to Pakistan. She was even there the day Harry and Megan said “I Do.”

Prior to joining the London bureau, Maggie was based in New York, where she covered the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, the Parkland shooting and the California wildfires. Before that Maggie covered the 2016 presidential debates and President Trump’s inauguration while also reporting from the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House.

Prior to ABC News, Maggie was a Channel One News reporter and covered the dramatic aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Iran nuclear deal negotiations and Cuba’s renewed diplomatic relations with the United States. Closer to home she has interviewed first lady Michelle Obama, taken an in-depth look at youth homelessness in America, and reported on the state of nuclear weapons in the U.S.

Maggie graduated summa cum laude from Boston College. Wherever she’s living, she promises to always forever remain faithful to her hometown sports teams, the Boston College Eagles and the Red Sox. You can follow her at @MaggieRulli on social media. 

Hear the inspiring career path of NBC/MSNBC's Jo Ling Kent.

Via @NBC: Jo Ling Kent is a correspondent at NBC News covering business, technology and the economy. Her reporting appears across all platforms of NBC News and MSNBC and she is an integral part of NBC News’ robust Business & Tech Unit, reporting on TODAY and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Previously, Kent was a reporter and podcast host at Fox Business Network and an investigative reporter at NBC Connecticut, where she was a member of the reporting team awarded a Peabody for coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.

Kent reported for NBC News on the campaign trail in 2012, covering the presidential election as an embed reporter. For five years, Kent worked in China: first as a Fulbright Scholar focusing on women's rights and legal aid, then as a Beijing-based journalist for ABC News and CNN.

Kent has earned two master’s degrees in international affairs from the London School of Economics and Peking University, along with a bachelor’s degree from Rice University. She's from Minnesota, fluent in Mandarin and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Kent also serves on the board of YMCA Twin Cities Center for Youth Voice. She's on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok at @jolingkent.

Welcome Back to Career Stories Season 3. 

Michael is doggedly curious about the lives of others, and is passionate about reaching new audiences craving deeply-reported, long-form storytelling captured with cinematic style. Since joining ABC10, he has brought his viewers on journeys to places like Afghanistan, the US/Mexico border, Puerto Rico, and into California’s deadliest wildfires, telling the stories of those threatened by war, natural disaster, political repression, and gang violence. His ability to produce, report on-camera, shoot cinema-quality visuals, write, and edit his documentaries have allowed him to work using a small footprint and gain exclusive access to subjects who may have otherwise turned away bigger crews.

In 2019, Michael won four Emmy Awards, including outstanding achievement in the documentary category for his film, “Afghanistan: What is Winning?”, which he solely produced, filmed, and edited. The documentary examined how, after 17 years of war, President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy was playing out on the ground, the impact the war has had on both Afghan civilians and Americans back home, and the future of U.S. involvement in the country.

In 2018, he won three Emmys, including outstanding achievement in video journalism; as directory of photography for the documentary “Puerto Rico Rises”; and as a reporter in the ABC10 special “Embedded: Northern California Wildfires”. “Puerto Rico Rises” also won the Walter Cronkite Award for Enterprise storytelling. Michael was also part of a team of four reporters awarded a Regional Edward R. Murrow for their coverage of California’s wildfires in 2017.

Before joining ABC10, Michael worked as a multimedia breaking news reporter for The Indianapolis Star from 2013-2016. Using innovative digital reporting techniques, he elevated the paper to the number one source of breaking crime news in the city. To accompany many of his stories, he produced breaking news videos and short documentaries for the paper's digital audience, one of which screened at the Indiana Black Expo Film Festival in 2016. He also used his role as a breaking news reporter to launch several long-form projects, including an examination of the police department’s crisis intervention team, the state’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis, and an investigation into the treatment of female prisoners suffering from mental health issues.

Michael has also frequently produced, shot, and edited video packages for AJ+, Al Jazeera’s digital news vertical.

Additional print, photo and video work have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Atlantic, Reuters, The Weather Channel, Chicago Social Magazine, Denver’s Westword, The Lexington Herald-Leader, The Louisville Courier-Journal, Newcity and more.

Michael was born in Detroit, MI, and raised in its suburbs. After a short stint in Los Angeles nursing an unsuccessful acting career, he moved to Boston and received his bachelor's degree in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College. When he’s not writing or behind the camera for work, he’s often traveling the world with his fiancé, albeit still behind the camera.

You can follow Michael at @MichaelAnthonyAdams.  Visit http://www.michaelanthonyadams.com to learn more.