Creativity in Captivity

A multi-platinum songwriter who combines humor, wisdom and inspiration with soaring vocals and acoustic arrangements to give her audiences a “faith-lift.”  Jana is the founder of Together For Good Worldwide and Refugee Film School as well as the co-founder of Together We Can Change the World.  Her songs have been featured on television shows like 20/20, Entertainment Tonight, and Oprah, and movie soundtracks, sung by Reba McEntire and others. While her compositions were climbing the music charts, often sung by other artists, Jana was charting a different path. With a background in TV journalism, music, and stand-up comedy, Jana turned her concerts into Keynote Concerts, becoming a Certified Speaking Professional with two TEDx performances in addition to two concerts at Carnegie Hall. Jana Stanfield has delivered her Keynote Concerts in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand, India, England, the Netherlands, Dubai, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bali and Singapore.  Her TEDx talks were at NASA, and then in Chennai, India. To help girls without access to school, she and her professional speaking colleague, Scott Friedman, co-founded an international 501c3 called Together We Can Change the World, www.TWCCTW.com , with more than 15 projects in 5 countries to empower disadvantaged women and girls with education and job skills. She now lives in Bali, Indonesia, where she performs her music and humor. 

Warren Etheredge is a Storyfinder™, a successful producer, published author, staged playwright, veteran festival programmer and much sought-after public speaker. He has conducted over 4000 interviews. He recently wrote and produced the feature doc, Downwind

narrated by Martin Sheen which premiered at Slamdance 2023. Other producer credits include Personhood, Furever, All of Them, The Phantom 52, Last Requests , The Lost Mariner, Even the Walls. Every Beautiful Thing, and the webseries, The Enchanted Kitchen w/Sasha Graham. He teaches screenwriting/filmmaking at the University of Washington and Cornish College for the Arts. He is one of the founding faculty of The Red Badge Project, teaching combat veterans storytelling skills to cope with PTS. He has hosted multiple television series including the Emmy®-nominated The High Bar.  He served as the VP of Curation & Acquisitions for Tom Skerritt’s start-up, Triple Squirrels Media. He is the Co-founder/Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush, shorts programmer for The Seattle Jewish Film Festival and lead programmer for the Summer Shorts Film Festival. 

A director, writer & storyboard artist with an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille. Jim is a ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award winner for his short films Your Friend The Rat. He directed the critically-acclaimed end titles for Pixar's Wall•E.  After Mr. Capobianco graduated from California Institute of the Arts, he started in the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation on The Lion King and then proceeded to have an influence on many of the stories at Pixar Animation, including Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, UP and Inside Out. In 2009 Jim finished Leonardo a short film now in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC. Has published children’s books and is the voice of Gary Garbage on Netflix’s GoGo Cory Carson. With Aerial Contrivance Workshop, Jim was the 2D animation sequence director for Walt Disney Motion Pictures’, Mary Poppins Returns and wrote and directed the animated feature film The Inventor, a story about Leonardo da Vinci bringing the Renaissance to France and the future. 

Chief Creative Officer and Partner at SuperBloom House, an independent creative company that transforms the way brands show up in the world. Heather holds previous roles at Virtue, the agency from VICE, and as VP of Creative across all branded content and brand-led entertainment at Vox Media, She has spent the last decade helping clients shape culture beyond traditional advertising. She led the charge across Beauty of Blackness (Sephora, streaming on MAX), A Woman's Place (KitchenAid, Hulu), and forthcoming Embodied (Novo Nordisk, AppleTV+) 

In this special episode we celebrate the 99th birthday of The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson. Pat Hazell visits with Tonight Show Producer and President of Carson Entertainment Group, Jeff Sotzing about Johnny’s affection for variety acts. The show features the cast of Carson Tonight: master magician, Lance Burton; America’s Got Talent juggling duo, The Passing Zone (Jon Wee & Owen Morse); comedian, Cathy Ladman; ventriloquist, Jay Johnson; and jazz vocalist, Nicole Henry. All discuss their memories of Johnny and making their debuts on the show that launched their careers. Happy Birthday to Johnny Carson on Oct 23rd. 

Comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician Paul Reiser is one of Hollywood’s most prolific creatives.2024 is a busy year for Reiser. On the heels of his new comedy The Problem with People which Reiser wrote, produced, and starred in alongside Colm Meaney and Jane Levy, Reiser has projects across a multitude of media formats. In March, Carter Burke, Reiser’s iconic character from Aliens re-emerged in a What-if… concept comic book from Marvel comics and he appeared in the independent comedy The Gutter, directed by Isaiah and Yassir Lester. Reiser also co-wrote the New York Times bestseller What A Fool Believes: A Memoir the candid, freewheeling memoir of his friend and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Michael McDonald. In July, Reiser will appear in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, reprising his role from BH Cop 1 and 2. Recently, Reiser could be seen in Hulu’s critically-acclaimed comedy series “Reboot” by Modern Family creator Steve Levitan. He also took his first step into bloody, superhero glory in Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s Emmy-nominated The Boys playing “The Legend.” Reiser is widely celebrated for his roles in two hit shows for Netflix: Stranger Thing  and Chuck Lorre’s The Kominsky Method, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Mad About You, the long-running Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe-winning comedy that Reiser created and starred in with Helen Hunt, returned as a limited series on Spectrum Originals. Reiser earned acclaim for his supporting role in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash. The veteran actor has garnered praise for notable performances in films such as Diner, Bye Bye Love, One Night At McCool’s, and The Thing About My Folks, which Reiser wrote for his co-star Peter Falk. Reiser is a fixture behind the camera as well. He co-created and produced the seven-episode series There’s Johnny!, a seven-episode series which streamed on Hulu and Peacock. The show, a fictional story set behind-the-scenes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show circa 1972, co-produced with director David Gordon Green. His new standup special – his first in 30 years – will be released later this year via Comedy Dynamics.

A comedian and magician who headlined Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, has been featured on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Sherri, Comedy Central's This Week at the Comedy Cellar and National Geographic Channel's Brain Games. Harrison was a senior producer for Primetime: Would You Fall for That? and story producer for VH1’s This is HOT 97. He was also the head writer for Tu Nite con Lorenzo Parro, the first late night show on NBCU/Telemundo, a staff writer for Tha God’s Honest Truth with Charlamagne Tha God on Comedy Central, and a long-time freelance writer for MAD Magazine. He is a recipient of the Andy Kaufman Award (2010) for creativity and originality in comedy, the Shorty Award in collaboration with Comedy Central and the New York Comedy Festival for "Best Emerging Comic" (2011), and the Magners Comic Stand-Off (2011). But the award Harrison is the most proud of is Tannen's Magic Camp "Camper of the Year," which means two things: (1) Harrison went to Magic Camp and (2) Harrison was a virgin until college. He co-founded the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, the first organization at Harvard dedicated to the performance and appreciation of stand-up comedy, and one still popular on campus today.

An innovation strategist, design thinker and the author of The Wonder Mindset who is on a mission to transform companies, foster community and empower human potential. With over two decades of experience in spearheading strategic initiatives, she successfully led organizations through complex challenges, elevating design maturity and fostering cultures of innovation and growth. Sarah’s expertise spans digital strategy, design thinking, and corporate social responsibility, with a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, AR in integrated Customer Experiences to create sustainable value and impact. As the CEO and Founder of Evolve X Wonder and Wander, Sarah built a thriving community and a dynamic portfolio of offerings that empower individuals and organizations to evolve and excel. 

The Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Nashville-based independent ad agency THE MAYOR. Tom produced award-winning work in four straight Super Bowls for Avocados from Mexico and RadioShack. He's also a contributing factor in the famous Farmers Insurance jingle "We Are Farmers" and starting the infamous Popeye's Chicken Wars. Tom's work has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and the Guinness Book of World Records. Four pieces of his work are in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. 

A Creature F/X artist in the UK for over 30 years, Maria’s career began working at Jim Henson's Creatureshop in London.  She went on to specialize in art finishing, hair, fur and feathers. Her work has taken her on many adventures from Star Wars, to Harry Potter and Maleficent, to a number of epic historical films over the years. She has a passion for magic and circus and is a collector of hobbies.