“I continue to love my career both as a Handwriting Analyst and Licensed Mental Health Counselor. I feel very strongly that each of us has an opportunity to help others to help themselves.”

As owner of Voyage of the Pen, Jo helps her clients learn more about their personalities through journaling. She provides individual handwriting analysis, which allows people to connect with their emotions and embark on a path to recovery and self-healing. Through her readings, she reveals client’s strengths and weaknesses, physical illness, blockages in the heart or brain, or any symptom that the body internalizes so he or she may become a more effective author in their life story.

Jo holds a Full Certification in Handwriting Analysis and Document Examination and Psychology of Handwriting from Felician College. She is also a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and has a Master’s Degree in Psychology. Jo has been practicing Handwriting Analysis for 27 years and has taught and given lectures for colleges and universities, high school classes, employee workshops, and health fairs throughout New York State. Additionally, she is a member of the New York Mental Health Counselors Association (NYMHCA), American Mental Health Counselors Association, American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF) as well as the American Association of Handwriting Analysis (AAHA).

Website: http://www.voyageofthepen.com/

“What inspires me to do what I do is the reaction of the hearts I touch in the people I counsel. People show up at my door with hopelessness, heavy hearts, and despair and walk out strong, hopeful and positive. Ready to embrace whatever life may bring their way. It is so fulfilling for me to finally find my passion in life. Helping others does that for me. A simple change in perception and unloading of heavy thoughts and feelings is all it takes. I am blessed to have the ability to facilitate these miraculous transformations.”

As the owner of Divine Strategies for Wellness, Lida DalBello-Dighton helps her clients optimize their health and happiness through the healing power of energy medicine. Using highly effective alternative healthcare modalities, Divine Strategies for Wellness promotes and facilitates deep levels of mental, spiritual, emotional and physical energy healing for overall well-being. Lida’ s work includes: eliminating disease vibrations such as cancer, neutralizing traumatic emotions from past events, finding relief from the pain of stress and anxiety, rejuvenating depleted energy, and more.

Easily approachable, Lida’s clients find it easy to open up to her and share their personal struggles. With professionalism and a witty sense of humor, she creates a relaxing environment, which enables trust, comfort, and tranquility. In addition to owning Divine Strategies for Wellness, Lida hosts meditation and Reiki nights where like-minded individuals gather together to share and inspire each other with stories of personal growth and transformations.

Lida said her greatest professional challenge was taking her own advice. In the fall of 2014, she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, a month after the passing of her mother. Medical professionals estimated Lida only had a few months to live. With her husband and three young daughters by her side offering love and support, Lida found the courage and motivation to live. Having several years of energy medicine training, she understood that she was not just a physical being. Against her oncologist’s advice, Lida chose to incorporate energy medicine and alternative therapies in her healing journey to address the cause and heal the symptoms she was experiencing at the source. Three months after diagnosis Lida was in remission and six months after that she was cancer free. Today, Lida remains cancer free and her once skeptic oncologists now recommend that she continue with energy medicine and alternative therapies.

Having survived cancer and helped others optimize their health, Lida now plans to write a book. She hopes her story of recovery inspires others and raises awareness about alternative choices for healing, which conventional medicine does not offer.

Website: www.WellnessStrategies.ca

My love for challenging the minds of young people and watching them grow up into responsible, educated adults kept me in my career for 37 years.

Retired Language Arts teacher Randi D. Ward has 37 years experience in the field of education and is a talented published author.

Mrs. Ward graduated at the top of her high school class and with honors both at her undergraduate and graduate levels at her university. With a Bachelors of Arts in Language Arts, Mrs. Ward earned a Master’s degree from Marshall University in West Virginia and began her lustrous teaching career educating students grades 7 thru 12 in both rural and inner city schools in the areas of grammar, literature, creative writing, essay writing, research writing, journalism, public speaking, and drama.

Mrs. Ward has contributed significantly to her field, helping pioneer the formation of the Gifted Program in West Virginia. Additionally, in the 1970s, she assisted her alma mater Marshall University in creating the Masters Education Program courses for the teachers of TAG (Talented and Gifted). A world traveler and lover of all cultures, from November 2011 until February 2012, Mrs. Ward taught English as a Second Language to young adults in Cairo, Egypt. The experience led her and her two Egyptian business partners to open an English and German language school called Rise Up in late 2012. Sadly, it had to close due to the unstable political situation in Egypt. She was also a former partner and educational instructor and coordinator of 6 October English Institute in Egypt with her partner Samar Farouk.

Throughout her teaching professional career, Mrs. Ward has motivated thousands of students and has always encouraged them to believe in themselves and to try to do their very best to achieve their dreams. “Believe! Don’t dream big; dream bigger! The sky is the limit so reach for the stars!” is her life philosophy.

Website: www.randidward.com

“My thoughts jumped to the women in my life who were struggling with their breasts in so many different ways. Some had body image issues, others grappled with breastfeeding woes, and still others had cysts or cancer. I realized that what I thought was a strictly personal grief was actually a large-scale problem.”

The statistics are shocking. Ninety percent of women are unhappy with their breasts. Furthermore, a UCLA study that polled 60,000 women discovered that 85 percent of them are “dissatisfied with or ambivalent about their breasts.” Despite such alarming figures the issue has been swept under the rug. Upon learning the magnitude of the dilemma, veteran broadcast and film professional Meagan Murphy knew she needed to start a conversation to bring the voices of real women to the forefront.

In 2012, Meagan formed Deliberate Healing Productions LLC to produce The Breast Archives documentary. The powerful film features the incredible stories of nine brave women willing to bare their souls and their bodies on camera. The documentary investigates how the media, religion, patriarchy, and other cultural influences impact the relationship women have with their breasts and seeks to offer a refreshed understanding of the interaction between a woman’s breasts and her mental, physical, and spiritual development. By creating an occasion to talk about a taboo subject, Meagan hopes to change the way women and society perceive the female body.

“I’d like to be a role model who inspires courage, compassion, and authentic expression. I am also deeply committed to changing society’s faulty perceptions of women and their feminine bodies as somehow dispensable, and I intend to use The Breast Archives as a springboard to make a difference in this arena.”

Website: www.thebreastarchives.org

I enjoy the positive feedback I receive from students, colleagues, and peers that my contributions positively impact the success of their education and the functioning of ECC. My role at ECC is to help fulfill its mission to ‘improve peoples’ lives through learning’. Fulfilling this mission involves helping students as well as colleagues and peers. Shared components such as teamwork, communication, and cooperation help fulfill this mission.

Highly recommended by several of his professors to continue his education and teach at the college level, Michael Segreto’s presentation and instructional abilities are better than most. In 2007, after completing his second associate’s degree, Michael heeded his professors’ advice and began working for Elgin Community College (ECC) as an in-class tutor (a tutor who assists students during class sessions).Thereafter, his career at ECC experience continued to blossom, taking on roles of Academic Support Tutor, Academic Support Presenter, Office Administration Technology Instructional Center Assistant, Business Division Substitute Instructor, and his current position as Emergency Services Lab Assistant.

As an educator, Michael relies on keeping a good sense of humor, as well as welcoming and accepting feedback from students, colleagues, and peers. He also commits to being a lifelong learner.

Read his story about his epilepsy surgery.

Website: http://elgin.edu/

“When I got laid off in 2001, my options were to go back to India or stay in America and wait for a job. I knew under the economic circumstances after 9/11, that finding another job soon was unlikely to happen. I could have given up and gone back. Instead, recognizing that if you want to create a new company, the United States is a great place to give it a try, I chose to start my own business. Deep in my heart I believed that I could do it.”

Founder, President and CEO of Banyan Solutions Inc. Jyoti Challi epitomizes the American Dream. With little saving, she came to America from India in 1999 to start a new life as a single mom with her six-year-old daughter. With a background in Information Technology and in-depth knowledge of Enterprise Resource Planning, Jyoti worked with an IT consulting firm in Manhattan but was laid off. Although challenging at the time, it turned out to be the trigger for Jyoti to seize control of her destiny and start her own company.

In 2001, Jyoti Challi witnessed the attacks of 9/11 firsthand and lost her job, along with nearly 500,000 other professionals that were laid off in the United States that year. She knew she had to make some life-changing decisions for the sake of her career and also for her then six-year-old-daughter. Moving out west to California, with just $2,000 remaining in her bank account, she combined her technology skills with her passion for healthcare and formed “Banyan Solutions, Inc.” a Medical transcription and Medical Billing Company unlike any other.

Banyan is a healthcare office solutions company that has been providing doctors, clinics and hospitals nationwide with Internet-enabled, secure, online medical billing services, and online medical transcription services for more than 15 years. The company’s secure, accurate and accessible medical billing service helps physicians save time and increase profitability by reducing medical billing expenses and streamlining the medical billing reimbursement process. As Founder, President and CEO Jyoti is responsible for bringing in new clients and new business ideas to the company.

“When I bring new technology to the company I coordinate the change with my team and also with the clients. I am continuously paying attention to my clients changing needs and use technology to create new solutions. A lot of research goes into adding new technology. The product goes through vigorous testing before it is released. I get great satisfaction that I am genuinely helping my clients by providing them with the latest technology. By helping the doctors I am helping the patients. In other words, the feeling of doing good and giving back to the community is my inspiration.”

Website: www.BanyanSolutionsInc.com

“The harder the task, the more persistent I become. None of it has come easy. Follow your dreams. It takes a lot of faith to do this because you don’t always see the answers right away. Sometimes they come over time with persistence. But trust that the answers are there.”

Award-winning journalist, Dr. Donna Clovis brings history to life with her unique ability to share and document the lives and stories of older generations. Through research and carefully crafted interviews her first novel, Quantum Leaps in Princeton’s Place, eloquently details life in Princeton, New Jersey, in the early 1900s through the late 1950s through the eyes of two of the oldest citizens. Inspired by legendary journalists Barbara Walters and Walter Cronkite, Donna displays passion and integrity in all her reporting.

As a documentary journalist and photographer, Donna won a McCloy Fellowship from American Council on Germany and Harvard to document the lives of Holocaust survivors in Germany. She uncovered the story of German youth who trade their military service to work with Holocaust survivors. Despite this history, they look to make a change. Donna’s work on that project is in the archives of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. Additionally, she received a Prudential Fellowship from Columbia University School of Journalism for Children and the News that resulted in best practices for reading and writing education in schools. She also won the Albert Einstein Award in Education that looks for solutions to issues in schools and won first place feature writing award for the National Association of Black Journalists for her article on racial profiling.

“I love to interview the elderly. They have so many stories we can learn from. Interviews of Holocaust survivors were especially moving to my whole family. We don’t need to let this happen ever again. I document photography and stories for people to remember. Interviewing the oldest African Americans shared the tremendous racism in our country but showed their dignity and peace in standing up against it and changing the system through the civil rights movement. We can make a change, but we have to listen to those before us, not to make the same mistakes again.”

Website: www.kirkusreviews.com/author/donna-clovis/

Her books are available at:

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned working in my profession is to do the work first. You must make sure you have gone through your own healing process to achieve the success you want others to experience. When you’re a living testimony of your work, it validates your belief in what you do and validates your purpose and passion. Clients will respect you more when you buy what you sell.”

Entrepreneur, Life Transitions Empowerment Coach, and Marriage and Family Therapist of more than 25 years and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Famwell Healing Center Corporation, Aileen Nunez’s business is located in the heart of Miami, Florida. It’s a place where clients go to chase their dreams, seek empowerment, and find a new path in life.

Dedicating most of her time serving as a Professional Life Transitions Empowerment Coach, Aileen creates group coaching workshops to help empower clients looking to live the life of their dreams. Over the past 20 years, she has also become much more involved in Career Counseling and Psychotherapy, and even more recently, has been working as a Life Transitions Coach, helping individuals and groups overcome obstacles that have prevented them from creating the lives they’ve envisioned.

Aileen also focuses much of her energy on finding strategies that she can introduce to clients seeking to actualize their life’s dreams. She has formulated a program, using a combination of positive psychology, empowerment coaching, and emotional healing, called the Life Transitions Empowerment Coaching Program. The Program is currently patent pending. She has enjoyed great success while working in both individual and group settings and it is her dream to take her program and implement it for teachers, therapists, and professional life coaches to use. Aileen has also been speaking at more events than ever before in order to introduce her powerful technique to others in the helping fields.

Website: www.aileennunez.com

“As a business woman, everything can’t always be about the dollar and how much you make. Being able to care about an individual’s overall wellbeing is much more significant.”

Famika’s background includes having worked as a Wellness Navigator/Case Manager for Ruth Ellis Center, as a Complex Care Assistant Manager for the University of Michigan Medical School, as a Patient Care Assistant for the University of Michigan Health System, and as a Compliance Assistant Manager for AHRC of New York City. Since struggling with her weight for many years, Famika Edmond admits that she that she has been on more fad diets that she can remember. But after finally having the sleeve surgery to help her get on track and stay there, she knew that she would still have to watch what she was eating and exercise regularly, and she would have to do it the right way. The only option for Famika was to begin eating clean.

Skiny Mika Healthy Eating and Health Coach Services offers just that, meal preparation services and healthy coaching services. Meal preparation includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner and smoothies that are pre-prepared in Mason jars or in blender kits and Mason jar salads. Making meals to order, which are taken up until 5pm each day, they can either be picked up or delivered straight to customers’ homes or places of business the next business day.

Website: www.skinymikahealthyeatin.com

“My biggest inspiration was through my own personal experience. I would not be alive today, were it not for tapping. It has saved my body, mind and soul. My clearing work has kept me from succumbing to the dark side’s influence upon my life. I feel very fortunate to have found these tools to share. I feel that I have been chosen to bring the light to those who seek my help.”

Certified Hypnosis Consultant Rosemarie K. Lanchester provides hope and empowerment to people of all walks of life. Helping her clients achieve their personal and professional goals, easily and safely she uses her expertise to allow clients to overcome pain, anxiety, stress — and much more.

Rosemarie launched her accomplished career after becoming a Certified Hypnosis Consultant with the National Guild of Hypnosis in 1996. Rosemarie continued to advance her knowledge of the field by attending a hypnosis teaching convention where she became interested in another powerful form of healing, EFT or ‘tapping.’ This non-invasive practice removes negative blockages in the body, which are the result of traumatic experiences that manifest into physical pain. Tapping can relief a number of conditions including headaches, anxiety, phobias — and more. Upon learning of this practice, Rosemarie knew it was the tool she’d been searching for not only for her clients, but for herself as well. Having suffered childhood traumas Rosemarie discovered first hand the effectiveness of tapping.

Website: www.everythingyouwishfor.com