I Share Hope: Chris Williams

Having survived years of violence and sexual exploitation, Athena speaks and writes about real life that’s not always pretty. She shares hope through her blog and weekly live show on Google+, YouTube, and RokuTV. She's a founder of Trauma Recovery University and The #NoMoreShame Project, which lends a platform to abuse survivors who desire to share their stories.

Changing the world from Milan, Italy, Cristina Gabetti, is supporting evolution from the era of information to the era of knowledge. As a journalist, author, environmentalist, mother and grandmother Cristina has proven to be an intergenerational leader in sustainable global health initiatives.

Born in Bururi, Burundi and only 10 hours old, Mrs. Pasikari’s parents carried her as they fled for their lives to Congo when their home was overrun with the horrors of Civil War. 25 years later as an adult she was forced to become a refuge once again in Tanzania when Congo became engulfed in its own Civil War.

Mrs. Pasikari’s two daughters, skillfully translate the words of their mother as she recounts her story of tragedy, survival and new hope.

A fashion media professional, avid blogger, founder and executive producer of the television series Designing Africa, with her hit campaign, 100 Days of African Fashion, Diana Opoti is a champion of the continent’s fashion design market, growing to become one of the Africa’s most formidable fashion connectors.

In 2014 Diana Opoti was nominated as “Outstanding Trend Communicator of the Year” by The Africa Fashion Awards.

Shirley Mae Springer Staten, international keynoter, singer and workshop facilitator, moves people forward beyond their limiting ideas. A born storyteller and dynamic a ccapella vocalist, she brings an unrivaled blend of vision, passion and sheer virtuosity to her work.

From the age of five, Shirley Mae picked cotton in the fields of Georgia. Her transformation came with many challenges. A daydreamer and dyslexic, she graduated from high school not knowing how to read. By the early 1990s she had managed to work her way through college and earn her Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Shirley Mae, like no one else, can weave words and music to empower her audience. She is a multitalented performing artist who motivates people to recognize and break through their self-imposed limitations. She can hold a group spellbound with stories of her struggles against the obstacles of the world. Her message of hope will show you how to "keep movin' forward".

"Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor" author and performer Michael Broussard is the producer, director and emcee of the Five Minute Follies, Philadelphia’s only ongoing family friendly vintage variety show. He is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.

Michael’s abuse came at the hands of a trusted guardian, his stepfather. While children are often warned about “stranger danger”, studies show that 75% to 90% of offenders are known to the child. Often they are a family member, a friend, or a well respected person in the community.

The long term effects of this abuse have followed Michael well into adulthood and have affected every aspect of his life. Every relationship, whether personal or professional, has been colored by the abuse.

Like many survivors, Michael struggles daily with a host of mental health conditions, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Social Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and chronic low self esteem.

"Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor" is Michael’s way of taking back the power from his abuser and reaching out to his fellow survivors to tell them they can do the same. And while the show is fairly intense and sometimes dark in nature, it also includes a healthy amount of humor and, ultimately, a very positive, empowering and triumphant message of hope and healing.

Angelina Estrada-Burney currently serves as a staff member for U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, senior Senator from Alaska. A large part of her duties revolve around assisting Alaskans from all walks of life and establishing effective dialogue with state leaders on a variety of issues. In this capacity, she serves as an important communications conduit between the Senator and the constituency of Alaska. Previously she served in the Anchorage and Fairbanks Offices of the Governor,  worked on Capitol Hill for the Alaska Congressional Delegation, worked as a legislative aide in the Alaska State Legislature and as a Special Assistant in the Department of Commerce and Community Development.

She is active in the Anchorage Hispanic community and is an inaugural Board of Director and Past President of the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska. She was chosen to represent Alaska at the 2002 and 2004 National Hispanic Leadership Summit in Washington DC.

Ms. Estrada-Burney's strong sense of community and love for Alaska is demonstrated by the organizations she supports. She is a past Board member of Alaskans for Drug Free Youth, Anchorage Hispanic Cultural Committee, Healing Racism in Anchorage, the Municipality's Committee for the Promotion of Tolerance and Diversity, the School Districts Minority Education Committee and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Fairbanks and Anchorage.She has served as the Vice President of Public Relations for Bridge Builders of Anchorage and volunteered on the board development committee for Girl Scouts Susitna Council. She was recently featured in the award winning video "Anchorage is our Home" created for the non-profit Healing Racism in Anchorage as a tool to spotlight racism issues in our own community and was one of the Anchorage Centennial grant recipients for her collaboration on the Cultural Divers grant project highlighting the lives of immigrants that arrive in Anchorage the last 100 years.

She has been recognized by both her peers and community leaders for her efforts to improve all Alaskan's sense of unity through involvement and mutual respect. Past recognition includes her selection in 1997 to the inaugural class of "Civic Entrepreneurs" for the Alaska Humanities Forum's Leadership Anchorage program and as a 1998 recipient of UAA's "Extraordinary Women in Extraordinary Times" award.In 2002, she was an honored recipient of the Alaska Journal of Commerce's prestigious Top 40 Under 40 award and was selected as the 2008 Anchorage Republican Woman of the Year.

Angelina is a first generation American originally from Alamogordo, New Mexico.Her husband Erik retired from the U.S. Air Force after 21 years and they have chosen to make Anchorage their permanent home.

Pedro Eustache (Caracas born August 18, 1959), is a creative solo flautist - "World Music" woodwinds-reeds-wind synthesizers and composer with extensive academic studies and more than 35 years of professional experience. He has more than seven years of symphonic experience and a collection of around 600 instruments from all over the world, many of which having been created, built, designed, and/or modified by himself.

Vivian Melde works for Ecology and Environment, Inc., as an environmental consultant, specializing in public involvement, planning, and emergency management.  She is a member of the Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) as a contractor for the US Environmental Protection Agency.  START assists the EPA in emergency responses to oil and hazardous materials incidents.  

As a life-long dance and theater performer, Vivian has been a featured artist at Cyrano's Off Center Playhouse in Anchorage since its doors opened with Thy Country's Good, in which she played Black Caesar.  In February 2015, she directed Eve Ensler’s Emotional Creature, which brought together a multi-ethnic cast of seven talented women between the ages of 18 and 32.  In April 2015, she was one of the creators of We Came to Stay:  Anchorage Untold Stories, a project celebrating the lives of immigrants who arrived in Anchorage during her centennial years,  www.anchorageuntoldstories.com.  In 2013 she played Maryamma, an Indian spirit guide from the netherworld, in Miss Witherspoon.  In 2012, Vivian played Athena in Helen.  Some of her notable roles include Sarah, the Egyptian Muslim mother in The Perfect Prayer, the 103-year old Sadie Delany in Having Our Say:  The Delany Sister's First 100 Years, and Sister Hubert, a tap-dancing nun in Nunsense.  Vivian also traveled to Russia with a UAA cast of A Piece of My Heart. In 1986, Vivian performed in Lausanne, Switzerland when the Anchorage delegation vied for the 1992 Winter Olympics.  She has written and performed in a one-woman show called Horse Tales, which was a 30-Something commission at Out North.  She debuted as a director at Cyrano's production of Ntozake Shange’s play, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow ain't enuf.  In 2010 at Out North, Vivian directed a premier staged reading of The Black Cockerel, by Nigerian playwright, Ademola Bello. Vivian’s choreography has been featured in Emotional Creature, Nunsense, Big River, and for 10 years, she choreographed Enchanted World, a holiday family show of robotic human dolls from all over the world.  

Growing up in rural Cameroon, Denis learned about gorillas from his father who hunted primates and other wildlife as a source of protein and income for his family. His father narrated stories about his encounters with primates – stories which were often imbued with superstition, power, totemic relationships, and empathy. Denis owes his interest in the study and conservation of gorillas to these early experiences.

Given this background, As Director of Great Ape Field Research at The Gorilla Foundation, Denis seeks to develop and sustain strategic conservation education and research partnerships with indigenous people groups and organizations working in gorilla habitat countries.

He has received many awards for his groundbreaking work with the people and gorillas of Cameroon, including TGF’s Wildlife Protector Award in 2009-10.