I'M THAT

Since October 7, Mia Talias has been fighting against the overwhelming so-called pro-Palestinian propaganda lies and misinformation on social media, in particular TikTok and Instagram. Mia tackles those who spread lies and false “facts” with her sass and wit, and her knowledge which is always backed by a lot of research. Her delivery is smart and funny all rolled into one. She truly is unique. 

Born in São Paolo, Brazil, Sandra Hegedüs studied philosophy and cinema at the prestigious Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP). As a militant artist of the Paulist scene, she realized several performances in the early 80’s before arriving in France in 1990, where she started an activity as a documentary film and reportage producer. Her passion for art led her to build a collection of contemporary art in 2005. Her desire to be more involved in supporting artistic creation naturally drew her to patronage. 

In 2009, she created SAM Art Projects, which aims to promote the work of foreign artists in France and French artists abroad through the awarding of a prize and residencies. In order to encourage exchange and dialogue, the supported projects bring together the Parisian art scene with countries beyond the usual circuits of the art world. 

A passionate woman, as spontaneous as she is determined, Sandra Hegedüs belongs to a generation of activist collectors who have made their mark on the French landscape in recent years, creating daring philanthropic projects, nurturing the talents of tomorrow, and sponsoring ambitious projects that transcend borders. Like her collection, the artistic creations she supports do not respond to a concern for the market, but to an acute attention to new visions of the world that artists bring. 

With her contagious energy and her ability to surround herself with faithful partners and experts, she manages to federate important financial and human resources to carry out artists’ projects, providing them with visibility and recognition. 

In 2018, her commitment was rewarded with the 27th Mont Blanc Prize for Culture Art Patronage. The philanthropist was thus recognized for her work in supporting international artistic exchanges, building bridges between Europe and non-Western countries. 

In 2020, she was named an Officer of the Legion of Honor by French Minister of Culture Franck Riester. 

Since November 2019, she holds the position of President of the Board of Directors of the Villa Arson, a national public institution under the authority of the Minister of Culture, combining an art center, an artist residence, an art school, and a specialized library. 

Melinda Strauss, a Jewish Content Creator on social media with over 1 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, is well known for her educational videos about Orthodox Judaism, Jewish history, discussing Antisemitism and Zionism, kosher recipes, and sharing her everyday life as a wife, mom of 2 teenagers (and a dog), and both a type 1 diabetic and the mom of a type 1 diabetic. Born and raised in Seattle WA, Melinda now lives with her family in New York.

Melinda has been blogging and sharing her recipes since 2011 and she will be debuting her first cookbook in spring 2025.  melindastrauss.com.

Shai Davidai is an assistant professor at the Columbia Business School, where he teaches negotiations and studies economic inequality and zero-sum thinking. Shai was born and raised in Israel and lives in New York City with his wife and two kids.

Shortly after October 7th, as protests at Columbia University unabashedly celebrated the slaughter of Jews, Shai made a speech on campus that has gone viral on social media. Since then, he's been outspoken in documenting the growing antisemitism around the country and demanding that universities enforce their own rules and protect the Jewish and Israeli  members of their community.

Shemtov Hollinger is a reservist with the IDF Special Forces. He's 29 years old and in  civilian life is a certified nurse. He currently works at a gaming tech company in account management. He was also a pro basketball player who played for a few Division 3 teams. He studied at Tel Aviv University, enjoys scuba diving, and has just finished a forth round of  in reserve duty in the current war against Hamas.

A native New Yorker, Dana is a writer and creative director working professionally in the field of advertising. He brings 25+ years of creative communication experience.

Dana’s work has been recognized by the One Show, the Andys, the Kelly Awards, the Obies, the Clios, the Effies, New York Festivals, Communication Arts, Lurzer’s Archive, and at Cannes. He has worked extensively in the automotive category, touching brands like Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, Ford, and Lincoln, and has stretched far beyond that into categories including healthcare, finance, fashion, entertainment, apparel, sports, spirits, travel and tourism, and casual dining.

On the personal side, Dana has self-published the Go, Go, Greta children’s book series and in February 2012, he founded and ran TastySpace gallery and exhibition space in Las Vegas. In 2015, he relocated to Houston to be closer to family and more recently pulled up stakes and landed in Kansas City, where he is heading up several pieces of business, including Red Lobster and AMC Theatres at Barkley, as SVP, Creative Director.

He is married and the father of two incredible children who inspire him everyday.

Ronny Vance, former president of Geffen music and Interscope music has over 40 years of experience in the music industry. The artists and writers he signed in that time have cumulative sales of over 200 million records. Built upon his uncanny knack for spotting songwriting, talent and superstar artists in all music genres, each of his endeavors has enjoyed unprecedented achievement. 

Over the course of this career, Vance has been responsible for the signings of Tupac Shakur, New Edition, Stephen Sondheim, Bruce Hornsby, and Gwen Stefani and No Doubt and for the placement of such notable songs as Maniac, New Attitude, and Eric Clapton's two time 1998 Grammy winning song Change The World, among so many others. 

He's also the president of My Part, a company that serves creators, owners and representatives of songs as well as anyone looking for songs to cut or license through AI-powered song matching an incredible company. He lives in Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City, with his wife and son.

Lisa Coleman is a musician and composer who plays piano and keyboards and she was a member of Prince’s band 'The Revolution' from 1980 to 1986. She is one half of the incredible musical duo Wendy and Lisa, formed with Wendy Melvoin.

She was 19 years old when she auditioned and was hired as a part of Prince’s backing group in 1980, for his Dirty Mind album and tour. Lisa played keyboards for Prince on his Controversy and 1999 albums and the three albums as a member of The Revolution, which were Purple Rain, Around The World In a Day, and Parade.

Shortly after the completion of Prince and The Revolution’s Parade project, Lisa and Wendy started their own journey and under the Wendy and Lisa musical partnership. They released five full-length albums.

Today, Lisa and Wendy continue to work together as film and television composers and have provided the musical scores for television shows including Crossing Jordan, Heroes, Nurse Jackie (which won them an Emmy for Outstanding main title theme), Prime Suspect, No Tomorrow, Witches of East End, Shades of Blue, and Touch which they were nominated for an Emmy. She is currently working on a new show called The Hospital, an adult animated sci-fi comedy from Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne’s Animal Pictures.

Lisa, along with Wendy also shares the honor of winning a Grammy and Oscar for being part of The Revolution as Purple Rain won two Grammys and the Oscar for Best Original Score. She also received the inaugural ASCAP Shirley Walker award with Wendy in 2014, which honors those whose achievements have contributed to the diversity of Film and Television Music.

She recently self-released her first solo instrumental album titled Collage. And incidentally, she also created the theme music for this, the music on my podcast.

Shirley Halperin is Executive Editor of Music at Variety, where she spearheads music coverage for the print magazine and Variety.com. Through her 20-year career, she has held staff positions at Entertainment Weekly, Teen People and Us Weekly and was also a regular contributor to Rolling Stone. Shirley joined the Hollywood Reporter (THR) as Music Editor in 2010, later adding sister magazine Billboard to her resume. Until 2017, she oversaw music news coverage for both publications. Shirley is the author of three books: 2008’s “Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life,” 2010’s “Reefer Movie Madness” and 2011’s “American Idol: the Official Backstage Pass.”

Oonie Chase has been working at the intersection of strategy and design for over 20 years, leading high-impact and award-winning teams at IDEO, Wieden+Kennedy, frog design, Digitas (where we met, worked together on a bunch of stuff, and became friends), and GMMB. 

As a Partner at IDEO, she works across industries and markets - from media, technology, and consumer products, to financial services, health, and the public sector.  

She specializes in complex challenges that span human, physical and digital systems. 

Prior to joining IDEO, Oonie was the Executive Creative Director at frog design, leading the San Francisco headquarters as well as acting as a global practice lead of product strategy and applied data.  

Oonie co-founded a design and technology practice at Wieden+Kennedy, built a digital strategy team for President Barack Obama’s communication team, and is the co-founder of two start-ups.