Starting out his career as the banker in his Louisiana hometown, David decided to make a shift when he had the opportunity in the late ‘80s to move to a nearby city and transfer into economic development. Then in 1994, David was involved in a horrific auto accident which left him with a feeling of destiny—that he was left here for a reason. He was determined to make a positive impact on this world. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, David shifted his focus to disaster recovery and resilience. In 2011, while crafting an economic recovery strategy for Japan after the Fukushima Tsunami, the idea of ISRC was born. ISRC is dedicated to furthering the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and is one of 8 Public Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist Centers of Excellence affiliated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe International PPP Centre of Excellence. ISRC strives to improve disaster resilience and sustainability worldwide by specializing in providing "People first" PPPs that are sustainable and enhance disaster resilience, as well as integrating sustainability and resilience into PPPs of all types, globally.

In 2019, while in Puerto Rico implementing its recovery, David contracted a deadly bacteria that led to the amputation of his left leg. Having already dealt with a near death experience once, and constantly being around disaster and tragedy through his work, David knew there was a reason he survived both: to teach people about both personal and community resilience, while inspiring them to never give up no matter what life throws at them, even a pandemic.

Some more about David A. Dodd:

Featured in Yahoo Finance and Digital Journal

CEO of the United Nations affiliated International Sustainable Resilience Center, Inc.

President Emeritus of the International PPP Center of Excellence Specialist Centers

Louisiana Tech University Alumni

Louisiana State University Alumni

University of Oklahoma Alumni—Former Dean of the OU Economic Development Institute

Chris (C.C.) Humphreys has played Hamlet in Calgary, a gladiator in Tunisia, and a dead immortal in Highlander; he’s waltzed in London’s West End, conned the landlord of the Rovers Return in Coronation Street, commanded a starfleet in Andromeda, and voiced Salem the cat in the original Sabrina.

A playwright, his plays have been produced in Calgary, Vancouver and London. He has published 20 novels including The French Executioner, The Jack Absolute Trilogy; Vlad – The Last Confession; A Place Called Armageddon; and Shakespeare’s Rebel. His novel Plague won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in Canada in 2015. He is now writing epic fantasy with the Immortals’ Blood Trilogy, for Gollancz; the first book, Smoke in the Glass, was published in 2019. Book Two: The Coming of the Dark has now been published in the UK and Canada.

He has just published The Tapestry Trilogy set around - and through - the fabulous medieval Unicorn Tapestries in New York's Cloisters museum.

He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He wears a unicorn signet ring and always wondered why. The Hunt of the Unicorn begins to answer that question.

Brett Erickson is a comedian and writer based in Austin, Texas. A fearless, back-of-the-room comic's comic, Brett delivers a dynamic, free-form show that's consistently out front of anything any other comics are doing. It was just this sort of brave, bold, damn the consequences style that led legendary comedian Doug Stanhope to take notice and call Brett, "one of the funniest comics working today." Quick on his feet and a great joke writer, Brett is becoming one of the most popular acts in L.A. with numerous appearances on Roast Battle at The Comedy Store, a competition he has only lost once when he was defeated by a fat, bald jerk who should just go back to London!

He is the creator, writer and editor of the satirical Brietbart parody website, Brettbart. A “News” organization that’s been called a brilliant Onion-style takedown of the alt-right.

For two decades, Storm has helped public and private clients around the globe understand how to lead or support resilient prosperity. He reveals:

1) the community / regional revitalization process; and

2) how to position their career or organization within that process.

As Executive Director of RECONOMICS Institute: The Society of Revitalization & Resilience Professionals, Storm helps ensure that communities worldwide have certified Revitalization & Resilience Facilitators (RE Facilitators). Look for the “RE” after their names.

As editor of REVITALIZATION: The Journal of Economic & Environmental Resilience, Storm tracks the latest trends and techniques in urban/rural regeneration, natural resource restoration, and resilience worldwide.

As a speaker and workshop leader, his specialty is inspiring all stakeholders to effectively engage in the process of local revitalization.

Everywhere one turns these days, “re” words appear. Urban regeneration. Regenerative agriculture. Regenerative economies. Coastal resilience. Fishery/reef restoration. Watershed restoration. Economic revitalization. Infrastructure renewal. Historic renovation/reuse. Ecological restoration, etc.

Many consider Storm to be a major catalyst in that recent acceleration of the global “re” trend. He started writing The Restoration Economy (Berrett-Koehler, 2002) in 1996, and has been lecturing on the subject ever since.

Storm has been called “the world’s thought leader on community revitalization and natural resource restoration” by George L. Ochs, Managing Director, Global Real Assets, JP Morgan. Ochs calls Cunningham’s 2008 book, reWealth (McGraw-Hill): “The secret weapon…for economic recovery at both local and global scales.”

RECONOMICS: A Brief Intro.

Reconomics = economics + regeneration, linked by process.

“The RECONOMICS Process raises the bar for community and regional revitalization. It’s a powerful package, succinctly capturing the process we have doggedly tried to identify over time, not always knowing the next step. The RECONOMICS Process brings a holistic dimension to redevelopment, inextricably linking vision and task.“

– ERIC BONHAM, P.Eng, Board of Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia; former Director, BC Ministry of Environment;

former Director, BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

About 95% of recovery, revitalization and/or resilience efforts fail. Most places—probably yours—have a long history of visions, plans, charrettes, summits and political promises related to creating a better future…a better future that never arrived.

The surest way for a place to lose residents, employers and real estate investors is to reduce confidence in the local future.

The surest way for a place to attract residents, employers and real estate investors is to increase confidence in the local future.

The surest way to increase confidence in the local future is to add the RECONOMICS Process to your next redevelopment, revitalization or resilience project. It costs nothing to do so.

Shannon Ezzo, an author whose debut memoir, "Battered Blessings: Surviving My Abusive, Toxic Relationship," is a memoir that chronicles Shannon Ezzo's battle with domestic violence and how she found the courage to SPEAK her truth and leave an abusive relationship. Having survived an abusive relationship, Shannon Ezzo understands the importance of sharing her story. She aims to empower others that have lived or are living in similar situations. With the times we are living in and domestic violence becoming a more common occurrence she is also hoping to spread awareness on the subject.

Safe Word-Have a safe word or phrase. Example: Make up a safe word that you can use with friends & family so that they know you need immediate help and to call 911.

Pictures-Document EVERYTHING! Example: Take pictures, if you can, of what is happening to you and the aftermath. Keep a journal or text record as evidence and keep it with a trusted friend or family member who can make sure it is kept safe.

Escape-plan a safe escape. Example: Tell someone close to you that won't escalate the situation but will also help you plan a safe escape.

Abuser-Don't reveal anything to your abuser. Example: Homicides due to domestic violence typically occur AFTER the victim has left. Staying silent and safe during this time is extremely important!

Knowledge-Gain Knowledge from professionals. Example: Contact a domestic violence agency. They are well equipped to help you plan and guide you out of your situation safely.

Through his tireless work, Sam continues to be committed to the betterment of communities. In 2016, Sam received the Governor General’s Sovereign’s Volunteer Medal as a past recipient of the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award. Also, in 2012 he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Rick Hansen Difference Maker medallion. As a writer and blogger, his passion is to inspire and motivate others in their personal and professional development through his many adventures and reflections on life’s journey.

Sam has mentored hundreds and engaged with thousands of students and professionals over the last many years and as a result, was the Co-Founder and Chief Motivating Officer of GradusOne, an organization to help high school/post-secondary and recent graduates in their life and career. More recently, after a successful few years, GradusOne merged with the League of Innovators (LOI) and he now is an advisor to LOI. Added to this, Sam is an accomplished speaker and storyteller. Either as a mentor/coach to a single student or speaking to hundreds as a keynote speaker, he shares his experiences through storytelling and has helped thousands in the pursuit of their dreams. he has just recently released his latest book called, ‘Lost and Found: Seeking the Past and Finding Myself’, where he went in search of his ancestral roots and discovered himself. Amazon.ca In 2011, Sam delivered a TEDxSFU speech about ‘Discovering the Extraordinary in the Ordinary’. This then led to a published book on personal storytelling and helping the reader build their story-voice – He is now writing his next book about his adventures to India to find his ancestral roots and in the process, better understand his identity.

Since 2004, Sam found his calling at the Beedie School of Business and Fraser International College at Simon Fraser University. His leadership role has always been to enhance the student/alumni/young professional experience so they develop their personal brand. Sam has been creative and innovative in his approach to student/alumni engagement and has created countless opportunities for his audiences. As a lecture at the Beedie School of Business and Fraser International College, Sam has received exemplary ratings. He possess a keen interest in the international student area and helping the students succeed both academically, professionally and personally. Sam created a conversation skills workshop series to help students on their soft skills as this is vitally important to help international students transition.

Prior to SFU, Sam was part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid Committee and ICBC road safety where it was about about community building. With 45 + volunteer organizations that Sam has been involved with from the board, advisory to volunteer level, he has dedicated countless hours to his communities. Presently, he is working with multiple organizations such as the SFU Alumni Association, Shanti Uganda, Room to Read and many more.

Sam completed his Masters in Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter in England, has a double major in Business Administration and Political Science from SFU, completed a certificate in Life Coaching from Cambridge University, a community leadership program through Leadership Vancouver, a Human Resources certificate from BCIT, and adult education certification with Vancouver Community College.

Sam consistently strives to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary and his journey is documented at Sams50-50.com. His favourite saying and what he lives by: “Everyone’s life is an autobiography…make yours worth reading!”

THE AUTHOR

Diana often jokes about her checkered resume, referring to herself as a Jill of all trades.

Besides working as a clinical social worker, she’s been a teacher, school psychologist, administrator for EFAP firms, model, actor, and freelance television writer for a sports show.

Childhood

IMG_6383She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the only child of immigrants from Ukraine. With both parents working around the clock, she was cared for by her baba, who couldn’t speak English. In her teens, she picked up a love of poetry from her father, who recited poems as he walked about the house.

University and Marriage

She married Robert at 19, and a year later, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics at the University of Manitoba. After two children, she earned a Master of Social Work with Honours and a spot on the Dean’s List.

Earlier Writing

As a member of the Manitoba Authors Association, she published an academic article, and wrote travel and fitness articles for city newspapers. In 1985, she became a freelance writer-broadcaster for CBC Television’s Sports Journal and covered the first all-female crew to sail from Victoria to Maui.

Acting

Along the way, her love of language led her to acting. After several years of scene study with master teachers, she booked roles on TV series, (such as X-Files), and movies of the week.

Her acting career took a back seat in 1998 when she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island to be close to one of their daughters.

Screenplays

She also wrote screenplays. One of them got the attention of Jody Foster’s agent. When that fell through, she re-wrote it as a novel, The Rubber Fence.

Years later, her grandson, Michael Stevantoni, showed an interest in film directing. To encourage his dream, she produced a few short films and wrote one with him.

Michael is now writing and directing his own work.

Travel

Together with her husband, Robert, she’s traveled throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Published Works

She had a poem published in the UK journal Dreamcatcher and a short story in the anthology, Escape, Peregrin Publishing in 2012.

Her debut novel, A Cry From The Deep, a romantic mystery and adventure was published in 2014. She followed that up with The Blue Nightgown, a novelette in 2015. And in 2016, she published her second novel, The Rubber Fence, women’s fiction, inspired by her work on a psychiatric ward in 1972.

Her third novel, Sunflowers Under Fire, set in Russia (today’s Ukraine), during the Great War and the wars that followed, was published in 2019. It was a finalist in the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards for fiction and a semi-finalist for the 2019 Kindle Book Awards, literary fiction category.

Where She Is Now

Robert and Diana live in West Vancouver and Campbell River, British Columbia. When she isn’t writing, she gardens, goes for walks in the forest, and reads. But most of all, she loves spending time with friends and family.

John Lefebvre (born August 6, 1951), is a Canadian musician, composer, entrepreneur, retired lawyer and philanthropist. He is currently active as an author and activist on climate change issues. In 2017 Lefebvre published his first book, All's Well - Where Thou Art Earth And Why, a work of political, moral and legal philosophy.

Lefebvre first garnered public attention in 1999, when he was involved with Neteller (now known as Paysafe), an online money transfer facility. The firm's involvement in transactions serving the online gambling industry led to U.S. charges of money laundering, racketeering, running an unlicensed money transmitting business and promoting illegal gambling. He was arrested in January 2007 and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to promote illegal Internet gambling transactions. He agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, and the court ordered his company to forfeit $140 million.

Lefebvre and his founding partner forfeited $100 million personally between them. He ultimately served 45 days in Federal Prison in the Southern District of Manhattan.

In 2007, Lefebvre composed and recorded a double CD album entitled Psalngs with the help of the record producer Brian Ahern. This was John's first effort as a solo artist. Ahern gathered a skookum studio band for the album, which included Jim Keltner, Hutch Hutchinson, Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, Dean Parks, Al Kooper, Matt Rollings and Mac McAnally. The players regrouped with Lefebvre and Ahern in the spring of 2010 to record Lefebvre's second solo effort, The Initial Album, released in 2010.

Terry Shepherd grew up in Michigan and began writing fiction in high school. After a long career in the corporate world, he took up the craft full time in 2018. He writes detective fiction for both adults and kids from his home on the Atlantic Ocean in Jacksonville, Florida.

Terry says"

I’m a writer and editor by trade, living in Jacksonville, Florida with my beautiful wife. Between the two of us, we earn enough to keep the lights on, pay the Internet bill and share adventures together. Except for a few excursions and some daily cardio, I spend every free minute in front of a keyboard, spilling out the contents of my disordered mind. Someday maybe it will coalesce into something with commercial appeal. I’m ok if it doesn’t.

Jessica Ramirez is my “protagonist”, what we call our heroes and heroines in the trade. Yes, she patterened after a real Latina cop and I base her on actual events in that cop’s life. To protect the innocent, I weave a composite of traits and adventures in the lives of some amazing police women I’ve had the honor of knowing. Jess has had her share of troubles navigating her career in a department that is one of the last bastions of overt male chauvinism. She’s far from perfect, but has a good heart and a desire for both justice and compassion. Her wild hair tendencies get her into trouble. “La Familia Ramirez” is her rock and her best friend and sometime partner Ali Clark is a confidant and fellow troublemaker.

Check out Jess’ Journal to get to know her a little better. I hope it will inspire you to want to read “Chasing Vega”, her first adventure and “Chasing the Captain”, the one I’m trying to finish now.

I also write stuff for kids. My grandson asked me one day if I had a job. I spend a lot of time with him and with his sister, so it was natural that he might think I was a slacker. When I told him I wrote books, he asked if I could write one for him, so he could be a star. “Hudson and the Missing Tiger” became the first in what will be “The Waterford Detective” series for elementary school kids.

And when the Pandemic came upon us, I wanted to create something that could teach children habits that could help protect them from the Coronavirus. I grew up loving Dr. Seuss and with the help of my brilliant illustrator - son-in-law, Casey Ratchford, we created two books in “The Mystery Bug Collection”. “Juliette and the Mystery Bug” teaches proper hand-washing and nose-blowing. And “Juliette and the Masked Hero” teaches about Masking and Social Distancing. I wrote both books in the anapestic tetrameter style of the good Doctor and are available, along with everything I write at Amazon. The Mystery Bug series became so popular that we created mystery-bug.com as a place where parents and educators can find lesson plans for the classroom and more resources to help create productive conversations with kids about Covid19.

You can tell that my adventures in fiction have been unfocused and a little crazy. That’s ok. I’m often unfocused and crazy. I don’t expect to get rich doing this stuff. I do hope that what I write touches your heart and perhaps gives you an escape from this uncertain world we live in.

Thanks so much for reading this far. See you in the next chapter!"

Kristi Charish, is the author of THE KINCAID STRANGE NOVELS (Random House Canada), a paranormal mystery series about a voodoo practitioner living in Seattle with the ghost of a grunge rocker. Installments include THE VOODOO KILLINGS , LIPSTICK VOODOO (Jan 8/19), and VOODOO SHANGHAI (Jan/20),

She is also the author of OWL AND THE JAPANESE CIRCUS ( Simon & Schuster Canada), OWL AND THE CITY OF ANGELS, OWL AND THE ELECTRIC SAMURAI, and OWL AND THE TIGER THIEVES. It’s an urban fantasy series about Ex-archaeology grad student turned international antiquities thief, Alix— better known now as Owl—a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world. "I write what I love; adventure heavy stories featuring strong, savvy female protagonists, pop culture, and the occasional RPG fantasy game thrown in the mix. "

Besides writing I’m also a scientist. I have a BSc and MSc from Simon Fraser University in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. My specialties are genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology, all of which I draw upon in my books.

"Authors I love and recommend: Ernest Cline, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Faith Hunter, Diana Rowland, Sarah J Maas, Ian Hamilton, Suzanne Collins, Peter Clines, Kevin Kwan, John Scalzi, Larry Correia, Michael Crichton, Sebastien de Castell, Dennis E. Taylor, Sujata Massey, to name just a few."