Real Talk With Ru

Haley Walker and Lauren Corwin are sisters, born and raised in Rock Island, IL, who have dreamt of opening their own mobile fashion boutique for the past two years. This dream finally became a reality in July of 2018. 

They are a Quad Cities, IL based mobile boutique who travels all across the Midwest going to universities, businesses, homes, farmers markets, and much, much more. When someone hosts Brick and Motor Boutique, 5% of all profits made that day will go back to a charitable organization of their choice. For example, if a sorority at a university hosts us for the day, 5% of all profits made that day will go back to their philanthropy. In addition, every month they pick a different organization to give back to. They want to be able to give back to every town they stop in to make the world a better place one pop up shop at a time.

In addition to the mobile boutique, they opened up a storefront in November of 2018. What was supposed to be a 3 month winter storefront has turned into a permanent location for Brick and Motor Boutique.

www.brickandmotorboutique.com

Dr. Heick is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. After earning her undergraduate degree in biology at Augustana, she received her master's degree at Western Illinois University in Community Health Education and her doctorate in Occupational & Environmental Health with a specialization in Occupational Injury Epidemiology from the University of Iowa. In addition to extensive teaching experience, Dr. Heick has worked in the field as a public health professional, serving as a health educator and occupational injury researcher. She has more than 15 years of field experience as a prehospital care provider, and almost 20 years in the field of disaster preparedness and response. She is currently engaged in research on reducing residential fire fatalities and preventing first responder suicide.

Dee Murthy is the Co-Founder of Los Angeles based Five Four Group and Young & Reckless. Five Four/MenloClub is the leading men's fashion membership e-commerce platform with a portfolio of five brands that include: New Republic, Grand AC, Ales Grey and Club Fantasy. He is a seasoned investor and partner at Queenbridge Venture Partners. He is also a co-host with Chris " Drama" Pfaff and his brother Anand Murthy in a weekly lifestyle podcast called Group Chat and host of his own entrepreneur podcast DeeTour.

For Emily Tinsman, the third time was the charm in her pursuit of the Miss Iowa crown.  Crowned Miss Iowa 2019.  Tinsman's platform is known as TEMPOS, Teach and Encouraging Music Participation in Our Schools.

A music education major at Drake and a classical vocal performer, Tinsman had to put a job on hold teaching in Des Moines to accept the Miss Iowa crown.

The 23-year-old nearly did not compete.

It wasn't until March of 2019 that Tinsman decided she wanted to take one more shot at Miss Iowa.

In order to get there, she competed in what is known as sweeps, the final competition of the year in which anyone can compete to see if they can earn a spot in the Miss Iowa Pageant.

After graduating from Drake, Tinsman was on a plane to Europe. She returned to the Quad-Cities on Thursday, June 6, three days before Miss Iowa week began June 9. There would be three days of competition, June 13-15 at the Adler Theater in Davenport.

She has spent 2019 & the first part of 2020 reaching more children, their parents and teachers.

In addition to representing the State of Iowa for a year, Tinsman competed in the Miss America Pageant 2020.

Dave Hollis is the CEO of the Hollis Company, a company that exists to help people build better lives. He is husband to Rachel and father to Jackson, Sawyer, Ford, and Noah. Together with his wife, Dave hosts the podcast Rise Together, the #1 health podcast on iTunes. Dave was previously president of distribution for the Walt Disney Studios until he left to apply his experiences to the expansion of the Hollis Company. Dave is a member of the Motion Picture Academy and has been an advisor or board member of technology incubator Fandango Labs, philanthropy start-up Givsum, film charity Will Rogers Pioneers Foundation, Pepperdine's Institute for Entertainment, Media, and Culture, and foster care champion National Angels. Dave and his family live in Austin, Texas, where he drives a 1969 Ford Bronco named Incredible Hulk and has a mini schnauzer named Jeffrey.

In his new book, Get Out of Your Own Way, Dave tackles topics he once found it difficult to be honest about, things like his struggles with alcohol, problems in his marriage, and his insecurities about being a dad. Dave helps us see our own journeys more clearly as he unpacks the lies he once believed—such as "I Have to Have It All Together," "Failure Means You're Weak," and "If They Doesn't Need Me, Will They Still Want Me?"—and reveals the tools that helped him change his life.

Offering encouragement, challenge, and a hundred moments to laugh at himself, Dave points the way for those of us who are, like he was, skeptical of self-help but wanting something more than status quo, and helps us drop bogus ideas about who we are supposed to be and finally start living as who we really are.

Robin Farmanfarmaian is a professional speaker, entrepreneur, and angel investor working with cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence software, device and pharma companies poised to impact 100M patients. With over 140 speaking engagements in 13 countries, she educates audiences on the future of healthcare, patient empowerment, building thought leadership, and many trends & technologies: Artificial intelligence, sensors, tissue engineering, nano, 3D printing, virtual healthcare, point of care diagnostics + medical device and more. Robin has 2 published books: "The Patient as CEO: How Technology Empowers the Healthcare Consumer" and "The Thought Leader Formula: Strategically Leverage Your Expertise to Drive Business & Career Goals".

At age 30, in the first decade of her humanitarian career with the United Nations, Cara was diagnosed with a rare muscle wasting disease that leads to quadriplegia, a devastating condition for which there is no treatment or cure. Rather than letting it quiet her, Cara who is also a woman of color and of a religious minority family, set off even bolder, proud to be a part of human diversity, to break down the endless barriers she now faces. In her ten years working around the world with United Nations in Ecuador, Panama, China, Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique, Thailand, Haiti, Cara was the first person with a severe physical impairment to serve in a UNICEF Emergency Operation when stationed in Haiti for two years after the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced 1.3 million Haitians. Video: https://www.princessrising.com/?p=89

In an industry where women with disabilities are not only underrepresented in making movies, but also starring in them, Cara is presently producing a feature documentary film about her life.

Cara has helped put a face on disability and teach companies what a lost business opportunity it is not to include people with disabilities, the largest minority in the USA, accounting for 25% of the population, according to the CDC (2018).

MSNBC's Break Glass series featured Cara in a short film called, With muscles wasting, fighting the Stigma of Disability: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/fighting-the-stigma-of-disability-421435971858?v=raila

Bardi Toto is a NY Times #1 Best Selling Author, featured in Forbes Magazine, also an everyday hero recognized on Values.com out of Millions of people for her Gratitude, Determination and Making a difference in the world. http://www.values.com/your-everyday-heroes. Social Media Business Strategist and world renowned Personal Branding Expert. voted #2 out of the top 100 Branding Experts to follow on twitter and online.

Founder and CEO of a Web Design, Digital Marketing Agency. Bardi has been featured with her book The Power of Asking, on ABC,CBS and NBC television, a variety of radio shows including CBS Radio and in several business magazines which have strengthened her proven track record With a strong background in the world of internet technology she has been working with various social networking giants like YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. She is passionate about showing fellow professionals how to develop powerful profitable relationships using social media. Bardi provides her clients and students with a proven turnkey business model. She helps Authors, Celebrities Speakers, entrepreneurs, corporations and small businesses catapult their success to the next level. She offers a Social Media Business Strategy Coaching program which helps you to achieve the success you were destined for; living your life by design with purpose.