Laura Kiniry (no relation by the way) is a freelance journalist specializing in travel, food, and culture. Laura has gone on numerous adventures including a six-month solo journey across Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand - she spent a summer working in Montana's Glacier National Park, and has visited all seven continents. 

Laura’s work can be found in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, Atlas Obscura, BBC Travel, and Conde Nast Traveler.

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Lauren Robie co-founded Hope Eternal Gardens in Punta Gorda with her husband Chris Alonso. It’s a licensed natural burial cemetery with planting forests and meadows where people can celebrate loved ones in a park-like setting. The dream of creating Hope began with the last wish of Lauren’s mother-in-law, and she and her husband have kept that promise and brought her dream into reality.

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Jessica Lindsey is System Director for Performance Excellence at Lee Health (the largest public health system in Southwest Florida). She has her master's in healthcare administration but has held all sorts of roles with Lee Health over the years. Jessica also serves as treasurer on the SWFL Inc. Board of Directors and is an Advisory Board Fellow.
 
Beyond her professional roles, Jessica volunteers with several local community nonprofits helping their boards of directors with strategic planning. She also engages in community initiatives through The Dubin Center, The Collaboratory, and Quality Life Center of Fort Myers. 

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JP Soars is a Boca Raton-based multi-instrumentalist who’s been releasing his music with his powerhouse trio The Red Hots since 2008, when he released his debut album Back Of My Mind.

JP has won the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge in 2009 and the prestigious Albert King guitar award. In 2012, he was named a Blues Music Award Nominee for Best Contemporary Male Blues Artist, and in 2019, he climbed his way to the top ten of Billboard’s blues chart.

In 2022, JP was a Blues Music Award nominee for Best Blues Instrumentalist on Guitar, and he was nominated for the BB King Entertainer of the Year honors and for Band of the Year.

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Casey Kalmenson is a Los Angeles-based singer, writer, and producer who makes music under the moniker Little Monarch.

She’s also an integral member of Gracie Abrams' band and played a pivotal role in the highly acclaimed Taylor Swift The Era's Tour in 2023, showcasing her exceptional talent on a global stage.

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Vivian Howard is the chef at the center of A Chef’s Life, which ran on PBS from 2013 to 2018 - and 2020’s Somewhere South. Vivian won a Peabody, Emmy, and James Beard award for A Chef’s Life. She also runs three restaurants: Lenoir and Handy & Hot in Charleston, South Carolina, and The Kitchen Bar at Chef & the Farmer in Kinston, NC.

Vivian is author of two books, Deep Run Roots: Stories & Recipes from My Corner of the South, which was a New York Times bestseller and was named “Cookbook of the Year” by the International Association of Culinary Professionals - and This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking, released in 2020.

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Kelsie Watts is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville. Raised in a musical family, she went on to study opera, vocal performance, and commercial music. Following her collaboration with AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys and her appearance on The Voice, she released original songs in 2021 and 2022. 

When not writing and performing, Kelsie is a mental health advocate, working with organizations like the Not Alone Challenge. 

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Jay Allison is host and producer of The Moth Radio Hour,  host, curator, and producer of This I Believe on NPR, and creator/producer of hundreds of documentaries, essays, and special series for national and international broadcast. Jay has won virtually every major industry award for his productions and collaborations, including six Peabodys. 

He was also the 1996 recipient of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio, the industry’s highest honor. 

Jay is also a founder of the Association of Independents in Radio and founder of The Public Radio Exchange (or PRX), which is how many Public Radio shows and other content are shared with stations like WGCU…it’s a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Organization” Award.

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Tara Lynn Rye is a musical artist and filmmaker from New Jersey who calls southwest Florida home these days. She spent time in New York City and Los Angeles honing her craft in film - she directed, produced, shot, and edited short films, documentaries and episodics.

Tara’s played shows with her band at Rockwood Music Hall, the Peppermint Club, and the legendary Viper Room. She released her song “Gator Country” back in May  along with an energetic music video 

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Mitchell Austin is the Urban Design Manager at the City of Punta Gorda, where he is responsible for long range planning and capital projects planning and design. Since arriving on August 16, 2004 (three days after  Hurricane Charley devastated Punta Gorda), Mitchell has focused on the art and science of urban place-making in Punta Gorda.

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