Riza Wisnom is an Asian Freestyle grooming expert with three published instructional books on the subject. Her work has been featured on the cover of Groomer to Groomer magazine in the USA, Toilettage magazine in France and online in The Huffington Post. She has been industry nominated for several awards and was also a contestant on the ABC TV pet grooming show Pooch Perfect. She has taught in conferences and private seminars around the globe including England, Spain, Portugal and many venues in the US. She is a 37 yr grooming veteran and owns a posh salon in Delaware.

Stephenie has been grooming for 10 years. She is the Training manager of Calling All Paws, a certified Nash Academy instructor, Former Illinois State Grooming Team Captain, and Owner of The Meditative Grooming Academy. Stephenie lives with her husband John in Waukegan with her cockapoo, Nibbler, Irish wolfhound mix, Addison, 2 cats, Chiana and Fry, and 2 turtles. Stephenie is obviously passionate about animals and teaching but also enjoys her hobbies of gardening, foraging, and cooking.

Brianna Burns ( soon to be wellendorf ) started in a corporate environment and knew she had to do bigger things . She progressed later in life and started doing trade shows where she found her passion for teaching . Since then she's opened and created a successful grooming business in Des Moines Iowa called Clipper-Doodle-Do and created a trade program for her local community college and is opening a salon inside a dog park bar called paws and pints 🍻. A true under dog story of if you put yourself mind to it anything is achievable

Michelle Knowles, MPAI, ICMG, owner of All Things Paw, has over 30 years of experience as a private and professional pet care provider. Michelle is a Certified Master Groomer and a Master Pet Aesthetician. She has apprenticed, volunteered, worked, owned and managed in salons, kennels, zoos, and veterinary hospitals across the country. Michelle has also been trained in Tuscany, Italy in therapeutic work, hand stripping and advanced dermatological care. She has an ISB certification in skin and coat care, extensive experience with fear and trauma recovery, elderly pets, and a focus on managing allergic/dermatological disorders. Michelle is certified through NDGAA and IPG and teaches advanced aesthetics at the Whole Pet Grooming Academy and is a nationally recognized speaker in her field.

Samantha Palya started her grooming career in the year of 1996 at Great Lakes Academy of Professional Pet Styling. She entered her first competition at the All American Grooming Show in 1996. From then she earned placements in poodles, and handstripping in her division. She was awarded Best Groomer and Best Groomed Dog in Show for a handstipped terrier at Groom Expo in 1998. At the age of 21 she opened Absolutely Pawfect Pet Styling. Samantha apprentices to help give opportunities to future pet care professionals. She holds certificates for CPR and Pet Safety, Skin and Hair, Salon Sanitation, Canine Body Language, Dog Gurus College, Pricing for profits, and many more. As of recent she has been speaking on The Dog Gurus platforms in her advancements in grooming enrichment.

Gabby Phinney began her entrepreneurial journey into the dog world at 13 years old starting her first business making and selling homemade dog treats. At the age of 18 she started her own pet sitting business, Gabby’s Whole Pet Care. While pet sitting on the side, Gabby worked full time at a farm and garden store running the pet department. There she became certified in Pet & Equine nutrition and helped pets and their owners with all their nutrition needs. Gabby started pet sitting for Dara Forleo, the owner of the Whole Pet Grooming Academy in 2016. Dara was the driving force behind Gabby finding her biggest passion as a pet groomer, and encouraged her to go through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy’s Canine Stylist Program. After graduating in 2017, Gabby worked at a corporate salon for 3 years, growing her knowledge in the industry through continuing education workshops, expos and the competition ring. In the fall of 2019 Gabby started her house call business, Canine Cosmuttology in New Hampshire. Since then she has journeyed across the country to Idaho, and has had a very successful year with the rebirth of Canine Cosmuttology in Idaho. In February 2021, she started Hound Hookz, making and selling grooming arm attachments for dog groomers. Gabby is now taking on the biggest venture in her grooming career as host and executive director of the first annual Teton Grooming Expo. For this young entrepreneur, no dream is ever unattainable.

Tami Vornbrock started training and showing dogs at the age of 15, and her first jobs were working in the pet care field. In 1996 she graduated from Grooming school and has owned her own grooming business since 2006. She has achieved her ICMG with International Pet Groomers, NCMG with National Dog Groomers Association of America, is a Certified Canine Esthetician, and earned her Pet Groomer Credential from World Pet Association. This is the first standardized test available to groomers.

Robyn Michaels
Robyn Michaels is a retired dog groomer. She started grooming in the late 1960's working for hobby breeders. She has placed in grooming contests and titled dogs in ASFA field trials, obedience, rally, and conformation, and has helped others choose show dogs. She started investing in the 1980s and is now happily retired. She blogs at disparateinterests.wordpress.com and writes fiction and nonfiction.

Samm Hutchison is the Owner and Founder of Bear’s Bites and the Co-Founder of the Bear’s Bites Foundation. Samm started Bear’s Bites after struggling to find good quality treats for her own dogs when they were diagnosed with food allergies. Samm and her husband Co-founded the Bear’s Bites foundation after struggling to figure out how to pay for their family dog Tank’s emergency medical bills and decided that they wanted to help families never have to worry about the bill while in an emergency situation with their fur family.

Sierra Elbert wears many hats, including wife, mother, pet owner, entrepreneur, pet stylist, program developer and educator. “My family is my whole world” Elbert exclaims. Her family includes Cory, her husband, Grace, her daughter, Kip, her son, Aspen, a rough-coated collie, and Sterling, a Dandie Dinmont Terrier.

Elbert’s mother owned a dog salon when she was growing up, so she learned first-hand how to groom dogs with finesse, “having a mother who is a dog groomer is like having a father who taught you how to change the oil in vehicles”. After you are around it so much, it becomes second nature,” explains Elbert. Although she learned her trade from her mother. Elbert earned her Master Pet Stylist (MPS), International Certified Pet Groomer (ICPG), and Petcare Dermatech Specialist (PDS) certifications recognized by the international society of canine cosmetology (ISCC)