Melissa is an internationally-recognized coach and world renowned speaker with over 28 years of experience in executive, business, and personal coaching. Her work focuses on assisting clients in taking responsibility and realizing their personal and group potential. She helps RIGHT-BRAIN creatives make a LEFT-BRAIN living and get their big ideas out into the world.

Jeremy Scruggs is a Mississippi native who completed his academic trajectory through the Holly Springs Public School System and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Personel at The University of Mississippi, Ole Miss.

Originally from San Francisco California, Aaron attended UCSB as an undergraduate, majoring in Black Studies and Political Science. While an undergraduate, Aaron was deeply involved in activism, politics and was elected AS President.

Steven Melching is a television writer whose work includes numerous episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, Star Wars Rebels television series, and Star Wars Resistance television series. He has also written thousands of lines of dialogue for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes video games, as well as several issues of Dark Horse Comic’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars comic book series.

Dr. Will Linn holds a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California; a BA in philosophy from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee; and a CORe credential from Harvard Business School.

Jeffrey Bell is an American writer/producer best known for his work on television. He is a co-showrunner and an executive producer of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and an executive producer on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot. Mr. Bell was promoted to co-executive producer and new head writer on Angel (1999) after David Simkins left the show, and was also slated to be a showrunner of Most Wanted.

Alexandre O. Philippe is a Swiss film director best known for the documentary films Doc of the Dead, The People vs. George Lucas, and the 2017 post-modern documentary examination of the Psycho shower scene directed by Alfred Hitchcock entitled 78/52 which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Mark Swift and his writing partner Damian Shannon wrote the box office hits Friday the 13th (Feb 2009) and Freddy vs. Jason, and was the first writer on the animated hit Shark Tale. They are currently working on an original horror project for New Line Cinema, an as yet untitled sci-fi project for Skydance productions, and are co-producing O’Lucky Day, a comedy for Paramount Pictures starring Peter Dinklage.

Stephanie Zajchowski, Ph.D., is a cultural mythologist and certified Spiritual Director. Stephanie is a co-founder of the Fates and Graces Mythologium, a conference for mythologists, and enjoys connecting and collaborating with this community. Stephanie’s doctoral dissertation examines how religious narrative moves beneath the surface of current reproductive politics.

Devon Deimler, PhD, is founder and curator of the Cinemyth Film Series at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles and Curator at OPUS Archives and Research Center in Santa Barbara. Devon earned her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. 

Rachel Lugn, Ph.D. is a mythologist and textile artist. She holds a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her dissertation focuses on the interweaving of textile creation and fairy tales. 

Patricia Danaher is an Irish born writer, producer and scholar based in Los Angeles. She is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and a juror on the Golden Globes. A long-time political correspondent for ITV, she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University, where she also taught journalism.

Joanna Gardner, Ph.D., is a writer, mythologist, and magical realist. Her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of venues. Her recent research focuses on creation myth
and the creative process.

Patricia Wilson, a five-time Daytime Emmy nominee, is Executive Producer and Showrunner for Entertainment Studios; she coordinates its signature court shows and their 24-hour legal network – Justice Central, including America’s Court with Judge Ross, We the People with Gloria Allred, Justice For All with Cristina Perez, Supreme Justice with Judge Karen, Justice with Judge Mablean and The Verdict with Judge Hatchett.

Harry Grammer is an artist, activist, and educator. He founded the community- based organization New Earth in 2004 and is an integral part of reforming juvenile justice in Los Angeles. In 2017, Harry was honored as a CNN Hero, and in 2018 was selected one of 20 inaugural Obama Foundation Fellows from over 20,000 applicants in 191 countries.

James Joyce III currently serves as District Director for State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (who represents nearly 1 million constituents within the 19th Senate District of California) and has served on various advisory boards in the area including Impact Hub Santa Barbara, the Ventura County Leadership Academy, and the Santa Barbara Young Black Professionals.

Darius Simpson is a spoken word artist, educator, writer, and social justice advocate born in Akron, Ohio. He received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Eastern Michigan University. He is currently a candidate for his MFA in Creative Writing through Mills College in Oakland, CA. He utilizes poetry as a tool with which to engage, inform, and connect with his audiences. His work has been featured in Huffington Post, Mic, TEDx, and Button Poetry.

Brandyn is currently pursuing his Juris Doctorate and Masters of Business Administration at the University of Akron’s McDowell Law Center and School of Business. He also serves as Board Member and Group Facilitator with Alchemy Inc. Brandyn recently began working with the East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation as the organization seeks to expand their property portfolio.

Paul C. Hudson is the immediate past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Broadway Federal Bank, the largest and only publicly owned African American bank west of the Mississippi. Broadway Federal is a certified Community Development Financial Institution and has served the underserved minority markets of South Los Angeles since 1947.

Jordan Killebrew is a Santa Barbara local who has an abnormal love of community. His work and current role at the Santa Barbara Foundation, in the capacity of Director of Communications, resembles his passion for strategy, public relations, and relationship building. As a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, he revels in the pride of being a Gaucho and the opportunity to serve his community volunteering with local nonprofits and organizations.

Glen Slater teaches at Pacifica, where he is a core faculty member and Associate Chair of the Jungian and Archetypal Studies Program. He has written for a number of Jungian publications, edited the third volume of James Hillman’s Uniform Edition, Senex and Puer, as well as the essay collection, Varieties of Mythic Experience. He regular uses film in his teaching, once wrote film reviews, and is the past film review editor of Spring Journal.

Since receiving her M.A. in Jungian Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Kelly Carlin-McCall has created Women on the Verge, a year-long coaching program where accomplished women find something deeper, wider, and more meaningful in the next chapter of their lives.

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