Steve Magagnini has taught journalism to college students and professionals since 1988 and thanks his students for making him a better, more evolved person. He's been a working journalist since he was a cub reporter for the St. Petersburg Times in 1976. He's covered race and ethnicity for The Sacramento Bee since 1994 and has been honored for Distinguished Diversity Writing by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 2001 and 2002. His work appears in the anthologies "Best Newspaper Writing 2001" and "Best Newspaper Writing 2002". He was awarded a Stanford Knight Fellowship in 2001-2002.

After years in banking and financial controlling roles in global organizations, Catarina began exploring ways to manage the challenges of high-pressure work environments. She found inspiration at the intersection of contemplative traditions and modern science, discovering practices that enhance resilience. Trained as a facilitator in Cultivating Emotional Balance and Mindful Self-Compassion, Catarina has since focused on integrating these practices into corporate and public programs, emphasizing the importance of meditation and compassion for emotional balance.

Diogo is a leadership facilitator and executive coach training at INSEAD, blending attention management and neuroscience-informed insights to support leaders and teams in building resilience, managing change, and enhancing performance humanely. His clients range from global corporations like McKinsey, Accenture, and Ikea to major Portuguese organizations such as Sonae, EDP, and BPI. He frequently teaches in executive education at Porto Business School. Diogo's background in finance led to a decade in investment banking, where he also developed an in-house program on attention-based leadership skills. His coaching is further enriched by over 15 years of contemplative practice, including more than a year in silent retreat.

Tony Garone is a musician, researcher, narrator, YouTuber, and author. He is working on his sixth solo album, Shadowland (to be available on Apple Music and Amazon), and a soon-to-be-released book, People of the Shrines. People of the Shrines takes you on a journey to India and Nepal to introduce you to the faiths of those countries, bring a greater understanding, and find common threads within the fabric of all religions. He also has two YouTube channels: Hermetic Journeys, which explores the 16th-century alchemical book Atalanta Fugiens, and UFO Narrative, which presents the UFO phenomenon from an unbiased perspective. Tony has narrated several short videos and the film, “Journey of the Heart” by director and producer Ravi Verma.

Claudio was born in Palermo, Italy, and he was interested in meditation from a young age. After living and working in Milan for eight years in the publishing sector, he moved to Australia, where he studied Economics, trade, and development at the University of Sydney. During his twelve years in Australia, he lived in a Buddhist community in Sydney and worked as an event coordinator and translator of Buddhist texts. Now that he is back in Italy, he dreams of reconnecting with Mother Nature and healing the relationship with her. He’s still confused about what to offer to the world and how to find peace, but he has not stopped exploring. He believes that humanity has done a great disservice to Mother Nature in the last 200 years and that the future of the human race rests in whether we recognize that we are nature - we are nature’s sons and daughters. 

Ms. Rhonda Schiffler studied at Sydney University and earned a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Pure Mathematics & Philosophy. She studied Computer Science in her second year when computers took up the entire length of the Physics building and needed a very controlled environment! Students were not allowed near it. Programs were submitted via punched cards way back in 1974! At the end of that year, the first VDU type screens were introduced. After working as a programmer for 6 months and traveling for 6 months, She returned to complete a postgraduate qualification to become a preschool teacher. She received the Diploma of Early Childhood Education in 1977 and worked as a teacher and director of various kindergartens until 1981. Rhonda completed Pam Cayton's course on Creating Compassionate Cultures at Vajrayana Institute in Sydney.  Rhonda also received the Cultivating Emotional Balance Teacher Training certificate taught by Dr. B. Alan Wallace & Dr. Eve Ekman, which she completed on Holy Isle in Scotland in 2014—the following year, she facilitated the course in Australia again led by Drs Wallace and Ekman.  Since 2008 to the present day, Rhonda has been following the path of the Buddha/Dharma with teachings, pilgrimages, and retreats of various durations. Inspired by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and her heart teacher Dr B. Alan Wallace. 
 

Anisio Martins dos Santos is the AP Spanish and German Teacher, as well as the Chair of the Foreign Languages Department at Gwinnett School of Math, Science, and Technology (GSMST), a top 10 STEM school in the United States. Since joining GSMST in August 2016, Anisio has worked with the school’s highly talented student body and faculty to promote language learning in a STEM-driven environment. He previously taught for 13 years at the university level within the University System of Georgia. Originally from Brazil, Anisio lived in India during the 1990s while working for a German engineering firm, and later studied at the Universität Paderborn in Germany, where he lived for eight years before moving to the U.S. in 2003.