Authors

Nico De Bruyn didn’t have the “right” degree.

He studied nutrition.

He wanted to work in marketing.

No one took him seriously.

So he started small.
Did marketing for a friend.
Learned obsessively.
Reached out to people daily.

Cleola Davis is a U.S. Army veteran and author of Forged in Battle: African American Officers Serving in the United States Army.

Her work documents the stories of African American officers whose leadership and sacrifice shaped military history.

Payton Lynch is a Product leader at Disney, where she builds digital experiences rooted in storytelling and guest advocacy.

By day, she helps power one of the most iconic storytelling brands in the world.

By night, she became an author.

Arnobio Morelix is the co-founder and CEO of Sirius, a pioneering Brazilian higher education institution focused on the professions of the future.

Jamie Russo is the founder of Tweetjoy and runs a boutique content agency serving startups.

he operates at the intersection of:

• Writing
• Brand building
• Community
• Multi-format content creation

Angela Chanowsky is the founder of Unique Genius, where she helps business owners reclaim focus, freedom, and growth by building elite virtual teams.

Katie Joy Duke is a mindset coach, retreat leader, and former disability attorney.

Her memoir, Still Breathing, chronicles love, loss, Stage IV breast cancer, and reinvention.

A USC Marshall graduate and operations leader at Sherwin-Williams, Jack blends business strategy with art, philosophy, and cultural storytelling.

Madeline Pasimio is a practicing dentist in the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of Contrary to Conception — a deep dive into the history, science, and lived experiences behind birth control.

Sam Perez is a weekend morning anchor, traffic anchor, and multi-skilled journalist at WBIR 10News in Knoxville, Tennessee.

She was named the 2024 South Carolina Reporter of the Year after covering major statewide stories including the Alex Murdaugh trial, legislative updates, and high-profile sporting events.

Amnoni Myers is a social impact founder, speaker, and #1 Bestselling author of You Are the Prize: Seeing Yourself Beyond the Imperfections of Your Trauma.

Lisa M. Randolph is the creator of The Wildlife Divas — a children’s action-adventure series featuring five African American girls who use science, technology, engineering, arts, and math to save endangered species around the world.

Alisha Wielfaert is a best-selling author, transformational coach, speaker, podcaster, and artist who empowers creatives, entrepreneurs, and seekers to align with their inner wisdom and build flourishing lives and businesses.

Victor Barnes is a CPA and MBA with a career grounded in financial rigor, analysis, and professional standards. He approached authorship with skepticism, not sentiment, and evaluated the book process the same way he would any serious professional undertaking.

Marcelo DeSantis is a global technology and business leader with more than 25 years of executive experience across consumer goods, automotive, professional services, and technology consulting. He has served as CIO and Chief Digital Officer for multinational organizations, leading large-scale transformation efforts across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Dr. Miriam “Dr. Z” Zylberglait Lisigurski is a physician and wellbeing expert who has spent her career inside the systems that reward endurance, perfection, and self-sacrifice. Like many physicians, she was trained to prioritize competence over connection and performance over presence.

Lori Mazer is a strategist and leader whose work centers on helping individuals and organizations clarify their voice, sharpen their reputation, and expand their impact.

Dr. Ardeshir Mehran is a psychiatrist and public thinker whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, identity, and personal agency. Trained to diagnose and treat, he increasingly felt constrained by systems that prioritize comfort over truth.

Bob Jones is a veteran entrepreneur, executive, and innovation leader with decades of experience building consumer products, scaling businesses, and turning around underperforming public companies. His work spans early-stage ideation, customer discovery, product-market fit, and retail distribution, long before “Lean Startup” became a movement.

Former corporate leader turned executive coach who spent 25 years inside the systems that reward stoicism, status, and self-sacrifice. Despite professional success, Jim experienced severe burnout driven not by workload alone, but by the isolation and emotional suppression baked into traditional definitions of masculinity and leadership.

Senior global business executive and award-winning public speaker who has scaled partner ecosystems from seed-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies, generating over $200M in revenue. Parallel to his business career, Satish completed full marathons on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

Senior marketing and strategy executive with decades of experience at companies like AWS, Intel, and Honeywell, known among peers as an “idea machine,” who had long been fascinated by how decisions actually get made, but had never consolidated that thinking into a single framework.

Technology executive, investor, and board member of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship who felt a growing responsibility to prepare young people for the future of work. The book emerged at a personal inflection point, driven by fatherhood, loss, and a desire to leave something meaningful behind.

Debut fantasy novelist with a Stanford English background who approached publishing as a full creative ecosystem. Rather than treating the book as a one-time release, Aparna positioned The Boy with Fire as the nucleus of her identity, content, and community.

Former retail executive and economist who transitioned into entrepreneurship, Morgan entered the process believing a book should package her existing presentations. Instead, she confronted a deeper question: was she willing to step beyond service delivery and articulate a defensible point of view about identity, worth, and executive presence?

Former Wall Street executive who rebuilt her life from childhood poverty in Brazil, climbed to senior leadership at top financial institutions, and ultimately faced a pivotal question: could her value exist beyond the career she spent decades building?

Founder and CEO of Level Up For Life Coach, a professional coach working with women leaders to overcome self-doubt, who had long believed she was meant to write a book but lacked a clear path to turn that identity into a finished, usable asset.

The book became the centerpiece of Nicole’s leadership platform. Organizations began using it as the foundation for workshops, executive programs, and multi-touch engagements. Instead of one-off speaking, the book created demand for deeper, longer-term work, including bulk orders tied directly to leadership development initiatives.

Dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and nationally respected veterinary leader who had spent decades studying and living the human–animal bond, but had never formalized that work into a single, accessible body of thought.

Executive coach and former corporate marketing leader who wanted to turn years of experience helping high achievers into a clear, portable framework she could use across coaching, speaking, and media.

Steve Fredlund spent more than two decades as an actuary, doing what he was “supposed” to do, building a stable career, and checking all the boxes of a successful life. Despite outward success, he felt constrained by people-pleasing, safety, and a quiet loss of agency.

Daniel Wakefield is the founder of Top Tier Headshots and a business strategist helping entrepreneurs and creatives grow through genuine connection, not empty algorithms or shallow tactics. With a background in photography, branding, and community building, Daniel turned early coaching conversations into a broader playbook for business growth.

Founder of the Women’s Nonprofit Network (6,000+ members nationwide)
Nonprofit Growth Strategist at Collective Results
National nonprofit leader recognized for innovation and impact

Leadership consultant and advocate focused on closing the leadership and wealth gap for Latinas who wanted to turn a deeply researched point of view into a credible, visible body of work.

Award-winning broadcast journalist, Bloomberg host and reporter, and adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown University, with a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Deeply experienced in reporting, storytelling, and teaching others how to write clearly under pressure.

Jaime Jay is a systems-minded entrepreneur, former 82nd Airborne paratrooper, and the founder of Bottleneck Distant Assistants—a company that helps business owners reclaim 20–40 hours a week through smarter delegation.

Before the book, Gregory was doing strong work inside organizations.

After the book, decision-makers could:
• Understand his philosophy quickly
• Share his framework internally
• Justify bringing him in at scale

Andrew Mangan started writing his book while still in high school.

At 17.

He wasn’t majoring in neuroscience.
He wasn’t working in biotech.

Ty Pinkins is a 21-year U.S. Army veteran, former White House staffer, Georgetown Law graduate, TEDx speaker, and U.S. Senate nominee from Mississippi. His book 23 Miles in Running chronicles his journey from chopping cotton in the Mississippi Delta to serving in the White House.

Stefaan van Hooydonk is one of the world’s leading voices on workplace curiosity.

After three decades in global executive roles across Asia, Europe, and the U.S., he founded the Global Curiosity Institute to measure and operationalize curiosity as a performance advantage.

Zachary Green is a US Marine Corps veteran, former firefighter, and award-winning entrepreneur who built a $30 million company after starting from the trunk of his car.

Amy Dong is a coach, facilitator, and author of Twenty-One Years Young, praised by The New York Times as “honest, refreshing and, at times, gut-wrenching.

Lawyer. Computer scientist. Policy architect.

Neil has advised the Federal Trade Commission, guided national debates on digital regulation, and now leads AI policy strategy at the Abundance Institute.

Corrie Napier is a conflict resolution consultant, mediator, and speaker who helps leaders turn destructive conflict into constructive conversations using her B.U.I.L.D. framework.

Catherine Connelly is a veteran tech entrepreneur who spent two decades building and scaling companies in the online dating and social discovery space. In 2020, she sold her company, The Meet Group, in a $500M acquisition.

Ricardo Rosselló is a former Governor of Puerto Rico who led during one of the most complex crisis periods in the island’s modern history. His tenure intersected with Hurricane Maria, U.S. federal response failures, and extreme political polarization.

Randi Braun is the Founder and CEO of Something Major, a coaching and training organization helping women leaders navigate power, performance, and progression at work.

Raven Jemison is the President of the Kansas City Current (NWSL) and the first Black president in league history.

Former Executive Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks, she helped lead one of the most respected franchises in professional sports.

Physician and nonprofit leader carrying a deeply personal story that required care, structure, and emotional safety to translate into a finished memoir rather than remaining an unwritten burden.

Founder, entrepreneur, and advisor with deep Silicon Valley experience who had built and exited multiple businesses but hadn’t yet formalized her core philosophy into a single, shareable point of view.