Kevin J Surace, innovator, entrepreneur and CEO of Appvance joined me Monday at 9:30am pst!

Kevin J Surace

If you missed Kevin on today's show,
listen to our conversation here.

Kevin Surace is an innovator and entrepreneur and CEO of Appvance which drives scalability and performance of apps and websites. Kevin has led organizations instilling innovation, technology, and revenue growth including Serious Energy (from 0 to 420 employees), Perfect Commerce (supply chain software), CommerceNet (non-profit), General Magic (virtual assistant), WebKnight (Java authoring) and Air Communications (smartphone). He has been featured in BusinessWeek, Time, Fortune, Forbes and CNN and keynoted hundreds of gatherings from INC5000 to TED to the halls of congress. He has been Entrepreneur of the Year (Inc. Magazine), named a top 15 innovator of this decade (CNBC), awarded Tech Pioneer (World Economic Forum), nominated as Innovator of the Year (PlanetForward) and inducted into the Innovation Hall of Fame (RIT). At Serious Energy he helped to retrofit some 70,000 projects including the Empire State Building and NY Stock Exchange. He serves on 6 boards and has been awarded 24 US patents. In his spare time, he is also a well known music director, producer, arranger and percussionist.

Twitter: @kevinsurace
www.linkedin.com/in/ksurace
www.facebook.com/kevin.surace

Bestselling author, motivational speaker. and Washington, DC-based career, retirement and personal finance expert Kerry Hannon joined me Monday at 9:00am PST!

If you missed Kerry on today's show,
listen to our conversation here.

ABOUT KERRY HANNON

 

Kerry Hannon is a bestselling author and Washington, DC-based career, retirement and personal finance expert and a popular motivational speaker.

Kerry’s book Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy ... And Pays the Bills (John Wiley & Sons, 2012) is a national bestseller.

Her updated paperback version of her award-winning book, What's Next? Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond (Berkley Trade, 2014) is now available.

Her upcoming book, Love Your Job, will be published by John Wiley in December 2014.

Kerry has spent more than 25 years covering all aspects of personal finance for the nation's leading media companies, including The New York Times, Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. She is a nationally recognized authority on boomer career transitions and retirement.

Kerry is a columnist and regular contributor to The New York Times and a contributing writer for Money magazine.

She is AARP’s Jobs Expert and is the Great Jobs columnist for AARP.org.

Kerry is a contributing editor at Forbes Magazine and the Second Verse columnist for Forbes.com and is recognized as the Forbes’ bard of career transitions and “working” retirement issues.

She is the PBS web site NextAvenue.org expert on career and personal finance for boomer women and writes a weekly column.

She is a Metlife Foundation and New America Media Fellow on Aging.

Kerry is also the author of Getting Started In Estate Planning (John Wiley & Sons), Suddenly Single: Money Skills for Divorcees and Widows (John Wiley & Sons), Ten Minute Guide to Retirement for Women (MacMillan Publishing)

She has appeared as a financial expert on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. ABC News, CBS, Fox, CNBC, CNN, and PBS and has been a guest on numerous radio programs.

Follow Kerry on Twitter @KerryHannon and visit her website, KerryHannon.com and her LinkedIn profile.

Mojdeh Eskandari, a founding member of InnovatorsOC and Executive Producer of TEDxOrangeCoast, joined me Monday at 9:30am PST!

Mojdeh Eskandari

If you missed Mojdeh on today's show, listen to our conversation here.

Mojdeh’s multicultural upbringing shaped her character to become a change agent, resourceful leader, problem solver, business mentor, and philanthropist. During her career she has assumed senior executive roles for highly competitive international high tech companies in Asia, Europe, and the US.

She has a passion for adventure, innovation, selfless leaders, and connecting ideas and resources to make amazing things happen.

Mojdeh has been inspired by TED talks for many years and has engaged in organizing TEDx events to spread great ideas and create a new dynamism in her current community of Orange County.

About Mojdeh

I have a passion for selfless leaders, adventure, innovation, and connecting ideas and resources to make amazing things happen.

I am currently dedicating my time on producing TEDxKish, and continuing as a founding member of InnovatorsOC and Executive Producer of TEDxOrangeCoast.

Prior to that I was an executive at Oracle France, Oracle Japan and Oracle Corporation where I led a team of international key players across 93 countries and contributing to $2.8B in revenue for Oracle.

Entrepreneurial aptitude, ability to forge strong alliances, strategic and tactical planning skills, and maintaining collaborative working relationship are among my forte.

I hold an MBA from ESSEC in France and a Mechanical Engineering Degree from University of Science & Technology in Tehran. I have studied, worked and lived in various countries across three continents.

TEDX Links:

The event is Friday and Saturday and the complete schedule is now posted as well as the speaker list:

http://www.tedxorangecoast.com/events/tedxoc-annual-conference-september-19-20-2014/

http://www.tedxorangecoast.com/speakercat/2014/

Inspiring actress, surfer, marathoner and philanthropist Tanna Frederick joins me Monday at 9:00am PST!

If you missed Tanna on today's show, listen here!

Tanna Frederick recently wrapped production on Henry Jaglom’s romantic mystery “Ovation” starring opposite James Denton. The story is set in the backstage world of theatre where the cast struggles to keep their play afloat while they search for a murder suspect amongst themselves.

She is currently starring in Jaglom’s romantic comedy “The M Word” (with Corey Feldman, Michael Imperioli and Frances Fisher. Jeannette Catsoulis of TheNew York Times said of her performance, “Ms. Frederick’s gift for juggling farce, fantasy and raw emotion remains impressive.”

Later this year she’ll star as a single mother who returns to Iowa (Frederick’s hometown) to deal with her past in “Garner, Iowa”.

She’s also just ended almost a year long performance in “The Rainmaker” at the Edgemar Theatre in Santa Monica. The Los Angeles Times gave it Critics’ Choice and said, “The standout of this terrific cast is Tanna Frederick’s acerbically yearning Lizzie…It’s a transformation not to be missed.”

Frederick's performance in her first feature with Jaglom, “Hollywood Dreams,” earned her Best Actress at WorldFest Houston, Montana International Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival and the Wild Rose Film Festival. The film took Best Picture honors at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival and to Best Comedy at WorldFest Houston. She was named Method Fest’s “Performer to Watch” and has also received the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s “Maverick” Award.

Off-screen, Frederick has proved just as driven and talented. A fitness aficionado who runs daily, Frederick ranked 52nd out of 1,321 women in her division in the LA Marathon. She is a second-degree Tae Kwon Do blackbelt and a passionate surfer. She founded “Project Save Our Surf,” a non-profit that promotes clean oceans and clean water initiatives. She is also founder of the Iowa Film Festival, now in its’ seventh year. She was named the recipient of the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012 and returned there this year to speak at their commencement ceremony.

ABOUT TANNA FREDRICK

The plot of this movie might be familiar - a struggling young actress from middle America who can't seem to get a break happens to meet a well-connected industry vet who envisions her as a future sensation, and a movie star is born. While that was the story told anew in Henry Jaglom's feature, the acclaimed “Hollywood Dreams,” it also happens to be pretty close to the real-life story of the film's dynamic and engaging leading lady. But actress Tanna Frederick, who drew raves for her tour-de-force as aspiring starlet Margie Chisek, is quick to point out that although they have similar stories, she's far from the chaotic and sometimes naive Margie.

Audiences who have seen “Hollywood Dreams” and “Queen of the Lot” might be forgiven for making that mistake, as Frederick's uncanny rendering of an ambitious and charming starlet who can barely restrain her fragile emotional state, is a compelling portrait of an actress in the tradition of Bette Davis' performances in “All About Eve” and “Dangerous;” and Gloria Swanson's painfully deluded Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard.”

Indeed, many critics have harkened back to an earlier era of screen star, noting
that Frederick's screen presence recalls a "young Bette Davis on crack" and compares
favorably to legends like Lucille Ball, Judy Garland and Fanny Brice. "Hollywood Dreams is driven by Ms. Frederick's no-boundaries commitment to her broken character," wrote the New York Times, "a performance that is startling as it is touching."

"Bette Davis is my inspiration right now," confesses the actress, who, like Margie, is a devoted cinephile. "I don't feel that I can possibly compare to her, but I admire the way she was always in the moment, and the way that theatre and her life and her art were inseparable." "Comedy is based on pain; most great comic performers have great pain and live in a huge amount of denial," says Frederick. "There's an early tragedy that translates into a masking, and there's a strange truthfulness to that. I wanted people to have sympathy for Margie, but be a little confused as to whether they loved her or hated her."

In addition to the critical raves for “Hollywood Dreams,” Frederick also earned Best Actress at World Fest Houston, Montana International Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival and the Wild Rose Film Festival. The film took Best Picture honors at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival and Best Comedy at World Fest Houston. She was named Method Fest’s “Performer to Watch” and has also received the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s “Maverick” Award.

Frederick’s relationship with Jaglom was extended to “Irene in Time” in which Frederick was reunited with “Hollywood Dreams” co-stars David Proval, Zack Norman and Karen Black.

Later she starred in Jaglom’s romantic comedy “Queen of the Lot” opposite Noah Wyle. The film picked up “Hollywood Dreams” Maggie Chase character three years later, where Chase, now an action-movie star, is under house arrest for multiple DUIs.

Frederick is currently starring with Judd Nelson in Jaglom’s film “Just 45 Minutes From Broadway.” She has also wrapped production on two other features – “The M Word” with Corey Feldman and Michael Imperioli and “The Farm, “ the first production under her latest venture, Project Cornlight that aims to develop Iowa-based films and other projects showcasing Iowa.

All the while, Frederick has become quite the LA stage actress. She is currently starring (to rave reviews) in “The Rainmaker” at the Edgemar Theatre in Santa Monica. The Los Angeles Times said, “The standout of this terrific cast is Tanna Frederick’s acerbically yearning Lizzie…It’s a transformation not to be missed.” Prior to that she starred in Clair Chafee’s “Why We Have a Body,” which she also directed. She had long runs as the title dog in A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia,” and in two plays written by Henry Jaglom, “Just 45 Minutes From Broadway,” and “Always… But Not Forever.”

Frederick, a proud Iowan, knew she wanted to be a performer since childhood. "Iowa is really an amazing place for theatre," she enthuses. "Maybe because people don't have as much to do, they spend a lot of time expressing themselves. I started doing local and children's theatre in fourth grade, and was basically doing five shows a year for most of my life."

When she went to college at the University of Iowa, she double majored in theatre and political science/international relations. Despite the daunting academic challenges of

two disparate courses of study, Frederick thrived, particularly enjoying working with younger playwrights on new works. "With the playwriting program and the Writer's Workshop, I did a lot of new work. I'm so grateful for that, because when I came to California, I had a very open mind about strange, independent and unusual projects."

There were plenty of independent projects for Frederick to work in after her graduation as class valedictorian and the move to Hollywood, but like many young performers, regular paying work and success seemed far away. That's when Frederick learned from a friend that independent director Henry Jaglom had a history of responding to fan letters. Even though she'd never seen his films, Frederick wrote to Jaglom asking for an audition. The director responded by casting her in his play, “A Safe Place.” Her work so impressed him, that soon she was starring in “Always - But Not Forever,” Jaglom's theatrical revision of his earlier screen work, and preparing her to star in

“Hollywood Dreams.” "We created a really wonderful balance," says Frederick of

Jaglom, who has made a career out of casual but pointed observations about the intricacies of human relationships against the backdrop of show business. "He has this objectivity about Hollywood, having been there so long, and the film played on my subjectivity of that experience. He provided the framework in which Margie could live - he's known all of these characters as people, and I just put myself in the reality of the moment."

Meanwhile, Frederick is looking forward to hosting the seventh annual Iowa Film Festival - an event she founded. "People were so thrilled to have that festival in their community," she says. "All kinds of people - lawyers, students, regular people - were inspired to try their hand at filmmaking, and this year the event has increased threefold." She was recently named the recipient of the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 2012 and also received the 2012 CineCause Award at the Julien Dubuque Film Festival.

A devoted fitness advocate whose impressive Tae Kwon Do skills can be seen in “Hollywood Dreams,” Frederick is also spending as much time as she can at the beach where she admits to having a "serious mistress" - the surf. "I never expected to become addicted to surfing," she admits. "I guess when you grow up landlocked, you never think about things like that. I've been doing it for a few years now, and it's
provided a great balance in my life. I like the aspect of constantly facing a new challenge, and the danger - I broke my nose surfing and have gotten pretty banged up. It's a humbling experience - you're up against this creature, and if you don't respect it, you drown." As a sign of her passion for the art of riding the wild surf, Frederick started "Project Save Our Surf," an annual event she co-hosts with legendary surfer Shaun Tomson which has raised thousands of dollars for various ocean charities and clean water initiatives. Frederick also serves on the Board of Directors at Tumelo Home. Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, the charity provides full residential care and training to children with severe and profound mental disabilities.

                                

Tanna Frederick’s website is located at www.tannafrederick.com

Michael Jason Williams joined me this morning to talk about his film Sacred Waterfall! 9am pst on KUCI 88.9fm

Great show this morning with special guest Michael Jason Williams! Listen to our conversation here.

Follow Michael's epic journey as a wilderness photographer, as he shoots waterfalls across all 50 States to create environmental awareness: www.mjwphoto.com.

"If we don’t create awareness, nothing will be done about the severe environmental issues we’re facing. If you want a shred of nature to be left for your kids to enjoy, if you want them to breathe clean air, or even be able to cope with the toxic clean up that needs to start in our oceans and rivers, then think about helping out projects like mine.

I believe there are two factors in creating mass change: Awareness, then Action. I hope that Sacred Waterfalls will create the awareness part, so that many more people are inspired to take action and preserve these natural temples that are diminishing.

Please visit www.mjwphoto.com/sw to contribute to Sacred Waterfalls through Friday, September 12." - Michael Jason Williams

From Michael's blog:

The fundraiser for Sacred Waterfalls at Kickstarter is underway and off to a great running start! If you have an interest in photography or preserving nature, you will love this film.

I’ll be traveling in a van full of photography gear over the next year, shooting America’s most exotic waterfalls, documenting the experience as I go. I’ll also stop to interview park officials, scientists, and Native American elders, all who want to talk about climate change.

Waterfalls are great indicators of the planet’s health, and new discoveries are being made around them. Did you know that a new fish species was recently discovered in Hawaii that climbs waterfalls? The Nopili rock-climbing goby is being threatened by severe drought and pollution.

There are other environmental topics, like dams, Hetch Hetchy Valley, and runoff tunnels we’ll get into in the film, but the main message I want to convey today is this: If we don’t create awareness, nothing will be done about the severe environmental issues we’re facing. If you want a shred of nature to be left for your kids to enjoy, if you want them to breathe clean air, or even be able to cope with the toxic clean up that needs to start in our oceans and rivers, then think about helping out projects like mine.

I believe there are two factors in creating mass change: Awareness, then Action. I hope that Sacred Waterfalls will create the awareness part, so that many more people are inspired to take action and preserve these natural temples that are diminishing.

Please visit www.mjwphoto.com/sw to contribute to Sacred Waterfalls through Friday, September 12.

- See more at: http://mjwphoto.com/cmablog/#sthash.mQg0EU3L.dpuf

ABOUT Michael Jason Williams

Born in Hollywood, to a family of producers and artists, Michael Jason Williams absorbed facets of the visual arts from an early age. From the time he could walk and talk he started to appreciate nature and his father's photography while camping in the High Sierras, and during local hikes at home in the Santa Monica Mountains. Always hungry for an outdoor adventure, and finding a way to share his experiences when he came home, Michael naturally started to tell his stories with his father's cameras. Whether picking up film, video, or later digital cameras, there was always a way to get creative, and hopefully bringing dad's equipment home safe (but not always)! With mentorship from friends and family over the years, Michael has applied his creativity towards various outlets including greeting cards, magazine and web publishing, writing, graphic design, and video production.

With the same drive from his early life, Michael still looks for adventure and creativity at every moment possible. His passion has now expanded beyond the personal satisfaction found from being in nature and bringing home images to family and friends, to bringing vivid soul stirring photos to a larger audience of art lovers and collectors. Embracing the latest in digital photo technology and utilizing a custom high-tech print process, Michael Jason Williams is quickly becoming recognized as a photographer who pushes the limits in the field, and in the digital darkroom.

Sacred Waterfalls, is in final stages of pre-production, To find out how to support this film and photo book, visit www.mjwphoto.com/sw