Featured Author:
Dawn Kohler
Dawn Kohler
Dawn Kohler is an author and executive coach. At age 32, she stepped away from her award-winning role as founder and CEO of a thriving computer company to pursue an inner journey that reshaped her sense of purpose and led her back to writing.
Kohler has spent over a two decades coaching leaders in media and entertainment, with clients at companies including NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, Disney, Amazon, Sony Pictures, and Condé Nast.
She is the author of three books. Her memoir, The Messages, was reviewed by the New York Times. Her debut novel, The Invitation: A Weekend with Emma, was named Winner, Best Spiritual Book by the Hollywood Book Festival, and Grand Prize Winner, Best Beach Book by the San Francisco Writers Festival, in 2015. Her most recent book, Madre: A Modern Parable of Wisdom, Worth, and Women Rising, explores ancestral wisdom and the feminine spirit to help women reconnect with parts of themselves they’ve set aside.
Kohler writes, speaks, and coaches from Southern California.
For more information go to DawnKohler.com
Brett J. Novick, EdD, MS, LMFT
Dr. Brett J. Novick, EdD, MS, LMFT
Dr. Brett J. Novick has spent two decades in the room with families at their hardest moments — as a school social worker, a marriage and family therapist, and, for sixteen years, a counselor working with kids and parents who’d run out of other options. That work, across schools, community mental health, and substance abuse settings, became the foundation for his writing: eight books on education, behavior, and relationships, including Parents and Teachers Working Together and The Balanced Child, published by Rowman and Littlefield.
His two most recent books, Crappy to Happy: A Practical Guide to Finding Happiness and Don’t Marry a Lemon!: A Marriage Therapist’s Advice on Choosing the Right Mate, are published by Train of Thought Press.
Novick holds degrees from LaSalle University, Friends University, and an EdD from the American College of Education. His work has earned him the NJEA Martin Luther King Jr. Human and Civil Rights Award and the NJ Governor’s Jefferson Award for Public Service, among others.
For more information, visit DrBrettNovick.com.
Katie James Smith
Katie James Smith
Katie James Smith is the founder and CEO of Humma.AI, leading the development of Empathetic AI™, a system built for and by community organizations. Smith also serves as a Responsible AI Adviser to Hubs.is and as founder and strategist of THE BIG GOOD, a social-impact incubator and consulting practice run since 2013.
Smith has spent over two decades working across the nonprofit, public, and private sectors, managing portfolios ranging from $20 million to $125 million. As Director of Communications at Catalyst California (formerly Advancement Project California), Smith led the development of RACECOUNTS.org, an initiative tracking racial disparities across all 58 California counties, which earned coverage from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic’s CityLab, and NPR. Earlier in this career, Smith served as Director of Digital Communications at the ACLU National, leading the digital campaign to help end the Defense of Marriage Act.
Smith is the author of Zoe Bios, a poetic exploration of epigenetics and what Smith calls “DNA memory,” developed over a decade of research and travel across thirteen countries.
Irene Rodway, JD, PhD
Irene Rodway, JD, PhD
Irene Rodway is an attorney, author, and long-term care advocate based in Georgia. She holds both a JD and a PhD, and is the former president of the California Women’s Trial Lawyers Association and founder of the San Gabriel Valley Women Lawyers group.
Rodway’s advocacy work grew out of personal experience: as an attorney, she assumed she had the knowledge to navigate any challenge, but found herself overwhelmed by the complexity of the healthcare and long-term care system when her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. That experience led her to write Preparing, Planning and Paying for Long-Term Care, drawing on her legal background to help other families navigate elder care planning, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, asset protection, and the difficult decisions that come with caring for an aging or ill loved one.
For more information, please visit: IreneRodway.com
William FX Madden, PhD
William F. X. Madden, PhD
William F. X. Madden, PhD, has spent more than 25 years helping food and beverage brands scale, guiding companies through co-manufacturer selection, formulation transfer, contract negotiation, and the operational realities of commercial production across refrigerated, frozen, and shelf-stable categories.
Madden holds a degree in business management from Georgia Tech and began his career with five years at Nestlé and five years at Little Lady Foods, followed by roles as Director of New Business Development at Hearthside Food Solutions and Key Account Manager at Fonterra. He went on to found Right Brain Consulting, which later merged with BJH Food Safety to form Whole Brain Consulting, where he now serves as co-founder. Whole Brain Consulting specializes in outsourced operations support for the consumer products industry, including supply chain management, contract manufacturing strategy, and food safety and regulatory compliance.
He is the author of Separating the Con Man from the Co Man: How to Source a Contract Food Manufacturer, now in its second edition, and co-author of The Role of External Manufacturing in Global and Domestic Product Commercializationwith Timothy R. Iverson.
For more information, visit Whole-Brain-Consulting.com.
Toriano Sanzone
Toriano Sanzone
Toriano Sanzone is the founder of Wolfkeeper University, a dog training practice he has run since 2002, with clients across the country. He specializes in rehabilitating dominant and aggressive dogs and has spent over two decades working hands-on with behavioral cases other trainers won’t take.
Early in his career, Sanzone served as a Master Trainer at Cesar Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita, California, where he worked directly under Millan to refine his approach to canine behavior and pack leadership.
He is the creator of Wolfkeeper DOGA, a discipline combining structured movement, breathwork, and physical conditioning for dogs, designed to address stress and anxiety alongside obedience training. He is the author of A Wolfkeeper’s Guide to Training a Dog, which lays out his training philosophy for both dog owners and aspiring professionals.
Sanzone holds a BA in Speech Communication and Marketing from Gustavus Adolphus College.
For more information, please visit: TorianoSanzone.com
Caroline Madden, PhD, LMFT
Caroline Madden, PhD, LMFT
Dr. Caroline Madden has spent over twenty years helping couples survive infidelity and rebuild what’s left after betrayal. She’s a Los Angeles based pro-marriage therapist, a Certified Gottman Therapist, and the creator of The Madden Method™, her own framework for guiding couples from devastation back to trust.
Her path here wasn’t a straight line. Before she became a therapist, Madden spent years in labor relations and human resources, negotiating contracts and defusing conflict in high-stakes rooms. That background still shapes how she works: she treats betrayal recovery less like talk therapy and more like a negotiation that two people have to walk through together.
Her clinical training goes deep. She works with LGBTQ+ couples and survivors of narcissistic and psychopathic abuse and trauma, blending traditional talk therapy with the Gottman Method, studied directly under Drs. John and Julie Gottman, integrative approaches from Dr. Tammy Nelson, and mindfulness practices from Dr. Ron Siegel.
A Cornell University graduate, Madden is the author of four books on infidelity and relationships, including Blindsided by His Betrayal, Fool Me Once: Should I Take Back My Cheating Husband?, and After a Good Man Cheats: How to Rebuild Trust & Intimacy with Your Wife. She is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, and Vermont, and is a clinical member of CAMFT, AAMFT, and the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles.
For more information, please visit: CarolineMadden.com.
Coach RL Williams
Coach R. LaShun Williams
R. LaShun Williams is a certified coach, trainer, and speaker, and Executive Director with the John Maxwell Team, where she facilitates leadership development, professional skills, and personal growth training for individuals and organizations.
She is the founder and CEO of Your Life Destiny, a coaching practice she has run since 1996, helping clients move from mediocre to successful and profitable through targeted coaching on resilience, leadership, and goal achievement. She also founded Williams Business Solutions in 2003, an HR consulting firm whose clients have included Kronos Incorporated, Metra Railroad, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Improvisations.
Williams holds a degree in Psychology from Gustavus Adolphus College and a professional coaching certification. Before moving into coaching and consulting full-time, she spent over a decade coaching competitive girls’ basketball, including four years as head coach of the varsity program at Beacon Academy — an experience that inspired her book, Throw Like a Girl.
She speaks regularly on resilience, profitability, and leadership, with talks including “The Power of Resilience,” “What’s Required to Be Profitable,” and “Leading from the Sidelines.”
For more information, visit YourLifeDestiny.com.