In The Mood For California

Stephen McGhee’s experience includes a career in financial services, advanced degrees in consciousness, health and healing, and more than thirty years advising leaders on personal, professional and planetary change. Stephen has done just about everything one can in the leadership space—keynote speaking, strategic planning, running board meetings, creating culture change and more. He is an entrepre...

Linda Santiman is a fiber artist, as well as a licensed Marriage and Family therapist who has lived in Los Angeles for almost 25 years and calls it home. Linda works with felt and embroidery and specializes in mid-century modern miniature house sculptures that make up the Linda Felt Village. She has had her work shown in galleries in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. She is currently working on sculpt...

Heather Eastwood and Ruslan Abaev are recent Altadena residents and first-time homebuyers. They both grew up in Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley—Heather as an LA native with childhood roots in Hawaii, and Ruslan as an immigrant from post-Soviet Russia. Having lived in LA for the past 32 years, Ruslan now considers it home. Both work in STEM—Heather as a scientist and Ruslan in IT (Informati...

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Martin Turnbull has always been drawn to history, storytelling, and the golden age of Hollywood. After moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, he worked as a private tour guide, sharing the city’s storied past, and deepened his expertise through historical guiding with the Los Angeles Conservancy and time on the Warner Bros. movie lot. Inspired by his love for...

Robert DeLaurentis, the “Zen Pilot,” is an aviation speaker, author, and pilot with over 2,400 flight hours. He holds multiple flight ratings, a Commercial Pilot Certificate, and has flown to 53 countries across all seven continents, including solo crossings of the North and South Poles. A seasoned real estate investor, Robert built a portfolio of 300+ San Diego rental units over 28 years, startin...

Diana von Welanetz Wentworth’s life is woven with threads of love, curiosity, and a relentless pursuit of connecting people. Born in Beverly Hills, she became a New York Times bestselling author, television personality, and influential community leader, guided by passion, perseverance and an unwavering belief in the power of community and joy. The author of ten award-winning books, including Send...

Frank Roller is the visionary Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Placesofhealing.com, an innovative online resource dedicated to transformative travel and wellness. His platform serves as a gateway for travelers and wellness seekers to discover unique destinations centered around holistic healing practices, connecting them with practitioners, wellness experts, and their inspiring stories. Driven by hi...

Alexey Steele is an award-winning visual artist with a background of the Russian representational school. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, he began art training at an early age in the studio of his father Leonid Steele, a renowned Soviet Union artist. Alexey attended the prestigious Surikov Art Institute of the Soviet Academy of Arts in Moscow. He moved to Los Angeles in 1990. Mr. Steele is best known for h...

John Mullican is a Los Angeles native, born and raised in Santa Monica Canyon, a graduate of Emerson College, Boston, and for the past 30 years has worked as a true Los Angeles hyphenate as a WGA writer, an actor, an agency Art Director, and a studio advertising Creative Director for the Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, Viacom and Paramount Pictures. His feature film documentary about his ar...

Ramin Mortazavi has worked in film and television for nearly three decades. The son of a media mogul who founded the Sepas Film Awards in Iran, Ramin was destined for a career in entertainment. After earning a B.A. in Broadcasting from Arizona State University in 1997, he interned on shows like Entertainment Tonight and The Leeza Gibbons Show and worked on the film Freeway. This led to producing c...

Elise Mallove’s connection to natural and plant-based healing began in early childhood, despite it being neither accepted nor practiced in her family. She was drawn to flowers, often picking them, hugging them in the privacy of her room, and even eating them. In her early twenties, Elise moved to Los Angeles and soon found a small shop specializing in natural skin and body care. Stepping into that...

Leslie Stevens, of Scots-Irish and Norwegian descent, grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her mother, an English teacher passionate about women’s rights, and her father, a left- handed baseball pitcher and businessman, instilled in her a love for learning and tenacity. An athlete from an early age, Leslie competed in Junior Olympic gymnastics until age 11, when her family moved and she shifted her focus t...

Meet Kateryna Mykytiuk, a creative force who started her journey at 12 with her first published article. By 15, she released a poetry collection and by 16, was working in television, becoming the youngest journalist to interview Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports. Her career highlights include managing PR for Eurovision winner Jamala, creating projects for Edinstvennaya magazine’s charity foun...

Today, we’ll experience Los Angeles featuring an interview with incredible Ryan Dusick! Ryan Dusick is a registered therapist, coach, speaker, founding drummer of Maroon 5, author of the book “Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery,” and host of The Harder to Breathe Podcast. His life has been a winding road from aspiring pop star with anxiety, to heart...

Today, we’ll experience Vroman’s Bookstore featuring an interview with indomitable Joel Sheldon! Joel Vroman Sheldon III is the owner and president of Vroman’s Bookstore, one of California’s largest and oldest independent bookstores, located in Pasadena. A graduate of Occidental College with a degree in psychology, Joel was a standout football player, earning Small College All-American honors. Joe...

Today, we’ll experience Simi Valley followed by an interview with remarkable and inspiring Steve Strope! Steve Strope’s journey to owning Pure Vision Design, a renowned hot rod and muscle car fabrication shop in Simi Valley, California, is a story of passion, perseverance, and creativity. Raised in Apalachin, New York, Strope’s path to success had many twists and turns, including playing in his ba...

Today, we’ll experience Nat King Cole’s life in Los Angeles featuring by an interview with incredibly talented Eddie Wakes! From Walt Disney Theatrical to “La La Land”, Eddie has turned heads when he sings. Eddie’s life as a singer is the stuff movies are made of: from performing at the Super Bowl as a youngster, to being discovered years later singing on the street in Los Angeles by Hollywood A-l...

Today, we’ll experience Villa Aurora featuring by an interview with amazing Mary Mallory! Mary Mallory is an author, lecturer, and historian who focuses on early film and Los Angeles history. She is the author of four books, blogger for the LA Daily MIrror, and has written for such publications as American History magazine, Toluca Lake magazine, Discover Hollywood, Noir City magazine, Women Film P...

Today, we’ll get a glimpse of the captivating history of the people who have shaped Los Angeles, followed by an interview with wonderful Susan Pomeranz! Through 40 years of being a marriage and family therapist, Susan knows there are no cookie-cutter therapies that can be applied overall to human beings. She draws from a vast array of skills and has been trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, th...

Today we’ll feel and experience the history of live theatre in Los Angeles featuring an interview with incredible Christian Telesmar! Christian Telesmar is an educator, entrepreneur and actor on stage and screen, best known for his work in NCIS: LA, the Young and the Restless, and Animal Kingdom on TNT. In theatre, his work has included On the Other Hand, We're Happy by Daf James at Rogue Machine...

Today we’ll feel and experience Los Angeles in the 60s, 70s and 80s featuring an interview with legendary Prince Stash! Stanislas Klossowski de Rola is an Author, Entrepreneur, Actor, Singer, and Music Producer. He performed and worked with various bands including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Vince Taylor & The Playboys, during the Swinging Sixties in London, Rome, Paris, and Los Angeles. Made...

Today we’ll feel and experience Oakland featuring an interview with remarkable Fanny Ara! Fanny Ara is an internationally-sought after and award-winning choreographer, performer and instructor. Her most dedicated worldwide fans especially credit her as one of the driving forces of flamenco today; an artist excelling in the full spectrum of flamenco, from the most traditional to the avant-garde. Fa...

Today we’ll feel and experience Sierra Madre featuring an interview with wonderful John Capoccia! John Capoccia served on the Sierra Madre City Council for two terms, 2012 to 2020, twice as Mayor. John retired in 2011 from AT&T, where he held engineering, managerial and leadership positions over a 27-year career. John is an avid tennis player and all-round outdoors enthusiast. He and his wife Mart...

Today we’ll feel and experience Franklin Hills featuring an interview with wonderful Charles Papert! Charles Papert is a director and cinematographer, with credits including classic movies such as “American History X” and “Office Space” and episodic series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, “Scrubs” and “Key & Peele”. He was also one of the creators of the 48-hour filmmaking festival concept. He enjoys explor...

Today we’ll feel and experience Canyon Country featuring an interview with amazing Catina DeLuna! Catina DeLuna has been enjoying a successful and varied musical career since beginning to play the piano and sing at a young age. After completing a B.A. in Brazilian Popular Music at the prestigious UNICAMP University in São Paulo, Brazil, she founded two award winning groups: the vocal group Arirê...