September 11th, 2001, Mikki Willis was in New York to meet with distributors regarding his debut feature film. He was among a group of civilians that rushed to the scene to aid in the search and rescue efforts under the rumble of the Wolrd Trade Center. After three days of digging for survivors, he returned to California with a new vision for his life and career. 

In 2005, Mikki Willis launched Elevate Film Festival, a global competition that challenged filmmakers to focus on the good news and solutions of the world. The one-of-kind show earned the title of "The World's Largest Single Screen Film Event." 

Proceeding a three year tour, the festival morphed into Elevate, a cause driven film production company and community. Elevate has created hundreds of breakthrough productions, including television series, documentaries, features films, music videos for multi-platinum artists, and viral videos that have accumulated more than 250 billion views.

Picture and Bio on file

Susan Stiffelman is a family therapist, crecentialed teacher, and the author of Parenting Without Power Struggles: Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids While Staying Cool, Calm and Connected. She is the weekly advice columnist (“Parent Coach”) for the Huffington Post and has been featured on the Today show, Parents magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, Gaiam, Eckhart Tolle newsletter, the Boston Globe, and numerous media outlets. Susan's work has been enthusiastically endorsed by Arianna Huffington, Marianne Williamson, Harville Hendrix, Jessica Seinfeld and many others from both mainstream and transformational fields. She is recognized as one of the few parenting “experts” incorporating practical parenting advice with insights gained from a lifetime of mediation and spiritual practice. Susan provides practical, user-friendly support to parents of toddlers through young adults, helping them be what she calls the Captain of the ship in their children's lives. She helps parents strengthen attachment, handle frustration and navigate the “storms” of childhood and adolescence without leaping over the side of the ship when the going gets rough! Susan is the mother of a twenty-two year old son who recently graduated from American University in the International Studies/ Peace and Conflict Resolution program.