Community & Guest List
Melissa Gruhin is the Founder of Two Halves, a custom-tailored strategic marketing agency for both brands and freelancers. Melissa has a decade of experience in branded, scripted, stand-up entertainment and digital media marketing. Her past roles have been at Buzzfeed, FOX, and Netflix, among others. After almost three years as a Brand + Content Strategy Consultant, Melissa experienced firsthand just how difficult it can be on your own in the world of freelancing and sought out every community and collective she could to support her on her journey to success as a solopreneur. Honing her skills in strategic storytelling and combining her mission of creating space where both clients and freelancers feel seen, heard, and most importantly, supported, Two Halves was born.
Michael Wang is a United States Veteran turned registered nurse/nurse practitioner. He has vast clinical experience in cardiothoracic surgery and direct patient care at the bedside. In addition, he holds numerous patents on innovate technologies in both the healthcare and hospitality industry and has founded numerous successful companies. While obtaining a degree in nursing at Columbia, he met fellow nurse Paul Coyne, and together, they invented iN, the world's first cognitive patient care assistant. Mike now serves as CEO & Founder of Inspiren, an award winning healthcare technology company.
but escapes often –with 60+ countries under her belt and counting."
I grew up in a small village outside the capital of India, where we had no running water, or electricity and didn't even have toilets - that's a story for another day but this was the beginning of my life. I moved to the US at age 12 and after college, I took up a job in the sciences that would make my parents happy. After some years of collecting courage, I quit my corporate job to pursue my passion - of which I had no idea! So I went out to find it and through many jobs and businesses I did. That's when GLYD was conceived.
Molly Schoneveld is the founder of The Storied Group, a boutique PR firm based in Los Angeles. Over the course of her career, she has worked with A list talent, interior designers and hospitality clients like the world renowned wellness resort Golden Door.
Mari Millard is currently the owner of Two Maids & A Mop a residential cleaning company servicing Northern Va., Montgomery County and DC. Before business ownership, Mari was involved with numerous start-up companies within the data and research space. Currently, she lives in Arlington, Va with her spouse, two children and two dogs.
and is a bestselling author herself. She speaks professionally about inspiring others through words and entrepreneurship and was named the “Voice of Generation Z” by Community Magazine."
Michael S. Fenster, MD, better known as Chef Dr. Mike, is one of a handful of physicians worldwide to hold both culinary and medical degrees and is the only Interventional Cardiologist and Professional Chef to do so. He is also the only cardiologist with joint academic appointments in both the Medical and Culinary Arts. He is a board certified Interventional Cardiologist, Professional Chef, and Professor of Culinary Medicine at The University of Montana where he teaches the same.
Michelle Nipko is the Chief Marketing Officer for the Austin Theatre Alliance (ATA), the organization the runs the Paramount and Stateside Theatres in Austin, Texas. She brings over 20 years of experience to this role leveraging her deep knowledge in the science of marketing analytics. In her previous roles she has served as a Senior Economist for American Express, a Product Manager for Financial Optimization Solutions for SAP, and a Vice President for Marketing Analytics at Bank of America. In addition to this varied industry experience, Michelle is also an entrepreneur at heart. Shortly after moving to Austin, she leveraged her expertise in social media and digital marketing optimization to form a company focused on lead generation in real estate. Most recently, she founded the podcast she hosts: ‘That One Big Decision’.
Michael S. Seaver is an award-winning executive coach, author, keynote speaker, and podcast host. He’s on a mission to unlock human potential to help people uncover and live their purpose, and live a more meaningful and authentic life. Michael offers no-nonsense strategies to help people find confidence in their life’s narrative, commonalities across generations working today, and ways to communicate with emotional intelligence.
