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by Mary Tjotjos

SPEAKERS & PRESENTERS 


Bev Maloney-Fischback

Founder & CEO

Wellness Media Company 

Bev Maloney-Fischback is the Founder and CEO of Organic Spa Media, LTD, Wellness Travel University and Wellness Travel Advisors. A global citizen of the world, with childhood into adulthood experiences in Asia, Africa and Canada, Bev brings a unique perspective into the core message of wellness living. With over 35 years in the media industry, and tenure at The New Yorker, Vogue, Gourmet and National Geographic Traveler, Bev is a recognized expert marketer, and wellness lifestyle entrepreneur.


Rona Berg

Former Editorial Director

Organic Spa Media

Editorial Director of Organic Spa Media, Rona is the former Editorial Director of ELLE, Deputy Style Editor for the New York Times Magazine, Contributing Editor to SPA and SELF, Advisory Board member of SHAPE. An award-winning writer, she has been cited as an industry expert by USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New York Magazine and more.

Moderator: Trends in Wellness & Regenerative Travel

MODERATORS


Moderator: Clean Beauty & Self Care Rituals, Programs and Practices

Sandra Ballentine

Beauty & Wellness Editor at Large

W Magazine

Sandra Ballentine is the Beauty and Wellness Editor At Large at W Magazine in New York City, and has contributed to Vogue, Conde Nast Traveler and Departures, among other publications. Before joining W, she was the Beauty and Style Director for T: The New York Times Style Magazine. In addition to her work in media, she consults for luxury beauty and wellness brands and major tech platforms in the beauty space.


Moderator: New Wellness Journeys

Sallie Fraenkel

Founder

Mind Body Spirit Network

Sallie is the founder of Mind Body Spirit Network which provides marketing, brand and program development consulting services to the wellness, hospitality and spa industries. Formerly, Sallie was COO of Spafinder and EVP of the Global Wellness Summit where she oversaw significant expansion during her 10-year tenure. Sallie serves on the boards of the Transformational Travel Council, GSN Planet, NYSPA and more.


Moderator: CBD & Spa

Elana Frankel

Leading Authority, Speaker, Educator on CBD, Author

Women & Weed: How the Green Rush is Changing Our Lives

Elana Frankel has been working in the cannabis industry for the past seven years. She started Indigo and Haze; founded Women and Weed; serves as Chief Growth Officer for MedialCannabisMentor.com; produces documentaries; volunteers for the Oregon Cannabis Commission; consults regularly; teaches yoga and meditation with a focus on cannabis and served as VP, creative at One Kings Lane for over five years.


Moderator: Nutrition: Food, Mood and the Gut-Brain Connection

Jolene Hart

Health Coach, Author

Eat Pretty, Beauty is Wellness

Jolene Hart, CHC, is a health coach certified by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and founder of the pioneering coaching practice Beauty Is Wellness (jolenehart.com). She is the author of the bestselling Eat Pretty book series, helping readers support their beauty and health using nutrition and self-care, and the new Ignite Your Light,

a guide to your personal energy’s role in beauty, healing and joy.


Moderator: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Lambeth Hotchwald

Contributing Editor

Parade Magazine

Lambeth Hochwald is a New York City-based lifestyle reporter who covers health, fitness and issues of importance to women. She's also an avid runner who truly believes that it's never too cold to be outdoors working out in nature—provided you have the right eco-friendly workout clothes.


Moderator: Fitness Recovery & Tech Tools

Ebenezer Samuel

Fitness Editor

Men’s Health

In addition to writing about wellness and training trends, Ebenezer (CSCS, FRC and PPSC certified) spearheads Men’s Health’s “Strength in Diversity” program, designed to help trainers from marginalized communities strengthen their brands and jumpstart their fitness careers. He is also a personal trainer for clients from NFL players to working mothers, broadcast personalities to firefighters. His Mindful Muscle approach blends bodybuilding, speed training and calisthenics.


Moderator: Beauty Out of the Box

Nora Zelevansky

Writer

Luxury Magazine, LA Times, Vanity Fair

Nora Zelevansky is the author of novels Will You Won't You Want Me?, Semi-Charmed Life and her latest, Competitive Grieving. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, ELLE, Town & Country, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair and Organic Spa Magazine. Her website is norazelevansky.com

PANELISTS


Panelist: CBD & Spa

Rebecca Abraham, RN, BSN

President & Founder

Acute on Chronic

Rebecca is President/Founder of Acute on Chronic, the first cannabis nurse clinic in the Midwest. Before cannabis nursing, Rebecca was a board-certified Critical Care Nurse at academic medical centers and was awarded the Illinois Nurses Association "40 Under 40 Leaders in Nursing" Award. She has testified and lobbied for healthcare, patient safety and cannabis policies on municipal, state, and federal levels.


Panelist: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Patricia Bannan, MS, RDN

Author

From Burnout to Balance

Patricia is a nationally recognized registered dietitian, nutritionist, healthy-cooking expert and speaker. With a BS in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Delaware, she completed her training at the National Institutes of Health. She received a master's degree from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts and a professional chef certificate from The New School of Cooking in LA.


Panelist: Clean Beauty & Self Care Rituals, Programs and Practices

Valerie Beauregard

VP Marketing & Sales

Nature by Canus

A native of Canada, Valerie worked in banking before joining the family business. Over the past four years, her main focus has been to develop the US market. Valerie is passionate about packaging, environment initiatives and innovation. Her father, Andre Beauregard, founded the company over 20 years ago and in a few years she will take over his position as Owner & President.


Panelist: Beauty Out of the Box

Jessa Blades

Beauty Influencer, Natural Beauty & Wellness Expert

Blades Natural Beauty

Jessa Blades is a celebrity makeup artist, natural beauty authority, wellness expert, esthetician and herbalist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on helping people take better care of themselves through healthy beauty products, rituals, herbs, and food as medicine. She is deeply passionate about inspiring and developing a new culture of beauty. One that is empowering, holistic, gentle, connected to nature, fun and beautiful.


Panelist: Nutrition: Food, Mood and the Gut-Brain Connection and Fitness Recovery & Tech Tools

Doug Carlson

CEO

Good Idea

While launching Good Idea, a new functional sparkling water shown to boost metabolism and balance blood sugar, Doug has been chairman of the board for The Villas at Rancho Valencia and managing partner at Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa. In 2015, he became CEO of Tommy’s Superfoods, LLC. Previously, Doug was EVP and CMO of NOOK Media, LLC, and served as CEO and co-founder of the FIJI Water Companies.


Panelist: Trends in Wellness & Regenerative Travel

Özgür Cengiz

General Manager

Joali Being

Özgür is the General Manager of JOALI BEING, the first and only nature- immersive wellbeing island retreat in the Maldives. Along with a wealth of experience in luxury hospitality, he brings a lifelong passion for health and wellness. In his 20-year career, he has opened luxury hotels in iconic locations from Istanbul to Baku, and is the Global Wellness Day Ambassador for the Maldives. trainer for the Emmy-nominated show DB365, where she still appears regularly.


Panelist: Fitness Recovery & Tech Tools

Barry Cik

Founder & Technical Director

Naturepedic

Barry is Founder and Technical Director of Naturepedic, a manufacturer of award- winning certified organic and non-toxic mattresses. As a board-certified environmental engineer, Barry combines his passion for improving our quality of life with the technical knowledge to do so. He is an advocate for legislative reform, and testified in Washington, D.C. for a congressional subcommittee hearing exploring chemical reform.


Panelist: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Chip Conley

Founder

Modern Elder Academy

Chip joined the start-up Airbnb after a successful career as a boutique hotel company founder and CEO. As mentor to the young Airbnb CEO, he saw the value of intergenerational collaboration, which inspired his bestselling book, Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder and Modern Elder Academy (MEA) in Mexico. MEA will be opening two campuses in Santa Fe, New Mexico soon.


Panelist: Clean Beauty & Self Care Rituals, Programs and Practices

Janelle Hailey

VP Marketing & Innovation

Olika

Janelle is passionate about creating joy through wellness products that are effective, safe and sustainable. Before joining Olika, she worked for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, leading iconic brands such as Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, Aveeno and BabyCenter with category- disrupting innovation and rethink messages for both local and global markets. Before J&J, she led many industry firsts at MTV Networks.


Panelist: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Jennifer Holzworth

Corporate Director, Spa Operations

Montage International

Holding licenses as both a massage therapist and aesthetician, Jennifer’s passion for health and wellness began with a private practice that transitioned into hospitality and spa management in 2007. An active member of the advisory board with Marriott International, she assisted several West Coast properties while opening numerous spas across the country, before calling Maui home in 2016 when she joined Montage International.


Panelist: New Wellness Journeys

Isabelle Houde

Assistant Executive Director

Le Monastère des Augustines

Isabelle joined Le Monastère des Augustines in 2017, and she develops the wellness offerings, creates content and ensures the preservation of the brand in its holistic health mission. She is also very much involved in building and implementing the corporate culture of this non-profit organization whose commitment is rooted in the Augustinian Sisters’ mission to promote culture and wellness.


Panelist: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Mary Kate Keyes

Director of Nutrition & Wellness

MindFirst Health & Fitness

After earning a Master's Degree in Nutrition Communication at Tufts University, Mary Kate worked in weight management and corporate wellness, and is now Director of the Undergraduate Didactic Program in Dietetics at the University of Massachusetts. She is also an integral part of the MindFirst program and app, lending her expertise to development of all content and her voice to the daily MindTalks.


Panelist: CBD & Spa

Megan Klein

Environmental Lawyer & Plant Expert in CBD & Mushrooms

Field + Farmer

An environmental lawyer, Megan’s deep concerns about food production, fracking, factory farming and the environment led her to join Earthjustice after receiving her law degree. She then joined FarmedHere, the country’s one-time largest vertical farm, and founded the plant-based Field + Farmer. When the pandemic hit, she turned to thoughts of emotional healing, and Little Saints—mocktails featuring CBD, botanical terpenes, reishi mushrooms—was born.


Panelist: Clean Beauty & Self Care Rituals, Programs and Practices

Abbie Kozolchyk

Beauty Writer & Editor

OSM, NY Times, LA Times, etc.

Abbie Kozolchyk is a frequent Organic Spa contributor and an award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, among others. She is also the author of National Geographic’s The World’s Most Romantic Destinations: 50 Dreamy Getaways, Private Retreats, and Enchanting Places to Celebrate Love.


Panelist: Nutrition: Food, Mood and the Gut-Brain Connection

Nisha Melvani, MA

Dietician & Author (+influencer)

Cooking for Peanuts

Of Indian origin, born in Jamaica, and educated in England and Canada, Nisha Melvani has grown up with a myriad of cultures and ingredients around her. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute and a registered dietitian nutritionist, Nisha feels strongly that we can all eat healthier while still maintaining a budget. She runs the Cooking for Peanuts Instagram feed and lives in New York City with her three children.


Panelist: Fitness Recovery & Tech Tools

Nora Minno

Dietician & Trainer

Daily Burn

Nora is an award-winning registered dietitian and certified personal trainer. She started her career as a clinical dietitian and quickly transitioned into implementing corporate wellness strategies for Fortune 500 companies. Nora joined Daily Burn, an online streaming fitness platform, in 2014 as a nutrition coach and in 2016 became an on-air trainer for the Emmy-nominated show DB365, where she still appears regularly.


Panelist: Pause & Reset: Beating Back Burnout

Laura Montesanti

Founder

Synergy, The Retreat Show

Laura is the founder of Synergy – The Retreat Show, an international, 3-day, pioneering travel and wellness event bringing together retreat leaders, hoteliers, travel designers and more. With a career story that spans wellness, travel, retail, yachting and hospitality, Laura is applying her cross-industry experience to engage with, and stimulate the continual evolution of the industry.


Panelist: Beauty Out of the Box

Karim Orange

Emmy Nominated Makeup Artist & Clean Beauty Expert

That Girl Orange

Karim Orange, aka That Girl Orange, is a nationally known natural personal care products expert, and two-time Emmy Award nominee. She educates women to step out into the world fearlessly, in the power of their own unique beauty, without compromising ingredients.


Panelist: Nutrition: Food, Mood and the Gut-Brain Connection

Elin Ostman, PhD

Chief Scientist

Good Idea

Dr. Ostman is an expert on the preventive potential of food concerning metabolism and blood sugar management. Before Good Idea, she was an associate professor and senior lecturer in Applied Nutrition at the Food for Health Science Centre of Lund University in Sweden. A frequent speaker at international conferences in nutrition and food science, she is co-founder of four food innovation-related start-ups.


Panelist: Fitness Recovery & Sleep Health

Ashley Patten

Founder

Ashley Patten Pilates

From dancing to yoga and other movement practices, Ashley always returned to Pilates to supplement her training and heal injuries. She began to teach, and nearly 14 years later, her extensive experience in pre/postnatal injuries and anatomy and her knowledge of modern-day biomechanics and functional movement–along with a myriad of top certifications–gives her a uniquely intimate and perceptive teaching approach.


Panelist: New Wellness Journeys

Laura Powell

Wellness & Travel Writer

Daily Suitcase, WTU, etc.

Laura is a veteran wellness and travel journalist and consultant. She started her career at CNN, where she created the network's travel programming and covered the beat for five years. More recently, she served as luxury editor and wellness correspondent for Skift. In between, Laura has written for outlets including The Washington Post, CNN. com, USA Today, Good Housekeeping.


Panelist: New Wellness Journeys

Tom Puntel

Director of Sales and Marketing

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

Tom has worked with hotels for the last 35 years, leading teams in luxury destination resorts and spas. Building on the effect the moon and the sea has on body and

mind, Tom and the team have created wellness events at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal that incorporate local traditions of Mexican folk healing, as well as meditation-focused itineraries incorporating breath, sound and movement.


Panelist: CBD & Spa

Tahira Rehmatullah

Investor & Advisor / Founder & CEO

Commons

Tahira Rehmatullah is an adviser to numerous cannabis businesses and entrepreneurs, Partner at Highlands Venture Partners, board of directors member of the Last Prisoner Project and Founder/CEO of Commons. Tahira’s previous positions include Hypur Ventures, MTech Acquisition Corp., Marley Natural, Privateer Holdings, City First Enterprises, Perry Capital, and Ernst & Young. She earned her MBA from the Yale School of Management.


Panelist: Clean Beauty & Self Care Rituals, Programs and Practices

Naeemah Ruffin, DPM, MPH

Founder

Bellantz

Dr. Naeemah Ruffin is changing the faces of women and men with her unique Face Fitness program. Founder/CEO of Bellantz, she is Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She completed her surgical residency and chief residency training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a mini- fellowship in dermatopathology at Bako Diagnostics.


Panelist: Trends in Wellness & Regenerative Travel

Rayanna Schnarr

Positive Psychologist, Philanthropist, Yoga Teacher

Belize Tourism

Rayanna is a Belizean positive psychologist, philanthropist and yoga teacher. She earned a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at the University of East London, and uses psychology to inform her yoga teachings. She is the Executive Director of Rhythm of Change (RoC) Belize, a non-profit serving vulnerable populations around Belize including prisons, youth hostels, schools and orphanages.


Panelist: CBD & Spa

Rebecca Siegel

Psychiatrist & Author

The Brain on Cannabis

Dr. Rebecca Siegel is a clinical psychiatrist and author of the new book, The Brain on Cannabis: What You Should Know about Recreational and Medical Marijuana, a myth- busting guide on marijuana use and its effects on the brain. Siegel is a physician who specializes in anxiety, mood disorders, and ADHD with a focus on adolescents and young adult women.


Panelist: Trends in Wellness & Regenerative Travel

Daniel Spencer

Director of Spa at Agua Caliente Sunstone Spa & The Spa at Se’c-he

Visit Greater Palm Springs

Daniel joined Agua Caliente for the debut of Sunstone Spa at Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa. His years with Agua Caliente expanded to include his role as director of the Spa Resort Casino in downtown Palm Springs and led to further development of Sunstone Spa and The Spa at Sec-he. Under his leadership, Sunstone Spa has continuously received the prestigious Forbes Five-Star award.


Panelist: Beauty Out of the Box

Dana Stewart

Co-Founder

Mad Hippe

Dana Stewart and her husband, Sam, founded Mad Hippie 12 years ago while living abroad in Central America. It was there they were inspired by fellow dreamers, adventurers and explorers to provide safe, sun-centric skincare to heal and protect the skin from sun damage. Dana is a self-described skincare junkie and ingredient nerd. They currently live in Austin, Texas.


Panelist: Nutrition: Food, Mood and the Gut-Brain Connection

Karina Stewart

Founder & Chief Wellness Officer

Kamalaya Koh Samui

A renowned authority on holistic health and well-being, Karina is an acclaimed speaker, author and innovator, with 40+ years’ experience in Asian healing and spiritual traditions. She has a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in California, and training in Hellerwork and Cranial-Sacral Manipulation, yoga and Taoist philosophy. She has a B.A. from Princeton University in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on Asian religions, and has been awarded more than 35 industry awards on behalf of Kamalaya.


Panelist: Trends in Wellness & Regenerative Travel

Ruthanne Terrero

Vice President & Editorial Director

Questex Hospitality + Travel

Ruthanne Terrero is Vice President/Head of Content for Travel + Wellness at Questex, which includes Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent Central, American Spa and American Salon. She is the founding editor of Luxury Travel Advisor magazine, which is in its 17th year.


Panelist: New Wellness Journeys

Rebecca Tobin

Managing Editor

Travel Weekly

Rebecca Tobin oversees newsroom and editorial production for Travel Weekly. She runs the editorial portion of Travel Weekly's social media and is the host of the weekly Folo by Travel Weekly podcast. She also has written and edited articles about wellness- and spa-related travel; she previously covered the cruise industry and was a reporter at newspapers in New Jersey and Maryland.


Panelist: Beauty Out of the Box

Franca Zanovello

Founder

Zanovello Consultants

Franca Zanovello is the founder of Zanovello Consultants, a business consulting, retail strategy and brand management company hyper-specialized in clean beauty and wellness. For over 20 years, Franca has been growing sales and wholesale expansion across all major trade channels on the diverse U.S. market for both startups as well as emerging to global clean and conscious brands.