Meet Jeff Yaun. The general manager for TradeHome Shoes - Appleton
When Jeff is not providing THE BEST customer service or making people laugh, he is spending time with his family & friends. Jeff has been with TradeHome for over 23 years, and would love to meet each and everyone of our customers. Come stop by and meet everyone’s favorite shoe salesmen, and our favorite general manager. 

A native Californian, Joel Christopher Payne’s story starts with a life changing moment at the age four that would change the course of his life forever. Joel tells us, “My earliest memory that inspired my career came when I was riding on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and I looked up to my mom and said, Look Mom! Look how real the robots are!! At which point my mother without hesitation replied , – son, those are the waiters at the Blue Bayou… You’d think I was destroyed… but it was in that moment that I realized just how amazing Walt Disney really was. I couldn’t tell difference between the fantasy and the real thing and I knew that I wanted to learn how to harness this kind of unique magic!”  

Disneyland and Disney feature animation would ignited a lifelong passion in Joel that would lead him to inspire others through his own style of breakthrough art.
While Payne didn’t have any formal artistic training, at age 20, he would embark on a 22 year career that would be forge through the fires of on-the-job experience. “When I started doing digital art, computers could only handle 16 colors!” His passion would bring him to design elaborate worlds for 3D TV shows, Triple “A” video games, and multiple virtual reality rides. Industry training required perseverance in acquiring the skills and discipline that would prove to serve him well in future endeavors on his path to artistic
freedom.

In 1993, Joel’s big break would come from a company called ‘New World Computing’ a game company known for the popular “Might and Magic” Series.

His talents were manifested in the service of building the worlds for six videos games over the next several years. His very first game project “Heroes of Might and Magic” became critically acclaimed and is currently on it’s 7th sequel.

In 1995 Joel would become one of the youngest video game directors pioneering techniques is Digital Set creation three years before Robert Stromberg would coin the phrase “Digital Backlot.”

In 1996, Joel finally got his chance to work with Disney on “Disney’s Virtual Jungle Cruise” ride still in operation in Florida’s Disneyquest.

Responsible for creating the rides river rafting track and 3D backgrounds, Payne learned from Disney Imagineers about the power of storytelling, color and lighting techniques that he still uses in his paintings today.

From 1996 to present day, Joel would go on to build 3D worlds for Steven Spielberg’s “Sky Pirates”, Art Directing Disney’s Atlantis the video game, Mortal Kombat:Shaolin Monks, Max Steel and Star Ship Troopers:Roughnecks, Silent Hill:Homecoming and Baldur’s Gate:Dark Alliance. He would also score film music for world renown Stan Winston.
In 2008 Joel would head up Universal Studios very first virtual version of their world famous Backlot facades creating digital doubles of the famous “Back to the future courtyard” and in 2009 Joel’s company Digital Backlot would design 75 original 3D characters for the project Growums.

Featured on the show “The View” Joel not only animated the growums characters, but like Walt, voiced several of the lead characters to the tune of more than 100 cartoons.

In 2011 Payne began in earnest his dreams of pursuing a fine art career. With inspiration and influence from his Disney and entertainment pedigree. Joel Payne has a new found energy and dedication for his inventive new form of mixed media artwork dubbed “Believable Fantasy” a hybrid of 3D modeling and traditional oil painting techniques. His original painting technique creates a level of depth, color, lighting and detail that has collectors asking how it was achieved.

Taking cues from artists like Norman Rockwell and Thomas Kinkade, Joel blurs the line between the real and fantastic.

When asked about his latest works Joel said, ‘Every painting that I do, I want to have the word “WOW” be the thing the viewer expresses most because this is what I felt about Disneyland as a little boy. I want folks to walk by my artwork and fall into it, live in it and escape for a while. I think this is why I began creating this type of magic in the first place, to make the illusion as believable.

“When the two hemispheres of the brain work together to create new music with roots in the distant past.”

Waagal is a one-man band by multi-instrumentalist Erwann Texier-Harth. Guitar, didgeridoo, handpans, kashaka, synthesizer and other instruments are played simultaneously to create a solo performance in which the musician pushes his limits. Inspired by the music and cultures of the world, Waagal combines ancient sounds with innovative rhythms.

It is my honor to serve as Golden State Republican Women President.  This year promises to be transformative to Republican women in California and we are excited to start the groundwork!

These last two years have seen unexpected changes in California and in our country which have led to a decline in our culture and traditional way of life.  We are now committed to blunt the attacks on our republic and to restore in our state the values of faith, family and freedom we have long cherished.

In contrast to the current progressive culture which continues to divide Americans, creating  a growing sense of malaise and discontent, GSRW offers hope for a brighter tomorrow… and that tomorrow begins today!

There has never been a time when our message has been more needed nor more welcomed!  California is looking for strong leadership and direction that will guide us back to the personal freedoms and opportunities that once made our state golden.

As divided as Californians appear to be, there is much more that unites us.  Our citizens want secure borders, quality education, safe streets, a return to law and order, free and fair elections, respect for our military, police and first responders, and the freedom to practice our faith openly without fear. Republicans highly value the dignity of the individual and of all human life.

Our basic tenets bind us together and have weathered the test of time throughout our country’s history.  Yet as world history goes, we are still a young nation.  We have relied on our Constitution and foundational documents which have kept us strong and free for over two centuries.

There are those whose primary aim, however, is to destroy our government, our laws and our very way of life.  Our inaction makes them bolder and more dangerous than ever! That is why there is no greater urgency than at this time to unite with one goal and one voice.  We must motivate, educate and activate.

We in Golden State Republican Women welcome women of all ages, all ethnicities, and all stripes of Republican values and we ask you to join us in this fight.  Unity is our strength and together we must and we WILL win!!  A win for California is a win for the United States of America.

More About Golden State Republican Women

In 2023 a group of 47 politically active Republican women in California saw the need for a new statewide Republican women’s group in the state.  Our group wanted to participate in politics by pulling together thousands of women in the state of California who share our same values, are interested in and excited by conservative politics, have a positive mental attitude, and the ability to be kind to one another.

At this pivotal time in California history it is vitally important that all Republican women have a voice and a platform to work with the California Republican Party to effect critical changes that will restore our state to its values of faith, family and freedom.

On August 2nd and 3rd, after many planning meetings on Zoom, and after naming our organization the Golden State Republican Women, we met in person to gel together our desire to found a strong Republican women’s statewide organization.  Lead by President Janet Price, 1st VP Gretchen Cox, and other hard-working women, the Golden State Republican Women pored over ideas, wrote a set of Bylaws, voted on a logo, and met in sub-committees to discuss and plan the foundations of our alliance.

Golden State Republican Women (GSRW) applied for a charter at the California GOP, and was accepted to apply.  There was a floor vote on October 1, 2023 at the CAGOP Convention in Anaheim and GSRW obtained our charter on that date!

We further plan to:

Bring dozens of independent Republican women’s clubs together as a unifying organization and support our wonderful, hard-working Republican officials and candidates in California.
GSRW will provide the opportunity to engage with, support, and influence Republican legislators, representatives, political experts and other local, state, and national leaders.
GSRW will conduct leadership training events.
GSRW will continue to provide regular legislative updates on bills, vital statewide information, a quarterly newsletter, and an informative website.
And Golden State Republican Women will work hard to attract young, Republican women,  as well as women of all ages and ethnicities in California to our organization.

The 18 Founding Clubs of Golden State Republican Women and Their Regional Locations

REGION 2 – Thank you to Regional Director Tabitha Gomez
Chico Evening Republican Women 
Sacramento Republican Women

REGION 4 – Thank you to Regional Director Barbara Hallmeyer
Clovis Fresno Republican Women
Kings County Republican Women
Merced County Republican Women

REGION 5 – Thank you to Regional Director and 3rd VP Nancy Wofford
Conejo Valley Republican Women 
Westlake Village Republican Women
Simi Valley / Moorpark Republican Women
Thousand Oaks Republican Women

REGION 6 – Thank you to Regional Director and Parliamentarian Pro Tem Valerie Evans
East San Gabriel Valley Republican Women
Valley Unity Republican Women

REGION 7 –  Thank you to Regional Directors Val Emick and Gale Hunt
San Bernardino Republican Women
San Gorgonio Pass Republican Women

REGION 8
Capistrano Valley Republican Women
Fullerton Republican Women
La Habra Republican Women

We wish to thank each of these Founding Clubs, because they have been the “wind beneath our wings”.  These ladies have been the most supportive, active, willing to help, and exceedingly kind “Republican Women” as can be possible!  Thank you so much!

We also wish to thank our Planning Committee members, without whom we would not have been able to take up such a monumental task.  Thank you, Ladies!  We’re going to bring conservative values back into state leadership in California!  Now let’s go get ’em!  

Patrick Erlandson was born and grew up in Los Angeles the 2nd of 7 children. He has been married to his wife Machiko since 1982 and has 2 adult daughters. He has travelled to Cambodia, Paraguay, Zambia, Israel, Korea, Thailand as well as Canada and Mexico in various capacities of service.

In 2010 while working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Los Angeles, USAforUNHCR, Patrick first learned of human trafficking in organs from field agents working in Africa. In 2012 he began leading the prevention subcommittee of the Long Beach Human Trafficking Task Force. He is a speaker, and activist, and organized a number of events such as two Youth Exploitation Safety Symposiums for the city of Long Beach. He founded Father-Con which has held 4 conferences. In 2018 he founded the See It End It Film & Arts Festival and in 2020 added a Global Platform for international online participation. He led a demonstration against human trafficking every month for over 4 years in Long Beach as Men Standing Against Trafficking, MSAT.  Focusing on prevention, he has presented multiple workshops on the link between human trafficking and pornography and concentrates on the two areas of vulnerability and entitlement that contribute to both the supply and demand sides of human exploitation. He is a board member of Artists 4 Change and works in partnership with the YWCA which came aboard as the financial non-profit partner of See it. End it. Film & Arts Festival and Father-Con.  In 2023 he was asked to present at both the plenary session and side event at the 32nd Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna, Austria.  He highlighted the urgent need to invest in fathers and to recognize that present fathers prevent greater poverty, criminal behavior and deterioration of education.