Brandonn Mixon

Co-Founder and Director of Facilities of the Veterans Community Project.

Brandonn Mixon spent four years in the United States Army as a Helicopter Crew Chief and Mechanic with the 82nd Airborne Division. During his time with the 82nd he deployed to Afghanistan in September of 2011 and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom. During these deployments Brandonn’s unit provided assault support and casualty evacuation.

Brandonn was medically retired from the Army in 2013. He moved back home to Lee's Summit, Missouri and started a business that assisted Veterans in receiving low-cost/free heating and cooling services. Brandonn worked as the CEO of Airborne Mechanical until leaving the business to co-found Veterans Community Project.

The Veterans Community Project (VCP) is on a mission to eliminate veteran homelessness by providing transitional-housing and enabling access to exceptional 360-degree service solutions. Focusing first in the Greater-Kansas City area, VCP aspires to use Kansas City as the blueprint for achieving similar successes in cities across the United States. VCP has a long-term goal of eliminating Veteran homelessness nationwide.

VCP is a 501(c)(3) Missouri nonprofit corporation founded by Kansas City Veterans who were frustrated by rampant homelessness throughout the Veteran community. VCP is team of connectors, feelers and doers on a mission to help our kin, our kind. We move with swift, bold action, always motivated to serve with compassion.

Veterans Community Project

8900 Troost Ave.
Kansas City, MO. 64131
(816) 599-6503

C I N D Y  B L A C K M A N  S A N T A N A

VIRTUOSO DRUMMER 

WIFE OF LEGENDARY GUITARIST

CARLOS SANTANA

CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock. As a bandleader and as a musician, Cindy is a sound innovator with a passion for pushing creative boundaries and exploring movement and change. She is as known for the nuances and colors she brings to her beats and fills as she is for the sheer power of her soulful playing. 

SANTANA has been creating magnificent musical time and space since the beginning of her career as a busking street performer in New York City in the '80s through the present day, touring the globe and making albums at the top of her game—including the critically acclaimed Another Lifetime (2010). In addition to collaborating onstage and in-studio with her own group—also known asAnother Lifetime—she has toured and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Laswell, Joss Stone, Joe Henderson, Al B. Sure, Buckethead, Don Pullen, Hugh Masakela, Buster Williams, and Angela Bofill. Cindy was part of the Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute Band called Spectrum Road with Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid, and John Medeski. From 1992 to 2007 and again in 2014 & 2015 she was the drummer in Lenny Kravitz's band, performing through multiple world tours and hit albums. In 2010, she was part of the all-star line-up performing “Bitches Brew,” a tribute to Miles Davis' seminal album staged at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and NYC Winter JazzFest. 

More recently, Cindy has become the regular touring drummer for Santana. Having met several years earlier at a festival in Europe while she was touring with Kravitz, Cindy first played with Santana in spring 2010, when drummer Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. “They have a great band vibe. It's nice to play with people who have grown together, built a sound together, and stayed together,” she says. “When that happens, you can create so many different levels of communication. That's what they've done, and I love reacting with it and being a part of it.”

Electricity onstage generated chemistry offstage— Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana proposed to Cindy during a July 2010 concert, and they married in December. Looking ahead, they will collaborate artistically as well, on projects that will no doubt reflect their shared passion for improvisation, and belief in the transcendent nature of music. Cindy was an integral part of the new Santana/Isley Brothers release Power of Peace, featuring the song “I Remember,” which she wrote and sings. “To me,” she says, “music is completely spiritual, it's the way you connect with your higher self, with the universe. It's also a way to share light with millions of people. They don’t need to speak your language, have your beliefs, or be in the same place you are. The music speaks, it channels good energy, and makes a difference in people's lives. Carlos and I are both conscious of doing that.”

In 2016, Cindy connected with her fellow drummer and world-class producer NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN, and together the two have been working on new material ever since. CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA continues to build a body of work and artistic legacy that make her one of the finest drummers and recording artists of this or any generation.

The past few months have been a blur for CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA, who is currently touring and performing with her husband Carlos Santana, is featured as a vocalist, drummer, and songwriter on “Power of Peace,” the new Santana/Isley Brothers collaboration, and has been busy touring with her own band and recording tracks in the studio with the legendary producer NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN. Together through Walden's Tarpan Records label recently released the new single “FUN, PARTY, SPLASH” featuring Carlos Santana on all digital platforms. 

You can purchase the “FUN, PARTY, SPLASH” single on amazon.com and iTunes

Laura Rubinstein is a Certified Hypnotherapist, Master Leadership Coach, Bestselling Author, and award winning Social Media and Marketing Strategist. She is the creator the Savvy Social Media Success course, and founder of Social Buzz Club. During the past 20+ years, Laura has optimized brand marketing strategies for over 1,000 businesses.

She is the author of the bestselling book Social Media Myths Busted, Transform Your Body in the Mental Gym and the Feminine Power Cards (endorsed by John Gray, PhD of Mars Venus). These wisdom cards offer practical tools that allow people to make profound shifts in their relationships and professional life. Laura’s writings are featured in a variety of publications including the Amazon bestselling books Women Living Consciously and Journey to Joy, as well as on genConnect.com, YourTango.com and her popular https://www.transformtoday.com/ blog.

Greg Lovett is a professional media executive with over 30 years experience in production and management.

He began his career in the U.S. as a Director of the Houston Astros and Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) live television broadcasts.  After relocating to Holland he set up his own television production company and produced for both Dutch and international broadcasters.

Later, he was a founding member of Europe’s first Pay Per View platform, spearheaded the launch of Holland’s first broadband Internet service, and managed a start-up that specialized in interactive television and personalized programming.

He most recently produced and directed the award-winning documentary “Delay, Deny, Hope You Die” which tells the story of American soldiers poisoned by open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The film is being released in October 2017.

Andrea is the founder and CEO of YourTango, the leading media company dedicated to love and relationships. YourTango’s mission is to help women love better and connect more meaningfully, engendering greater happiness, more confidence, and a deeper sense of belonging within the community we serve. YourTango has built a powerful platform where a community of readers, writers, brands, thought leaders, and the world’s leading relationship and mental health experts connect and engage where it matters most: the heart.

Andrea is making her debut as an author through her first book, Radical Acceptance, The Secret to Happy, Lasting Love, was published in May, 2017 by the Atria Division of Simon & Schuster.

Andrea has been featured frequently in the media, including multiple appearances on The Today Show, The Early Show, Better TV, CNN, E!, Fox News, ABC, and radio stations across the U.S., as well as in national publications such as USA Today, The Huffington Post, The New York Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Business Week. Andrea is a frequent panelist and guest speaker on industry panels including Internet Week and SXSW, as well as for classes and events at Harvard University, Columbia University, Fordham University, The Wharton School and NYU Stern School of Business.

A graduate of Tulane University (B.S. Mechanical Engineering), Andrea earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where she was the managing editor of The Bottom Line, the school’s student newspaper. Prior to launching YourTango, Andrea achieved a rewarding career in finance and consulting, including positions with Goldman Sachs, ICF Consulting and Enron’s international finance team—which gave her the opportunity to live in Mumbai, India, for three years.

Andrea serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York Theatre Workshop. She has been awarded a black belt in Shotokan karate by the Japan Karate Association (JKA) and is a licensed private pilot. Andrea and her husband live with their two little boys in New York City.

Alexia Mae is a Vegan advocate, nutrition specialist, and animal rights activist.

Barbara Lima is a multi-disciplinary artist from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, who has danced and taught professionally for the past fourteen years. Barbara has studied various movement mediums and uses dance to give form to sound waves and images.   ​

Both Barbara and Jocelyn believe that there are healing messages and potent grids for transformation, which can be activated through the tool of authentic embodiment. Their work with movement seeks to nurture and ground the innate energetic intelligence in every human. 

Jocelyn Edelstein has been studying the Mayan calendar for the past twenty years and gives Mayan readings in Portland. She is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose mediums include dance, writing and filmmaking. She teaches dances classes for adults and children at Polaris Contemporary Dance Center.

George Antone, the author of 3 best-selling books on investing and finance, is an award-winning educator, investor, and an entrepreneur. He is also the creator of the world’s largest network of private money lenders. George’s approach and methods have made him a popular keynote speaker around the country.

Travel as a Way of Life

Stefan and Sebastien are a gay couple travelling the world. Nomadic Boys is their blog and one of the biggest names in the gay travel world, with over 75k monthly visitors to our blog and a further 200k followers on our social media. We have been together for over 8 years and recently got engaged in Colombia, where we have been based for the past few months. Stefan used to be a lawyer and Sebastien an IT consultant for the finance industry. We left our lives and jobs in London in 2014 for a big 2 years trip around Asia and have been travelling in Latin America over the past year.

Professor Neta C. Crawford of Boston University is the author of Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America's Post-9/11 Wars (Oxford University Press, 2013). Crawford is also the author of two books, Soviet Military Aircraft (1987) and Argument and Change in World Politics (2002), named Best Book in International History and Politics by the American Political Science Association. She has written more than two dozen peer reviewed articles on issues of war and peace. Crawford has served on the governing Board of the Academic Council of the United Nations System, and on the Governing Council of the American Political Science Association. She is also a Co-Director of the Costs of War Project of Brown University.

Areas of Interest: International relations theory, normative theory, foreign policy decision making, sanctions, peace movements, discourse ethics, post-conflict peacebuilding, research design, utopian science fiction, and emotion.

Professor Catherine Lutz is the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. She is also a co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University. She recently received a Guggenheim Foundation grant to write a book on how Americans across diverse communities understand war and its consequences. Lutz is the author of numerous books on the US military and its bases and personnel, including Breaking Ranks (with M. Gutmann, 2010), The Bases of Empire (ed., 2009), and Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century (2001), and a co-founder of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists.  She has also conducted research on UN peacekeeping in Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, and Lebanon. Lutz is past president of the American Ethnological Society, the largest organization of cultural anthropologists in the US.

Ric Burns is an internationally recognized documentary filmmaker and writer, best known for his eight-part, seventeen and a half hour series, New York: A Documentary Film, which premiered nationally on PBS to wide public and critical acclaim when broadcast in November 1999, September 2001, and September 2003.

Burns has been writing, directing and producing historical documentaries for over 25 years, since his collaboration on the PBS series The Civil War, (1990), which he produced with his brother Ken and co-wrote with Geoffrey C. Ward.  Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed some of the most distinguished programs for PBS including Coney Island (1991), The Donner Party (1992), The Way West (1995), Ansel Adams (2002), Eugene O’Neill, Andy Warhol (2006), We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision (2009), Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (2010), and Death and the Civil War (2012), a film based on the best-selling book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by historian and Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust.

His work has won numerous film and television awards including six Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards,  two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards,  three Writer’s Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing;  the Eric Barnouw Award of the Organization of American Historians, and the D.W. Griffith Award of the National Board of Review.

2015 saw the release of three more films by Burns.  American Ballet Theatre: a history, which aired on PBS as a part of the American Masters series, celebrates the rich history and legacy of America’s national ballet company. Debt of Honor: Disabled Veterans in American History, a moving tribute to the history of disabled veterans, aired nationally on PBS in November in honor of Veteran’s Day.  And The Pilgrims broadcast as part of the acclaimed American Experience series, also in November of 2015.  The film brings to life the story of the men and women of the Mayflower: both the ardently evangelical English Protestants who led the mission, as well as the less fervently evangelical “Strangers” who went with them.

Burns was educated at Columbia University and Cambridge University. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Prospanica – The Association of Hispanic Professionals – is here to help you grow personally and professionally through:

• Valuable employment opportunities for MBA students
• Undergraduate assistance to pursue graduate education
• Expanded business networks and guidance to advance your professional career

We have 46 professional and university chapters to support you, and we’ve created strong partnerships with prominent universities and Fortune 500 companies. Whether you’re looking for exciting job connections or a roadmap to graduate education, Prospanica will help you chart the path ahead.

Formerly the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) and founded in 1988, Prospanica’s nearly 30-year history emphasizes on educational and professional development programs to improve the Hispanic community as a whole.

Strategic Plan and Mission

Hispanics will contribute in the affluence of the U.S. in proportion to their share of the population, as they attain higher education and leadership positions in record numbers. The entire country will become even stronger as a result of greater participation from the Hispanic community. 

Prospanica's mission is to empower Hispanic business professionals to achieve their full educational, economic, and social potential. The organization works to fulfill this mission to our members through three strategies:

1. Provide access to higher education for Hispanics seeking professional advancement in business 
2. Offer resources, information and a sense of community to business students and professionals to increase their development and advancement opportunities
3. Propagate a culture of participation and leadership to advocate for the growth of Hispanic professionals in corporate America

Vision

The Prospanica vision is to be the leading catalyst for Hispanic professional achievement through diversity of thought, expert collaboration, and community engagement to create and develop Hispanic leaders.

Deepak Chopra (born October 22, 1946) is an American author, public speaker, alternative medicine advocate, and a prominent figure in the New Age movement. Through his books and videos, he has become one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternative medicine. Chopra studied medicine in India before emigrating to the United States in 1970 where he completed residencies in internal medicine and endocrinology.

Rev. Steph is a recovering non-denominational reverend who likes to walk a little on the wild side of God.  The title of her latest book, recently released on Amazon, says it all: 

“The Miss-Adventures of an Irreverent Reverend: A Spirit-ed Guide for Rebels and Renegades.” 

Born in London, England, she came to South Africa for the first time in 1985 on a 2-month holiday to see her mum, fell in love with South Africa, found the Science of Mind teaching and emigrated! 

In 1987, she had a vision of starting a multi-racial ministry which would heal the wounds of Apartheid and, in 1989, moved to America where she studied  for the ministry at Agape in Los Angeles under Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith of “The Secret” fame.

Brian Donovan has been a professional actor for over twenty-five years in film, television and radio. He’s worked on-screen with such luminaries as Angelina Jolie, Jim Carrey and Jim Belushi. He’s been the voice of countless animated heroes -- currently as Rock Lee from the juggernaut hit, Naruto. Next year, he can be seen in the indie film, Somebody’s Mother. His award winning documentary about his sister, 'Kelly’s Hollywood' is currently playing on Showtime Networks. In addition, Brian is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Repertory Theatre. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with his family and dog, Cosmo.

Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s in Buffalo, New York, Brian and Kelly Donovan were inseparable siblings. Kelly had Down syndrome, and Brian was her protector from the time she was a child. Honest and raw, Donovan's documentary film 'Kelly’s Hollywood' intimately reveals how an aspiring actor brings his sister, born with Down syndrome, out to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a Hollywood diva. But as her health begins to fail and she becomes increasingly jealous of Donovan's fiancée, he is forced to confront his co-dependent sibling relationship and the threat it is posing to his engagement to Tempany. When Kelly's condition plummets, Brian desperately tries to fulfill her last wish of performing in front of a live audience. But will they be able to pull it off? And will Brian’s own dream of marrying Tempany survive?

Brian Donovan's Statement about his film:

"There’s a saying, ‘love is the only true adventure’, I would add, ‘making a movie about love is the only true adventure’. When I picked up the camera 15 years ago and started shooting my sister Kelly, I did not have much of an agenda. I was capturing moments in her life that intrigued and inspired me, but when those moments started to affect me more directly, I got more serious about making this film. I had a unique perspective on an intimate relationship with a disabled sibling, so intimate that my romantic relationships became increasingly complicated and constrained, leading me to this exploration on human connection, commitment and the choices in life that effect one’s fate. 

When I heard that 90% of expecting parents were choosing to abort their fetus upon discovering potential disabilities through genetic testing I started to worry. I’m not here to judge and my film stays far away from the pro-life/pro-choice battle. However, growing up, my father was deaf, my sister had Down syndrome and my best friend was born with Kyphosis or in lay man’s terms, a ‘hunch back,’ and I can’t imagine my life without them. They have contributed more to humanity than almost everyone else I know combined. I felt it was important and necessary to make a film about my sister who personified to me that ‘it’s not who you are when you’re born, but who you are when you live.’"

Mary Knebel is a certified Money Breakthrough Coach, a Money Intuitive, and the founder of MoneyPreneurs. She is known as the Moneypreneur, because she helps strong, spiritual businesswomen take control of their money to take control of their lives. Mary is especially known for helping women create that first 10k breakthrough in their business, which quickly turns into 15k and 20k months.

Mary shows women how to transform their {dysfunctional} relationships with money so they can create lives of financial freedom, fun, and fulfillment from anywhere in the world! She is highly intuitive and combines both practical and spiritual tools to quickly get to the heart of what is holding you back, often breaking through life long patterns in a single session. 

ELIANA GILAD

Born in the United States, Eliana left for France in 1991 and then moved to Israel in 1994. Professionally, she has dedicated her life to reviving the conscious use of voice and rhythm as natural healing instruments, as they were used in ancient matriarchal times. This wordless healing sound modality helps people find their authentic voices and connect to their inner calm and wisdom.

It has been clinically researched in a neonatal intensive care unit, where it was proven to lower blood pressure and heart rate, increase focus, and improve the quality of sleep. Her work has been featured in publications like Drummer, Yoga Journal, Mothering, Music and Medicine Journal, Global Rhythm, and Hindustan Times. Documentarian Emmanuel Itier also features Eliana in her award-winning film Femme (2013), narrated by Sharon Stone.

Eliana is a frequent keynote presenter, teacher, and performer at healing music, leadership, health, and mindfulness conferences throughout the world. Such events include TEDxSanJuan (2017), International Conference of Traditional Music (2017), Globe Sound Healing Conference (2014), TEDxVailWomen Conference (2012), Chinese Spa Conference (2011), Music and Medicine Symposium (2010), and the Legends of Nonviolence Conference (2007). She has also presented at the United Nations, the Chopra Center in New York City, and the Thank Water Conference (2003), alongside Masaru Emoto, author of Messages from Water, whose research revealed the profound effect of her music upon frozen water molecules.

Through the Voices of Eden Ancient Wisdom and Healing Music Institute, Eliana researches and teaches the principles of feminine power and the voice.

In addition to Miriam’s Secret, she is the author two books: Rhythms of the Natural Voice Workbook (2002), a companion to the CD Rhythms of the Natural Voice (2001); and Quiet in the Eye of the Storm: Living Peace in a War Zone, a digital book and audio program written, recorded, and published during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon War. She has produced five music CDs and a groundbreaking relaxation music program used by dentists worldwide.

Eliana also narrated the “The Forgotten Jews,” a PBS documentary broadcast in November 2005. In 1992, she broadcast the voiceovers for CBS television during the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

She alternately makes her home in Los Angeles, California, and Galilee, Israel.