Main Speakers
Dr. Karyn Gordon
Melissa Schenk
Other Presenters
Cathy Anstett
Joan Maloney
Cherie Lamond
Abbey Sparks
Jenny Hall
Jennifer Gravel
Rebecca Hardy
Stephen LaFay
Alex Tintinalli
Lori Russell
Chad Eastham
Kathy Mueller
Dr. Karyn Gordon is one of North America's leading authorities on understanding
and motivating Generation Y. She has authored a number of books,
including Dr. Karyn’s Guide to the Teen Years and Raising Healthy Teens in an
Age of Over-Indulgence for parents of youth. She is frequently interviewed by
national media (Entertainment Tonight Canada, Globe & Mail,National Post,
Maclean's, Much Music) and speaks to national corporations (Maple Leaf Foods, Motorola, Doritos, PepsiCo, etc.) to provide insight into connecting and motivating Generation Y. A Youth / Generation Y expert, corporate / family
consultant, motivational speaker, and author,Dr. Karyn's style is dynamic and
inspiring. Her gift is communicating playfully, passionately and pragmatically.
Dr. Karyn's mission is to truly understand what makes Generation Y 'tick'
(deciphering their thoughts, feelings, and actions) so she can help them and
those who work with them (families &companies) understand andmotivate
them to reach their greatest leadership potential. Over the last 10 years,
Dr. Karyn has done extensivemedia work related to helping others understand Generation Y. For the last four years,
Dr. Karyn has been the expert on the national TV show, “The Mom Show”. She has also shared her advice on her
own radio talk-show, “Bridging the Gap”, (Newstalk 1010 CFRB) and in Canadian Living Magazine. For three years
she hosted and executive produced her own international music talk-show “Spill Your Guts”, (Global Canwest),
interviewing top rock stars and celebrities (Sum 41, Vince Carter, 98 Degrees, Matchbox 20) about their personal
obstacles and the lessons they learned as teenagers. When Dr. Karyn is not working, she loves to travel, play with
interior design (she and her husband were winners in the Canadian House & Home Design Contest, April 2008),
and spend time with her twin babies and husband at home.
Melissa Schenk - GPS MC
Originally from Stratford, Melissa's broadcasting career began in radio at
1240 CJCS, as the Mid-Day Announcer / Promotions Director. Growing up
Melissa always had a bug for performing A graduate of Fanshawe College's
Television Broadcasting Program, Melissa interned with CNN in Uganda. A
passion for public speaking and a love of travel lead her abroad working as a
Port Lecturer on cruise ships. In 2003, she returned to Southwestern Ontario
and began working as aWeather Announcer for CTV, aswell as launching her
own Production Company -MS2 Productions. Currently, Melissa is a Weather Anchor on ‘A’ News in London. Melissa has also launched The Institute of
Character Cultivation. As a public speaker and character development specialist, she takes people on a journey to
answer the question - How do you want to be Remembered? Melissa says her disabled sister Amy, has made her
the compassionate person she is today!
Melissa has traveled to parts of East Africa, Europe, Mexico, Caribbean, USA - including Alaska and Hawaii, but has
still not been to Atlantic Canada!
Cathy Anstett - GPS Chair
Cathy Anstett is a Teleflora Marketing Counselor representing Southwestern
Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Cathy has over 28 years of retail sales,
customer service and business management experience.
Prior to joining Teleflora, Cathy owned Catherine Wright Designs a unique floral shop known for it’s Fresh Flowers, Fresh Ideas and commitment to designing ‘works of art’ to meet a wide variety of customer needs and occasions. In June 2008 Cathy sold her business to pursue hermarketing and sales career. Her business experience began when she joined Anstett Jewelers, a family owned business to become part of the sales andmanagement team, traveled to England, Switzerland and NewYork on buying trips and studied at the Gemological Institute in California.
Cathy is a member of St Joseph’s Catholic Church, is on the Board for the Foundation for Enriching Education. She has completed her certificate in The Professional Leadership program through Continuing Education at Western and developed and conducted a number of presentations “Working a Room” seminar,“Selling and Managerial Skills for the Retail Florist” at Conestoga College and recently presented for Flowers Canada “Business Branding for Flowershop Success”
After Attending an OprahWinfrey seminar entitled“Live Your Best Life” in Texas. Cathy Founded the First Girl Power
Success Workshop in November 2005. The Oprah seminar inspired her to do something in Stratford that would
enrich the lives of local teenage girls.
Joan Maloney -
Personal Trainer/Fitness Consultant
Joan Maloney is a Canfitpro Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor
who owns and operates Body Moves Fitness Studio here in Stratford. Being a life
long fitness enthusiast, it is a dreamcome true to beworking at something she loves
to do, by helping people attain,maintain and surpass their fitness goals.
Cherie Lamond -
Counsellor, Crossing Bridges, Stratford
Most of us hear about drugs on the periphery, and rarely get the chance to know the
people affected. Cherie Lamond is featured in the upcoming documentary being
released in November 2008 – EFFED – Effective Fight for Eliminating Drugs. As a
Counsellor at Crossing Bridges in Stratford, Cherie deserves to be commended for her
honesty and her willingness to share her story.
Abbey Sparks is a 16 year old grade 11 student from St.Michaels Secondary School in
Stratford. Abbey plays competitive volleyball for the Stratford Stingers, plays tennis &
runs track for St.Mikes, plays the guitar, and loves photography. She went on a teen
mission trip this summer to Kenya, Africa where she helped build a school for
children in rural Kenya. Abbey is a camp counsellor at Olympia Sports Camp, is a
certified coach with the Ontario Volleyball Association, and has started a water
project with Free the Children as a result of her trip to Africa this summer.
Jenny is a fifth year honour student at Stratford Northwestern Secondary School.
Although not from a farm, Jenny is very active in 4-H, completing 15 4-H clubs,
participated in member and leadership conferences, and serving as junior leader in
her 4-H Dairy club. This year she has been selected to attend the RoyalWinter Fair in
Toronto representing Perth County with nine other 4-H members, showing their 4-H
calves in the Dairy Classic, which is an all Canadian event. This past summer, Jenny
turned her love of dairy cattle into her own business through the Summer Company
Program and Stratford Centre for Business. She started a business fitting dairy cattle;
Horizon fitting, preparing dairy cattle for show, and classification. Jenny won the business plan competition
through Stratford Perth Community Futures for Perth County and will be attending Niagara Falls in November for
the regional competition. Last school year she was co-president of Student Council at Stratford Northwestern
Secondary School Jenny has high goals of pursuing a career in medicine and owning her own family practice.
Jennifer is an Artist and the owner of Clay Cafe Paint-Your-Own-Pottery-Studio in
Stratford. She has nine years experience in the "paint your own pottery" industry but
is also involved in hand building pottery, photography, acrylic painting and jewellery creation. From a young age Jennifer felt a strong compulsion toward art as an
expressive tool. She could always be found taking old costume jewellery her
grandmother donated and turning into new piece of art, or playing with all sorts of
art mediums to keep her busy. She stumbled upon the paint your own industry in
her last year of high school and was instantly hooked. While finishing her degree in
Criminology she was working on ways to make her new passion a career. In 2006 at age 25 she opened Clay
Cafe in Stratford where she has created a place that her customers say is "the best place to be on a rainy day", "a
haven for relaxing by yourself" as well as "a great place to spend quality time with the family". Jennifer believes
that every person has the innate ability to be creative and wants to deliver a place where people feel comfortable
to play with that creativity as a means of relaxation and having fun. When she's not in her studio you can usually
find her on the Avon River as amember of the Stratford Women's Dragon Boat Team, which she would love to make
her second career.
Rebecca Hardy -
Winner,
Canada’s
Next Top Model Cycle Two
Rebecca, from Mannheim,ON,was the named the Cycle Two winner during the 2007
season of Canada’s Next Top Model (CNTM). Before CNTM, Rebecca worked at a hot
dog factory. Now represented by Sutherland Models and with a $100,000 P&G
Beauty contract, Rebecca has worked with top photographers on a variety of
assignments and on the runways of high fashion cities including Milan and London.
Since winning CNTM, Rebecca has also had the chance to walk on the red carpet at
the Toronto International Film Festival and played a small role in James Blunt’s new
video, Same Mistake.
Rebecca was born in Burnaby, BC and owns two pets, a dog named Kia and a cat
named Chelsea.
Stephen LaFay -
Chiropractor, Author, Public Speaker...
Chiropractor, author, public speaker, seminar leader, business coach and consultant,
Dr. Stephen LaFay published his first book, Your Magnificent Life: 7 Keys to a Life
You'll Love, and the companion booklet, How Your Body Speaks, with you in mind. In
both his writing and public speaking, Dr. LaFay layers personal stories, inspiring
examples, contemporary and timeless wisdom, groundbreaking clinical science
and even theoretical physics to expand your understanding of health, wellness and
life's purpose.
Alex Tintinalli - Guitarist, Singer-Songwriter, Indie Recording Artist
After performingmore than 100 shows over the past 18months promoting his debut
blues album "Nothing To Lose" released March 2007, 16 year old guitarist, singersongwriter
Alex Tintinalli has received both local, national and international
recognition.
In June 2008, Alex was awarded the prestigious Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Award for his contribution to the arts in his local community. In addition, Alex had a feature interview in the May/June issue of the U.K.'s largest blues magazine "Blues Matters" and more recently, Alex was awarded CBC Galaxie's Rising Star Award at The Tremblant International Blues Festival in July 2008.
His intense, soulful music continues to receive world-wide airplay and charted in the top 10 of the Living Blues Report for January, February and March 2008 thanks to a growing fan base around the globe.
Currently Alex is in the studio recording a solo acoustic EP project (due out Fall'08). His new music is a rhythmic blend of rich lyrics spilling over with an abundance of passion that will uplift your spirits and can best be described as "John Mayer meets Jason Mraz meets Jack Johnson".
Lori Russell - Controls Engineer
Lori grew up in the “sticks” outside of Listowel and attended Listowel High School.
During her high school years she participated in many sports such as basketball,
volleyball, baseball, soccer, and golf. Lori went on to post secondary education at
Conestoga College where she took the Robotics and Automation program.While at
Conestoga she also played on thewomen’s varsity fast ball team, and during her third
year was the team’sMVP. After graduation from Conestoga Lori went to work at D&D
Automation in Stratford and has been there for the past 7 years (…and yes, she is the
only female engineer). At D&D they generate the electrical design for machinery and
write programs to control these machines. D&D is involved in many different industries such as food & beverage,
plastics, mining, and pharmaceutical. However, the majority of work they do is in the automotive industry. Since
starting at D&D Lori has worked on projects for the H2 Hummer, Ford F-150, Chevy Equinox, Pontiac Torrent, Suzuki
XL7, and the Chrysler mini van to name a few. Lori currently lives in Thorndale Ontario, with her husband Andrew,
and their chocolate lab Jenny.
Chad Eastham -
Author /Motivational Speaker
Chad Eastham is a member of the Revolve Tour www.revolvetour.com, which is a
weekend event for teen girls - a fun, fast-paced, action-packed time when thousands
of teens pile into an arena to hear about how much God loves them. This tour is
travelling to a number of cities across the USA.
When he's not at Revolve, Chad speaks about at-risk youth behaviours as the assistant director of Healthy Visions, an education-based not-forprofit organization. He knows what he's talking about, having experienced a lot of at-risk behaviours drinking, drug abuse, fighting with police, and so on- himself.
Chad served as a leader for Campus Crusade for Christ, a chemical dependency counsellor, an Alaskan Adventure Guide, and an advocate for youth issues state-wide and nationally.
He's the co-author of a national award-winning curriculum on sexual education for youth. Chad's book,
The Truth About Guys, gives girls honest answers to burning questions about guys.
For Kathy, journalism is in the genes. Her grandfather operated an underground
newspaper in Soviet-controlled Lithuania while her grandmother wrote for the local
heritage newspaper upon immigrating to Toronto. Bitten early by the reporting bug,
Kathy enrolled in Radio and Television Broadcasting at Seneca College, and graduated
on the Dean’s list. After five years in radio news in Kingston and Sarnia, Kathy entered
the world of television at CFPL-TV. She conquered the world of videographer,
reporting in Lambton, Chatham-Kent and London Middlesex before becoming the
station's crime specialist in London.
Kathy is the recipient of the OPP’s Community Award, and the International Firefighters Association Video Feature Award. Kathy loves working in the field, and her passion for reporting has led to excursions to Bosnia, where she produced a four part series and a documentary on the work being performed by area members of the Canadian military. Kathy has also traveled to South Sudan. Her drive to help the people of the war torn nation, has led to return trips on an annual basis. From those, she has produced numerous stories and a documentary about their plight. She is also called on quite regularly to speak to various community groups about her travels.
Since 2002, Kathy has been co-anchor of 'A' News at 6. She recently however joined the Canadian Red Cross and is part of the Personal Disaster Assistance Team. She is currently their Information & Community Outreach Manager located in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.