What exactly is a POWER PASSIONISTA?
If you’ve been playing along at home for the last few weeks, you’ve been hearing the term “Power Passionistas” a lot. So, what exactly is a Power Passionista?
During the last six years, we’ve talked to hundreds of women who are doing incredible things. We've met coaches, artists, activists, chefs, filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs and so much more. Many of them have become good friends. And some of them have become instrumental in taking The Passionistas Project to the next level.
These are the superstars of our sisterhood — Power Passionistas.
They are the women who will be coaching you, teaching you, entertaining you, supporting you and encouraging you as a member of the Passionistas sisterhood. They are our resident experts.
MEET THE POWER PASSIONISTAS
LAUREN BEST is a Certified Hypnotherapist, 2x Best Selling Author, and Host of the Podcast, Provoking Possibilities. As a holistic practitioner who works at the intersection of wellness, consciousness, creativity, and business, it is her mission to support others to give themselves permission to disrupt perfectionism to provoke possibility. She works with Conscious and Creative Leaders, Companies and Entrepreneurs, as well as Curious Individuals, to unlock potential, envision new possibilities for their work and life, connect to their intuition, understand their unique abilities, and strengthen their mind-body-heart-intuition connection to take authentic action. Aside from working privately with clients, Lauren also facilitates wellness workshops and group hypnosis sessions within the workplace, for existing community audiences, and in collaboration with organizations. She is a mentor in various communities for female entrepreneurs, and has worked with Founders, Entrepreneurs, Leaders, and Teams from North America to London to Singapore to Australia and beyond.
DR. MELISSA BIRD is a descendant of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes. She is a nationally recognized lay preacher, author, healer and podcaster. Dr. Bird has made hundreds of keynote speeches and workshops before audiences at universities, conferences and religious institutions worldwide. Past audience members have described her speaking as “fierce,” “revelatory,” “life-changing,” “enthusiastic” and “inspirational.” Dr. Bird creates the genesis for a new brand of leadership and graceful revolution. She inspires personal understanding through contemplation, helps people use their intuition to change their lives and communities and encourages the healing of grief and loss through spiritual connection. She is the host of The Thinnest Veil podcast and the author of “SAGE Guide to Social Work Careers Your Journey to Advocacy” and the co-author of the bestselling book “Women Connected in Wisdom — stories and resources rooted in the 8 dimensions of wellness.” When she’s not working, she can be found reading trashy novels while drinking Earl Gray tea with heavy cream. She lives in Corvallis, Oregon with her husband, three children, two dogs and one three legged cat.
JESSICA CRAVEN Jessica Craven is a community organizer, activist, mom and elected member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. She’s also the author of "Chop Wood, Carry Water," a daily actions Substack newsletter that’s been published five days a week since November of 2016. She’s a delegate to the California Democratic Party, a climate activist and a grassroots volunteer who has knocked doors, phone-banked, fundraised, texted and postcarded for hundreds of progressive candidates. She’s also a political TikTok content creator (@jesscraven101) and a correspondent for Courier News. Jessica has made it her mission to get regular people more engaged with politics on both a federal and local level, and she hopes she can inspire you to do the same.
JULIE DELUCCA-COLLINS is a highly sought-after speaker, business coach and author dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs to build and grow successful businesses. With a passion for helping women establish and expand their brands, Julie has become a trusted advisor for many women. Certified in Tiny Habits, Julie leverages her expertise to guide individuals toward positive behavioral changes that lead to lasting success. Her coaching expertise extends beyond this domain, as she is also a Thrive Global Certified coach, providing holistic guidance to her clients whenever they need it. Julie's impressive achievements include publishing her book in September 2021, quickly soaring to the top of multiple categories, earning the coveted #1 spot. As a dynamic speaker, Julie has captivated audiences with her insightful talks and has been featured on prominent media outlets such as ABC, NBC, and FOX. She delivered her first TEDx Talk at the TEDx MellenStreet in November 2023.
DANAY ESCANAVERINO is CEO of the multicultural digital agency LunaSol Media. She is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and community builder. A 25+ year veteran of digital marketing, Danay delivers millions of leads and sales for her clients via the latest digital marketing strategies. She has worked with top brands like QuickBooks, T-Mobile, Best-Buy, Ford, Comcast, Amazon and Wells Fargo and has been featured in books and media as a Latina trailblazer.
CATHERINE GRAY is the producer of the groundbreaking documentary “Show Her The Money” — featuring rockstar female investors who invest in diverse women entrepreneurs with innovations that will change the world. Gray is doing a 50-city grassroots tour of the film to encourage more women to invest in female founded funds to move the needle on women getting less than 2% of venture capital. She is also an author, TEDx speaker, podcast host, founder of She Angel Investors and co-founder of the nonprofit She Angels Foundation. Catherine also hosts and produces the popular podcast series Invest in Her, distributed on Apple, Spotify, IHeart Radio and wherever you listen to podcasts. Ms. Gray has produced, co-produced and directed several documentaries including “I Can’t Marry You” with Ellen DeGeneres’ mom Betty as narrator for PBS, “Millionaires True Stories” and several LGBTQ films for LOGO. She also helped start a gay cable network and produced a series called Way-Off Broadway with trailblazing entertainers and recording artists. Currently, she is co-producing “Millenials Are Killing Musicals,” with plans to go to Broadway. This female driven show focuses on motherhood and the impact of social media.
SELENE LUNA is Soledad on FX's “Mayans M.C.” and the voice of Tía Rosita in Disney-Pixar’s “Coco.” Luna has toured as Margaret Cho’s opening act and a featured dancer on tour with Dita Von Teese. Currently, Luna is the voice of Robin on Apple TV's animated series, Frog and Toad. . In 2019, she took to Capitol Hill alongside U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer to speak on behalf of disability rights.
KYLEE STONE is a Brand Builder, Leadership Coach, Storyteller and Linkedin Top Voices of 2020. She is renowned for her courage, resilience and compassion in navigating the most difficult and complex environments and taking action in direct accordance with her Vision, Values, Mission and Purpose. Kylee is a descendant of the Stolen Generation of the Wakka Wakka and Kulluli nations. Certified in the Neuroscience of Resilience and High Adversity Training, combining over 10 years as a coach in transformation with 28 yrs in the business of storytelling, Kylee has an intrinsic talent in connecting our personal story with purpose and creating deep, meaningful connections. Kylee’s purpose is to create meaningful connections. Her mission, to disrupt the traditional view of leadership and empower people in being courageous by taking action in DIRECT accordance with their Vision, Values, Mission and Purpose. Kylee is CEO of The Performance Code, Host of the Uncharted Leader Podcast, Founder and Chief Storyteller of Team Women Australia (a not-for-profit devoted to bringing women together to share their personal stories) and has recently become APAC Partner of Design House Collective — a global brand building company bringing together the world’s leading talent in design thinking, business engineering and organizational transformation.
CRYSTAL LYNESE WALKER has over 15 years of experience helping organizations develop operational processes to curate equitable and inclusive workplaces through result-driven methods. With a background in organizational communication and social and economic justice, she uses cultural intelligence to catalyze change and disruption within the diversity, equity and inclusion sector. Crystal Lynese is the Senior Director for Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s Racial Equity at Work program, leading the MLT Black Equity at Work and MLT Hispanic Equity at Work Certifications to drive Black and Hispanic equity across corporations in the U.S. She also serves as MLT’s lead for their Affirmative Action Taskforce. Don't miss out on the opportunity to connect with these amazing women. We promise you will learn, laugh and thrive while experiencing their magic.
Want to hear more from these incredible women? SIGN UP for The Passionistas Project sisterhood to see everything the community has to offer.
