Wendi Aarons

 

Wendi Aarons is an award-winning humor writer and blogger who lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two sons. In the past few years, she has written for a large number of publications including McSweeneys, and for Esther’s Follies, Austin’s famous comedy revue. She is the 2012 winner of “Funniest Blog” from Parents Magazine, named as the top Humor blogger by Babble.com in 2013, a writer for the US Weekly Fashion Police and has spoken on humor writing at the BlogHer, Mom Com, the Texas Conference for Women and Mom 2.0 conferences. Aarons is also the co-producer and director of the live stage show “Listen To Your Mother Austin,” and is one of the creators of Mouthy Housewives. @wendiaarons @MouthyHousewife

 

Jamie Amelio

 

Jamie C. Amelio is the founder and CEO of Caring for Cambodia, a non-profit organization directed toward educating children and training teachers in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Jamie established Caring for Cambodia in 2003. Today the organization supports 6,400 students in 15 schools in Cambodia. CFC is run mostly by volunteers and has more than 4,000 supporters worldwide. The organization provides students with well-equipped classrooms, locally-trained teachers, meals, uniforms, basic health and hygiene care, and a quality education. Jamie is no stranger to helping children. When living in Los Angeles, she served on the Board of Directors of Vistas for Children, and founded Junior Vistas for Children. In 2005 and 2010, Jamie was awarded the prestigious Golden Hand Service Award by the Cambodian government. She was named as a 2010 Classic Woman of the Year by Traditional Home Magazine, and received the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Austin Asian-American Chamber of Commerce in 2011. Jamie is the author of Stumpy the Crocodile, a children’s book about helping neighbors in need. After living in Asia for ten years, Jamie, her husband Bill, and their six children now live in Austin, Texas.

 

Terri Givens

 

Terri E. Givens is Associate Professor in the Government Department at The University of Texas at Austin. She is formerly Vice Provost, International Activities and Undergraduate Curriculum, Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center's European Union Center of Excellence, and Co-Director of the Longhorn Scholars Program. She also directed the Center for European Studies and the France-UT Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies from 2004-2006. She has faculty appointments in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, European Studies, and is affiliated with the Center for Women and Gender Studies, Center for African and African-American Studies, and is a Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. from Stanford University. Her academic interests include radical right parties, immigration politics, and immigrant integration in Europe. She has conducted extensive research in Europe, particularly in France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Britain.

 

Carmen Graf

 

Carmen is the Senior Vice President, Executive Media Director at GSD&M in Austin Texas. She is a huge proponent of holistic communication planning with a passion for advertising and building client business. She works in all forms of media; Broadcast TV/Radio, Print, Digital, Gaming, Mobile, Emerging and Social. Her client history includes BMW, Walmart, RadioShack, Zales, LLBean and MasterCard and is a core member of the GSD&M new business team.Carmen leads by example, producing strong and committed teams. Her track record and media relationships have earned her both industry recognition and client respect. She was named a Media Star of the Future by Newsweek, led the team that won the MIXX Award for Interactive TV+VOD, is a Silver Mixx Award winner for Social Media, named one min's Sweet Sixteen recipients, won a Silver Effie, was a Media finalist at Cannes, and part of the BMW/Graffiti campaign that Forbes named one of the best social media campaigns of all time. She is a strong role model in the industry, with a particular interest in mentoring young women professionals. Carmen lives in Austin, Texas. She has been married to Karl for 21 years and they have a 13 year old daughter, Harper, that currently attends Lake Travis Middle School.

 

Ariel Herrera

 

Ariel Herrera was born and raised in Austin, Texas, the “Live Music Capital of the World”. With an amazing musical backdrop, this 17-year-old’s influences have been inspired by the rich diversity of the local music scene.In August 2011 Ariel sang the National Anthem for the University of Texas at the launch of The Longhorn Network. In October 2011 she and her friend, Payton Keller, created the band Vintage Daisies. It was at this point in her career that her love of songwriting and stage performance began to blossom. Vintage Daisies went on to earn the ranking “Top 2 U-21 Bands in Austin” during Fox’s “My Band Rocks” competition 2012. In November of 2013 she became lead vocalist for a local band, The Bare Feat. Most recently she became a contestant on American Idol Season 13.She has performed at many local venues including ACL, SXSW, Antone’s, The Continental Club, Scholtz Biergarden, StrangeBrew, and Armadillo Fest. She has savored, with gratitude, every experience she’s had as a musician and looks forward to embracing new opportunities.

 

Susie Higley

 

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1950 three weeks late and a week after her father left for the Korean War, Susie has struggled to be on time ever since! Having lived in Japan, Germany, and various parts of the United States, her family made Austin home in the late 50’s and it has been home base ever since. After innumerable majors including English, Drama, Occupational Therapy, and Medical Science, she got two undergraduate degrees (English and Education) at the University of Texas in Austin. She worked in many community theatre productions and championed the arts in Austin for decades. She continues to use her theatrical skills and currently sings with a group of women who perform for retirement communities around Austin. She began her teaching career in Austin where she taught 2nd – 5th grades and also taught prenatal and postpartum exercise classes to women for many years at various fitness centers and private corporations. Teaching was and is her passion as is working with students of all ages. Her greatest boon is being a mother to her own children, Jeremy and Rebecca, who are both married and working in the arts. Currently she is working as a private tutor in the Austin and Round Rock communities, travelling abroad, using permaculture to design a sustainable food forest in her back yard, working on two novels, and trying to find a use for out of adoption books in school districts.

 

Barbara Morgan

 

Barbara Morgan co-founded the Austin Film Festival in 1994 and has served as the sole Executive Director since 1999. As a filmmaker, Morgan developed and produced the film Natural Selection, a semifinalist script from the 1996 screenplay competition. The film has been on Showtime, the Sci-fi channel and was released internationally. Morgan co-produced the feature documentary Antones: Home of the Blues, which has been released internationally as well. Morgan’s latest documentary, Portrait of Wally, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2012 and is being released in select cities. Her current projext, the narrative feature film, Spring Eddy, will be completed in summer 2012. Morgan serves on various boards and committees including: International Film Festival Summit, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, Dell Children’s Blood and Cancer Center, Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

 

Neissa Brown Springmann

 

Neissa is the founder of iGnite, an Austin-based inspirational health and fitness community that provides fitness classes, workshops, inspirational speaker series and wellness retreats to both individuals and corporations. Known for her refreshing transparency, expertise in holistic health, passion for helping others and realistic approach to sustainable health, Neissa leads health and wellness workshops and gives motivational speeches to corporations, clubs and organizations across Texas. Neissa received her degree from the University of Texas, where she studied Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Fitness. She is happily married and has a three year old son, Durant and 9 month old daughter, Malaine.