Sue Crolick started her advertising career in the Mad Men era, and knows all about those three-martini lunches! She was the first female art director at two of Minneapolis’ largest ad agencies and won the top awards in her profession. She founded her own firm in 1981, and was featured in her industry’s leading publications. In 1994, Sue founded Art Buddies, a nonprofit that helps kids in need by matching each child with their own creative mentor to discover exciting creative careers while building confidence and dreams. For her work with children, Sue was honored as a Purpose Prize Fellow and national leader in social innovation. In 2004, the Mentoring Partnership selected Art Buddies as the best mentoring organization in the Twin Cities.

Jay Haapala has spent an eighteen-year career mobilizing people toward common goals and serving community needs while working and volunteering with multiple Minnesota nonprofit organizations. Currently, associate state director of community outreach at AARP Minnesota, he leads teams of volunteers who serve the public and influence change on a variety of issues relevant to us all as we age. He leads a team of guides who facilitate Life Reimagined workshops and build networks of people navigating life’s transitions together. Through experience with Life Reimagined and its network of thoughtful members, Jay has developed admiration for the courage and wisdom of people who don’t know “what’s next” other than that it’s time for a change.

Kathleen Murray is a life and career coach, blogger, speaker and mindset expert. Her mission is to help women find more fulfilling careers than the ones they’re currently in. She does this through her signature program, Never Work Again: How to Ditch Your J.O.B. & Live Your Purpose Instead. In this five-step program she helps women understand who they are and what they really want out of life, how to create the roadmap to get there and, most importantly, how to get past the fear or blocks that have been holding them back. 

John Reinan has been a reporter for seven newspapers from Alaska to Florida to Minneapolis. He currently reports on six west metro cities for the Star Tribune. Along the way, John also managed a toy store, wrangled witnesses for a felony criminal trial unit and was an award-winning marketing executive. John lives in Minneapolis, where he and his wife are raising a transgender teenager.

Paul Robinson is currently a senior community leadership manager and, more recently, the former director of the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. Paul assists in recruitment and fundraising efforts, designs curricula, facilitates program sessions, facilitates a quarterly group, and is himself a 2005 alumnus of the Institute. He is most comfortable at the intersection of ideas, difference, passion and effective action, and enjoys using his skills in meeting design, facilitation, and convening to catalyze meaningful connections and collective action. Prior to joining the Wilder staff in 2007, Paul served as the spiritual care director for Catholic Charities. His combined experience in ministry, business, administration, nonprofit management and leadership development spans over twenty years.

Jasmine Brett Stringer is principal of JB Stringer LLC and founder of the internationally recognized lifestyle brand Carpe Diem with Jasmine. As a sought-after lifestyle expert, Jasmine has been featured on a variety of media outlets including WCCO-TV, OWN-TV, Huffington Post, and her own lifestyle blog entitled Carpe Diem with Jasmine. She continually teaches all the mantra of carpe diem, or seize the day, and guides people in identifying their goals and achieving their definition of success through workshops and seminars. Jasmine’s book Seize Your Life: How to Carpe Diem Every Day – a collection of practical guidance on how to live a more authentic, connected and mindful life – was released in January 2016.

Malik Watkins, better known by his stage name MaLLy, is an independent hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Active since 2007, MaLLy has cemented his place in the Twin Cities music scene with a strong discography boasting three critically acclaimed albums—The Passion, The Last Great…, and The Colors of Black. MaLLy has been recognized by other local and national press outlets including the Star Tribune, 2DopeBoyz, Uproxx, and Complex Magazine.