Derek Beres has devoted his life to exposing people to international music, yoga and mythology as a means of creating better individuals and a more understanding global culture. Derek spends his days and nights employed as a multi-faceted journalist, DJ and yoga instructor He has published five books, and has contributed to dozens of magazines and websites regarding the traditional and digital realms of global music, yoga and health, including Yoga Journal, National Geographic, Rolling Stone Middle East, AOL, MTV, the Village Voice and Relix. His column, Global Beat Fusion, has run on the Huffington Post for nearly half a decade, and he is soon to be starting a new column for Women’s Health as part of the magazine’s ‘Innovations in Endurance’ initiative. Derek is one half of global music producers EarthRise SoundSystem, which creates innovative contexts for 21th century music and cultures to be explored. The duo’s debut album, The Yoga Sessions, reached #5 on the iTunes World charts, and has helped to introduce the American yoga community to a new way of exploring yogic movement through global sounds. He is the creator of EarthRise Yoga, which he has taught at Equinox Fitness since 2004,  where he co-founded the Sacred Strength EarthRise Yoga School in 2008, and more recently, Pure Yoga and Strala Yoga. Derek’s yoga classes and music have been featured by NBC Weekend Today, ABC Eyewitness News, Fox Business, BBC, and NY1, as well as in print and online by Fitness, Yoga Journal, Boston Globe, AOL’s Spinner, Newsday, MTV, NPR, and PRI.

Jill Ettinger works as a writer, reflecting on her experiences in the food business and how it plays a key role in today’s economy as well as the landscape of health and related illnesses prevalent in our world. She also works as a Web content manager and a marketing consultant helping to develop strategies that reflect community values and social responsibility for a variety of natural product brands, alternative healers and artists. Jill’s examinations on our food and culture regularly appear in Organic Authority, Reality Sandwich, She Knows, and We Are Goodkin. She spent over a decade as a broker and sales and marketing manager building some of the biggest organic and natural household name brands including: Clif Bar, Yogi Tea, Peace Cereal, Guayaki, Boca Burgers, Traditional Medicinals, Earth Friendly, Organic Valley, Sunfood and Sambazon. Her passion also extends towards music, which she views as a nutritive lexicon vital to our global evolution. Jill’s meditations and photographs on music and world culture have been featured on MTV Iggy, The Village Voice, Metal Riot, Modern Mystery and Global Rhythm. She’s a featured contributor in the anthologies 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age with an essay on the Dr. Bronner’s soap lawsuit and What Do You Believe? where she reflects on her years as a bicycle messenger. A yoga practitioner since 1999 and certified instructor since 2001, Jill teaches yoga for children in the Los Angeles South Central School District to help bring peace, confidence and self awareness to the next generation.