Bruce Akers, Green Chemist
Bruce Akers is a well respected consultant in the natural products industry. He has been formulating Natural Products for almost 15 years, and has brought well over a hundred of his formulations to market.  Bruce has worked in small one room West Marin facilities as well as multi-national conglomerates. He has been a Director of R&D for EO Products, and Method, as well as working with many of the leading innovative companies in the natural products realm. Using his vast knowledge of chemistry, Bruce has been instrumental in the creation of many of the standards that are setting the bar in the natural products industry ensuring that they are useable by manufacturers and consumers, scientifically base. Bruce received a degree in Chemistry from University of California, Berkeley.

Jessica Assaf, Student, New York University
Jessica Assaf is a student at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she is studying Public Health, Documentary Film, and Social Activism. She was one of the founding members of Teens for Safe Cosmetics, now Teens Turning Green, in January of 2005. Jessica now serves as the President of the Gallatin Green Team and is helping to launch Teens Turning Green in New York City. She has previously worked with Digital Democracy, the West African AIDS Foundation, Green Drinks NYC, New York City’s Coalition for a Smoke-Free City, TOMS Shoes, EO Products, and the Environmental Working Group, and has produced two short documentary films on HIV/AIDS. She is currently working on a documentary film about the toxic beauty industry. She received the 2006 Brower Youth Award, the 2006 Heart of Marin Youth Volunteer of the Year Award, and the 2008 Green Globe Youth Award presented by Friends of the Earth for her work with Teens for Safe Cosmetics. She hopes to continue working domestically and globally on issues related to public health and human rights and eventually start a green company.

Sloan Barnett, Author, Green Goes With Everything
Sloan is a regular contributor to NBC’s Today show and the Green Editor for KNTV, in San Francisco. She has been a television and print journalist for more than ten years, and wrote a popular consumer advice column for New York’s Daily News for nearly a decade prior to authoring Green Goes With Everything. The book is a thoroughly researched, easy to read how to handbook to “clean up your home” and live a healthier lifestyle. The mother of three and dedicated consumer advocate, Sloan lives in San Francisco.

Susan Black, Founder, EO Products
EO Products Co-Creator, Susan Griffin-Black has been a pioneer in the personal care industry for over 15 years and is a leading expert in the field. An advocate of making safe, pure products, she has been involved with Teens Turning Green for several years and she maintains her status as a business leader and mother to Lucy and Marc.

Karen Stewart Brown, Co-Founder + Vice President of Design, Stewart+Brown
Karen co-founded Stewart+Brown, along with her husband Howard Brown, in 2002 and oversees all design and production activities. Prior to Stewart+Brown, Karen worked as a Sr. Designer at Patagonia, where she worked for 5+ years. Subsequent to her Patagonia experience, Karen was a Sr. Designer at J.Crew for 3.5 years responsible for all women’s knits and sweater categories; the highest volume and most profitable division of the company. She began her design career at Urban Outfitters / Anthropologie, spending 2.5 years designing their most popular collections. Karen holds a B.F.A. in painting Maryland Institute College of Art and has no formal training in fashion design. Karen and Stewart+Brown have won many honors and accolades including ‘Coolest People Now’ by Outside Magazine, “Ones to Watch” by Wired Magazine, “Conscientious Choice” winner by Natural Health magazine, “Best of Green” by Treehugger, “World’s Most Stylish Ethic Fashion Brand” by Body+Soul Magazine, Elle’s “Best Green Fashion Brand” and one of the “World’s Top Fashionistas” by Grist.

Ryan Carney, Co-Founder + CEO, G-Rock
Ryan is a sustainability consultant and environmental researcher with the Sausalito-based firm G-Rock. He is passionate about helping people create healthy places to live, work and play. His knowledge of organic resource management and bioremediation has led to collaborative projects with the Presidio Trust, Glide Memorial Church and UC Berkeley.  Ryan created and implemented a comprehensive recycling and composting program in 50 Costco warehouses throughout Northern California; is working with UC Berkeley to establish oil-remediating composting facilities in the Gulf of Mexico; and, teaches workshops in green entrepreneurship for students at Universidade Lusófona, Portugal. A California native, Ryan is an avid surfer and rock climber.

Christine Dames, Co Founder + CEO, Tech Talk Studio
As an uber-connector and cross pollinator of people and ideas, Christie is dedicated to bringing together visionaries, doers, world catalysts and planet changers to rebuild a healthy world for healthy beings.  As a custom designer of face-to-face executive visibility speaking programs for corporate clients, Christie works with thought leaders and designers around the world opening doors and building lasting partnerships between businesses, organizations, people and communities expanding their reach to making the world better. As founder and developer of the Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc. Speakers Bureau, Dames created the first speakers bureau ever dedicated to strategically placing leaders and visionaries before rapidly growing audiences in the new and evolving technology arena. Her vision opened new doors in the conference industry by bringing tech speakers to the forefront through innovative settings, in-depth research methods, broad-based audience appeal and strategic speaker development. Earlier in her career, Christie worked to develop Public / Private partnerships involving organizations such as Goodwill Industries, Kimpton Hotel Group, Hilton Hotels, and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Program. These grew out of her own organization “San Francisco Shine”, a forerunner of the San Francisco Business Improvement District, which hired the homeless to clean up the downtown area and was featured on CNN and C-SPAN. Additionally, for the past 12 years Christie has translated her business experience into her personal mission — helping people find the answers to seemingly unanswerable health problems.  As a medical detective, she helps people to explore new paths, find new answers, locate the hidden causes that lead to physical conditions, and build their own “map of choices” to get better.

Stefanie Hermsdorf, Creative Director
A graduate of Art Center in Pasadena, Stefanie has worked as Creative Director for several challenger brands including Benefit Cosmetics, Joe Boxer and most recently Method, as well as for fashion brands like Macy’s and Banana Republic. She earned her design stripes early in her career in Italy where, in addition to creative collaborations with brands lievey, Switzerland. Stefanie’s creative focus includes not only bringing a brand to life visually, but also through product development, formulation and fragrance, and her work involve the holistic brand experience. She is currently a Creative Consultant in the Bay Area.

Lynn Hirshfield, Senior Vice President of Publishing, Participant Media
Lynn is responsible for launching Participant’s publishing division to complement the company’s films and social action campaigns. Lynn, who joined Participant Media in May 2007, is also responsible for leading the development of strategic marketing partnerships and integrate these partners into social action and advocacy campaigns. Prior to joining the staff of Participant, she consulted for the company throughout 2006 on the social marketing and outreach for the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Lynn has served in the same capacity for a number of internet content and technology start ups, and various studios and venture capital groups specializing in creating new verticals and generating strategic partnerships with corporate sponsors. Previous to entering the internet arena, she worked as a development executive for productions garnering a number of awards, including four Emmys, a Peabody Award and two Television Critics Awards — among them the PBS series Wishbone. She was also a story editor for National Geographic Feature Films, Scott Rudin, Norman Lear, Tim Burton and Sony, Fox and Warner Bros. Studios.

Jorge Lee, Founder + CEO, Marin House Cleaning L.L.C
After graduating from Cornell University in 2007, Jorge returned to his native Mill Valley to establish a nontoxic residential cleaning service. Switching out toxic cleaning products for their greener counterparts is significantly healthier for families and reduces the pollution that enters the environment. He has been featured in the Marin Independent Journal and is slated to appear in Marin Magazine’s February edition. Marin House Cleaning develops all of their cleaning products in-house, and is currently the only Bay Area Green Business Program certified housecleaning business in Marin.

Stacy Malkan, Author, Not Just A Pretty Face
Stacy authored the recently published Not Just A Pretty Face and co-founded the National Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition working to eliminate hazardous chemicals from personal care products. As Malkan says in her book, I was a teenage make-up diva, “We’re talking an elaborate morning ritual involving skin creams, eight types of make-up and multiple hair products, topped off with a generous cloud of Aqua Net Hair Spray — all before I left the house! 20 years later, I was able to conduct an investigation into my teen beauty routine to find out what I was exposing myself to on a daily basis: 200 chemicals in all, many of them toxic. These days, I still use multiple products, but the old brands are long gone in  favor of safer alternatives.”

John Masters, Founder, John Masters Organics
John is part basement alchemist and part organic innovator. From his humble beginnings mixing organic essential oils and herbs in his kitchen sink, to the more than 30 luxury organic products carried around the world, John Masters continues his 15-year labor of love as a leader and innovator in the beauty care industry. John Masters is on the board of Global Green USA, an environmental organization with a mission to address the greatest challenges facing humanity.

Jeremiah McElwee, Senior Global Whole Body Coordinator, Whole Foods Market
Jeremiah oversees all aspects of Whole Body for all Whole Foods Market’s nationally, a job that entails managing product selection, working with stores to develop innovative concepts and helping major manufacturers/vendors with successful product development. Jeremiah stays on top of consumer demands and trends through his work with cutting edge researchers, companies and ethnobotanists to explore what is now and next. He is the inspiration behind the recent ground breaking partnership between WFM & Teens for Safe Cosmetics in the creation of the Teens Turning Green Collection exclusively at WFM nationally focusing attention on the health and well being of our next generation.

Lora O’Connor, Principal, Inspired Productions
Lora is the Founding team member, Director Social Media – CitizenGlobal.com – breakthrough social media platform.  A producer, strategist and social entrepreneur, Lora founded Inspired Productions to facilitate cross sector collaborations and has played a key role in designing and producing social change events and civil society partnerships over a span of several decades, ranging from FarmAid and United Nations World Environment Day to the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Green Ball. O’Connor has managed political campaigns at the local, state and national levels and served as Political Director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Recently, O’Connor has produced social action, marketing and media strategies for the Academy-Award winning film, An Inconvenient Truth.  Executive Producer of “greening of film production” and earned “Environmental Media Association GREEN SEAL AWARD” for “LaMission”, SanFrancisco, Benjamin and Peter Bratt, producers. LA and DC premieres, Oscar-Nominated Best Doc ” The GARDEN”winner of SilverDocs in DC and several others including the Aspen Ideas Festival – Social Media Collaborative and Participant Media film festival. As a corporate and organizational strategist, O’Connors past clients include US Conference of Mayors, State of the World Forum, City of Denver, Aspen Institute, Womens Media Center, Green Festivals, Bioneers, Chopra Center for Well Being, numerous others. She is Co-Founder to CA Women for Obama, Obama4America, DNC Women’s Leadership Forum and California Finance Committee.  O’Connor also serves on the Advisory Boards of CA Student Sustainability Coalition, Alliance for a New Humanity.   Lora currently resides and gardens in Santa Monica with her 12 year old niece, Marisa.

Karl Palmer, Manager, Pollution Prevention Branch at CA Department of Toxic Substances Control
Karl Palmer is the manager of the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) Pollution Prevention Branch in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Green Technology. He is currently responsible for DTSC’s efforts to implement pollution prevention programs, supporting local Green Business Programs and helping lead the Department’s efforts to expand pollution prevention efforts, green chemistry strategies and sustainability initiatives throughout California. Prior to his current job, Karl lead DTSC’s Regulatory and Program Development Branch,  providing technical support and policy development and adopting regulations for hazardous waste classification, recycling, household hazardous waste, electronic waste and universal wastes.  Mr. Palmer has worked in each of DTSC’s core programs performing a wide variety of work including site assessments and inspections of hazardous waste sites, conducting investigations at state superfund sites, cleaning up former methamphetamine labs and coordinating HAZMAT support at major chemical spills and natural disasters. Mr. Palmer holds a B.S. in Resource Sciences from the University of California, Davis.

Rachel Sarnoff, Executive Director, Healthy Child Healthy World / Founder, EcoStilleto and MommyGreenest
Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is a mother of three who left a successful career as a publicist to follow her dream of helping women “stiletto-size” their carbon footprints. She blogs as Mommy Greenest and publishes EcoStiletto with daily updates on eco-friendly fashion, beauty, lifestyle and parenting. Rachel has appeared on “Access Hollywood,” “Hollywood Green” and “Good Day L.A.” and regularly writes and speaks about living an eco-friendly life; she’s also working on book called Mommy Greenest: Changing the World, One Small Step At A Time.

Francesca Schuler
Francesca Schuler is a senior marketing executive whose passion is building lifestyle brands that have a unique and deep connection with their consumers.  Francesca is currently the CMO of Foster’s Wine Estates Americas, managing a wine portfolio that includes Beringer, Chateau St. Jean, Stags’ Leap, and Penfolds.   Prior to Foster’s, she was the head of Marketing for Method Products, Inc, a pioneer of premium non-toxic home care, laundry, air care and personal care products that was named one of the 50 most innovative companies in 2008 by Fast Company.   Previously, Francesca was the vice president of brand management in Gap’s Global Marketing department.  When she first joined the Gap she ran the Corporate Strategy group for Gap, Inc.  Francesca was also a partner at Marakon Associates, a boutique management consulting firm, where she advised consumer and retail companies.  Early in her career, she held several marketing and sales positions at the E&J Gallo Winery.  Francesca holds an M.B.A. from Wharton and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Brown University.  She is on the Board of Directors of NutraBella, Inc., makers of Bellybar products and on the Advisory Boards of Threadsy and Teens Turning Green.  Francesca is also the founder of Bay Area Marketers (BAM), an innovation network for marketers.   She lives in San Francisco with her husband Eric and children, Aria and Will, who are her inspiration for creating unique brand experiences.

Bahar Shahpar, Sustainable Fashion Designer
Brooklyn-based Bahar Shahpar is a self-taught designer with a diverse creative background in multimedia event production, fashion, and publishing. After extensive research on the history of American agricultural systems and the textile industry, she debuted her eponymous womenswear line for Spring 2007, inspired by the American frontier and created using only sustainable materials. The collection is now carried in esteemed retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and over 30 independent boutiques internationally.  Bahar Shahpar was named to Domino, WWD, Vogue, Lucky, NYLON, ELLE, and Oprah Magazine – as well as being regularly featured at established sustainable lifestyle journals such as Inhabitat.com and Sprig.com. magazine’s 2007 Green List, and she has been featured in major fashion and lifestyle publications. In 2008, Bahar co-founded The Four Hundred, a sales showroom and brand development agency focusing exclusively on high-end, fashion-forward sustainable design companies. She currently works as a consultant for sustainable style and wholesale sourcing, and is actively involved in several non-profit organizations and projects promoting different aspects of sustainable living.

Renée Sharp, Director of California Office, Environmental Working Group
Renée holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Biology from Penn State University and Rice University. She first worked as a Senior Analyst for Environmental Working Group on a wide range of environmental health and natural resource issues for eight years before becoming head of the organization’s California office in 2008.When not in the office Renée spends most of her time hiking, climbing, skiing and rafting, and believes that the US now has an unprecedented opportunity to regain world leadership on environmental issues.

Mark Schapiro, Editorial Director, Center for Investigative Reporting / Author, EXPOSED: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power
In the book, Schapiro investigates the response of U.S. transnational corporations to the raising of environmental health standards in Europe. His award-winning environmental stories have appeared in multiple media: in print, for publications such as Harpers, The Nation and the LA Times; on television, where he is a correspondent for PBS’ Frontline/World; and on the public radio program ‘Marketplace’.

Julia A. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., Director, NYU Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Program, Lynne Cohen Breast Cancer Preventive Care Program, NYU
Julia is a medical oncologist and scientist whose particular interest is in risk assessment for breast cancer with the goal of increasing surveillance, early detection, and prevention. She has received numerous awards, sits on medical advisory boards for clinical and scientific research, and lectures and speaks around the country. Julia graduated from the New York University School of Medicine’s joint MD/PhD program in 1980, with a doctorate in cell biology. She then did her internal medicine training at Harvard Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in hematology-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Mark Stefanski, Science Teacher, Marin Academy
Mark has taught high school science for the past 23 years, and is currently a Biology instructor at Marin Academy in San Rafael where he holds the H.D. Thoreau Faculty Chair, a position that promotes education for sustainability and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. A recipient of the Gustav Ohaus Award from the National Science Teachers Association for innovative teaching strategies in high school science. Mark is passionate about working with teenagers to assist them in gaining a deeper sense of self, and he facilitates programs, including wilderness programs, that help teens to identify core values, fields of interests, and personal skills. He also consults with the Teens Turning Green: Schools program.

Olowo-n’djo Tchala,  Founder, Alaffia
Olowo-n’djo, a West African by birth and his American wife Rose ( they met when she was in the Peace Corp in Togo ) , founded Alaffia  Sustainable Skincare. Alaffia is one of the most innovative and original eco body companies in the “green” world. The products are made with Shea butter, a natural renewable resource and other indigenous ingredients that come from the people of the Agbanga Karite/Alaffia Shea Butter Women’s Cooperative bringing income to the people of this community in Togo, West Africa. Olowo-n’djo has worked hard to bring economic gender equality to the women of Togo as well as making his products fair-trade and sustainable.10% of their sales sales support community enhancement projects in Togo, West Africa. Alaffia has a fabulous product in the Teens Turning Green Collection called Mambo Mango Body Butter.The company is based in Olympia, Washington.

Carly Wertheim, Student, Barnard College
Carly is a student at Barnard College in New York studying environmental science. Throughout high school, Carly took a lead role in the Teens Turning Green campaign, serving as the campaign’s president and lead spokesperson. She has presented to schools, businesses, conferences, and festivals, educating peers and community members about harmful chemical exposures and the steps to become a more educated consumer. As an advocate for legislation that protects our right to health, Carly presented testimony to Senators in Sacramento at a hearing on the Green Chemistry initiative.  After spending a gap-year abroad, Carly returned home from an organic farming experience in Ecuador inspired and passionate about sustainable agriculture. During the summer of 2010 she helped launch Project Lunch, a TTG program to bring local, organic, and wholesome food options to schools. Currently, Carly is a Barnard EcoRep, working with students and administration to make her campus a more sustainable environment. She can usually be found at the farmer’s market, hiking, cooking, and spends her spare playing the guitar and practicing yoga.

Marci Zaroff, Founder, Under the Canopy / Founder + CEO, FASE
Marci has a degree from the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. A vegetarian since the age of 16, Marci co-founded a thriving health and environmental educational center, Aveda Spa, magazine and organic cafe in New York City, known today as “The Institute for Integrative Nutrition”. After a decade in the natural/organic food and beauty worlds, Zaroff recognized the “missing link” in the wellness equation, and seized the opportunity to launch leading organic & sustainable fiber lifestyle brand “Under the Canopy”. She pioneered the market for ECOfashion®, a term she coined and trademarked in 1996. Always evolving & driving the market with her passion, creativity and vision, Marci is currently building her next cutting-edge sustainable lifestyle brand, FASE. Zaroff is an internationally recognized expert, innovator & authority in organic fiber fashion and home products and has created a unique development, distribution and monitoring business model to ensure that the process and the products remain pure and authentic. She helped write the USA & Global Organic Fiber certification standards, has launched first-time organic fiber initiatives into major retailers nationwide, and is a sought after speaker & spokesperson of ECOfashion & green business. Marci is the proud mother of 2 teens raised green, Jade and Mason.

Collaborations

o   Alliance for Climate Education
o   Axion Design
o   Breast Cancer Fund
o   Butler, Shine, Stern + Partners Advertising
o   California Healthy Nail Salon  Collaborative
o   Congressmember Lynn Woolsey ( D- CA)
o   Congressmember Steve Israel ( D-NY)
o   Dominican University
o   Eco Mom Alliance
o   Environment California
o   Environmental Health Trust
o   Environmental Working Group
o   Green Sangha
o   International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety
o   Marin County Board of Supervisors
o   Marin Women’s Commission
o   Mimi Field Public Relations
o   National Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
o   Nourish Food & Community
o   San Francisco Department of the Environment
o   State Senator Mark Leno
o   Women’s Voices for the Earth
o   And many more partners…