Kelley Colihan Robertson spent thirty years as a journalist- ten years in Washington, D.C.- started answering phones at ABC News, was a fledging producer for the Larry King Live radio show and a news editor at NPR.
UPI still owes me for stringer work I did at a funeral for a general when I was 23- I was too shy to tell anyone at Arlington National Cemetery that I was a “reporter”- so instead enjoyed listening to graveside war stories until someone asked “who ARE you?”
In 1995 I joined CNN in Atlanta as a news writer. The incessant coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial had me defect to CNN International.
Moved to Williamsburg, NY after 9/11 with my new husband and our three-week-old baby boy, two cats and two dogs.
Returned to Atlanta two years later, got divorced and I produced medical documentaries for Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN.
Yoga helped me de-stress from the news world. At one point I had the perfect gig- three days a week at CNN and two days a week teaching yoga.
Left the news business in 2014 to study Integrative Medicine at Duke University.
Launched Avolve Wellness in 2015.
Currently I teach yoga on Zoom, raise two teen boys and trade fruits and vegetables with neighbors.
Bianca Connolly is a writer and wellness practitioner. She has worked as a copywriter and content strategist for several big name brands in NYC including Google, J.Crew, Razorfish, Intermix, Uniqlo, and more, and has written for publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, and Spirit of St. Barth. She'll also be launching her wellness business, Bien, in 2021.
Alicia Boyes is an alchemist that leads others through the transformative process from PTSD Recovery into Post Traumatic Growth. Having had twenty plus years as a leader and trailblazer in the hospitality industry and known as a corporate culture change maker she shifted her professional career and began a much desired personal transformation a few years ago guiding her down this new path. Decades after a harrowing experience of surviving a natural disaster her quest to understand trauma and the healing process has led, and continues to lead, her on the wild adventure of how trauma lives in and through the human spirit. Currently based in Sonoma, CA, she's taking time to share and write her story, hike the pristine Lost Coast and redwood forest while working with others on their healing journey.
Carolina Campbell has over 20 years of Wall Street experience working at various global investment banks in NYC. Carolina held several leadership positions covering blue chip/Fortune 500 corporate clients and top institutional investors. Carolina is now based in Los Angeles and founded Illuminate Consulting Group (ICG) after identifying a gap in the mid-stage growth private company marketplace. ICG focuses on supporting female entrepreneurs and founders by offering outsourced CFO and COO services, strategy/business planning support and introductions to investor capital. Carolina is also a member of various professional women's organizations and initiatives and is involved in several local LA charitable organizations and is proudly writing a memoir on her experience on Wall Street and her desire is to help empower all women in all industries to be the best versions of empowered selves.
Nandu Awatramani was born in India and lives in NYC. He dreams of writing his first book on his life leading up to what caused his heart attack at the age of 38. Life changed for him as he began to see and feel from his heart and not as much from his head. This life lesson can show the world how they too can live through their heart and follow their path to personal freedom, self-respect, and balanced life. He spent 20 years operating his restaurant chain. Today, he helps restaurateurs improve their business while striking a balance between their work and life. He loves to write, do pottery, draw, paint, and go for long nature walks.
Rose Andrez is a dynamic trainer and inspirational speaker bringing over 20 years of experience to her clients. She has conducted her programs in holistic centers, major corporations, hospitals, non-profit organizations and women’s groups across the Northeast. Rose’s expertise is in presentation/communication skills, self-care/stress management and emotional intelligence. She combines her extensive experience in body-mind integration and alternative healing with supporting other’s in understanding their life story to cultivate an authentic life. She was trained by Ilana Rubenfeld in a three-year professional training program, The Rubenfeld Synergy Method. Rose’s story was published in the book, Healing Journeys – The Power of Rubenfeld Synergy edited by Vicki Mechner.
Rose has written her first solo show, Lost In Suburbia: The Demise of the Domestic Diva. It’s about one woman’s risky adventure with the heart of suburbia and the surprising revelation she makes along the way, both about herself, and what is really means to be “home”.
Rose loves to sing! She has performed in a variety of NYC venues and has recorded two CD’s, “Lucky Woman” and “I Got A Man” with Verex Entertainment. She had the privilege of working with Grammy award winning engineer, Dae Bennett who recorded and mixed the single “Wonderful”.
Rose resides in Edgewater, NJ with her wonderful husband, Greg. They enjoy travel, music and spending time with their 17 nieces and nephews! She is an advocate for mental illness and has been involved in fundraising efforts and connecting with policymakers with the National Association on Mental Illness in NYC. Rose is looking forward to writing her first memoir about almost losing her life to mental illness. She is thrilled to be a part of the Gateless Academy.
Deborah Cort is a holistic health coach and owner of Divinely Nourishing in Amherst, NH. Her clients are women who think they need to lose weight and who are unhappy with their bodies. Deborah’s passion is guiding women to be in a nourishing relationship with food and body, letting go of the need to diet.
Through her work, Deborah embraces the divine feminine, helping women awaken to their role on this planet at this time. She offers online one-on-one coaching, classes and workshops along with a monthly newsletter and blog. You can find Deborah at www.divinelynourishing.com and on Facebook @DivinelyNourishing.
Terena Thyne Eisner is a writer covering health, travel, and lifestyle feature articles for a variety of publications, including Angeleno, Harper's Bazaar Singapore, Coast, Elle, Arena, Robb Report, The Sun, Variety, and others. She is a Co-Founder of the experiential travel website www.wandermelon.com. She was the Contributing Lifestyle Editor of Harper’s Bazaar Singapore, and Lifestyle Editor of the luxury lifestyle magazine CREAM distributed throughout S.E. Asia. Her debut novel is Bali High.
In addition to her writing, she is an active board member of the Eisner Foundation, Children's Health Defense, and 826LA, a writing and after school tutoring center in Los Angeles. She is also an advisory board member of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Denver. She lives in Newport Coast with her husband and three boys.
Judy Gotlieb has been studying writing with published author Valerie Leff at Westport Writers Workshop for the past four years, and with Emily W. Blacker, editor of The Maine Review, for the past one and a half years. Her Gateless experience in a workshop with Suzanne Kingsbury in the spring of 2019 inspired her to study with Gateless luminary Kate Grey. During that time, Judy’s writing focus turned toward her close relationship with a childhood African-American housekeeper named Gracie, who moved up from the south to work for her family for eleven years. Seven-year-old Judy quickly bonded with Gracie, calling her Goose, because she loved hanging on Gracie’s beautiful long neck.
Judy enjoys living in the Connecticut woods with her second husband Neal Brodsky, and their feisty two-year-old British Shorthair cat, Joy. She is also a proud mother of thirty-four-year-old daughter Bigi, who lives in Brooklyn with her sensual Tonkinese cat, Pia.
Working as a licensed holistic psychotherapist with individuals, couples, families and groups from her home office continues to be a deeply satisfying career for Judy.
Alex Hirsch - I make paintings and drawings with watercolor and assorted media. I hope my viewer will engage with the imagery while going more deeply within themselves. The energy moves from calm to highly energetic. My imagery and content draw from landscape, weather, psychology, spirituality, and the marks we leave.
On a commissioned basis, I create painterly, site-specific art glass for architectural environments. Whether working toward contemplative, uplifting or somewhat more provocative imagery, mood is always an underpinning consideration in my design. In fact, my starting point for nearly all of my work is mood, energy and color.
My pieces are in national and international collections including the United States Embassy (Bulgaria), U.S. Aid (Uganda), The City of Seattle (Washington), The City of Portland (Oregon), Good Samaritan Hospital (Puyallup, WA), Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR), Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR) Hallmark Corporation (Kansas), Umpqua Bank, (Portland, OR) Robbins Scientific, (Palo Alto, CA), Opton & Black (Portland, OR) and Auburn High School (Auburn, WA).
My education includes a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Michigan. I earned a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Washington University. I developed my glass skills in studios in Oregon, Scotland and Germany. For the past three years, I’ve been developing my voice on the page working first with AWA Method and now Gateless.
I am based in Portland, Oregon.
Kara Hawkins recently returned from an extended period overseas. She studied Arabic in Jordan, worked as a foreign policy analyst in Abu Dhabi, changed course to teach yoga in Dubai, moved to a remote Greek island to recharge and reconnect, and travelled to India for further yoga study, with the intention of staying. However, she returned to Australia to see family, and arrived just weeks before the country’s pandemic-induced border closure. She has since been combining eastern spirituality with western psychology in her coaching training, and has returned to management consulting to help facilitate her learning and creative endeavours.
Debra Lynn Alt: I’m originally from New York City and have been a Connecticut resident for 20 years. I’m a singer-songwriter and have produced three CDs. I’ve performed at benefits and have written songs for various causes, including one for cancer survivors which became a book I self published illustrating the lyrics of the song with the award winning photographs of my friend who inspired the song. Each Moment We’re Alive, Inc. is now a nonprofit that supports cancer survivors, whose Board I am the President of. I’ve done workshops designed to inspire and support around emotional well being and healing. In 2018 I took a month long shamanic certification training in Chile´and have been practicing as a Shamanic Healing Arts Practitioner. I became a Justice of the Peace and have been ordained and officiate at weddings and other ceremonies. I am currently working on a book and a song about my shamanic experiences.
Marian Schembari is the Senior Editor at Marie Forleo International and is currently working on her first novel. Her essays have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and The New York Times. She lives with her husband and daughter in Portland, Oregon.
Fernanda Sarmento is a writer passionate about energy, mindset, funny stories, entrepreneurship, and her life as a foreigner in the US. She has a Bachelor's degree in Social Communication and Media Studies and an M.Sc in Production Engineering and has worked for several years as a digital marketer.
Abby Havermann is a Coach, Author and Speaker for high-achieving women who are highly successful on the outside, but are exhausted, overwhelmed, and doubting themselves on the inside. Using fifteen years as a psychotherapist, another twelve as a financial advisor and her own business and life experience, she inspires women to claim the value-driven personal and professional life that is only theirs to live. Abby is trained in Dr. Joe Dispenza’s highly-esteemed NeuroChange Solutions Program, and the author of the upcoming memoir, Into the Darkness. She enjoys dry glass of wine, a difficult hike, an occasional Netflix binge, and learning from her Humble Pie moments to grow herself and others.
Cameron Meade is a 2018 Pratt Institute MFA graduate in Painting & Drawing. In 2013, he received his B.A.S. in Psychics & Psychology, with a Proficiency Notation in Mandarin, from Stanford University. He has spent the past decade working for Starting Right, Now (SRN), a nonprofit in his hometown of Tampa, FL. Cameron’s art practice is largely inspired by SRN, from which he has cultivated a large unconventional family and realized the value of intimate connections. In 2019, Cameron was profiled as a RISING ARTIST by ALL ARTS (PBS), and SRN was featured as a CNN Hero.
John Lincoln: I'm just a guy trying to be the best man I can be in this world, who thinks about everything, lives life fully, loves to tell stories and likes to laugh 'till my eyes water. I have a wonderful partner, a pooch, a pussycat, 4 parrots, a tortoise, a chameleon, a bunch of Koi and some of the best people in my life a guy could hope for. I believe that we're all unique and when we understand and lean into who we most authentically are, we thrive infinitely. I coach people to do that - it's the job I was born to do.
I've done the corporate thing from dishwasher to Director, traveled the country in my Airstream trailer with my dog and cat, told stories on stage with Molly Ringwald, won a gold medal in men's singles figure-skating at the Gay Games and tend to straighten pictures when they're crooked.
My life goal is "to be a silly little old man who people love to be around." Pretty simple.
Laura Tempesta is a bra expert, apparel innovator, and an inventor of multiple patented products. After receiving her BA in Medical Anthropology from Stanford University, she began her career in business strategy. Realizing her true calling was in product creation, she later pursued apparel design and development. During her tenure as Sports Bra Innovation Director at Nike, she helped guide and develop sports bra innovation, and is the only person in North America with a master’s degree in lingerie design. She serves as a consultant to the bra industry, and is the founder of Bravolution®, a consumer advocacy group and resource providing bra reviews and education. She has been featured as a bra expert in Vogue, Insider, and Better Homes & Gardens and is a TEDx speaker. Laura is an avid baker and is on a lifelong quest to formulate the perfect pie crust recipe. She enjoys domestic and international travel and has visited thirty-eight countries and all fifty states. She lives in Vancouver, B.C.
Heather Sommerlad is a writer, musician, and educator in Guilford, VT. Her writing has appeared on Ravishly.com, and she is currently working on a memoir about her emotionally abusive childhood, and her experience with student loan debt and familiar fraud.
Amazon Best-selling author, Elly Molina, is an international intuitive advisor to former Heads of State, celebrities, business professionals and entrepreneurs.
Elly has appeared on FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, and in The New York Times. Elly is the author of the amazon best sellers Children Who Know How to Know, Dancing in the Unknown, and Annabelle and the Domino.
Elly is a leading expert in children’s intuitive development and the founder of Psi-Kids (www.psi-kids.com)
Throughout long careers as a dancer, choreographer, songwriter, and mom, Whit Hill has earned her living as a journalist and copywriter working for a wide variety of clients--from newspapers and magazines to medical schools and media companies. She recently summarized 26 studies comparing treatments for macular degeneration, and won't do that again (though she enjoyed amusing her friends with the drug name "Aflibercept"). Whit's first book, Not About Madonna, was published in 2010. She is beginning another and is excited to be part of the Gateless community. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Al, and a dog, Pearl.
Andrea Volpe writes about how things work, in art, culture, and her own life. Her bylines have appeared in The Awl, The New York Times, Fine Books and Collections, The Rumpus, The Washington Post Magazine, and Afterimage, among others.Volpe holds a PhD in US history (Rutgers) and went to college at Oberlin. She has been a resident at Hewnoaks in Maine and Craigardan in the Adirondacks. She was postdoctoral fellow at Brown’s Pembroke Center and a recipient of an individual research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She taught American Studies, American Art, and writing at Harvard, Colby College, and Boston University. IG: andrealynnvolpe; intermittent and unreliably sent newsletter.
Missy McCracken wants to live in a world where inner wisdom is curated, the journey is prized, and the soul’s purpose is esteemed. As a former All-American collegiate athlete and recovering attorney and a now sought-after empowerment coach and self-doubt eradicator, she has been spotlighted in the athletic and coaching communities. When she isn’t ingesting copious amounts of self-help and mind mastery materials or scribing furiously in journals, you can find her watching obscene amounts of television without an ounce of shame, and optimistically listening for her very own intuitive hits and divine downloads.
Joanna VanDeWater is an accomplished business and ministry leader who works for herself as an instructional designer. Joanna and her family recently left the cookie-cutter suburban life to live on a 5-acre slice of rural NC in a 40-year-old log cabin. Here, she sequesters herself in the attic staring at blank pages until her characters tell her what to write. She is occasionally sighted reading, gardening, playing with her dog or cats, parenting one of her four children (or possibly, her husband) or staring out the window as new worlds form in her imagination.
As a strategic storyteller, Katherine Rocheleau writes content, creates content strategies and develops brand narratives for both global companies (Bose, Aflac, Liberty Mutual) and award-winning agencies (Mechanica, Hill Holiday, Grey Global Group, Triad Communications). She has deep expertise in retail/e-commerce, technology, entertainment, healthcare, higher education hospitality and non-profit narratives.
After earning a double degree in Film Studies and Literature from New York University, Katherine cut her teeth working in film and television development in Los Angeles, working with acclaimed writers, directors and producers to create stories that inspire and empower hearts and minds. She then leveraged this experience as a writer and producer of digital content with roles as a producer in broadcast news, and a senior marketing manager for a national recruiting firm.
Combining her background in story development with her experience in strategic marketing communications, Katherine launched her own practice, KR Communications, with the mission to help brands connect to their customers on a deep emotional level—to create content that builds relationships, revenue and impact.
Katherine is passionate about creating and connecting stories that help others transform obstacles into opportunities to live more authentic, meaningful and adventurous lives. She is currently drafting her first novel, a contemporary fantasy she pitched as Monstress meets The Magicians. She has a special obsession for stories about magic grounded in the real world, the kind of stories that make you doubt the edges and limitations of our reality. When not writing you can find Katherine surfing the cold waters of southern Maine, dancing with her studly fiancé and dreaming up gluten free baking recipes.
Emily Stroia an entrepreneur, yoga and meditation teacher, published author, and speaker. She has spent the better part of 12 years sharing holistic health and wellness practices to enrich women's lives. She is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and discovered some unique practices that allowed her to find peace and build a life after many years of trauma. Emily has been featured in the New York Times about her experience around motherhood, and she's written articles for Medium, Vice, and Huffington Post. She also appeared on numerous wellness platforms, including Insight Timer, Thought Catalog, Gaia, Tiny Buddha, and more.
Joni Swedlund is a certified coach and executive with a 26-year career in management consulting serving global financial services clients, including 18 years as a partner with Deloitte. This created a deep desire to see more women in leadership roles. Joni created the Inner Rock Group to inspire and empower women & girls to step into their leadership. She accomplishes this through professional leadership development programs, coaching, consulting, and retreats. Joni is currently writing her business book “Lead from Inside Out”, is the host of the Strong Women. Stronger World. podcast, and just launched Inner Rock U an on-line learning platform.
Alumni
Terri Trespicio is an award-winning writer, speaker, and brand advisor. Her TEDx talk, “Stop Searching for Your Passion,” has surpassed 6.5 million views. She was named by Hubspot as one of the “Top 18 female speakers who are killing it," and one of the world’s leading creatives by Creative Boom magazine.
A former magazine editor and radio host at Martha Stewart, she has appeared on the Today show, Dr. Oz, The Early Show, The Martha Stewart Show and The Anderson Cooper Show. Her work has been featured in Oprah magazine, Marie Claire, Prevention, Business Insider, Forbes.com, and Inc.com. An in-demand speaker who presents at conferences across the country, she was rated the #1 speaker at Barron’s Top Independent Women Advisors Summit and How Design Live.
Terri is also a stand-up comic and has performed at famous Manhattan venues including Caroline’s, Dangerfield’s, Gotham, and New York Comedy Club, and was a quarter finalist in the She Devil Comedy Competition.
Terri earned her BA in English from Boston College and a MFA in Creative Writing in 2002 from Emerson College, where her thesis, a collection of poetry, won the Graduate Dean Award. A finalist for the Iowa Award and Glimmer Train, her literary work has appeared in The Greensboro Review, New Millenium Writings, and The Baltimore Review, where she won first place in their 2016 creative nonfiction contest. Certified in the Gateless method for capturing creative genius, she's the creator of the Six Week Sprint, a dynamic program for generating new work, and leads workshops and retreats all over the country.
She's represented by Johanna Castillo at Writers House, and her forthcoming book, tentatively titled Stop Searching for Your Passion, will be published in spring 2022 by Atria Books / Simon & Schuster.
Laura Belgray, founder of Talking Shrimp, is an award-winning copywriting expert and unapologetic lazy person. She's written TV spots for clients like NBC, Fandango, and Bravo, and now helps entrepreneurs and creatives to cash in on their unique personalities, become binge-worthy, and get paid to be 100% themselves. The Copy Cure, her course with Marie Forleo, has helped thousands of creative pros to master and even fall in love with copywriting.
Heather Bartos, MD is an OB-GYN and pseudo-recovered type A personality. She is a US Navy Veteran and former associate professor at USUHS and the NIH, and chief of Obstetric & Gynecology at Texas Health Hospital outside Dallas. Currently, she is the CEO/founder of her “village for women’s health,” Be. Women’s Health & Wellness, and longs for a day when all babies are born Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and noon.
Monique Barry received her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA where she was the recipient of the Barbara Streisand fellowship for comedy writing. She wrote and designed the web series Pop-Up Libido. Her essay To Fill or Not to Fill has been performed in Los Angeles and San Francisco by the Jewish Women’s Theatre group. She is currently finishing a book of personal essays, some of which have appeared in O. Magazine. When not writing, Monique is busy wondering whether the salmon she bought at the fish market is really wild and whether the water bottle that’s been in her car for three weeks is safe to drink.
Jennifer Barrett is the Chief Education Officer at Acorns, a financial wellness app with more than 8 million users, and founding editor of its money site, Grow. Before Acorns, she held various management roles in media, including Personal Finance Editor at CNBC and Senior Vice President and Editor in Chief at DailyWorth, a financial media company targeting women. She also worked at Hearst Digital as General Manager overseeing the Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Seventeen digital properties.
A longtime financial literacy advocate and award-winning journalist, Jennifer began her financial journalism career covering foreign exchange for The Wall Street Journal and spent seven years at Newsweek, where she was a staff writer and editor. The co-author of two personal finance books, she’s also written for several national publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Worth and Money. Her new book "Think Like a Breadwinner" will be published in April 2021 by Putnam Random House. A proud breadwinner, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @JBarrettNYC.
Tina Wallace wants to be a wizard when she grows up, with the power to manipulate reality and wield magic. For now, she does the next best thing. As a visual effects artist and producer, she has helped create the reality-adjacent worlds on TV shows and films. As a writer, she also creates her own science fiction and fantasy realities. Her short stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Shimmer, and The Arcanist. She also loves to help others to wield their own magic as a Gateless-trained book editor and teacher. Last year, she hosted a creativity retreat in a castle in Ireland, something she hopes to do again. Originally from West Virginia, she’s lived along both the East and West Coasts and, briefly, in Japan and China. She currently maintains a physical presence in Atlanta, GA.
Heidi Johannesen Poon - I will be working on my memoir in the Academy. My background is in poetry. I received a Fellowship from Brown and the Maytag Fellowship from Iowa where I received my MFA. I’ve been supported by MacDowell, Rona Jaffee, a PSA National Chapbook Fellowship and a Discovery/Boston Review prize. I live with my husband and nineteen-year-old son in Charlottesville, Virginia.