New World Voices | Changing The World One Impossible Dream At A Time

Helping people move through change more effortlessly is what Pere is about. In this inspiring interview, discover how he’s helping people connect with their true selves and repattern their lives to be based on having more personal freedom.

Pere Merced is the founder of Fractal Change and has over 17 years of experience working with plant medicine including Ayahuasca and San Pedro. Pere is driven to help others grow and change for the better and since 2013, has created and led workshops and various coaching programs for organizations and individuals throughout Shanghai, Beijing, and Barcelona including the Amazonian Emotional Process, the Emotional Breathing Process, and Ecstatic Dance.

Pere is an ICC Certified Master Coach and holds a Master’s degree in Management and Marketing. Before devoting his work full-time to Fractal Change, Pere worked as an Overseas Business Development Manager in a Chinese corporation and previously served as an Executive Director and Overseas Business Manager in a consulting company with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Spain.

“Do your best no matter what" is what Mr. Lutz taught me and thousands of other students he helped over a twenty-plus year period. In this interview, Ken and I walk down memory lane and share how his approach to inspiring his students through self-leadership and collaboration, had a positive influence on many of our lives.

Kenneth Lutz, retired high school music teacher, is active in both theatre and music. He plays clarinet in the East Winds Symphonic Band and the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra and takes on many acting roles in various theater productions such as George Spelvin in The Actor’s Nightmare with Proudly Presents Productions, Weller in Grand Dream Productions’ The Gin Game, Charles Thomson in 1776 with Artscape, Dr. Dorn in Wooden Rocket's The Seagull, Pastor James in The Gospel Singer with Pittsburgh Lab Project, and Lee in Better Late with South Park Theatre.

Every year more than 10 million Chinese teenagers battle their way to higher education. They are overwhelmed and stressed by school, activities, and exams and therefore feel unmotivated, and confused about their future. To address this problem, Ann He founded The New Project, an educational platform for Chinese youth and teenagers to gain support and encouragement to follow their dreams and make them come true.

China is rapidly changing and so are her people. Ann is leading this new generation of youth to value their feelings, go after their dreams, and express themselves confident enough to go out there and get it. She is a member of CogSci/Society for Research in Child Development/ Cognitive Development Society. She has a great passion to empower China’s teenagers with inspiration, motivation, and emotional support. Learn how her personal journey has made her an important voice in shaping China’s exciting future.

www.TheNewProject.co/en

According to Lorna, the future success of education will stem from our ability to integrate more social and emotional skills into our learning development. Get inspired by her motivation to transform education from the ground up with a loving and compassionate mindful approach.

Lorna Jutton (Luna), is the founder and facilitator of Luna Mindfulness. She teaches mindfulness to students in schools as well as running parent and teacher training workshops helping them to find peace, clarity and focus.

Lorna is a qualified (PGCE) and experienced teacher from the UK. She applies mindfulness to  help children pay attention, develop awareness, and improve their emotional management.

Lorna is a certified mindfulness teacher by Youth Mindfulness in the UK and is currently pursuing a master's in Character Education from the University of Birmingham. In formal practice of mindfulness, she has completed a 10-day vipassana meditation retreat and she enjoys walking the dog, cooking, eating, and reading as part of her informal practice.

Hossein’s philosophy on life is to live in the moment, be joyful with what you have, go beyond the boundaries of what you think, and learn as much as you can from others who are different from you. Listen in on how the arts and being a global citizen has shaped his life and made him into a cultural ambassador of the world.

Hossein Bordbar was born in 1983 in Shiraz, Iran. As a lover of culture and arts, Hossein is CEO of Borbar, “The Belt & Road'' Art Foundation. He is also a gifted carpet designer and holds a bachelor’s degree of English and French Literature with a Master’s in History and Tourism from Tehran University.

As a keynote speaker and lecturer, he has participated in many cultural projects focused on Persian Arts and has held exhibitions all over the world, including places like Switzerland, France, Iceland, Thailand, and the UK. 

One of his current projects is bringing about cultural exchanges between China and Iran. 

Change can be a big challenge for most people. Adam shares insights on living as an ex-pat and how being open and curious to different cultures is the best way to integrate into a place like China. The key is to learn to honor and value differences, not make someone wrong because of their difference.

Adam McWrither loves being the Managing Director at Maxxelli, a Global Mobility and Destination Service Provider (DSP), specializing in 1st tier through 4th Tier China. 

Since moving to Asia in 2002, he’s continued to grow his passion of developing business relationships that thrive throughout China. 

As a team player, he is a firm believer in mutually beneficial partnerships and believes balance should be the ultimate goal in any business relationship. He is responsible for a network of 20 cities and 60+ employees with a primary focus on Business Development throughout China.

Today, Maxxelli Real Estate not only provides Destination Services, but also helps relocate companies throughout his vast network. This includes both Commercial and Industrial real estate with a full range of consulting services.

Patrik talks about his personal journey of transformation. He shares with us insights into having an open mind and a growth mindset and why being purpose-driven provides greater reward than just being comfortable in a good corporate gig. Through The Natural Step, he’s been able to bring all of his natural gifts as a business leader into change agent work.

Patrik Sandin is the Founder and Director of The Natural Step China. He is also an alumni from Singularity University, NASA Ames, and a member of the global ExO network of exponential organization experts. His passion is to provide strategic and transformative sustainability consultation to drive growth, profitability, innovation, and operational improvement for multinational and domestic clients.

Before joining The Natural Step, Patrik worked as a senior manager in Ernst & Young Sweden and was a strategy consultant at OC&C Strategy Consultants in London and redesigned projects with Accenture and Anpro Ltd. 

He’s worked as the head of the South China office for the Swedish Trade and Invest Council where he led a team of 10 Chinese consultants providing advice to Swedish companies about how to do business in China; such as market entry studies, source advisory, and CSR issues and Clean-tech investments. 

Patrik is also a frequented speaker and has been featured on stages like TEDx, Hainan Belt & Road, Startup Weekend, World Green Design Forum, UN Global Economy Prosperity Forum, and CUHK CSR Conference to name a few. Currently, he is a guest lecturer in the MBA program at Shanghai University. 

Join us for a heartfelt conversation that touches on the importance of moving in a direction of authenticity. Fang shares her personal journey of self-love and how committing random acts of kindness is key to shaping the future as we rediscover our values again.

Fang Dong is a German-born-Shanghainese, who aims to build and engage with a strong network of industry peers and cultivate a culture of learning to drive greater social good by involving technology.

Fang joined Impact Hub, Singapore’s largest co-working community of techies, social impact entrepreneurs and creatives supported by Google for Entrepreneurs. There, Fang discovered her passion for helping members accelerate their business growth by connecting them to the right people and empowering events such as the Tech & Humanity conference. 

She believes that the scale and speed of innovation in the Chinese market holds great potential for communities to learn from each other and participate in thought-provoking events that may result in impactful business opportunities in Shanghai. 

Join us for an inspiring conversation with “Role Models Not Runway Models," Carrie Hammer, that unpacks the truth of beauty, how to dare to be different and why taking action behind what you believe in can spark a movement that changes things for the better.

Carrie Hammer has been credited in kickstarting the “body positive” movement in the fashion and advertising industries through the creation of her powerful campaign “Role Models Not Runway Models.” Fox called it “The Runway Revolution” when she included powerful CEOS, executives, activists, and philanthropists on the runway in lieu of traditional models.

Hammer, her line, and her movement have been featured on and in the New York Times, WSJ, CNBC, Today Show, Fox Business News, Forbes, Good Morning America, Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan amongst others. Hammer was featured by Forbes as 30 Under 30, and was named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 15 Female Entrepreneurs to watch in 2015.

Working with some of the most powerful women in the world, as well as with global press and brand partners, Hammer became adept at marketing to a class of global KOLs through branding, partnerships, and maintaining relationships with private clients. Hammer now utilizes those skills, partnerships, and global relationships in working with her consulting clients.

As a Reiki Master, Michael spreads Holy Fire Reiki to help others create the kinds of outcomes they dream of in their lives. Listen in as he talks about the gift of being a channel and being a person of service; infecting humanity with the LOVE virus.

Michael Torkaz is originally from Boston, MA, USA, and has practiced Usui Reiki since the early 2000’s. He received his first Master Teacher title in 2005. He has been teaching and training Reiki practitioners in Shanghai since he became a Usui Holy Fire Reiki Master Teacher in 2017. He loves introducing people to the holistic healing power and beneficial energy that Reiki allows. 

He also leads training programs for people new to Reiki as well as Reiki practitioners. Through both science and spirituality, Michael is working to raise awareness and practice of Reiki in the world. He is also active in regional Burning Man, permaculture, and wellness communities. Please contact: Michaeltokarz@yahoo.com for more information.

Janine Jakob says,  “Believe in yourself and own your superpower” is Janine’s motto. Inside of this exciting interview, she illuminates the path towards happiness and success - inspiring new mindsets and behaviors for the new world.

Janine Jakob is CEO, Intercultural Trainer, Happiness & Career Coach, and Motivational Speaker with a focus on soft skills, cross-cultural communication, well-being/ happiness as a success factor. 

She is Founder of Full Potential Partners, Monday Morning Motivation China, Happiness Association Suzhou, Girl Gone International Suzhou, Jinji Network Suzhou, ByeByeBorders Suzhou. Her company provides you with business consulting, training, and team building events related to soft skills, intercultural communication, and well-being topics, as well as life and career coaching. It is aimed at individuals, teams, and your company to maximize your effectiveness, productivity, and happiness both personally and professionally.

Our future relies on our ability to value our lives. Food is the gateway to understanding how to value oneself and our connection with nature. In this rich interview, Peggy shares how to scale our efforts as change agents and breaks down specifically what love has got to do with it.

Peggy Liu as Chairperson of JUCCCE, is one of the leading catalysts of a green China and consults companies and governments on sustainability and cross-cultural collaboration with China. JUCCCE is an environmental organization that has been at the heart of the greening of China since 2007. It is most noted for accelerating societal-scale change in diets, sustainable cities, sustainable consumerism, and smart grid with its multi-sector, cross-border convening power.

She is a consultant on market entry into China to companies such as Duke Energy and governments such as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and consults on sustainable market innovation for companies such as Unilever and Danone.

Peggy has a passion for connecting personal and planetary health. Her life goal in childhood was to use technology to improve the living standards of people around the world. She believes that the most helpful skill is heart-based storytelling, that cultural translators will have the most important roles of the next generation, and that those who can create a better-shared future, should. 

Her Website: https://www.juccce.org/

Panyang believes that having courage and taking important risks lead to happiness. In this inspiring conversation, she shares how her work in media and nightlife programming is empowering China’s shy and the curious with social skills and community building.

Panyang Hu is CCTV Global Channel Industry Consultant, and Founder and Executive Producer of NightFly & International Women's Play Week(IWPW). Her mission is to empower Chinese young women to feel beautiful, confident and fully expressed in all their gifts and talents. 

She’s been featured in 2019 Forbes China U30 and was Industry Consultant of China Global Television Network. Her focus is on Consumption Upgrades and Global Trends of Millennium Consumption Behavior.

She believes in “Equality, Respect, Freedom” for all and carries her beliefs into her work.

She served as strategy director for Shanghai Black Fashion Week to support the virtue of equality for the black community in China to bring about more cross-culture awareness. She also started International Women’s Play Week (IWPW) and produced 2019 “Don’t Blame Sexy” IWPW, to encourage both men and women to value the importance of boosting women’s confidence in society. 

She’s currently working on her “NightFly” platform which provides high quality nightlife experiences for people wanting to make new friends, have great and memorable experiences and connect to the world.  

Discover how humor and having faith in God literally saved Charmaine Thomas's life of this incredible woman. Inside of this interview, Charmine shares a powerful story of how she beat death, overcame depression and anxiety, and found purpose and courage to step into her Divine destiny.

Charmaine Thomas is no longer living life to “fall in love.”  As a small town, country girl from Oklahoma, Charmaine now chooses to fall in love with living life as an author/writer, inspirational speaker, aspiring actor, and director/producer. Her passion and sole purpose in life is using her “I Am Enough” platform to extract the gifts placed within herself and others, and help to catapult people toward their ordained destiny. She strives daily to change lives on earth to create an eternal legacy. She believes that what we do in life echoes into eternity. She is affectionately known as Red, and publicly known as the "MC from Heaven".

With today’s increasingly developing complexities, we’re having to step out of our comfort zones and learn to accept a level of uncertainty until the answers arise. Lin delivers a down to earth approach to finding solutions that address climate change via asking better questions and thinking about things on a deeper level inside of our imagination.

Lin Zhang is the Chief Sustainability Advisor and Head of Advisory and Innovation Services of The Natural Step China. She has rich and deep experiences in sustainability projects across various industries, different sized multinational and national business/organizations, from international brands to local manufactures, from Fortune 500 to family-owned local dying mill.

Lin is also an industry tutor at China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and start-up mentor for Impact Hub Shanghai. She often speaks at Chinese Sustainability Conferences and other relevant events.

Before joining The Natural Step, she had 10+ years in ASIC and Telecom industries both as an R&D engineer and project manager (Switchcore, Ericsson), as well as vice president of Corporate Development (Packet Architects). Lin holds double master degrees, in EE (system on chip) & business (Sustainable Business Leadership) both from Lund University, Sweden.

Nitin Dani gives us a glimpse into a compassionate future. He shares tips and clues on how to manage the stress and overwhelm we all are currently experiencing as we engage the global challenges we face today. Through a lens of gratitude, ease, and grace, he inspires us to find simplicity and peace in our lives so that we can address our most pressing issues with compassionate resilience.

Nitin Dani is Founder and Director of Green Initiatives, an environmental nonprofit-turned-social enterprise that facilitates learning and solutions on local & global issues, and collaborates with companies on employee engagement activities.

Green Initiatives has organized over 700 events since its inception in 2009 attended by over 30,000 people, including Shanghai’s longest running monthly sustainability forums. In November 2016, it was awarded Shanghai’s Most Innovative Nonprofit by AmCham Shanghai, an organization that has a 100-year history in the city, for reducing barriers for organizations to participate in CSR.

Nitin also works as a Project Director at GIGA, an independent third party combining building material research and cloud software. GIGA’s software and algorithms are used to manage and connect the material data of some of the world's largest developers, design firms and certification bodies. GIGA is also the founder of RESET; world’s first performance-based building certification focused on health and regeneration, designed to plug-in to other certification systems such as LEED, WELL and Fitwel. RESET combines material health data and continuous indoor air quality monitoring.

Stephanie shares her vision of a new world that no longer exploits human lives, nor hurts the natural life of the earth anymore. Inside of this insightful conversation on sustainable fashion, she gives us antidotes to feeling overwhelmed or powerless during this moment of great change.

Stephanie Lawson is an English fashion entrepreneur, educator, and consultant who’s founded Designer at Zodiac Active Design Consultants. She is passionate about the development of sustainable and ethical practices in the fashion business world all over the globe. 

She has been based in Asia for over 10 years and has worked with teams in a variety of different countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Hong Kong and China. Her work spans across fashion design, product development, marketing & sustainability.

She currently teaches in both local and national Chinese colleges and universities on sustainable fashion and business practices. She also gives keynote speeches, participates in panels and hackathons, and leads workshops on design, consumption, circular economy, and design education in the sustainability sector. 

Ket learned early on that chasing money and success leads to vicious cycles of negativity. When you lose sight of who you are, crisis hits. In this heart moving interview, Ket shares why kindness must be a key component to healing pain, bridging difference, and moving us into a new paradigm.

Ket Sing Kon is a spiritual teacher, energy healer, and Feng Shui master. He has conducted hundreds of meditation and Qigong classes, including meditation retreats and workshops on abundance, spirituality, and Feng Shui. As an energy healer, Ket has helped hundreds of people, including those with spiritual emergencies, mostly through working with Qi & the soul and chakras system. He sets himself apart in the field of Feng Shui by applying his ability and knowledge of energy reading to determine the actual energy condition and Qi flow of sites.

Formerly an Asean-scholar and an engineering graduate of the National University of Singapore, he didn't quite believe in whatever he is now doing when he was younger. Not until some fateful events which led him to become who he is today. Prior to being involved in spirituality and energy, Ket worked as an engineer for a Fortune 500 American MNC in Singapore and also spent 10 years in the health food industry. Now he applies his logical and scientifically trained mind to master his present fields and help others understand what he has learned. Ket is known for using easy-to-understand, logical, and even scientific approaches to explain widely misunderstood energy phenomena in his workshops, classes, and retreats.