Julie is a MultidimensionnELLE woman who is devoted to making an impact in her community. Passionate about all things wellness & spirituality, she is the founder of Pureprep, a plant-based meal prep company. She also helps women reclaim their sovereignty through her mentorship, events and retreats. Dance is a medicine for her and played a big role in her journey of reconnection to the Divine Feminine energy.


Social Media Handles- 

Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/_purelyjulie

Facebook-  https://www.facebook.com/julie.guerard.75

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Biography-

My journey started when I was 19 years old. I was hired by the Attorney General’s Office of British Columbia and spent two years travelling the province; speaking to youths from 5-18 about racism and violence. I might be speaking to 60 kindergarten students in the morning and 4 at-risk teenagers (in a youth detention centre) in the afternoon. It was here where I discovered my first insight: People learn best by doing. In every situation we saw an increase in attention, energy and retention when we had volunteers! That is why my workshops are always highly interactive involving individual, partner and group work.

While at the Desautels School of Management at McGill  I was selected as one of the top 4 students in the program and as such travelled nationally and internationally representing the university in case competitions . From Copenhagen, to Dallas to Singapore this is where I had my second insight: Your presentation starts before you say a word. How much communication is supposed to be non-verbal? We make decisions in fractions of seconds based on what we see and we rarely remember what people say but we will always have an opinion about the speaker.  

Before I graduated professors started asking me if I might teach their students how to present. That is when my love of teaching was born, but it was to take a back seat as I entered the corporate world. 

I also turned a love for dancing into my first business.  A dance academy which at it’s peak had 4 locations. It was here that I started experimenting with teaching techniques and discovering that so much of what is taught doesn’t work!

Fun facts about Ivan-

• He is a top-rated instructor on Coursera with over 100,000 learners
• He is a top-rated instructor on Udemy with over 50,000 students
• He was the official host for the Invictus Games in 2017 & PanAm Games in 2015
• He was co-founder of the Vancouver International Salsafestival
• The largest crowd he ever spoke in front of was 30,000
• He wrote a book called "End Boring: A Tactical Approach to Public Speaking"

Social Media Handles-

Instagram-  @salseroruiz
Facebook-   Ivan Wanis Ruiz
Website-      www.publicspeakinglab.com


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Gabriela Calderón Equiz, Originally from Mexico City. She is the daughter of Nancy Equiz and Pablo Calderon, graduated in political science and law respectively, Gabriela grows up in a political environment, and from the first year of life, she moves with her family to the city of Tijuana, where she studies Ballet and Flamenco from the age 4 in the Gloria Campobello Dance Company. During the summers she attends artistic training courses (singing, dancing and acting) at the Milton Gio school in Mexico City and Flamenco Dance courses in Madrid, Spain. As a university degree, she studied electronic systems engineering at CETYS Universidad Tijuana and a master's degree in robotics at UCLA. She obtained studies in Industrial Engineering and production at Loyola Marymount University and undergraduate studies in Economics from the Autonomous University of Baja California.

From 1999 to 2001 she had a record deal with Warner Bro Studio's Giant Records as part of an American pop girl band "i5", which led her to share the stage with artists such as Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys as well as open the National tours of Britney Spears, NSYNC and being part of the Nickelodeon television channel tours. In 2003 she recorded a solo album produced by Mario Quintero y los Tucanes de Tijuana. In 2005 Alma Latina Performing Art School started in Tijuana, in 7 years Alma Latina positioned itself as the most awarded Latin dance company in the world, with more than 60 world titles including categories of children, adolescents, adults and seniors. in levels: soloists, couples and teams amateur and professional levels. There are currently five Alma Latina dance studios (Tijuana, Playas de Tijuana, two in Mexicali, and CDMX). For nine years she has been producing an intensive summer course which people from all over the world take. In 2011 she is included in the Tijuana walk of fame. In 2013 she launched the Alma Latina franchise and currently has around 24 franchises distributed in Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia. Gabriela travels around the world teaching dance classes, presenting shows and participating as a judge. Since 2018, she currently serves as the International Judge representing Mexico in the World Latin Dance Cup.

She is the world champion of Bachata and director of the largest and most award-winning Latin dance company in the world. She is currently studying Engineering in Software development and is developing an app to streamline the exchange of dance knowledge, and connectivity between the communities of dancers and the local salsa and bachata industry. The beta version of this app can now be found in the Apple store and google play under the name "dancedrills The App". Gabriela Equiz has a TedXTalk conference and numerous presentations at universities and business groups in the state. Gabriela developed an online dance class distribution platform and her most recent project is “Salsa Bachata University”, an educational institution that seeks to legitimize and provide structure to the Latin Rhythms industry and whose ultimate objective is the creation of the first Bachelor of Dance specialized in Latin Rhythms of the country and the world. Gabriela seeks to enter the world of motivational speaking through a podcast called "Dance Boss Lady" in which she shares her passion for helping people to follow and fulfill their dance dreams.

Social Media Handles

Instagram  @gabrielaequiz
Facebook   Gabriela Equiz Dance

Born in Trujillo Alto Puerto Rico Dec 31st 1975

Into a musical family and living in his grandparents farm, Willy was introduced to music life as early as 4 years old. His dad William Maisonet (Papo Conga) was a world renowned percussionist and his mom Doris Torres was a  singer.

After migrating to the United States (NYC) Willy started to sing in events by the age of 11 and shortly after was discovered by recording first call musicians Pablo Chino Nuñez and Willie Ruiz where he was introduced to the international music/Salsa World.

Willy is a multi instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer that has toured the world and or recorded with artist like: Ricky Martin, Alexander Pires, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Manuelle, Christian Castro, Victor Manuelle, Spanish Harlem Orchestra and his own projects Willy Torres Salsa Project and The Willy Torres Orchestra to name a mild few in his 30 year career.

Willy is considered a #1 call for most recording sessions around the world and has participated in winning 4 American Grammys and have been a part of projects/albums that have won numerous Latin Grammys.

In the last couple of years even with the Pandemic COVID 19 Willy has been active and able to record sessions, arrange and produce not only for himself (Album “On Another Path”) but also for people like Victor Manuelle, Allen Alejandro, The New Swing Sextet, Bomplenea and also work fluently with amazing companies in demand like Columbia Records, Sony Records, Element Music and Silver Pro Entertainment to name a few as Musical Director, Music Producer, recording Engineer and arranger/composer. 

Willy plans to keep up his musical endeavors till the day he is called to the next life.

Social Media;

Instagram: willytorres_orchestra
Facebook: Willy Torres

Maria Torres has an extensive professional career that spans the theatrical and commercial markets as a choreographer, director, performer, and beyond. Her Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban heritage has always inspired and informed her artistry, leading to the cultivation of “Latin Jazz” as a dance technique. Co-founder and Artistic Director of her non-profit organization MTEAF (Maria Torres Emerging Artists Foundation) continues to train, mentor, supervise, and develop performing artists worldwide. Maria is a two-time Clio Award winner for her choreography and has worked with producers and directors at MTV, NBC, HBO, BBC, and Walt Disney. 

Choreographer for the contemporary reworking of Man of La Mancha (5th Avenue Theatre), Choreographer for Luis Valdes’ critically acclaimed revival of Zoot Suit for the 50th Anniversary of Center Theatre Group, Associate Choreographer for the Tony-Nominated Musical On Your Feet; and Associate Choreographer of the Off-broadway for Tony award-winning musical, In The Heights. Choreographer of The Donkey Show.Celia Cruz The Musical.Best Of Both Worlds. Dance Consultant on Becoming Nancy and Donna Summer The Musical. Lortel Nomination for best choreography of Four Guys Named Jose Executive Board Member of the Society of Directors & Choreographers. League of Professional Theater Women. Artistic Associate at Amas Musical Theater Board member of Engarde Arts. Artistic Director & Founder of Creative Workshop. 

Guest choreographer of US National Fox’s show So You Think You Can Dance and two seasons on Canada’s So You Think You Can Dance. Working with music icons Don Omar and Enrique Iglesias. Creative direction and choreographer for programs Latin Billboard Awards, NBC’s Radio City’s reopening gala NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Amazon’s The Tick, co-conceiving, choreographer and director of the musical Magic Of Salsa Kingdom and the Off-Broadway hit Latin Heat.

Social Media Handles

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maria.torres.official/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Divamtorres

Twitter @mariatorres1

Anna-Maria Tosco MA, MA is a licensed clinical psychologist and a tenured psychology instructor with over 15 years of experience. She has a much sought after therapeutic style and an ability to connect and create alliances with people who have interpersonal difficulty.  With her open-minded, non-judgemental, and straight-forward approach, she can get quite real with her clients and help them work through difficult times.  Anna-Maria has built a reputation on her brutally-honest, compassionate, and avant-guard insight into the causes and consequences of people’s bad habits.     

Anna-Maria has two masters degrees in the field of psychology and has studied and worked in a variety of Canadian provinces.  In addition to working with psychiatric populations in some of Montreal’s most respected health care institutions, she has also worked with an organization specifically put in place to help the street youth of her community.  She has given a variety of talks and workshops on neuroplasticity, meditation, and uncovering barriers to love and has training in behavioral neuroscience, social psychology, meditation and addictions. She is a regular professional contributor to The Suburban Newspaper and has been a guest expert on CJAD 800.

Today, Anna-Maria is thrilled to have begun a new project. Her mandate: To make psychological concepts more mainstream in order to help decrease the stigma around mental illness and increase help-seeking when needed. With her brand new website and evolving social media presence, she hopes to prove that there are interesting, unintimidating, and normalizing explanations behind what we do and why we do it - providing evidence that there is no need to perpetuate stigma.

She is also a dance aficionado! Having trained and performed with the San Tropez dance school in Montreal, Anna Maria travelled to Los Angeles and performed with her team in front of thousands! Find her on social media under "sassy psychologist".

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In this episode, Sonia speaks of  the challenges around making plans, setting goals or pursuing your dreams in an environment of uncertainty. How does someone go about accomplishing anything while we're in the middle of a pandemic? She explains that the most powerful thing anyone can be right now is adaptable! Finding the balance between the plan that keeps getting off course and the "going with the flow" attitude.
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In this episode, Sonia talks about the many benefits dance has to offer! 
Recovering from the pandemic is of top priority and she explains how dance is  source of healing.
Now more than ever, it’s essential we cultivate habits and hobbies that bring about joy, love, emotional stability, connectedness, empathy, confidence, and compassion: And dance has the ability to do just that. 
Increased levels of trust, compassion, creativity, social skills, and a renewed love for life are just a few of the profound effects that engaging in dance can bring you. 

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