Cynthia is a transformational specialist and one of today’s brightest and best loved inspirational leaders, guiding people to make changes at a deep level for lasting healing. Cynthia excels as a speaker, coach, singer, and multiple award-winning author of What Will Set You Free and Revealing Your Extraordinary Essence and #1 Bestseller for I Choose Me: The Art of Being a Phenomenally Successful Woman at Home and at Work. Cynthia James embodies the quote “I am not what I have done. I am what I have become;” and, she leads others to do the same. Her own life was transformed as she transcended a violent and abusive childhood. Through education and personal healing, she created the foundation for all her programs. Ms. James has facilitated hundreds of workshops, seminars and keynotes, including: Omega Institute, Celebrate Your Life, Woman Arising, the Gift in Shift, the Colorado Behavior Healthcare Council, the Women’s Success Forum, the Children’s Hospital, Spirit One Seminars, LeadingAge, and many others. Cynthia’s most recent programs and tools include: Advanced Awareness Coaching, offering depth, focus and results for high level business leaders; and, Affirmative Living, which includes a meditation CD, Passages, and an APP for iPhones and Droids, 100 days of Affirmative Living, in English and Spanish. Cynthia was once a working Hollywood actress, co-hosted a radio talk show, a television talk show in Los Angeles, and appeared in the movie, Sacred Journey of the Heart. She is a former Miss Minnesota Universe, sought after as a radio guest and is a contributing blogger for YourTango.com. Thousands follow her monthly inspirational videos and her monthly newsletter and blog. Cynthia has uniquely combined the creative arts with innovative therapeutic techniques to bring powerful personal growth, healing and expansion to individuals of all ages, cultures, and lifestyles. She facilitates the message of her award-winning books, What Will Set You Free and Revealing Your Extraordinary Essence, worldwide and as a workshop to women in prisons. Internationally, she has led workshops in England, Switzerland and Ireland; and, she has led a myriad of pilgrimages to various spiritual locations in France, Peru and Italy. In 2012, Cynthia created and facilitated the internationally successful Venus Transit University, reaching over 8,000 people. In 2014, she and her husband of 16 years, Carl Studna, created and co-hosted Bridging the Gender Gap Teleseries, focusing on developing trust and understanding between men and women. Also in 2014, her Extraordinary Living Project was selected to be a Commitment Maker by the Clinton Health Matters Initiative. In the same year, she founded her Extraordinary Living Foundation whose mission is creating sustainable health for women in mind, body and spirit. In 2015, Cynthia and her business partner, Jean Hendry, created the Women Creating Our Futures conference featuring nationally and internationally recognized speakers, life coaches and artists guiding hundreds of women to build the life and future they both desire and deserve. Cynthia holds two Master’s Degrees, the first in Consciousness Studies from the Holmes Institute, where she was awarded the honor of distinguished alumni. The second is in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Cynthia James is personally committed to utilizing creative expression as a vital and effective healing modality that will assist everyone in their own personal and professional growth. For more information about Cynthia and her work, visit: www.cynthiajames.net.
Carl Studna is a world-renowned photographer, an inspirational speaker and teacher, and the author of the multi-award winning book, CLICK! Choosing Love: One Frame at a Time, which following its 2012 release became a #6 best-seller among titles in the Self-Help genre. Throughout his 20-year career as a photographer and videographer, Carl’s intimate portraits of influential people – including luminaries such as Tom Robbins, Ram Dass, Paul McCartney, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Marianne Williamson and Deepak Chopra – have become known worldwide and have graced countless publications from Time Magazine to Rolling Stone. Carl also had the honor of photographing His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the first Synthesis Dialogues in Dharmasala, India.
Mr. Studna received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Expressive Arts from Sonoma State University and his Master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. He is also a member of the esteemed Transformational Leadership Council, a by-invitation-only group of authors, speakers, coaches, trainers, researchers, consultants, and other leaders in the fields of personal and professional development that was established in July of 2004 by Jack Canfield.
Both in his work as a photographer and while teaching and writing, Carl’s primary message is that life is a sacred journey to be cherished and embraced, and that we all have the power to awaken to the splendor that underlie even seemingly ordinary moments. Carl’s trademarked methodology, known as the LuminEssence Method©, is the culmination of nearly thirty years of experience in blending intimate portrait photography with the principles of personal development. With it, clients and workshop participants alike experience a new paradigm for resting in the light that resides within, and allowing it to fully express and reveal each person’s authentic gifts. Carl is also the creator of Conscious Coupling and Bridging the Gender Gap, two powerful relationship-building courses that he co-facilitates with his wife, Cynthia James, both at live events and online.