Take Out With Ashley and Robyn

Mary Alice Stephenson is a world renown style and beauty expert who has styled hollywood's biggest stars and consulted for fashion and beauty's most influential brands. She is a humanitarian, a mom and an on-air personality and can be seen giving her fashion and beauty tips on the Today Show, Rachel Ray, Good Morning America, and Dr. O to name a few. As a fifteen-year-old fashion-obsessed teen in Birmingham, Michigan, Ms. Stephenson made a promise to her mother that she would one day be the fashion director at Harper’s Bazaar. Just 20 years later, Ms. Stephenson made her prophecy a reality. With a flick of the wrist, she commanded the powerpoint presentation to move on to the next slide, revealing a picture of her fifteen-year-old self complete with an over-permed mane and sparkly pink eyeshadow. “I was wearing a cowl neck,” chuckled Ms. Stephenson. “At least I got that right.” Ms. Stephenson is an equal mix of spirituality, fearless fashionista and humanitarian. As she told the audience about her rise to fashion’s elite, she sprinkled quotable lessons throughout. With unforgettable words passed on from her mentors, including Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele’s advice to “learn to turn shit into gold,” as well as personal steadfast rules–”say yes”–her seasoned career in fashion rings more like an anthem to the fashion girl than a self help book. Starting her fashion career as a Vogue assistant and later an assistant at Harper’s Bazaar, she worked her way up as an editor at Allure and Marie Claire before reaching her pinnacle: fashion director of Harper’s Bazaar. Styling iconic shoots with Hollywood heavyweights like Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Drew Barrymore, Ms. Stephenson’s talent for harnessing the power of bold imagery and her unshakable belief in the power of style earned her a place among fashion’s influencers. While waiting for a flight in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a large group of assembling cheerleaders caught her eye. Amidst the perky cheers of “Karen! Karen!” a small six-year-old girl “without a speck of hair” emerged through the cheer tunnel. This was the work of Make-A-Wish America; Karen was going to cheer camp. After witnessing this heartwarming scene, Ms. Stephenson began volunteering for the organization and eventually adopted the title of International Fashion Ambassador. Seeing fashion’s impactful results through Make-A-Wish inspired her next move in the fashion world. Glam4Good was born from a need to find a way to serve the world through her fashion expertise. The guerrilla endeavor, captained by Ms. Stephenson, partners with non-profits to bring style, beauty and attention to their platforms. Ms. Stephenson and her many dedicated volunteers travel the nation beautifying women of all walks of life: those who live in homeless shelters, veterans who returned home with major injuries, and poverty stricken high school students who want to feel beautiful at prom. “For so many years I was using my love of fashion to work with stars, but there are so many heroic women out there that are stars,” said Ms. Stephenson. “If they feel good about themselves, they are able to deal with situations better. It’s the healing power of a sequin.” With huge partnerships with Make-A-Wish, Suave, Naeem Khan and Michelle Obama, Glam4Good is now working towards increasing its influence abroad.

Over the last 40 weeks we've grabbed Take Out with some of the leading game-changers whose work is enabling better health today and tomorrow. We asked each of them the question "What one message would you deliver to Congress today?" We wanted to share their messages as we think it should influence who we elect in November. As we prepare for this election, we think it's critical for us all to focus on candidates who will support the better food for better health movement. When you vote, consider these messages - would your candidate hear them, and be open to this input? Will they be your vehicle to enable change?

You could say I was born into holistic medicine. Literally. That’s because I was delivered by Dr. Larry Krantz, one of the founders of the American Holistic Medical Association (and had my first chiropractic adjustment 15 minutes later). And I’ve been under the care of holistic medical providers ever since. I was born in Colorado and raised in England and South Africa (which accounts for the accent). I was the only seven-year-old in my class who saw a homeopath. My parents were leaders of their community and big proponents of holistic medicine. That, and they, made a big impression on me. But like any kid approaching adolescence, I started to think my parents were insane, and rebelled by doing the opposite of whatever they did. I graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in health economics (which in fact did come handy down the road), and then became an investment banker. That is, until I had a crisis of conscience one year into my stint as a banker, and thought, “I just can’t do this anymore.” And that’s when I switched careers and got involved with integrative medicine. A return to my roots, in a sense. I started working with a cousin who had been very successful in the spa industry, and who brought the first natural skin care line to America. I went to work for him, then became a supplement rep for his tiny company. In that sales role that I had the opportunity to interview 1,000 health practitioners, ranging from hospital specialists to Reiki practitioners, and got a grassroots education on what it takes to be one. And I learned that integrative medicine practitioners of every type weren’t being given the tools they needed to be successful. In fact, many of them struggled on the business end of things—they didn’t know how to set up their practices or manage them, and often found themselves in financial trouble, or unsure of what to invest in (or avoid). These healthcare practitioners are entrepreneurial in spirit, but lack the tools to disrupt the medical model on their own—and that’s where I come in. In fact, it’s part of my mission. The problem I knew I could solve. And that’s what I knew I could and would do: E​mpower the pioneers of next-generation medicine so that they could shift the paradigm and provide an alternative to people on a larger scale. B​ecause without some business acumen or support, they didn’t stand a chance. Neither do traditional doctors, by the way. I’ve spent quite a bit of time around them as well, enough to know that they, too, are trapped by the system, and lack the entrepreneurial know-how to strike out successfully on their own. While deservedly respected, M.D.s by and large aren’t taught to be leaders; they’re trained to execute on worst-case scenarios. And given the state of healthcare in this country, it’s not hard to see why they’re increasingly frustrated. Putting the “care” back in healthcare. The very reason doctors go into their line of work is the same reason alternative healthcare practitioners go into theirs: They want to treat, heal, and support people, not push paper—and yet that’s exactly what they end up doing. Traditional doctors in particular spend far too much time locked in battle with insurance companies to make the difference they started out hoping to make. I’ve been influenced by many greats in this field, including Jeffrey Bland, Mark Hyman, and Robin Berzin—true leaders who have inspired me and so many others, and are changing our perspective of health, and our lives, in the process. And while I’m not a doctor, I can facilitate this critical shift via my large and fast-growing network, my education in health economics, and my experience as an entrepreneur, specifically, in the worlds of healthcare and functional medicine. My desire to expedite this major shift in medicine is the genesis of F​unctional Forum, t​he world’s largest integrative medicine conference, which I founded in 2014 and hold the first Monday of each month for health professionals, medical stakeholders, and digital entrepreneurs. Through the Forum I curate a new form of practitioner education, which I call “medutainment,” a mixed-media format, combining interviews, TED-style talks, and audience interaction with the latest health news, research, and health technology. Thousands tune in every month—not just because it’s informative, but because it’s upbeat, engaging, and makes a difference. My ultimate goal is to empower more doctors to transition to the functional medicine model which will allow them to run their own thriving practices, infuse more meaning and connection to their work, and get back to the business of helping people the way they’d always imagined they would.

Marci Zaroff coined the term “ECOfashion” and is an internationally recognized ECOlifestyle entrepreneur, educator, innovator and expert. Founder of both Under the Canopy and Metawear, Executive Producer of “THREAD Documentary | Driving Fashion Forward,” and Co-Founder of BeyondBrands, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition and I AM Enlightened Creations, Marci has been instrumental in driving authenticity, environmental leadership & social justice worldwide for over 25 years. Board Member of the Organic Trade Association, Textile Exchange, Turning Green and Cradle to Cradle's "Fashion Positive", Zaroff was a key figure in the development of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and first Fair Trade Textile Certification. Marci has received countless recognitions — including Retail Touchpoint's "Retail Innovator Award," New York Moves “Power Women Award," Fashion Group International's "Rising Star Award" and the Natural Product Industry’s “Socially Responsible Business Award”. Marci is featured in the book “ECO AMAZONS: 20 Women Who Are Transforming the World” and is a Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) Fellow and a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute.

A pioneer and internationally recognized expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine, Dr Frank Lipman is the founder and director of Eleven-Eleven Wellness Center in New York City, where his personal brand of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality and recover their zest for life. Dr. Lipman received his initial medical training in South Africa, qualifying in 1979 and emigrated to the United States in 1984. He became board certified in internal medicine after serving as Chief Medical Resident in his final year of residency at Lincoln Hospital in New York City. Becoming more and more aware of both the strengths and the weaknesses of his training, he began to study acupuncture, Chinese medicine, functional medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, biofeedback, meditation and yoga. He began to see that the polarization between western modalities and other healing philosophies merely negated positive attributes of both. He saw that true healing lay in a blend between the two. He now practices his unique blend of what he calls “Good Medicine”, combining all the systems in which he has trained. A New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Lipman has written 4 books: Total Renewal – 7 Key Steps to Resilience Vitality and Long Term Health; Revive – End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again; The New Health Rules – Simple Changes to Achieve Whole-Body Wellness; and his latest book 10 Reasons You Feel Old and Get Fat.

Julie Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and is co-Director of research for the Division of Emergency Medicine. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine and works in the Seattle Children’s Hospital Emergency Department. She is Canadian but has crisscrossed the border many times over the years: she received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, her medical degree from McGill University and her MPH from the University of Washington. She was a pediatrics resident first at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland and then at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she also completed her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training. Her research interests include anaphylaxis, foreign bodies, minor procedures, emergency management of respiratory diseases, and the use of technology in medicine. When there is time after making up for her sometimes neglect of her husband and two teenage boys, she enjoys gardening, sewing costumes, genealogy, and evening walks.

John Foraker is the President and former Chief Executive Officer of Annie’s, Inc. and a leading authority in the organic and natural foods industry. With more than 20 years of business experience and a sharp focus on sustainability and social responsibility, Foraker’s vision for growing Annie’s has always relied on transparent leadership and an over-arching commitment to creativity, innovation and honesty. In addition to his role as President, Foraker also leads within the greater General Mills organization as an advisor for the company’s small business incubator 301, Inc., a new venture group that invests in small promising companies. Prior to assuming his role as President in October 2014, Foraker led investors to place growth capital into Annie’s in 1999, earning his title as Chairman of the Board. Beginning in 2004, Foraker led as Annie’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), taking Annie’s public under the BNNY symbol in 2012, just prior to the company’s buyout by General Mills, Inc. in October 2014. A respected expert spokesperson in the organic and natural foods industry, Foraker has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes and Wall Street Journal, in addition to other platinum media outlets. Foraker has also shared his leadership and expertise with business owners and audiences at home in the Bay Area and across the country, addressing organizations like the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum, the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and the Nutrition Business Journal Conference, among others. Most recently, Foraker was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year® 2015 in Northern California, recognizing his entrepreneurial excellence in the retail and consumer products category. Prior to his tenure at Annie’s, Foraker served as Vice President at Bank of America, overseeing commercial banking client relationship management in the bank’s premium wine business portfolio. Foraker holds a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Morgan Oliveira is the founder and principal of Grounded PR, a PR consultancy designed to help mission-driven companies share their stories, with a focus on the food/food tech space. She has worked with some of the country’s leading brands, including sweetgreen and Back to the Roots, amongst others. Prior to Grounded, Morgan was the first employee and Director of Communications at Hampton Creek, a food technology company that is currently valued at over $1B and has received investment from a number of billionaires including from Li Ka-shing, the wealthiest man in Asia, and Marc Benioff CEO & co-founder of Salesforce. At Hampton, Morgan worked to spread the story and mission of Hampton Creek to the press and public, and was the driver behind the press during the Unilever lawsuit and the famed “Mayo Wars” during the fall of 2014. She was named to the Business Insider list of Top 50 Best PR People in the Tech Industry for 2014. Morgan comes from a background in food, having worked at a startup in Los Angeles where she helped it quadruple its business in only a year’s time, securing deals with influencers such as P90X founder, Tony Horton and Vega formulator, Brendan Brazier.

Julie Cottineau is founder and CEO of BrandTwist, a brand consultancy, and creator of Brand School Online, a premier learning program that teaches small business owners, entrepreneurs and non-profits how to create more distinctive, more powerful and more profitable brands that break-through in crowded markets. Prior to launching her own business, she was vice president of brand at Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Cottineau also served as executive director of consumer branding at Interbrand, as well as a VP management supervisor at Grey Global in both the US and France, helping to build leading global brands in diverse categories such as Intel, Pantene, Virgin, Stolichnaya and Kool-Aid. She has been an adjunct professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at Columbia and Cornell universities and a frequent commentator on brand strategy and innovation in top business media such as Forbes.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, CNN, and American Express Open for Small Business. For more information, visit BrandTwist.com and TheTwistBook.com

Joe Cross, focused most of his energy in his 30’s on building a business empire and his wealth, Joe admits that his health had never been a priority. In his early thirties he developed a rare auto-immune disease for which he was prescribed a powerful prescription medication. After taking pills for several years and dissatisfied with the knowledge that he would likely be taking them for life, Joe decided to examine what he was eating and explore the link between his illness and his diet. Joe managed to send his disease into remission and stop the need for medication, by making wholesale changes to his diet. Eight years later, Joe remains medication and symptom free. Australian-born entrepreneur who most recently founded Reboot Media, a health and lifestyle brand that creates educational media. He is also the Co-Director, Executive Producer, host and subject of Reboot Media’s films, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 2, and The Kids Menu.

Recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s 2015 ‘30 Under 30 Best and Brightest Entrepreneurs’ — Gautam Gupta is the Co-Founder and CEO of NatureBox — a direct-to-consumer snack company that makes smart, delicious snacking easy. Launched in 2012, NatureBox has quickly become one of America’s fastest- growing food brands with no signs of slowing down. Today NatureBox ships over 100 NatureBox brand snacks to fans across the US and in Canada. The Bay Area company leverages real-time consumer data to drive innovation and bring new products to market every month. Prior to starting NatureBox, Gautam worked at General Catalyst Partners where he focused on early-stage consumer investing and saw firsthand the tremendous potential to bring an e-commerce model to the food industry. Gautam resides in San Carlos, CA, a short walk from NatureBox’s headquarters.

Derek Millender was named Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers in August 2013. He was previously the Cavs assistant strength and conditioning coach for three seasons. Millender is responsible for coordinating the teams In-Season and off-season: performance testing and monitoring, and Strength and Conditioning. Millender also incorporates other training programs such as Yoga and Pilates into player individualized programs. In addition to developing in-season programs, he works individually with each player during the offseason to prepare them for the rigors of an NBA campaign. He also works with a nutritionist closely to recommend the right foods at the right time (Nutrient Timing), along with supplement recommendation. Prior to joining the Cavs, he was the head strength and conditioning coach for Cleveland State University. He also spent two years in the Cleveland Indians organization (2006 Mahoning Valley Scrappers (A), 2007 Akron Aeros (AA)). The Pensacola, Florida native completed his undergrad studies in 2004 at the University of South Alabama and earned his Master’s Degree in Exercise Science from Cleveland State University in 2010. Millender is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach * D with Distinction (10yrs as a certified strength and conditioning coach) a Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and is also a Sports Performance Coach through United States Weightlifting (USAW). He resides in Cleveland, Ohio.

Jonathan Bloom is a journalist, consultant and thought leader on the topic of food waste. Jonathan wrote the book American Wasteland and created the web site Wasted Food. He has spoken on food waste from Santiago to San Francisco to Singapore and consulted with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Harvard Law School, Natural Resources Defense Council and General Mills. In 2013-2014, he was the O.V.W. Hawkins Expert-in-Residence at Bucknell University. A Boston native, Jonathan now lives Durham, NC, with his wife, two sons and many, many containers for leftovers.

Neal Barnard, M.D., F.A.C.C., is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Dr. Barnard has led numerous research studies investigating the effects of diet on diabetes, body weight, and chronic pain, including a groundbreaking study of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Barnard has authored more than 70 scientific publications as well as 17 books, including the New York Times best-sellers Power Foods for the Brain, 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart, and the USA Today best-seller Dr. Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes. As president of the Physicians Committee, Dr. Barnard leads programs advocating for preventive medicine, good nutrition, and higher ethical standards in research. He has hosted three PBS television programs on nutrition and health and is frequently called on by news programs to discuss issues related to nutrition and research. Originally from Fargo, N.D., Dr. Barnard received his medical degree at the George Washington University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the same institution. He practiced at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York before returning to Washington to found the Physicians Committee. Barnard Medical Center In 2015, Dr. Barnard founded the nonprofit Barnard Medical Center, which opened in January 2016, in Washington, D.C. Barnard Medical’s board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, and registered dietitians provide complete primary care. Barnard Medical also helps patients tackle the causes of illness, with extra attention on improving health through prevention and nutrition. Barnard Medical takes advantage of years of research conducted by the Physicians Committee research team and other researchers, showing how a new approach to medicine and nutrition could help prevent and reverse serious health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, migraines, and arthritis. Barnard Medical’s focus on nutrition includes comprehensive nutrition counseling with registered dietitians and group cooking classes.

Dr. Aviva Romm. Named by mindbodygreen.com as one of the 100 Women to Watch in Wellness, Dr. Aviva Romm has bridged her interests in traditional medicine with her knowledge of science for over 3 decades. A midwife and herbalist for 25 years, now a Yale trained MD, Board Certified in Family Medicine with Obstetrics. Aviva’s focus is on women’s and children’s health, with an emphasis on the impact of stress physiology on health, chronic disease, food cravings, weight, and hormone imbalance, and the use of food, mindfulness, and natural medicine to develop and express greater resilience and live fuller lives. She is also an avid environmental health advocate, writing and teaching about the impact of pollutants on fertility, pregnancy, women’s hormones, chronic illness and children’s long-term health. Aviva is recognized as an international authority in the field of botanical medicine, and is the author of 7 books on natural medicine for women and children, including the textbook Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health. The mother of 4 and grandmother of 2, she lives and practices medicine in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.