Connection
Creates

A Board Certified Patient Advocate, Certified Senior Advisor and Certified Placement & Referral Specialist, Eric Klein has built his work around helping families navigate one of life’s most complicated transitions: caring for an aging loved one. Through CarePatrol Chicagoland North, he guides families through assisted living, memory care, independent living and in-home care decisions — encouraging families to begin the conversation while they still have choices, rather than waiting for a crisis. Eric brings both professional expertise and a deeply human perspective to a conversation most families will eventually face.

A former corporate executive turned Executive Health Coach, Irina Fursman brings together business-world perspective with training as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. Through Odysseys into Wellbeing, she works with leaders to recognize the signals their bodies are sending, explore hidden stressors and create more personalized approaches to self-care. Her work asks an important question: what changes when we stop simply reacting to our health and become more informed, curious and engaged participants in it?

A Denmark-trained nurse and longtime advocate for preventative wellness, Bibi Frederick brings a data-focused perspective to the conversation about taking greater ownership of our health. Her work with Zinzino centers on test-based nutrition and the idea of measuring rather than simply guessing when making wellness decisions. Together with Irina Fursman, Bibi will explore how asking better questions, understanding our own health information and becoming active participants in our well-being can change the conversation from reactive care to proactive self-advocacy.

With more than two decades spanning social work, coaching, authorship and entrepreneurship, Dr. Renita D. Davis has devoted her work to helping people move through challenges and toward meaningful change — setting boundaries, and making room for healthy connections. Her approach combines coaching, mentoring, empathetic listening and community engagement, with a particular passion for empowering women and strengthening families.

Jennifer Schuman has spent more than 20 years helping people communicate who they are through portraiture and personal-brand photography. A Pratt Institute graduate whose career has included corporate branding and architectural work internationally, Jennifer now works with professionals to create imagery that conveys confidence, authenticity and expertise. Her work begins with a powerful premise: long before we explain who we are, people are already experiencing our visual presence — and that first impression can become an important part of the story we tell.

Jennifer Parkinson brings decades of expertise in communication, image, style and personal presence to the question of how we show up in the world. A longtime leader within the image-consulting profession, she understands personal brand as something far deeper than appearance alone. Together with Jennifer Schuman, she’ll explore the signals we send before a conversation even begins, and how greater intention around our presence can help bring the way others experience us into alignment with who we actually are.

Architect Ruth Michael brings more than 15 years of design and construction experience to creating residential, restaurant and multifamily environments that respond to both place and people. At Michael Office of Architecture, her work emphasizes site-specific thinking, sustainability, client advocacy and intelligent solutions — while keeping the needs of the people who ultimately inhabit a space at the center. Her perspective expands architecture beyond what a building looks like to consider something more fundamental: how thoughtfully designed environments support the way we actually live.

With nearly two decades of experience across luxury interiors, hospitality and project management, Lina Calabrese approaches design through the relationship between environment and human well-being. At Oruvia Studio, her work draws on neuroaesthetics, biophilic and salutogenic design to create spaces intended to foster harmony, connection and comfort. Together, Lina and Ruth Michael will explore what happens when architecture and interior design move beyond aesthetics — and the spaces surrounding us become active participants in how we feel, connect and live.

An award-winning Executive Creative Director and Co-Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ad Legends, Vince Cook spent more than 20 years at Leo Burnett and BBDO creating work for global brands including Samsung, McDonald’s and AT&T. Today, he is working at the intersection of two seemingly opposing forces: legendary human creative thinking and artificial intelligence. Vince closes ALC Connect Live by asking not whether AI can replace human creativity, but what becomes possible when technology is used to amplify the imagination, instincts and big-idea thinking that only people bring to the equation.