Book 101 Review

Solange Schwalbe
Emmy-winning sound editor and one of only four women who worked inside the Pit at Ground Zero.
Solange Schwalbe is an Emmy Award–winning Motion Picture Sound Editor whose career in Hollywood spans more than three decades and includes more than 175 film credits. A graduate of UCLA’s Motion Picture/TV program with honors, she worked on major productions including The Goonies, Gremlins, The Color Purple, Die Hard, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, Moneyball, and HBO’s John Adams, for which she and her team received an Emmy Award for sound editing. Following the September 11 attacks, Solange traveled to New York City, volunteered with the Salvation Army, and was later hired as a safety monitor at Ground Zero. She worked inside the Pit for four months alongside firefighters, police officers, and construction crews. Known there as “Hollywood,” she was one of only four women serving in the Pit among more than 1,500 responders. Her memoir, I’m Not Supposed to Know This: An Unlikely Account of Ground Zero After the 9/11 Attacks, recounts the recovery effort from the inside, including the people, events, and moments she witnessed there.

Cynthia Coy
From Overwhelm to Overflow: C-Suite Coaching for Women Who Lead on Purpose.
Dr. Cynthia Coy is the Founder and CEO of Uncaged Solutions, a leadership development and executive coaching firm helping high-achieving women move from overwhelm to overflow. A retired Air Force officer and certified John Maxwell Coach, she equips C-suite leaders with mindset and communication strategies to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Through her F.R.E.S.H. framework, she empowers women to lead authentically—without losing themselves in the process.

Cynthia Hauk
Mindful Art Teacher/Coach passionate about sharing creative and calming practices for self-care.
Cynthia Hauk, MFA, is the founder of Mindful Creative Muse , an online school offering Mindful Art workshops, retreats, and internationally accredited teacher training programs. Since 2007, Cynthia has helped people around the world use simple Mindfulness and Art practices to de-stress, reconnect with themselves, and express their creativity. Her courses, retreats, coaching programs, teacher trainings, and online events have reached students in more than 00 countries**. Through four internationally accredited Mindful Art and Meditation Teacher Training Certification programs**, Cynthia also trains artists, educators, therapists, wellness professionals, and creative entrepreneurs to confidently facilitate Mindful Art experiences and create meaningful offerings that support both **impact and sustainable income

Alix Hogu
The "Stop Fixing Yourself" Expert Helping People Uncover Hidden Strengths & Build Confidence.
If you've ever felt like no amount of self-improvement is making you happier, today's conversation may completely change the way you think. Our guest says the problem isn't that you need more will power, better habits, or another productivity hack. The problem is that you've been trying to become someone you're not. Alix Hogu is the author of "From Hidden to Limitless", a book that challenges conventional self-help by arguing that real fulfillment comes from uncovering your signature strengths - not obsessing over your weaknesses. Today, we'll explore why it's time to stop fixing yourself and start discovering the life you were designed to live.

Organizations fail when they treat culture like a construction project. They thrive when they treat it like a garden, cultivating conditions for growth rather than engineering behavior through rigid blueprints.

Award-winning consultant Abi Adamson introduces the SERN™ framework (Soil, Exposure, Roots, Nutrients) to guide sustainable cultural transformation. Drawing from her experience working with international clients, including Spotify, Sony Music, and Match Group, Abi shows how to do the following:

Identify and detoxify the soil poisoning organizational foundations
Expose who's hoarding the light while others wither in shadows
Strengthen the root networks where real culture actually lives
Distribute the nutrients people actually need to thrive (hint: it's not pizza Fridays)

Unlike traditional culture initiatives, focused on compliance and conformity, this framework reveals why expensive transformation efforts keep failing and how to spot "nutrient vampires" draining your best people.

For C-suite leaders, executives, people managers, and anyone who has ever felt invisible at work, this guide offers a sustainable alternative: treating culture as a living ecosystem requiring ongoing cultivation, not a one-time fix.

Because as Abi says, "We bloom together or we wilt alone."™