Rev. Ingrid L. Scott, C.E.O of Bryant Un-Limited, Interspiritual Minister and Celebrant, Founder of CBD Interfaith Ministry and CBD Charitable Trust, Inspirational Speaker. Ingrid is the CEO of Bryant Un-Limited, a manufacturing company employing over 40 staff and celebrating more than 30 years in the broadcast industry, specializing in Fiber Optic cables and Bespoke metal work. Ingrid owned Composition by Design, a shop which specialized in angels and spirituality with style, offering angel readings, healing, and monthly inspirational talks called, “Reminder Sessions,” closing her shop after 8 years upon her enrollment in the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary.

Ingrid’s recognition that One Spirit was a home for her soul motivated her to fly each month from the United Kingdom to attend seminary in person. Since her ordination, Ingrid has officiated at weddings in the South of France, Spain and England and has established a weekly prayer ministry, offered live when she’s in the country and pre-recorded when she’s out. She believes in the power of affirmative prayer for empowering one’s life, and attributes affirmative prayer as being the reason for her success, coupled with the ability to give fearlessly and abundantly.

Ingrid is most proud of the Charitable Trust she has founded in the support of women, children, education, and the environment, that lists among its many achievements a clinic it built in Uganda to support the needs of over 200,000 villagers. She divides her time between the UK where she’s still involved in her business, gives her inspirational Reminder sessions, and teaches English to refugees as a volunteer, and New York, where she’s involved with the development of a One Spirit Fellowship Community. Ingrid believes that service to man is service to God, and that she is here on earth as God’s Divine Emissary.

Rev. Aziza, Peacekeeper, Choreographer, Educator and Founder: Def Dance Jam. Born and raised in Harlem, Aziza is a community activist, choreographer, performer and teacher. She has danced and taught since age twelve, performing internationally with David Rousseve, Dianne McIntyre, and Alvin Ailey. Having benefited from the free programming available to her as a child, she now returns the gift and dedicates her artistic work to creating classes, workshops and performances for youth as a path to empowerment. She is the director of the Harlem-based Def Dance Jam Workshop an after-school performing arts program which brings together deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing teens of African and Latin descent. Her work has touched thousands of people globally. Working with the State Department, Aziza brought her curriculum to Cypress, Greece, Turkey and South Africa.

“At the time I decided to attend One Spirit, I was working with young people facing death – I knew there were things I needed to learn to do the work I was called to do. One Spirit provided a path to an authentic, organic spiritual community that gave me the time to sit and reflect. It also gave me the opportunity to interact with people who helped me resolve my own prejudices and to see in each person I came in contact with a human being. After my time with One Spirit I was able to walk back into the world and my work with a new perspective based on that experience.”

Rev. Barry Schwartz, Television Executive. With over 30 years of success as an executive in the television and media sales business, Barry has studied human motivation and adult learning to consistently create success. He created high performing teams and client oriented strategies by involving staff in programs that grew employee satisfaction, strengthened customer relationships and produced outstanding results. He was named by Advertising Age as one of the 100 Best & Brightest media-sales reps and is a 2008 Cambridge Who’s Who of Media Professionals and Entrepreneurs. Barry is a member of the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, and is a Trustee at UNC Greensboro. Barry’s career includes positions with ABC, CBS, the NBA, and Kaleidoscope Sports & Entertainment. In 8 years at Fox his team built sales revenues from $10 million to $200 million. In 2 years at Kaleidoscope he grew sponsorship revenue from $3 million to $30 million with clients such as Toyota, North Face, Callaway Golf, and the US Postal Service. Barry’s care and concern for clients and staff, and his creative enthusiasm, gives everyone he works with a strong sense of purpose and a passion to achieve outstanding results. He is currently retired from his television career, performing weddings, funerals and other ceremonies as well as working as a hospice chaplain.

Rev. Kathryn Gates-Ferris, Corporate Executive, Mother, and Health Advocate. For the past twenty years, Kathryn has served as the Vice President of a company that provides training and technical assistance to organizations serving the poor and underserved. She has worked in public health as an educator; as an integrative health advocate; and has served in the Peace Corp. She is a mother who is active in her community, giving her time volunteering for the PTA and Girl Scouts. Kathryn continues to pursue her calling to be a healer, integrating her training in shamanistic healing with her ministry and her ongoing work in a service organization.

“One Spirit gave me the spiritual home I had been searching for. I developed a broader awareness, understanding, and respect for the importance of spirituality in people’s lives, regardless of their path or faith. My One Spirit experience has made me a better person; I am calmer, more loving, open and accepting. It has affected my relationships with my children. I feel and try to convey to my family a true sense of thankfulness and gratitude for all we have. I want to be an extension of God’s love through service to others – I love the deep meaning of an interfaith perspective: the universality of existence and our need to move beyond our pettiness and focus on what is truly important in life.”

Rev. George Kuhn, Airline Pilot. George’s call to service began at a young age; he attended Catholic Seminary in high school, but left that path for a career as a commercial airline pilot. He found in the supportive spiritual community at One Spirit a way to embrace his lifelong desire to be of service. Since his ordination he has a new purpose in life and a radical rearrangement of his priorities. He has served as trustee of the Fourth Unitarian Universalist Community on Central Park West in New York City. George helped the community to grow, diversify their membership and enrich their worship experience. He continues to build on the foundation of his One Spirit training, and is pursuing further studies with a focus on the Labyrinth work and the potential of embodying inner peace in skillful action.

“One Spirit gave me a different way of looking at people, it taught me to listen with my heart instead of my head. My patience level has improved greatly and I now embrace daily prayer and spiritual practice. Getting ordained is not a small thing; I’m still coming to grips with being a minister. It is a new part of my identity and will be from now on. One Spirit is the first organization that I’ve been involved with where the staff and faculty walk their talk, and that is not an easy thing to find. The two year program was so well planned and thought out, gentle yet powerful, which made the whole experience indescribable, really.”

Rev. Amber King, Hair Artist and Soul Nurturer. Amber sees her life as being in the service of truth and beauty. She serves over a thousand clients yearly. Amber works with each one to create a personal visual image that is a true reflection of their inner selves. By helping her clients present themselves to the world authentically, she seeks to support their continual inner transformation. Sharing her love and listening to peoples’ stories are some of the ways Amber touches the people around her. She is a student of Native American spirituality and officiates at weddings, change of season and healing ceremonies.

“The beauty that I see in people is a pure expression of God itself, and the love I feel for them is timeless. My One Spirit experience gave me an authentic community and a safe, grounded place to open to new ideas. The support I experienced was transformational. It taught me to listen from the heart to myself and others. It was a true learning experience. The second year challenged us to show up, even when we were most vulnerable – the energy I gained from that experience is priceless.”

Rev. Christine Hibbard, Psychotherapist, Professor, International Leader. Chris is a professor at Naropa University and a clinical psychologist who co-founded an integral medical center. Her professional work has taken her to international war zones in Israel, Gaza, Bosnia and Africa where she trains local health care providers in an approach called “Healing the Wounds of War”. The model trains health care providers to heal their own trauma while training others. Those who go through the program provide support throughout the community that supports deeply traumatized populations return to normal life. She is also active in hospital chaplaincy work, volunteers in a soup kitchen and has three children in graduate school.

“Since attending One Spirit I have a deeper connection to myself and I engage with life, people and injustice in a whole new way. The faculty is great, and the emphasis on teaching students to really listen is wonderful. The program develops a knowledge of the different traditions that is genuinely inter-spiritual and that emphasis is what we need in the world today. It grounds you in spiritual practice in a tangible way that makes a difference in how you act. The action we take stands for who we are and expresses the truth within each of us. The challenge of our times is to be deeply grounded in spiritual work and to understand each other – teaching love and compassion is important in order to get beyond the guns and bombs.

Rev. Jude Smith, Executive Director, Interfaith Minister, Wedding Officiant, Authorized Guide for John of God. Jude is the Executive Director of the CENTER FOR AUTHENTIC LIVING, an organization committed to reminding people who they are, and to providing the tools to live from that higher place. In addition to facilitating group programs geared towards spiritual awakening, Jude is an authorized guide of the Casa de Dom Inacio in Abadiania, Brazil, the spiritual home of trance healer John of God, and she regularly leads group travel to Brazil. She is also an active interfaith and non-denominational wedding and ceremonies officiant, crafting customized ceremonies that capture life’s transitions in ceremonies that are sacred, elegant, meaningful, and transformative.

Jude has degrees in Psychology and Business Administration, and an advanced degree in Education. She has been a radio personality, with her radio show, LIFE TALK airing to a weekly audience of over 300,000 listeners. She is a respected educator, and has created core curriculum for the New York State Education Department that is still being taught to millions of school children. Jude has been active in the field of personal and professional development throughout the US and Canada, producing seminars on topics of personal and business success to national audiences.

Rev. Ron Kertzner, executive coach, leadership development specialist, organizational development consultant Ron blends his background in organizational development with his interfaith ministry to help individuals and organizations make conscious choices to produce truly meaningful results. Ron has coached hundreds of executives from CEOs, Corporate Officers and Vice Presidents to Directors and entrepreneurs over the past 20 years. He is certified in “Transformational Coaching” and integrates his experience in conflict resolution, collaborative leadership, emotional intelligence and personal mastery in his coaching. Ron has led courses at General Electric’s Management Development Institute, Intuit, Shell, International Paper and Aera Energy. He has worked as a facilitator and consultant to numerous international and national conferences including The United Nations Democratic Dialogue Project, the Parliament of the World's Religions and the United States Congress. Ron is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and Duke University. His post-graduate studies include The Program of Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, the Dialogue Project (part of the MIT Center for Organizational Learning), Global Presencing with Otto Scharmer of MIT and Shadow Work Training.