Our Authors

Joe Vitale

Dr. Joe Vitale —once homeless but now a motivating inspirator known to his millions of fans as “Mr. Fire!”—is the world-renowned author of numerous bestselling books, such as The Attractor Factor, Zero Limits, Life’s Missing Instruction Manual, The Secret Prayer, The Awakened MillionaireThe MiracleUnexpected Kindness, to name a few. A media personality seen on TV shows around the world, his weekly online television program “Zero Limits Living” can be watched on 1,000 platforms worldwide. He is considered one of the top 50 most inspiring speakers in the world. He starred in the blockbuster movie The Secret, as well as a dozen other films.

Books by Joe Vitale

Ned Vizzini

Ned Vizzini is the author of It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Be More Chill, and Teen Angst? Naaah…. He has written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and MTV’s Teen Wolf. His work has been translated into seven languages. He is the co-author, with Chris Columbus, of the forthcoming fantasy-adventure series House of Secrets. He has contributed to Smart Pop anthologies about The Hunger Games, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Walking Dead. He has spoken at over two hundred universities, libraries, and schools around the world about writing and mental health. He received an award from UCLA in 2011 for Excellence in Public Advocacy Through the Arts. Ned lives in Los Angeles with his wife Sabra Embury and their son. His next novel, The Other Normals, will be published by HarperCollins on September 25, 2012.

Irene Vlachos-Weber

Irene Vlachos-Weber is a lecturer in psychology at Indiana University. She received her B.S. from Colorado State University and is completing her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Indiana University. Irene has received several teaching awards, including a 2005 Student Choice Award for Outstanding Faculty.

Anna Vocino

Anna Vocino ​is a talented culinary personality and tastemaker who brings to the table a wealth of experience as a bestselling cookbook author, actor, stand-up comedian, podcast cohost,​ ​clean-eating expert, and founder of Eat Happy Kitchen,​ a natural food company making organically sourced, gluten-free, grain-free, and filler-free foods with no sugar added.​ Anna has created hundreds of recipes that have appeared in her bestselling cookbooks, Eat Happy and Eat Happy Too, and on her website, AnnaVocino.com, Substack, and her popular Instagram account. As a respected voice within the clean-eating community, Anna can deftly transform almost any recipe into a healthy version of the dish without sacrificing taste. Anna​’s recipes and expertise on everything from spices to kitchen appliances have been featured in Women’s Health, Parade, ​Consumer Reports, and other consumer media outlets.

Books by Anna Vocino

J&P Voelkel

Jon and Pamela Voelkel spend a lot of time in the jungles of the Maya, researching their fast-paced and funny Jaguar Stones series (Book One: Middleworld. Book Two: The End of the World Club. Book Three: The River of No Return. Book Four is coming soon). Like Annabeth Chase, the only thing Jon’s scared of is spiders. Like Grover Underwood, Pamela’s scared of pretty much everything including caves, darkness, deep water, bats, rats, heights, and snakes (but not spiders, and especially not tarantulas because they’re soft and fluffy like kittens). When not traveling or writing and illustrating their books, J&P are visiting schools, choosing prizes for Jaguar Stones Club giveaways, or working on their website at www.jaguarstones.com.

Paul Volponi

Paul Volponi is the award-winning author of 20 books including Phyllis George: Shattering the Ceiling (a nonfiction biography), and the novels The Final Four (on the NYC Chancellor’s reading list NYC Reads 365), Top Prospect (part of Scholastic’s nationwide book club), and Black and White (winner of the international Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award). Paul is the recipient of a dozen American Library Association honors.

Books by Paul Volponi

Peter Vultaggio

Peter Vultaggio is one of the most sought-after business consultants in the world today. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of THE LUMI COMPANY, LLC, a successful international management and workforce development company. Some of his clients have included Microsoft, Verizon, Pepsico, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, AT&T, Toyota, Starwood Hotels, Merck, Texas Instruments, Cisco Systems, ebay, Intel, Honeywell, Kraft Foods, Charles Schwab, World Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, TRW, Abbott Laboraties, Johnson and Johnson, General Electric, Clorox, Fluor, Safeway, J.C. Penny and many others.

Having over 25 years of experience in business and consulting, he has also designed revolutionary software, workbooks, concepts and tools as part of THE LUMI COMPANY that are currently used by organizations throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia such as eBay, Intel, Honeywell, Kraft Foods, and Charles Schwab.

Vultaggio is also a contributing author in The 2009 Pfeiffer Manual of Management Development and an active member in The World Future Society.

Kirsty Walker

Kirsty Walker turned an obsession with screens into a patchy and unsuccessful media career. A Manchester University graduate in TV Production, she was employed variously as a runner, corporate video director, and radio station manager before she turned to teaching. She is the content editor for endofshow.com and travels from Cannes to Comic-Con using her press pass to score free drinks and easily impressed men. She lives in Runcorn, in the north west of England.

Kate Eberle Walker

Kate Eberle Walker is the CEO of Presence Learning, the leading provider of online special education services for K-12 schools. In this role, she leads a majority female employee population, whose mission is not only to serve students with learning needs, but to provide a flexible career path for nearly 1,000 special education clinicians, many of whom are working mothers. Kate worked her way up to become CEO of The Princeton Review at age 39. While CEO, she not only made the business profitable; she did so while building a 50% female executive team, making her C-suite fully aligned with the gender balance of the organization as a whole. Before becoming a CEO, Kate navigated the male-dominated world of Wall Street as a Goldman Sachs investment banker for five years and worked her way up through management roles. She offers straight, tells-it-like-it-is advice to her fellow managers, and is an approachable and relatable mentor to younger women, whom she regularly supports and advises on career decisions.

Currently a Brooklynite, she lives in Carroll Gardens with her husband Chris, whom she met 15 years ago when they were both students at Harvard Business School. They have two daughters, ages eleven and eight. As her children can attest, she loves telling people what she thinks they should do, and most of the time people find it worth listening.

Books by Kate Eberle Walker