Our Authors

Paige Velasquez Budde

Paige Velasquez Budde is a veteran marketer, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker. She is a co-founding partner and the CEO of Zilker Media, an Austin-based agency that builds people-driven brands. During her tenure as CEO, the Austin Business Journal has named Zilker one of the city’s fastest growing companies as well as one of its best places to work, two years in a row. It has also been listed on Austin Inno’s list of “Coolest Companies.” Paige is passionate about community involvement and volunteers her time with several organizations. One is Texas Tower, a collegiate publicity organization for her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, where Paige teaches students about the PR and marketing industry. She is also a member of Entrepreneurs Organization, Women Presidents Organization, C12 and Renegade Global. She resides in Austin with her husband, Jordan, and her son, Landry.

Books by Paige Velasquez Budde

Emily Flynn Vencat

Emily Flynn Vencat

Emily Flynn Vencat graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a degree in English Literature. She moved to London in 2002, where she began her journalism career at Newsweek. Vencat worked as a London-based Newsweek correspondent for five years, where she covered major economic trends. Later, as a business writer on staff at The Associated Press, she covered the 2008 global economic meltdown, with her articles being printed by newspapers around the world, including the International Herald Tribune and USA Today.

Books by Emily Flynn Vencat

Douglas Vermeeren

Douglas Vermeeren discovered the books Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People at age 19. Those books changed his life and set him on a course to learn from some of the globe’s top achievers. He has personally interviewed business leaders and companies including Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, American Airlines, UGG boots, Uber, KFC, McDonalds, Disney, United Airlines, Ted Baker and others to share their success secrets with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as “the modern-day Napoleon Hill.”

He is also the producer and director of four out of the top 10 personal development movies ever made—and now the new hit film How Thoughts Become Things! Douglas has also authored three books in the Guerrilla Marketing series. He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV and CBC and others.

Books by Douglas Vermeeren

Robert Vetere

Robert Vetere

Robert Vetere is President of the American Pet Products Association (APPA), the largest trade organization for pet products in the world. At APPA, Vetere works with Dr. Marty Becker of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Dr. Alan Beck at Purdue University to explore the human-animal bond. He also volunteers at Green Chimneys, a farm that teaches leadership skills to children with emotional, social and learning disabilities.

Bob has been interviewed by BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s, Entrepreneur magazine, “World News Tonight,” CBS News, CNN, The New York Times magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Tribune.

Books by Robert Vetere

Debbie Viguié

Debbie Viguié is the author of several books including Scarlet Moon, the Wicked series and Charmed: Pied Piper. Her book Midnight Pearls, a retelling of the little mermaid fairy tale, is on the ALA 2005 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list. Debbie lives with her husband Scott, and when she is not busy writing indulges her love of travel and theme parks.

Lesley Visser

Lesley Visser is the most highly acclaimed female sportscaster of all time. She is the first and only woman in the pro football hall of fame; the only female sportscaster to have carried the Olympic torch; the only woman to have presented the championship Lombardi trophy at the Super Bowl; the first woman on the network broadcasts of the Final Four, the Super Bowl, and the NBA Finals. She was voted the outstanding female sportscaster of all time by the National Sportscasters of America, and was also elected to the Sportswriters Hall of Fame for her work at the Boston Globe, national magazines, and CBS.com.

Visser was the first and only woman to win the Billie Jean King “Outstanding Journalist” award, was honored as the first woman Lombardi fellow, named a Sports Business Journal “champion” and was also elected to the sports museum of Boston. A graduate of Boston College, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2007, she has been on the board of the V Foundation for Cancer Research for more than 20 years, while also serving on the board of NYU’s “Sports and society.”

Visser has mentored young women for decades, while speaking at colleges and businesses around the world. A sportscaster at CBS for more than 25 years, she spent nearly 10 at ABC Sports, where she became the first woman on Monday Night Football, while also covering the World Series, World Figure Skating, World Skiing Championships, and the Triple Crown. She has been voted one of the “women we love” by Esquire Magazine and one of “the five ideal dinner guests” by GQ. She and her husband, Bob Kanuth, a former captain of Harvard basketball, live in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.

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 and in 2024 was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteerism. 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 culinary personality and tastemaker who brings a wealth of experience as a bestselling cookbook author, actor, stand-up comedian, podcast cohost, clean-eating expert, and founder of premium natural food company Eat Happy Kitchen. Anna has created hundreds of recipes that have appeared in her bestselling cookbooks, Eat HappyEat Happy Too, and Eat Happy Italian; on her Substack recipe newsletter; and her popular Instagram account, @AnnaVocino. As a respected voice within the clean-eating community, Anna can deftly transform almost any recipe into a low-carb version of the dish without sacrificing taste. Anna’s recipes and kitchen expertise have been featured in Women’s HealthParadeConsumer ReportsAllRecipesSelf MagazineReal SimpleThe Huffington Post, and other media outlets.