Thomas Werner

Thomas is the author of the book The Business of Fine Art Photography, Routledge, New York, and The Fashion Image for Bloomsbury Publishing, London. A creative consultant, Thomas works one on one with students, creatives, businesses, cultural institutions and local governments students and aspiring creatives helping them refine their communications, and achieve their goals in the commercial and fine arts. He is also an Advisory Board Member for Ithaca College’s Executive Education Program, a contributor to Adobe’s Lightroom Academy, an Editor at Large for IRKmagazine, a Paris based fashion and culture magazine and website, founder of Thomas Werner Projects Podcast, the Global Editorial Director at Les Loupes des Steppes Publishing, and past Photography Program Director at Parsons School of Design in New York. Thomas currently lectures internationally on the topics of photography, fashion, innovation, education, and contemporary professional practices, with a series of recent presentations and workshops in 6 cities across China. He is the former owner of Thomas Werner Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Art District, and a former National Board member and New York Chapter President for the American Society of Media Photographers. Werner also led a team developing a media and literacy web site and resource center in five languages, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and English for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations/UNESCO. He has worked with the United States Department of State on cultural projects in Russia, and been a photography consultant for COACH and Rodale Publishing, among others. Thomas was a recurrent instructor at the United Nations Education First Summer School, and is now presenting workshops on effective message development, team management and visual communication on an international basis.

 For 16 years his research was been Russia centric spending an average of 25 days a year there partnering with 32 cultural, educational, and governmental organizations to develop projects in 29 cities. The focus has been the introduction of contemporary education methodologies, and the development of creative cultures within the country. Russian partners have included; The State Hermitage Museum, the National Center of Contemporary Art, Perm Regional Government, The Moscow Biennale for Young Art, National Centre of Photography for the Russian Federation, The Central State Archive of Film, Photographic and Phonographic Documents, The Moscow Biennale, The Pro Arte Foundation, and others. He has curated exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including seven co-curated exhibitions at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His private collection of Russian photographs and artifacts have been exhibited internationally.

Milka Broukhim

Milka Broukhim was the first design leadership hire at Snap Inc., the founders of Snapchat, where she led the corporate brand design through 2019. In that role she contributed to its foremost creative design solutions for product, business, and brand development. Before starting at Snap Milka spent 15 years consulting for and managing Fortune 500 clients across multiple disciplines, from print to digital marketing campaigns, UI, and AR products, from concept to finish. 

An expert in typography and design excellence for visual communication and creative strategy, and professor of Visual Communication Design & Creative development, Milka has mentored over 1,500 1.5K future design thinkers to meet demands of employer/client creative challenges. She has worked with schools such as, The Art Center College of Design, Otis College of Art and Design, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. In that role she cultivated entrepreneurs and disrupters impacting design and technology industry resulting in over $33B of revenues.

An inspirational educator who offers mentorship for corporate training, private tutoring, and design consultation, she believes in the power of good design and visual aesthetics to create powerful and meaningful design solutions that communicate the story behind the intention/objective, in an effective and memorable experience. Her passion is to cultivate innovation, co-create, and empower creative teams to benefit employees’ growth and company’s profit.

Brendan Cannon

Growing up in New York City, celebrity stylist, CANNON, was inherently influenced by rock and fashion from a young age. He is an award winning celebrity stylist, fashion editor and creative director who has styled many of his favorite musicians including Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Jimmy Page and Shirley Manson. His wit, charisma and style has made him a trusted and sought-after stylist by Hollywood legends such as Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Michael Jackson, Barbara Walters, Liza Minnelli, Willem Dafoe, Dennis Hopper, and Glenn Close. Cannon has also worked with some of today's hottest celebrities, including Diane Kruger, Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Penn Badgley and Rose Byrne.  He has styled large casts for every network including: Lost, Sopranos, The View, Project Runway, Regis & Kelly, The Today Show, Top Chef, and The Office. Cannon's expertise in fashion also has lent itself to his being in front of the camera as a style expert, with television appearances on E!, Style, VH1, CBS, NBC, ABC, TLC, and Bravo. Cannon has been the Fashion Director for 8 years for NBCUNIVERSAL'S Upfronts shooting the casts of New Amsterdam, Rachel Maddow, Lestor Holt, The Kardashians, E! News, The Real Housewives along with other top celbrities from the NBCU properties.

Cannon has been an on-air spokesperson for TJ Maxx, Chapstick, Pantene, Dove and Peanuts/Snoopy Worldwide. Additional commercial work also includes Saks Fifth Avenue, Target, Sony Music, RCA, Bravo Network, Sprint, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus. Cannon has styled fashion shows for Jason Wu and the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria, starring THE BLONDS, which is the largest AIDS benefit runway show in the world, that year hosted by President Bill Clinton and Eva Longoria. He has styled shows for Safilo and their licensed brands, which include Gucci, Christian Dior, Emporio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Dior Homme, Max Mara, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Banana Republic, Tommy Hilfiger and YSL. Cannon also works closely with Make-A-Wish, DIFFA, PETA, The Red Cross, Canine Companions and St. Jude's Hospital.

Julien Crouigneau

Paris based Julien Crouigneau is an accomplished Renaissance Man in the creative fields of design, photography and art direction. Having started his career with STARK over 25 years ago he is now the Creative Director for cosmetic product design at Mazarine Atelier Pascalie in Paris where he has worked with renowned brands such as Helena Rubinstein, Lancome, Louboutin, Shu Uemura, L'oreal, Maybelline…

He is a known graphic designer as well as having been published in over 10 reference books for his innovative graphic design. He is also the co-Creative Director and co- Editor-in-Chief of IRK Magazine, and a sought after fashion and art photographer as part of the collaborative French Cowboy.

Mia Macfarlane

Mia Macfarlane is the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of Paris based IRK magazine an international print and web publication focused on fashion, beauty, art, and culture. Mia inspires her readers and contributors to push their boundaries creatively and intellectually. Before IRK Mia spent three and a half years as the Creative Director of New York based culture magazine DOWNTOWN. A sought after fashion photographer she creates work with her partner Julien Crouigneau under their pseudonym French Cowboy. Utilizing the visual language of fashion imagery the collaborative created and exhibited their fine art photographs across Europe. They are opening a gallery for photography in 2021 the legendary French city of Arles, known for its photography festival "Rencontre Arles" and the LUMA museum.

Wilky Lau

A former Executive Creative Director and Creative Consultant at Muse, Wilky Lau has received awards from the Clios, Cannes Lion, Asian American Advertising, as the Federation Creative Agency of the Year, and as 4A’s Multi-Cultural Agency of the Year. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he worked with Vickers & Benson/Arnold Advertising and at Oglivy prior to moving to the United States. His international lifestyle has provided him a unique view of various cultures, making Wilky a highly valued Creative in the multi-cultural arena. Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, English, Urban, Hispanic markets are his area of expertise.

In 2010, he formed A Bunch of Productions, a production company with his wife, Brenda. They have created 2 award winning short films, which are currently in domestic and international distribution.

Danielle Pearce

Danielle Pearce is an Austin, Texas based creative social strategist. Her work ranges from content creation and brand building to social media marketing strategy with an influencer focus. Danielle is currently the content and marketing manager at Mosie Baby. Within the past year, she has helped their social media following grow organically by over 300%. Danielle has also worked in content creation with several macro influencers, collaborating on sponsored campaigns with Uber, Modcloth, Marks and Spencer, Levi's, Ardene, Burt's Bees, RXBar,  LuLu's, Tetrapak, Proctor & Gamble, Popchips, Lucky Brand,  JCPenny, Martha Stewart, Freshpet, Gilette, Walker Edison, Nordstrom, Barkthins, Amazon Prime Video, Otterbox, and Pantene, among others.

Danielle's photographic work has been exhibited internationally and published in Vogue Italia, Time, Refinery 29, and CNBC. 

Julia Poteat

Julia is a three-time Tommy Award winner for intimate apparel design. She has created intimate and loungewear collections for Givenchy, Mary McFadden, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors. Her creations have graced the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows and been exhibited in the New York City flagship store.

She has taught workshops in the development of fashion accessories and lingerie at Universities in China, Japan, Portugal, Italy, Cuba and the United States. As an educator at Parsons School for Design Julia has developed in class collaborations with prestigious international companies such as Li Ning Sportswear, China; Braccialini Handbags, Italy; Swarovski Crystals, Austria; Supima Cotton and Marie Claire Magazine, United States. She is the founder of Julia Poteat, a New York based luxury handbag and accessory company that specializes in bespoke craftsmanship and the use of sustainable materials. Her designs have appeared in Woman’s Wear Daily in the United States and international Fashion Magazines in South Africa, China, Japan and Cuba.

f. Scott Schafer

Scott has been capturing the essence of prominent personalities and entertainers over the course of his career. His award winning iconic images, which embody a unique style of concept, humor and lighting, have been produced for such clients as Intel, Netflix, Showtime, Aflac, Sonos, Yahoo!, HBO and Pepsi to name a few. He has most recently photographed President Barack Obama at the White House, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, The Dali Lama, Gold Medalist Michael Phelps, Tennis Champion Serena Williams, Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady and Basketball Star Lebron James.

He is currently working on a series of portraits call WORDS UNCAGED. A collection of intimate portraits of inmates from California State Prison in Lancaster that are serving life without parole sentences. The images are paired with writing and artwork created by each inmate.