Check out our girl Anjali in action.  This world class athlete will be a force to reckon with in London. So proud!

Some of our favorite celebrities are more than just pretty faces.  They are people who are displaying their sense of humanity and building legacies of positive footprints that go beyond the big and small screens.

Don Diamont is an extraordinary actor who has been seen on both the big and small screens.  Most recognized for his role as “Dollar Bill Spencer, Jr.,” on the CBS Daytime Drama, The Bold and the Beautiful, Don was also seen in the film Anger Management with Jack Nicolson and Adam Sandler and Marco Polo opposite Jack Palance.   Don made history when he was named in People’s Magazine “50 Most Beautiful” issue and more recently in the 2009 “Sexiest Man Alive” issue.  Don’s resume and his titles are very impressive but the one title he treasures the most is when he was named  Ambassador of the Year by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in recognition of his work and efforts to find a cure for this crippling disease. 

Heather Tom is a two-time Emmy Award winning actress is recognized for her role as “Katie Logan-Spencer” on the CBS Daytime drama, The Bold and the Beautiful.  Heather began acting at the tender ago of two and she’s been seen in many roles on television, on the big screen and on the stage.  However, Heather embraces an even larger role on the world stage as an activist and humanitarian.

Eric Braeden has captivated audiences for many years.  From his role as John Jacob Astor in James Cameron’s Titanic to his most famous role as the dashing Victor Newman in the #1 daytime drama, The Young & The Restless—a role that garnered an Emmy Award, several Emmy nominations and a People’s Choice Award.  Eric has held many screen roles over the last 50 years, but he has also been honored for his real-life role as a humanitarian and for his work to bridge cultural gaps.

Aaron Hirschhorn is the founder of Dog Vacay with his wife Karine. He is a serial entrepreneur with a venture capital and private equity background. Prior to founding Dog Vacay, Aaron was a Principal at Monitor Ventures.

Previous to Monitor Ventures, Aaron held positions at GRP Partners, Monitor Group, and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. He received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Swarthmore College and an M.B.A from UCLA’s Anderson Management School. He currently holds a board member position at BetterYou.com.

Aaron grew up outside Philadelphia, and now lives with Karine in Los Angeles, and their two dogs, Rocky and Rambo.

Tom Gates has packed quite a bit of experiences into his life so far.  Gates grew up in Connecticut, aching to leave a Republican, middle-class, gun-toting home for cities that smelled like concrete and urine.  He was a true nerd, playing in the marching band and reading Stephen King novels under his bedsheets with a flashlight at 4 a.m.   Nerdy-ness being all the rage now, he embraces this.  Then, during the braces-and-retainer-and-feathered-hair-years, he was largely miserable, like a character that Morrissey takes pity on in his most tragic songs.

An obsession with music led him to his college campus radio station, which led him down the path of The Devil Music, rock & roll.  He quickly integrated himself into the music industry through internships, flying to LA to catch shows while ditching class, funded with the money he’d made working in a hospital emergency room.  Along the way he picked up a degree in teaching children, which was probably the correct degree necessary for working with practicing musicians.

A four-year stint promoting death metal somehow landed him at Arista Records, the biggest pop machine of the 90’s.  While there he promoted artists like Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Patti Smith and Annie Lennox.  He flipped to a management company in 1998 and continued doing promotion, for the likes of Coldplay, Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies, DJ Tiesto and Sum 41.  Gates switched to managing bands in 2002. His clients included Long Island indie-sensation Brand New, nerdcore pioneer MC Lars and Shortbus alum Jay Brannan. He also managed The Format, an experience that takes up a chapter of the book and includes both death and a tough breakup.

By 2008 he had let both New York and the music industry eat him for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Bloated, bored and beaten, he took to writing as an escape.   After writing a few blogs for online travel giant Matador Travel Network, he was approached to write on staff.  Two months later he was asked to be an editor.  One day later he quit his job, sold everything he owned and kissed the bands that he formerly managed goodbye. 

His mission was to travel twelve countries in twelve months, one month at a time.  The word count from the trip would end up being his debut book, Wayward.  During the year he would visit Argentina, Chile, Laos, Thailand, India, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain.

Gates is inspired by the snark of David Foster Wallace’s non-fiction, the punk rock spirit of Dave Eggers, and the audacity of Augusten Burroughs.  He cites several travel books as touchstones, including Paul Theroux’s The Old Patagonian Express, Beryl Markham’s West With the Night,  Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad and J. Maarten Troost’s Getting Stoned with Savages.  He reads Lonely Planet with the fervor that most people read porn.

Having returned to the USA after his trip and purchasing essential living luxuries (bed, can-opener, microwave) he dove back into music, while remaining an editor at Matador.  During the year of 2010 he discovered pop star Christina Perri, who had been working in a coffee shoppreviously.  He also took under his wing a trio of folk-rockers from Philadelphia, Good Old War.  His new adventures in music management have taken him around the world again and again, thus continuing his round-the-world adventure.

Gates lives in Los Angeles, continues to write and travel, and has a hankering to write a follow-up to Wayward.  He is a flight risk.

Tony Volpentest is inspirational from the first moment you meet him.  He was born without hands or feet, but instantly you know this has not hindered his ability to lead an exceptional life.  His message is simple: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”  He dreamt of walking, of running and being the fastest in the world.  He achieved that success.

In high school, Tony was a shy yet smart student.  At the age of 15, Tony joined the track team knowing “nobody got cut”.  He came in last at every race but ran as a way to make friends.  During his junior year he was introduced to his “flex feet”, carbon-graphite feet which are bolted to prosthetics that he wears.  By his senior year in high school, Tony was consistently coming in second and third place running times close to Paralympic world records.  He knew if he concentrated and visualized himself running, he could break those world records.  He could start changing stereotypes people have of others with disabilities.  He could make a difference, he could become a voice.

Tony Volpentest is a four-time Paralympic Gold Medalist and five-time World Champion sprinter.  He began his international dominance as far back as 1990 when, at age 17, he claimed gold in the 100 meter, 200 meter and 400 meter at the World Championships in St. Etienne, France.

However, it was Tony’s two world records at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona that speaks for itself.  Here he claimed two gold medals, taking victory in the 100 and 200 meters as well as picking up silver in the 400 x 100 meter relay.

July, 1996. Atlanta, Georgia Paralympics.  Tony once again confirmed his status as one of the world’s finest athletes.  Having been chosen to carry the Olympic Torch in homeland, U.S.A, and inspired by a large home crowd, Tony once again claimed gold in the 100 meter setting a new world record (11.36 seconds) and took home another gold in the 200 meter.

In 1999 at the ISOD World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Tony’s fierce determination and unsurpassed strength led him to gold again in the 100 and 200 meters as well as a new world record in the 200 meter (22.85 seconds).

Tony has also had significant success competing in road events throughout the US (Goodwill Games, U.S. Olympic Fest), Canada (Bailey vs. Johnson One to One Challenge of Champions), Australia (XI Paralympic Games), and Japan.

He has won numerous honors including the International Olympic Committee Presidents Disabled Athletes Award, the United States Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year Award, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award for the Physically Challenged, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sports Star of the Year Award Winner (1992 & 1996), National Spokesman for Shriner’s Hospitals (1991 – 1993) and in 2009 was nominated to be inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame.

Tony’s charismatic personality has earned him national exposure and features on ESPN, 48 Hours, CNN, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, How’d They Do That, Maury and Sports Illustrated, to name a few.

Today, Tony Volpentest shares his story hoping to inspire others through his experiences.  He currently speaks on behalf of the United States Olympic Committee as an Athlete Ambassador helping to prepare both Olympians and Paralympians for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.  His personal voyage of strength and persistence has inspired thousands of audiences worldwide.  Tony’s motivational story will give you the confidence and inspiration to improve your attitude about life, success and work.

Tony resides in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife and children where he actively participates in activities such as weight lifting, golf, basketball, football, bowling, cycling, swimming and of course, running.