Suzanne Rowan Kelleher
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of WeJustGotBack.com, a travel site for parents that The New York Times called “an authoritative voice in family trip-planning.” She is a recognized family travel expert and mom of three. Before co-founding WeJustGotBack.com, Suzanne spent 15 years as a globetrotting writer and editor. She has produced articles for numerous publications, including Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, American Baby, Esquire, Forbes, Newsweek, and Parents. Suzanne lived in Europe for 12 years, during which time she was Europe editor for Travel Holiday magazine and the author of seven guidebooks for Frommer's and Fodor's. As editor-in-chief of WeJustGotBack.com, Suzanne dispenses a brand of common-sense travel advice that parents trust. Her articles appear frequently on MSNBC.com and Frommers.com, and she is often quoted in national media outlets such as Oprah.com, Forbes, FoxNews.com, and The New York Times. She is also a frequent guest on television, radio, and podcasts.
Content by this expert:
Stephan Becker
Stephan is the President and Founder of Beautiful Oceans, an international coral reef education, mapping and conservation organization. His company donates 1% of its annual revenues or 10% of its annual profits, whichever is greater, to non-profit organizations working in the field of marine conservation. Beautiful Oceans Coral Reef Adventures are available at the Club Med villages of Columbus Isle and Turkoise for the enjoyment of the entire family.
To quote Stephan: “My commitment to the protection of the natural world finds its roots in the profound understanding that all life on Earth is interconnected. Being respectful of all forms of life equals being respectful of ourselves.” When Stephan is not in the water diving or snorkeling, he likes to practice Yoga on the beach or tell ocean stories to marveled kids.
Content by this expert:
Shira Levine
Shira Levine is a freelance writer based in New York. She covers travel, fashion, beauty, eco/green topics, food, real estate, art, pop culture, celebrity and the luxury market. She has a weekly real estate column in Metro New York, Metro Boston and Metro Philadelphia called “The Real Estate Voyeur.” She contributes travel news stories daily to HotelChatter.com and Jaunted.com, and travel features and profiles to Accent, Forum, Tokion and Good magazine. Shira also contributes to FoxNews.com, New York Magazine, American Express Open Forum, Premiere.com, Heeb and Life & Style. In the past she's done work for the Page Six Magazine, New York Sun, Forbes.com, ForbesAutos.com, Inked, TheStreet.com, amNY, Radar, Sustain Lane, among other print and online publications. She has shared her expertise on several national radio stations and in TV segments and documentaries.
Content by this expert:
Sammi Toorish
Sammi Toorish was 13 years old on this trip. She is an Advanced Open Water Diver and the daughter of Club Med Insider Scuba Expert Jeff Toorish. She will be taking her Stress/Rescue Dive Course in the Summer of 2009 and will work toward her Dive Master rating in 2010. She would also like to be the youngest certified female cave diver in history.
Content by this expert:
Sabina Sicuso
Sabina has traveled the world and has a strong expertise in marketing. She has been wth Club Med for 10 years.
Parentopia
Devra Renner and Aviva Pflock are parenting experts who believe parenthood, like a vacation, is meant to be enjoyed. They acknowledge parenting can be a trip at times, but they want to help you experience great trips, not guilt trips. Devra and Aviva are authors of the award winning book “Mommy Guilt: Learn To Worry Less, Focus On What Matters Most and Raise Happier Kids.” They are PBSParents featured experts and their commentary can be found in newspapers and magazines spanning the globe. Devra and Aviva are co-founders of Parentopia.com where they can be found writing about all sorts of ways to absolve parental angst. Aviva who hails from Colorado is the mother of Travis (8), Arianna (14) and Lexi (16). She is a certified parent educator and child development specialist. Devra, a clinical social worker, lives outside of Washington DC and is mom to sons Josh (8) and Mitch (13). She is a consultant for Zero To Three and is a member of the expert panel at Goodnites.com. Devra and Aviva have each logged thousands of miles traveling with their families via trains, planes and automobiles. They both believe the two things you shouldn’t leave home without are enough underwear for everyone and a sense of humor.
Content by this expert:
Kirsti Frost
Born in South Wales, Kirsti moved to France at age 5 and was brought up there. Following a degree in economics and marketing, she was drawn to working in the hotel and catering industries. From waitress to receptionist, she worked her way up to hotel manager in Avignon. However, the traveling bug got the best of her and she decided to combine her love of people, hotel work and dance and join Club Med. She started in 1996 as a room assigner in Switzerland, and over the next 10 years held the positions of Reception Manager, Leisure Service Manager and Assistant Chief of Village in Club Med resorts around the world, such as La Plagne, Playa Blanca, Punta Cana and Phuket. In 2006, Kirsti joined the corporate office in Paris. And in 2007, Kirsti moved to the corporate office in Miami where she is currently Product and Theme Weeks Manager.
Content by this expert:
Kevin Armstrong
Kevin Armstrong is a true example of the international flavor of Club Med. Born in Iran and growing up in cities such as Bangkok, Tokyo and Dubai, Kevin is now Brand Manager at Club Med U.S. and brings knowledge and experience from around the world to his daily work life. Prior to Club Med, Kevin was an account manager in advertising agencies in New York City and Florida.
Content by this expert:
Keith Rockmael
San Francisco based Keith Rockmael, (a.k.a. Green Ranger to his friends) works with sustainable minded business owners and consults to make businesses greener. He also maintains his own Green building and business blog Greenerati.com and regularly blogs for GreenOptions.com. He also contributes to Wild Blue Yonder, Los Angeles Times, Smoke, and Travel & Leisure.com. When not writing about the Green life, he covers offbeat travel, Green real estate, movies, and culture. Although he loves venturing through Latin America, he’s not against snowboarding followed by a good cocktail.
Content by this expert:
Katie Riguzzi
Katie Riguzzi is Public Relations Manager of Club Med North America. She began her Club Med career in March 2002 as a G.O. at Club Med Sandpiper, but quickly realized her true calling on the corporate side. She joined the corporate office in 2005 and worked in Marketing Services and Customer Relations Marketing before landing her current position in Public Relations. This diverse history with Club Med contributes to Katie’s vast travel expertise.
According to Katie: “Club Med Insider is a wonderful platform for being able to communicate with travelers and provide a voice for insider information as well as having our finger on the pulse for travel trends and expectations of today’s consumer. It creates a great community of experts and newcomers of the travel industry.”
Content by this expert:
Kate
A mini-club G.O. turned marketer, Kate loves all things kid-related.
Content by this expert:
Julia Ortiz
Born in Acapulco, Mexico, Julia has over 34 years of international hospitality experience. After finishing her degree in Business Administration at the Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico, Julia began her hospitality career, with positions at Westin and Hyatt. Julia joined Club Med in 2001 at the Copper Mountain, Colorado resort. After successfully completing several posts at Club Meds in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, Julia joined the Club Med corporate groups department in Coral Gables, FL in 2007. Her experience onsite allows her to plan a flawless group experience for corporate clients and families.
Content by this expert:
Jeff Toorish
Jeff Toorish is an internationally recognized diver and cave explorer and has participated in many archaeological expeditions. With years of experience in multi media journalism he has a passion for underwater exploration and conservation and currently serves as the chief photojournalist for Advanced Diver Magazine as well as being a founding member and president of the ADM Exploration Foundation. He is an award winning journalist, television and video producer and director, as well as a photographer. Currently Jeff and his ADM colleagues are working on a television series focusing on underwater archaeology and ecology.
Jeff is an advanced scuba instructor and professional underwater photographer. In addition to cave diving, wreck diving and general scuba, Jeff is also a certified rebreather diver. He lives on the coast of Maine with his family of equally passionate scuba divers.
Content by this expert:
Jaden Hair
Jaden Hair is a food writer and food photographer specializing in food that is fast, fresh and simple enough for tonight’s supper. She’s a weekly food columnist for the Tampa Tribune newspaper and author of SteamyKitchen.com, one of the most popular personal food blogs in the world. Jaden cooks regularly on Tampa television stations and her first cookbook, called Steamy Kitchen Modern Asian Recipes will be released in Fall ’09. Her two boys, Nathan (4 years old) and Andrew (5 years old) love catching bugs in the garden, concocting magical fruit juice potions, baking superhero pies and stirring up trouble in the kitchen. Jaden’s next project is a kids cookbook, worms not included.
Content by this expert:
Erik Peters
In 1989, New Yorker Erik Peters took a hiatus from college on a whim—to live in the mountains. He joined the kitchen of Chef Thierry Dupain, at Club Med Copper Mountain and the rest is culinary history. Then 20, Peters was more intrigued by the Colorado Rockies than perfecting a white wine sauce, but his priorities soon changed once he realized his affinity for creating fine meals and watching the reactions they produced. After a five-month season, Chef Peters knew he had found his calling and signed on for another season in the kitchen at Club Med Playa Blanca in Mexico.
On the off-season, Chef Peters refined his kitchen skills at the prestigious New York City catering company Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill. In 1992, Peters returned to Club Med full throttle, to work and study for three years under the most prestigious Club Med executive chefs in Colorado, Morocco, Italy, Switzerland, and France. In 1995 Peters became the first American to ever earn the title of Club Med Executive Chef. And at 27, Peters took control of his first kitchen, for an a la carte restaurant at the Club Med Archaeological Villas in Cholula, Mexico. Since then, he served as Club Med Executive Chef successfully running the culinary operations in Japan, Israel, Mexico, Mauritius, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the United States.
After attaining executive chef level and amongst the globetrotting, Chef Peters has expanded his culinary knowledge with a 5-month intensive training in pastries and bread making in France with world-champion pastry chef Pascal Caffet and master bakers Eric Keyser and Jean-Luc Viennet. Peters also received specific culinary certification in modern and traditional techniques from two of France’s most prestigious culinary schools, Bocuse & Lenôtre.
Over the past 5 years, Chef Peters, now Club Med Corporate Chef, is implementing a new dining experience at Club Med throughout the Americas and has revamped the entire culinary product leading the company’s upmarket shift. Chef Peters new endeavor is the Club Med Food & Wine festival, designed to create an international celebration of culinary excellence and foodie tourism throughout the Caribbean. Chef Peters’ vision and brainchild is experiencing great success as the event is now entering its third year.
Content by this expert:
Eric Goldman
Eric works as the Traffic Coordinator at Club Med Columbus Isle. In addition he has….
David Lebovitz
David Lebovitz was based in San Francisco, where he baked professionally for nearly twenty years, including thirteen years in the pastry department at Chez Panisse. He was named one of the top five pastry chefs in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle, and is the author of four highly-regarded baking books, including The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed), the best-selling guide to making ice cream and frozen desserts, and The Great Book of Chocolate (Ten Speed.)
His training includes coursework at Ecole Lenôtre and Ecole Valrhona in France, and Callebaut College in Brussels.
He currently lives in Paris and his latest book, The Sweet Life in Paris (Random House) is his deliciously funny, offbeat, and irreverent look at the city of lights, cheese, chocolate, and other confections. Readers can also follow his Paris-based stories at his blog; David Lebovitz: Living the Sweet Life in Paris.
Now that he's Parisian, his favorite thing to do is to go on vacation, away from Paris. Click on the link to read some of his most recent posts on Club Med's cruise ship and other adventures
Content by this expert:
Corinne McDermott
Corinne McDermott is the founder of Have Baby Will Travel: Your Online Guide for Travel with Babies, Toddlers, and Small Children. Mama of two, she’s appeared on Canada’s top-rated talk and morning shows delivering tips on travel with tots, and her writing’s been featured in Canadian Family magazine. Before creating Have Baby Will Travel, Corinne worked as a television producer for Canada’s largest broadcaster, producing entertainment documentaries and specials on the world’s biggest music stars. Her last production was nominated for a Gemini Award. As founder of Have Baby Will Travel, Corinne contributes a monthly column to parent resource sites across Canada, her advice has appeared in Today’s Parent magazine and on SheKnows.com, and she’s been profiled by The Mompreneur magazine. Recently, she’s been praised by TimesOnline.co.uk as a top Family Travel tweeter. Connect with Corinne on Twitter .
Content by this expert:
Club Med Insider
Club Med Insider
Content by this expert:
Albert Hanneman
U.S. Olympic Festival Gold Medalist and champion of his hometown Hermosa Beach Open, Albert Hannemann has successfully played on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) circuit for the past 16 years. Known to his friends and fans as AL-B, Albert “is one of the most entertaining players in all of beach volleyball,” according to TV commentator Chris Marlowe. Because he wears his heart on his sleeve, Albert engages in exhilarating matches and adds outstanding entertainment value to every AVP event. Albert is widely known as “bar none, the biggest promoter of the sport.”
While playing on tour, Albert founded Hannemann Events, a now flourishing marketing and events company parent to the hugely successful Volleyball Vacations. Volleyball Vacations (www.volleyballvacations.com) offers professional volleyball instruction for adult players and families several times a year in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, Greece, Brazil, France and California. While visiting these countries, AL-B donates volleyball net systems and volleyballs to schools and youth centers to help grow the sport internationally. From the great success of Volleyball Vacations comes Albert’s newest venture, goBeachfest. Holding to the same basic principal as Volleyball Vacations, AL-B’s goBeachfest events will host pros from a variety of sport-disciplines at one resort and bring hundreds of like-minded athletes together to share their belief in healthy living. This year holds great things for Hannemann Events, as the inaugural goBeachfest event, scheduled for November 6-21, 2009 on the Turks and Caicos Islands, will be the biggest sports vacation event in the world.
“Mr. December” in Volleyball magazine’s calendar, Albert is one of the most recognizable players in the world, not only because of his successful career, but also as an astounding result of his dedication to personal appearances and independent business ventures. The consummate entrepreneur, Albert and partners will launch Coast Consulting Concierge in 2009, a multi-level sports, entertainment, and media marketing firm specializing in business consultation and VIP concierge services. Through this service, in association with his upcoming goBeachfest event, Albert will bridge the gap between the AVP and other marques professional sports organizations.
As Vice-President and Program Director of the Dig for Kids Foundation (www.digforkids.org), Albert invests a tremendous amount of his energy in promoting the sport to children. Dig4Kids is a non-profit organization focused on giving children from under-privileged communities an opportunity to excel in both school and volleyball. Albert also serves as a Big Brother with Big Brothers of L.A., and coaches volleyball skills to children in Los Angeles and at the Boys and Girls Club of Venice for the LA84 Foundation.
In addition to appearances on Baywatch, MTV, E!TV, Extra and Inside Edition, Albert acted in a major role in the upcoming volleyball film “Beach Kings,” to be released in July 2009. He has worked as a spokesperson and professional model for Calvin Klein, J-Crew, Polo, Hugo Boss and Versace. Furthermore, Albert has been featured in campaigns for Nautica, Abercrombie and Fitch and the GAP.
