Our story is like any other: Father quits successful law practice, falls in love with making chocolate from scratch and dumps his entire life savings into starting one of the first craft chocolate companies in the US. Daughter thinks he might have lost his mind but works alongside him part-time while attending university. Father travels to remote regions of Ecuador, the Amazon, Tanzania and the Philippines to source exotic cocoa beans directly from smallholder farmers and share profits with them; daughter joins, and focuses specifically on empowering women cocoa farmers and the girls in their communities. The chocolate, made by hand in small batches at a micro-factory in Southwest Missouri, gets some recognition, wins some awards and lands on the shelves of shops and specialty groceries around the country. Father and daughter write a book together about Father’s story and the mission of their company. Their message of delicious, ethical chocolate that directly supports cocoa farmers spreads far and wide. Who knows what the next decade will bring!
As business owners, our greatest opportunity and challenge has been weaving social responsibility into everything we do; it’s not just a buzzword, it’s who we are. Askinosie Chocolate was born committed to fairness, sustainability, minimal environmental impact, and community enhancement. Those commitments will be in place as long as the company is. We’re dedicated not just to making the best quality chocolate you can buy, but to making it in such a way that the more you learn about it, the better you feel about it. And we’re so glad you’re here.
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare/Director of Naval Intelligence Vice Adm. Jeff Trussler is a native of Oklahoma and a member of the CherokeeNation. He graduated from Miami High School (’81 Wardogs), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Oklahoma. He was commissioned at the Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1985. He was also a 2011-2012 Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI program in Foreign Politics, International Relations and the National Interest.
His previous shore and staff assignments include Submarine Force U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) nuclear propulsion examining board (NPEB), two tours at the Navy Personnel Command (NPC), the Joint Staff, and the Navy Staff.
At sea and operational assignments, he served as a division officer on USS Honolulu (SSN 718), engineer officer on USS Tennessee (SSBN 734) and executive officer on USS Columbus (SSN 762). He commanded USS Maryland (SSBN 738) (Blue) and was the first commander of Task Force 69 for the U.S. 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy.
Trussler’s flag assignments were as the first commander, Undersea Warfighting Development Center (UWDC) and as director, Future Plans on the Navy Staff.
Trussler was the recipient of the Naval Submarine League’s Rear Adm. Jack Darby Award for Inspirational Leadership and Excellence in Command for 2006. He is most proud of all of his shipmates on Maryland that went on to senior leadership positions in the Chief’s Quarters and the eight officers that have gone on to their own commands.
He assumed duties as deputy chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and the 68th director of Naval Intelligence in June 2020.
Whitney (Hardy) Mestelle graduated in 2016 with two bachelor of science degrees, the first in mass communication and the second in public relations. She is now the co-founder and executive director at Inclusive Idaho and also serves as the manager of non-profit partnerships for Cauze.
Her advice to current students is: “College is a tool, remember that and take advantage of all you can within your capacity. Get involved and show up; for class, athletics, events, and anything that provides an opportunity to connect and build relationships with your peers, professors and your community.”
How her degree prepared her? “My degrees prepared me for my career in countless ways, but most significantly in communicating my needs and expectations as an employee and supervisor and helping me understand how to create and maintain authentic and meaningful relationships in the workplace. It is crucial for every team member to know what is expected of them while also being confident of the value they bring. My professors, classes and time as a student athlete at MSSU prepared me to keep pushing towards my best in everything I do.”
Best career advice: “There is unquantifiable value in coalition, partnerships, and collaboration. If you don’t know something or need help ask. If you make a mistake, listen to those who can help you navigate better the next time, and always choose people over sales, acknowledgment, or success.”
Edie wants to live in a world where work is not a dreaded evil, everyone has access to learning, people are connected and engaged and the beach is only steps away.
As an training professional with more than 20 years of experience, Edie’s experience includes working as a high school English teacher, a non-profit fundraiser, a Human Resource Director for a franchisee that owned more than forty Sonic Drive-in’s and is currently the Manager of Training and Organizational Development for the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma.
In her current role, Edie led a team that designed and implemented her organizations online employee recognition program. She is also responsible for the design and implementation of Wyandotte YOUniversity, WTOK’s Leadership Development Training Program. In addition, Edie is a certified trainer for Jon Gordon’s Power of Positive Leadership Program and has served as a keynote speaker, facilitator and consultant for businesses and organizations in her local community.
When she is not working to help others achieve their goals, you can find her in her sunroom drinking coffee surrounded by four very furry cats, designing bohemian jewelry for a local craft show or contemplating a way to become a highly over-paid receptionist at a beachfront hotel on Sanibel Island, Florida.
Andrew Geyer earned a PhD in American Literature from Texas Tech University in 2003, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina-Columbia in 1992, and BAs in English and Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.
Geyer's latest book is Lesser Mountains. The tightly knit stories in this cycle delve into the lives of fictional people living in and around the small town of Jordan, Texas. Common themes, shared imagery, and intertwined plots combine to reveal the life arcs of everyday folks who find themselves displaced by profound change. The protagonists for the major plotlines are introduced in the opening story, and the subsequent narratives link the trajectories of their lives in unexpected and fascinating ways—a novelistic effect that makes the whole much more than just the sum of its parts. The collection won a 2020 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) for U.S. South - Best Regional Fiction, Silver Medal; it was named a Finalist in the 2019 American Book Fest Best Book Awards - Short Stories Category.
Geyer's hybrid story cycle Dancing on Barbed Wire, co-authored with Jerry Craven and Terry Dalrymple, and edited by Tom Mack, was published by Angelina River Press in 2018. These sixteen interlocked narratives move at a clip through time and space, from the Civil War to the present, from the sun-scorched brush country to the lush and sometimes lethal Piney Woods. Although readers may detect shades of Hawthorne and Faulkner in the haunted houses, serial characters, disembodied voices, and rattling family skeletons appearing in these stories, their ethos is distinctly Texan.
Geyer co-authored with Jerry Craven the alternate history/time travel novel Parallel Hours (Angelina River Press 2017). This barnburner novel gets underway with parallel catastrophes: the murderous Russian invasion of Baku in 1990 and the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan that destroyed the city in 1221. Thus begins a fascinating tale of alternating time planes when a misstep in either might alter—or abolish—history in both.
He also co-authored the hybrid story cycle Texas 5X5 with Jerry Craven, Jan Seale, Terry Dalrymple, and Kristin vanNamen. This collection of twenty-five interconnected short stories by five Texas writers, edited by Laurie Champion, was published by Stephen F. Austin University Press in 2014. The collection was named a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award in the Short Stories category.
Geyer is the co-editor, with Tom Mack, of the composite anthologyA Shared Voice which was published by Lamar University Press in 2013. The collection was named a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award in the Short Stories category. "Gethsemane," by Clay Reynolds, the opening story in the collection, was a finalist for the 2014 Spur Award for Best Short Fiction from the Western Writers of America.
Geyer has also published four other individually authored books, the latest of which is the novel Dixie Fish (2011). His other book-length works are Siren Songs from the Heart of Austin (2010), a story cycle; Meeting the Dead (2007), a novel; and Whispers in Dust and Bone (2003), a story cycle that won the silver medal for short fiction in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Geyer has published dozens of individual short stories, along with poetry and creative non-fiction. His award-winning work has appeared in Texas Review, South Dakota Review, Southwestern American Literature, and many other literary magazines and anthologies, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the South Carolina Academy of Authors Literary Hall of Fame, he currently serves as Professor and Chair of English at the University of South Carolina-Aiken and as fiction editor for Concho River Review.
Warner Brothers Senior Vice President of Sales, Co-Head Syndication, & Head of Airlines Content Sales. The road to senior vice president of worldwide television, sales at Warner Brothers has been a long and somewhat surprising one for Esdra Lamy. But it has also been one filled with opportunities that he was always ready to accept – a concept that he learned during his time at Missouri Southern State University. In fact, his life philosophy reflects a moment of clarity he had while traveling with MSSU for an education opportunity: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. “You get what you put into it,” Lamy said. “For me, a school like Southern and the Communication Department allowed me to experience as much as I was willing to experience. I became fearless out of that. I became a risk-taker. Unafraid. And it was really born from one particular experience as a young producer at the university in the TV department. “I pushed the faculty and engineering crew to do a live broadcast of Missouri Southern’s men’s basketball team. I never thought they would go for it, but the response I got was, ‘Let’s figure out how to make it work.’ Not, ‘No. No. No.’ That was my first experience of challenge and pressure. I was able to experience the first true live broadcast of an MSSU sporting event, and it has stuck in my mind ever since. That’s why I always say that where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you’re persistent and you have desire, you’re going to be supported to do whatever you want to do.” That experience with the MSSU television station, KGCS, led to other opportunities – such as a trip to Singapore and another trip to Hollywood. And it was during his visit to Los Angeles that he began to network with the television executives that would one day hire him. When he left Missouri Southern in 2001, he knew he wanted to take his degree and use it to pursue a career in television. He thought he wanted to be an on-air personality, but he wasn't interested in having to work his way up through such a competitive field of talent. Eventually he began to gravitate to the business side of the industry. He was introduced to Petry Media – an advertising firm that represented television stations all around the country. He began to sell advertising, and the company invested in his training by sending him to New York City for an in-depth career development session. At the end of that training the company asked for volunteers to move to Los Angeles. Lamy raised his hand and made the first big decision of his career. “I moved to LA and just kept my head down and worked,” he said. “After two and a half years in the business, I cold called my way into Warner Bros. I didn’t know anyone there, but in an industry journal I had seen something about entry-level positions, and I knew if somehow, some way I could get an interview I would have a chance. It just happened that they were looking for someone fresh and green who could be taught, and I was willing to learn. That was my luck. “By 2004 I was an account executive. Two years later they moved me back to New York City as a manager to handle their markets in the Southeast and Northeast. I did that for six years and then was promoted to director. They eventually moved me back to L.A. and promoted me to my current position.”
Mr. Lamy's entrepreneurial endeavors include:
Founding member of Spirits company Toast Distillers (makers of Toast Vodka) Founder/Majority shareholder of The Links Company US (collaterals brand of high Men’s luxury accessories)
Co-Founder of EdenAri Ventures, LLC (a real estate holding company) Co-Founder of REF ventures, LLC(a real estate holding company)
Founder of CEED Ventures, LLC(an investment company that invest in early stage companies with current investment in 10 tech companies)
Ms. Slavings is an Assistant Professor at Missouri Southern State University teaching public relations, speech communication with courses in: health, interpersonal, organizational and public speaking. Her academic research includes: Interpersonal dynamics, Conflict resolution, Health communication, Organizational leadership.
Frank Warren is the creator of The PostSecret Project, a collection of highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice. Since November 2004, Warren has received more than 500,000 postcards, with secrets that run from sexual taboos and criminal activity to confessions of secret beliefs, hidden acts of kindness, shocking habits and fears. PostSecret is a safe and anonymous "place" where people can hear unheard voices and share untold stories.
