As a professional speaker he wants to talk to people who care about things that matter and make a difference in listeners' lives now and forever. He has spoken live to over 2 million people in forty countries at over 2,500 speaking engagements.
As a businessman/entrepreneur he wants to save lives, fortunes and futures. He's actively involved in many business interestsdedicated to feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and reforesting our planet with 18 billion trees.
In 1962, Mark created a rock and roll group called "The Messengers" and "played" his way through high school earning $17 per hoursix nights a week.
Mark attended Southern Illinois University (SIU) and was a research assistant to the "Leonardo da Vinci of our time" Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller. Dr. Fuller finished Einstein's "Unified Field Theory", called Synergetic Mathematics. Dr. Fuller patented two thousand inventions, including Geodesic Domes, wrote forty books and created World Games. World Games is a simulated model to "Make the World Work for 100 percent of Humanity." Mark loved working with Dr. Fuller and his fellow research assistants on World Games.
While at SIU, Mark was a student leader and student ambassador to India, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan. Mark wanted to stay in school foreverexcept that when Kent State University blew up, rebellious students did the same at SIU and the school was temporarily closed.
Mark has honorary doctorates from Life Chiropractic College, Cleveland College, Southern Illinois University and Golden State University (closed before it finished its accreditation process).
Mark has coauthored twenty-six Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Dare to Win, and The Aladdin Factor. Additionally, Mark Victor Hansen has authored Future Diary, Miracle of Tithing, How to Achieve Total Prosperity, and is busy at work on several new titles.
An autobiographical video called The Real Me has been created and highlights Mark's lifetime of achievements.
Mark's audio programs include Sell Yourself Rich; Visualizing Is Realizing; How to Build Your Speaking and Writing Empire and Living Your Dreams.
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Mark has worked tirelessly to help the Chicken Soup for the Soul series be the first series to sell one billion copies.
For further information about Mark contact:
Mark Victor Hansen & Associates
P.O. Box 7665
Newport Beach, CA 92658
phone: (949) 759-9304 or (800) 433-2314
fax: (949) 722-6912
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WHO IS KIMBERLY KIRBERGER?
Kimberly Kirberger is the president and founder of Inspiration and Motivation for Teens, Inc. (I.A.M. for Teens, Inc.) a corporation formed exclusively to work for teens. It is her goal to see teens represented in a more positive light and it is her strong belief that teens deserve better and more positive treatment.
She spends her time reading the thousands of letters and stories sent to her by teen readers and traveling around the country speaking to high school students and parents of teens. She has appeared as a teen expert on many television and radio shows, including Geraldo, MSNBC, and the Terry Bradshaw Show.
Kimberly says that the College Soul book has been an amazing journey. In getting close to and hearing from so many teenagers she kept hearing about this very emotionally packed time that begins with application to college and extends through the four-year experience. It became clear to her that this was a time of life that was filled with many challenges and that college students could really benefit from a book like this. For her, it was simply a continuation of a commitment that she has made to teenagers to do what she can to inspire and motivate them while letting them know there are people who believe in them.
Kimberly is the coauthor of the bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and the #1 New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II, as well as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul Journal. She is also the coauthor of the forthcoming Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III and the author of Teen Love: On Relationships, a Book for Teenagers.
Kimberly started the Teen Letter Project with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Health Communications, Inc. The Project is responsible for answering the heartfelt letters received from teenagers and also reaching out to teens in trouble and encouraging them to seek professional help.
To book Kimberly for a speaking engagement or for further information on any of her projects, please contact:
I.A.M. for Teens, Inc.
P.O. Box 936 Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
phone: 310-573-3655 fax: 310-573-3657
e-mail for stories:
[email protected] e-mail for letters:
[email protected] Web site: www.teenagechickensoup.com
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WHO IS DAN CLARK?
Dan Clark is a successful businessman, bestselling author, internationally recognized speaker, entertainer and consultant. Achievers Canada and Achievers Europe named Dan one of the top ten speakers in the world! Dan's story and million-dollar business has been featured on over three hundred TV and radio shows, and in Esteem and Entrepreneur magazines.
Dan is the author of ten highly acclaimed books including his extraordinary corporate management book Simon Says: Managing From the Inside Out, Getting High: How to Really Do It (especially for teenagers) and Puppies for Sale and Other Inspirational Tales.
Dan is also an actor, songwriter/recording artist and an award-winning athlete who fought his way back from a paralyzing injury that cut short his football career.
In 1982, Dan was named an Outstanding Young Man of America. He was then sponsored by Zig Ziglar into the National Speakers Association where he soon received their most prestigious award designation CSP, Certified Speaking Professional. Since then, Dan has spoken to over 2.5 million people in all fifty of the United States, throughout Canada, South Africa, and in fifteen other countries in Europe and Asia, including the former Soviet Union.
Dan addresses over 150 groups each year. His clients include hundreds of corporations such as AT&T, IBM, Marriott Hotels, Principal Financial Group, Meeting Professionals International, Texas Hospital Association and other professional associations, hundreds of colleges and universities, NCAA & professional athletic teams, school districts and chamber of commerce-sponsored community events.
To receive a full product catalog of all Dan's books, tapes, music CDs, posters, shirts, etc., and/or to receive a press kit/speaker's brochure and demonstration video about Dan's keynote speeches, consulting services, and half- or full-day training seminars please contact:
Clark Success Systems
P.O. Box 58689
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
phone: 801-485-5755
fax: 801-485-5789
Web site: www.clarksuccesssystems.com
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Tony D'Angelo is recognized as one of the nation's undisputed authorities of Personal Leadership for today's young adults aged eighteen to twenty-eight. CNN has hailed Tony as ''the personal development guru of his generation'' and SPIN magazine has compared him with peak-performance superstar Anthony Robbins. Today, Tony serves as the executive director of EmPower X!, Inc. and has spoken to over half a million college students from over five hundred universities and twenty-three different countries. He is also the author of The College Blue Book and of the upcoming book, Most People Die When They're 23, but They're Not Buried Until They're 70: A Guide to Creating a Fulfilling Life in Your Twenties. He currently is having a fantastically romantic love affair with his college sweetheart and wife, Christine.
EmPower X!, Inc. or Tony D'Angelo can be contacted at:
EmPower X! Inc.
P.O. Box 702
Lambertville, NJ 08530
phone: 877-EDUTAIN (338-8246)
e-mail:
[email protected] Web site: www.EmPowerX.org
James Malinchak is recognized worldwide as one of the top speakers on the college circuit and was selected
as the 1999 College Speaker of the Year by Campus Activities magazine. He was also named 1999 Consummate Speaker of the Year by Sharing Ideas professional speakers' magazine and was selected for inclusion in a new book, The World's Best Professional SpeakersAnd Why! He is the author of five books including the top-sellers, From College to the Real World and The Master Networker, and coauthor of the audio program How to Ace College and Land a Great Career. James is also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul.
He is currently a full-time author and professional speaker who has talked at over five hundred colleges and conferences worldwide.
For information on his talks or books, James can be reached at:
James Malinchak International
P.O. Box 3944
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-0944
Phone: 888-793-1196
e-mail:
[email protected] Web site: www.Malinchak.com
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CONTRIBUTORS
Many of the stories in this book were taken from books we have read. These sources are acknowledged in the Permissions section. Some of the stories and poems were contributed by friends of ours, who, like us, are professional speakers. If you would like to contact them for information on their books, tapes and seminars, you can reach them at the addresses and phone numbers provided below.
Many of the stories were also contributed by readers like yourself, who, after reading other volumes of Chicken Soup for the Soul, were inspired to submit a story out of their life's experience. We have included information about them as well.
Carol Grace Anderson, M.A., is a national speaker and the author of the highly acclaimed new book: Get Fired Up Without Burning Out! Carol Grace went from growing up in a tiny eighteen-foot trailer surrounded by circus performers, to become a super motivator. This former psychology teacher had a role in a Paramount movie with Sandra Bullock, toured with Roy Clark, and has appeared on the Tonight Show. Through the big life challenges that she has won, she knows firsthand how to get fired up. Carol Grace shares her inspiring secrets and unforgettable stories with organizations across the country. Call Anderson Programs at: 888-32-GREAT.
Michele Bender is a freelance writer in New York City. She has written for many publications, including the New York Times, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, House Beautiful, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Fitness and Jump. This story is dedicated to her dearest friends: the Garfield Girls. She can be reached at
[email protected] Diana Breclaw is the director of student activities at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Her professional career has also included working in student activities and residence life at Elmhurst College. But she holds a special place in her heart for her alma mater, Texas Christian University. She earned her master's degree in college student personnel at Bowling Green State University in Ohio where she started the Children's Miracle Network Dance Marathon to help sick children.
Alexander Calandra is a professor emeritus of physical science at Washington University in St. Louis, where he taught from 1948 until 1979. Dr. Calandra received his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1935 from Brooklyn College in
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New York. During his tenure at Washington University, Dr. Calandra became known as a critic of the new math reforms, which were popular in the 1960s. In 1969, he also joined the faculty of Webster College as chairman of the science department where he worked to develop programs until 1980. In 1979, the American Association of Physics Teachers awarded him the highest honor in physics teaching, the Robert A. Milliken Award. He also was honored by the National Science Foundation for the programs he developed for non-science majors.
Dave Carpenter has been a full-time cartoonist since 1981. His work has appeared in such publications as USA Weekend, Barron's, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, First, Woman's World, the Saturday Evening Post, as well as numerous other publications. Dave can be reached at P.O. Box 520, Emmetsburg, IA 50536 or by calling 712-852-3725.
Natasha Carrie Cohen is majoring in psychology and English at Syracuse University, where she is currently writing a memoir and trying to catch life before it goes flying by and she misses her chance to be incredible. She can be reached at
[email protected] To see more of her writing, check out her Alice in Wonderland Web page designed by Rich White at http://web.syr.edu/~ncohen
David Coleman is known nationwide as "The Dating Doctor." He received the 1997 National Lecture Entertainer of the Year from the National Association for Campus Activities and the 1996 and 1997 Reader's Choice Lecture Program of the Year from Campus Activities magazine. He was nominated for six straight years and is currently the number-one ranked entertainer in America by Campus Activities magazine. David received his bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He is the author of a self-syndicated column on relationships and a book entitled 101 Great Dates. He is currently working on two more books: Prescriptions from the Dating Doctor: Answers to the Most Common Relationship Questions and When the Heart Is Unavailable: Putting a Stop to Revolving Door Relationships (with Richard Doyle). David can be reached at www.datingdoctor.com or by calling 513-583-8000. He is represented in the college market by Umbrella Productions, Inc. at 407-649-6448.
David M. Cooney's cartoons are published in a variety of magazines including Mutual Funds, the Lutheran and Presbyterians Today. Through the scientific journals that feature his work, his cartoons are seen in over fifty countries. David's cartoons are also published in the New Breed, a cartoon feature distributed by King Feature Syndicate. His cartoons run in numerous newspapers under the title Twisted View. David lives with his wife and two children in the small Pennsylvania town of Mifflinburg. He can be reached at
[email protected] Jo Wiley Cornell is the mother of two young-adult college students and has been married for twenty-five years to her husband, Peter. She is a full-time faculty member in the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, where she teaches informational writing. Jo also owns and operates The Write Choice, a writing/consultation business for grant proposals, business plans, employment and resume counseling, and the development and layout of mental health workshop/training materials. She has
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self-published two poetry chapbooks Shadows of My Mind and Shadows of My Mind, Revisited. She is currently working on and looking for a publisher for her nonfiction book, Tentacles of Depression: Understanding a Child's Pain, a work that illustrates the devastation of clinical depression as seen through the eyes of a child. Jo can be contacted via snail mail at 3907 Wedgwood Dr., Portage, MI 49024, by telephone at 616-349-4006 or by e-mail at
[email protected] Cheryl Costello-Forshey is a writer and poet whose poems appear in other Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She is in the process of finding a publisher for her first book of poems. Meanwhile, she is busy working on her second book. She also writes commissioned pieces for any occasion or for no particular occasion at all. If you are interested in having Cheryl write a personalized poem for someone in your life, or if you would like to contact her for any other reason, she can be reached at 36240 S. 16th Rd., Barnesville, OH 43713 or by calling 740-757-9217.
Joseph Danziger is an attorney. He and his wife, Randi, have one daughter, Jillian, a twenty-year-old junior at Penn State University. Joe's story, "A Dad's Change of Life" was written the evening following the day he and his wife dropped off their daughter at Penn State to begin her college experience.
Gunter David was born in Berlin, Germany and moved to the United States at age eighteen to study journalism. Gunter's first career was as a reporter on major city newspapers for twenty-five years, including the Evening Bulletin of Philadelphia, which nominated him for a Pulitzer Prize. Gunter obtained a master's degree in family therapy from Hahnemann University and Medical School in Philadelphia. He recently retired from Johnson & Johnson, where he served in the employee assistance program as family therapist and addiction counselor
to employees and their families. Since retirement, he has become a published author of fiction and nonfiction. In 1997, he won first prize in the literary short-story category at the annual Philadelphia Writers Conference.
Mary J. Davis began writing when the "empty nest" syndrome hit. She also enrolled in college and earned two bachelor's degrees. Mary writes magazine articles, short stories, Christian stories for children and teens, as well as Sunday school curriculum, devotions and greeting cards. Mary's thirty books have been published by Rainbow, Legacy and Shining Star. She speaks at Christian Education Seminars, ladies' groups and children's rallies. Mary also presents writing workshops for children. Mary and her husband, Larry, have three grown children. She can be reached at P.O. Box 27, Montrose, IA 52639.