UCW Radio Show

Julie was born in England. Her mother is English and her father from India. Her family moved to the U.S when she was 6 years old. In 1990 at 19 years old Julie helped her ex-husband and partner found the Dogwater Café restaurant chain in the Tampa Bay area. The opened 4 locations in 3 years and eventually sold it in 1998. It is now a franchise and has been featured in numerous national magazines and media outlets due to its unique concept- great food in Dog Bowls! By the time Julie was 20 she had become a licensed Realtor and was dealing in million dollar properties for some of the area’s premier families. Along with her career Julie always made time to give back to the community. Julie spent countless hours volunteering for the Humane Society doing fundraisers with her restaurants and rehabilitating injured and sick animals in her home. Steve and Julie currently support numerous Charities through out the Tampa Bay area. During Julie’s travels at home and abroad she always took interest in the way homes and various types of buildings were furnished inspiring her to open Classic Elegance Interiors 9 years ago. Her work has been featured in St. Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Magazine, House Trends and on Channel 13’s Good Day Tampa Bay as Julie was the coordinator and decorator for the Designer Showcase for local Charities. In the last 5 years Julie and her dear friend of many years Steve Weintraub have married and joined forces. Julie is the Vice President of Gold & Diamond Source handling many aspects of the business, from day to day operations, sales training, and most importantly customer and community relations. Julie has helped introduced to the Tampa Bay Area who Steve and Julie Weintraub are through a series of commercials you may have seen on all the major networks and a strong commitment to supporting charities in their community. With the belief that people shop with people not Logo’s. Julie has also recently partnered with Mary Murphy form So You Think You Can Dance and Maria McGill to promote a gorgeous line of gowns inspired by Maria McGills dance line she created for Dancing With The Stars Season 1 in the US and in Europe. Steve and Julie have 5 children between them from 8-23 years old. They enjoy Sundays with a house full of kids and animals jet skiing and gardening. To learn more about Julie Weintraub go to www.goldanddiamondsource.com www.entradacouture.com www.handsacrossthebay.com

Ron Herbert is a world class record promoter, he has worked with dozens and dozens of artist globally some of which include Cher, Janet Jackson, Rolling Stones, Meatloaf, Sting, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and the list goes on and on. In November 1996, Herbert, a native Atlantan, became vice president of southeastern operations for the powerful Jeff McClusky & Associates, a record promotions and marketing firm out of Chicago. At 6’2,” his powerful frame stands in stark symbolic contrast to his childlike passion for music and musicians in general. His reach in the business stretches far and wide and spans 25 years, a fact that is overwhelmingly evident upon entering his Buckhead high-rise office. Adorned with hordes of gold and platinum records representing millions of albums sold, the walls reflect a rich and eventful history in the shaping of rock ’n’ roll. Ron joined Jeff McClusky and Associates in 1984. The founder of the independent record promotion and marketing firm in Chicago happened to be looking for a key figure to help his company expand into the hot southeastern market. Ron soon began breaking records for all the majors—Columbia, Atlantic, Warner, Elektra, Mercury — Herbert’s aggressive style soon became the stalwart of the companies “Southern Wing”, and through Ron’s fiercely competitive dedication, Jeff McClusky and Associates became known as one of the largest, most successful companies of its kind in the U.S. Presently, Ron Herbert is working on numerous other entertainment ventures including a partnership with Ray Mariner (Atlanta, GA radio personality) to manage Country music new comers, Gary Ray & The Heartwells. Websites: www.moneymarketron.com  www.bonusmusic.com

The UCW Radio Host Louis Velazquez had the opportunity to have Mr. Universe Doug Burns on the Show. Doug Burns is a modern Sampson. The 2006 Natural Mr. Universe, he’s two hundred pounds of sheer muscle and the picture of good health. Of the skinny little boy with type 1 who used to work out in the woods alone, all that remains are a wry sense of humor and an attractively self-deprecating manner. They’re unexpected in a man who’s triumphed in the uber-masculine world of bodybuilding, but there’s a lot that’s unexpected about Doug Burns. At the age of twelve, in 1977, Doug came across a picture of the Biblical Sampson holding a lion in a headlock. He’d never seen anything like Sampson’s hugely muscular body, and for the skinny, lonely boy, the sight was a revelation. That night he prayed zealously for a half hour to be changed into a Sampson. When he woke the next morning as skinny as ever, he gave up on miraculous intervention and decided to take matters into his own hands. Doug’s physician tried to forbid him to lift weights, but he was so hell-bent on becoming Samsonesque that he ignored the doctor. Unfazed by the absence of gyms in backwoods Mississippi, he made late night forays to the junkyard and jerry-rigged his own gym with old pulleys and bags of concrete. Using an outdated issue of Ironman magazine as his guide, he trained in his makeshift gym in the woods come hell or high water, in the company of raccoons and bobcats, and once right through a tornado. About the same time that he started working out, Doug got hold of a home glucose meter. His control improved immediately, and once that happened, his world opened up. No longer a bag of bones, he joined the football team, became the most valuable running back, and found a group of buddies to work out with. He and his friends would go to Wolf River, dive from the trestle, and train out in the sun with weighted dumbbells. Where the river rapids flowed through a canyon, they swam upriver like salmon. At age fifteen, after only two years with the weights, Doug began power-lifting competitively. He placed dead last in his first competition, but by the time he graduated from high school, he had set American records in drug-free power lifting in the adult open class. Following his success as a powerlifter, he began entering bodybuilding competitions. In November 2006, the boy formerly known as “the bag of bones” became Mr. Universe. When he’s getting ready for a contest, Doug moves his testing frequency way, way up. Because his body fat is coming down so drastically, he starts using cardiovascular work to chase his glucose. He begins pulling off of bolus injections; instead, he moderates what he’s eating in conjunction with whatever training he’s doing. So he takes glucose when he knows he’s going to need it, and then does aerobic work right afterward to “just burn the heck out of it.” As his body fat keeps dropping, the whole mechanism keeps improving and improving. When he was first competing, Doug didn’t know any other athletes who had diabetes. He was aware of one other diabetic bodybuilder way back, but that fellow got into the anabolic scene. Doug’s never used drugs, but he trained at Gold’s Gym in Venice for seven or eight years, and the drug use there, he reports, was rampant. The organization within which he competes, the International Natural Bodybuilding Association, is completely clean and tests for everything under the sun. The two other bodybuilding organizations, however, are sullied by steroids. It’s unfortunate, he says, because steroid use has distorted a previously healthy quest to attain a classic figure, twisting it into a battle of cartoon characters. Doug’s never run into any prejudice against diabetes in the gym, though he is very open about testing and his pump. People sometimes give him the eye, thinking that insulin might be advantageous in competition, but insulin is of no use to him in that respect because if his insulin ever goes high, he can’t shed body fat and get lean enough to compete. For competitions, he brings his insulin dosage down to probably less than that of a non-diabetic person. Doug emphasizes that for him, it’s not about diet and exercise: It’s about exercise and diet. Exercise is primary. He says that diets are misleading, in that they promise that you can simply eat your way to health. He does have a particular diet that he follows, leaning a little more on protein. He “eats very, very clean” throughout the week and gives himself one day to enjoy whatever he feels like having. He loves Cajun food with a passion, and his favorite beer, Chili Creek, is spiced up by a big hot pepper inside the bottle. Doug doesn’t take any meds except children’s aspirin, but he takes a lot of supplements, including isolated whey plus whey concentrate, multi-vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, L-glutamine and carnatine. He notes a distinct beneficial effect when he takes supplements, which he uses to advantage when preparing for competition: He works without supplements until he is in the best possible shape, and then adds the supplements to take it up a notch. He notes that his way is the antithesis of the public’s inclination to take the magic potion right from the get-go. He has always done the work first and then used the supplements as an adjunct to the hard work. That stubbornness may be why Winston Churchill, the relentless bulldog of a man who refused to quit no matter what, is one of Doug’s favorite people. He was also inspired by Sampson, of course, by Dr. Billy Graham, and by Bo Jackson, whom he reveres as one of the greatest athletes of all time. His biggest inspirations are his three kids, ages twelve, ten, and eight. He’s no longer too concerned that his children

Kelsey McNeal has been involved in photography since the age of 6 due to his fathers influence. He has definitely come along way since snapping shots as a young kid. Although he has had great success in the world of photography he did not make a decision to lean on his past accomplishments, Kelsey is reaching for higher ground by interchanging his photo camera for a film camera, as he gets set to film his first film “PURE.” Kelsey always had a knack for taking good pictures, whether it was at family functions or just on his travels, he is a consummate artist at heart, bundle that with creative, the desire for knowledge and a drive , well you had the recipe for success. His creative vision allowed him to see stories in a photo, so knowing this he made it a point to envision the story in every picture he took. After graduating from college, Kelsey quickly began work in the television and film industry. In 1993 he had the ability to join the Cinematographers Union thus taking him one step closer to his true calling, even though he didn’t know it yet. He had the privilege to work on several film and television projects such as “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”, “Heat”, “L.A. Confidential”, “Wonderboys”, “Set It Off”, “Gone In 60 Seconds”, “The Other Sister”, “Bandits”, “Life As a House”, “V.I.P”, “Boston Public”, “The District”, “24”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, “American Idol”, “Dancing With The Stars”, and the list goes on. He has worked with major television networks such as ABC, NBC, Fox Television Network and Lifetime. While working with many distinguished Directors of Photography, Kelsey learned how to capture the beauty of a person, or the significance of a moment, and create art through the use of camera angles, lighting, location, wardrobe, and mood. Through it all, photography remained his true passion and in 2002 he made his passion a profession. After walking around trying to find himself, he took that walk with a camera in hand, snapping shots all over the world, still not knowing what he wanted to do, but all the while it was right in front of him, Photography. From celebrities to models, from fashion to editorial, landscapes to still life he has built quite an impressive portfolio. And in every photo he takes, you see the creative, artistic soul that makes Kelsey McNeal.   As Ansel Adams once said, “There are always two people in every picture:  the photographer and the viewer”. “Kelsey is one of the most talented photographers in the United States today, his vision and ability to tell such a story with every photo he takes is a gift that not many photographers or directors for that matter have. The natural progression for a creative soul like Kelsey is motion pictures and we look forward to him becoming one of the greats in Hollywood as his career progresses.” said Louis Velazquez, Host of the UCW Radio Show. To learn more about Kelsey McNeal go to www.kelseymcneal.com

Anna Easteden enjoys a career rich in experience and wide in range as an international model, TV, stage and screen actress, and humanitarian activist. Easteden is known for her performance as Bee Sting on “Who Wants to Be a Superhero?” as well as notable co-starring roles on “Bones,” “Days Of Our Lives” and “Passions.” She also played Nicole Brown Simpson in a Japanese TV movie and took on a lead role in the short film “Harmless,” winner of 2 prestigious film festival awards. Personally recruited by multi-award winning director Mika Kaurismaki (who’s directed the likes of Johnny Depp, Julie Delpy and Henry Thomas), Easteden is slated to star in his upcoming feature film “The House of Branching Love” (“Haarautuvan Rakkauden Talo”) set for release in her native Finland in Fall 2009. Easteden will also work alongside Oscar® nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) in the Japanese remake of the Oscar®-winning American phenomenon “Sideways” – currently in post-production for a 2009 release. Easteden was born in Finland and raised on her parents’ dairy farm. At the early age of twelve, Anna’s career took its first major stride when she won a national modeling contest and appeared on her first Finnish magazine cover. Shortly thereafter, Anna received an international modeling contract with a major Japanese modeling agency and promptly relocated to Tokyo where she appeared in advertising campaigns for such mammoth international corporations as Sony, Phillips, Oricom and Wacoal – to name a few. Easteden’s modeling career next swept her off to such global destinations as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Slovakia, Guam and finally the United States. Once on US soil, Easteden quickly landed a series of major modeling gigs with Calvin Klein, Hermès, Salvatore Ferragamo, Diesel, T-Mobile, Avon, Jockey, Chevy and Nissan – and has been featured in such magazines asCosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire. Easteden’s interests also include those in the humanitarian arena. Not something one might expect from a fashion model, Easteden conducted a comparative legal research study on the different aspects of asylum procedures in selected European countries for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research impacted the Slovak National Asylum Legislation, which was in the process of amendment. Anna then continued her work in Bratislava, with an international partner of The Foundation for a Civil Society (USA), where she involved herself in the “Citizen Campaign OK ’98” for free and fair elections. Easteden currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband. In addition to her modeling and acting, Easteden enjoys traveling, cooking, writing, and lending a humanitarian hand to a number of her favorite non-profit organizations. Websites: www.annaeasteden.com     Tweets by AnnaEasteden  

The UCW Radio Host Louis Velazquez had the opportunity to have reality show star Cindy “Rodeo” Steedle on the show, she was featured in Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love as well as Sharon Osborne’s Charm School on VH1. Cindy “Rodeo” ‘s story is one of not giving up, from her battle with cancer to battling with her pregnancy and all in between. She is not only a reality show star but she is a top personal trainer, spokesperson for various products, figure competitor and above all a great mom. This interview is one of survival and standing tall, something that Cindy did with some, but shadow it with a smile and a cheerful laugh. She talks about her involved with support our troops, visiting V.A. hospitals and her charity guest appearances that have put a smile on U.S. Soldiers, this is a must listen to interview as it shows you whole the real Cindy Steedle aka “Rodeo” is. Websites: www.crodeo.net http://www.vpxsports.com/ http://www.countrygirljeans.com/

The UCW Radio Host Louis Velazquez had the opportunity to have host of the radio show “The Grinder” David Webb on the Show. David Webb is a communicator with over 15 years of entertaining and informing the public; a dynamic blend of experience as a Local & Syndicated Talk Show Host, Music On-Air Personality, Producer, Assistant Program Director and Promotion Director; all in Top 10 Markets. A storied run during his radio career has led him through Boston, New York City, Houston and Dallas, and landed him at great stations like WILD-AM, WHTZ-FM, KZFX-FM, KLOL-FM, KKTL-FM (Houston’s first FM Talker) and KRLD-AM. David made the jump to talk, local and syndicated while in Houston with Consumer Finance, LoveRocks and Reality Check; then on to Dallas as Host of “USA@Nite” on the USA Radio Network with KRLD-AM as his flagship station. He has ventured into the print world with Worcester Magazine and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. David spent some of his time in Dallas as a Decennial Manager for the US Bureau of the Census, responsible for an 8-city region and then various survey projects in TX, LA and MS. He has been recognized for his work by then-Director, Kenneth Prewitt. Active in politics on the local and national level, David is a member of the WNRC’s Henrietta Wells Livermore School of Politics. He is co-founder and moderator of the American Forum Series and Black Republican Forum,co-organizer of the NYC Tax Day Tea Party and co-founder of Tea Party 365, a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy group for fiscal responsibility. Another constant theme is David’s commitment to community through organizations like the Young Marines. A television and radio commentator, David has appeared on radio and TV nationally – CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News Strategy Room; internationally on BBC Radio and TV, NDTV/India, Dutch National TV, in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan, France and Canada. David is a contributing editor to FamilySecurityMatters.org, to American Solutions, and the fill-in host for Andrew Wilkow on SIRIUS Patriot 144 and XM America Right 166.   Websites: www.thegrindershow.com www.teaparty365.org

Lisa Sowle is the founder of Herbagirl International, she hails from Houston TX. At 35 years old, Lisa is the mother of three beautiful girls known affectionately as “The Sowle Sisters” in the world of skateboarding. Her main quote that you can hear her say on any given day is “I LOVE LIFE” Sowle has struggled with being overweight after the birth of her first child. So she tried numerous ways to try and shed those post birth pounds, from diet pills, crazy diets, all the way to starving herself but nothing worked. She admits that at that point she pretty much had given trying to lose weight because she was running out of money and hope! She saw a friend pretty much melt from a size 16 to a 6, and she was 20 years older than Sowle, this was the fire that she needed to want to make this happen for herself. She did the program that her friend did to lose weight, and Lisa Sowle succeeded! Now it has been 10 years since she first shed that 50lbs m going from a tight 12, she admits, to a slim size 4, and she has continued to maintain that slim size 4 through following the guidelines that she set forth in her Herbagirl program. To find out more about Lisa Sowle go to www.lisasowle.com  

The UCW Radio Host Louis Velazquez had the opportunity to have Actress Joanna Ke on the Show. Up and coming actress Joanna Ke is quickly becoming known as a power house in the independent film community. In “References”, a romantic comedy about a group of 20-somethings in a small town, Ke steals every scene with her portrayal of diabolical Cora. Recently, she co-starred with Sarah Chalke and Leisha Hailey in “Maneater” playing a character completely opposite to her role in “References”, showing her versatile talents. “Maneater” is a Lifetime television miniseries directed by Timothy Busfield and based on the book of the same name by Gigi Levangie. Ironically, Joanna rarely watches romantic comedies in her free time, leaning more towards sci-fi and fantasy as she’s had a lifelong fascination with the paranormal and cryptozoology. However, when it comes to her work, the most important thing for her is not the genre, but to have fun with the character, the people she’s working with, and the story. Ke’s voracious passion for acting led her to study with over 15 acting coaches. One of her primary mentors is an Emmy-award winning producer. Her extensive training, professionalism, and laser-sharp focus on-set afforded her a stellar reputation in the acting community in Arizona. In March 2009, she made the move to LA to further her career and, within 2 months, booked her first gig. She signed with manager Scottie Ward of CCM in July. With the indie horror flick “The Crypt” currently out on DVD, she recently completed a run in the play “8 Shades of Alice.” Her next projects include starring in the title role of the short “Trixie Woo” shooting in November, the release of the feature thriller “Avè Maria” on DVD in fall 2010, the release of the comic to film adaptation “Villikon Chronicles: Genesis of Evil” as well as subsequent comics drawn in her likeness, and, of course, procuring theatrical representation in California. Websites: www.joannake.com http://joannake.wordpress.com/

The UCW Radio Host Louis Velazquez had the opportunity to have the talented Brianna Taylor on the show, she is a recording artist and star of MTV’s Real World  Road Rules “The Ruins.” Youth, beauty, confidence and talent… Brianna Taylor is blessed with many gifts that move people to react to her in many different ways.  She shares her gifts with the world in two ways – by releasing her sophomore album Fireworks At The Fairground via Chamberlain Records and by appearing on THE REAL WORLD – ROAD RULES CHALLENGE “The Ruins” (September 29th, 2009 premiere). After the release of Brianna Taylor’s Spring 2008 self-titled EP, which showcased her vocal ability and garnered much attention in the music landscape, her new album promises even greater notoriety!  The sound encompasses a matured Taylor, with an R&B flare that was not present on her debut album. While controversy seemed to follow the 20- year-old Philadelphia native wherever she went in years past, it has led Brianna to become an individual who is honest, outspoken, and unwilling to be mistreated.  Brianna chooses to live life on her own terms with an adventurous nature that has admittedly led to a few mistakes in life.   Brianna moves on from these mistakes without regret – they have made her into the woman she is today. Music has always been in Brianna’s life.  Her early favorites – Natalie Cole, Anita Baker, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne – laid the groundwork for her singing style.  Christina Aguilera and Hayley Williams of Paramore are more recent favorites along with another influence, Amy Winehouse.  “Amy Winehouse is amazing.  She delved into musical history and brought it into the modern music scene,” says Brianna.  The flair she brought into indie music is so strongly felt.” Brianna’s creative history stems from a long line of talent in her family.  Her grandmother was a singer on the radio with her sisters for many years and she passed her love for singing onto her granddaughter. Brianna’s mother was an actress and model, her uncle plays the drums, and her sister is “an amazing dancer” according to the songstress.  For everyone in her family, the creative experience has been a cathartic, emotionally laden one.  “I can forget everything and just rock out,” she says of the personal effect of singing. Brianna feels that “if someone isn’t really feeling the words they are singing, there is no point in listening.  So few singers really make me feel the emotion of the song.  I think about that and strive to do that for the listener.” The story of Brianna’s life has certainly some twists and turns.  In her earlier years, encouragement from family was rare.  As the years went by, it was equally scarce from ex-boyfriends.  One of Brianna’s ex-boyfriends abused her and taught her an unfortunate lesson in human nature.  When a subsequent boyfriend (the one she spoke of on THE REAL WORLD- Hollywood) laid his hands on her, Brianna (literally) fought back.  “Men seem to think it’s okay to restrain your girlfriend.  I had every right in the world to fight back,” she explains.  A result of this altercation was charges being pressed on her (which Brianna heard about once she got to the REAL WORLD house) and her being sentenced to anger management classes and probation. Brianna’s MTV celebrity status is still something that is taking a bit of getting used to.  “I am recognized on the street a lot lately,” she notes.  “I am loving every minute of it though.  People are nice when they approach me, saying ‘You’re so real and honest.  How is your singing career going?’ They are supportive and I love that!”  This appreciation has bred closeness with her fans.  Brianna gives her fan email lots of attention, personally answering as much as possible. Brianna has been through a considerable amount in her mere 21 years of life.  She has opened up her everyday life to public scrutiny via MTV shows like THE REAL WORLD and her new sound on Fireworks At The Fairground goes even deeper and lays her emotions bare as well, this time with a matured personal musical style. “Brianna Taylor actually impressed me , being only 20 and having the full view of the reality TV world was refreshing, after listening to her new single “Criminal”, well the girl has talented, we’ll be seeing a lot of this young songstress for years to come,” said  Louis Velazquez host of the UCW Radio Show. Websites: http://www.myspace.com/briannataylorofficial http://twitter.com/BTMusicGrrl

Louis Velazquez had the unique opportunity to conduct an in-depth interview with a Modern Day Tony Stark, an innovator in some many areas, Alfred DiMora’s journey is one of the most inspirational that we have had on the show, its a story of coming from nothing and building an empire, the American Dream, Alfred DiMora is a prime example of that dream. Alfred DiMora is a native of Rochester, New York, Alfred J. DiMora was fascinated by cars from the age of ten. He worked at service stations in his early teens, during which time he rebuilt a burned-out 1939 Buick before he was old enough to drive. Working in a co-op program, he earned his machinist degree and became a certified welder. In 1976, Mr. DiMora came to Santa Barbara, California to design and build limited-production luxury cars at Clenet Coachworks, as employee number six. Over the next seven years, he took control of Clenet, while also forming Sceptre Motorcar Company. His Sceptre won the Best-of-Show award at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 1978. As owner, CEO, and Chief Automotive Designer at Clenet, he created the Series IV and Series V Clenets. Altogether, over 580 Clenets were produced and sold to celebrities, royalty, and other motor enthusiasts around the world. President Reagan declared 1986 the Centennial Year of the Gasoline-Powered Automobile. Mr. DiMora’s Clenet was selected as the Official Centennial Car. As a result, he and the automobile were honored at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Michigan (pictured at right). Clenets were called “Drive Art” by Automotive Age and the “American Rolls-Royce” by Fortune. As an entrepreneur and business consultant, Mr. DiMora has advised and built companies in industries as diverse as chemical recycling, public relations management, software development, television infomercial production, and real estate development. In the mid-1990s, he innovated in chemical recycling, automobile and truck antifreeze production and distribution, and hazardous waste management at PRS, Inc., in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served on the American Society of Testing and Materials Committee as the first non-chemist. During this period, he created and marketed the first ready-to-use 50/50 antifreeze, which quickly went on to be a bestseller. In 1997, Mr. DiMora founded Star Bridge Systems, Inc. to advance reconfigurable computing technologies. Star Bridge created powerful, high-performance computer platforms and a new software language called Viva, for a new supercomputer platform called hypercomputing. Star Bridge customers include NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Cancer Institute. Mr. DiMora served as Chairman, CEO, and President before leaving the firm to return to California to pursue his first love—motorcars. Mr. DiMora is a major participant in the development of Voyager, the world’s largest Ferris wheel. The first two 600-foot diameter wheels will be built in Las Vegas and Dubai. Sir Alfred J. DiMora was inducted into the Knights of Malta in 2001. He is a member of the Motor Press Guild and the Society of Automotive Engineers. He lives in Palm Springs, California, with his wife, Yvonne, and stepdaughter, Chanel. His stepson, Josh, is in the U.S. Marine Corps. Clenet Clenet is arguably the most beautifully styled automobile series ever built. Each limited-production model was conceived, designed, and produced by a small team of dedicated men and women in Santa Barbara, California in the 1970s and 1980s. The automobile’s distinctive 1930s styling and meticulous hand craftsmanship turned heads wherever they went. Clenets boasted the latest in drive train and suspension system technology under a body of steel giving them superior reliability to go with their beauty. Features such as Italian walnut burl dashboards and etched glass accented by Waterford crystal ashtrays brought many Clenet models under Alfred DiMora’s leadership in at over $100,000. In those days, you could buy a nice house for that price tag. That didn’t stop an eclectic group of buyers ranging from Farrah Fawcett, Rod Stewart, Ken Norton, and Sylvester Stallone to King Hussein of Jordan. Mr. DiMora’s Clenet was selected as the Official Centennial Car in 1986, the year that President Reagan declared the Centennial Year of the Gasoline-Powered Automobile. This put Alfred DiMora and the Clenet into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Michigan. Clenets were called “Drive Art” byAutomotive Age and the “American Rolls-Royce” by Fortune. Sceptre 6.6S 1978 Prototype During the late 1970s, Alfred DiMora and Ray Kinney, two members of the Clenet team, joined Tom McBurnie to form Sceptre Motorcar Company to design and produce a unique luxury sports car. The Sceptre 6.6S was an art deco design with the flavor of the late 1930s classics. This hand-crafted, limited-production, specialty car was reminiscent of such vehicles as Delage, Delahaye, Bugatti, 1935 BMW, Alfa Romeo, 500 XK Mercedes, as well as the 1950s Jaguar. Perhaps the closest car of this style is the Talbot-Lago. Yet the Sceptre is not a replica of any one automobile. Appointments included hand-rubbed lacquer paint and an interior of Connelly leather and walnut burl that complemented the latest in drive train and suspension technology. The Sceptre won the Best-of-Show award at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 1978. Sceptre Motorcar Company produced 15 of these $39,000 automobiles ($50,000 for the turbocharged version) that emphasized sporty features compared to the luxury of the Clenet series of automobiles. Many of these automobiles were acquired by celebrities and dignitaries. The sixteenth was never completed from the factory but exists uncompleted to this day. The body of the Sceptre is made of fiberglass applied to a tubular steel frame. Only the doors are made of steel. The engine is a powerful 400-horsepower V8 connected to a three-speed automatic transmission. The Sceptre will go 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. The weight of the entire car is slightly over 3,000 pounds. The Sceptre is known for its high reliability factor. It is said that no other car has been built like the Sceptre with the exception of the Ferrari. Many articles were written on the Sceptre at its introduction, including: an article by Dennis Adler which appeared in the March 1979 edition of Car Collector,

Facing Life is not such an easy thing to do. Just ask Ross Mandell. He’s had good times and bad. His highs have been higher than most, and his lows have likewise been lower than most. At the young age of 16 Mandell’s father died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Left without a father, his world shattered, Mandell’s life became rudderless. As he was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, he “lived life in the fast lane.” All that came to a screeching halt 17 years later. Mandell Discovers he has a Disease – Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, During those 17 years, Mandell also became one of the most successful stock brokers on Wall Street. He was part of the telecommunications boom in the late 70s and early 80s that brought Wall Street to Main Street. Along the way, he raised hundreds of millions of dollars for companies and made millions for himself. Yes, the good times were indeed quite good. However, Mandell discovered he had a disease. He suffered from alcoholism and drug addiction. Mandell became a poster child for the go-go days and the boom times on Wall Street. On March 14th, 1996, a front page news article titled, “The Art of Survival,” that appeared in the Wall Street Journal profiled Mandell. “That story threw my life open to the public,” says Mandell, “I was clean and sober for six years, but it discussed the issues and challenges I had with substance abuse.” The echoes of that story have continued to reverberate throughout Mandell’s life and have become an indelible part of his persona. In June 2002, a front page story in the leading daily British newspaper, The Observer, led with the following headline, “Greed is Good Comes to London.” The caption further states, “Gordon Gekko Style Investment banking comes to London in the persona of Ross Mandell.” Naturally, the paper is referring to the lead character played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s 1987 Oscar-winning film, Wall Street. For all practical purposes, Gekko’s character could likely have been based on Mandell’s life. In October, 2005, Forbes Magazine in a two page spread proclaimed Mandell as Wall Street’s “bad boy broker,” in an article titled, Second Act, which featured Ross Mandell and Sky Capital’s success in the Wall Street arena. One fateful day, September 27th, 1973, a day that changed Mandell’s life forever, David Mandell, Ross’s father, unexpectedly died from a heart attack on Rosh Hashanah, a religious holiday. Thus began a whirling dervish of Dionysian decadence for nearly two decades. Mandell now found himself bottomed out, burned out and broke. Mandell was a living cliché. Lots of money, fast cars, fast women, and all the trappings of early success. From the outside he had it all. On the inside he was empty. Of that moment, Mandell says, “I woke up one day and realized I couldn’t continue to live like this, I was a wreck and a million dollars in debt, all at the age of 33.” In October, 1990, Mandell checked himself into the Silver Hill Foundation, a world famous rehabilitation clinic, in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was there for 28 days. It was the first time that he was clean and sober since his teen years. At Silver Hill, he was introduced to the 12-Step Program, Alcoholics Anonymous. “The AA program is amazing,” says Mandell, “my life changed immediately for the better.” AA is a spiritual program that emphasizes personal admission, moral inventory and service. “Recovery is not an easy thing,” says Mandell, “its’ a daily struggle and the most difficult thing I have accomplished in my life.” On October 12th, 2009, Mandell celebrated 19 years of continuous sobriety. Upon leaving Silver Hill, Mandell’s personal and professional life, bolstered by the principals of AA, became better than ever. Built like a bull-dog, dressed in the finest suits, with the swagger of body-builder meets investment banker, Mandell dedicated himself to work, fitness and sobriety. Mandell’s public profile continued to grow and earn him close media attention as well as scrutiny by financial regulators. In 1995, in a blanket settlement with the New York Stock Exchange, he was suspended from securities dealing for six weeks. In another instance he settled a difference with a trading client for $75,000. “That’s the price you pay when your professional and personal life become public,” says Mandell. The 90s were a great time to be on Wall Street. Fueled by a stimulated Clinton economy and a technology boom, the capital markets expanded to new heights. During the next decade Mandell went on to work for, founded and funded many companies. Along the way he closed scores of transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Mandell, with two other partners, went on to create Roan Capital Partners, a New York City-based, NASD registered broker-dealer. After leading and successfully managing its rapid growth Mandell sold his interest and went on to join the Thornwater Company as a Senior Vice President. By the end of the 90s Mandell felt the market changing. “The boom was about to bust,” says Mandell of that time, “and I thought this the right moment to try something new and different.” Mandell, ever independent, intuitive and entrepreneurial, decided to start an international Merchant Bank and stock broker, Sky Capital Holdings. He raised $9 million dollars to seed the venture, but even more dramatically, Mandell brought his company overseas. “I was the first American to bring a regulated U.S. company to the London Stock Exchange,” says Mandell. In July 2002, Sky Capital went public on London’s Alternative Investment Market. On the day it went public the company was valued at more than $30 million. On two separate occasions, Ross Mandell and Sky Capital were privileged to speak and to host luncheons in the British Parliament. Matthew Carrington, a former member of the British Parliament, and Alexander Duma, a parliamentary appointee, were also members of the Board of Sky Capital, as was former Senator, Larry. L Pressler. According to