Adam Oliver - Illustrator, Animator and Toon Boom Trainer

I'm a 2D animator working with hand-drawn and digital cut-out techniques for TV, film and all the bits in between. In early 2017 I launched Toon Boom Trainer, an online training business focused on industry skills gaps. In 2020 this business became Adam's Animation Academy as part of my goal to serve a wider animation audience and improve the learning experience.

I've lived in Manchester since 2013, working at CHF Entertainment and Brown Bag Films. My most recent production is a preschool show with Irish company, Mooshku. since launching Toon Boom Trainer, I've worked with universities such as Edge Hill and Manchester School of Art, as well as in-house for studios like King Bee and Aardman Animations. I work directly with Toon Boom on their projects such as the recent Career Camps in Dublin and London, as well as a rigger for hire on their high profile production assignments.

In 2012 I worked on a children's TV series in Dublin, Ireland for Geronimo Productions. I used Adobe Flash (now Adobe Animate) to create high-quality character animation whilst keeping to that ever important weekly output (a minimum of 1 minute completed animation per week).

With my animation career, I've also completed work for Baby Cow Productions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Kavaleer, Aon (Manchester United F.C), Chevrolet, Colonel Blimp, Jimmy Carr, BBC, HIT Entertainment and more. Please read my CV for the full details!

In 2011 I worked at RMIT Melbourne as their 'animator in residence' and on a hand-drawn feature production (Titeuf Le Film) in 2010 in Dundee, Scotland. I've also lectured at universities in the UK and Australia.

Website: https://www.adamoliver.com
CV: https://www.adamoliver.com/c-v
Academy: https://www.adamsanimationacademy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamoliveranimation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UKanimator
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamoliverillustration
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamtheanimator
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZL6yAsdQ19TAAfSJZkF1gg

Theresa Velendzas - Life and Wellness Coach

Theresa Velendzas is a Life Coach devoted to empowering people to reach their dream destiny through personal wellness. She is passionate about the psychology that guides people to fulfill their highest potential and guides them to align body, mind and heart. 

Fitness and Self Care became priorities for me much later in life and only after I felt trapped in my body. As a teen and young woman I had issues with body image, sure, but objectively, I was at normal body weight with practically zero fitness level.
It wasn't until after gaining 90 lbs as a result of several rounds of fertility treatments, miscarriages and finally a successful pregnancy, that as I finally held my beloved baby in my arms, I looked up at myself and didn't recognize me. I would pass by mirrors or take selfies with my baby, and not recognize ME. People reassured me that I had been through a lot and that women over 35 having babies have difficulty bouncing back, that it's to be expected, and that I will adapt.

But I felt trapped.

It wasn't a matter of having a picture-perfect image. My years of poor body image had brought on a sort of acceptance that my body would never do that. What I yearned for was something more meaningful. I didn't mind my mommy battle scars either. However, feeling trapped in my body did not have to be one of them. I did not want to accept something I could change. But how?
I took an inventory of my wishes, needs and resources and decided to take control of my body with care and compassion. This led to a fantastic wellness journey that started in 2008 and continues today. Along the way, there have been changes, life difficulties, personal & professional development, and ups and downs - but no more stops and starts. I am here today because of that moment I felt trapped in my body and decided to find the way out, and now I am here to share it with you. This is what inspired me to become a coach.

Begin Altraform

Coaching women in this holistic approach makes sense because as a mom and entrepreneur I know that we are balancing an enormous amount of overload and responsibility. Often we are polarized and also pulled in different directions. My biggest personal fear is that we allow ourselves to be pulled by all these forces and miss the things that give our lives meaning. I want to help others flourish physically, mentally, and emotionally to live a full life, without regret. How beautiful it feels to self-care without guilt and without "no pain no gain" bully tactics that I know do not work because I tried them on myself many a time.
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In my career before mommyhood, I worked with the elderly across long-term care settings. There were several individuals I consider mentors who touched me with their emanating sense of joy, contentment, and a natural way of nurturing their selves as well as others in their interactions. What leads a person to age gracefully and without regret, I wondered as I started my search for answers over 25 years ago. Mind-body self-care is essential. That is the road I am heading down in my life and I would love to walk alongside you on yours.
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My coaching is guided by the principles of Internal Family Systems. I am also a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, Corrective Exercise Specialist, and hold degrees in Psychology and Health Care Management. I believe that movement helps us connect to our body and that as we connect we can access our own path to wellness.

Besides my professional training, I learned through my own journey how hard it can be to zero in on goals, understand obstacles, and confidently move in the direction of success in fitness and weight loss. Going through this all showed me that my calling is to share and empower others to find their own path to intuitively understand what their body needs and know how to truly nourish it. Guiding you towards the fulfillment of your fitness and weight loss for optimal is health my mission and passion. Showing you how to self-correct and remove obstacles so you can succeed requires focused individualized attention from me to you.
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The systems are simple and once learned are yours forever to apply in many areas of your life. Using science and age-old wisdom packaged into a user-friendly system for the modern, very busy person, you will find ways to tap into your aligned self to become the best version of yourself you dream possible. Learn to instantly relieve stress, avoid self-sabotage and self-criticism, and many other negative traits that hold us back.

Through Altraform I offer a holistic approach to personalized coaching using the mind and body connection in ways that are accessible, adaptable, and known to fuel your success.

Website: https://www.altraform.pro or https://www.theresaWV.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altraform + https://www.facebook.com/theresawv

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theresa_wv

Clubhouse: TheresaWV

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresawalshvelendzas/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheresaWV

Diane Chang - Founder and Creative Director of Akushio

Diane Chang is the founder and Creative Director of Akushio, a sustainable specialty brand of travel bags and accessories for toiletries and cosmetics. As a skincare and makeup lover, Diane aims to take the stress and overwhelm out of packing your beauty products, so you can feel beautiful and confident no matter where you go. Later this year Diane’s product will be on Kickstarter.

Website: akushio.co

Instagram: instagram.com/akushio.co

Facebook: http://facebook.com/akushio.co

Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/beautipolitans

TikTok: tiktok.com/@akushio.co?lang=en

Kickstarter: TBC

Marijana Dragojevic - Mind-Body-Nutrition Coach

After many years of working in a bank, earning what most would consider good money, but not enjoying a moment there, I have finally built up the courage to say no to work I hated and began my search for a career, that is fulfilling and meaningful.

It started by looking for answers to my own health and weight issues.

The following 2 decades led me down countless avenues, some by choice and some by chance. No matter how many changes I made in my personal and professional life there seemed to be one constant - my interest in food and health.

These 2 worlds collided in a bad way during my first pregnancy when I gained 70 pounds! I didn’t just gain weight, I became unhealthy. In search of answers and help, naturally I turned to my doctors and to traditional medicine. Years went by bouncing from specialist to specialist, without seeing any results.

At the same time, I began exploring the healing power of food. I made a lot of improvements to my health by changing my diet. However, studying nutrition, I found a lot of contradictory information that made me confused, not sure whom to believe. It took me a while to realise that there is no “one size fits all” solution. It was a process of trial and error. Over time I’ve learned to listen to the feedback from my body. In my experience, changing my relationship with food was so much more powerful than I could imagine and I knew there was much more to learn.

This led me to discover the Institute for the Psychology of Eating and in turn this gave me the opportunity to consolidate everything I learnt over the years.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when, at the start of 2019, I discovered that I have insulin resistance. My research into this problem led me to finding out about keto.

At first, I didn’t know much, if anything about keto, but for some reason I had a negative opinion of it. I remember first hearing about keto and thinking; I wouldn’t and couldn’t even eat like that. I also remember feeling that this was going to be another trendy diet here today and gone tomorrow.

My opinion started to change when I began reading about reversing the causes of insulin resistance from some of the leading functional doctors in the field today.

The amazing work of people such as Dr. Anna Cabeca and her book ‘The Hormone Fix’ and Dr. Will Cole’s ‘Ketotarian’ started to open my eyes to the possibilities. I wasn’t quite sold that easily but now I was listening, so with nothing to lose I decided to put their ideas into practise using myself and my insulin resistance as the test subject.

As you can imagine I was blown away by the results and the ease with which my body became keto adapted. Just as impressive as the health benefits was the speed with which the weight came off, I wasn’t obese to begin with but I was starting to believe that my slight excess in weight was just part of being a woman in her 60s, I was wrong!

I was all in! I ordered a bunch of books on keto and quickly enrolled in a course with one of the leading names in the game, Dr. Berg.

Now that I am a certified keto coach I can say something truly amazing; my clients are reporting the same amazing experiences as me!

Website: www.greenmindfulketo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenmindfulketo
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/ketoforbusypeopleover40
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marijana-dragojevic-849b7b39