Erin Gafill

An award-winning painter and author, Erin Gafill has inspired people around the world with her inspirational art, heartfelt stories, and uniquely engaging teaching methods. Her work bridges art, craft, and community, weaving observation, intuition, and imagination into her painting, writing, teaching, and public speaking. A fifth-generation California artist, she was born in Big Sur, California in 1963, the daughter of a beatnik and a flower child. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Carmel’s first artist-in-residence. Growing up at her grandparents’ legendary restaurant, Nepenthe, a mecca for poets, bohemians and dreamers, she drew inspiration from its ever-changing cast of characters as well as the stunning and mystical beauty of the coast. Erin is the founder of the nonprofit Big Sur Arts Initiative, and a founding member of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA). In 2001 Erin was honored to serve as the first American Artist-in-Residence at the Hamada International Children’s Museum, Hamada, Japan. In 2009, she and her husband Tom Birmingham were named Champions of the Arts by the Arts Council of Monterey County and were honored by the United States Congress for their service to the community through the arts. Her exhibit Color Duets was the featured 2021 Spring/Summer show for the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California, followed the next summer by a solo exhibit, California Atmosphere at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, California. She is the author of a coffee-table art book, Color Duets, with Kaffe Fassett, and a memoir about life/work balance, Drinking from a Cold Spring, a Little Book of Hope.

Emily Birmingham

Emily Birmingham is an artist living Big Sur, California. She works in a range of mediums, from fabric manipulation and assemblage to observational sketch and acrylic painting. Currently she is exploring group quilting and gathering together through this traditional practice. Born into a family of artists, she sees the world through a creative lens and is quick to incorporate and adapt new disciplines. Her aim is to share her expressions, through work that feels like play and interactive installation with a focus on connecting people through their creativity.

Tom Birmingham

Tom Birmingham is an artist, photographer, and teacher who has lived and worked in Big Sur, California, for more than 30 years and recently relocated to a home near the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. A founding director of the Big Sur Arts Initiative, Tom has long been dedicated to fostering creativity and community through the arts. He has led instruction in a wide range of mediums, including ten years directing the art program for Big Sur’s summer children’s theater, StageKids. For over fifteen years, Tom has taught photography and drawing at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, where he and his wife, artist Erin Lee Gafill, have also led the Family Week programs since their inception. Together, they have conducted annual retreats in Italy focused on painting and sketching.

Tom’s contributions to Big Sur’s cultural life include serving as director of the Big Sur JazzFest, being a founding member of the Hidden Gardens Tour, and managing Studio One – Big Sur. He is also the founder of 26Letter Press, a small publishing company dedicated to printed materials that celebrate and inspire creative expression. In 2020, Tom designed the museum exhibition and companion book Color Duets – Kaffe Fassett | Erin Lee Gafill, which headlined for five months at the Monterey Museum of Art.

Old School Skinny

Old School Skinny helps connect the mind, body and soul! Our 90’s cardio grooves allow you to get lost in the music and release your inner Soul Train dancer to a handpicked playlist that blends all the old school jams with some new school vibes. The unique combination of interval training and plyometrics mixed with some good old fashioned backyard boogie will give you a full body workout while you party like it’s 1999. Although it may be challenging at times, classes are moderation friendly.

Jeanine Mancusi

Jeanine Mancusi, CPCC, PCC, is a Certified Professional and Personal Life coach based in Northern California. She has been coaching clients and training coaches since 1997. She supports her clients in achieving deep self-acceptance and self-love, enabling them to live rich, satisfying lives that fully express their true gifts and unique calling.

Jeanine’s coaching style is warm, nurturing, playful, and draws on the principles of the CoActive Training Institute and emotional empowerment.

She lives in Nevada City, California, with her husband Bob and her two Yorkshire terriers, Milo and Eli, adopted from the Ranch, proving you really can take the Ranch home with you.

Tanya Holland

Tanya Holland is the founder of the famed Brown Sugar Kitchen restaurant and author of Tanya Holland’s California Soul, Brown Sugar Kitchen and New Soul Cooking cookbooks. She is the Chef/Chair of The James Beard Foundation Awards. Her Oakland based restaurant received multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards. She is an in-demand public speaker who frequently leads the conversation on inclusion and equity in the hospitality industry. Holland holds a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, and a Grande Diplôme from La Varenne École de Cuisine in Burgundy, France. Holland competed on the 15th season of Top Chef on Bravo; was the host/soul food expert on Food Network’s Melting Pot and has made numerous television appearances including The Today Show, The Talk, CBS This Morning, Iron Chef, Master Chef and Selena + Chef.  Holland a member of the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier Bay Area chapter, and was honored by the City of Oakland when June 5, 2012, was declared “Tanya Holland Day.” A year later she was awarded the Key to The City. Internationally, she served as a Culinary Diplomat for the US State Department in Kazakhstan and Mexico and taught classes in France for gastronomic travelers.

Sarah Bell 

Sarah Bell has been a longtime Ranch enthusiast since her first visit (and first formal yoga class ever) in 1989.  

Sarah has been teaching Hatha Yoga since 1994. Her interest in Yoga deepened with Erich Schiffmann in Santa Monica, who became her first teacher-trainer and mentor. She was a sought-after teacher there at Yoga Works for a decade, under the tutelage of the late Maty Ezraty, until she left California to join the fitness staff at the Ranch in 2004. 

Sarah moved to New York City and taught more than 30 teacher-training courses for Yoga Works there, across the country, and internationally.  

She continued to refine her teaching skills at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York, where she assisted James Murphy in his beginner classes. 

Sarah moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 2018 and continues to teach privately and online. She mentors teachers in communication, methodology, and philosophy. 

 Her love of the ever-evolving practice of Yoga and her joy in sharing the wisdom of its principles with new and seasoned students alike keep her classes fresh, instructive, light, and intuitive. Sarah invites students of every level to be curious about how their minds work to create trouble, and guide them to cultivate a sense of humor so they can take the reins themselves and discover sustainable inner peace. 

Juan Pablo Andrade

Juan Pablo Andrade, Juan Pablo Andrade is a renowned Costa Rican pianist with a dynamic stage and academic presence. He has earned top honors at international competitions and the Costa Rican National Prize of Music, and has performed widely as a soloist with various orchestras and at major festivals. A familiar ear with the Costa Rican National Symphony, he has toured the Americas and Europe, and his CD War to Peace received favorable reviews. In academia, he is a Professor of Piano at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and has taught at several prestigious universities. He also volunteers at international festivals and founded the La Frontera International Piano Conference in Brownsville, Texas, to foster musical exchange in the region.

Linda Chávez

Linda Chávez is a distinguished Mexican-American pianist with degrees from the University of Texas at Brownsville and Longy School of Music. A laureate of numerous awards and scholarships, she excels in both performance and education. She has performed at international festivals across Costa Rica, Italy, Aruba, Austria, Puerto Rico, and Lincoln Center, where she joined the Teaching Artist Program to inspire others. Currently the principal pianist of the Valley Symphony Orchestra, she founded the Brownsville Piano Studio, serving over 225 students weekly, and launched Ananda Music Experience, an online program for adult women learning music mindfully. Chávez continues to inspire and effect positive change through her music.

Kevin Mills

Kevin Mills is a cellist from Orange County, California who studied under Darrett Adkins at both The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory receiving his Masters in Cello Performance and Artist Diploma respectively. Kevin received his Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from California State University of Fullerton and has toured, taught, and performed nation-wide and abroad in Denmark, Korea, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Hungary.

Mark Wuttke

Mark Wuttke is a Vistage CEO Coach and Chair, leadership advisor, and former global C-suite executive with more than 30 years of experience in wellness and beauty. Born in Australia and now based in Jupiter, Florida, he has led companies across five continents while championing sustainability and conscious leadership.

Today, Mark coaches founders and executives to align their decisions with their values and to build lives that feel as successful as they look. His work is rooted in the belief that who we become tomorrow is shaped by how we live today.

He is honored to return to Rancho La Puerta to share Today Matters