Mitzi Akaha is a New York-based actress with roots in the Midwestern US, Japan, and the central coast of California. After developing her career in Japan, she relocated to New York in 2014 where she continues to contribute her particular talents and peculiar humor to a variety of projects, starring in national commercial spots, music videos and films. She is also a published writer and illustrator and has multiple scripts in development.

YuJune Park is a Partner at Synoptic Office, an award-winning design consultancy that works globally with leading cultural, civic, and business organizations to communicate ideas, build experiences, and cultivate new audiences. With over a decade of experience in creative direction, graphic design, and digital strategy, she leads the studio's vision and practice, transforming data into knowledge for diverse clients and contexts. She is a tenured Associate Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, where she teaches and researches global scripts, archives, and the manifold ways design can unlock human stories and reveal connections through language and information. Park's work has been recognized by Fast Company Innovation by Design, the Webbys, Design Week, the Art Director's Club, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. She speaks and exhibits internationally, most recently at the Biennial of Design in Ljubljana, the Ningbo Museum of Art in China, and at Palazzo Mora in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre and the Venice Biennale. In 2022, Park was selected for Creative Review's Creative Leaders list, which celebrates global leaders advancing their field.

Artist & Jeweler

Chris Ballantyne’s work focuses on vernacular architecture and observation of the American landscape.  Banal features of suburban and industrial zones are sources for paintings that highlight the quirky and absurd.  Ballantyne states that, “Growing up in a military family and moving to different parts of the country, there was a certain familiarity to the kinds of houses and neighborhoods. They were a series of suburban developments built in separate regions of the country, always on the outskirts of larger cities, at the exit ramps of interstate highways, and all very similar in age and design.  My own notions of space developed out of this cultural landscape which was striving for an indidvidual sense of personal space,  consciously economic, and somewhere between urban and rural.” Dysfunctional structures are flawless in their strangeness, made beautiful through symmetry, simplified lines and flat, subdued colors. Ballantyne eliminates detail to emphasize the subtleties of the way we experience space and our attempts at containment. He extends these concepts further by expanding the imagery of his paintings beyond the picture plane and onto the surrounding walls. “Most of my works involve combinations of various places, drawn from memory. As well, my own interests in skateboarding and surfing altered how I saw  the use of these structures ranging from empty pools, sidewalk curbs, to ocean jetties in a way that tied in to my sense of this larger push and pull between culture and nature.” With shrewd restraint, Ballantyne accentuates the antisocial effects of our built environment with a hint of humor and plenty of ambiguity. A curious emptiness permeates the work of Chris Ballantyne. Graphically rendered buildings, pools, parking lots, and fences take on new meanings and amplified significance, isolated on flat fields of color.

Adri Zgirdea is a celebrity and editorial stylist studio focused on styling menswear for celebrity athletes. Adri has styled for the likes of Josh Richardson (Dallas Mavs), Zack Collins (Portland Trailblazers), Michael Porter Jr. (Denver Nuggets), Bruno Fernando (Atlanta Hawks), Brandon Clarke (Memphis Grizzlies), Jonathan Stewart (New York Giants), Kawann Short (Carolina Panthers), Nate Palmer (Greenbay Packers), Corey Liuget (Buffalo Bills), Jon Toth (New York Jets), Jordan Schaefer (Atlanta Braves), Corey LaJoie (NASCAR), John Hunter Nemechek (NASCAR), Julia Landauer (NASCAR), and Donovan Carter (HBO Ballers).