Sarah Herrington is the founder of The Portal, a writer, editor, essayist, poet, yoga teacher and mindful writing guide with over 20 years of experience in all of the above. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, LATimes, Poets and Writers Magazine, Slice, Tin House, Yoga Journal, O the Oprah Magazine and she has been featured on CNN and NPR. She holds MFAs from NYU, Lesley University, and a BA from NYU. She also has over 500 hours of yoga teacher training. She teaches Mindful Writing Workshops, nonfiction via Sackett Street Writers and beginning writers at Fordham University . She created The Portal to have a space for women writers to explore rigorous yet kind writing workshops alongside craft classes from guest teachers alongside healing modalities. She believes stories (and poems) live in the body and by expressing them we can heal.

Omotara James is a New York City-based writer, educator, editor and artist. James is the author of the debut poetry collection, Song of My Softening, (Alice James Books, 2024), winner of the 2025 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry. Among others, the collection was selected as a finalist the NAACP Image Award. Her poems have been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and The Washington Post Book Club, Poetry Magazine, The Nation, The Paris Review and elsewhere. Her work has received support from the Poetry Foundation, the New York Foundation of the Arts, the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center, Cave Canem Foundation, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Lambda Literary and the Academy of American Poets. James recently served as Guest Editor of the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day in June 2025. She writes, teaches and edits poetry in New York City.

Robert Bahedry is a certified Conscious Breathwork practitioner and transformational coach based in Los Angeles. He teaches breathing techniques for nervous system regulation, anxiety relief, stress reduction, and insomnia relief.

His journey began in 2009 during yoga teacher training when he discovered the transformative power of conscious breathing—a revelation that became his life's calling.

Since 2010, Robert has guided thousands of clients in the US and abroad through profound personal transformation. By regulating the nervous system through breathwork, he helps individuals unlock their innate creativity—when the body feels safe and the mind settles, creative expression naturally emerges. This neurological shift moves people from survival mode into a state where imagination, innovation, and authentic self-expression can flourish.

Robert creates sacred spaces where clients feel safe to be vulnerable while embracing their healing journey. He understands that transformation can be intense, so he balances depth with levity and connection—creating the ideal environment for breakthrough and growth.

His approach bridges modern neuroscience and ancient breathing wisdom, helping individuals feel grounded, unveil their truest selves, and find joy in their healing journey.

Find out more at www.breathewithrobert.com.

Dynasty Electrik is the music and sound healing duo of Jenny Deveau and Seth Misterka. Initially formed as an electronic group in Brooklyn, they fused their knowledge of music with shamanic sound healing to create a unique style of sound therapy—the Dynasty Electrik Crystal Sound Bath. This experience combines original electronic soundscapes intertwined with the celestial tones of singing bowls, soothing nature sounds, and ethereal vocals, guiding the listener on an inner journey of profound exploration. As resident sound healers at the renowned Mystic Journey Crystal Gallery in Venice, Dynasty Electrik had the privilege of collaborating with a number of celebrities and brands, including Usher, Rachel Platton, Marvel Studios, SnapChat, and YouTube. Their exceptional work has garnered recognition and acclaim, making appearances in esteemed publications like Forbes and High Times, as well as captivating audiences through various television shows and films.

Rebecca Woolf is a writer, filmmaker and author of All of This (HarperOne). She lives in Los Angeles with her son and three daughters.

Ida is a neuroscientist, academic and creative who writes at the intersections of art and science. She is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research NYC, focusing on building and evaluating generative AI, inspired by herresearch in cognitive neuroscience, reinforcement learning, and NeuroAI.  Her writing has been featured in the New York Times Modern Love column and LA Review of Books.

Deborah Sosin is a writer, editor, and therapist. She’s the author of the award-winning mindfulness-themed picture book Charlotte and the Quiet Place and the Sober Starting Today Workbook. She’s also a prolific essayist, writing coach, editor, and GrubStreet instructor. Deborah has an MFA from Lesley University, an MSW from Smith College School for Social Work, and an Advanced Certificate from the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. She is currently seeking a home for This Is 70: A Life in Micro-Memoirs, a linked set of 70 mini essays of exactly 70 words each.

Holly “bird” Colino of Move With Love has been in love with movement from her early days on roller skates to professional dancing with the Martha Graham Dance Company to teaching Yoga full time in NYC for 12 years. Holly teaches with just the right touch of love, levity, spirituality and Philly sass. She is inspired by the world around and the world within. Her creative, alignment-based, and themed sequences can revolve around myriad points of inspiration from a painting in the Guggenheim to an ancient yogic text. Holly empowers her students to love the body they live in one breath at a time and to always trust their own inner teacher.

Website- Movewithlove.com, Instagram- @move.with.love

Carmiel Banasky's career spans novels, television, film, and audio, and she is a leader in climate storytelling. Since staffing on the Amazon show UNDONE, she developed and was Head Writer on a two-season climate-centered sci-fi podcast for Wondery, THE LAST CITY, starring Rhea Seehorn, which reached #1 in fiction. She also co-wrote a short film starring Margaret Cho, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, and which she’s developing into a feature. She was a Film Independent Fellow, and was selected as an Unreasonable Conversation Climate Storytelling Fellow. She had the unique opportunity to explore the Arctic on a sailing vessel, studying and writing about climate change. As Head Writer and VP of Editorial for the nonprofit Good Energy, she led the development of the Playbook for Screenwriting in the Age of Climate Change, helping screenwriters integrate climate across genres with joy and humor.

Prior to Los Angeles, Carmiel spent four years on the road at writing fellowships, and she once tried her damndest to open a Planned Parenthood in Mississippi. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel, The Suicide of Claire Bishop. Her writing has appeared, among other places, in The Guardian, Variety, LA Review of Books, and on NPR. She earned her MFA from Hunter College, where she was a professor of creative writing.

Chelsey is an author, tarot reader, and certified Shadow Work practitioner living in Avignon, France.

​She combines tarot, art therapy techniques, Jungian Shadow Work practices, and her ten+ years of experience working in the creative industries to provide inclusive, supportive, and playful resources for artists, writers, and creative entrepreneurs. 

Her first book, The Tarot Spreads Yearbook, was published in 2023 and was ranked a number 1 bestseller in Amazon's Hot New Release category.

The follow-up, Tarot for Creativity, was published in Autumn of 2024.

Sara Glass is a psychotherapist and writer in NYC. Her debut memoir, Black Skirt, Rainbow Soul will be published by Simon & Schuster in the spring of 2024 and she has written for the New York Times and Psychology Today. Sara holds a PhD in Psychology from Capella University and a Master’s in Social Work from Rutgers University and is the current clinical director of Soul Wellness NYC, a private psychotherapy practice in Midtown Manhattan. She also serves as a Clinical Supervisor for Jewish Queer Youth, a non-profit organization that supports and empowers LGBTQ youth. She has specific expertise in treating complex trauma and PTSD, providing art and play therapy to children and adolescents, as well as general experience treating a range of human struggles such as anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, and stress. Most recently, she has facilitated therapeutic writing groups for survivors of complex trauma.

Edgar Fabián Frías is a multidisciplinary artist, psychotherapist, educator, curator, and brujx based in Los Angeles. With a passion for breaking boundaries and creating new forms of knowledge, Frías blends diverse artistic disciplines to produce thought-provoking and immersive works of art that transcend conventional categories. Their oeuvre encompasses installation, photography, video art, sound, sculpture, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, social practice, and community organizing, reflecting their commitment to experimentation and innovation.

Frías' work explores themes of resistance, resiliency, and radical imagination in the face of colonization, environmental racism, and other contemporary issues. Drawing on Indigenous Futurism, spirituality, play, pedagogy, animism, witchcraft, and queer aesthetics, Frías offers a unique perspective on the complexities of modern society. Through their art, they bridge the gap between the traditional and the contemporary and create spaces for contemplation and transformation.

As a nonbinary, Wixárika, and Latinx artist whose family hails from Mexico, Frías brings a rich and diverse background to their practices. They hold dual BA degrees in Psychology and Studio Art from UC, Riverside, and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on Interpersonal Neurobiology and Somatic Psychotherapy from Portland State University. In 2022, they completed an MFA in Art Practice at UC Berkeley.

Frías' work has been exhibited internationally, including at prestigious venues such as the Vincent Price Art Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Oregon Contemporary, MOCA Jacksonville, Project Space Festival Juárez, and ArtBo. Their art, tarot, and multidisciplinary practices have also been featured in numerous publications, including Cosmopolitan, Taschen, ELLE UK, Bustle, Nylon, Los Angeles Times, Slate, CVLT Nation, Terremoto, and Hyperallergic, among others

Amanda is the author of TOUCHED OUT: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, & Control, available now from Beacon Press, as well as the memoir Two Memoirs (Jaded Ibis Press) and a collection of prose, The Failure Age (Bloof Books). Her work has been featured at The New York Times, The Guardian, ELLE, TIME, The Cut, Mother Tongue, Slate, Electric Literature, Vox, Rumpus, Salon, The Believer, Ms. Magazine, Poetry Foundation, and in numerous literary journals. She was a 2020 Best American Essays notable.

She has taught, lectured and presented work at Stanford University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California Berkeley, University of Chicago, St. Mary's College of California, California State University East Bay, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, University of Virginia, State University of New York at Buffalo, Diablo Valley College, and many others.

Amanda has been teaching writing for over a decade at the college level and at various arts organizations, including at Catapult, Corporeal Writing, Hugo House, Writing Workshops, and Write or Die. Her work has received support from In Cahoots, Riverrun Foundation, and Juniper Writer’s Institute.

She holds an MFA in Writing from California Institute of the Arts and a PhD in English literature from SUNY at Buffalo. She runs the popular newsletter Mad Woman and lives in California.

Wendy C. Ortiz is a writer of creative nonfiction who works in hybrid forms, essays, and memoir. She is the author of three books, all published by Northwestern University Press. Her writing has appeared in BOMB Magazine online, Joyland, The New York Times, Pleiades, Fence, and many other journals. Ortiz is a therapist in private practice in Los Angeles. www.wendyortiz.com

You can also read her newsletter here:  https://newsletter.mommyselcamino.com/