Tim Phillips co-founded Animal Defenders International (ADI) together with Jan Creamer. With offices in Los Angeles, London, Lima, and Bogota, ADI also built the 455-acre Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa for rescued lions and tigers.

For almost 40 years,Tim has campaigned against animal cruelty, including going undercover to film inside animal laboratories, animal dealers, wildlife markets, factory farms, fur farms, slaughterhouses and circuses. He coordinates ADI teams gathering evidence inside animal industries leading to prosecutions, laws and the closing down of cruel industries.

Director of the multiple-award-winning feature documentary Lion Ark, about ADI’s freeing of circus animals in Bolivia, Tim has produced and directed films for several animal protection groups.

Author and editor of numerous reports, Tim has worked on animal legislation addressing governments worldwide. After securing his first local animal circus ban in the early 1980s, he has played a key role in over 40 national bans on animal circuses in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Tim and Jan’s efforts secured the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species rules on cross-border movement of live animal exhibitions (effective in over 180 countries) and the European Parliament declaration leading to Europe banning experiments on apes and wild-caught monkeys and restricting primate use. He has helped secure bans against cosmetics testing on animals in the UK, Europe and Colombia, and fur farming in the UK.

He has undertaken complex rescues and relocations of animals in the UK, US, Europe, Latin America and Africa, including huge operations to enforce circus bans in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru, raiding circuses and rescuing the animals – airlifting as many as 33 lions on one aircraft.

Storyteller, Inspiring Stories: Healing Our World

Born in the Congo, Dany Doueiri, PhD grew up in Lebanon. He pursued his college education in the United States, completing his doctorate in Islamic studies at UCLA in 1996. He is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies and an executive board member of the Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at California State University, San Bernardino.

Dr. Doueiri is co-founder of IslamiCity, the most visited Islamic website in the world, currently serving 27 million unique visitors annually. He was the technical editor of Quran for Dummies, part of the renowned “for Dummies” book series. Active in several educational and nonprofit organizations, he consults internationally in teacher training, language program evaluation, interfaith relationships, and human rights. Among Dr. Doueiri’s honors are numerous awards for teaching excellence, leadership, and community service.

Storyteller, Inspiring Stories: Healing Our World

After five years as program co-director at NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, Andrea Hodos recently became associate director. She co-facilitates NewGround’s MAJIC high school leadership council as well as its Professional Fellowship. Andrea has trained as a facilitator with Resetting the Table and is a member of the Jews of Color & Allies Leadership cohort of Dimensions Education Consulting.  Andrea is also the creator of Moving Torah, a method for exploring Jewish text and Jewish story using movement, theater, and writing. Her creative project, Sinai and Sunna: Women Covering, Uncovering and Recovering, initially brought her into the realm of Muslim-Jewish engagement.

Andrea has a BA in English Literature from Yale University and a MEd from Temple University in Dance Education. She is married to Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen, and they have raised their two children, Shachar and Oryah, in Los Angeles. She is grateful to live in the City of Angels where her family can be part of vibrant Jewish community-building and strong multi-faith coalitions.

Storyteller, Inspiring Stories: Healing Our World

Kandee Rochelle Lewis is the award-winning Executive Director of the Positive Results Corporation (PRC). Her spiritual belief in Father/Mother God, Mother Earth and our ancestors, and her lifelong sense of being greatly blessed, have allowed Kandee in turn to share her blessings and skills with the world. A master trainer and certified domestic violence and sexual assault prevention advocate, she works with youth, families, and community stakeholders and partners, offering tools and strategies to form and maintain healthy, consensual, respectful relationships.

Kandee has led PRC to create a broader support system for youth. She trains the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Mental Health and L.A. County Probation to recognize and address trauma. PRC addresses homelessness with community agencies and facilitates partnerships with schools, colleges, businesses, and other organizations to better safeguard and inspire youth.

She has received numerous honors including the 2019 Champion of Peace & Non-Violence Award; 2018 Black Business Women Rock; 2017 100 Most Influential African American ‘Movers & Shakers’ in L.A.; 2017 L.A. County Woman of the Year, Education; 2016 Humanitarian Award from National Action Network; 2016 Civic Pride Award for Eastside Boys & Girls Club; 2016 DangerMan Hero Award; 2015 Woman of the Year Award from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Alpha Psi Zeta Chapter; and 2014 Johnnie L. Cochran Violence Prevention. Learn more at www.prc123.org.

Storyteller, Inspiring Stories: Healing Our World​