He’s dyslexic in a profession where reading is a daily requirement.
He calls ADD his superpower.
He’s been a computer nerd, a T. Rex, an upper-class thug, a paranormal investigator, a reckless criminal, a disgraced inspector for the San Francisco PD, and, most famously, a Navy SEAL.
In case you’re wondering, the movies and TV series attached to those characters are (in order) “CSI: NY,”“The Good Dinosaur,” “Disturbing Behavior,” “Supernatural,” “Justified,” “Murder in the First,” and of course, “SEAL Team.”
His friends call him “the chameleon.” He’s okay with that.
Buckley in the role of Ed Zeddmore, an aspiring ghost hunter, in “Supernatural.” (MovieStillsDB)
“I disappear into the characters,” the chameleon said in a telephone interview with American Essence.
“People will meet me and say, ‘You were great as Sonny Quinn on “SEAL Team,”’ and then they’ll go, ‘Oh, you were also that guy, and that guy, and that guy.’”
“That guy” in the real world is AJ Buckley and all the earlier characters just scratch the surface of the work he’s done over nearly three decades of steady employment. Suffice it to say, if you watch television or go to the movies, avoiding AJ Buckley (sometimes “Alan Buckley” in older credits) is harder than checkmating a chess grand master blindfolded.
Buckley as U.S. Navy SEAL Sonny Quinn (in the back) in “SEAL Team.” (MovieStillsDB)
Although “SEAL Team” ended its seventh and final season last year, you’ll be seeing Buckley again soon, this time on the big screen, in a film that pits him against Mel Gibson. “Hunting Season” is set for international release in September.
“Mel Gibson’s character has a daughter who gets mixed up with the wrong crowd. Mel comes looking for revenge, and I’m on the wrong end of that stick,” Buckley said.
He’ll be a bad guy to Mel Gibson’s good guy?
“Being bad feels so good,” he said, with a grin you can see over the phone.
Buckley said he went “totally fanboy” while working with Gibson.
“What an amazing man Mel is. I was star-struck. I thought, I’m working with William Wallace! ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Apocalypto’ and ‘Passion of the Christ’ are three of my favorite films.”
(Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Being Sonny
Shooting “Hunting Season” came on the heels of Buckley’s farewell to his most iconic role. Playing Sonny Quinn in “SEAL Team” (2017–2024) garnered Buckley a huge fan following. It also taught him a lot about the men and women of the American military:
“I learned from the show how selfless the people who serve our country are,” he said. “We wouldn’t have the country we have without their ability to sacrifice. That these young men and women would see the country’s promise and put their life on the line for it—that’s incredibly admirable.”
“SEAL Team” told fictitious tales of the famous Navy unit in such locales as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and North Korea. Without a military background of his own, Buckley relied on real veterans who served as advisors on set.
“There was one guy named Goldie. I was told my character was based on him. He’d hang around a lot and I absorbed from him as much as I could. Sonny Quinn will always be one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite of all time.”
Sonny Quinn, also known as Bravo 3 or B3, is a gung-ho SEAL who loves a good firefight and courts danger as if she were a desirable woman. This lands him in all sorts of predicaments, like in episode 13, season 2, when he gets stuck in a submarine torpedo tube during a clandestine operation off the coast of North Korea. He was extracted safely in time for episode 14.
Sonny is as unlucky in love as he is lucky in combat, but that’s where the character and the actor are about as far apart as can be. Buckley lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife, Abigail, and their three children.
To play Sonny Quinn in the series “SEAL Team,” Buckley had an intense workout regimen. (MovieStillsDB)
Family Life
“I’ve got an amazing wife,” he said. “I’m very lucky to have her. We make it a priority to be together, and when possible, with the kids. Every second I can get back home, I’m there. I’ve passed on some good paying jobs because they didn’t allow me time at home,” Buckley said.
Becoming a father added a side job to his acting career: the design and marketing of high-end diaper bags. (What would Sonny Quinn think?)
The story goes like this: AJ was out with his newborn baby daughter when she suddenly needed a diaper change. But mom was at home and men’s public restrooms are notoriously short on changing areas. The idea of a diaper bag that turns into a fold-out changing station was born. Founded in 2017 with friend and fellow actor/parent Artie Baxter, the Paperclipcompany flourishes today under the energetic leadership of Baxter and his wife, CEO Sara Baxter. It also offers other parent-friendly baby products, such as a high chair-booster combination.
(Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Buckley was born in 1977 in Dublin, Ireland, and moved at age 6 with his family to British Columbia, Canada. His first acting experience came in an episode of “The Odyssey,” a Canadian fantasy series for children that ran from 1992 to 1994. He credits director David Nutter for offering him his big break and bringing him to LA at age 17. Buckley played the role of thuggish “Chug” Roman in the teen science-fiction thriller “Disturbing Behavior,” which also featured a young Katie Holmes. Buckley got an agent, and his career was off and running.
“Now that I have kids of my own, I have no idea why my parents let me move to LA at 17! But hey, times were different back then.”
Buckley and family left Los Angeles five years ago because of what that city has become.
“LA is like a beautiful, deadly flower that will lure you in and eat you up and get rid of you really quickly,” Buckley said.
‘It’s Always Been My Path’
Buckley the actor delivers his lines with surety and power, so it’s a surprise to know that Buckley the man struggles with reading. He’s been dyslexic all his life, and yet all his life he’s wanted to be an actor.
How does he cope?
“There’s an app called Speechify. I drop a script in there and it’ll read the script to me. When I hear something even once, I can memorize it.”
Buckley in “Supernatural.” (MovieStillsDB)
Before the convenience of an app, however, dyslexia made scripts challenging.
“Most times I had to have the script read to me. It was incredibly frustrating and disheartening at times,” he said.
Last-minute script changes were especially difficult. They continue to be a challenge.
The inability to read a script might have stopped most people cold in their ambition to be an actor. Not Buckley. Acting is the only thing he’s wanted to do since he can remember.
“I’ve had an overwhelming passion for this job and career that has outweighed everything else,” he said.
It’s outweighed his dyslexia and his Attention Deficit Disorder, too.
Buckley played the role of crime lab technician Adam Ross in “CSI: NY.” (MovieStillsDB)
“I consider ADD my superpower,” he said. “I can balance 15 thoughts in my head at once. When that works for me, I feel unstoppable.”
“SEAL Team” changed Buckley from a semi-comedic type, like his nerd character in “CSI: NY” and the silly paranormal investigator in “Supernatural,” into a tough guy. It’s a persona he keeps viable with a morning exercise routine that starts at 4:35 every morning.
“I plan to stay in shape and get more opportunities to play action characters,” he said. “Acting is the only thing in my life that makes sense. It’s always been my path. By the grace of God, it’s working out.”
Shemane Nugent’s most recent book is “Abundantly Well: Bible-Based Wisdom for Weight Loss, Increased Energy, and Vibrant Health.” She is currently at work on a novel. (Julie Renner)
Shemane Nugent wears many hats, including author, fitness expert, and documentary filmmaker. She hosts the podcast “Faith & Freedom,” and recently wrote “Abundantly Well,” a Bible-based guide for good health. She and her husband, rock musician Ted Nugent, live on a ranch in Texas.
American Essence: What’s your morning routine like?
Shemane Nugent: I love getting up early before the sun rises. I check the news, I have my coffee, and then my dogs and I will go out and check on my garden. Listening to the birds, breathing fresh air, and getting that first sunlight in the morning really helps me to reset and refocus my day on positivity.
There are so many things in this world to be stressed about, but when you can grow little baby tomatoes, squash, strawberries, peppers, or carrots from your garden, like, “Oh, I can’t wait to see what God’s going to give me to eat today,” it puts everything in perspective.
We live a very different lifestyle. We have traveled all over the world, of course, with my husband’s touring, and we both really love being at home. We both love living off the land, growing a garden, and we hunt. I’m a bowhunter, so it really makes us appreciate God’s design. I’ve been a health nut all my life. Especially when I got sick and almost died from toxic mold, I became a label reader. I can’t eat certain things because they make me sick and give me headaches. The closer I get to the ground, the dirt, the tree, or the hoof, the better I feel.
AE: What daily wellness practices keep you grounded?
Ms. Nugent: For sure, gardening, getting my hands dirty, getting my hands in touch with God’s great design. I live by the 80–20 rule: Eighty percent of what I eat is clean. Twenty percent—I like Fritos, pizza, and chocolate chip cookies, but I don’t have them every day. I also work out a lot. I’m fortunate that when I was growing up, I was an athlete. I was a two-time state champion swimmer, I raced motocross, and I was in pretty much every sport—track, volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics, and that kept me active. I’ve been teaching group fitness classes since 1980. I just love the way that our bodies are designed to move. When you get sick and almost die, your life changes. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is I say a prayer, thanking God for a body that moves, for eyes that work, and to be able to hear my husband tell me he loves me or my dogs whimpering, and to be able to dance again. It really makes you appreciate the little things.
Shemane Nugent with her husband Ted Nugent and their dogs (L–R) Coco Sadie, and Jaxon at SpiritWild Ranch in Texas. (Bell Nugent)
AE: What inspires you and keeps you going on tough days?
Ms. Nugent: If I really take a look at my life, how grateful I am to have my health. If you wake up in the morning and you have an attitude of gratitude, it changes everything. And having faith. The most grounding thing for me is to have faith. Every time I open the Bible, it speaks to me. I hear a phrase that I really needed to encourage me to get through the day or to help deal with a relationship issue or whatever seems to be stressing me out.
AE: How do you wind down in the evenings?
Ms. Nugent: We are blessed to live on a ranch. It’s not a big ranch, especially according to Texas standards. We have a 300-acre fenced-in ranch. Right now, I’m looking at scimitar-horned oryx—they’re big, white antelopes—and blackbuck antelope. In the evenings, Ted and I sit on our deck, which overlooks this big field. We call it the Serengeti. We’ve been to Africa many times, and it reminds us of the Serengeti. We put a feeder behind our house, just so that we could see the animals come in at sunset. Watching the sunset, watching the animals come in, having our dogs right next to us, and having a glass of wine, that’s the perfect evening.
AE: What has motherhood taught you?
Ms. Nugent: Patience and selflessness, that your child’s needs come before yours, no questions asked. During those times, I remember when my son was a year old, he didn’t sleep very well when he was a baby. He was born in July. I remember Ted asking me what I wanted for Christmas that December, six months later, and I said, I just want to sleep through the night.
The little things become so big because if you don’t get your sleep, you don’t feel well; if you don’t feel well, you can’t show up for people who need you in their life, and you can’t continue to do God’s good work. Motherhood has taught me patience, selflessness, kindness, and the art of giving without wanting anything in return. The joy of seeing my son happy and healthy is such an incredible blessing and gift. That’s what I believe life is really all about. The Bible does tell us, the greatest of all these things is to love. Motherhood has taught me to love.
AE: What’s a favorite family tradition?
Ms. Nugent: We celebrate Christmas, but to the extent we’re all grown and we’ve got grandkids and one on the way. I’m excited about having family, and wrapping paper on the floor, and having big meals together, and exchanging stories and catching up. The days, weeks, months, and years just fly by and suddenly, I’m 62 and my son is going to be 35. Where did the time go? I really do cherish those moments where we can get family together.
AE: What’s your proudest moment?
Ms. Nugent: There are so many. One just happened today. There’s a young Christian artist named Forrest Frank. He’s blowing up on the Christian music scene. My son is in one of his videos. My son’s a musician as well. I happened to run into Forrest and his wife in a grocery store today in Waco, Texas. I will say a lot of people know me because I’m Ted Nugent’s wife, but I introduced myself as Rocco Nugent’s mom, not Ted Nugent’s wife. Rocco is the perfect combination of Ted and me. He is strong and strong-willed, a hard worker, but also highly sensitive. I think that’s a gift.
Also, I developed a program for Zumba. I traveled the world as a Zumba fitness instructor, training other instructors. I’ve probably taught thousands of fitness classes over the years, and that was pretty cool for me.
AE: Do you have any new projects that you’re really excited about?
Ms. Nugent: In January, I published a book called “Abundantly Well.” That was a great moment for me. But I’m doing something now that I’ve never done that I’m excited about. I’m writing a novel. I love to write. I’ve written a few books, and I am very creative. I can envision things. I have a degree in radio, TV, and film, and I’ve been producing a television show with my husband called “Ted Nugent: Spirit of the Wild.” It’s been on air for 35 years. I love being behind the camera.
I never thought growing up I’d be known as the Mold Lady, but I got sick and almost died from toxic mold. No doctors could help me. I had to become my own investigative sleuth. I researched a lot before the internet and found out a lot about toxic mold. I put it into a book called “Killer House” and then a documentary called “Killer House.” This year, I’m going to release a docuseries. I’m just looking for a network that’ll carry it. Today alone, two separate people have reached out to me needing help with toxic mold, and this happens every day. People desperately need help.
(Julie Renner)
AE: What do you love most about America?
Ms. Nugent: When I’m at a concert or one of President Trump’s rallies or any veteran get-together, and I see the American flag and hear the “Star-Spangled Banner,” it tears me up, because I know what our Founding Fathers went through. I know how brave and bold they must have been to do what they did.
America is strong. America is brave. We have the First Amendment, mostly. We still have the Second Amendment, and we need to fight for it. We are the last best place on Earth.
And funny story—the first time I went to South Africa, we went on safari, and we had our big, fancy cameras, and we’re taking pictures in nice clothes. We were actually at the ranch of our son’s namesake, Dr. Rocco Gioia. He had a ranch in Hoedspruit, South Africa. He had a lot of workers on this ranch, and they didn’t speak any English. They wore the same clothes every day. We’d be there for a month at a time, and Rocco had been coming with us since he was 18 months old—that was the first time he went. He would play with the kids, and they didn’t even have to speak English. They would play together, play ball, or dig in the dirt. I said to Dr. Gioia, “Do the workers look at us with our fancy clothes and things, and are they jealous? And he said, “No, they feel sorry for you because you need so many things.”
Going back to losing everything—our house that was on “MTV Cribs” is no longer there. We demolished it. We walked away from it with just the clothes on our backs, and then got rid of those. We were living at a Holiday Inn and had nothing. We had to start all over again with everything from sheets and scissors and knives and plates. It’s very humbling. It makes you really appreciate the significance of how fragile life is. When you don’t have your health, you’ve got nothing.
AE: What life advice would you give to a young person these days?
Ms. Nugent: Have a relationship with God. You can say, “Be strong and bold and follow your heart” and all that. But I don’t often think you should follow your heart. Sometimes our hearts mislead us. We can have all the plans we want, but God might have a different plan for us that’s even bigger and better. It’s important to have a foundation and get a good education if you can. It’s important to follow your heart in the sense that we all have gifts, and my gifts might be different than somebody else’s. I know people who love numbers, and they are great accountants, and the world needs accountants. If they want to be a singer and they don’t have the gift for that, then they might not end up being successful. So don’t do what the world wants you to do. Do what God wants for you.
(Bell Nugent)
3 of Shemane’s Favorite Things
Favorite Book:
I love to read. My favorite author is Charles Martin. He’s a fiction writer, and he writes with intrigue, and it’s adventure. There’s a little bit of a romance in there, which I like. Number one, the Bible, for sure. One of my best possessions is a Bible from the 1700s.
Favorite Movie:
A couple. This is going to be a huge contrast, and they’re pretty much neck and neck. The first movie that ever made a huge impact on me is “The Sound of Music.” And “Man on Fire” with Denzel Washington. I love the cinematography of that movie. The storyline was great, too.
Your Superpower:
Making darn good chocolate chip cookies. I’m a chocolate chip cookie-aholic, I’ve tried them all. I’ve experimented with a lot of cookies over the years. I used to make cookies and sell them to a bakery when I was in my 20s.
Trish Duggan, the founder of the Imagine Museum, at home in Clearwater, Fla. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti)
Photographed by Adhiraj Chakrabarti
As an artist and the founder of the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, Trish Duggan has made a name for herself that is synonymous with glass art. Light refracts and colors dance throughout, enveloping visitors in beauty. Home to a captivating collection of glass sculptures, it’s a space born of serendipity, unplanned passion, and unrestricted vision.
“The first piece of glass art I saw was at John Travolta’s house. The light was hitting it, and it looked alive! I was shocked. It was so beautiful,” Duggan said.
She began to collect pieces that caught her eye and touched her heart. One day, an artist whose artwork she collected asked her, “Would you like to see how it’s done?”
“I was mesmerized,” Duggan recalled. “Then she asked, ‘Would you like to do a piece?’ I said, ‘I’d love that.’ Well, that was the ‘Goddess of Compassion.’ That was my first piece that I ever did.”
Infused with deep spirituality, American values, and personal introspection, Duggan’s work as an artist, patron, and philanthropist reflects universal qualities and embodies her journey from humble beginnings to a life of profound influence.
Duggan’s artwork featuring inspirational women pays tribute to the remarkable women who shaped history.
A Life Shaped by Spirituality and Creativity
Trish Duggan’s story begins in Guam, where she grew up in a military family. “I got my first pair of shoes when I was 5 years old,” she said. During those formative years, she was immersed in the island’s beauty. The beautiful sunsets fired up her love of nature; the ocean’s varied shades of blue and green were imprinted onto her imagination. It also filled her with a sense of abundance. Scarcity was never part of her mindset. Her mother and her father instilled in her a steadfast belief in the American dream. “My mom said, ‘If you study, you can be part of the American dream,’” Duggan recalled.
This ethos of hard work and big dreams propelled her to explore the world and discover a love of art. She still maintains a friendship with her Japanese high school art teacher in California—now 100 years old—who introduced her to Japanese printmaking techniques.
Duggan is a prolific artist. Among her many creations is a 300 pound, pale pink molded-glass sculpture of Quan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion.
She headed to California to pursue a college degree in political science. Though she was an excellent student, she found herself getting Ds on her papers. When she questioned one of her professors about her low scores, he told her: “It’s your viewpoint [that he disagreed with].” That’s when she realized that she would have to take a different path.
“I’m a dropout,” she said. “It was during the Vietnam War when I went to university; all my teachers were anti-American.” That mindset ran counter to her core beliefs about herself and the world. Seeking an environment free from the political divisiveness in America, she traveled to Nagoya, Japan, to study at Nanzan University. While there, she reconnected with the art and culture she fell in love with in high school, and she began a lifelong appreciation for Buddhism.
After making her first piece of glass art based on a statue of Guan Yin, the Buddhist deity of compassion, she set about creating a series inspired by one of her favorite quotes. “Though you can conquer 1,000 men in battle 1,000 times, the one who conquers himself is the noblest victor of all,” she quoted by heart from a Buddhist text.
Duggan founded the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2018. Its collections showcase the work of American and international glass artists.
The Art of Glass: A Medium of Magic and Inspiration
“Glass is the most important thing that we’ve discovered,” according to Duggan. From microscopes to eyeglasses to fiber optic cables, glass has played a central role in human history.
“How about the mirror alone? The mirror, I say, started the age of introspection: Who am I? What am I doing here? What’s my purpose? We’re all born to help, and where we can help, we should help,” Duggan said.
Her artistic process is deeply intuitive. She draws inspiration from everyday life—patterns in a magazine, a stranger’s outfit, or the natural beauty of Guam’s waves and stars. Her St. Petersburg, Florida, studio, TD Glass, is a space where she transforms these inspirations into glass. She became a working artist under glass artist Chuck Boux, who praised her artwork: “You open a portal to serenity that I have never seen before.”
“I’m grateful to be an American and be part of the American dream,” Duggan said. “We’re so fortunate to grow up in freedom, and I’m deeply respectful for every person who has fought for freedom.”
Working with glass is both challenging and exhilarating. In glass casting, glass is melted in a furnace, then poured into a mold. “Not a lot of people want to work with it, because it’s like working with a volcano. It’s 2,100 degrees. It’s all melted sand. It’s very hot to work with, and you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” she said.
In her artwork, Duggan uses a variety of techniques that allow her to incorporate intricate detail and expressive forms. Her distinctive style blends traditional techniques with innovative approaches. Drawing from her background in Japanese woodblock printmaking, she presses woodblocks into sand to create a mold. Then she pours molten glass into the mold to capture the design.
Duggan points to “Life Is Fleeting,” fashioned out of fused, etched, and polished glass, and created by TC Studio. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti)
To create the delicate flowers adorning some of her pieces, she uses pâte de verre, made by pressing molten frit (finely ground glass) into molds. Her tropical-themed pieces often feature shells and seahorses and reflect her love for nature and imagination. They incorporate impressions of leaves, shells, and other items from nature that she collects herself.
The medium’s ability to interact with light and create a sense of vitality captivates her. “The most magical thing about glass is what happens when light hits it,” she said.
A Spiritual and Social Vision
When she’s immersed in her work, time slips away. “When I’m in that moment of creation, it’s very spiritual. I’m absolutely in the moment,” Duggan said. “I have raised eight kids, and sometimes I was so into working on a project that when I looked up at the clock, it was 4 o’clock in the morning, and I’ve still got to get up and get my kids to school.”
Duggan has a great affinity for the color blue, which evokes peace, imagination, and creativity. She is the author of the book “The Beauty of Blue.”
That drive manifests not only in Duggan’s art, but also in her business and philanthropic endeavors. In 2018, she opened the Imagine Museum in Florida, and she is a board member of the projected Museum for Peace in Costa Rica. She also has plans to open an international museum of glass art, and she is a newly appointed board member of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
In all her work, Duggan said she hopes to promote American values and support universal human rights. Her Americana room at the Imagine Museum features symbols like the Statue of Liberty and astronauts. It celebrates the spirit of freedom and exploration.
Her experiences in communist countries deepened her appreciation for American freedoms. She recounted a chilling incident in China after she left a picture of the Dalai Lama at a monastery, saying, “I wanted them to know it was the Dalai Lama’s monastery.” Though she and her group were under military surveillance for the rest of the trip, Duggan felt no fear. It only reinforced her dedication to human rights advocacy.
She also highlighted a documentary she once saw about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has imprisoned and tortured adherents of the Buddhism-inspired practice, which is based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
The techniques employed by Duggan enable her to render delicate details.
“It was so shocking to me. I said, ‘I’m going to do something about it.’ There was nobody who wanted to do anything about it,” she said about the CCP’s lucrative organ harvesting crimes. “You can go and get a liver for very cheap [in China], you could go into the prison and say, ‘Oh, that 18-year-old girl from Falun Gong, I’ll take her lungs,’ and then they don’t use any anesthesia. It’s just criminal what’s going on on the planet.”
“We’re all born free and equal in dignity and rights,” she asserted, emphasizing the need to honor individual worth. “We have to leave a future of freedom, not one of slavery.”
Duggan’s compassion doesn’t just manifest in her art and philanthropy. She grounds her daily life in the same values. She has adopted six children from foster care. After her own success in business, she supported her mother’s education, which was put on hold when she became pregnant at age 16 and eventually culminated in two master’s degrees and a doctorate.
Cultural Leadership and Future Aspirations
Duggan sees art as a unifying force in a divided world, with the power to transcend political and social divides. “People who are on the opposite end of the spectrum than I am … come [into the museum] and they’re like, ‘This is so beautiful.Thank you so much. It’s so uplifting,’” she noted. Her next project aims to “celebrate the future generation,” emphasizing freedom and creativity and countering oppression.
As a patron of the arts and steward of cultural institutions, she hopes her philosophy of compassion and freedom will light a path toward a more inspired and united society.
Trish Duggan at TD Glass, her design and fabrication studio in St. Petersburg’s Arts District.
“If you look for beauty, you find beauty. There’s tons of ugliness out there. There’s tons of divisiveness. There’s lots of hatred. If you look for that, you’re going to find it. But I don’t happen to try to look for that. I look for the beauty in things,” she said.
Duggan’s plans and ideas keep her plenty busy. “I’ve got at least three file boxes full of all different projects. I need to live to 250 to get all of these done. Somehow, I’ve got to cheat death or something,” she laughed.
She fervently believes in the transformative power of art: “That’s the artist’s job—to lead people into the future, to create beauty. The purpose of the artist is to help bring man up into the future. That’s culture.”
Chris Meek, philanthropist and CEO of SoldierStrong at the 9/11 Memorial grounds in downtown Manhattan. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
Something that looked like confetti was falling outside the window of Chris Meek’s office building at 111 Broadway in downtown Manhattan.
“I didn’t know we were having a ticker tape today,” one of Meek’s companions commented.
But the fluttering, gray strands and specks weren’t confetti: They were embers from the impact of a passenger plane hitting the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The bang from a few minutes before wasn’t just a garbage truck hitting a pothole in the street below, as Meek had assumed. It was a blast that marked the beginning of the deadliest attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor. And Meek was about to live through it, right at Ground Zero.
Meek and the others in the meeting now knew that something wasn’t right. When the second plane struck the second tower, they felt the tremors run through the building and heard the thunder of the explosion. They turned on the news to try to grasp what was happening and saw the famous footage that is now forever fixed in American history and the American mind.
After seeing the nightmarish images of the impact he had felt in his own body, Meek dialed his team at the New York Board of Trade, located at 4 World Trade Center, and told them to evacuate immediately. He was relieved to learn they already had.
Meek managed floor trading operations for Hull Trading on the New York Stock Exchange. His position made him responsible for 27 people, located in four different exchanges—people whose lives might now be in danger. His next task was to locate a group of 14 colleagues working at the American Stock Exchange, in a separate building. Meek had to get them out, and quickly.
He tried the elevators—no luck. Fortunately, Meek and three others found a fire escape and descended 19 floors to the open street below. Outside, Meek caught his first glimpse of the fiery wounds in the Twin Towers that poured forth smoke. He watched, stunned, as a woman leapt to her death from one of the towers. Firefighters rushed past him toward the inferno. Meek hurried on to the American Stock Exchange.
The Face of Philanthropy
Meek got all of his team safely out that day. But there were some things he couldn’t salvage from the chaos, fire, and debris at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001. Life would never be the same. He couldn’t salvage the peace he’d once known. Restlessness overtook his life after that unthinkable experience.
In his book “Next Steps Forward: Beyond Remembering. The Power of Action,” Meek wrote: “Going back to that evening, and in the first few days that followed, I felt the beginning of an urge to move forward for others. I didn’t know what those steps would look like, or how I would take them, but I knew that my calling in life was about to shift.”
When Meek finally sat down at home at the end of the day, he stared down at his soot-covered shoes, and a thought struck him. “The dust and ash that covered them wasn’t just rubble from buildings. Within that dust and ash were the remains of men, women, and children who had been murdered indiscriminately,” he wrote.
“When I woke up on September 12, 2001, my shoes were right where I left them, still covered in the history I’d walked through the day before. … Days and days, weeks and weeks, finally more than 20 years later, I have not cleaned those shoes. I never will. I look at them every day and remember the people who died on 9/11, as well as those who have given their lives in defense of our country since. I do it to remind myself that the steps I take are for them.”
Meek’s ashen shoes carried him toward a life of innovation and philanthropic giving for the sake of others—especially those who sacrificed their own safety for the rest of us. Out of the fires and smoke of 9/11, Meek emerged as a man with a determination to give back, to snatch meaning and purpose from the tragedy’s burning embers.
In the years since 9/11, Meek has been so determined and successful at giving back, he’s earned the designation “Face of Philanthropy” from The Chronicle of Philanthropy. But Meek was never after this kind of recognition. He finds it almost amusing. “I think of the Rockefellers as philanthropists, not Chris Meek,” he told American Essence. “I had no intention of doing [philanthropic work.] It’s just sort of gone that path and grown over the years.”
Meek visited Ground Zero in spring 2025. It was his first time back since 9/11. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
Starting Small
Like most good things, Meek’s journey to a life of philanthropy started small. Arguably, it started when he returned to Ground Zero in the days following 9/11 to rebuild his firm’s infrastructure. Each day, he passed security checkpoints run by the National Guard. Without thinking much of it, Meek brought them water and Gatorade each day as they stood in the noxious air. This small gesture foreshadowed what was to come; it was a portent of the shift in Meek’s life.
Meek started paying first responders’ bar tabs. “As long as I’m here, they’re not paying,” he told the bartender. Then, during the economic downturn of 2008, he launched a nonprofit called START Now! to teach people how to manage mortgages and keep their homes.
Following 9/11, something Meek’s mother told him years before came back to him, echoing with renewed intensity:
“I might not be able to change the world today, but I can change the world around me,” he said. This became a guiding principle of Meek’s charitable work. Start small. Start local. Start simple. Trust that great good can come from it. Meek described his process: “Think globally, act locally. So you look at the big picture, and then you take it down to your ecosystem, and then solve it from there.”
Like the firefighters on 9/11 or the soldiers who deployed in its aftermath, Meek wasn’t afraid to think creatively and do things others wouldn’t or couldn’t—he was ready to solve problems head-on. Like the military and emergency personnel he wanted to serve, Meek headed toward problems. His independent thinking and can-do attitude soon found expression in a campaign to directly help U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan.
It started small—with socks. For all their next-generation technology and equipment, some troops deployed overseas were missing basic items such as socks and baby wipes. When Meek heard about this, he began collecting donations of everyday essentials to ship to the troops. Meek and other volunteers gathered supplies and stored them in Meek’s garage until they could be transported to the battlefront via Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 49. This initiative grew rapidly, becoming Meek’s next nonprofit: SoldierSocks. By 2014, SoldierSocks had delivered 75,000 pounds of supplies to 73 different units deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
From the Ground Up
Soon, however, it became clear that as much as U.S. servicemembers needed support overseas, they were going to need even more support stateside as they dealt with the lifelong wounds—some tangible, some not—inflicted by war. In 2013, Meek met Sgt. Dan Rose, a veteran who was paralyzed from the chest down due to injuries from an IED. Hearing Rose’s story convinced Meek that SoldierSocks needed to adjust its mission.
Over the next few years, SoldierSocks transformed into SoldierStrong, a cutting-edge veteran nonprofit that brings revolutionary technologies to veterans around the country to heal the hurts of battle.
SoldierStrong’s first goal was ambitious: to get injured veterans walking again. Meek hunted down a tech company that he thought might have the solution: Ekso Bionics, a firm that builds robotic exoskeleton suits that allow paralyzed people to rise up and walk again.
In “Next Steps Forward,” Meek wrote: “When I finally toured Ekso Bionics, I couldn’t help but think about the James Bond franchise—legs and robots were moving around everywhere, and the whole place reminded me of where 007 secures the latest and greatest in spy tech. Before I left the building, I committed to funding ten Ekso Suits.”
Meek began donating these suits—now dubbed “SoldierSuits”—to individual veterans and veterans’ medical facilities. To date, Meek’s organization has gifted 30 suits to locations around the United States, giving some 35,000 paralyzed or injured veterans access to potentially life-changing treatment.
The transformation of SoldierSocks into SoldierStrong transformed veterans’ lives. Men and women who thought they’d spend the rest of their lives chained to a wheelchair found themselves regaining a degree of independence and looking loved ones in the eyes again. One veteran walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding because of the SoldierSuit.
The achievements of the SoldierSuit fell just short of miraculous. But an even bigger monster than paralysis was haunting the veteran community: suicide.
Sgt. Dan Rose throws the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game in 2017. Following a complete spinal rupture, he was the first SoldierSuit recipient. (Courtesy of Chris Meek)U.S. Navy veteran Laura Cowen (center) demonstrates the SoldierSuit in fall 2023. (Courtesy of Chris Meek)
Enter the Doctor
“Skip, you gotta see this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s called a Game Boy.”
Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo peered over the shoulder of his patient, a 22-year-old male car accident victim who had suffered a frontal lobe injury. He watched in amazement for 20 minutes as the patient sat, pasted to a Game Boy and playing Tetris. It was the early 1990s, and this minor incident launched Rizzo’s exploration of the frontiers of mental health treatment and its intersection with technology, specifically gaming.
Rizzo was struck by his patient’s ability to play Tetris because, as he told American Essence: “He was like a Tetris warlord … a kid that I never would have even thought could have that visual spatial planning ability that goes into Tetris. And here he was glued to it.”
Unafraid of an unconventional approach, Rizzo began experimenting with using another video game, SimCity, in a clinical setting. It was the “ultimate multitasking executive function type activity,” he said. Compared to pencil and paper exercises, the game was a much more enjoyable way for patients to improve these types of brain functions, which are often impaired by accidents or head trauma.
Then, one day, Rizzo heard a report about virtual reality (VR) on the radio, and he thought it was perfect for cognitive rehabilitation. “You can build worlds, build simulations that test or train people in everyday function, but also gamify it. You can make it so that there’s a motivational factor, and you give people feedback on a performance,” he said.
Within a few years, Rizzo was sequestered in a lab at the University of Southern California working to create a VR program that could improve cognitive ability. In the early days of the project, he walked from the Alzheimer’s center where he worked to the computer science department and just started asking questions.
Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo, a pioneer of VR exposure therapy. (Courtesy of Chris Meek)
“I would go over there and bug people, cold call, knock on doors, and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got these ideas for using VR clinically for brain injury rehab,’” he said. “Finally, one guy said, ‘I love it. I’ve got equipment, and I can get you a graduate student to program what you want to do.’ And from that point on, it was off to the races.”
Early studies with the VR program were promising. They showed that it could improve visual-spatial interaction and other cognitive abilities. But the real paradigm-shifting application was treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through VR exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy wherein a patient relives a traumatic experience repeatedly, under a clinician’s guidance, in order to reprocess it in a healthy way and become desensitized to it.
Dr. Rizzo gets the simulator ready for a veteran preparing for a VR immersion demo. (Courtesy of Skip Rizzo)
In 2003, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seethed on, Rizzo began to suspect that the trauma the soldiers underwent was similar to the toll Vietnam veterans experienced. Rizzo theorized that VR could assist in exposure therapy by providing patients with a realistic sensory experience similar to the traumatic episode they needed to process.
The Institute for Creative Technologies at USC showed interest in Rizzo’s idea to use VR for PTSD therapy, and he began building a system there called Full Spectrum Warrior. Different iterations followed, eventually leading to Department of Defense funding for the project. Even so, the funding fell a bit short, and as of 2019, Full Spectrum Warrior wasn’t available to the veteran community at large.
That’s where Meek came in.
Patients usually undergo about 10 sessions of VR exposure therapy. (Courtesy of Chris Meek)
‘Hard Medicine for a Hard Problem’
Knowing that, at the time, about 22 veterans were committing suicide every day, largely due to PTSD, Meek was determined to find a way to help heal the psychological wounds of war, just as he had labored to heal the physical wounds through SoldierSuits. Meek stumbled across the work of Rizzo, and in 2019, they met in person at Rizzo’s USC facility. A partnership blossomed, and SoldierStrong provided Rizzo with the final funding he needed to make the VR system fully operational. From there, SoldierStrong worked as the intermediary to get the VR system, now called BraveMind, into the hands of the Department of Veterans Affairs—and most importantly, into the hands of the veterans who needed it most.
Meek saw up close what BraveMind did for veterans through the testimony of Marine Chris Merkle. After serving for 14 years in the Marine Corps, including in active combat, Merkle struggled with PTSD. He wrestled with severe anger issues and grew distant from family and friends. It became harder to concentrate, harder to see things through. Merkle’s family could tell he wasn’t able to move on from the war, and they finally convinced him to seek therapy.
Merkle tried traditional talk therapy, off and on, for several months, but with little improvement. Finally, his therapist suggested that he join a trial of Rizzo’s VR exposure therapy program, and Merkle agreed. In a conversation with American Essence, Merkle quoted Rizzo: “VR therapy is hard medicine for hard problems.”
“Prolonged exposure takes an experience [from your past] from front to back and it exposes it to you,” Merkle said. “The virtual reality adds another layer. … You could pick Iraq or Afghanistan with the battlefields. You could pick walking, in a vehicle. … Even within the vehicle, where you sit in a vehicle, there’s all kinds of [variations].”
During Merkle’s first use of VR, he relived his first major battle in Iraq. “So my mind is seeing Iraq. I’m speaking about Iraq. I’m sitting on a chair that rumbles. I have a blue gun, which is the shape of a rifle, but it’s blue for safety, so physically tactile, I have a weapon. And the whole time I’m talking, I’m pointing, I’m aiming. OK, now we’re crossing Euphrates. OK, now we’re getting hit by small arms fire,” he said.
The experience was so visceral that Merkle actually experienced in his body much of the stress of an actual combat situation. The profundity of reliving that moment broke open floodgates within him that had long been sealed shut. As Merkle put it, “I literally felt like something black was coming out of me.” Afterward, he talked with the clinician about war experiences that he’d never talked to anybody about before.
Veteran advocate Chris Merkle tried VR therapy after serving as a Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Chris Merkle)
Rizzo explained the science behind BraveMind: “The approach is to gradually get the person to confront and reprocess these difficult emotional memories at a pace they can handle. … In scientific terms, they call it extinction learning. You’re trying to extinguish an over-learned or over-activated fear structure in the brain.”
Patients usually go through about 10 sessions of VR exposure therapy, reliving the event repeatedly until it no longer affects them as strongly. That was the case for Merkle. His VR treatments, coupled with talk therapy and a related treatment called EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), allowed Merkle to heal from his PTSD. He went on to successfully earn a doctorate in clinical psychology, and today he works as a therapist for veterans like himself, especially those with suicidal ideation.
Considering that, according to a 2021 study, our military service members and veterans are four times as likely to die by suicide as in battle, the work of Meek, Merkle, and Rizzo to combat PTSD is crucial—quite literally life-saving. Many veterans find VR therapy more appealing than traditional talk therapy.
As Meek stated: “They don’t want to go lay on the couch and talk to their shrink. They’re going to go to the bar and get drunk and just forget about it. But because this post-9/11 generation is really a gaming generation, this technology being VR helps to reduce that stigma, and so you’re seeing an increased usage of that by about, I think, 35 to 40 percent.”
The partnership between Rizzo and Meek is a bit like if Tony Stark and Thomas Wayne teamed up, linking technological innovation with a vast charitable apparatus. It has greatly increased SoldierStrong’s positive influence on the veteran community. SoldierStrong has been a driving force in updating and upgrading Veterans Affairs to meet the needs of 21st-century veterans, with their distinctive set of challenges, using novel solutions that weren’t available just 20 years ago.
We Remember
Meek’s experiences on 9/11 set him on a path that has affected thousands of lives for the better. He keeps his dirty shoes to remind him of that day and the sacrifices that American heroes made on that day and ever since. He doesn’t want others to forget those sacrifices, either.
Meek keeps the shoes he wore on 9/11 as a reminder of those who died on that day, as well as of the sacrifices made by those who serve our country. (Courtesy of Chris Meek)
Never one to rest on his laurels, Meek is currently preparing for the 25th annual observance of the attacks by putting together a documentary and establishing the 9/11 Legacy Foundation, an organization committed to preserving the memory of all the heroism associated with that day. Launched in March, its mission is to commemorate those who were lost and educate people on the event’s significance and its lasting influence on our nation. Its slogan is “We Remember,” and its organizing committee includes major figures who were involved with the response to the attacks, such as Andrew Card, the chief of staff to President George W. Bush; Joe Allbaugh, former FEMA director; and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who was the head of the CIA when Osama Bin Laden was taken down.
Meek hopes that through initiatives such as the 9/11 Legacy Foundation and his other projects, he can help dissolve some of the divides in American society. “I’m trying to do my part to keep the glue together and to put the positive light on American society, not the divisiveness,” he said.
Meek’s work grew from small beginnings. “None of this has ever been planned. It’s been a potential bad idea over a cocktail or a beer, and then it came into a ‘Yeah, you know what? Why not?’” he said.
But that’s what Americans do—see crises as opportunities, and respond with spontaneity, creative thinking, and grit. Sept. 11 was a tragedy that changed Meek’s life, but that change, in turn, changed the lives of countless others. Even tragedy can be transformed into triumph.
In one of his books, “Everyday Triumph,” which explores the stories of individuals who have achieved extraordinary feats, Meek commented on this theme: “How many times have we heard that Americans love a second act? Do we remember the runner who falls down, gets up, and finishes second? No. Instead, we cheer for the fallen competitor who gets up and passes all the other runners to win the race.”
In some sense, that’s not a bad description of what Meek did after 9/11. He’s turned a traumatic experience into the fuel that runs the mechanisms of charity and compassion toward others.
“I don’t know what the true definition of a hero is,” Meek told American Essence. “It’s somebody who just goes above and beyond. They do something that’s not in your everyday playbook, and that could be something as simple as bringing a lunch to a kid at school who doesn’t have food.” Or, one might add, handing a cold Gatorade to a National Guardsman standing sentinel at the site of a national tragedy, as Meek did.
Gary Sinise holds the album “Resurrection & Revival,” with music by his late son, Mac Sinise. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Gary Sinise, known to millions of fans as Lieutenant Dan in “Forrest Gump” and Mac Taylor in television’s “CSI: NY,” has a favorite word: “Blessing.”
He uses it often and with meaning:
“I’ve had a lot of blessings in my life with my acting career.”
“We’ve always had a strong faith in our family. That’s a blessing.”
“The Gary Sinise Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for veterans, thanks to the American people. It’s a blessing.”
It’s all a blessing, he seems to say. Even the painful things.
Maybe especially the painful things.“I am so blessed, fortunate, and proud to be his dad,” Sinise said on the death of his son, McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise, who passed at age 33 on January 5, 2024, from chordoma, a rare spine cancer. He is survived by his parents and his sisters Sophie and Ella.
Mac was diagnosed in 2018 and consequently endured six years of radiation plus “25 different drugs” for a disease that lacks any known cures. It affects fewer than 100 people per year in the United States.
In the same year of Mac’s diagnosis, his mother, Gary’s wife Moira, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sinise founded the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011. He has advocated for American service members for over 40 years. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
But Sinise is not a complainer. “It was a tough six years” is as much as you will get from him. As of 2024, Moira was pronounced cancer-free. She and Gary lost Mac, but not before discovering two things about him: his courage and his music.
We talked by phone with Gary Sinise from his home in Nashville in January of this year. Mac was very much on his mind: “It’s a year ago now that we lost him. It’s been a strange time. I miss him so much.”
Sinise spent much of 2023 and 2024—the year leading up to Mac’s death and the year following it—memorializing Mac in a very special way.
Mac Sinise. (Courtesy of Gary Sinise Foundation)
Mac Sinise worked as Assistant Manager of Education & Outreach at the Gary Sinise Foundation, the philanthropic organization for veterans that Gary established after his success in “Forrest Gump” in 1994. He was also a drummer, and he frequently toured with the Lieutenant Dan Band, a group fronted by his bass-playing father in performances at military bases and hospitals.
Benefit performances by the Lieutenant Dan Band and the construction of smart homes for wounded veterans are two of the foundation’s main missions.
The chordoma robbed Mac of his ability to play the drums once he became paralyzed from the chest down. Yet neither he nor his family gave up.
Mac Sinise was passionate about the foundation’s mission and served as the assistant manager of education and outreach. He was an excellent drummer and would sometimes substitute for the Lt. Dan Band’s regular drummer. (Courtesy of Gary Sinise Foundation)
“Mac couldn’t play drums anymore. It was his mother who suggested he get a harmonica. He’d never played harmonica before, but he learned to play it. It was good for his soul, and also good for his lungs. He had cancer in his lungs and it was good exercise for him to be sucking in and out on the harmonica,” Sinise recalled.
A video of Mac playing “Shenandoah” on the harmonica can be found at his YouTube channel, @macsinise7489.
That was only the beginning. Mac’s musicianship wasn’t limited to drumming. He studied composition and songwriting at the University of Southern California, where he composed a number of pieces ranging from classical to pop. He put those pieces aside when he took on his responsibilities at the foundation.
They came to light only in the last year of his life, when he reached back into the past for the pieces he’d written at USC. He felt that one particular work, an unfinished piano piece called “Arctic Circles,” held promise. Mac wrote about the process he used to finish it:
I found a way to write music again in my hospital bed. In addition to getting back in touch with a producer friend from college, Oliver Schnee, I recovered my old piece and I decided to go for it! Time is precious and I want to take advantage of the times that I feel strong. The result has been incredible collaborations with members of the Lt. Dan Band and my buddy Oliver Schnee to finally finish writing and recording “Arctic Circles.”
The result is a glowing piece of symphonic writing, available in performance on his YouTube channel.
Mac found other pieces from the USC days and produced them as well, resulting in the album “Resurrection & Revival,” available on vinyl at Store.GarySiniseFoundation.org. Mac passed away shortly after it was released.
Though paralyzed from the chest down, Mac Sinise was still able to compose music and play the harmonica. His faith sustained him greatly during his battle with chordoma, a rare cancer. (Courtesy of Gary Sinise Foundation)
There was more music to be discovered. Sinise recalled:
“I started going through Mac’s Dropbox, his iPad and his iPhone, and found more music. There were cues he’d written for a documentary called ‘Always Do a Little More.’ There were rock pieces, classical, and jazz.
“I saw this tremendous variety of musical states that Mac had. I never thought Mac was going to come up with a jazz tune, but I discovered a chart called ‘Sweep Sweepin,’” Sinise said.
A big band piece par excellence, it and other discoveries Gary found among the files inspired him to spend most of the year after Mac’s death compiling “Resurrection & Revival, Part 2,” a vinyl double-album released late last year.
“Discovering all that music in Mac’s files and producing ‘Resurrection & Revival, Part 2’ gave me focus for the past year,” Sinise said. “It was good for me. Who knows? Maybe Mac intended for me to find those files and produce another album. It helped me to heal my own broken heart.
“It was a blessing.”
(Courtesy of Gary Sinise Foundation)
During the years of producing Mac’s music, Gary Sinise didn’t slow down one bit in his commitment to his foundation and its role of serving the interests of veterans. How had Sinise, an actor with major credits, transitioned into being a full-time philanthropist? As the subtitle of his 2019 memoir, “Grateful American,” put it, Sinise went “from self to service.”
The “self” phase was enormously successful. Early in his career, Sinise founded the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, a company that still thrives today. In 1992, he produced, directed, and starred in “Of Mice and Men,” based on Steinbeck’s novel, a film that brought him respect and attention. But it was his role as Lieutenant Dan in director Robert Zemeckis’s masterful “Forrest Gump” that gained him widespread attention—and changed his life forever.
Sinise’s portrayal of a soldier disabled in combat who is first driven to bitterness and at last to peace with God turned Sinise, or at least Lt. Dan, into an icon for veterans.
“At first, I just dipped my toe into the waters of humanitarian things,” Sinise says. That’s when he organized the Lieutenant Dan Band. He named it after his character in the film rather than himself “because nobody knew my name but they all knew Lt. Dan.” The band was a now-and-then thing that gave concerts at military bases and hospitals, entertaining troops and raising money for disabled veterans.
In 2003, Sinise started entertaining troops at home and abroad with the Lt. Dan Band. (Andy Kropa/Stringer/Getty Images)
Then came what Sinise called “the turning point”: 9/11. Sinise went from dipping his toe to full immersion, shifting the focus of his energies more and more to his work for veterans. He founded the Gary Sinise Foundation even as he produced and starred in “CSI: NY” on television.
“That was a nice paycheck, so it allowed me to do all kinds of cool things. I toured a lot and I could see the impact on people when they recognized me. It was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ You can see the environment change when you walk into a room. It gave me a public platform to talk about the things I was interested in with regards to supporting the men and women who serve our country,” he said.
Philanthropy First
Sinise’s benefit concerts and fundraising outreach have resulted in the building of 94 specially equipped smart homes for severely injured veterans, nearly two million meals served for disabled veterans and others in need, 500 USO concerts at more than 180 military bases and hospitals by the Lt. Dan Band (for which Sinise doesn’t accept payment), special holiday events for the children and spouses of fallen members of the U.S. military, and more.
Sinise regularly pays personal visits to service members hospitalized long-term with severe injuries.
Sinise talks with Marine Sgt. John Peck backstage at the 25th National Memorial Day Concert on May 25, 2014, in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/Stringer/Getty Images)
“How do you get joy by seeing people with brain injuries and burned bodies? By bringing a little bit of joy into a room where there hasn’t been any. Visiting the hospitals and seeing one difficult case after another, seeing the families of our fallen heroes struggle through their grief, I learned a lot about perseverance and resilience though really difficult times,” Sinise said.
When Mac was stricken with incurable illness, Sinise’s humanitarian work came full circle: “The lessons I learned from those resilient families manifested itself completely and totally when all of a sudden our own family was faced with the life and death situation of our son.”
It was as if the help he extended to others returned to help him. It was a blessing.
Today, Sinise’s profile as humanitarian dominates his profile as an actor. In fact, Sinise hasn’t acted since 2019, when the pressures and responsibilities of caring for Mac and Moira forced him to put aside his original vocation. If any energies were left over, they went to the foundation.
Sinise talks with a World War II veteran backstage at the 25th National Memorial Day Concert on May 25, 2014, in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/Stringer/Getty Images)
“The foundation has been strong from the start. We’ve never had a bad year. We kept going during those difficult years in part because Mac wanted it to go on. He loved the foundation. It also helped me in the day-to-day struggle of our own fight, knowing that my foundation team was helping people,” Sinise said.
Will Gary Sinise ever return to acting?
“That’s a good question. I don’t know. Basically, I don’t want to take any jobs that take me too far away for too long a time.”
Mac is gone and Moira is cancer-free, but Sinise is concerned about the health of his 92-year-old mother. Venturing far from home no longer seems a likely option. Still—“If the logistics could be worked out on a very specific project with a very specific role and a very specific group of people, and it felt like something important, then I would absolutely consider that.”
“Forrest Gump” (1994). Sinise was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Lt. Dan Taylor. In the film, Taylor is wounded in the Vietnam War and loses both legs; he eventually finds a way to rebuild his life. (MovieStillsDB)
Acting was in the past, yet it made today possible.
“I may not have the foundation in the way I have it now if I hadn’t had the acting career. The acting career gave me a lot of resources,” Sinise said.
The big question was, as it always is, how to use those resources?
“I always told my kids, ‘The greatest thing you can do for yourself is to do something positive for someone else.’”
Selected Works
Film and Television
“Mission To Mars” (2000). (MovieStillsDB)
Acting
“Joe Bell” (2020): Sinise plays Sheriff Westin in this emotional drama about a father who embarks on a cross-country walk to honor his late son and take a stand against bullying.
“Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” (2016–2017): Sinise stars as Special Agent Jack Garrett, the seasoned leader of the FBI’s International Response Team. The team travels the world solving crimes that involve American citizens abroad.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014): Sinise provides the voice for the Smithsonian audio tour that guides visitors through an exhibit about Captain America’s exploits.
“CSI: NY” (2004–2013). (MovieStillsDB)
“CSI: NY” (2004–2013): Sinise’s character, Detective Mac Taylor, leads a team of forensic investigators in New York, solving complex crimes using cutting-edge science and detective work.
“Fallen Angel” (2003): Sinise plays Terry McQuinn, a man who returns to his childhood home and reconnects with his past while uncovering family secrets.
“The Green Mile” (1999): Sinise appears as Burt Hammersmith, a defense attorney convinced that his client, John Coffey, is guilty of murder. This supernatural prison drama is based on Stephen King’s 1996 novel.
“Truman” (1995): Sinise gives a powerful performance as President Harry S. Truman, chronicling his rise from humble beginnings to his historic presidency.
“Apollo 13” (1995). (MovieStillsDB)
“Apollo 13” (1995): Sinise portrays astronaut Ken Mattingly, who is grounded from the Apollo 13 mission but plays a crucial role in helping the crew return safely to Earth.
“Forrest Gump” (1994): Sinise plays Lt. Dan Taylor, Forrest Gump’s commanding officer, who struggles with his fate after losing both of his legs in Vietnam.
Directing
“Of Mice and Men” (1992): Sinise directed the film and starred as George Milton in this adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name. It’s about two drifters seeking work and the American dream during the Great Depression.
“Of Mice and Men” (1992). (MovieStillsDB)
Theater
Acting
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (2001): Sinise portrayed Randle McMurphy, a convict who fakes insanity to escape prison but finds himself clashing with the oppressive Nurse Ratched in a mental institution. (Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Royale Theatre, Broadway)
“A Streetcar Named Desire” (1997): Sinise played the role of Stanley Kowalski, a brutish but charismatic working-class man whose volatile relationships with his wife and sister-in-law lead to tragedy. (Steppenwolf Theatre Company)
“The Grapes of Wrath” (1990): Sinise played Tom Joad in this Tony-winning adaptation of Steinbeck’s novel, following the struggles of the Joad family as they journey westward during the Dust Bowl. (Cort Theatre, Broadway)
Directing
“Buried Child” (1996): A prodigal grandson returns to his family’s farm in Illinois, where his family doesn’t recognize him. His return unearths an unexpected and unwanted family inheritance. (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
“Tracers” (1984): Sinise directed this powerful play about Vietnam War veterans, written and performed by real-life veterans sharing their wartime experiences. (Steppenwolf Theatre Company)
“True West” (1982): Sinise directed this classic Sam Shepard play about two estranged brothers—one a screenwriter, the other a drifter—locked in an escalating battle of wills. (Cherry Lane Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company)
Jena Covello, founder of Agent Nateur. (Courtesy of Agent Nateur)
A diagnosis of endometriosis and adenomyosis at age 23 was the catalyst that prompted Jena Covello to research holistic approaches to heal these estrogen-dominant autoimmune conditions.
Wary of hormone-disrupting chemicals in everyday products, she began experimenting with natural solutions, starting with a luxurious deodorant she crafted in her West Hollywood apartment. “I wanted to create something that was equally beautiful as it was healthy and effective,” she said.
Eventually, that led her to found Agent Nateur, a luxury wellness brand offering skincare, supplements, and beauty essentials with nourishing ingredients that are free from GMOs, soy, parabens, sulfates, aluminum, and petroleum. Over the years, Covello has continued to share her tips and insights on her blog and social media.
Here, she shares her morning routine, the ingredients she loves, and the places where she finds inspiration and renewal.
(Courtesy of Agent Nateur)
AE: What’s your morning routine like?
Jena Covello: Every morning is different, but I always maintain my non-negotiables: a workout—virtual or in-person—with my trainer Rob Parr, time for my skin care routine, and my morning holi (mane) matcha latte with almond milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, and a pinch of Himalayan sea salt.
I don’t wash my skin in the morning with anything except water. I apply Agent Nateur rose and hyaluronic essence with a dash of holi c and holi oil. Then I apply our new tinted SPF, holi (sun), non-nano zinc-based tinted protecting drops! I like matte lipstick and lipliner, but aside from that I don’t wear much makeup.
AE: What hero ingredients do you swear by?
Ms. Covello: Cucumber water is one favorite. It is bursting with flavonoids and antioxidants that promote youthful-looking skin, and is shown to alleviate swelling and soothe redness. It also smells so incredible. Another favorite in many Agent products is sodium ascorbyl phosphate. It is the best derivative of vitamin C for cosmetics due to its natural SPF of 8, its stability, and its bioavailability. It protects against environmental stressors that lead to fine lines and wrinkles. Spermidine is an incredibly powerful cell-renewing active, both topically and orally. It is a key ingredient in our new calm (beauty) supplement and in our new topical scalp growth spray!
AE: What are the most important things you’ve learned on your health and wellness journey?
Ms. Covello: The brand’s existence is truly because of this journey! I have a history with endometriosis and adenomyosis and many years ago began taking a holistic approach to my health to heal both estrogen dominant autoimmune conditions. Many doctors began telling me to avoid using aluminum antiperspirant because it mimics estrogen. I couldn’t find a natural deodorant that worked so I began making my own. I wanted to create something that was equally beautiful as it was healthy and effective. At the time nothing existed. I poured and packaged the deodorants myself in my West Hollywood apartment! Over the years, I have gotten access to the most incredible holistic doctors and healers from around the world. I created our blog to share all this knowledge that has changed my life. We have endless expert interviews, deep-dives on specific topics, and holistic tips for everything from hair shedding to manifesting techniques.
(Courtesy of Agent Nateur)
AE: What makes Agent Nateur unique?
Ms. Covello: We are truly category agnostic. Our customer trusts us to create the best, most effective and beautiful skincare, supplements, makeup, hair care and body care. The common denominator for every product is a relentless commitment to quality and efficacy. I formulate in the south of France and Los Angeles, focusing on ingredients that are healing, nourishing, as well as free from GMO’s, soy, parabens, sulfates, aluminum and petroleum. Our products do not disturb hormones and are safe when pregnant and breastfeeding. This standard is what our customer deeply trusts in and is incredibly important for me to uphold!
AE: What’s your favorite beauty product, currently?
Ms. Covello: It is so hard to choose just one! Holi (water), our high-molecular weight, pearl and rose hyaluronic essence. It is such a light but deeply hydrating essence, and applying it is a lovely daily ritual, it smells incredible. Mixed with holi (c), our dry vitamin c and calcium powder, it instantly brightens your complexion while working hard on discoloration, texture, and firmness long-term. Lately, I am especially obsessed with our newest supplement launch calm (beauty) a relaxing, longevity and beauty supplement with taurine and spermidine–I love to mix it into a nighttime mocktail.
Pro-tip: Holi (glow) gives the most incredible brightening effect under the eyes, no makeup necessary! I also love to tap it on my cheekbones as a natural highlight. I use holi (bright) as an overnight mask for transformed skin by morning! I also love to add epsom salt to my shampoo twice a month to really clean and clarify the hair.
AE: Where do you find inspiration?
Ms. Covello: I am inspired by my own healing journey, but also the people around me! My mom is such a skincare aficionado with incredibly high standards, and she has inspired so many products, including holi (mane) our best-selling marine collagen and pearl powder supplement.
AE: Where’s your happy place?
Ms. Covello: LA and Miami are special to me for different reasons. I’m surrounded by constant creativity in LA. I’m so lucky to have amazing friends, a support system and team that inspires me. Nowhere in the world compares. What I love most is how original and forward everyone is creative-wise. Within five seconds I can recommend the best hair stylist, makeup artist, functional medical doctor, nutritionist, facial, nail salon, photographer, influencer, set designer, creator, calligraphy writer, painter, etc.
Miami is the place I escape to when I’m burnt out and need alone time, or the perfect place between LA and Europe. I mostly just hang out with my boyfriend and dogs, and feel a great sense of relief listening to the ocean from my bedroom. For sure that sound partially healed me. It’s clean, safe, and nothing is as magnificent as winter in Miami.
AE: What new project are you excited about?
Ms. Covello: Our upcoming magnesium supplement. It is a blend of six premium forms of magnesium for unparalleled bioavailability, efficacy, and results. Each form is intentionally selected to target mind, body, and cellular health, delivering the ultimate solution for energy, relaxation, cognitive clarity, and restful sleep.
Dr. Jingduan Yang is an integrative neurologist, psychiatrist, and acupuncturist, board certified in psychiatry, specializing in integrative mental health and Chinese medicine. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
When Jingduan Yang was just a boy, his father asked him: “You like to eat meat?”
Yang nodded.
“Well, then,” his father replied flatly, “you’d better learn medicine—or you’re going to go hungry.”
Born in Hefei, Anhui province, in 1962 as the youngest of eight siblings, Yang grew up under the weight of family tradition and the turbulence of a changing China.
His ancestry traces back to renowned Chinese doctors, including a royal physician to the Qing Dynasty emperor. His father, a fourth-generation practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), expected to pass down this legacy to his firstborn son.
However, in Yang’s case, tradition allowed for an exception. With his eldest brother sent for “re-education” in the countryside during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the duty of upholding the family’s inheritance fell to Yang.
At 13, Yang began shadowing his father, learning the ancient art of Chinese medicine. His father hoped that, at the very least, he could become a “barefoot doctor”—a physician who travels through villages to treat farmers in need, usually carrying a simple toolbox of acupuncture needles and herbs. Most importantly, this way, he could ensure he never went hungry.
In 1977, China reinstated its national college exam system. Yang took the exam and scored high enough to choose his field of study. The opportunities were numerous, but undoubtedly, medicine was his destiny. “I never questioned that,” he said.
Following his father’s advice that “Traditional Chinese medicine is best learned at home” and believing combining it with Western medicine would make him a more capable doctor, Yang enrolled in the prestigious Fourth Military Medical University.
This choice of school, while seemingly straightforward, was discreetly influenced by his family’s troubled political past.
Yang’s father was a former resistance fighter against the Japanese during World War II. Due to his outspoken temperament, he had been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party. As a result, he changed the family name from Tao to Yang to conceal his identity. Now, he urged his children to attend military universities, believing that the trust the communist leadership placed in military graduates would grant a protective veil over the family.
Unbeknownst to young Yang, as he left home for medical school, he embarked upon a journey that would take him from the constraints of communist China to the freedom of the West and from the wisdom of the past to the frontiers of modern medicine.
A Foot in Two Worlds
Once in medical school, Yang found himself straddling two worlds—one rooted in empirical science, the other in millennia-old philosophy. “That’s where the confusion started,” he said.
During summer breaks, he regularly engaged in spirited debates with his father about the discrepancies between the two medical systems.
“In medical school,” he recalled, “we learned blood is produced in the bone marrow. But Chinese medicine says it’s produced by the kidneys—I couldn’t reconcile these two.”
The answer would elude Yang for a decade, the contradiction lingering in his mind. “I couldn’t convince [my father] … and he couldn’t convince me.”
These discussions, at times muddling and frustrating, sowed the seeds for what would become Yang’s lifelong quest: to harmonize the wisdom of the East with the rigor of the West.
By his fourth year, Yang’s exceptional performance earned him a scholarship to study abroad in Sydney. At 21, he was wide-eyed and unaware of the revelations that awaited him.
In Australia, Yang experienced the Western world’s cultural and academic openness. He lived in a seaside cottage under the wing of professor Thomas Stapleton, a stern but warm-hearted mentor. Every morning, the professor made him and his cohort to run along the beach before plunging into the frigid ocean. The training was intensive yet liberating.
Back in China, his curriculum was conventional and rigid—anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry—psychology wasn’t included. In Australia, he had room to breathe, to ask questions, to probe the meaning of life itself.
Dr. Yang is reimagining the role of a doctor—one who can not only address diseases, but also treat patients holistically and shape public policy. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
On one occasion, a fellow medical student asked Yang about the Daoist philosopher Lao Zi. Yang was surprised by his interest, as he had been taught that Lao Zi was a bad person, “feudalist” and “backward.”
“That was embarrassing,” Yang remembered. “It made me aware of the deficit of my own education for my own culture.” But Yang didn’t know better. He had been, in his own words, “brainwashed by communism”—fed a distorted reality.
Academically, his days were filled with discussions of medicine but with an unfamiliar approach.
Once, Stapleton tested Yang with a question about a baby afflicted with diarrhea. Yang confidently listed medical interventions: rehydration, treating infections, and managing symptoms. But Stapleton pressed him further: “What else? What was the mother doing? Where was the father?” This moment taught Yang to think beyond biology and seek other causes—a lesson that would become a cornerstone of his medical philosophy.
“Most doctors focus on fixing symptoms,” Yang reflected, “but we have to dig for the root causes, both direct and indirect.”
Recognizing his passion and aptitude, Stapleton urged him, “You must come to Oxford.”
An Awakening in the West
At Oxford University, as a research fellow in clinical psychopharmacology, Yang made a startling discovery—a group of scientists found that red blood cell formation in the bone marrow was stimulated by a hormone called erythropoietin.
He was stunned to learn this hormone was produced in the kidneys—just as his father had taught.
“I wish he had still been alive when I discovered [this],” Yang said. The discrepancy that long troubled him began to resolve.
Reminiscing on those summer arguments with his father, he recalled how his father also taught him that mood disorders and blood pressure were linked and both could be traced to the liver. At that time, Yang disagreed, “One is a cardiovascular problem, and the other is a problem for the psychiatric department.”
As a fellow, Yang studied how serotonin and dopamine receptors affect mood disorders. While reviewing the scientific literature, he discovered that the majority of the research wasn’t published in a psychological journal, but rather in the journal Hypertension. He realized that blood pressure and mood disorders were both tied to serotonin. Yang then wondered, “Where is serotonin metabolized?” Surprise—in the liver.
“I smiled in my heart,” Yang said. Western medicine, it seemed, was validating ancient Chinese wisdom.
On another occasion, Michael Gilda, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, took Yang out for lunch and invited him to visit Merton College’s library. There, surrounded by volumes upon volumes of medical botanicals, Yang realized that Western herbal medicine had origins in practices akin to those of Chinese medicine.
These revelations in Oxford marked a turning point for Yang. The two worlds he had straddled began to converge, the wisdom of the past illuminating the path forward.
An Unpredicted Homecoming
Invigorated by his experience abroad, Yang returned to China in 1989, motivated to transform medicine. “I wanted to change China,” he said, brimming with idealism.
However, his homecoming coincided with the Tiananmen Square protests. Many of Yang’s peers marched—yet he chose to keep his head down. He was mindful that as a military officer, he was under tighter scrutiny and could endanger his family and career. He decided to remain on the sidelines, but the anxiety settled in his heart.
Despite the turmoil, his academic career soared rapidly. By 1992, he was the youngest attending physician and assistant professor at the Fourth Military Medical University, poised to lead the neurology and psychiatry departments. Accolades poured in—by all accounts, he was a rising star.
But beneath the veneer of success, he glimpsed a troubling future. He observed that his supervisor, despite his grand achievements, lived in constant fear. The supervisor was very careful about what he said, or even what he thought, constantly self-censoring, said Yang.
Seeing a reflection of his own inevitable path, he thought, “I don’t want to live that life.”
Yang felt the suffocating weight of compromise. He witnessed doctors taking bribes, forming political alliances to secure grants, and navigating the corrupt system. The rigid hierarchy stifled innovation and integrity.
Yang’s mind drifted back to Oxford, where he had tasted true freedom. “I felt I really had human dignity and identity.”
“I wasn’t changing China. China was changing me.”
Yang made up his mind. He would leave for the United States.
His colleagues and family questioned his choice with disapproval, “Why leave when you can be anything you want here?” Yang answered them sternly, “You don’t know what I want—what I want is freedom.”
Yang uses acupuncture, one of the many integrative treatments, to treat patients at Northern Medical Center in the United States. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Facing West and Starting Over
In 1998, Yang landed in snowy Minnesota with a mere $6,000 in his pocket. His medical credentials were worthless in America. Now, with a wife and a young son, he was forced to start anew. Freedom, he learned, came at a cost.
His wife suggested washing dishes at a local restaurant. But fate intervened, granting Yang a teaching position at a community college. There, he taught Westerners about acupuncture and herbal medicine.
It was a transformative period, forcing him to articulate how Eastern and Western medicine could coexist—not to mention in a language not entirely familiar. “I had to bridge the gap. I had to make sense of it myself before I could make sense to them,” he recalled.
Step by step, Yang rebuilt his career. He completed his psychiatry residency at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and a fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona.
Recognizing a void in Chinese medicine education in the United States, Yang channeled his expertise to co-author a comprehensive TCM textbook for Oxford University Press. He founded the American Institute for Clinical Acupuncture, dedicated to educating and training physicians in clinical acupuncture. If he couldn’t change China, he would bring the best of his heritage to his adopted home.
As his reputation grew, so did invitations to speak at conferences and treat high-profile clients. Yang’s integrative model—a blend of modern science and ancient wisdom—began to take shape.
A New Paradigm
Yang observed the high demand for integrative health solutions that address both mind and body, the former stressed in traditional Chinese medicine and the latter highlighted in Western medicine. This led him to establish his own paradigm, which integrates and balances the two.
His guiding principle was straightforward. The human body is multi-dimensional, and each dimension must be accounted for in true healing. By his account, these dimensions are anatomy, biochemistry, energy, and spirit.
In Yang’s view, modern medicine often focuses narrowly on anatomy and biochemistry while neglecting the crucial roles of energy and spirit. This imbalance, he believes, lies at the root of many of the chronic illnesses and mental health challenges people face today.
He often brings up the imagery of a car as an example. Even though it has a body structure, oil, water, electrical circuits, and an engine—it still cannot move. It needs a driver to get it going. The same is true for human beings, he suggests, who need the soul, or consciousness, to direct the human body.
“Fundamentally, we are spiritual beings having a human experience,” Yang likes to say. In his practice, he asks patients about their sense of purpose, their relationship to themselves, and their understanding of spirituality and mortality. He sees these questions as inseparable from the pursuit of physical health and well-being.
“We have to define what health really is,” Yang insists. Rather than merely the absence of disease, he sees true health as “the result of physical integrity, biochemical abundance, energetic balance, and spiritual peace.” It’s a lofty ideal, he admits, but one worth striving for.
After years of polishing and practicing his approach, he faces not East nor West but toward the future.
His next goal is to reshape the future of medicine in the United States, and the best way to inspire change is by leading through example.
A New Medical Center
Today, Yang is the CEO of Northern Medical Center in Middletown, New York—a medical center designed to combine ancient and modern wisdom to treat each patient as a whole person. The center brings his vision to life by offering integrative care that blends standard medical treatments, acupuncture, and herbal therapies all under one roof. Currently, it serves more than 1,000 patients a month.
Rather than offering traditional Chinese medicine as an add-on, Northern Medical Center designs its treatments on the anatomy, biochemistry, energy, and spirit model, giving each of the four dimensions the same weight.
Traditional Chinese medicine should not be seen as “complementary” or “alternative” but “essential,” says Yang.
For instance, Yang employs a technique called neuro-emotional technique (NET). While using traditional Chinese medicine’s understanding of energy meridians and emotional blockages, NET introduces a systematic Western approach to identify where unresolved emotions are stored in the body.
Yang uses neuro-emotional technique to treat patients. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
The technique can pinpoint energetic blockages and release them. He recalls a patient named Rob, whose smoking habit persisted despite numerous attempts to quit. Using NET, Yang helped Rob discover that his habit was rooted in academic pressure from his father years ago. Once this emotional block was identified and released, he quit smoking and remained tobacco-free.
Another key emphasis of the center is caring for patients with humanity and compassion.
The staff notes that Yang personally spends substantial time with each patient. “They’re more like dialogues than consultations,” said Qinyang Jiang, his medical assistant. Yang wants to understand the context of the patients’ lives, not just their lab numbers.
This focus has led many patients to experience breakthroughs after years of ineffective treatments elsewhere, said Yang. For instance, one veteran with severe PTSD and chronic depression sought care at multiple hospitals to no avail. After receiving integrative treatments, including transcranial magnetic stimulation, acupuncture, and trauma-focused therapy, the patient achieved long-term relief and returned to meaningful daily life.
The Triple Doctor
For Yang, transforming health care begins with reimagining the role of the physician.
“If your doctor is paid only to prescribe medicine, to talk to patients for 15 minutes, and to perform surgeries, they’re not motivated to do anything else,” he said.
“Imagine a system where primary care physicians are paid equally for preventing illness as they are for treating it. That would fundamentally change our approach to health.”
Yang’s vision for this new kind of physician draws from the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine. He recounts the story of Bian Que, a legendary doctor who, when asked by the emperor if he was the best, replied, “No, I’m not. I only treat sickness. The best doctor is one who can prevent people from getting sick.”
Bian Que went on to say, “The best doctor is one who can heal the nation. The second best heals people. The third merely treats diseases.”
If you look at our American system today, Yang points out, most doctors are dealing with diseases, but not the root cause. Therein lies both the problem and the opportunity.
He wants to educate the next generation of health care leaders to be “triple doctors”—“those who can shape public health policy, treat patients holistically, and address diseases effectively.”
A Vision for a Healthier America
Northern Medical Center is just the beginning. Having spent over four decades studying wide-ranging disciplines across four continents, Yang believes the American health care system needs an overhaul.
Despite a $4.5 trillion budget, the current system prioritizes intervention over prevention and disease over health. Yang believes integrative medicine is the missing piece. Without it, “we’re not going to make America healthy again.”
He believes that, given just 0.0046 percent of the health care budget, he could demonstrate what a health care system looks like, with Northern Medical Center leading as an example.
Yang has a grand plan—to build a local system that demonstrates how integrative health care can cost less, work better, and be replicated globally.
Yang is working to create a model that includes a medical school, hospital, and research institute. In this system, doctors are educated to see patients as whole beings, and health is defined not by the absence of disease but by the presence of balance.
It’s an ambitious vision, but one already taking shape at Northern Medical Center.
“Knowing the type of person he is, Dr. Yang is well-suited to a task like this,” said Robert Backer, a psychologist and former colleague. Yang can galvanize people and inspire them to share in his vision. More people are joining the team, convinced by his ideas and convictions.
Yang’s demeanor is calm and thoughtful, yet shifts when it’s time to get things done—perhaps a remnant of his military training. “He sets a goal and makes it happen,” said his medical assistant.
For Yang, it’s not about personal legacy. “What we do in this lifetime will contribute to the future,” he said. “I want our children and grandchildren to live in a better, healthier, more beautiful world.”
Jingduan Yang is, by his own admission, a dreamer, but he’s not waiting for that world to arrive.
Eating more real, whole foods changed Hari's health and life. She hopes to help others experience the same transformation. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
When Vani Hari’s mother joined her father in America, the first food he introduced her to was a McDonald’s hamburger.
“He said, ‘If we’re going to live in America, we’re going to eat like Americans.’ And so that’s how we grew up,” Hari said.
Her father had left India to study in the United States, returned home for an arranged marriage, and then settled with his new bride in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hari and her older brother grew up on a blend of cultural fare and “American” food, as their parents tried to give them the best of both worlds.
“My mom knew how to make Indian food, but she didn’t have handed-down recipes from an American mother,” Hari said. So she relied on pre-made and packaged foods. Hari remembers Thanksgiving dinners from boxes and cans, and years of the same frozen Pepperidge Farm cake for her birthday. She gorged on candy, earning her the nickname “candy queen.” As she grew older, she shunned her mother’s homemade Indian meals, opting for junk food and Burger King.
Hari also grew up struggling with common health issues—severe eczema, asthma, and allergies. By her 20s, she was on eight prescription medications. Fueling a high-pressure corporate job with fast food sandwiches and sugary snacks, she was overweight and wore exhaustion on a puffy face.
Now, Hari knows better. Her younger self is unrecognizable from the powerhouse she is today: an investigative food activist, cookbook writer, and fit mom of two, dedicated to bringing healthy change and transparency to the American food industry. Her high-energy presence attracts supporters to rallies just as her popular Food Babe blog has been gaining ardent followers since 2011. Lately, she’s emerged as a powerful voice of the Make America Healthy Again movement, led by former presidential candidate and now Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) head Robert F. Kennedy.
Hari’s mission is inspiring a revolution of Americans with the food knowledge to take back control of their health—just as she did.
Vani Hari whips up one of her favorite green smoothies at her home in Charlotte, N.C. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
A Health Scare Turned Into Hope
Hari’s transformative journey to vibrant health began on a hospital bed: recovering from an emergency appendectomy at age 23.
“Everyone my age was going out and going to parties, and I was sitting in a hospital room recovering from getting my stomach cut open. I just kind of had enough,” she said. Tired of never feeling well, she resolved to make her health a priority.
Though she lacked a background in health or dietetics, Hari dove into research and armed herself with books, eager to learn about nutrition—and whether her diet was behind her health problems. She quickly built a case against ultra-processed foods.
“I found out my body was super inflamed because of what I was eating,” Hari said.
“One of the books I was reading has this concept that the majority of grocery foods in a package or [that are] processed are dead. They’re not alive. Well, that’s how I felt for most of my life. So I decided to eat more real, live foods that came from nature, that hadn’t been adulterated by the food industry.”
She visited local farmers markets and sought out fresh, whole ingredients. She ditched the fast food and the candy. Soon, her health began to change.
Hari lost the 30 pounds she’d gained in her early 20s, plus five extra. Her energy soared to new highs. Her skin and breathing issues faded, and she didn’t need to refill her prescriptions. Family and friends noticed the “candy queen” wasn’t eating candy anymore, and they commented that she looked like a different person.
They convinced Hari to share how she did it, and her blog, FoodBabe.com, was born.
The Food Babe and Her Army
On the blog, Hari shared stories about her journey and new lifestyle, including healthy recipes and food recommendations.
She also wrote about her investigations into the American food industry and the harmful ingredients hiding in our food supply.
“I used my newfound inspiration for living a healthy life to drive my energy into researching the causes of chronic disease. It all came back to our food,” she said.
The leading cause of mortality in the United States is diet-related chronic disease. Diet is blamed for new diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. One in five American children is obese, and rates of Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are rising rapidly in young generations. These modern health problems have disproportionately affected industrialized countries with diets high in ultra-processed food.
Ultra-processed foods are made in labs, often with chemically altered food extracts and additives that make the food hyper-palatable—difficult to stop eating—and extend their shelf life. Additives include artificial flavors, colors, emulsifiers, and preservatives.
“I realized that I was eating chemicals that were not there to improve the nutrition of my body, or make me healthy, or make me live a long, beautiful life. [They] were invented to improve the bottom line of the food industry, and actually were detrimental to my health,” Hari said.
She also realized there was a lack of transparency around these ingredients that made it hard for consumers to make truly informed food choices. When she investigated healthful claims on the label of her favorite yogurt brand, the company responded by removing misleading marketing.
“This led me more into an activism role, as I saw that we had the ability to influence companies to change,” she said.
The more she called out major food companies for using unhealthy chemical ingredients, the more her popularity grew. Her blog has since grown to more than 4 million subscribers, whom Hari calls the Food Babe Army.
“I started to realize I had this amazing community that not only cared about their own health, but also wanted to hold these companies accountable,” she said. “I realized that I had the ability to get people’s attention on these issues in a way that could really change the food industry.”
Hari has taken her voice from her blog to Capitol Hill. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
It’s All Personal
Some of Hari’s most popular investigations compare two versions of the same American-manufactured food product: the version sold in the United States, and the version sold overseas. The latter often has a noticeably different, shorter ingredient list.
One of her first investigations was a personal favorite food of hers: Quaker Oats Strawberries and Cream instant oatmeal. She discovered that while the UK version used real strawberries, the U.S. version instead contained dried apple bits, artificially flavored and colored with chemically-derived Red 40.
“We’re tired of this double standard that so many American food companies are participating in by selling safer ingredients to other countries,” Hari said. Other countries have stricter regulations for food additives and, in some cases, require warning labels about ingredients’ associations with health risks. Rather than add the label, American food companies sell reformulated products in overseas markets.
Quaker has since changed the U.S. product to use dried strawberries and natural dye, citing consumer demand for simpler, shorter ingredient lists.
Compelled to action, Hari began launching petitions asking food companies to remove chemical ingredients from their products. She was inspired by fellow food blogger Bettina Elias Siegel, who petitioned to remove “pink slime,” a processed beef byproduct used as a cheap filler, from school lunches.
During a campaign against Subway to stop using azodicarbonamide, a bleaching and dough conditioning chemical also found in yoga mats and shoe soles, Hari filmed a video of herself chewing on a yoga mat. Her petition collected more than 50,000 signatures. Not only did Subway remove the chemical from its bread, but eventually, others like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and White Castle did, too.
“When one product, one company changes, it does inspire the rest of the industry to start changing as well,” Hari said.
Her advocacy is inspired by situations in her personal life, such as seeing a coworker eat Subway for lunch every day, or realizing her husband’s beer didn’t have an ingredient label—and was the only item in her refrigerator that didn’t.
“Every single thing has been about a personal situation or story that has led me to say, ‘Enough is enough. This company needs to be held accountable,’” she said.
Hari credits the Food Babe Army with helping influence some of the largest food corporations to make positive changes, including Chick-fil-A, Kraft, Chipotle, General Mills, Panera Bread, Anheuser-Busch, and Starbucks.
Even when a company is initially non-responsive, she persists. Petitions that aren’t recognized turn into boycotts strong enough to affect company sales.
However, the impact seeps much deeper. Hari noted the power of a single campaign to spread greater public awareness about the link between diet and disease.
“Taking a single product or a single ingredient, and talking about it in a way that wakes people up, that leads to other changes in their diet. That leads to other changes in their lifestyle,” she said.
Hari’s advocacy and education go hand in hand. “I really want people to know what they’re eating so they can make good, informed decisions,” she said. She’s written two books, “The Food Babe Way” and “Feeding You Lies,” and two cookbooks, “Food Babe Kitchen” and “Food Babe Family,” to help empower families to make changes in their own shopping carts and kitchens.
Hari with her husband and two children. (Susan Stripling)
Onto a Bigger Stage
Hari attempted large-scale, governmental-level change early on. She was a Democratic delegate for Barack Obama during both of his presidential campaigns. But when promises to address food chemicals went unfulfilled, she became jaded about the possibility for political change.
However, Hari said the country’s chronic disease crisis has been a big wake up call. Recent public awakening and growing momentum have finally forced the bipartisan issue into the government arena.
She’s been tapped to help elected officials and non-profit organizations from 30 states write bills to ban various chemical ingredients. She’s also uniquely positioned to inspire reform at a higher level.
In September 2024, Hari was invited to participate in a U.S. Senate roundtable discussion on chronic disease. She described it as one of the most important days of her life. Later, Kennedy cited information from Hari’s presentation in his Congressional hearings for his HHS appointment: how McDonald’s French fries differ across the pond. French fries in the UK are made with potatoes, oil, dextrose, and salt; while in the United States, they have more than 10 ingredients, including hydrogenated soybean oil, the antifoaming agent dimethylpolysiloxane, and the preservative TBHQ.
“I’ve never had a politician take my voice like that and bring it to the highest levels of government. I’m extremely hopeful because of that,” Hari said. “It’s the first time we’ve had this level of awareness around chemicals in food at this level of leadership.”
The momentum since has illustrated to her that regulatory change may be possible, ending the game of “whack-a-mole” where change comes slowly, with one ingredient and one company at a time.
“Both sides of the political spectrum are engaged, and it’s just so good for the country, and it’s so beautiful,” Hari said. “I hope when we look back, we see this was the turning point, and we reversed chronic disease.”
At the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Hari, then a Democratic delegate, advocated for more transparency in the food industry. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Raising Her Voice
Back in 2017, Hari launched her own company, Truvani, making protein powders and bars without synthetic ingredients. She admits that one reason she did so was to step back from the risky role of activism and focus on being a mother. However, she quickly realized that being a mom only fueled her passion.
“I want to make it easier for every mom out there to feed her kids and not have to worry about eating these chemicals,” she said. “I personally know how hard it is to avoid processed ingredients. When it comes to artificial food dyes, I’d love to see them removed from our food supply in my lifetime.”
She’s had to swallow self-doubt and defeat imposter syndrome to step foot in Washington and speak up. But she knows what it takes to overcome insecurities to be in the limelight. When she launched Food Babe, she couldn’t bear to use her own photograph, choosing instead to publish clip art for the first two years. “I didn’t feel like a ‘food babe’ for most of my life,” she said.
Yet she’s driven by a sense of responsibility. Her destiny is written in her name.
In Hindi, Vani means “eloquent with words” or “voice.” She continues to express the voice of many, whether from her blog, through megaphones on corporate lawns, or into a microphone on Capitol Hill.
Each time her platform grows, she’s had to ask if she wants to continue to take the risk of advocacy.
“I kept coming back to ‘yes,’ because I was like, ‘How else are we going to change the world, if I don’t use my voice in this way?’” she said. “If you don’t follow your calling, it just keeps calling.”
Hari in the kitchen with her son, Finley. (Susan Stripling)
How to Reclaim Control of Your Health, the Food Babe Way
The Food Babe way isn’t about dieting or deprivation. Former “candy queen” Vani Hari wants others to know that food should be enjoyed. Her blog, cookbooks, and social media offer countless examples for avoiding chemical ingredients and opting for healthier alternatives that are just as satisfying and delicious. She shared 5 steps for getting started.
Start Asking Questions
Anyone can use Hari’s “three-question detox” to cut back on processed foods and chemical ingredients. “I think this is even better than trying to remove a food group,” said Hari.
Every time you prepare to eat a meal, ask yourself:
What are the ingredients?
Are these ingredients nutritious?
Where did these ingredients come from?
“If you don’t know the answers and you try to find out, you’ll learn more about the food system and what you’re eating, and automatically, you’ll start to make better choices,” Hari said. “You don’t have to have a rocket science degree to learn how to eat.”
Buy Organic, Whole Foods
When possible, buy and eat whole foods that are label-free and organic, such as produce, meat, and cheese. Hari says it’s especially important to buy organic dairy because of the risk of exposure to antibiotics and growth hormones.
Use Environmental Working Group’s “Clean 15” and “Dirty Dozen” liststo help decide which produce to prioritize buying organic.
Read the Ingredient Label
“The most important label on any product is the ingredient label,” said Hari. Labels like “low-calorie” or “gluten-free” won’t tell you whether the food is real or really healthy. The ingredient list is where you’ll learn whether something is made from whole foods or filled with man-made chemicals.
Start by focusing on single-ingredient products on store shelves, such as packaged rice, quinoa, oatmeal, and beans. There are also plenty of processed, packaged foods made with real ingredients that make healthy eating more convenient—think of a jarred tomato sauce made with organic tomatoes, garlic, and seasonings.
The processed foods to avoid are those that contain little to no natural ingredients, or are filled with additives—like tomato sauce with added sugar and preservatives. Compare brands to find the best option.
Hari shares a list of common additives to avoid at FoodBabe.com/ingredients-to-avoid. But you don’t need to commit every name to memory to make smart shopping choices.
“If a product is made with real food, you won’t need to question it, because you will immediately recognize the ingredients,” Hari said. “If you don’t know what an ingredient is on a label, or how it can affect your health, look for a safer alternative made with real food. I believe that if every American took this step, the health of our nation would completely turn around.”
Kick Refined Sugar
Avoiding refined sugar has two benefits: You won’t be tempted to overeat desserts, and you’ll fill up on nutritious foods, leaving less room for empty calories. “Eventually, you’ll develop a distaste for refined sugar, and your desire for ultimate nutrition will become instinctive,” Hari said.
She warned that refined sugar can be called a dozen different names on a label. Common ones include sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, sucrose, dextrose, invert sugar, and rice syrup.
In her book “Feeding You Lies,” Hari shared tips for fighting sugar cravings and transitioning to a lifestyle with less sugar:
Eat at regular times every day.
Balance your meals with protein, greens, and healthy fats.
Flavor foods with naturally sweet spices, such as cinnamon.
Drink adequate water, as dehydration can be mistaken for a sugar craving.
Exercise to take your mind off cravings and boost feel-good endorphins.
Enjoy fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut to offset cravings.
Eat fresh fruit to satisfy a sugar craving.
Avoid artificial sugar substitutes; instead, use natural sweeteners such as real maple syrup, raw honey, coconut sugar, date sugar, or dates.
Make It Yourself
Hari credits cooking with saving her life. She’s on a mission to teach others how to choose the best ingredients to make home-cooked meals simply and affordably. Her two cookbooks walk readers through healthier ways to make recipes like tacos, waffles, and luscious lemon bars, plus copycat versions of store-bought and fast food favorites. She shared three recipes with us.
8 Smart Swaps
Hari frequently shares favorite healthy store-bought alternatives to commonly craved processed foods on her Instagram page. Here are a few:
Chips: Instead of potato chips fried in refined, inflammatory corn and soybean oils, choose chips cooked in avocado oil or coconut oil, like Boulder Canyon or Jackson’s. For tortilla chips, try Sprouts brand organic tortilla chips made with olive oil.
Soda: Substitute your fizzy drink filled with high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, and artificial flavors with plain sparkling water flavored with sliced lemon, orange, and cucumber.
Cereal: Instead of cereals packed with refined grains, sugar, and preservatives, choose organic, nutrient-dense brands like Lovebird, or eat plain steel-cut oatmeal, made overnight in a Crock-Pot.
Fruit Snacks: Instead of gummies made with dyes, refined sugar, and artificial flavors, try dried organic fruit or snacks made with just fruit, like the Soley brand.
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Instead of cookies made with refined sugar and flour, choose more natural brands like Simple Mills or Skout Organics.
Brownies: Rather than indulging in store-bought brownies usually made with refined flour and oils and man-made emulsifiers, try the organic chocolate Truvani bar.
Ice Cream: Since most ice cream is made from conventional dairy, substitute it with an organic coconut milk ice cream such as Cosmic Bliss, or Straus made with grass-fed milk and cream.
Candy Bars: Instead of chocolate filled with artificial emulsifiers and flavors, make Hari’s 8-Minute Candy Bar (recipe at FoodBabe.com) with organic Hu Chocolate Gems, or snack on Hu’s chocolate bars.
Snack Smarter
Hari frequently shares her favorite healthier, store-bought alternatives to commonly craved processed foods on her Instagram page. Here are a few:
Truvani is Hari’s own brand of protein powders and bars. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
Raising Healthy Kids on Real Foods
The Food Babe way isn’t just for grownups. As a mom of two young children, Hari shares three strategies that have worked for her:
Keep junk food out of the house. “That’s 90 percent of the battle,” Hari said.
Mix up what you eat. “We don’t eat the same vegetables [or] fruits every day. That’s helped my kids adapt to real food, because they can eat 10 different vegetables, 10 different fruits,” Hari said.
Processed food, engineered to taste the same every time, “actually makes your child more picky,” she added. Real food naturally offers variety—a blueberry may be more sour or have a different texture, for instance—creating interest and curiosity at mealtime, and training kids’ ability to handle new foods.
Try growing some of your own food. Getting children involved in the process makes them more interested and willing to try new foods.
A portrait of O. Henry by W.M. Vanderweyde, 1909. (Public Domain)
O. Henry is remembered by millions as America’s unparalleled maven of the short story. His stories were pithy, comprehensible, and moving, and there were hundreds of them. A brilliant force of nature, he could produce a pearl of a story in a single night and hardly ever corrected his work from the initial handwritten manuscript. If there ever was someone who seemed to possess an innate talent for putting into words the dreams, desires, and motivations of ordinary people, it was him.
But behind the pseudonym, there was a real man who once received reconciliation and a second chance and never looked back. He’s a sterling example of one who corrected and reinvented himself, who, when at a point in life of utmost crisis, took up their mat and walked.
A Man of Many Yarns
Born on a plantation on Sept. 11, 1862 at Greensboro, North Carolina, William Sidney Porter was raised by his grandmother. He left school at age 15 to work in his uncle’s drugstore, obtained a pharmacist’s license by age 18.
William Sidney Porter as a young man in Austin. (Public Domain)
At age 20, he drifted to the rapidly industrializing West and, after settling in Texas, held a series of jobs, including working on a friend’s ranch, bookkeeping in a real estate office, and in a pharmacy. There are an epic number of stories floating around about Porter’s whereabouts and travels at that time and a fair share of them are most likely apocryphal. Indeed, from brazen cattle thief to miner and cowboy, to weary traveler and wandering tintype artist, the tales and legends attached to him are many.
“A lot of yarns,” he was once quoted in the Houston Daily Post as saying, “have been printed about me and none of them is true.”
What is known is that Porter moved to Austin in 1884, population of over 11,000, and worked a variety of odd jobs before finding work as a draftsman with the General Land Office.
Subsequently, he married Athol Estes Roach and found employment as a teller in a bank in Austin, where he was said to be kindly regarded by his customers and co-workers. Around that time, he became a columnist for a Houston newspaper and ran a weekly newspaper in Austin called The Rolling Stone, a comic and humor journal. He whittled away his free nights writing stories.
Life ostensibly seemed to only be getting better after the couple welcomed a son into the world. But then a string of ill-fated events changed the course of his life—and the trajectory of American letters.
Troubled Times
The couple’s infant son died in 1888, and Athol became tubercular. In 1894, a suspicious deficit had been discovered at the First National Bank where he had worked. He removed himself from his position and two years later he was indicted on four counts. Not willing to cope with the humiliation of a trial or its potential repercussions, he fled to New Orleans before eventually departing the United States. Porter ended up in Honduras, in July 1896, where he lived a harsh, difficult existence. (He also began writing “Cabbages and Kings” while in Honduras, notable for the introduction of the term “banana republic.”)
The Porter family: wife Athos, daughter Margaret, and William. (Public Domain)
Informed that his wife was gravely ill, Porter returned to the United States about six months later. She died of tuberculosis shortly after. He was tried and convicted (some say unfairly and without legitimate evidence) for embezzling $854.08. He offered no defense for the misappropriation of funds, remaining silent at his trial, and the fact that he had run away was perhaps a sizeable factor in his conviction. He was sentenced in February of 1898 to five years’ imprisonment in a federal penitentiary in Ohio, entering as a shattered man, pushed to “the limit of endurance,” as he wrote to his mother-in-law. He had lost his son, his wife, his good standing, and his freedom, in addition to now also losing contact with his 8-year-old daughter, Margaret.
Embracing a New Path
But Porter dug deep within and he discovered a way to overcome his feelings of shame and affliction, accepting his sentence as an invitation to change. He made crooked ways straight, transformed himself into a new creation, and would ultimately become world famous for his talent.
The Ohio Penitentiary, circa 1897. (Public Domain)
Porter was a model prisoner: he worked long, overnight hours as the prison drug clerk and was secretary to the prison steward. He drew from his life and prison experiences, and, from a heart-piercing place of fresh insight, he learned from them. He befriended fellow inmates and based some of the characters and plots of his stories on their true-to-life accounts.
It would not be too much of a stretch to say that Porter rejoiced in the inward journey of writing and found some degree of refuge and repentance in it. One can only speculate how redemptive it must have felt to him when, as his new alter ego O. Henry, he sold his first story “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking” to the national magazine McClure’s Magazine, in December of 1899.
Porter was blessed with an early release, serving only three years and three months out of his five-year sentence. He had sold about a dozen stories and earned a few hundred dollars from them, which was enough money for him to eventually travel east to New York City after he was freed on July 24, 1901. There, Porter earnestly committed himself to writing; drawing from a seemingly endless fount of lucid and compelling ideas, he mastered the short story form.
He never returned to Austin, and he never again used his real name. Some have proposed that his pseudonym was an abridged adaptation of the name of the French pharmacist Etienne Ossian Henry. The most commonly accepted explanation and origin story of the pseudonym O. Henry, however, is that Porter borrowed the name from a guard at the Ohio Penitentiary named Orrin Henry, who, depending of which account you decide on, was either Porter’s “favorite jailer” or no longer working at the time that Porter was incarcerated, but whose name was still available in the prison records.
A Sterling Second Act
In 1903, the Sunday supplement of the New York Herald started to publish his weekly stories of city life, and the response was overwhelming. O. Henry developed his own, one-of-its-kind style, a plain, frank approach to weaving a yarn, which, in time, made him one of the most read and circulated authors of his time. His well-crafted, deftly packaged writings are crammed with careful details and unforgettable characters—shopgirls, opportunists, neighbors, cops, landlords, ministers, artists, and waitresses, to name but a few—as well as the vivid juxtaposition of irony, intimacy, humor, and pathos. Precious for their colorful colloquialisms, surprise, laughter, excitement, and, occasionally, tears, O. Henry’s works withstand the test of time as some of the best turn-of-the-century vestiges of tongue and technique.
Supernaturally prolific, he penned, by some estimates, more than 600 short stories, including one of the most endearing Christmas stories ever written, “The Gift of the Magi,” and “The Last Leaf,” a thought-provoking reflection on the inherent symbiosis of death and life, told through metaphors of old ivy leaves and the regenerative pursuit of art.
The front cover of the first edition of the short story anthology “The Four Million” by O. Henry, published on April 10, 1906 by McClure, Phillips and Company, New York, 1906. “The Gift of the Magi” is included in this collection. (Public Domain)
The author known as O. Henry died June 5, 1910, in New York City, the conclusion of a remarkably successful and unique journey. Outside of the smartness and aptitude of words, William Sidney Porter profoundly exemplified the truism that, indeed, there are second acts in American lives, and that America gives second chances, and is especially generous to those who accept them with care.
The benefits of better sleep include improved alertness, decision-making, and physical performance and recovery. (oatawa/Getty Images)
“Sleep is not the end of today; it is the beginning of tomorrow,” said Dr. Cheri D. Mah. “How you invest in your sleep tonight will impact how you feel and perform tomorrow.”
Dr. Mah, a specialist in sleep optimization for elite athletes and sports organizations, has spent more than 15 years teaching this “small but powerful shift in mindset” to her high-performing clients, which have included Olympic gold medalists, the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles, executives, and the military. A physician and adjunct lecturer at the Stanford Health Care Sleep Medicine Center, Dr. Mah got her start studying under Dr. William C. Dement, known as the father of sleep medicine.
She knows well the power of a good night’s rest. Take the success story of one of her clients, former NBA star Andre Iguodala. Recognizing that his career was coming to an end, 28-year-old Iguodala worked with Dr. Mah for several months to improve his unhealthy sleep habits. The next season, his three-point percentage more than doubled, his free throw percentage increased by almost 9 percent, and his fouls and turnovers decreased by 45 and 37 percent. He was named the NBA Finals MVP, and went on to win four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors and play for nearly 10 more years.
The rest of us can also reap the benefits of better sleep, Dr. Mah said, including improved alertness, decision-making, and physical performance and recovery. She shared her own bedtime best practices.
(Courtesy of Dr. Cheri Mah)
American Essence: What are the most common mistakes that are undermining our sleep quality?
Dr. Cheri Mah: Lack of a regular wind-down routine. Prioritizing time to relax can help your brain and body prepare to sleep. Take five to 10 minutes for a relaxing activity, i.e., reading, breathing exercises, or meditation. If you have a racing mind in bed, take an additional five to 10 minutes outside of bed, before your relaxing activity, to journal or write a to-do list.
An inconsistent sleep schedule. Our bodies like regularity.
Spending too much time in bed not sleeping. If you’re doing work, using devices, or doing other stimulating activities while in bed, these associations can negatively impact sleep at night.
A sleep schedule that is not synchronized with your chronotype. It’s best for a lark to sleep earlier and wake earlier, rather than try to operate on an owl sleep schedule.
Undiagnosed sleep disorders. Obstructive sleep apnea is incredibly common—about 26 percent of 30- to 70-year-olds have it—as is insomnia. If you have concerns, reach out to a sleep physician.
AE: What does your own wind-down routine look like?
Dr. Mah: I start by taking a hot shower 90 minutes before bedtime. This timing has been shown to help you fall asleep faster and increase deep sleep, as it allows sufficient time for your core body temperature to decrease, which naturally occurs when you fall asleep. You don’t want to increase your core body temperature right before sleeping.
I have a daily alarm on my phone that reminds me to wrap up my day in the next 30 minutes, so I can stay on track to hit my targeted bedtime. I use dim lights in my living spaces and bedroom to signal that it’s time to prepare to sleep. I often write a to-do list to process my thoughts for the day and prepare for tomorrow. I then do breathing exercises, reading, or light stretching before turning out the lights.
A regular wind-down routine, including a relaxing activity such as reading, can help your brain and body prepare to sleep. (Shakirov Albert/Shutterstock)
AE: How about your morning routine?
Dr. Mah: I aim to wake up at 7:15 a.m. every day. I try to get morning sunlight soon after waking up, starting with breakfast by the windows or going outside, to increase alertness and lock in my body clock. I drink water to rehydrate and enjoy a coffee to start my day.
I’m at my best when I get eight to nine hours of sleep. When I’m not able to, I often take a 20- to 30-minute afternoon power nap to boost alertness, and try to extend my sleep during subsequent nights to pay back accumulated sleep debt.
Sleep quality starts with choices you make during the day. I exercise regularly; finish meals at least two to three hours before sleeping; and take a 30-minute walk with my family after dinner every day.
AE: What are your essential sleep tools?
Dr. Mah: Blackout curtains or an adjustable eye mask, to eliminate light from any sleep environment.
Eight Sleep, a temperature-controlled mattress cover that provides 55- to 110-degree-F temperature control.
Coop Sleep Goods Eden Adjustable Pillow. (Amazon.com)
An adjustable pillow, such as the Eden pillow from Coop Sleep Goods.
Sound+Sleep SE Special Edition High Fidelity Sleep Sound Machine. (Amazon.com)
AE: If you’re struggling to fall asleep or go back to sleep, what are your go-to strategies to help?
Dr. Mah: Try a sleep reset: Get out of bed, go to another room, and do a relaxing activity for 20 minutes in dim light. Avoid devices. Then try to go back to sleep. Don’t lie awake in bed for hours!
AE: If you could tell someone to do just one thing to improve their sleep quality, what would it be?
Dr. Mah: Start with one to two changes tonight. Small, gradual adjustments are best.
Make your bedroom like a cave—dark, quiet, cool (60 to 67 degrees F), comfortable, and consistent.
Aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night. There is individual variation, so you may need eight to nine-plus hours to feel refreshed and alert. If you’re not there yet, the good news is that even 15 more minutes of sleep each night makes a difference.
AE: What recent advancements in sleep science are you most excited about?
Dr. Mah: The brain’s glymphatic system was a fascinating discovery. Waste and byproducts are eliminated during sleep, including byproducts implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. These studies suggest how critical of a role sleep has every day.
Tasha Layton is a Billboard chart-topping singer-songwriter. (Tasha Layton/BEC Recordings)
Tasha Layton has thrived since her days as a contestant on “American Idol” and a backstage vocalist for Katy Perry. After turning down a solo career in pop music, she released several successful Christian singles, including “Into The Sea (It’s Gonna Be OK)” and the smash hit “Look What You’ve Done,” which landed her on Billboard’s list of top 5 female Christian artists of the year in 2020 and 2021. She is currently wrapping up her Trust Again tour across the United States.
In this interview with American Essence, the South Carolina native shares about her life—from being mom to her kids Levi and Lyla, to launching a mental health initiative inspired by her own story. Through it all, faith and family are front and center.
Layton performs in Milwaukee, Wis. Tasha Layton/BEC Recordings
American Essence: What is your morning routine like?
Tasha Layton: My morning routine is being woken from a dead sleep to chaos every morning. My children are 4 and 7, and so I may or may not have washed off my makeup from the night before, and I literally hit the ground running.
There’s no routine right now in my life, which I am sad about, but I know that will come as my kids get a little bit older. I know that I’ll fall back into a routine, but I do try to wash my face every day, but I don’t have a normal cleanser either. I mean, it’s literally just chaos and no rhythm. The only rhythm that I definitely don’t sway from is my time doing daily devotionals.
AE: Any daily wellness practices that keep you grounded?
Ms. Layton: My time in meditation and prayer every day with my Bible and my journal—that is the one that I don’t miss. I really want to take better care of myself physically, but as a mom, I haven’t been able to find that balance yet. And sometimes, for folks looking at my life from the outside in, they might think I have it all together, but I really don’t.
AE: What is something that people might be surprised to find out about you?
Ms. Layton: Before I had children, I was an adrenaline junkie. I skydived, bungee jumped, did extreme scuba diving, rafting, and other things like that. I just loved doing extreme things. And then when I had kids, I didn’t do any of it anymore, because I just wanted to stay safe for them.
Layton with her husband, Keith Everette Smith, and two children, Levi and Lyla. (Tasha Layton/BEC Recordings)
AE: What is your favorite part of the day?
Ms. Layton: I love the time in the evening when I get to snuggle my kids on the couch, or read to them at night before they go to bed. That’s my favorite time of the day. My husband and I weren’t able to have kids, we weren’t supposed to be able to have kids, and so our children are miracles and huge blessings to us.
AE: What has motherhood taught you?
Ms. Layton: I learned something new about God all the time because of my kids, how much God loves us, how much grace He shows us, how much patience He shows us, ways that He knows better than we do about certain things. And, like a good parent, you’re going to give your kids what they need, not always what they want. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you become a mother, because you’re operating under extreme exhaustion and beyond the capacity you thought you had, and somehow you get it all done.
AE: What is your favorite family tradition?
Ms. Layton: One of my favorite times together as a family is when we are home from traveling and we go out for Mexican food and ice cream. We do it regularly, and it’s easy. We don’t have to think about it—we know what we’re going to get to eat. My kids love that time. They get so excited for ice cream at this age, so we really love just time together as a family, since we travel so much.
AE: What inspires you and keeps you going on tough days?
Ms. Layton: It’s a combination of two things. The first is that I feel an innate sense of calling from God to do what I do, and, thus, the grace to do it. And the second is that I hear stories every night when speaking with people after events and concerts of how my music has inspired them or changed their lives. Hearing that encouragement from them is also a big deal for me.
AE: How does your faith show up in everyday life or guide your daily decisions?
Ms. Layton: My faith shows up in every single decision I make every single day—how I respond when my kids are fighting, my tone when my husband brings up something to talk about, or how I greet the Amazon delivery person at my doorstep. It’s how I treat people. Doing what I do for a living, I have a very large team, and it’s how they feel treated—and do they feel loved? Do they sense that I am wanting the best for them?
AE: What is your ultimate goal as an artist, and how do you hope to impact others?
Ms. Layton: My ultimate goal with music is to help people connect with God, and, by helping people connect with God, that helps bring them freedom and joy in life. Those are the things that I’m aiming for every time I write a song, to connect people with Him.
Layton performs during the 10th Annual K-LOVE Fan Awards at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. on May 28, 2023. (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
AE: How does your faith influence the messages you want to convey through your music?
Ms. Layton: When you write Christian music, you are essentially teaching theology to the masses. With theology, being the study of God, you have to be very careful about what you’re writing. I want to get a theologically sound message out to the masses and to help people know and experience the love of God at a level maybe they hadn’t before. And when I’m writing a song, I have that in mind, both making sure that the song is scripturally sound and also just a healthy song. I’m not going to write about the things that other pop artists write about. I’m going to write about heart issues and keep God at the center of it all.
AE: Where do you find inspiration for your music?
Ms. Layton: The biggest inspiration I’ve had so far has been my own experience—the low points of my life, the struggles, the honest questions I’ve had—but as I continue to do what I do on the level that I do it now, it’s also being inspired from the people who come to my events and tell me their stories. Other people’s stories have been very inspiring for me over the last year, and I definitely consider those stories when I’m writing music.
AE: What songs have you gotten the most feedback on?
Ms. Layton: Probably one of my biggest songs to date is a song called “Into the Sea,” and I think people have really gravitated to that song because the chorus says “It’s Gonna Be OK.” And we live in such a season as a culture of anxiety and fear, and hearing the message “It’s gonna be OK” is very important.
As a person of faith, I don’t believe that just because we have faith, our life is going to be easy or free from distress or obstacles, but I do believe that God’s presence will always be with us, and that our faith sees us through those things and walks through those things with us. That song has definitely been a huge anthem for people. And then I have another one called “Look What You’ve Done.” That’s my life’s testimony in a song. That one has become an anthem for a lot of people as well.
AE: Who has had the most significant influence on your life or career?
Ms. Layton: My husband has had the most influence on my career, because he is the one who believes in me and pushes me to do all that God has called me to do, and I can’t fake it in front of him and get out of anything. He’s gonna be that voice to say, “You can do this.”
AE: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received in your career, and how did it impact you?
Ms. Layton: When I was a young girl, my mom told me, “Tasha, be who you’re supposed to be, and you will become exactly who you’re supposed to become,” and she said, “Be who you’re supposed to, and you’ll do exactly what you’re supposed to do.”
I think when we focus on our character and our internal integrity and self, somehow, the externals just handle themselves—jobs and open doors and all of that. It handles itself when you focus on your character and on being more like Christ. And I’ve carried that with me my whole life.
AE: If you could sit down with your younger self at the start of your career, what advice would you give her?
Ms. Layton: I wish that I would have lived with the fear of God and not the fear of man. I was so concerned with what people thought of me that I wasn’t living courageously or vulnerably. It wasn’t until I knew how loved and special I was, and that God feels that way about every single person on this planet. It wasn’t until then that I truly stepped out courageously into what I felt like I was supposed to do in life, because I knew that I didn’t have to be afraid of what people thought.
(Tasha Layton/BEC Recordings)
AE: What projects are you most excited about right now?
Ms. Layton: I have three things I’m very excited about right now. One is a live worship record that is releasing this year. And then, I also have a full-length studio project releasing as well. The third thing that I’m very excited about is, I began a Christian mental health initiative in 2024 called Boundless.
It was really birthed from my own mental health struggle because I have a suicide attempt and depression in my history, and I went through a process with God and my therapist that really got me through and set me free from all of that. It was so special that I wrote a book about it to help people walk through that same process, to experience the kind of freedom that I had experienced. The book turned into a workbook that turned into a leader guide, and then I wrote a kids’ book, and now it’s an online course. My aim is to help people reach a sense of holistic health in their life that’s not just, you know, taking a pill for everything or praying it away. It’s this balance of what we need in every area of our life to be whole and healthy. But it began out of my own process of freedom, from lies I believed when I was a kid about God, about myself, about other people. We’ve put a lot of work into that this year, and I believe that the music in what we’re doing is working hand in hand to help people find that freedom.
Layton’s song “Look What You’ve Done” has become an anthem for many people. (Tasha Layton/BEC Recordings)
AE: What is a dream project or collaboration you haven’t tackled yet, but hope to in the future?
Ms. Layton: I would love to build an intensive counseling center where people can escape and go explore their own history and get healed up from past wounds and trauma.
AE: How does your faith influence the messages you want to convey through your music?
Ms. Layton: When you write Christian music, you are essentially teaching theology to the masses. With theology, being the study of God, you have to be very careful about what you’re writing. I want to get a theologically sound message out to the masses and to help people know and experience the love of God at a level maybe they hadn’t before. And when I’m writing a song, I have that in mind, both making sure that the song is scripturally sound and also just a healthy song. I’m not going to write about the things that other pop artists write about. I’m going to write about heart issues and keep God at the center of it all.
AE: How does your faith show up in everyday life or guide your daily decisions?
Ms. Layton: My faith shows up in every single decision I make every single day—how I respond when my kids are fighting, my tone when my husband brings up something to talk about, or how I greet the Amazon delivery person at my doorstep. It’s how I treat people. Doing what I do for a living, I have a very large team, and it’s how they feel treated—and do they feel loved? Do they sense that I am wanting the best for them? Other people’s stories have been very inspiring for me over the last year, and I definitely consider those stories when I’m writing music. It handles itself when you focus on your character and on being more like Christ. And I’ve carried that with me my whole life.
Hayley Paige is a celebrated bridal designer known for her playful, imaginative approach to wedding gown design. Her creations aren’t just garments—they’re works of art, thoughtfully crafted to evoke joy and enchantment on a bride’s special day. Paige’s designs blend whimsical elements with personal style, celebrating individuality and empowerment.
In this interview with American Essence, she opens up about her creative process, icons, personal style, and the magic of making every bride feel unique.
American Essence: How would you describe your design philosophy and vision?
Hayley Paige: Growing up, I was always drawn to fashion, but something about it felt distant, almost like it was “too cool for school”—intimidating, even. The bridal world, however, pulled me in with its intimate connection to love, romance, and sentimentality. It offered a way to create art that wasn’t just admired, but cherished through the most meaningful moments of life.
For me, design is a dialogue—a conversation that continues long after the sketches and stitches. It’s about weaving stories and emotions into the fabric of someone’s most special day. I don’t take myself too seriously, but I find pure joy in the process of being inspired, creating something from that spark, and then watching it take on a life of its own in such a personal and profound way.
As a sought-after designer, Paige has dressed brides including Kelsea Ballerini and Carrie Underwood. (Ashlee Mintz)
American Essence: How do you express personal style in your designs?
Ms. Paige: I try to maintain a sense of happiness and humor in my artistic process. It helps that design is an ever-changing, ever-evolving, and wonderfully eclectic world—there are so many personalities to engage with. In a way, it feels like anything goes. My personal style doesn’t always align directly with my dress designs. Instead, it’s more about taste and appreciating how things can weave together in unexpected ways. I love surprising people and getting a reaction like, “Whoa, I never thought these two things would go together.”
It’s like the first time a friend of mine told me to drizzle honey and add chili flakes on my avocado toast! When the goal is to create something “thoughtfully crafted,” “deeply meaningful,” or “curiously quirky,” that’s when the process transcends the ordinary and becomes something truly expialidocious.
Paige‘s Alohomora shoes. Fans of Harry Potter will recognize the spell that opens doors to the unexpected. With a bold bow for drama, the kitten heels feature Paige‘s signature toile print. (Courtesy of Hayley Paige)
American Essence: Where do you find your design inspiration?
Ms. Paige: I always spend the most time on this question because sometimes I feel like the expectation in my answer is to be one word, like “flowers” or “music” or “architecture.” For me, inspiration is mindfulness and a manifestation of the things we experience. Every encounter holds potential—whether it’s a fleeting moment, a cherished memory, or an unexpected spark of emotion. I believe in keeping your senses open to the world around you and staying sentimentally invested in your creativity. You can so easily be spellbound in this world if you’re open to it.
Paige at a She Is Cheval pop-up event at Collective615 in Nashville, Tenn. (Kathy Thomas Photography)
American Essence: Who is your favorite style icon or designer and why?
Ms. Paige: Dolly Parton, hands down. Not just because I want to rock rhinestone denim on the daily—but because of how she’s mastered the art of being unapologetically herself. She’s stayed true to her brand and never taken herself too seriously, while still being a powerhouse of kindness, humility, and wisdom. The woman built an empire and a theme park while keeping that warm, down-home charm. She’s a national treasure, and in my book, she’s the gold standard for balancing authenticity with flair!
American Essence: Any must-have personal fashion essentials?
Ms. Paige: A great pair of cowboy boots. The whole identity for SheIsCheval.com was built around a pair of vinyl and rhinestone cowboy boots—because why not? They’re the perfect mix of rugged and glam. You can throw them on with denim for a day out or pair them with a ballgown when you’re feeling extra. I’m all about fashion essentials that have that kind of range—pieces that can go from the rodeo to the red carpet without missing a beat!
Paige in heroffice, wearinga romper of herown design. (Nina Merikallio)
American Essence: What’s a timeless style secret that you swear by?
Ms. Paige: Never underestimate the power of a great upcycle. There’s something fulfilling about breathing new life into an old garment and giving it a fresh “up-spiral.” My go-to is, unsurprisingly, bedazzling denim. That obsession started when I was young, and it’s never left me. The idea that something can live beyond its initial shelf life and be appreciated in a new light is quite magical.
American Essence: How do you recharge creatively?
Ms. Paige: Growing up as a competitive gymnast, there’s something about moving your body—whether it’s a solid gym session, a long walk, or even a spontaneous dance break—that shakes off the creative cobwebs. Plus, it’s when I’m moving that my mind tends to wander, and that’s when the best ideas often sneak up on me.
American Essence: What’s your top beauty secret?
Ms. Paige: Lemon juice in the mornings. Seriously, squeeze a full lemon into a shot glass and take it down first thing. If you can’t handle the zest, try it in sparkling water and sip.
American Essence: What’s your must-have accessory?
Ms. Paige: Music. I suppose that’s not really a physical accessory, but I think it enhances almost any situation or environment.
American Essence: What five items are must-haves in your handbag? Anything unusual or unexpected?
Ms. Paige: Lipstick and eyebrow pencil (the beauty must-haves I need to feel freshened up in a pinch), business card for SheIsCheval.com with a fun discount code, extra doggy bags, mints (because gum gives me nightmares—but that is for another story), and extra hair ties (I like to be that girl with the extra hair tie in the bathroom).
American Essence: What is your morning routine like?
Ms. Paige: Not glamorous in the slightest. Make bed, quick stretch, shoot my lemon juice and take vitamins, unload dishwasher, do laundry, feed dog, set up workstation, drink coffee, answer important emails—and set drafts for everything else. I like a productive, chore-filled morning because it sets me on a path of productivity when I sit down to work. It also eliminates distractions, which are the killer of creativity. I believe in getting through the “to-do’s” first so then you can get into the “ta-da’s.”
Paige at a wedding industry event in Palm Springs, Calif., with Société Privée. (Cam + Larisa, LLC)
American Essence: How do you handle pressure with grace?
Ms. Paige: I try to remind myself that how I act in any situation is a reflection of my integrity and leaves a lasting imprint on another person. While we cannot always get it right, I do believe in putting in extra effort to protect your character. I never want to look back and wish I had been kinder or more composed. I like the Stoic philosophers—recognizing where your control lies and focusing your energy where it truly matters. It’s good to maintain humility on the highs, and hold on to your joy in the depths.
The kitten heels ‘If You’re a Bird.‘ (Courtesy of Hayley Paige)
American Essence: What is your superpower?
Ms. Paige: My mind is not a terrifying place to be. It’s easily distracted by happier thoughts, so that’s something to appreciate.
American Essence: What’s one thing that might surprise people about you?
Ms. Paige: I love working and being alone for most of the day.
American Essence: What is your favorite workout?
Ms. Paige: If I find the time and can get lost in a two-hour walk outside, preferably in a scenic place, I’m set.
American Essence: What’s your favorite way to unwind at night?
Ms. Paigee: A cozy dinner date with my fiancé and dog.
Designer Hayley Paige, with her dog, Winnie. (Garnet Dahlia Photography)
American Essence: If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
Ms. Paigee: Probably “Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder.
American Essence: What are you most excited about right now?
Ms. Paige: Without question—relaunching the Hayley Paige brand and finally marrying my fiancé—we’ve been engaged for five years now.
