Advisory Board

We Bring to You the International Intelligence to Live Empowered!

Bigger Picture

Our founder Sierra healed herself and life by tapping into the wisdom of diverse modalities. This “bigger picture” of healing is reflected in the members of her Leadership Team and Advisory Board.

These experts in their fields are inspired by the core values of the 4 Body Fit™ Method and are working to create changes at the individual, community, organizational, societal, and global levels.

Global Leadership Team

Our Global Leadership Team was built over the span of decades and continents, bringing together leaders at the top of their game, from the 4 Bodies and the 4 directions of the earth. Doctors, shamans, psychotherapists, holistic practitioners, top business leaders, and entrepreneurs will share their wisdom and knowledge.

Each is inspired by the 4 Body Fit™ methodology, incorporating it into their work. The Board serves as an exemplar of a community whose impact is being felt at the top tiers in international business and in the inner depths of individual lives and relationships.

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Dr. Deborah Norris has a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in psychology/psychopharmacology, and is Adjunct Professor and Psychologist-in-Residence in the Department of Psychology at American University.

Dr. Norris has served as thesis committee Chair for the research study, “The Sierra Bender Empowerment Method (‘SBM’) and its Effects on a Female Population.” Dr. Norris is the Founder and Executive Director of The Mindfulness Center and is trained extensively in mind-body therapies, ranging from traditional medical and psychotherapeutic practices to holistic and integrative therapies and lifestyle practices. She is a health scientist with over 30 years of experience in research, clinical application, and education.themindfulnesscenter.org

Diane L. Rosenfeld J.D., LL.M. is a Lecturer on Law and Director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School where she teaches courses on Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice; Title IX; and Theories of Sexual Coercion. Her legal policy work focuses on improving the criminal justice response to gender violence and preventing and addressing sexual violence on college campuses using Title IX. Prior to teaching at Harvard, Ms. Rosenfeld served as the Senior Counsel to the Office on Violence Against Women of the U.S. Department of Justice. She also served as an Executive Assistant Attorney General in Illinois where she provided legal policy advising on women’s rights, environmental enforcement, and the ethics of governmental attorneys. Ms. Rosenfeld received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1996.

Wade Davis is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. Named by the NGS as one of the Explorers for the Millennium, he has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.”

Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. Mostly through the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent over three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among fifteen indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6000 botanical collections. His work later took him to Haiti to investigate folk preparations implicated in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to his writing Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best seller which appeared in ten languages and was later released by Universal as a motion picture. daviswade.com

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Dr. Lois Ellen Frank is a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Native American Chef, Native American foods historian, culinary anthropologist, author, and photographer, and her first career experiences were as a professional cook and organic gardener. Ms. Frank has spent over 25 years documenting the foods and lifeways of Native American communities throughout the Southwest, writing and photographing many articles and papers on the topic. This lengthy immersion in Native American communities culminated in her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, which won the James Beard Award upon its release. Her recent cookbook, The Taco Table, which Frank did with the Western National Parks Association (WNPA), won the Arizona Glyph award upon its release. redmesacuisine.com/chefbios/loisellenfrank.html

Jeff Migdow, M.D. graduated from the University of Illinois Medical School in 1979 and is a charter member of the American Holistic Medical Association and a long-term member of the American Institute for Homeopathy. He has been exploring yoga and health since 1969. His exploration has taken him to India, Nepal, Japan, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Jeff was a member of Kripalu Ashram for 15 years. During this time, he directed Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training and developed and directed advanced teacher training programs. Currently, he is the developer and director of the Prana Yoga Teacher Training program in NYC. He is the co-creator of the DVD “Why Do Yoga, What Will It Do For Me?”, co-author of the 1999 Time-Life book, “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” and “Goddess to the Core®, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2010,” and a major contributor to the Tibetan 5 Rites book, “The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth, Book 2,” Harbor Press, 1998.

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Valerio F. Cohaila also known as Freddy comes from the Aymara people(Peruvian native) and is an Inka priest keeper of Andean-Amazon tradition. He was born in a Khallawaya community, 13,000 feet high in the southern Andes Mountain-Peru, and grew up with Yatiris, medicine men. In 1978 he began to teach the Mother Earth spiritual path. Valerio invites us to meet our ancestral memory on the Andes and the Amazon, to find, follow and live by the Mother Earth spiritual path.

Active in human rights/peace/social justice/environmental organizations since the early eighties. Committed to help educate people worldwide to the historical and contemporary truths effecting Native people everywhere. Working with people from over 50 countries to cultivate relationships with traditional Native people in North and South America. pachamamachurch.org

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Jackie Kinley expertise in psychiatry and research in resilience was the inspiration behind Air™ Institutes. Her research has uncovered a new way of using groups to measurably build an individual’s mental strength and well-being, while empowering them to uncover insights about how to continue strengthening the brain’s emotional functions. With a mantra of ‘you have to be involved to evolve’, Jackie’s work bestows people with the tools they need to positively affect their behaviors, actions, and interactions with others in their personal and professional lives.. air-institutes.com

Lauren Bender, RN is a Consulting Case Manager with Aetna Insurance where she utilizes a collaborative process of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation to engage, educate, and promote/influence members’ decisions related to lifestyle changes to achieve and maintain optimal health status. Also, currently a Nurse Educator for 3M where she teaches other nurses product descriptions and techniques for use with patients.

Lauren was the Director of Clinical Services at a New Jersey Hospice Company where she worked for 5 years, Head Nurse at the Passaic County Correctional Facility in Paterson where she worked for 7 years.

She holds a NJ state Nursing License RN, NY State Nursing license RN, an ASN in Nursing, and is currently attending the University of Rhode Island for her BSN and plans to continue for her MSN. A CCHP Certification-National Commission of Correctional Health Care and is currently working on her CCM-Certified Case Manager. She is a member of the ANA-American Nurses Association State of NJ and the New Jersey State Nurses Association.

Lauren’s combination of clinical education and experience and her degree in Nursing provide a strong academic foundation for the kind of holistic approach to patients that Lauren feels is critical to good patient care – holistic care that considers not only the physical aspects of a patient’s illness but the emotional and spiritual aspects as well. She believes that healing and wholeness are matters of body, mind, and spirit.

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Tessa G. Misiaszek, PhD, MPH is a professor at Hult International Business School. Dr. Misiaszek completed her PhD at Simmons College in Boston and taught in the Simmons School of Management for five years. She also holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science degree in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Misiaszek brings extensive experience developing human capital strategies to improve healthcare, with an emphasis on provider-patient communications. Prior to joining Hult International Business School, Dr. Misiaszek was CEO of Empathetics, Inc. – a company that developed empathic communications training for healthcare professionals, as well as a Principal Consultant with Korn Ferry International Company, where she worked with integrated health systems and health plans to develop diversity and inclusion strategies and broadly implement cultural competency training. Prior to Korn Ferry, Dr. Misiaszek served as COO of Quality Interactions, a company that partnered with industry executives to identify market drivers for cultural competency training and developed and implemented training for thousands of healthcare professionals across the United States. Dr. Misiaszek teaches leadership, marketing, entrepreneurship, and organizational behavior courses.

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Lori Teragawachi, Ed.D. has over 25 years of diverse experience in facilitation, people development, organizational effectiveness, public policy, and leadership roles in a variety of business and educational institutions. Lori, born in Hawaii, received her Bachelor’s from the University of Hawaii.

Lori’s varied work experiences with companies like Citicorp, US West, Sarasota County, Advantec, and Public & Private Educational settings give her a wealth of learning scenarios to draw upon as a facilitator. She most recently left Maui College as the Director of the Office of Continuing Education and Training and has started her own Training & Consulting Firm. She continues to be the Director for the Leadership Program Ka Ipu Kukui Fellows, developing future leaders for Maui County, and contracts with the FranklinCovey organization facilitating leadership programs. She specializes in developing great leaders, great teams, and acquiring great results.

Lori has a Professional Human Resource (PHR) certification and a doctorate in Leadership Development from the University of Sarasota. She is accustomed to a fast-paced changing environment, with proven abilities to support organizational goals and engage people to get results. Her workshops are customized to be relevant and applicable. She has been a certified Facilitator for FranklinCovey programs for the last 16 years and is an Authorized Partner of Everything DiSC programs.

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Walter Whitewater was born in Pinon, Arizona, and is from the Diné (Navajo) Nation. He grew up traditionally and began cooking professionally in 1992 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Cafe Escalera under executive chef David Tannis. Chef Tannis was taught to cook by the legendary Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Walter Whitewater also teaches private Native American cooking classes and has been a guest chef at restaurants and Native American-owned Resorts and Casinos nationally. He is a chef at Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC, a Native American Catering company in Santa Fe, specializing in Native American Cuisine dishes from ancestral foods with a modern twist.

During Chef Whitewater’s professional cooking experiences, he has remained active in many of his traditional ways at his home in Pinon, returning each year for ceremonial obligations. Presently, Whitewater teaches cooking classes at the Santa Fe School of Cooking on Native American Foods of the Southwest with chef Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D. (Kiowa). Their cooking classes feature recipes from the James Beard Award-winning cookbook, “Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations,” Ten Speed Press.

Chef Whitewater has appeared on numerous Food Network cooking shows featuring foods of the Southwest, including Bobby Flay’s Southwest Cuisine and The Secret Life of Southwest. In March 2009, Chef Whitewater was awarded the James Lewis Award by the BCA in New York to honor Cultural Awareness in the kitchen. Chef Whitewater was the first Native American chef ever to receive this award in the culinary and hospitality industry.

One of Chef Whitewater’s most recent projects has been to teach Healthy Native American cooking classes with PCRM in Window Rock, Arizona, to educate on foods that help combat Type II Diabetes. He has taught with Dr. Chef Lois Ellen Frank in the Jemez Pueblo Community, all of the Eight Northern Pueblos of New Mexico, the Quechan Tribe, and at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) as part of the Center for Lifelong Education (CLE) Program and Community outreach. He worked with Chef Frank at the Aii, American Indian Institute with the University of Oklahoma Conference on Native Health and Wellness. Many of the recipes and foods Whitewater teaches about are based on the ancestral Native American diet.

He has traveled with Chef Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D. as part of the U.S. State Department and Consulate General’s Culinary Diplomacy Program to Ukraine (2013), the United Kingdom (2015), and Russia (2016), where the two chefs promote indigenous foods of the Americas through food. He has also traveled to Guam (2012) with the Guam Humanities Council to work with the Chamorro People of Guam in reclaiming their traditional diet and foods.

Chef Whitewater cooked at the James Beard House in New York City in June 2011 in conjunction with the Fort Restaurant in Denver, Colorado, for the release of their new Cookbook, “Shinnin’ Times at the Fort,” by Holly Arnold Kinney, for which he helped prepare all of the food. He was the first Native American Chef to cook at the James Beard House.

Whitewater has just started the reintroduction of the Navajo-Churro Sheep into his family’s sheep flock and continues to promote healthy Native American foods for Native People. He is very active in his Native community and continues to cook and promote Native American Cuisine.

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