India 2009: Participants

SalaamGarage India, September 2009….

Amanda Koster, Aisha Boyd, Rob Williams, Ponzi Pirillo, Todd Gehman, Jesse Powell, Maggie Soladay, Lisa Field-Elliot, Simon Cordova, Eduardo Sciammarella

Simon Cordova- Los Angeles, California
Photographer, Graduate of Brooks Institute for Photography

Simon carries a passion for documenting moments of truth. Traveling the world, he never holsters his camera. Lensing human faces into
landscapes and capturing the emotion of nature is what drives him through everyday.

SimonCordova.com
Simon’s Linkedin Profile

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Todd Gehman- Seattle, Washington
Web developer, writer of code and words, photographer, musician.
Todd reflects: “I took a street photography workshop in Peru last year. It was an incredibly fulfilling experience, except that we remained distant from our subjects. It was his first trip to the developing world but the lifestyle of everyone on the trip was decidedly first-world. We had comfortable lodging, ate like kings, etc. I literally shot from the hip most of the time because I was too self-conscious to shove a camera in the faces of strangers. I’d like to be more integrated with the community and positively affect the lives of my subjects.”

Twitter: @pugetive
ToddGehman.com
Pugitive.com
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Jesse Powell- Sacramento, California
co-founder and CEO of Lewt, Inc and of Internet Ventures & Holdings
also owner/founder of Verge Gallery & Studio Project

Jesse’s primary interests are: philosophy, law, education and psychology. He says “Ultimately, I’d like to do something big to help improve education around the world (including public education in the US). My feeling is that poor education really is at the root of a number of the world’s other major problems. If we can get education sorted out, these other problems will solve themselves.
My experience is that governments are generally slow to act. Ideally, I’d be able to create or contribute to a sustainable independent organization that can take the necessary risks to set the examples that governments need in order to adopt the programs on a larger scale. While I think it’d be great to be a teacher, I ought to utilize the skills I’ve learned as an entrepreneur and in the business world to create more opportunities for other people to have rewarding experiences as teachers.”

Jesse’s Linkedin profile
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Eduardo Sciamarella- Los Angeles, California
CEO, inventor, designer, photographer
Eduardo is CEO & founder of Protohaus- a design company focused on prototyping innovative consumer electronic experiences for clients big and small. I was trained at the Institute of Design in Chicago as a product designer. Over the last 15 years I have expanded my skill sets to include user interface design, and entrepreneurship. He is actively finding opportunities to share his experience as an entrepreneur with others, especially young adults

Protohaus.com
Protohaus Blog, Protoposting
Twitter: @eduedu
Eduardo’s Linkedin profile

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Rob Williams- New York, NY
Editor and copywriter, Freelance writer

Rob: “When I tell people I’m taking this trip, most people smile vaguely and say something like, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ But one friend of mine asked me straight out why the hell I would want to go to India, citing the poverty and total foreignness of the place. I didn’t really have a great answer for him, but I also don’t have a great understanding of why people think ‘it’s great.’ I’m hoping the trip itself will provide me with answers to both of these questions.”
Rob on Facebook- It Must Be Bobby….
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Ponzi Pirillo- Seattle, Washington
Media Producer and Tech innovator

Ponzi’s given name is Latthanapon Indharasophang. Her expertise is in mortgage banking, but her heart is in the arts.
Her secret desire is to take a year or two and travel around the world; She prizes nothing more than experiencing different cultures and meeting new people.
Twitter Ponzi: @ponzarelli

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Lisa Field-Elliot - Santa Barbara, CA

Lisa is proud that, “besides raising two brave and empowered children,” she is stepping out as a freshly minted blogger, amateur writer, and photographer. The current focus of her work is on telling stories, through words and pictures, of individuals walking through metaphorical doorways toward greater freedom in their lives. She says, “I believe this trip chose me, rather than the inverse. I am beyond excited for the beautiful images and stories that will be gathered, the connections that will be made, and the doorways that will be opened.”

Blog: doorwaystraveler.com
Twitter: @doorwaystravelr
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And the trip leaders for India 2009
Amanda Koster and Maggie Soladay