Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Besides acting, Nicole Ari Parker co-founded Sophie’s Voice Foundation (www.sophiesvoicefoundation.org), to raise awareness for global health and wellness initiatives in multicultural communities. The fashionista also created Save Your Do, a stylish headband for women who work out.
James Wilder may best be known for his acting skills (“Melrose Place,” “Murder One,” “Equal Justice”), but he’s also an architect and designer whose work was featured on HGTV. Wilder designs leather jackets. And he can still juggle things on fire, like he used to when he was a teenage street performer. Wilder, 46, costars in the upcoming indie thriller “3 Holes and a Smoking Gun.”
“It’s hard not to be changed by traveling to India,” says “Anger Management” actress Noureen DeWulf. “My trips there have really impacted me as a person. I have gratitude in very a deep way for my life and my career. When you see the kind of poverty that exists there, and people struggling on such a primal level, it stays with you forever.”
Best known for her roles on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “What I Like About You,” Jennie Garth is showing fans another side of herself in “The Jennie Garth Project,” a new reality series in which the 42-year-old actress works with a contractor to remodel an outdated California house. Based out of Los Angeles, where she resides with her three children, Garth released her memoir, “Deep Thoughts from a Hollywood Blonde” earlier this year.
For ESPN sportscaster Chris Fowler and his wife, Jennifer Dempster, travel is a way of life. “We never get sick of it,” says Fowler, 51. “Travel really is our vice, moreso than any possessions. We will spend money to enjoy a nice trip and see a place we haven’t visited before.” Fowler, whose duties include hosting “College GameDay” and ESPN’s tennis coverage, also is Brent Musburger’s play-by-play replacement for ABC’s “Saturday Night Football.”
Three years ago, musician Brian Culbertson and his wife started the Napa Valley Jazz Getaway. “It’s what I call a lifestyle event where you come in for several days and listen to great jazz concerts, enjoy meals and hang out late at night,” says Culbertson, who splits his time between the West Coast and Chicago.
Back in the day, Joseph Simmons was best known to music fans as DJ Run, one of the founding members of Run-D.M.C. Now 49 and a practicing minister, Simmons is familiar to a new generation of fans as Rev Run, the television personality. He and his wife, Justine, star in their current HGTV reality series “Rev Run’s Renovation.”
After making a name for himself on WE tv’s “My Fair Wedding,” celebrity wedding planner David Tutera’s back with another reality series on the cable network: “David Tutera: Unveiled.” An avid traveler, Tutera says, “My travels have always been an inspiration for my business. It opens my mind up to designs, culture and food. Travel allows me to see how other people live. I find all of the vast diversity in even our own country fascinating. The things I’ve seen and the people I’ve met have truly expanded my design capabilities and permeate every aspect of my career.”
Justin Roberts doesn’t think it’s all that unusual that he went from being a Montessori preschool teacher to a Grammy-nominated musician. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter wrote intelligent, catchy songs to sing to his young students. Roberts has consistently made Amazon.com’s Top 10 Children’s CDs of the Year list, and performed his music on the “Today” show and Nick Jr. His single “Get Me Some Glasses” also was featured on a World Series broadcast. He’s currently touring with his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, to promote his latest album, “Recess.”
Los Angeles-based actress Tracey Heggins knows how fortunate she is. Besides appearing in Common’s indie film “LUV,” the statuesque actress also plays Senna — one of the Amazonian vampires — in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2.” “It was so much fun shooting ‘Twilight’ in Squamish (which is halfway between Whistler and Vancouver, B.C.),” says Heggins. “It was a really amazing experience. Then we shot in Baton Rouge going up to New Orleans. There’s no city like New Orleans. We went into all these little voodoo stores, which were interesting. I love the French Quarter. They did a great job of making the French Quarter look like France. I remember when I was in France; I kept thinking how much it reminded me of New Orleans!”