Lisa Ross Faust, Podcast Host for The Mona Lisa Monologues

For over 20 years, Joy has worked with C-suite executives and middle management across leading and emerging technology, healthcare and service industry brands where she has inspired, created, and driven innovation and change with products, solutions and experiences for both business and consumer audiences. She approaches every opportunity through a 360-degree view of the stakeholder’s goals, target audience needs, problems being solved and market opportunity to align market potential with innovative strategies which spark action, accelerate growth and transform brands.  

Innately curious, digitally savvy and fueled by the desire to make a positive impact, she excels in pushing boundaries, launching and expanding brands, and bringing organizations together for inspiration, education and celebration. Her infectious ‘joy’ and passion for her work create a collaborative environment where others are inspired to bring their best and new dimensions of a brands’ essence are discovered.

As a marketing executive and business generalist, she has always focused on creating distinct value for emerging and leading companies including her current role as Chief Marketing Officer of Guidehouse. Previously, she has held executive marketing positions at Community Health Systems, SAIC, WebMD, IBM, Microsoft, and the Olympic Games Committee, to highlight a few. Over the past, she has participated on various boards including the United Way, Partnership Against Domestic Violence, Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame, Geisinger Health Springboard Advisory Board, and other community organizations. 

She holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Georgia and an executive MBA from Georgia Tech. She lives in Nashville with her now 17-year-old son and their two puppies. 

Dee Patel is the Managing Director of The Hermitage Hotel, Tennessee’s Only Luxury Five Star Hotel, where she is responsible for running all company facets including Capitol Grille, Oak Bar, Rachel’s Boutique, and Garden at Glen Leven as well as various real estate properties. The Hermitage Hotel, through its award-winning hospitality enterprise, is committed to historic preservation, sustainability, and Nashville’s heritage. The hotel just celebrated 110 years of operation and has garnered numerous awards such as being indoctrinated as a National Historic Landmark (the only hotel in the state of TN to hold this distinction) and 2020 Historic Hotel of the Year by Historic Hotels of America. 

A graduate of Johnson and Wales University, Patel joined The Hermitage Hotel in 2003 and served as room executive for nearly eight years. In 2012, she was promoted to Assistant General Manager, and she named General Manager in 2014 and then Managing Director in 2019, for which she is the first female to serve in both of these leadership roles in the hotel’s 109-year history. 

In addition to her work with the hotel, Patel serves as a Director on the Board of the Tennessee Hospitality & Tourism Association, the 2019 Board of Directors for the Greater Nashville Hospitality Association, President by the Nashville Chapter of the Les Dames d’Escoffier International and now sits on the board of the Nashville Chapter as Vice President. Since 2008, Patel has actively forged and cultivated a 10-year partnership with The Land Trust for Tennessee, a partnership that has raised almost $1 million for the preservation of historic Tennessee lands.  She is a member of the Women’s Suffrage Project that organized Nashville’s centennial celebration in August 2020. She was also named a Woman of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal, and the Outstanding Woman Hotelier of the Year award presented by the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.

Dawn Whaley is the President of Sharecare, the digital health company founded to help each person – no matter where they are in their health journey – build a longer, better life by enabling health transformation at the individual, organizational and community level. In this role since the company’s founding, Whaley participates in the development of overall corporate strategy and scaling operational execution, and is directly responsible for marketing, strategic partnerships and business development.

Previously, Whaley was the Executive Vice President of marketing and strategic relationships for HowStuffWorks, a leading, non-fiction website providing high-quality content, where she helped manage operations and corporate development efforts, including business development and creation and execution of the marketing strategy. After growing HowStuffWorks to one of the largest content destination websites, Whaley assisted in the sale of the company to Discovery Communications in 2007 for $250 million. Whaley was also a founding member of The Convex Group, the media and technology holding company that acquired HowStuffWorks in 2002, until its sale to Discovery.

Prior to her role with The Convex Group, Whaley served as executive vice president for Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations, a leading, high-tech communications firm. 

Dawn currently holds positions on the boards of directors for Forbes Travel Guide and the American Heart Association’s Metro Atlanta Division, for which she served on the executive committee of the 2016 GoRed for Women annual fundraiser – the most successful in the chapter’s history. 

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of fifteen novels, including the (Historical Fiction), BECOMING MRS. LEWIS—The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis (writing as Patti Callahan).  In addition, she is the recipient of The Christy Award—A 2019 Winner "Book of the Year.” ; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2020 and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for 2019.  The author is also the host of the popular seven-part original "Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series" launched,  October 2019. The podcast audiobook collection including bonus material was released  January 2020, and available now. 
 

On March 9, 2021, SURVIVING SAVANNAH—a new historical fiction novel based on the true story of the Steamship Pulaski wreck will be released and available for pre-order now. 
 

THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER (writing as Patti Callahan Henry—Southern Contemporary Fiction) was launched in June 2019, and THE PERFECT LOVE SONG—A Christmas Holiday novella released October 2019.  Patti Callahan is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly Friends and Fiction Facebook Live Show and podcast, featuring the five bestselling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Kristin Harmel, and Mary Alice Monroe with endless stories, special guests, and a way to connect readers and writers.
 

A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.