Arthur Hitchcock is an art director and photographer working frequently in both the commercial and fine art world. He has provided photographic and art direction services for clients clients of all sizes in the US, Japan, Europe, and everywhere in between. His recent clients include Mediasurf Communications, Airbnb, The Good Mod, Core 77, and Dwell Magazine.His work often focuses on contemporary design/creative process, beautiful spaces, and compelling individuals. He was born in the Midwest, raised in Long Beach, CA, and is now pursuing a fully nomadic lifestyle with a home base in Portland, OR

Born and raised in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Bonnie graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BA in Advertising and a Certificate in Technology, Arts and Media. She went on to complete an esteemed summer design intensive at Parsons The New School for design in 2D animation. With over five years of professional experience, she specializes in brand identity and art direction for both print and digital applications. After years of managing and operating her own design agency, Faun Design Studio, out of WeWork Custom House in Portland’s Pearl District. She is currently transitioning to a design consultant position for the change management company, 71 & Change. She is working primarily with their client Nike alongside participating in design and community events around Portland.

Born in in Hollywood, California, Bob Smith’s family moved to Oregon in the 1970s. Bob spent 11 years working at Nike where he founded the influential vintage-inspired Nike Sportswear Apparel Collection in 2004. He went on to work with with Pendleton Woolen Mills, designed the launch collection for Dehen 1920, among other foundational Pacific Northwest brands. Bob currently designs the Men’s Tennis collection for New Balance, and has founded OreCal Sportswear, a premium vintage West Coast inspired apparel collection which finds it’s inspiration in the West Coast states where Bob grew up.

The Helio Sequence is Portland band/production duo Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel. On the band side of things they’ve been recording and performing professionally for over 15 years, releasing six full-length albums working with legendary label Sub Pop and touring internationally both headlining and in support of some amazing bands (Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Keane, The Joy Formidable, Death Cab For Cutie, and more). On the studio side of things, they own and operate a full-service recording and production boutique Helio Sound, providing a wide range of skills including custom composition, licensing, sound design, mixing, and mastering. Their music has been used in ad campaigns by Apple, Nike, Coach, Levi’s, Dr. Martens, Target, Microsoft and more, as well as numerous films and TV shows.

Brandon and Benjamin maintain a strong connection with Portland’s vibrant music scene and are interested in fostering musical and cultural connections with Uplift.

They understand that the universal language of music knows no boundaries and are always excited about finding ways that music can communicate and enhance any experience.

Driven by creative curiosity, Britt Howard has been an artist, designer, and entrepreneur since age 12. In 2008, recognizing a need within the Portland design community for a clothing manufacturer, Britt opened Portland Garment Factory (PGF), a design + build garment and soft goods manufacturing house in SE Portland. From 2011–2017 she designed PGF’s in-house womenswear line, HOWARD. As an artist, mother, activist, public speaker, and business owner, Britt works passionately on projects and initiatives to improve the community and planet.

Portland Garment Factory is a full-scale prototyping and creative partner, working on diverse projects, from large-scale, one-of-a-kind installations, to soft goods line production for companies big and small. PGF is committed to redefining what it means to be a factory through environmental sustainability initiatives, ethical labor practices, and positive community impact. As a zero waste facility, PGF is proud to be Silver Certified by the City of Portland's Sustainability at Work Program.

Caesy Oney is a multidisciplinary artist and designer currently residing in Portland, Oregon. In 2011, he founded Draught Dry Goods, a creative studio focused on art objects and bag and accessory design. Caesy's work has been published on several online and print publications including: GQ Magazine, Wired Magazine, W Magazine, and Taken by Surprise, Cutting Edge Collaborations Between Designers, Artists, and Brands a book published in 2012 by Gestalten, and several others. In 2014, he was named by Complex Magazine as one of ``30 Designers Under 30 to Watch.`` Caesy is also the co-owner and creative director of Odd Fellow Company, a unique partnership with a Portland-based, third generation garment factory which produces cut-and-sew jackets and accessories in Portland, Oregon. In 2012, Caesy established 7K, a 2700 sq ft mixed use creative space located in SE industrial Portland, which functions as the workshop and studio of Draught Dry Goods and the studio and meeting space of several Portland artists and designers. Caesy also shoots commercial and editorial photo work for various clients.

Chris Butler spent the majority of his early career looking into peoples cupboards trying to figure out why they behave the way they do. These days he is an expert in translating insight into actionable strategy connecting people with products and brands. Chris is a founding partner of Evolve Collaborative.

Evolve Collaborative is a design, strategy and innovation agency who partners with brands to deliver relevant products, services and experiences that make a difference. Evolve was founded in 2014 upon the idea that the best design always arises from collaboration and working with the partners directly.

Christina Okubo is a brand Innovation and creative consultant with over 12 years of experience working with fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. She has created brand experiences for companies such as Levi's, Target and American Apparel, as well as niche luxury brands such as Hourglass Cosmetics. She has lead strategy and creative development for global campaigns, rolled out an international re-branding effort and opened over 25 retail stores across Northern America.

She currently operates O/Department, a boutique brand consultancy based in Los Angeles, California and is also the founder of INIMINI, a unisex baby apparel brand.

Conrad Crespin is an multidisciplinary creative living in Portland, Oregon. He is a graduate of the Graphic Design program at Portland State University. He has exhibited at galleries across the United States including White Walls(San Francisco), Flatcolor Gallery(Seattle), and One Grand Gallery(Portland). His work has been featured by Communication Arts, Sight Unseen, Trendhal, and elsewhere. Conrad also works as a curator at Compound Gallery(Portland) and adjunct instructor in the Graphic Design program at Portland State University. He is interested in the intersection of art & design, semiotics, collaborative efforts, and the intangible aspects of creative endeavors.

Eugene Serebrennikov is the founder and Creative Director of Burn & Broad, a multi-disciplinary design studio located in Portland, OR. The studio's focus spans across a wide range of disciplines including advertising, animation, art direction, branding, environment design, identity, illustration, print, packaging, photography and strategy.

Burn & Broad's clients include Nike, Budweiser, Pepsi, Warner Music Group, Labrewatory, and more. The B&B team believes in the true power of design, and anchor everything in the belief that imagination and creativity have the power to move and inspire us.

Born in Middle Tennessee, Ezra has traveled all over the US and found his home in Portland, OR in 2002. He has been a creative soul and maker of things his whole life, but has specialized in Carpentry, Audio, and Film. Ezra started a company called Case of Bass in 2012, custom building unique artistic sound-systems/boomboxes for the masses and fell in love with the creative process of making something from your imagination and sharing it with the world. The evolution of the business has allowed him to work with many fabrication materials, processes, finishes, with imagination being the bounds. He has a strong dimensional vision and takes design from the most vague descriptors to actualized concepts with excitement and zeal.

The process of creating something from nothing excites him every day. The development of the Case of Bass brand has been equally thrilling and challenging, making it spread to almost every continent with customer loyalty and pride. Growing to a national, scalable brand is on the horizon, but he will always find his strengths in making the special, one-of-a kind creation that tells a story while making you smile.

Fritz Mesenbrink and Jeremy Pelley are co-founders and Creative Directors of OMFGCO, a full-service creative agency located in Portland, Oregon in 2009. Their client roster includes Ace Hotel, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Woodblock Chocolate, Olympia Provisions and more.

The team at OMFGCO understands that a brand is much more than a logo. They love digging deep, finding meaningful insights and figuring out the best and most beautiful possible way to express them. Regardless of the type of client or problem to be solved, they apply the same principles, strategy and heart to all they do. They have worked in hospitality, retail design, packaging, and product design, and are ready to tackle whatever branding problem you need solved.

Jason Bacon is the founding Principal and Creative Director of Big-Giant, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Portland, Oregon that focuses on telling brand stories. He has spent the last 20+ years creating immersive experiences for brands with the goal of crafting and delivering their client’s inspiring messages through artful expressions to build deep emotional connections with their audiences.

As a self-professed Maximalist, he strives to guide his teams through a process that embraces possibility, then reduces through strategy to guide highly focused design thinking. His studio’s design ethos of “Technical Craft” then looks to blur the lines between a love of precision and a passion for creating a human connection through art. The results are highly ownable moments that amplify the brand’s story to build authentic long-term relationships.

Nike, Dell, Starbucks and Lego are just a few of the brands that he and his studio have been honored to collaborate with to tell their amazing stories. Because Big-Giant’s philosophy is founded in the art of storytelling, their work is naturally wide ranging and includes brand strategy, branding, film, motion graphics, Events, branded environments, retail environments, print and packaging.

``I aspire to create environments that evoke strong emotions and rich emotional connections``.

Midori, a native of Tokyo Japan, brings a unique combination of modern aesthetic and Japanese cultural sensibilities to her design. Having lived in the US and Europe along with extensive travel to Latin America, her creative vision and inspiration are influenced by those global experiences, enabling her to bring design ideas and solutions that are distinct and extraordinary. Her Tokyo upbringing also brings a cosmopolitan, modern pop sensibility with a minimalistic approach to design founded on the motto “less is more``.

Maki was born in Kyoto, Japan and was raised, and still lives in, Portland, Or. Seeing things from an unexpected angle has always been second nature - she speaks two languages, and finds that a change in surroundings inspires her most, always returning with a fresh perspective.

Maki has always found a sense of zen in perfecting the details. She has put the finishing touches on wardrobe in tv, movie, and commercial production, and has added delicate details to sets, food, and props during her four years at Swift Agency. The fulfillment of the big picture depends on the small stuff and she has a passion for bringing a vision to life by making sure every element is right.

Bryan Wasetis is a Portland, Oregon based attorney that works specifically with the creative community. He is a co-founder of Aspect Law Group and specializes in business and intellectual property law, including contract drafting and negotiations, copyright and trademark registration and protection, and business formation and restructuring.

Bryan is also an avid supporter of community-based activities and Portland’s art and culture scene. He is on the board of directors of the non-profits Design Week Portland and the Portland Indie Game Squad, and volunteers his time helping small businesses and artists through the Oregon Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and Lewis & Clark Law School’s Small Business Legal Clinic.

Butch is an entrepreneur and business executive with 15 years of experience within the branded consumer products and technology industries. Butch has founded, built and successfully exited two companies. He has played key roles in strategic marketing and innovation programs for leading global brands including; Red Bull, P&G, Nike, adidas, Columbia Sportswear, BMW, Bloch Worldwide, Fox Studios, as well as, many start up organizations.

Currently, Butch operates a boutique advisory firm called Frances focused on the global active lifestyle market. The firm offers business development services associated with strategic growth and business development initiatives including; licensing, joint ventures, mergers and acquisition. Partners include; Retail Prodigy Group (Nike’s retail partner in Australia / New Zealand), Lempriere Capital Partners, The Merino Company, Little Island Creamery, New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industry, Proud Mary Coffee, House of Antique Hardware and a number of consumer focused middle market private equity funds.

As Partner at Portland's Meriwether Group, Butch played an integral role with the sale of KLIM to Polaris, Bike Gallery to a large national Trek retailer, a partial sale of Dave's Killer Bread to Goode Partners and the sale of yogitoes to Manduka.

He is a minority shareholder in a number of businesses including, venture backed batterii, Curious Beast and Sadie Golf.

Actively working in Portland’s hottest urban neighborhoods, Kathleen Healy and Ashley Heichelbech have over 20 years of combined experience in retail and commercial brokerage. In 2013, they partnered at Commercial Realty Advisors NW (CRA). They have leased and sold over 1,000,000 square feet of ground floor retail in Portland’s close-in, urban neighborhoods.

Their brokerage experience and expertise continues to transform the retail landscape of Portland’s close-in neighborhoods. From multi-block mixed-use projects, such as the Brewery Blocks, to single tenant adaptive re-use properties, and everything in between. They represent numerous active landlords, developers, restaurateurs, and retailers, including top local, national, and international retailers.

Tenants they represent include, Nike, Arc’teryx, J.Crew, Madewell, G-Star Raw, Frye Boots, Roche Bobois, Aesop, Le Labo, Whole Foods, Café Company, Rachel's Ginger Beer, Jasmine Pearl, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Salt & Straw, and many others.

Ken Tomita is a former furniture designer/maker who co-founded Grovemade with friend Joe Mansfield in 2009. Grovemade specializes in the design and manufacturing of high-end wood accessories for the consumer market. Since its conception, Grovemade has grown to a team of 20 fun loving hard workers who believe that happiness will lead to great work. He now serves in a dual role as CEO and Creative Director.

As Presidents of U-new.com and Synergy Entertainment Inc., Kenjiro Iwano started his own international freight forwarding business after spending 13 years at Aisin Seahorses: one of the elite pro basketball teams in Japan. U-new.com has been exporting variety of goods to Japan.

With expertise and strong connections with basketball world, Iwano also manages basketball players as a certified International Basketball Federation (FIBA) agent. Running as an agent for APAA Sports Group who has numerous clients including NBA players, he currently represents 11 Japanese players, of which 2 players play for Japan national team, and 10 US players in order to help their contractual negotiations with teams.

Parker and James Fitzgerald are co-founders of Ransom Limited, a photo production and creative agency headquartered in Portland, OR. With almost a decade of experience in commercial and editorial photography, Ransom works to build campaigns and sophisticated content for global companies and organizations including partners such as Nike, UNIQLO, Honda, Nikon, Margaret Howell, Levi’s, and more.

Kurt Huffman is a Portland boy, born and raised. It’s not that he’s being coy when he describes his restaurant group ChefStable as “a small company.” It’s that he gets what Portland is all about: chef-driven, independent concepts. He applies his experience to assure that every time ChefStable works with a new partner that the chef's vision remains sacred. The goal is that the final shape and identity of the restaurant proves to be a true reflection of this vision. And it has paid off. From James Beard-nominated Aaron Barnett's St. Jack to Greg and Gabi Denton's Ox and Rick Gencarelli’s casual sandwich shop Lardo, things have gone well.

The seed of the business began at Huffman’s first cooking class, when he was 10 years old. Four years later, he was working as a dishwasher and grill cook at Fat City Café in Multnomah Village. He would go on to study at UC Berkeley, but at 25 he found himself in Scotland, balancing rugby and a good amount of beer drinking with a master's degree in law from the University of Glasgow. He had beer in mind when a French friend asked him to collaborate on a business in Lyon, France. They settled on a brewery, “because it’s such an obvious thing to do at 25.” It turned into a gastropub called Ninkasi. By the time Huffman left France, there were five locations.

He returned to his hometown of Portland and founded ChefStable in 2008, with the mission to open culinary concepts geared toward the vision of individual chefs. From there the business has grown mostly by word of mouth and continues to get bigger everyday.

Bringing people and ideas together has always been at the heart of what drives Michelle Battista. She built her reputation in the design and marketing world with international brands, including Walt Disney World and Adidas, then struck out on her own to start a creative consultancy in 2001.

In 2014, she opened the gathering space, Elder Hall, with the intent of connecting people around a table while breaking bread, sharing stories, and cooking up new ideas. Then in 2015, she launched Stockpot Collective, a community of creative thinkers and professional storytellers. In October 2017 she launches The Nightwood Society which is a women-owned and operated event space and creative studio. The goal is to present the intersection of food and design, to activate every sense, and immerse people in each experience.

Each of these endeavors circles back to her desire to bring together the right mix of people and ideas for inspired collaborations. While food may seem like an unusual move for someone who went to fashion school and built marketing strategies for big brands, she feels right at home in this space.

Nat West is a craft cider revolutionary who started Reverend Nat's Hard Cider in his basement in 2011 and continues to dedicate his time there as Founder, Owner, Cidermaker and President. Known for his unusual American ciders and love of experimentation, Nat has created some of the most unusual ciders than no one else will make including unique products like the multiple-fermented Revival, dry-hopped Hallelujah Hopricot, quinine-bittered Deliverance Ginger Tonic and many barrel-aged and one-off ciders. In the past four years, Nat has grown the business from 1 employee operating out of his basement to 18 employees with distribution up and down the West Coast and all the way to Japan.

Spirit Alive! is the culmination of Brenda Russell's 32 years of dance experience combined with her desire to create an aerobic moving meditation that decreases stress, increases energy, and puts the participant in a state of mindfulness. This movement modality combines West African Dance, American jazz and blues dance, Qi Gong, and American aerobics.

Spirit Alive! is a 60 to 90 minute moving meditation set to a specific playlist of recorded music or to a live accompaniment of African based drumming, improvised rhythm instruments and guitar. Part of the Spirit Alive! philosophy is that the ancestry of the musician's training and the spirituality of the instrument itself are present for the dancer to interact with as well as to facilitate a meditative state. Spirit Alive! is meant to inspire a flexible spine, articulated pelvis, and the development of poly-rhythmic movements. It is movement super-food.

At the heart of Spirit Alive! is Brenda's belief that if a person moves the same way too repetitively, then the body doesn't get the movement nutrients it needs. Thus, through presenting unfamiliar movements, and brain/body teasers, Spirit Alive! offers participants an opportunity to stimulate their brain and nervous system and expand their neuropathways.

Jill is a yoga teacher, a mentor and coach, a community builder, a self-proclaimed writer, an entrepreneur and a champion for all things Radical Acceptance. She is known for her nurturing but challenging yoga classes, her transformational programs and retreats that lead to greater confidence, courage, clarity, compassion, authenticity and self-acceptance.

After teaching and presenting for a decade, Jill founded Elevate Yoga Trainings. These programs support existing and aspiring teachers to be the very best, most impactful and most real versions of themselves.

Mikaela Jones is a sound healer and published author. She has been leading sound healing events in Portland, OR since 2009. She is co-creator of the Portland Sound Sanctuary, a music meditation group, which loves sharing the deeply restorative and rejuvenating power of sound frequency, toning, and sacred cacao elixir via public and private sound bath meditation events. She has over twenty years training/teaching in spiritual & healing traditions from intensive sound healing and vocal toning training with Jonathan Goldman and Steven Halpern, to meditation, hypnotherapy, & Reiki. She is the author of the inspirational “Little Book of Light: 111 Ways to Bring Light Into Your Life”, which has sold over 20k copies. Her upcoming ``Book of Light: 365 Ways to Bring Light Into Your Life`` will be released in Spring 2018 by Conari Press. Her intention is to uplift people so that they may live their True Self, and shine their light with the world.

E-Mail: katsu@uplift.flywheelsites.com

Web: Kiriko Made, Compound Gallery

Languages: Japanese and English

Born in Japan, Katsu Tanaka started his career as a Vintage Apparel and Sneaker Dealer while he was in college. He expanded his operation to export mid-century furniture, vintage American toys, and housewares. After his graduation, he founded a retail/gallery space, Compound, in 2004 in Portland’s Old Town district. In 2012, he created Kiriko, an original lifestyle brand specializing in vintage Japanese fabrics. Kiriko has been distributed over 50 different retail businesses worldwide and has collaborated with nationally-renowned brands such as J.Crew, Free People, and Filson. Through his 23 years of experience in Portland, and his connections in the creative field, Tanaka founded Uplift PDX to create a portal that provides complete support for Japanese companies tapping into the US market.

Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Midori came to Portland to earn her undergraduate degree from the University of Portland. Upon graduation, she started her 25+ year product marketing career at Nike Japan and Nike WHQ. Today, she runs an interior design company and remains deeply rooted in the local business and creative communities. Midori brings Japan’s extraordinary cultural sensibilities and an entrepreneurial spirit to Uplift. Together with Katsu she is committed to bringing meaningful connection and business partnerships between Japanese business leaders and Portland creators.

Email: Midori@uplift.flywheelsites.com

Web: styleguideid.com

Languages: Japanese and English

Jason is a freelance illustrator based in Portland, Oregon working on everything from editorial illustrations to apparel graphics, as well as branding & packaging. When he’s not drawing you can find him either teaching illustration and graphic design at Portland State University or at an estate sale hunting for illustrated ephemera with his wife and son. Before drawing became his full time profession he worked as a graphic designer for Nike SB and Nike 6.0 in both apparel and brand design. Jason also spent several years at both Wieden+Kennedy and Dark Horse Comics. Some of his clients include Jamie Oliver Magazine, Poler, The Portland Mercury, The Quiet Life and Widmer Brothers Brewing.