People Profiles

My spiritual journey into health and wellness began 20 years ago with the birth of my daughter. She and I both almost died during the delivery. After about two weeks, I was able to bring my daughter home with the help of a nurse. Five days later, my dad died. I began to feel anxious,

Although Tammy Freeman is a language arts teacher at Monarch High School, her teaching style prompts many of her freshman students to ask her why she didn’t become an actress. To keep learning fun, Freeman acts out vocabulary words for her students and invites them to join in. To teach them the word “brigand,” she

After scratching his itch to experience the West, Mitchell Kaplan found himself at a crossroads. “Like a lot of other English majors, you graduate and you panic a little bit, which is what I did,” says the Miami-born Kaplan about what he felt after attending the University of Colorado. “I ended up going to law

A Pinecrest dietitian teaches her clients—including the Miami Marlins—to eat and live well Miami-based dietitian Monica Auslander follows one rule: Eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you’re full. The 28-year-old Pinecrest native is the founder of Essence Nutrition, which provides nutritional services for individuals, groups, businesses and restaurants. “I’m always the 28th dietitian that

I grew up watching World War II movies with my dad—like John Wayne in “Sands of Iwo Jima.” It’s not necessarily the glamour; it was the cause that attracted me. Fighting Hitler in Germany. Defending the country after being sucker-punched at Pearl Harbor. I did 10 years of active duty in the Navy, and then,

Lesley Visser had her armband. It was Jan. 1, 1980, the dawn of a new decade and, so it seemed, a new era. After being denied postgame access to locker rooms for player interviews early in her career as a sports writer for The Boston Globe, the armband meant that Visser—already the first woman to

Simon Kornberg remembers his first encounter with a small, light- and dark-colored Jack Russell terrier like it was yesterday. The 10-year-old dog was paralyzed from the neck down. After an extensive evaluation, the veterinary neurologist discovered the problem. Testing revealed a large benign tumor that was compressing the terrier’s spinal cord. Kornberg’s suggested treatment to

Though Robert C. Mattes majored in outdoor recreation and psychology at Plymouth State University, it took becoming the recreation director for the city of Hopkinton, New Hampshire, to see that working in parks and recreation could be, to use his word, “wonderful.” “It really wasn’t until I started that career that I realized this isn’t

Jarvis Landry’s inaugural event to benefit cystic fibrosis research—Jarvis’ Jam—holds deeper meaning for the Dolphins’ star receiver According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, more than 30,000 U.S. residents are living with the progressive, genetic disease that limits the ability to breathe because of a consistent buildup of mucus in the lungs. A half-century ago, the

On the telephone from her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, Leigh Anne Tuohy says she’s more than ready to come to sunny Fort Lauderdale after a rough winter. She just helped move her youngest son, S.J., to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he’s taken a job as an assistant to football coach Chad Morris at the University of

About 3½ years ago, Lillian Vilchez took a leap of faith and moved to Miami to be closer to her family and start a career as a real estate agent. Shortly afterward, Vilchez took an even bigger leap by taking the ultimate chance on love and getting married—to a complete stranger. It started when her

Though David Hochfeld worked a variety of jobs over the years, including 10 years in the restaurant industry, a part of him was always stifled. “I was always an actor at heart,” Hochfeld says. “I was in every play in school.” Hochfeld didn’t find an outlet for his talent until he attended the Renaissance Festival