Michael Phelps is an American swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time. Encouraged by his two older sisters, Phelps began swimming at the age of seven and started his formal training for a competitive career with his coach, Bob Bowman at the age of 10. In 2014, Phelps returned to international competition coming out of a two year retirement after the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a beloved American essayist, short story writer, biographer, memoirist and novelist. An author of six books, she is best known for her memoir and New York Times Best Seller, Eat Pray Love, which was made into a movie of the same name. Since then, Ms. Gilbert has given two popular TED talks, re-married and written a book about it and published a novel, The Signature of All Things. Elizabeth and her husband, Jose live and run an import business in New Jersey. Ms. Gilbert is currently working on two books, one fiction and one non-fiction.

Walt Whitman, often called the "father of free verse", was an American poet, essayist and journalist.  His writingreflects the era he lived in, the transitional period between transcendentalism and realism.  Whitman's major and most known work, Leaves of Grass, was self-published in 1855 but he continued to revise and add to it until his death in 1892.

Romantic Era composer, Frédéric Chopin, known as "the poet of the piano" became famous in Paris, first for his private piano performances at the musical soirees of the aristocracy and social elite. Even though his keyboard style was uniquely individual, highly stylized and often technically demanding, his piano performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. During his short lifetime, despite giving only 30 public performances Chopin was regarded as the greatest piano virtuoso of his time.