Karen van Vuuren is a former broadcast news journalist who has worked in radio and television in Europe and Asia. Since moving to the US in 1993 from the UK, van Vuuren has worked with Hispanic literacy, hospice education and senior care.  She is a documentary maker, who has created radio and video documentaries on how we face life’s transitions.  In 2007, she produced and directed Dying Wish a film about a dying doctor’s decision to stop eating and drinking to ease his death and die with grace.  Her production company is WordWise Productions (www.wordwiseproductions.com). Van Vuuren is the founder and executive director of educational non-profit, Natural Transitions, supporting conscious, holistic approaches to end of life. She is also on the editorial board of Natural Transitions Magazine. LADmatters is a project of Natural Transitions.

Erin Kelly is an actress/producer who in 2003 was a founder of The Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, CA. While there, Kelly co-created and produced the critically acclaimed LA Cafe Plays, Also in 2003, Kelly started working as an actress in commercials and short films. Her first feature film, Loving Annabelle, is a top-selling cult film that explores the complexity and controversy of love and struggle between two women. Since then, Kelly has been producer and actor for a variety of independent films, network TV shows, and web series. In January 2009, Kelly co-founded Rock Rose Entertainment LLC. An integral part of RRE’s vision is to provide an alternative perspective on living and dying through the art of filmmaking. Rock Rose runs a successful monthly theatre project, Hitching Post, has produced two short films, and launched the Indie Colorado Cinema Experience (ICCE), showcasing Colorado films.