Aurélie Gilles has defied many odds in her short lifetime. She is one of the 12 percent of Haitian youth who have completed high school, one of the 1.3 percent of Haitians who have completed a college degree, and she graduated from the Université de Pantheon-Sorbonne with honors whilst battling cancer. After completing a double master's degree and internship with the United Nations Development Programme, Aurélie now works with the Inter-American Development Bank to restructure Haiti and improve children's education...

When Greek expat Elena Karoumpi left her career in the hospitality industry in London and relocated to Bangkok, Thailand in 1997, she loved the city's wide array of international cuisine, but wished the city offered her favorite food – Greek. Four years later she introduced Olive Kebab and Café to Thailand's gourmet industry. Olive can now be found at three retail centers and two stand-alone restaurants around the city. Under the Olive brand, Elena and her business partner also operate a supermarket deli corner, and offer home delivery options, plus event catering...

Sam and Susan fall into fairly typical patterns of "naming and blaming". Neither of them are taking responsibility for their own feelings and Needs. Instead, they are blaming their spouse. They are making demands instead of requests which only further alienates their partner. Jennifer and Richard, on the other hand, have learned Nonviolent Communication, or as I prefer to call it, the Compassionate Communication model of conflict resolution...

I was sitting in the back seat literally terrified for my life. I kept asking him where was he dropping me off, but he continued to flip out on me. I was so scared and not sure how to handle the situation. I tried to call the police but my hands were shaking uncontrollably. It took me a few minutes before I could dial the correct number. The grave mistake I made was not charging my cell phone before traveling. I got through to an operator on my phone with my phone blinking...