Esther Joo is a graduate from Loma Linda University. She graduated with a Bachelors in Science and currently holds her license as a dental hygienist. Throughout the years, she has given her time and talents to various charitable organizations including Dentistry from the Heart, Union Rescue Mission, Elizabeth House Women’s Shelter, and New Friends Homeless Shelter. She has also devoted her time and efforts to personal projects throughout the years that have been connected to helping individuals in need and/or working as a connector. She was also appointed Women’s Director around 2016 by her church in Glendale and served in that position for a year. She also supports Angel Tree Project, a program that gets Christmas presents to children of incarcerated parents. Her heart is truly where the children are, and she is passionate that with today’s resources and capabilities, no child should be left without getting their basic needs met.
In her free time, Esther is a mom to her Son and enjoys working out doing Pure Barre, music festivals, and making different soup recipes, even in the summer!

Stephen Horwitz was born in Los Angeles and has lived in the Los Angeles area most of his life.  He is a graduate of Cal State Northridge and received his lifetime teaching credential in 1967.  Stephen taught at the Los Angeles City Schools for ten years.

In 1972, Stephen and his long time friend – Howard Wang the Sierra Canyon Day Camp in Santa Clarita Valley, California.  In 1977 Stephen and Howard purchased property in Chatsworth and moved the camp to this purchased site.  This was the beginning of the Sierra Canyon School which opened in 1978 with 150 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.  The school facility grew to 17 acres, 40,000 sq ft of buildings and over 200 employees when it was sold in 2006.  A non-profit organization was formed to build the new school.

Julien is a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 1991) and the University of Southern California (B.A., 1988). Julien started his career in Los Angeles practicing complex commercial litigation at O’Melveny & Myers and then at Kaye Scholer.

In 1995, Julien left private practice to become a prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s office in Los Angeles and then in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. There he worked in the government fraud and public corruption section, where he successfully tried 21 jury trials and prosecuted a variety of complex white-collar criminal cases. Julien received commendations from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Julien then returned to private practice, joining Dovel & Luner in 2001 and becoming a partner the next year.

Yostin Lissette “Justine” Pasek Patiño is a Polish-Panamanian model, philanthropist and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 2002. Originally the first runner-up at the Miss Universe 2002 competition, Pasek became the first ever runner-up to be crowned the winner after the dethronement of original winner Oxana Fedorova.^[1]

Pasek was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine to a Panamanian mother and a Polish father; her mother was a homemaker, while her father was an engineer. Despite her birth name being Yostin, Pasek was raised being affectionately referred to by her Polish name Justyna. She is the eldest of three children and only daughter; her two younger brothers are Edward and Alvaro. The family resided in Ukraine for one year, and later moved to the village of Wożuczyn, near Zamość in southeastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. After her mother finished her studies in chemistry, the family left Poland and settled in Panama City, where Pasek was raised.^[2]

Prior to pageantry, Pasek worked as a professional model in Panama City; she appeared in television productions and fashion shows. Pasek had planned to complete a university degree in environmental engineering in New Zealand with her brothers, and later work for the Smithsonian Research Center.