Deborah Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and nutritionist and the author of twenty-two books for adults and children. She has been a regular contributor to The New York Times (including four years as the Sunday New York Times Magazine beauty columnist, and a home design columnist for Long Island Newsday . Her health, fitness, beauty, travel, and feature stories have appeared widely in many other newspapers and national magazines including New York's Daily News , The Washington Post , The Los Angeles Times , Bazaar , Cosmopolitan , Woman's Day , Family Circle , Self , and Vogue . Deborah lives in New York City. www.deborahblumenthal.com @deborahblu Bassel Abou Fakher is a musician from Damascus, Syria. Having learned to play cello as a young child, he went on to study music in his home city.

He released two albums, one in Syria and one in Brussels, with his own Qotob chamber music group. After living through the Syrian civil war for five years, Bassel moved to Brussels, Belgium at the age of eighteen where he currently lives and plays his music. Nadine Kaadan is an award-winning author-illustrator from Syria. She writes stories inspired by Syria's rich cultural heritage and is committed to helping child refugees in Europe and the Middle East. She currently lives in the United Kingdom. www.nadinekaadan.com @NadineKaadan.