Drop the mic beauty

Meet Peter Newman, PhD, CFA®, President and Founder of Peak Wealth Planning. 🔥

Peter founded in 2014 to help high-net-worth individuals navigate one of the hardest financial transitions there is: moving from building wealth to actually turning it into reliable retirement income.

He specializes in working with people approaching retirement, particularly those with concentrated wealth like ESOP participants, who are facing real decisions around diversification, taxes, and long-term income planning. His whole approach is built on coordination. Investments, taxes, and retirement planning are addressed together, not in isolation, so that clients can move forward with actual clarity instead of guesswork.

Before founding Peak Wealth, Peter spent two decades managing treasury and investments for the University of Illinois System, overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in institutional assets. He also spent 15 years as a real estate investor and developer, picking up hands-on experience in tax strategy, risk management, and leverage along the way.

That's not a resume most financial advisors can match. That's two decades of institutional-level decision-making, applied directly to helping individual clients avoid costly mistakes and simplify what feels complicated.

Confidence isn't a marketing word for Peter. It's the actual outcome he's built his practice around. 🥰

Meet Louis Alloro, aka The Champion of Change. 🔥

Louis works alongside change agents and activators to help teams build the wellbeing and energy required to actually transform a culture or community. Not surface level stuff. Real, lasting shifts in how people collaborate, lead, and show up for each other.

He was one of the first people in the world to earn a UPenn Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree, and he has spent since 2007 as a social entrepreneur in the human development space, educating people across every sector on human behavior and positive change.

His work helps teams improve collaboration and innovation, build lasting psychological skillsets, lead confidently through order and chaos, and win over even the toughest stakeholders and cynics.

Thousands of teams, organizations, and communities have already gone through this evolution with him. The rest is up to you. 🥰

Meet David Jablonowski, aka The Preppy Realtor. 🔥

David works for the largest real estate company in Chicago, , but his day to day team is a lean, efficient six people. Translation: your experience with him is personal, responsive, and never gets lost in a big machine.

He works with the full spectrum, first time buyers to seasoned vets, vintage properties to new construction, and doesn't limit himself to one neighborhood. He also keeps a bench of trusted industry experts (attorneys, inspectors, lenders, contractors) ready to help, even if you're not his client.

Here's the part that got me though. Every single time David helps a client buy or sell a home, he makes a $100 donation to ALIVE Rescue Chicago, a local animal rescue. He's also a longtime supporter of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Lambda Legal, WBEZ, the 100 Club of Chicago, and the POINT Foundation.

David moved to Chicago from the East Coast in the late '90s and never left. Now it's fitness, travel, and his rescue pup Penny when he's not closing deals.

Thoughtful and generous in a way that actually shows up in his business. That's rare. 🥰

Mid-wedding and I'm still working the room, camera down for two seconds and I'm already scouting light, angles, and the next shot before it happens.

This one was at , and honestly, the second I walked in I understood the assignment. Exposed brick, warm light, shelves of books stacked like they've got their own stories to tell. A space like this doesn't need much help looking good, it just needs someone paying attention.

That's the job though. Even when I'm not the one being photographed, the artist brain doesn't clock out. Ten plus years on stage taught me to read a room fast, and that instinct doesn't disappear just because the lens is pointed the other way.

Grateful for venues that give you something real to work with.

Walk through the doors of Margie's Candies on Western & Armitage and you're not in 2026 anymore. You're in 1921.

The booths are the same. The recipes are the same. The chocolate is still hand-dipped, the English Toffee still made with real butter, the ice cream still built from family recipes that have never needed updating.

Four generations. Over 100 years. That's not nostalgia. That's craft.

Some of the best sessions happen completely by accident. 😜

Meet Ben. He flew in from London, we crossed paths at a mutual friend's birthday party, and somewhere between the cake and the conversation, he mentioned he'd never had a professional photoshoot. One thing led to another...

And honestly? You'd never know it was his first time in front of a camera. The presence, the ease, the energy. Ben was a natural from the jump.

This is exactly why I love what I do. Connection leads to collaboration, and collaboration leads to something real. So grateful we got to create these moments together. 🥰

Once Brazil gets in your system, it doesn't really leave. 🇧🇷

Mack spent time living there and honestly? You can still see it. The ease, the warmth, that whole "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be" energy. It just radiates.

Shoutout to the ones who carry their whole story with them wherever they go. ♓ 🏝 🌊 🧑🏽‍💻 📷 🏋‍♂️ 🎶 📚 💫 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇸

Meet Ulyana Dmytriv. 🔥

Ulyana is a Community Engagement Lead at Serve Robotics with over 7 years of experience building the kind of partnerships that actually last.

She has worked across corporate foundations, nonprofits, healthcare organizations, and civic environments, managing six-figure budgets and navigating everything from government stakeholders to high-visibility media situations.

Her whole approach is built on one idea: community engagement isn't a nice-to-have. It's a strategic function that builds trust and drives long-term impact.

In a world full of transactional relationships, Ulyana is out here building something real.