CONTRIBUTORS

MARY APICK Since childhood Mary Apick has been winning awards for her roles in various films both in Iran and in America. She is active in many social projects, which focus primarily on improving the lives of women and children around the world. Among them are "Roots of Peace," which helps clear landmines and reducing their use in the Middle East as well as video projects geared toward culture appreciation and remaining active as a spokesperson before the U.S. Congress and elsewhere.

CLAY BLACKMORE is an established portrait and wedding photographer. His client list includes such luminaries as Larry King, Forrest Whitaker and Jenna Elfman and events as diverse as the PGA and inaugural balls.

DMITRY CHETVERUKHIN Internationally acclaimed photographer Dmitry Chetverukhin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and early on discovered a love for photography as a means to explore the people and places that he encountered. Music and theater as recurring themes in his work.

KATRINA CORCORAN is a freelance writer for several local and national publications, and has published her work in the Washington Examiner, Marie Claire, and international editions of Cosmopolitan, FHM, Seventeen, and Good Housekeeping. She also works full time as a researcher at a trade association, and has a Master's degree in international communication from American University. She lives in Washington with her husband, Sean.


DEBORAH K. DIETSCH writes about architecture, art and design for The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and numerous magazines. Trained as an architect, she has authored several books and serves on Baltimore's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel.	JANET DONOVAN is the founder and president of Creative Enterprises International, a Washington, D.C., publicity firm whose clients include celebrities, authors, politicians and publications. She created and hosted The Beltway Broads radio show and writes the column Hollywood on the Potomac.


RENEE DRAKE has had a diverse career in the arts. While living in Washington, D.C., she was a curator for the U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies Program. She was the managing editor of Sotheby's Preview magazine and Art at Auction. After eight years, she left Sotheby's to make the documentary film The Way Back.	DONNA EVERS has more than 30 years experience in residential real estate in the Washington Metro marketplace. She is the broker and president of Evers & Co. Real Estate, the largest independent woman-owned and run residential brokerage in the area. Evers researches and reports on Metro area history on her radio show, Real Estate Today.


ROLAND FLAMINI spent almost three decades at Time magazine, mostly as a foreign correspondent. He has been an opera enthusiast since his teens, and bears the scars for it: Soprano Renata Scotto once chased him across the San Francisco Opera stage brandishing an umbrella.	ANN GERACIMOS, who reports on fashion, food, home design and consumer trend and is the Washington Times senior features reporter. She is well acquainted with the ins and outs of Washington's social scene.

CAROL JOYNT has worked with such respected organizations as the Washington bureau of United Press International, TIME Magazine and CBS Evening News. With producing roles on Larry King Live, USA Today the TV Show, Nightline and Hardball with Chris Matthews her reputation has grown over the years as she has covered stories ranging from anti-war protests to film projects for the National Gallery of Art. She owns and operates Nathans restaurant, the home of the Q & A Café.

KARIM KAWAR grew up in Amman, Jordan and graduated from Boston College in 1987 with a B.Sc. in management, finance and computer science. On September 25, 2002 he presented his credentials to President Bush and on July 1, 2002 was appointed Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States and the Republic of Mexico.

JEAN-DAVID LEVITTE presented his credentials to President Bush on December 9, 2002. Born in 1946 in the south of France, Amb. Levitte earned a law degree and is a graduate of Sciences-Po (the renowned Institute for Political Science in Paris) and of the National School of Oriental Languages, where he studied Chinese and Indonesian. He has successfully handled several international negotiations, including resolution 1441 on Iraq. He has had a distinguished career in the French foreign service, serving on the staff of two French Presidents and holding various senior positions.

RON MERVIS Local diamond purveyor Ron Mervis hails from South Africa with relatives still living and working Mervis operations in Johannesburg, making his business more personal than most. The Mervis name has thrived in the diamond industry for nearly a century. With stores in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland he continues to bring quality jewelry to the metro area.

VICKI MOON has chronicled the lives of the rich, the not-so-rich, the famous and the not-so-famous for more than twenty years. She has covered local murders and prominent lives in Middleburg, Virginia, for People Magazine and The Washington Post and has written about Middleburg's hunt balls, steeplechase races and parties for Town and Country, Millionaire, Veranda and Southern Accents magazines.

CHRIS MURRAY is the founder and director of Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C. For over thirty years, he has organized more than two hundred exhibitions of many of the nation's leading artists. Since 1995, Murray has featured Alfred Wertheimer's work in several exhibitions, including his first major one-person exhibition in 1997 at Govinda Gallery. Murray continues to represent and exhibit Wertheimer's photographs. Murray also has edited a number of books on music and photography.


LANA ORLOFF & SONYA PATE have joined to form PSI (Personal Shoppers, Inc.), a nation-wide personal shopping and style consulting company which offers style and image management, gift buying and global shopping tour experiences. www.psishoppers.com	DONNA SHOR is an internationalist who has lived in five countries on three continents, climbed the Great Wall of China, tracked tigers in Bangladesh, raised twins in a Provencal mas and a Bordeaux wine chateau, and hobnobbed with greats from Peck (Gregory) to Picasso (Pablo). She has written widely, from the National Geographic to the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.

GAIL SCOTT, author of Diplomatic Dance: The New Embassy Life in America, was Washington's first solo TV anchorwoman. Covering the world's most powerful diplomats for The Washington Times and The Washington Diplomat, she also produces Smithsonian Associates' "Top Embassy Chefs," organizes monthly Junior League diplomatic events and creates ambassadorial briefings for leading educational institutions. www.gailscott.com.

LESLIE SBROCCO is the awardwinning author of Wine for Women and a regular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her work has appeared in publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine; Family Circle; Redbook and Working Mother. She is the host of the Emmy-nominated show Check Please! on PBS and appears regularly on national radio and television including the Today show and CNN.

JEFF STEIN is an editor and investigative reporter of long standing, specializing in U.S. intelligence, defense and foreign policy. In Sept. 2002, he became the founding editor of "CQ Homeland Security, a daily news website from Congressional Quarterly. An Army Intelligence case officer in Vietnam, Jeff is now Congressional Quarterly's National Security Editor and SpyTalk Columnist. A frequent contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post, he was deputy foreign editor for UPI during the 1980s. He appears regularly on CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, The BBC, and NPR as a commentator on national security issues.

PAUL WHARTON is a popular style expert who has been featured on MTV, VH-1 and E! He writes the "Ask Paul" column for Elle Magazine's Ellegirl.com and contributes to national news and talk shows as a fashion and lifestyle expert. Paul is the CEO of Evolution Look Online and Evolution Look Modeling Agency. He lives and works in Washington and New York.