After having been on over 400 first dates herself, Carissa realized that many women out there have their own stories to tell and they just need a platform to tell it. She started down the road of writing and self-publishing Stories From Our Black Books in the fall of 2005 and since then has built The Play with an original score and is working on many more extensions of the brand. In addition to Stories From Our Black Books, Carissa founded and is the President of Silver Lining Ltd., a business development company for small businesses. Being passionate about entrepreneurship and people, she works within many businesses and speaks often on building business.

Barbara is an actor, director, teacher, writer and mother. Barbara is one of the authors of the international hits Mums the Word and Mums the Word II: Unhinged. Ms. Pollard has worked in the London West End, Australia, Ireland, and on several tours to Scotland. She was a member of the Stratford Festival company but now calls Vancouver home. An actress with equal parts Shakespeare and improv in her repertoire, she concentrates on staying sane, married and creating her work. Her recent projects include playing Emily Carr and taking Carissa's book off the page and onto the stage.

Patrick is a multi-award winning sound designer, composer and songwriter. He has worked on over 200 live productions for theatre, dance and corporate clients in Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan and Europe for the past 20 years. Most recently, his work has been heard in Vancouver at the Push Festival, UBCTheatre, the Virtual Stage, Electric Company Theatre, Ruby Slippers, Pi Theatre, HIVE, CBC Radio and Studio 58. He is a faculty member of the Masters of Digital Media University in Vancouver and teaches sound design in the Theatre Department at UBC. Check out www.patrickp.biz for more of his music.

Matt is a veteran of Toronto's legendary Second City Comedy, having written and performed in six main stage shows, including: Bush League of Justice, Reloaded, Armaget-it-on, and Bird Flu Over The Cuckoo's Nest; and is in a sketch group called The Gents with other Second City alumns. Amoungst his numerous TV and film credits are: "Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium", Comedy Network's "Punched Up", CBC's "Next Comedy Legend", "The Newsroom", and "Queer as Folk." See him soon in Mike Myers' "The Love Guru." Directing credits include: Critic's Choice and Caveman's Rainbow.

Lindsey is very excited to be producing Stories From Our Black Books. She made her professional producing debut with the Canadian premire of Jewtopia. She earned a B.A., Honours in Theatre Studies and a B.Ed. from York University. In 2004 she started her theatre company, Acting Out, which specialized in community and children's theatre initiatives. Lindsey has produced and directed numerous shows for young people. She managed the Canadian Education Association's commissioned work, Imagine a School..., which was performed in Vancouver in 2006. She would like to thank her parents, family and friends for their continued support, Josh for always being there, and Michael for helping her stay in this crazy business.