Brandon Chapman is a former YTA 300-certified yoga instructor, sociology student, and lifelong observer of how identity, culture, trauma, relationships, and expectations shape who we become.

Raised in a single-parent home alongside his sister, Brandon began questioning traditional expectations long before he had the language to explain why. That curiosity, and his tendency to push against the current, eventually helped inspire Talking Stick Utah.

Over the years, Brandon has worked with people both incarcerated and in the broader community, teaching yoga, meditation, fitness, movement, and lifestyle practices. These experiences deepened his interest in identity, addiction, trauma, relationships, gender dynamics, and the challenges facing boys and men.

A self-described “sheep in wolf’s clothing,” Brandon believes meaningful change happens where compassion and personal responsibility meet: through honest conversation, curiosity, accountability, and the humility to admit none of us has everything figured out.

Currently pursuing sociology at SLCC, Brandon created Talking Stick Utah from a simple belief: men need places where they can show up without pretending to have all the answers.

He remains mildly disappointed that he has yet to become a world-class freestyle rap battler or an animalized feudal-era samurai. But there’s still time.

His invitation is simple: show up, ask difficult questions, turn over a new leaf, and grow together.

Leslie Borzea is a builder, entrepreneur, chronic idea-haver, and firm believer that almost anything worth creating starts as a seed.

Sometimes that seed is a business idea, an opportunity, a relationship, or simply believing in someone before they are ready to believe in themselves. And sometimes it’s an actual seed, because Leslie has never met a plant she didn’t want to propagate, repot unnecessarily, or check for new growth seventeen times a day.

That philosophy is at the heart of Find Your Voice, an organization Leslie is creating to help women rediscover their identity, independence, confidence, and sense of possibility. Her vision goes beyond encouragement to creating employment, mentorship, community, and practical pathways for women to build opportunities of their own.

Her involvement with Talking Stick Utah comes from a related belief: healthier communities aren’t built by helping men over here, women over there, and pretending none of us affects anyone else. We do.

Leslie has a particular affection for the messy middle, the space between who someone has been and who they are becoming, and believes people are capable of far more than they sometimes recognize in themselves.

For Leslie, the work is about planting seeds, opening doors, and creating possibilities without needing to know exactly what they will become.

She was never particularly interested in growing a perfectly organized garden anyway.

She’d rather grow a forest.

Some people find their purpose by following a carefully written career plan. Christina seems to have found hers by repeatedly walking toward the places where people needed someone willing to show up.

Long before harm reduction became part of everyday conversation, Christina helped establish a needle exchange program in 1994 that continues serving the community today. At a time when many saw only addiction, she chose to see human beings—a philosophy that has shaped decades of community and public service.

Today, Christina works in human services and recovery and has devoted more than twenty-five years to civilian federal service. She also recently celebrated ten years clean and sober, giving her a deeply personal understanding of recovery, accountability, compassion, and the possibility of change.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough to keep her busy. Christina is also studying Sociology and Political Science, further exploring the systems and policies that shape communities and how they can work better for the people within them.

As Treasurer of Talking Stick Utah, Christina brings lived experience, professional expertise, steady leadership, and a belief that strong communities begin by treating people with dignity.

She isn’t particularly interested in being the loudest person in the room. She’d rather help build something that lasts.

Because healthy communities aren’t built by heroes.

They’re built by people who keep showing up.

Josh Penrod is a health expert, wellness consultant, emotional performance coach, single father, and living proof that a person’s worst chapter does not get final editorial approval over the rest of the story.

For more than a decade, Josh has trained across multiple health, fitness, and emotional-performance disciplines, working with executives, entrepreneurs, elite performers, teams, and organizations to build resilience, improve performance, and create sustainable change.

But his expertise comes from more than certifications.

Before coaching high performers and working in corporate wellness, Josh’s own story included addiction, incarceration, and homelessness. Those experiences aren’t a footnote beneath his credentials; they’re part of the reason he does the work.

Whether working with incarcerated men, women, and youth or Fortune 500 executives, Josh believes transformation begins with honesty, accountability, and the willingness to recognize where our behavior doesn’t align with the lives we say we want.

His philosophy is simple: people should be met where they are without being encouraged to stay there.

As an Advisor to Talking Stick Utah, Josh brings professional expertise, lived experience, and a deep belief that meaningful change requires practice—not perfection.

He isn’t interested in helping people become perfect.

He’s interested in helping them become honest enough to grow, strong enough to change, and resilient enough to keep going when growth gets uncomfortable.