The three children’s books Mel wrote, illustrated, and self-published are the foundation of Hioki Creations.
Our Mission is to introduce children to concepts such as diversity and inclusion, anti-bullying, and hunger awareness through multimedia storytelling.
Our Vision is to foster kindness, compassion, and openness in the hearts and minds of children to create a more accepting and loving world.
After a career in corporate finance technology, Sue branched out to follow her passion, creating a world that values inclusion and belonging. A departure from her education as an industrial engineer. Sue is an innovator with a proven ability to deliver sustainable results through collaborative partnerships, the creation of an inclusive workplace, and the elimination of gender bias. Sue has been trying on a number of different hats as a blogger for CIO magazine ‘Level Playing Field’ which demystifies gender differences and offers solutions, a consultant in supplier diversity at IW Consulting Group, an analyst about labor market trends for Rutgers Masters of Business and Science program and a Research Fellow with the University of Phoenix.
Sue holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, and two master’s degrees: one in Industrial Engineering from NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering and the second in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix.
Life gives us the opportunity to experiment, to grow personally, and to build a brighter future. Serving on the Board for Hioki Creations is a natural extension of making her dream to make inclusion a reality.
For over 30 years Tony has been managing creative projects, from clients forming startups, to Fortune 500 companies. Effectively managing projects from concept to final delivery. Consistently illustrating the ability to adapt to changing environments to meet goals and deliver projects on time and within budget.
Tony and Mel worked for years at the same NY agency, where they collaborated on many projects together. It is there where Mel first shared his vision of Hioki Creations with Tony. Mel’s passion for making a difference in the world was inspiring and something Tony wanted to be a part of. Tony offered his help in any way possible to be a part of helping Mel’s dream come true and is excited to see the fruits of Mel’s labor of love become a reality.
Sandra has been a mentor, world traveler and an advocate for the welfare of all children. She is wife to Charles, mother of two, and a loving grandmother to her grandchildren.
She has traveled in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico and of course the United States. She contributes her love of travel to her parents David and Verniece Bolton and her husband. Visiting various countries and experiencing a variety of customs enhances an attitude of acceptance of people and enriches life. In 1995 she established Legacy Cruises and Tours, and authored numerous travel articles for an urban newspaper,
Sandra organized a youth mentoring group – Eboni’s Child in 2019. The organization teaches life skills – dress for success, age-appropriate finance management, team building, antibullying, etiquette, creating personal portfolios, and some defense safety techniques.
She has served as Top Teens Advisor for Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc., Girl Scout Leader, Youth Leader for Youth Action for Christ at Second Baptist Church San Antonio, Texas, and Debutante Coordinator for Van Courtlandt Social Club.
She believes teach our children well – they are the future!
Alan is a seasoned, award winning photographer, a well as an award winning retoucher.
Collaborating with clients to create the highest quality images is at the heart of Alan’s success.
As president of Radom Photo Imaging, Alan works with corporate and advertising clients
on projects such as portrait photography, still life, product photography, and complex retouching.
In addition, Alan is president of Artisan Photo Restoration. Artisan works with individuals and corporate clients on projects demanding the highest level of photo repair and archival printing. Photos ranging from Civil War era through contemporary are digitally salvaged and preserved. Alan is also a fine artist who specializes in realistic drawing and oil painting, as well as abstract photography.
Mireille Tang Johnson is thrilled to have been working with the Hioki Creations team since 2017. She is an educator, copy editor, and linguaphile who uses her experiences growing up around the world to guide her work and interactions with others. Mireille first gained experience in editing as an assistant to the editor of TEACHING Exceptional Children, a peer-reviewed journal for special education teachers, while at Boston College. She was immediately drawn to the process of refining the written word, and has since worked on several projects with self-published authors. These days, she can be found teaching English at a top-ranked NJ public school, giving essay revision notes to her students, and on her own time, learning foreign languages, exploring around the Hudson River Palisades, or testing out new recipes on her family.
Jase has over 20 years of experience in the traditional communications and digital design fields and has been lucky to have worked with great clients along the way.
Over the weekends, you’ll have a pretty good shot of seeing me cycling on 9W or hanging with my family at the park. We’ve just made pizza the 5th food group in our household and we love to make it together.
Kevin O’Donoghue has spent over 40 years in advertising working on accounts that include everything from the Army to Zyrtec. He has extensive experience in children’s advertising including campaigns for brands such as Danimals, Colgate, Chef Boyardee, KFC Kids, Jello, and Lay’s potato chips. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching girls’ softball, boys’ baseball and basketball, and has tutored creative writing at a Community Center in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. He currently lives with his wife and kids in CT.
Alison Miller began practicing yoga in 2007 while backpacking through Costa Rica. She knew immediately that yoga was not just a hobby, but a lifestyle that she was ready to embrace. She has a 200-hour certification in Vinyasa Flow from Barefoot Movement in Oakland, California, and an additional 200-hour certification in Kripalu yoga from a master teacher, Paula Heitzner. Starting a career in dance in her late twenties, Alison discovered that a background in yoga provided her with the vocabulary and understanding to evolve safely and proficiently at an accelerated rate. Alison brings a dynamic approach to her yoga classes, drawing on Feldenkrais, Tai chi, Pilates, and Kundalini yoga. She believes balancing strength with flexibility is the soundest way to cultivate the human body. She offers her students accessible building blocks to better understand the postures and move with precise alignment while cultivating a relationship to the breath.
Rekindling her love of theatre, Alison re-emerged as an actress and musical theatre performer in her 30’s. Yoga has gifted Alison with a grounded center and the ability to express from a pure place. You won’t want to miss her opening and closing “Om.”
As a teacher, Alison’s greatest joy is witnessing students tackle their fears and surrender to the process of transformation. Website coming soon at Yoginizucchini.com
Nye is an Inclusion Leader currently leading the charge for WSP/Louis Berger’s mission to foster an inclusive, collaborative and creative workplace by focusing on people and the culture’s climate.
Nye holds a Diversity and Inclusion certificate from Cornell University, NYC. She is a member of the National Diversity Council and has worked for several fortune 500 companies where she’s heavily focused on developing an inclusive work environment for people of all backgrounds, lifestyles and preferences.
Nye is an influential speaker helping to empower all executives to succeed and contribute to developing, Solutions for a better world by building an open, inclusive and equitable culture where each person is respected, supported and valued.
Nye enjoys conducting deep dive assessments to help develop strategies that allow organizations to create an inclusive work culture. In September of 2017, Nye launched a dynamic creative silent skit that demonstrated exclusion, inclusion, engagement and lastly innovation, which challenged employees globally.
Nye is known by her powerful message which states “We need to dig a little deeper to debunk some of the stereotypes in our world, and workplaces to focus on better work relations and social ties.”
As the leader of inclusion at Louis Berger, Nye won the 2018 global value award, for founding and leading inclusion at Louis Berger and the BITE 2019 Business Leadership Award for the dedication and commitment towards the upliftment of our community towards an inclusive society.
Nye’s holds a BS in Computer Science, Tusculum College, Greeneville, TN and graduate studies at Kean University in Computer Information Systems.
Enlisted in the Army Reserve 1962, honorably discharged in 1968.
Married in 1963. Moved to Parsippany in 1968.
My wife Carol and I have 5 children and 8 grand children.
Entire working career in various phases of the typesetting and printing industry as a customer service representative and sales. Retired in 2009.
Involved the church community of Saint Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Parsippany since 1968 serving in many various liturgical ministries. Formally ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Paterson in 2003 assigned to my home parish of Saint Peter the Apostle Church.