PRESS RELEASES
Meet a Scientologist
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA •
For the Colombian businessman, Scientology is all about helping people. Alejandro is a successful marketing professional and businessman in Bogotá, Colombia, now using his knowledge and skill to help the next generation thrive.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH •
Through Scientology, the Salt Lake City athlete gained a mental clarity and concentration that helps him excel in his favorite sport. Scientologist Dallas Hunter, 35, thrives on the danger and challenge of rock climbing, which he says “forces you to be there in the moment.
MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM •
Reaching kids in the United Kingdom with his timely Truth About Drugs message, the Scientologist from Manchester urges them to steer clear of the choice that nearly killed him some 28 years ago. “I know what it means to have a problem with drugs”, says Pete Dwan.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA •
It wasn't just fate or good luck that helped Julian Dirou alter the course of his business and family life.
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA •
Geoff Serra is an easygoing bloke from the Land Down Under who shares his perspective on achieving the State of Clear and his experience in Scientology.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH •
In a video published September 29, 2015 on the Scientology website, we take a glimpse into the dynamic art and fascinating life of Scientologist Madison Hunter.
GERMANY •
The Church of Scientology has published its latest video June 17, 2013, on www.scientology.org and the YouTube Scientology video channel, “Meet a Scientologist” Thomas Maib.
Thomas Maib was still attending university when he heard about Scientology—a friend brought it to his attention.
UNITED STATES •
The video interview of Lisa Cummins, released October 22, is the latest “Meet a Scientologist” video on www.scientology.org.
Growing up, Lisa Cummins had her eye on a very important career—being a mother.
“I decided very young I was going to have four kids and a boy first,” she says. “That’s what I have, and they’re best friends.”
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA •
In the “Meet a Scientologist” video published on www.scientology.org on October 18, 2012, Sandra Poveda of Bogotá, Colombia, tells why she’s almost always smiling.
Dentist Sandra Poveda has a philosophy of life that drives her work. From the time she entered Universidad del Bosque at age 16, she knew what she really wanted to do was to make people smile.
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA •
The video interview of Bogotá comedian Yermain Manrique, released September 25, is the latest “Meet a Scientologist” video on www.scientology.org and the YouTube Scientology video channel.
Yermain Manrique is a fun-loving guy who likes nothing more than to make people laugh.
“Being a comedian is wonderful,” he says. “You are making people feel good, so you’re helping them all the time.”
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Kaye Champagne, a driving force in the Scientology community.
Known for her guts, her compassion and her ability to inspire others, Kaye Champagne is a driving force in the Scientology community, a key player in opening dozens of Ideal Scientology Churches in the past several years. She is also happily married, a proud mother, and a successful businesswoman who travels the world doing exactly what she loves to do.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Yulia Gould spans the landscape of arts, professions and interests. A Clearwater, Florida-based graphic artist, professional interpreter, public relations officer and events coordinator, she is also a certified scuba diver who loves skiing, skydiving and traveling the world. And although raised in the Soviet Union where the only “religion” was atheism, she has been a Scientologist since she was 14.
SWITZERLAND •
Scientologist Barbara Schneider is a model, TV personality, paramedic, Scientology counselor and mother of four who didn’t anticipate how well things would turn out 18 years ago when things went wrong. Born and working as a paramedic in Lugano, Switzerland, in the early 1990s a failed relationship left her desperate to get away. “I went to a travel agent and told him I needed a change,” she says. “I wanted to be someplace far away and on the sea.”
MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS •
Former NBA center and member of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team of 1972, Jim Brewer reflects on competing in the Munich Games and the direction his life has taken since then.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS •
On the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Ground Zero cleanup operation, Scientologist Caralyn Percy remembers 9/11/01.
Scientologist Caralyn Percy’s rendition of “Everyday Heroes” by Geoff Levin and Harriet Schock is a tribute to rescue and recovery workers of Ground Zero, New York. If it resonates with a compassion born of experience, it’s because Percy was there.
WASHINGTON, D.C. •
The empowerment of knowing how to know.
Scientologist Patricia Gore is a “first” lady.
She was the first in her family to finish college and receive a master’s degree, first to move away from home, first to work eight years for the Congress of the United States—during the Carter and Reagan administrations, and the first Black ever to have achieved the State of Clear on African soil.
TAMPA, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Paola Martinez, working to make human rights a fact.
Scientologist Paola Martinez, Human Rights Coordinator of the Church of Scientology Tampa, hosted the second annual Colors of the World Fair Trade Fashion Show for Human Rights June 9—one of the many programs she participates in to raise awareness on human right issues and bring an end to abuse in Tampa, Florida, and around the world.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Sherry Van Hootegem says Scientology gives her the tools to gets things done.
Sherry Van Hootegem isn’t particularly looking for trouble—but if trouble comes her way, she is never one to turn her back and pretend it isn’t there. And when it came to the North Greenwood neighborhood of Clearwater, Florida, trouble had been brewing for quite some time.
“I own some property in the community and when I found there were drugs being sold right on the street it made me mad,” she says.
WASHINGTON, D.C. •
Scientologist Niko Papaheraklis is the Director of Youth for Human Rights, Washington D.C. chapter, and has traveled around the world to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Dividing his time between work, volunteering and Scientology, in Panama, Washington, D.C., and Clearwater, Florida, Niko Papaheraklis is a focused and fun-loving 26-year-old ball of energy.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist and artist Gracia Bennish, creating a better world.
In a unique meld of art and activism, Gracia Bennish leaves her mark in unexpected places.
A true citizen of the world, Bennish, who lives with husband Garry in Clearwater, Florida, was born and raised in Detroit, has lived in the United States, Australia, Europe and Mexico, and has worked or volunteered in Haiti, Baghdad, Myanmar, Africa, Thailand, Cuba and Colombia.