The StarMentors Staff “Visions for the Future of Quality Entertainment”
Jay Jaworski
President/CEO – StarMentors, Inc.
Jay is the CEO and President of and Co-founder of StarMentors, Inc. He is an entrepreneur that oversees the strategic direction and development of the Kansas City and Denver based entertainment company. Mr. Jaworski provides expert guidance and develops partnerships to create and promote successful investment, relationships and creative opportunities. His vision is to facilitate the creation of the best new entertainment trends to fulfill future entertainment market demands. Mr. Jaworski became co-founder of the company after a 30-year career in entertainment development, talent management and artist development, media production, marketing development and entertainment content delivery. He is also an award-winning screenplay writer and author. He founded other successful business including Mainstage Portland, Inc. Crossworlds Records and Digistar Entertainment International and J&L Technologies, Inc.
His extensive professional and business development accomplishments are responsible for creating healthy client relationships and opening new markets. His goal is to forge strategic alliances where his company can leverage the StarMentors proprietary and professional assets to provide quality entertainment to the worldwide markets.
Tony Biondo
Corporate Vice President of Entertainment and Business Development.
Tony Biondo is the Vice President of Entertainment and Business Development and the Co-founder of StarMentors, Inc. He holds the position of the Senior Executive that oversee the strategic project development of the StarMentors current and future entertainment development projects. He also is directly responsible for the business expansion and management of the StarMentors individual entertainment related business units.
Mr. Biondo’s decades of experience and successful ventures within the entertainment and music industry allows him to identify opportune trends where StarMentors can strategically position the company to apply our assets and talent. He is a successful concert promoter completing concerts for artists, Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Isley Brothers, BB King, Tower of Power, Rare Earth, Santana, and many more. Additionally, he is also a highly trained and creative musician and producer. He has worked with and has graced the stage with top performer such as: Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry, The Drifters, The Coasters, Jerry Lee Lewis. Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Marty Robbins, The Nu Beats, Albert Collins, Larry Williams, Little Junior Parker, Albert King, Freddie K.
Mr. Biondo has founded successful entertainment related business including Monogram Records and many other influential entertainment organizations. He is a strong leader and project manager with a keen sense of talent and production quality. He possesses the exceptional leadership qualities that are required to accomplish the Starmentor’s goal of providing quality entertainment to the worldwide markets.
Lisa Jaworski
Corporate Vice President of Creative Development
Lisa Jaworski is Vice President of Creative Development and Co-founder of StarMentors, Inc. Her extensive experience in corporate leadership in production design, creative entertainment development, entertainment project and talent management give StarMentors the right talent needed to accomplish our long-term goals. The success of the StarMentor’s mission depends on the quality of the creative process and execution of the critical steps necessary to complete our entertainment delivery goals. Lisa oversees this process and coordinates the production, talent and creative staff to assure on-time delivery of project completion schedules. She has a unique visionary approach to the steps required in executing the company’s project and production commitments.
She is an award-winning feature film screenwriter, actress, and accomplished musical artist. Lisa is an effective and proven entertainment production developer and resource manager. The leadership quality that Lisa brings to StarMentors, Inc is key to our success in developing and building the quality entertainment teams necessary to deliver the high-quality media content required by our industry, stakeholders, investors and our world audiences.
Lisa is a seasoned business management executive with many successful ventures to her credit including Mainstage Portland Artist Development Center, Inc., Mainstage Concerts, Lisa Ann Designs and Painted Daisy Productions just to name few.
Sergio Lopes is one of the superstars of the entertainment industry and are we proud to have him as Senior Advisor to our executive staff. His extensive experience in entertainment marketing, entertainment project management and entertainment business development makes him one of our best assets in achieving our goal. The goal of providing the best quality entertainment available. He also helps StarMentors with the right insight into the discovery of new digital delivery opportunities worldwide. His extensive professional background is priceless when working with new and established professional entertainers, musical artists, professional athletes and film & media industry professionals.
Mr. Lopes’s accomplishments and experience is second to none. Sergio has held top positions at some of the most prestigious worldwide entertainment organizations. Sergio held the position as Senior Vice President of Capitol/EMI Latin an US, Vice President of Digital and Channel Development /EMI, Vice President TAG Strategic Digital Entertainment, Director of Catalogue Marketing/Sony, Market Manager/CBS Records and A&R Director for Sony. Sergio worked closely with superstar level artists such as Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Korn, George Michael, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Julio Iglesias, Chayanne, in developing marketing strategies.
Mr. Lopes currently is the Director of the Entertainment Division at South Florida Wealth Advisors in Plantation Florida. He provides professional athletes and world-class entertainers valuable mentoring and coaching to help establish solid careers and to maintain financial growth and stability. The entertainment industry is unique and entertainment professionals are faced with critical decisions. Mr. Lopes is the best voice to provide advice and forge partnerships to meet his clients professional, financial and personal objectives. StarMentors, Inc. is proud and thankful for Sergio’s contribution and participation in our projects, idea, visions and goals.
Mr. Mike Slarve
Vice President of Artist Commercial Business and Tour Development
The key to our successful entertainment development company is the strength built into the organization of those who understand the logistics, the effort required to plan for success, and masterly execute each production or major entertainment event that we develop. StarMentors, Inc. is pleased that Mr. Mike Slarve has chosen our company to apply his incredible and proven talents. Mike brings to each of our projects and clients decades of proven success and experience in all aspects of the entertainment industry including: Tour Management and Logistics, Concert Promotion and Design, Entertainment Management and Production Management. Mike’s decades of experience is a key asset to the StarMentor’s team. Mike’s accomplishments are extensive and too many to list. He has promoted and produced countless major world-class entertainment events and concerts. He has produced, managed and instrumental in the success of some of the biggest artists of the day including, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Rod Stewart just to name a few. Mike’s extensive experience and love for the touring, concert and entertainment industry led him to become one of the largest brokers and owner of entertainment tour coaches in the US. He at any time would have over 100 top of the line tour coaches on the road transporting the who’s who in the entertainment industry across the county. Mike’s unique ability to bring people and organizations together inspired him to create the Entertainer Motor Coach Council (EMC) the first and only industry-wide consortium for entertainment coaches. Mike resided as President of the EMC for 2 years. StarMentor’s is proud to have Mr. Slarve as one of our leaders. His dedication to excellence, professionalism and success will always be instrumental in supporting our entertainment clients with the right options and leadership to accomplish our company goals of providing quality entertainment worldwide.
Paul LeClair
Executive Director of Production and Entertainment Development
Mr. Paul LeClair is a significant member of the StarMentor’s executive team. His position as Executive Director of the Film Development and Production Team places him at the center of the action at StarMentors Films. He provides the critical logistical support, management and organization for each project. He assures that each production’s critical functions are adequately staffed, assets are properly applied, budgets are maintained, and production schedules are met. He is actively engaged in discovering, assessing and developing new script opportunities and works closely with our staff writers and technical staff. His primary goal is to assure our company meets the Stakeholder’s and Investor’s expectations.
Paul is known throughout the movie and television industry as the “Doctor of Tenacity” or “Dr.Ten” for short. This is due to his unique ability to accomplish the impossible. Paul has decades of working in front and behind the scenes. Paul is no stranger to the silver screen where he has worked as an Actor, Producer, Co-Producer, Associate Producer on countless popular movies and television productions. His industry credits include General Hospital, Growing Pains, Independence Day, Battlestar Galactica, Days of Our Lives and countless others. He has also appeared as an actor with Jeff Goldblum, Leonardo Dicaprio, Chevy Chase, Anthony Hopkins, Farrah Fawcett, John Stamos, Demi Moore and Sylvester Stallone just to name a few.
Paul’s professional contributions to the StarMentors organization of his exceptional skills and tenacity for team spirit is pivotal in accomplishing the company’s goal of creating and providing quality entertainment and unique media content to the worldwide markets.
Karen holds the position of Associate Vice President of Publicity and Media Relations. StarMentors must assure that the successful accomplishments made by our business units receive the best news coverage and publicity available that will reach our worldwide audience and interested parties. That is why Karen is on our team. She is a respected world class talent that clearly is in a league is of her own. It is also clear with her talents working on behalf of our company, we are confident that our success will be built on the best opportunities, lasting relationships and positive publicity generated by Karen.
Karen is the Founder and President of the successful KBC Media company based in New Jersey and New York. Karen history pans decades National and International Media Relations experience. Karen has designed and executed countless successful publicity and media relations campaigns for the professional Music industry, Film and Television, Radio, Print, Celebrity, Entertainment, Authors and Lifestyle I Europe, Canada and US. Karen has been successful in placing clients on national networks including Good Morning America, The Today Show, Fox and Friends, CNN, HLN, Bloomberg, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC and many others.
She is skillfully successful in placing and generating positive publicity for her exclusive clients with placements on top entertainment show shows such as: Late Night, Daytime Talk, Dr. Oz, The Doctors, Rachel Ray, Wendy Williams, The View, The Talk, Ellen, Steve Harvey, Kelly, Dr. Phil, Kathie Lee and Hoda, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition. She routinely is engaged in high end publicly campaigns with the major news networks: The NY Times, NY Post, Page Six, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune to name a few.
Karen was also Associate Producer of a Discovery Channel Film and is Producer of a full feature documentary. Karen was named by SJ Magazine as one of the “25 People to Watch” and reviewed by ETV as Top Publicist in the USA. She is honored to be included in Who’s Who in Media. StarMentors is proud she is on our team and s dedicated to creating the best entertainment for the future.
Dustin Marcellino
Entertainment Development Advisor (Director/Producer)
Starmentor’s Inc is proud and honored to have Mr. Dustin Marcellino as part of our companies amazing advisory staff. Every good entertainment development company requires the right people with the vision and the skills to complete the project. When consulted, Dustin provides us with the solid advice required while navigating the complex road of the production planning and execution process. Dustin is a proven asset and his desire is to support the StarMentor’s vison allows our company to gain the foundation to deliver quality entertainment that meets the worldwide viewing audience’s approval.
Dustin Marcellino is an award-winning Music Video and Motion Picture Director and has won two Fuse/TV Sonic Bid Awards for his work on numerous cutting-edge music videos. He is one of the most sought out top up-and-coming Directors in the Nashville music and film scene. He is quickly gaining recognition and respect in the film community for his unique directing skills and unorthodox shooting style. His talent and professional experience on countless major Music Video and Film Production projects has elevated him to work with the top of the industry’s community. He recently directed the acclaimed full feature film “The Identical” featuring Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd and Seth Green which was released worldwide.
Dustin is a unique visionary and a creative professional that makes every frame count for his clients and his projects. Any serious production company, artist, band or performer should align themselves with his rare creativity. His focus on quality production and visual excellence is a hard to find essential attribute.
Frank Schoof
Sr. Director of Information and Digital Media Technologies
Mr. Frank Schoof provides StarMentors, Inc. with the irreplaceable skills to achieve our goal of designing, development, launching and maintaining our new proprietary global digital content delivery systems. His successful implementation of new and leading-edge networks for major global technology organizations and many Fortune 500+ companies gives StarMentors, Inc. the edge it needs to develop new digital content delivery platforms. Frank is a professionally skilled and proven Project Manager. His 20 + years of experience as a Global SAP Architect, Global Leader of Information Technology Portfolio Management and Technical Services, Leading Global IT Portfolio and Project Manager and Technology Transformer is invaluable to our stakeholders.
Mr. Schoof possesses the valuable knowledge related to infrastructure and global data center design, network architecture and integration and implementations of high-end storage architect/design for emerging internet technologies. He is a Certified Sun Engineer, EMC Storage Engineer, Solaris Network Engineer and IBM ESS Storage expert.
Frank shares the vision of StarMentors, Inc. to create and provide the best global entertainment content available thought managed digital delivery and networking technologies. StarMentors, Inc. is proud and fortunate to have him on our team as the Sr. Director of Information and Digital Media Technologies.
Our company is grateful to have Mr. Steven Beer Steven as legal counsel for our entertainment related business at StarMentors, Inc. Steven concentrates his practice on film, television and music matters. He represents industry-leading film, television and music companies and has acted as counsel to numerous award-winning writers, directors, producers, and multi-platinum musical artists. Steven has been listed annually in Super Lawyers New York Metro edition. Research and Markets listed him as one of the top lawyers in Entertainment Law, Settlements and Negotiations. The Wrap online magazine cited Steven as one of “21 Great Thinkers of Indie Film.” Steven regularly attends major film festivals — including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca — where he negotiates distribution rights deals. In addition to acting as production and distribution counsel for many independent films, Steven has also acted as executive producer.
He frequently writes and lectures about film and music issues and matters related to young artists. Allworth Press published Your Child’s Career in Music and Entertainment: The Prudent Parent’s Guide in 2015. In 2012, his article “The New Renaissance Paradigm – A Break-through Time For Artists” was published in the inaugural edition of the Berkeley Entertainment Law Journal and his article “Life After Sundance: Distribution and Marketing for the 99 Percent” was published in Indiewire.
Steven serves as a trustee to the City Parks Foundation and is co-chair of the Arts Committee responsible for Summer Stage, NYC’s largest free performing arts festival. He is also a Rooftop Films board member and plays ice hockey in his spare time. He provides legal services to independent film producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, musicians, and film production and distribution companies. Additionally, his NYC based company is counsel to talent management companies, personal talent managers, and individual talent in the arenas of music, film, and writing.
Naomi is a freelance theatrical lighting designer, currently based out of Colorado. She is an award-winning Lighting Designer/Consultant receiving her high level degrees in Theater Art/Lighting Design from the from Indiana University in 2020 and the University of Northern Colorado in 2017. Her awards and honors include: SETC – Serenbe Playhouse Ready to Design Award, SETC 1st place Graduate Lighting Design Award (2020); Gary Gaiser Scholarship Award (2019-2020); KCACTF National 2nd Place Winner, KCACTF Regional 1st Place Winner (2017); B. William Van Loo Memorial Scholarship Award (2016); Performing Arts and Visual Arts Scholarship (2015-2016) and Performing and Visual Arts Gala Scholarship (2013-2017).
Her professional work related to professional theatrical productions and companies includes: 4Wall Entertainment, Walt Disney, Anything Goes National Broadway Tour, Trace Adkins Concert Tour; The Blue Man Group; Indiana University Summer Theatre Indiana University and many other notable theatrical productions. Additionally, Her award winning lighting designs include: Confessions of a Former Monkey Mind Doctor (Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center); Cabaret (Ignite Theatre); Soundcheck Christmas Party (4Wall Entertainment); Big Fish, Tiger Beat, Only Child, Barbecue, Three Sisters (IU Theatre); Major Barbara, Spring Awakening, The Importance of Being Earnest (UNCo Theatre); and numerous dance concerts.
StarMentors is proud to have Naomi working with our current and future projects, for she brings a level of professional talent that all of our productions deserve. The difficult task of designing the right and effective lighting design is not easy. It requires a level of skill and knowledge that Naomi has proven to possess in all of her previous designs. She has proven to be the right professional our company requires to create the best entertainment value that StarMentors is known for.
Ezmé Arana is the founder and agent of Paramount Talent Agency and has quickly become an agent in high demand. She currently represents actors in CA, NY, FL, and TX. Her philosophy and approach is to nurture and commit to building strong partnerships with each artist under her representation. Her commitment ensures continued talent development and a unique approach toward packaging and pitching her clients in a constantly evolving industry.
Ezmé’s primary focus is to develop, showcase, promote and book top quality talent for film, television, and new media in local and national markets. Ezmé brings a depth of respect, and compassion to working actors and industry colleagues alike. She drives her business relationships with integrity and with the same loving-kindness she gives to her own family; most importantly she believes in the people she works with. Ezmé studied Communication Studies at Texas State University.
As the StarMentors projects continue to evolve, our company requires the best Talent Acquisition and Development Professional that can meet the challenges of the rapidly evolving media, film and live performance industries. Ezmé’s positive attitude, compassion for nurturing talent and diverse knowledge is key to our success of producing the highest quality entertainment for the future. StarMentors is confident that Ezmé’s talents and professionalism is key in bringing our company to the next level. StarMentors is grateful to have her as one of our extraordinary talented team members.
Shane Michaels is an award-winning producer, director, writer, and cinematographer with over 30 years’ experience working in the entertainment and motion picture industry. He has worked with some of the biggest names and studios in Hollywood. His extraordinary talent has earned him the prestigious Emmy Award. Shane is a graduate of UCLA and California State University, where he majored in film and TV production. He graduated at the top of his class and won several awards for his student films. He went on to prove his dedication to the arts and continues to actively contribute to the high standards required by the entertainment industry.
With a career spanning many decades, Shane has worked on every type of production in the industry. Shane’s success includes producing and directing high-end music videos, commercials, and TV shows. He is well known for his ability to get as much production value as possible for his clients. Some of his clients include MTV, Epix, CBS, FOX, KDOC, OLN, HGTV, TBS, Disney and Discovery Channel. He has produced and directed many live theatrical/music performances and music videos for top artists and has also directed many television shows and films.
StarMentors has a ton of respect for Shane’s talents as a Director, Producer, and Cinematographer. His creative vision and professionalism is what our company requires to help accomplish our goal in delivering quality entertainment and media content to the world. We are proud to have Shane part of our StarMentors creative team and honored that he has agreed to contribute his talents on our growing list of quality entertainment projects.
Ray Vaughn Jr.
Creative Production Management/Writer/Producer
Ray’s professional desire for the development of quality and world-class entertainment is why StarMentors aligned ourselves with his passion and dedication. Ray’s extensive history in the entertainment business along with his successful career of over 20 years as an international touring and performing musician, songwriter and music producer gives StarMentors the creative leadership we look for in our team members. Combined with his keen business management experience and creative energy he is key to the success of our company’s ongoing plans of development and launching major tours, theatrical productions, and other quality media content. Successful large-scale entertainment-based productions require good business sense and proven knowledge to manage the day to day operations. Ray possesses those skills not only from a realistic business management perspective but also from a creative heart. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and his Master’s in Business Administration. Ray is also a talented and accomplished musician and a creative-minded partner. In addition, he is an accomplished screenplay and stage play writer. He recently collaborated with StarMentors in the completion of a major upcoming Broadway-level musical/play script and is active in the production design and management of the show. StarMentors is honored that Ray would bring his talents to our company and join our creative family of extraordinary talent.