WHO We Got To Know in July 2026

Robert Mallard is at the time of this writing a candidate for State Representative of Georgia’s 139 district. Focused on leadership that unites Robert (a conservative) has elected to run as an independent to prioritize serving the people in his district. Robert is best introduced as man who lives in service to God, Family, and Country; a father of four who has served our country as an officer in the Armed Forces, and now has his sights set on serving by Representing Georgia.

Robert Mallard’s Leadership Experience and Perspective

A seasoned leader with experience in the armed forces as an officer, in business as an owner, and working to support young men and women as a mentor and educator in the real estate industry. Robert believes in leadership that unites to solve problems and explore opportunities. Getting to know Robert ourselves we found that he prefers to focus on what unites as opposed to the issues that cause gridlock and often serve as distractions from the good that can be done for communities. He exudes a sense of integrity, not shying away from values he holds dear while still finding ways to tackle the underlying issues benefiting people with differing views and values, consistently working towards the greater good.

Robert Mallard’s Focus for Georgia & District 139

“Georgia is my party”, his core focus is immediately evident, he wants to work for Georgia and his community, he expresses himself clearly on issues facing his constituents and prioritized running as an independent to ensure his focus is on his constituent’s needs.

Supporting the young men and women in a community with a large percentage of single-parent households he invites all leaders to step up and provide mentorship and stand as role models showing the youth the paths available to them and the support available to them. He supports parent’s rights to choose the best educational path for their children and circumstances. He also makes clear to us that he wants to ensure that the educational system does not lag behind (as it currently does) in a fast-changing world of work, acutely aware of AI, Automation, and other factors that are rapidly changing the present and future. Robert is focused on ensuring tomorrow’s workforce is equipped to win.

He is also very much focused on safety and protecting Georgian’s right to protect themselves. He points out that per capita gun ownership has not increased but gun violence has, focusing on identifying, verifying, and addressing the factors contributing to an increase in violent acts is a top priority for a man who has dedicated much of his life to defending our country.

He lists supporting our veterans, elderly, and special needs as a top priority not only through favorable legislation but also through ensuring it is easier for all to access available funds, support and programs already available. As a veteran, a son, and a father to a child with special needs he emphasizes that assistance delayed is assistance denied; it is not enough for the support to be available if it isn’t reaching those it is intended for due to red-tape and bureaucracy. He is also very supportive of faith and community leaders.

Robert Mallard on Economic Growth

A business owner himself with interests in the real estate industry and agriculture as well as experience managing multi-million dollar projects as a US Army Officer, Robert understands what businesses need to thrive. He supports reducing burdensome regulations that disadvantage smaller businesses that do not have the armies of lawyers and consultants required to navigate overzealous red tape. He also speaks from experience and studious research on how much of the overregulation is weaponized to create barriers of entry for aspiring entrepreneurs without actually protecting the consumer. His integrity shines yet again as we dig a little deeper on the topic and he provides further context making it clear that he does support meaningful regulation to protect consumers and our shared resources.

Robert Mallard the Beekeeper & Family Man

Beyond his core focus on working for his future constituents, Robert is a multifaceted person who is a pleasure to converse with. From Beekeeping to maintaining a faith-filled home with his wife Radiah and their four children Robert is an interesting person to get to know. A Bronze Star Medal, and the Samuel Sharp Award recipient for his outstanding service and leadership in combat with 17 years of service and tours in Iraq among other experiences you will find a deep well of topics to discuss with him.

Ask Bryndon Preston what he does for a living, and he will likely tell you he has spent more than thirty years doing what he loves most: connecting people and possibilities. It is a fitting answer, because whatever title Bryndon has held over the years, the work underneath it has always been the same. He finds out what people need, and then he finds a way to help them get it. Detail oriented, service minded, and known among the people he has worked with for his integrity, Bryndon has carried those qualities through every chapter of his career, and it is the reason people tend to describe him not by the roles he has held, but by how well he took care of them along the way. People who have worked alongside him talk about his meticulous attention to detail, how well he represents the people he serves, and how much of a pleasure he is to have in your corner, the kind of person they would recommend without a second thought. That instinct to take care of people runs through Bryndon's whole story. He studied nursing and trained in massage therapy before he ever entered the business world, and even as his career grew into sales, marketing, and consulting, helping people feel stronger has stayed at the center of everything he does. For nearly two decades he has served as Vice President of Food Rescue, a Noblesville, Indiana organization that partners with caring agencies across the country to bring excellent food to children and families in need. Bryndon sums up the mission in his own words: feeding the hungry by the grace of God. Today, as a Building Performance Consultant with Energy+, he brings that same spirit to business owners across the Greater Indianapolis area, helping their buildings run more efficiently so their equipment lasts longer and more of what they earn stays with the people who earned it. He often says the savings are only part of the picture. What he really loves is watching an owner put those dollars back into growing their business and taking care of their team. For Bryndon, who believes a good story builds trust that lasts a lifetime, that is the whole point. Relationships first, always. Most people simply know him as Bryn, and the name suits him. Warm, unhurried, and happy to help, he has a way of making you feel like an old friend within minutes of meeting him. Maybe that is why people have been bringing him their possibilities for more than thirty years.

Nader Safinya is one of those rare people who notices what everyone else walks past, and that quality shapes everything about him. Honest, empathetic, and deeply observant, Nader has been paying close attention to people his entire life. He grew up moving internationally every three years, from the United States to France to Indonesia to the UAE and back again, and instead of making him guarded, it made him curious. He learned early that people from completely different backgrounds, when given the space, want the same things: connection, comfort, and to feel like they belong somewhere. His mother hosted big social gatherings every week throughout his childhood, and Nader remembers being a small kid in those crowded rooms, watching people whose lives had nothing in common become completely equal the moment they walked through the door. That observation never left him. It became the lens through which he sees everything, including how companies work. That lens is what drives Blackribbit, the consultancy Nader founded in 2019 and built into what is now known as The Culture Branding Company. He helps mid-market organizations close the gap between what they say and what they actually do, working across design, brand strategy, organizational psychology, operations, and communications to get there. He is a designer by training, with a master's in design management from Munich, and he hosts the Frog Talk podcast, teaches brand strategy as a professor, and wrote a manifesto called Engineering The Perfect Hug. But the people who have worked with Nader tend to talk less about his credentials and more about what it feels like to be in a room with him. One colleague said he "hits a target no one else can see." Others keep coming back to the same words: honest, reliable, and someone who makes you feel genuinely heard. Nader has said that his legacy goal is simple: he wants people to love their jobs. He wants the phrases "live to work" and "work to live" to disappear because life and work have finally harmonized. It is a big idea, but coming from someone who spent 20 years closing the gap between what he said and what he did in his own life before building a methodology around it, it does not sound like a pitch. It sounds like something he actually means.

Get To Know Calabasas Grief Therapist Debi Jenkins Frankle, a grief therapist, educator, and lifelong gardener whose personal experience with loss shaped a career devoted to helping people feel seen in their most difficult moments. Raised in Scarsdale, New York, she later moved to California, where she and her husband Mark co-founded the Calabasas Counseling and Grief Center in 1995, built around the belief that grief is too often overlooked, mislabeled, or rushed in clinical work. For more than thirty years, she has worked with individuals, couples, families, and older adults navigating loss in all its forms. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University, where she teaches the next generation of therapists to recognize grief as a thread running through almost every client's story. If you ask those who know her, they will tell you she is warm, grounded, and deeply present, someone who embodies what she teaches and who makes people feel seen and safe.

Jason Jimenez is the kind of person who seems to measure success not only by what he builds, but by who becomes stronger around him.

Kind, considerate, and naturally inclined to put others first, Jason also brings a shrewd understanding of how meaningful relationships work. He does not simply help people in the moment; he looks for ways to strengthen their position, expand their opportunities, and help them become more capable in their own right. There is wisdom in that approach: when the people around you grow, you do not merely gain contacts you build trusted allies and a stronger community.

That instinct runs through much of Jason’s life and work. He is a thinker, a visionary, and an entrepreneur who has spent decades creating businesses designed to protect people, connect them, and help them grow. His ventures have crossed insurance and financial services, cybersecurity, capital consulting, real estate, business development, and professional networking. Through Landing Big Whales and his trademarked Spiderweb Effect®, he has given that philosophy a clearer structure: create an ecosystem of meaningful relationships in which opportunity, knowledge, and support can move between people.

Yet Jason is more than the businesses attached to his name. He is a devoted husband, a father, and someone who brings warmth and fun alongside his ambition. He can think on a large scale without losing sight of the individual in front of him an uncommon balance that helps explain why so much of his work ultimately comes back to the same idea: helping people protect what they have, recognize what they could become, and build something greater together.

Rodney started his life as an author later in life, a passion and a profession he stepped into at 60. Writing however was also a part of his previous profession as a social worker. He has so far written 12 books which are currently available on Amazon. One of his books, Hitler My Father is unique in that it tells the story of a boy and his mother claiming that Hitler is the father. Certainly not a confirmed truth but an interesting and creative what-if. Other works by Rodney range from The Garden of Eatin’ to Shayla’s Clip’N’Pick, a story about an older African-American, twice-a-widow who finds herself alone and broke but goes on to start a business and find love.

Holy Family's Pastor, Father Martin Nguyen. Father Nguyen was born in Vietnam. He is a pastor, advocate for special needs families, and a priest whose life has been shaped by immigration, personal conversion, and a deep devotion to the Eucharist. He arrived in the United States in 2006 at the age of sixteen, having never left Vietnam before or traveled on an airplane, and settled in Orlando with his family. His journey took him from Holy Family Catholic Church, where he first served as an altar server, to seminary formation at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, and eventually to his ordination in 2016 at St. James Cathedral. He now serves as Pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church and School, the same parish where he first found community as a young immigrant, and holds additional roles as Chancellor for Canonical Affairs and Judicial Vicar for the Diocese of Orlando. If you ask those who know him, they will tell you he leads with humility, warmth, and a genuine closeness to the people around him. Whether he is welcoming families of children with special needs, encouraging parishioners to return to Mass, or reflecting openly on his own struggles and growth, Father Nguyen continues to serve with the kind of honesty and personal presence that makes people feel they are not walking alone.