Dr. Helen Fisher, Dr. John Gottman, Dr. Paul Ekman are just a few of my favorite teachers.

Who have been my mentors and teachers throughout my process of creating the Joy of Romance, Inc.?

I wouldn’t be here today with this broad foundation of knowledge I have if it wasn’t for several authors, professors and scientists.

Over 15 years ago, when I started reading work on human relationships from the perspective of social anthropology, one woman’s work stood out. Her name was Dr. Helen Fisher. I had the incredible opportunity to develop a friendship with her last year and she remains my greatest mentor. Keep an eye peeled for her new book, which is based on many of the discoveries she has found by working with her million plus “test subjects” on Chemistry.com.

In my studies of the Facial Action Coding System, I want to thank my FACS Boot Camp professor Dr. Ericka Rosenberg and Dr. Paul Ekman who created the process. Dr. John Gottman who brought the practical application of FACS to his work with married couples. FACS is a system that carefully describes how the face moves. Armed with the ability to interpret how the face moves with FACS, you can interpret the top seven universal emotions and gain a solid understanding of facial expressions worldwide.

Dr. Gary Chapman really tapped into something when he detailed the five love languages. It makes “filling your partner’s love reservoirs” that much easier when you truly understand what they need to feel filled up on love. Expressing love can be done much more effectively and efficiently when you know your love languages.

Bringing in the pleasure is Regena Thomashauer a.k.a. “Mama Gena” who taught me the importance of making pleasure a top priority in life. Her message for women taking responsibility for their own pleasure should be shouted from coast to coast. Dr. Ellen Kreidman is a straight shooting teacher of how to master yourself to create a better relationships. Another advocate for investing the time in yourself to create more fulfilling long-term relationship success is Susan Page. For realizing just how easy it has become in this society for women to castrate men without even realizing they are doing so is Allison Armstrong.

From a sociological and cognitive psychology perspective of life, I had enjoyed the way Daniel Goleman and Malcolm Gladwell have been able to synthesize a whole body of technical scientific studies and make that material easy to digest for the masses. They are able to present the fascinating findings of how we as humans are social creatures and have the need to interact.

This list could go on for a very long while. However there are just a few more I simply don’t want to leave out: for her work on the scientific research on what makes us truly happy is Sonja Lyubomirsky; for her work with aphrodisiacs is Nancy Nickell; for his ability to eloquently write about what makes sex in a marriage stay in a marriage over time is Dr. Ian Kerner, for his excellent way of combining neurobiology, psychology and cognitive science is Daniel Siegel; for her simple explanations of Zen thought is Charlotte Joko Beck; and for her passion in bringing the passion back into marriages is Michele Weiner Davis.

Thank you all!!!