Amara Projansky is founder and CEO of Luminary Media, a Hudson Valley regional media company, publisher of local magazines Chronogram, Upstate House, Upstater and Explore the Hudson Valley. She is a publishing and marketing specialist with over 25 years experience managing and directing complex teams from strategy and conceptualization to actualization. She has a special interest in regional economies and specifically in supporting small business sustainability within the regional ecosystem of the Hudson Valley. Amara grew-up in the Hudson Valley, and Fairfield County, CT. In her early life she studied painting, fine art, and dance. She loves food, movement, meditation and her family.