Meet our Contributors

IKEA Life Improvement Project Ambassador

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  Lisa Ling

  Lisa Ling is pleased to be partnering with IKEA as the program ambassador for the Life Improvement Project to encourage people to share stories of what they do to improve their lives at home, and to learn from the life improvement tips of others. Ling is a brilliant storyteller who has shown her own commitment to life improvement at home. She recently built the first LEED Platinum certified home in Santa Monica, California. Ling is involved in many community causes and joined IKEA in 2011 to help make over Lydia Home, a Chicago-area children's shelter.

  Ling is currently the executive producer and host of Our America on OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network. In 2013, Lisa will be hosting a new CBS reality show, The Job, in which contestants compete for their dream job at a prestigious company.

  As the former field correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, and contributor to ABC News' Nightline and National Geographic's Explorer, Ling has reported from dozens of countries. Lisa got her start in journalism as a correspondent for Channel One News. She later went on to become a co-host of ABC Daytime's hit show The View, which won its first daytime Emmy during her time at the show.

  Lisa was a special correspondent for CNN's Planet in Peril series and is a contributing editor for USA Today's USA Weekend magazine. She is the co-author of Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride: Rituals of Womanhood and Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home, which she penned with her sister, Laura. She is a co-founder of www.SecretSocietyofWomen.com, a contributor to www.iVolunteer.org and serves on the Board of Directors for the California Museum.

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IKEA Life Improvement Expert

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  Peter Walsh

  Peter Walsh is a noted international organization expert, New York Times best-selling author, and television host who describes himself as part contractor, part therapist. Peter's aim is to help families de-clutter their homes in an effort to help them live to their full potential. As one of the "Oprah Friends," Peter has appeared numerous times on The Oprah Winfrey Show, contributes frequently to O, The Oprah Magazine, and is a regular guest at O Magazine's annual event, O You! Peter is currently a regular "Buddy" on The Rachel Ray Show, and between his hit series Clean Sweep on TLC, and the two series he did for OWN, he has organized literally thousands of homes. Born in Australia and now based in Los Angeles, Walsh lives "clutter free" and travels extensively both nationally and internationally helping homeowners and corporations organize their living and work spaces for optimal efficiency and liberated living. Peter is a personal fan of IKEA and can often be found shopping one of their many stores. In 2011, Peter hosted the official pre-O You! kick-off event at the IKEA Atlanta store and is looking forward to appearing at select Life Improvement Project events for IKEA in 2012.

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The Life Improvement Squad

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  Susan Hyatt – The Master Life Coach

  Susan Hyatt is a Master Certified Life Coach, speaker, television personality, and the creator of two best selling online life design programs, Weight School and Life Is Delicious. Her innovative techniques, featured in her book, Create Your Own Luck: 7 Steps to Get Your Luck On, help clients identify what they want, why they want it, and how to make it happen. Susan's creative and inspiring work on designing your own life blend has also been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine.

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  Amy Atlas – The Entertaining Expert

  Amy Atlas, also known as "The Sweets Stylist," is a well-known entertaining, baking and crafting expert. She has been internationally recognized for her stylized dessert bar trend. Amy writes her own daily blog, "Sweet Designs," which shares styling tips, recipes, do-it-yourself crafting tricks, and a behind-the-scenes look at the tablescapes she styles for photo shoots. This past April, Amy released her bestselling book, Sweet Designs: Bake It, Craft It, Style It, which features over 175 recipes and at home dessert displays.

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  Erin Gates – The Interior Design Expert

  Founded in 2007 by interior designer Erin Gates, Elements of Style blog has become a touchstone for readers all over the world in search of design inspiration, advice and a few laughs. Lauded by the Washington Posts as one of the "Top Ten Design Blogs of 2008, Elements of Style sets itself apart by not only combining interior design, fashion and pop culture, but by doing so with a sense of humor and realistic approach that the general public can understand and access. Her blog and interior design work have been featured in newspapers, national magazines and online.

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  Cathy Hobbs – The Green Expert

  5-time Emmy award winning television personality Cathy Hobbs is the founder and creator of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes™. Cathy was a been featured on programs like The Nate Berkus Show, HGTV's Top Ten, Martha Stewart Living-Radio and is currently a regular contributor to the prominent shelter sites Sheknows.com, Ehow, Shoptopia and Cotton Candy Magazine.Cathy is a LEED AP, recognized and credentialed by The U.S. Green Building Council for her exceptional expertise and knowledge of Green and Sustainable design and is the only Green Home Stager in New York City. She is also an NCIDQ certificate holder. A graduate of one of the top interior design programs in the country, The Fashion Institute of Technology, her commitment and vision is to make interior design approachable and affordable to all those who seek the services of a professional designer.

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  Our Charity Partner – Early Steps to School Success

  IKEA is proud to be a supporter of Save the Children's Early Steps to School Success program in the US. IKEA strongly supports every child's right to a healthy, safe childhood, and the opportunity for a good education and a better start in life.

  What is Early Steps to School Success?

  Save the Children has been working for more than 20 years to develop and support Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programs and national level policies that benefit young children and their families.

  In the United States, Save the Children provides early childhood education programs for children living in poverty-stricken areas through Early Steps to School Success. With this program, Save the Children is building strong foundations for parenting and school readiness, and serving as a powerful catalyst to help children achieve a lifetime of learning.

  In partnership with schools and community-based organizations, Save the Children provides early childhood education services to pregnant women, mothers and children up to five years of age. Early Steps program coordinators implement this work through a home-visiting model for expecting families and those with children ages up to three. The program also provides transition-to-school activities for children ages three to five years, education services for parents, and ongoing training for Save the Children's early childhood educators.

  Currently, Early Steps serves over 20,500 children, parents and caregivers, including expecting mothers. The home visiting model is designed to assist children with language, social, and emotional development, and equip parents with the skills and knowledge to successfully support their child's growth and develop strong home-school connections.

  Each Early Steps coordinator makes regularly scheduled home visits and conducts child screenings and goal planning based on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). For pregnant women, visits focus on prenatal health and understanding of the baby's developmental progress. New parents learn how to create an appropriate environment for the infant and receive support for personal health issues, such as smoking and substance abuse. Parenting groups for pregnant families are held approximately once a month, and pregnant teens receive special services to support their needs.

  All visits are conducted with an approach that is culturally appropriate for the family. Coordinators often bring age-appropriate and culturally sensitive books to leave with the child and family. Together with the parents, they discuss child development activities and the gains the child is making to determine an area of focus that best fits the child's individual development plan.

  Why is the Early Steps to School Success program important?

  • Nearly one in four children in America lives in poverty
  • Four year olds from poor families are 18 months behind their peers developmentally
  • Children living in poverty are less likely to attend preschool, their parents are less likely to read aloud to them, and their parents are less likely to have graduated high school
  • Eighty percent of brain growth occurs in the first three years of life
  • Research indicates that the early years of a child's life shape his or her readiness for entering school. The parent-child relationship plays a critical role in children's cognitive, social and emotional development, affecting their motivation to learn
  • The best way to improve the chances for lifelong success of children who live in poverty is to reach them early and ensure they have the same opportunities to learn as other children

  With few, if any, early childhood education services available in poverty-stricken communities, Early Steps to School Success is a cost-effective, replicable initiative that begins with expectant parents and carries children into their early school years

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