The Unscarred Board
Shalita is a devout entrepreneur who enjoys hearing people’s stories, advocating for the less fortunate, and serving wherever she’s planted. Her roles include Real Estate Investor, owning/managing 10 properties for 17 years, Licensed Real Estate broker who hosts free seminars to teach the art of Real Estate Investing for 1st time home buyers, Party planner and equipment renter, Licensed Insurance producer who educates consumers on the importance of insurance and guides them in choosing the right plans to cover their home, auto, and life, Substitute teachers all across Chicagoland, Actress and performer Most importantly she is a loving wife to a hardworking husband, and a mom to 4 amazing children, who, when freed from her duties, she enjoys traveling, singing, and writing songs.
Shalita Ativie
lESLIE eDELMAN
Leslie Edelman is currently an Executive Creative Producer at Link Logistics. Known for her diverse creative background and strategic acumen, she is a moth to the light, when bringing ideas to life. Her journey began in photojournalism but turned towards film after a pivotal first job colorizing movies for Ted Turner. Leslie thrives on innovation, finding inspiration in the many facets of business, science/technology, and storytelling. Her short films and parodies have won the highest honors at Hermes and Viddy awards. While many agency projects have won top honors at Cannes, Clio, and Graphis.
Anne’s practice involves all areas of entertainment law, with a primary focus on film, television and digital media. She advises studios and distributors (such as Amazon MGM Studios, Disney, and Spotify), networks (such as TelevisaUnivision), media companies and talent, including independent producers, production companies, documentary filmmakers, influencers, writers, directors and actors, and has served as production counsel for numerous scripted and non-scripted productions. Anne also acts as an outside counsel business affairs advisor, negotiating deals and counseling on fair use, infringement, and copyright law. For many years Anne worked at the big law firm, Sheppard Mullin. However, Anne now owns and operates her own law firm, Blakemore Entertainment.
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In addition to her legal and business affairs work, Anne also acts as an independent producer on various documentary and feature film projects. In her free time, Anne is writing a creative non-fiction, coming-of-age book about a young woman from California moving to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s as well as producing and hosting a new podcast currently entitled “My Lawyer Friend: Another Podcast".
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Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Anne worked in business and legal affairs at Entertainment One as in-house counsel in the film department.
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Anne earned her law degree from New York Law School where she competed in the International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria and specialized in Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property law. A native Californian, she received her bachelor’s degree from USC with distinctions.
ANNE Easton
mARGARET O'Conor
Margaret O'Conor is an established community leader with a passion for the non-profit sector. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from the College of Santa Fe. Margaret currently leads Common Pantry as their Executive Director and is also a longtime collaborator with Big Teeth Productions. With a strong track record for fundraising and working with stakeholders around missions she is passionate about, Margaret is excited to support Elise and help ensure the stories of those in Unscarred can be shared with the world.​
Karen Semone has had a 20+ year career in creative services digital innovation and storytelling most recently at Salesforce. Karen works with top customers to reinvent their transformation strategy and future-proof against the quickly changing world. She uses the power of Wordcraft visual elements and multimedia to change hearts and minds about where innovation is headed. Before Salesforce, Karen worked in both the start-up and agency worlds on iconic brands such as IBM McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and more. She is also an active volunteer in Chicago, sitting on the board of Concordia Place, a non-profit focused on supporting families in need.
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Karen Semone
Erik is a seasoned executive known for his significant contributions to the growth and development of loyalty and engagement solutions, notably during his tenure at Augeo.
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Erik most recently held the title of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Augeo, a leader in engagement, loyalty, and incentive platforms. In this senior role, he optimized the delivery of Augeo's solutions, overseeing product development, project management, security compliance, supplier management, and organizational strategy. Previously as Chief Product Officer, he was instrumental in creating a global redemption marketplace and a leading employee recognition solution currently leveraged by 70+ Fortune 500 companies.
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Erik stepped away from Augeo in early 2026 after 21 years to raise his three middle school aged children and is currently involved with various organizations as an advisor. When Erik isn't helping with homework, hounding his kids to brush their teeth and wear a coat, he enjoys skiing, golfing and anything else in nature.
Sandy Spatz has been an organizer since she was 10 and an actor since she was 8! If she had only known the now infamous words of wisdom she learned from a business coach-- that our true calling is often based on what we enjoyed doing as children, she could have saved a lot of time.; but we all have our journey. She is still an actor and about 18 years ago began dabbling in the business of organizing; helping people create peace and space for themselves. Sandy has also served as President of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL as well as the co-chair for the congregation’s Capital Campaign retiring a 4.4 million dollar building loan.
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