About you

We learn from you; are enriched by you... as we work on our projects.
You make a great positive impact on us... and you come from every walk of life.

Dr. Tatiana Shubin’s life work has been taking young minds on journeys of mathematical exploration. She revels in the ‘Aha!’ moments of her pupils and anything that tickles their insides to make them more confident problem solvers. Her tools? Anything that sparks discovery: olympiads, wrangles, college courses, summer math camps, math circles (a favorite) and free public lectures by mathematician superstars from around the world. Level Five had the chance to support those with easy-to-read flyer designs. And worked again with Dr. Shubin on figures for Inspiring Mathematics: Lessons from the Navajo Nation Math Circles. Dr. Shubin currently co-directs the Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles (AIMC), and is a welcome familiar visitor on Navajo Reservation land, and land of other tribes. You can see a beautiful feature length movie about her work called “Navajo Math Circles” from 2016.

Long before Tatiana took young people on journeys of math exploration, she spent a summer in college working on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway!

Tatiana Shubin
Math professor

Long before Tatiana took young people on journeys of math exploration, she spent a summer in college working on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway!

Nobody knows the worlds of science and logistics at the two extremes of the planet better than Peter West. Journalist, media officer, spokesperson and director of outreach programs for the US operations at North and South poles for 20 years, he has communicated tirelessly and articulately to the public about the discoveries made by polar researchers and the physical challenges and logistical nuances of supporting such extreme science. It was Zina’s privilege to work on numerous polar projects with Peter including a series of posters covering the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station during the 2007 International Polar Year. These materials are still to be found all over the world including in New Zealand, which serves as the U.S. gateway to much of Antarctica, and at South Pole itself. Having worked in ice cold regions that are as close to being on another planet as you can get, it’s no surprise Peter is a fan of both Doctor Who and Star Trek and avid scuba diver.

Photo credit Peter West. Peter standing on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in 2019 after arriving aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane.

Peter West
Polar program media officer

Photo credit Peter West. Peter standing on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in 2019 after arriving aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane.

Vikram Janardhan is founder and CEO of Insera Therapeutics, a Sacramento based biotech company focused on solutions to cure Stroke. Vikram is an engineer, innovative thinker, clear, impactful teacher, and among many graduate degrees holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.

Vikram is also an inspirational speaker and has given several interviews on TV as well as radio, including commencement speeches at Drexel University and Sierra College.

Vikram first collaborated on an illustration with Zina in 2007 to show the very first Shelter device his company had produced. For over a decade now Level Five has had the pleasure to work with Vikram on images to communicate about and market Insera’s life-saving technologies to the patent office, and to large biotech partners who will distribute the devices. The images are used both in printed form and slide decks. We replaced “a thousand words with a single memorable image” to help Insera Therapeutics communicate effectively.

Vikram Janardhan
Biotech company CEO

Vikram is also an inspirational speaker and has given several interviews on TV as well as radio, including commencement speeches at Drexel University and Sierra College.

Miriam Hiser is a trial lawyer who has managed her own law practice for over twenty years. She specializes in business and bankruptcy litigation in Northern California. She has long been a fan of Level Five’s work, and with its expertise and guidance created an anthology of her great grandfather’s poetry. With poems spanning decades from the 1910s to the 1950s, and including both a family history and cherished photographs, the book is a beautiful keepsake that is now enjoyed by the family and local libraries. We took a dream and produced it in a way that far exceeded expectations. Level Five also produced a short illustrated booklet to highlight Miriam’s mother’s witty correspondence for a Mother’s Day surprise and delight.

Miriam is not just a razor sharp professional woman but a fierce athlete. She swam the English Channel on the South End Rowing Club’s first all-female relay team in 2011 and competed in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim relays in 2012. She has completed twenty half marathons, numerous triathlons, 80 Alcatraz crossings, and has her sights set on becoming an ultrarunner.

Photo credit: Elizabeth Glass

Miriam Hiser
Trial lawyer

Photo credit: Elizabeth Glass

Dylan Tweney is a writer, editor, and the VP of Communications and Research for Valimail, a San Francisco-based technology company. He’s the founder of tinywords, a daily journal of haiku and micropoetry, and of Tweney Media, a content-centric communications agency. Dylan and Zina collaborated on a published article explaining how ion thrusters work as a propulsion system for space satellites. Dylan and Alan collaborated to redesign and modernize the South End newsletter in a more magazine-like format, then produced quarterly issues of the publication for three years. Dylan is a cold water swimmer and once swam from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge (6.5 miles) in a fundraiser for SF Baykeeper. He studies haiku because, after 25 years in Silicon Valley, that’s the only poetry his attention span can handle. Photo credits: Dylan Tweney, Cy Lo at Floatapalooza

Dylan Tweney
Writer, editor

Lee Parks, enterpreneur, two-wheel enthusiast, motorcycle racing champion, educator, philosopher, author, motorcycle gear designer, owner of Total Control Training. Lee has been working with Level Five for 20 years. Al has illustrated and done layout for two of his best-selling books on motorcycle riding skills and motorcycle mechanics (translated now into 5 languages). Al and Lee are currently updating multiple levels of motorcycle safety curricula that are used throughout North America. Lee lives in the desert with a one-of-a-kind energy-independent home of his own design.

Lee Parks
Entrepreneur, educator

Gabe Ets-Hokin is an internationally published freelance writer and motojournalist with a career spanning two decades and two dozen publications. Gabe worked with Level 5 while editing CityBike magazine, one of the first free regional motorcycle community publications in the United States. Level 5’s flexibility and innovative design solutions were key in keeping CityBike going.

Gabe is a USMC Gulf War veteran and lives with his family in Oakland, California. He loves cooking and hates his cats.

Portrait by Bob Stokstad, EBR photo by Drew Ruiz.

Gabe Ets-Hokin
Motojournalist

Gabe is a USMC Gulf War veteran and lives with his family in Oakland, California. He loves cooking and hates his cats.

Portrait by Bob Stokstad, EBR photo by Drew Ruiz.

Jennifer Brokaw MD is a patient advocate, writer and speaker. She is Supervising Physician for the San Francisco Fire Department.

She first worked with Zina as an advisor for a professional presentation on kidney transplant. Since then she has commissioned illustrations for several medical and patient care articles on https://jenniferbrokaw.com/. She appreciates Level Five’s easy grasp of the scientific and delivery to a lay audience.
Jen is an avid open water swimmer, and has played tennis with Westley himself of the Princess Bride cast.

Photo by Jonathan Payne.

Jennifer Brokaw MD
Patient advocate, writer, speaker

Jennifer Brokaw MD is a patient advocate, writer and speaker. She is Supervising Physician for the San Francisco Fire Department.

About you

We learn from you; are enriched by you... as we work on our projects.
You make a great positive impact on us... and you come from every walk of life.

CLIENTS

FEATURED IN

How can Level Five help tell YOUR story?

About you

We learn from you; are enriched by you... as we work on our projects. You make a great positive impact on us... and you come from every walk of life.

CLIENTS

FEATURED IN

How can Level Five help tell YOUR story?

We learn from you; are enriched by you... as we work on our projects.
You make a great positive impact on us... and you come from every walk of life.