Joan Snyder (1943- ) was the co-founder of the Meadows Playhouse, Nevada's first professional year-round theater. She served as the artistic director from 1977 to 1982, and received a Governor's award for outstanding contribution to theater in Nevada. Snyder also served as an acting instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 1967 to 1976. She currently splits her time between Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California, working as a keynote speaker, retreat leader, and yoga and meditation instructor, under the name Joan Frances Moran.
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In 1976, Jacqueline "Jaki" Baskow was an aspiring actress when she and a friend accepted an invitation to worked in a movie studio in Las Vegas. She had three-hundred dollars to her name, a dream and lots of dynamic energy. Though the movie studio offer did not quite materialized as she hoped - the invitation had come from Batman co-creator Bob Kane - Jaki's trajectory into Las Vegas, working with talents and planning events became an over forty year career. In this interview, she talks about growing up Jewish in Camden, New Jersey where her father was a murder victim; her tenacious effort to find the perpetrator included the help of celebrity detective Joe Schillaci. She shares stories of the colorful array of A-list entertainers she has worked with to build her successful business, Baskow and Associates. She has built a niche of handling large corporate events, hiring talent and attention to details for exciting events. She reflects on the people and moments that impelled her on; mentors such as Bobby Morris and Frank Sinatra and Jilly Rizzo.
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