ABOUT > ORGANIZERS
Neti Neti Media
Neti Neti Media is a conscious conglomerate of filmmakers, scientists, philosophers and explorers committed to expand the potential of humanity. Our mission is to create media and public gatherings to inspire, connect, and facilitate the emergence of a new spiritual paradigm which is based on the timeless wisdom traditions of the world, informed by science, and grounded in direct experience. The scope of NetiNetiMedia is to define new realms of understanding that will allow us to go beyond form, beliefs and concepts into recognizing our true nature.
Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
Conference Founders and Organizers
When Zaya and Maurizio met in 2008, it immediately became apparent that they could make a lot of noise together in this illusory world. They discovered that the only book they had both been reading for the past several years was "I Am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Almost immediately, they went to India together to shoot The Legacy of Nisargadatta Maharaj, which will be released in the Fall of 2011. The rest, as they say, is history…
Maurizio was brought up in Italy and went through many different incarnations, always looking for answers under every stone. In 1986, he came to the USA on a 98 year-old sailing boat. He started working as an actor, model, and then filmmaker, but his thirst for knowledge was never satisfied, until he encountered I Am That in 2001 while shooting the documentary "Short Cut to Nirvana" in India.
Zaya hails from Bulgaria and has degrees in Engineering, Environmental Science, and also Film. For many years, she worked as an environmental activist in Holland and Bulgaria. She later produced and directed several award-winning documentaries in Europe and the United States. Her life long passion for science and mysticism finally came together with the emergence of the conference.
Together, Zaya and Maurizio grow their own garden and still read "I Am That", along with Scientific American. They dream about making their next film together and in the little spare time he has, Maurizio watches his hometown soccer team, Sampdoria, or builds cardboard furniture that Zaya finishes with touches of beauty.
Zaya has a beautiful 10 year-old child that brings joy to the couple and to everyone around them.
Kyla Hoffbauer
Conference Registration ManagerKyla was born in Tucson, Arizona. After graduating with a degree in philosophy from the University of Arizona, she traveled, adventured and taught her way through Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Upon her return to the US, she worked and lived in the Sikh community in Espanola, New Mexico doing event registration and coordination. While there, she obtained her certificate to teach Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan and established a home away from home. She continues to work on event coordination and registration for various organizations including SAND. She now resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she enjoys doing her art, dancing, gardening, taking her dogs to the river and following her passion for understanding the continually unfolding process of existence, through exploration and discovery in both her external and internal worlds.
LISA Breschi
Conference Coordinator
Lisa was raised in Northern California at the base of Mt. Shasta in a loud and loving Italian family. After graduating from college, she worked as a bicycle tour guide in Italy discovering many other hidden gems that she had never seen whilst visiting family. After working for a stint at the Museo ItaloAmericano in San Francisco, she decided to pursue a Master’s degree in TESOL. Upon graduating from San Francisco State University, she went to El Salvador to assist with the political election observations and to teach English for a spell.
After becoming a mother to Daniel (11) and Lorenzo (10), she became interested in early childhood education and completed a Waldorf teacher training program in Santa Rosa where she studied the work of Rudolph Steiner and Anthroposophy. She currently works with young children in a nature-based program during the school year and directs an international high school student exchange program each summer.
In her free time, Lisa coordinates drivers for The Ceres Project in Sebastopol, supports her local farmer, enjoys dancing, cooking and community building. She believes in a world that works for everyone and feels grateful to be making a contribution to the SAND Conference.
Laura Maguire
Communications Manager & Performing Arts Advisor
Laura Maguire originally hails from Dublin, Ireland. After graduating with distinction in Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue her doctoral studies. She received her PhD in Philosophy from Stanford University, where she subsequently taught for several years in the Introduction to the Humanities program.
As a thinker, Laura is primarily interested in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. She is especially interested in approaches to mind that see cognition as an embodied activity of an agent who is fully in the world, rather than as a modular computational state of a brain that represents a world separate from the cognizer. She is also interested in questions about reasons and agency and the role that consciousness plays in decision-making.
When not deep in thought, Laura loves to dance and attend live music in small local venues. In 2009, she founded San Francisco's Tango-Contact Jam and the following year in Thailand, she founded Dance Chiang Mai, a community organization and production company with over three hundred members. She books and promotes music in the Bay Area under the name Live ‘n’ Local SF and she also publishes Fenderhardt, a blog about music, arts, and dance.
A committed materialist/atheist/skeptic, Laura is delighted by the wonder of it all and is thrilled to be working on the Neti Neti team.
Nick Day
Co-conspirator and Media ProducerNick Day is an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter originally from the UK. He studied cinema at the British Film Institute and trained and worked as a video editor in London before relocating to New York City in the late 1980s. His production and editing credits include a diverse range of documentaries, commercials, corporate presentations, and news features for international clients such as RAI Italy, Globosat Brazil, ZDF Germany and Channel 4 UK.
Nick co-directed and produced the award-winning documentary Short Cut to Nirvana, which played in theaters across the US and Europe. He has also written several screenplays, including The Fallen, a WWII drama which won him a screenwriter's award.
Nick currently serves on the board of HealthShare International as its vice president. In addition, he has worked with various Tibet support groups, helping to build two schools for Tibetan refugees in Nepal and India.
His other interests include world travel, mountain hiking, cinema, and teaching himself music composition. As part of his lifelong exploration into human consciousness, he recently trained as a hypnotist.
