Jeffrey Jacob “J. J.” Abrams was born June 27, 1966 in New York. Abrams was raised in Los Angeles. His parents are television producer Gerald W. Abrams, and executive producer Carol Abrams. Abrams’ first job in the movie business was at age sixteen. He wrote music for Don Dohler’s film Nightbeast.

Abrams attended Sarah Lawrence College. During Abrams’ senior year at college he wrote a film treatment. That treatment was purchased by Touchstone Pictures and became Abrams’ first production. Taking Care of Business was released in 1990. One year later Abrams produced Regarding Henry.

Abrams had success very early in his career. His projects were often very successful. In 1998 Abrams co-produced the box office hit Armageddon. Still in 1998, Abrams made his first attempt at television production with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network.  Abrams founded his own production company called Bad Robot. With Bad Robot, Abrams created and executive-produced ABC’s Alias. He also co-created and executive produced Lost.

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Rhonda Byrne was born on March 12, 1951. She is a native Australian television writer and producer. Byrne is best known her book and film, The Secret. Byrne began her career as a radio producer before moving into television production.

Many of her shows won industry awards and were screened in major countries outside Australia. Byrne has served as producer for Sensing Murder, a television series in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Byrne has also worked on the Australian TV series World’s Greatest Commercials and Marry Me.

In 2006 Byrne released the DVD and the book The Secret. The self help concepts that are presented are based upon William Walker Atkinson’s prior works and school of thought. By the spring of 2007 Byrne had sold nearly 4 million copies of the book and over 2 million copies of the DVD.

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Paula Deen was born on January 19, 1947 in Albany, Georgia. She attended Albany High School, and married not long after. In 1989 she divorced Jimmy Deen, to whom she had been married since 1965. Deen took her cooking experience and began a catering service in Savannah, Georgia. Deen began by making sandwiches and other meals and her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered the food.

The business was called The Bag Lady. It was successful and soon outgrew her kitchen. On January 8, 1996, Deen opened her first restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in Savannah. The southern style menu was very well received. Deen’s restaurant was very popular and she soon opened a second establishment. The “Paula Deen Buffet” at Harrah’s Tunica Casino in Tunica, Mississippi opened in 2008.

Deen has released several cookbooks. In 1997 Deen published The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2. The books were very successful and she has released two more since.

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What do Shannen Doherty and many other average Americans have in common? They have not earned as high of an education as they would like. However, going back to college can be difficult for working adults because of all of the other commitments they already have in their lives, such as friends, family, and their job. Luckily, Shannen has found a way to make her dream of getting a higher education a reality, and with ClassesPlease.com, you can too.

ClassesPlease.com is part of Education Connection, a website that makes it easier to find an educational path that is right for you. Like it’s parent-company, ClassesPlease.com allows users to find a college and major that will work with their schedule and meet their interests. Currently, ClassesPlease.com helps people find educational programs in career fields like information technology, criminal justice, business, culinary arts, and health sciences.

“I’m actually getting my degree in liberal arts,” said Shannen.

Shannen has partnered with the website in order to realize her life-long dream of earning a college degree. On a commercial for the website, Shannen says it’s easy to learn through this program because she can study whenever and wherever she is. Shannen is obviously doing an online program, but ClassesPlease.com also offers information about in-class programs.

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Dane Jeffrey Cook was born on March 18, 1972 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cook is the second son of George F. and Donna Jean Cook. The family moved to Arlington, Massachusetts, where Cook attended Arlington High School. After graduation, Cook studied graphic design in college as a fall-back plan in case he could not earn a living doing comedy. He now designs all of his merchandise.

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City and began performing. In 1996 Cook moved to Los Angeles. Cook’s big break came in 1998 when he appeared on the Comedy Central show Premium Blend.

In 2003, Cook released his first comedy album, Harmful If Swallowed. Cook then signed a contract with Comedy Central Records. His first album is certified platinum. Just two years later Cook released his second album entitled Retaliation. Retaliation went double platinum and made Cook the first comedian in 29 years to have an album top the Billboard charts.

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Michelle Obama is always a class-act, but she also knows how to have fun, and she showed off this funner side when she appeared with the cast of iCarly at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County, Virginia. Michelle and the cast of the popular Disney show were at the school to promote a new episode of the show. Michelle will appear in this episode and thank the thousands of military families in this country for their services and sacrifices.

The pep rally also allowed Michelle to get groovy during a minute of “random dancing,” which is also a staple of the television show. Michelle’s dancing featured a few variations of some old-school dances, like “the Jerk” and “the Monkey.”

“I think she showed everybody up in the dance department,” said Jennette McCurdy, an actress on the show who plays Samantha.

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Oprah Winfrey's School for Girls

Five years ago, Oprah Winfrey opened a school in South Africa for underprivileged girls. On January 14, 2011, the first class of girls graduated from the school and Oprah was there to watch them and offer the graduation speech.

During her graduation speech, Oprah told the girls that they were now “free to soar.” She also offered praise and recognition for the teachers, family members, social workers, and everyone else who has helped make this dream a reality for the girls. For many young people in South Africa, poverty and personal traumas make it impossible for them to become educated. Some of these personal traumas include violence, the death of one or even both parents, molestation, and grief, according to Oprah.

Originally, 75 girls were part of this class of graduating girls. Of those 75, all but three walked across the stage and are now planning to attend universities in the USA and South Africa.

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Last Saturday, Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler traded in her sash for a bigger and better title: Miss America 2012. It was a close finale between Kaeppeler and Miss Oklahoma, Betty Thompson, who had the most online votes. However, Kaeppeler wowed the judges with her Irish step dancing, open political views, and beautiful formal gown. EDUinReview will now take a look at this opera-singing beauty’s education background.

Kaeppeler was born in March 1988 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Her parents are Jeff and Sue Kaeppeler and she has two younger siblings, Rachel and Sarah. When Kaeppeler was 17-years old, her father was sentenced to serve time in prison for one year. Kaeppeler formed a support group for children whose parents are incarcerated, Circles of Support.

“I decided to take that on because I was one of those children and I see how important it is for those children,” she told People Magazine of her role in the support group. “Every parent deserves to have a relationship with their child and every child deserves that relation. My dad and I have never been closer.”

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A recent study suggests that college women sound different than they used to, and pop stars may be to blame.

Famous singers like Britney Spears and Ke$ha use vocal fry, described as a “creaky, rough, guttural sound,” to hit their lower notes, and it’s these notes that change the way some women sound.

Researchers from Long Island University recorded the voices of 34 college women. The study found that more than 65 percent of them used the husky “vocal fry” sounds, usually dropping into the low, croaky register towards the end of a sentence.

“My colleagues and I have noticed this speech pattern in our young female college students,” said one of the study’s authors, Nassima Abdelli-Beruh. “Interestingly, some research indicates that in some dialects of British English, male speakers use fry more often than female. So maybe it is also a gender marker.”

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What do Warren Buffett and Jay-Z have in common? At first glance, the answer might be a big fat nothing. But thanks to a new agreement between the two, that is going to soon change.

The two men have teamed up to teach kids important lessons about financial literacy through an animated series called Secret Millionaires Club. Since both men are very wealthy – Jay-Z is worth $450 million while Buffett is worth $39 billion -  it makes sense that they could share some of their knowledge with a younger generation about how to handle their finances.

The first episode is set to air on October 23, 2011. During this episode, an animated Jay-Z will invite a group of students into his office, where he then congratulations them on their hard work in school and offers them advice on how to stay successful later in life. The creators of the program hope that Jay-Z will lure the kids into watching the show and that the students will then take these valuable lessons with them long after the turn the television off.

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