Performers » NEFLIN Connect

Cost: $300.00

Ages of Audience: 4 to 10 and families

Will travel? Yes

Smallest audience: 10

Largest audience: up to 200

Libraries where performed: Featured Storyteller at the Florida Storytelling Festival, 2014, Hillsborough County Library system, Pasco County Libraries, Polk County Libraries, Manatee County Libraries, Sarasota County Libraries, Lee County Library system, Orange County Library System, Lake County Library system, Gadsden County Libraries, Leon County Libraries, Merritt Island Public Library, Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines, April ’19 I was featured at the Cedar Key School Young Authors’ Conference

Mad Science provides high-energy and hands-on Science programs for kids aged 2-14. We are the world’s leading fun science provider!
Mad Science is on a mission to spark the imagination of children everywhere with exciting, live, and interactive programs that instill a clear understanding of what science is really about, and how it affects the world around us.

Mad Science is proud to offer a large selection of Special Event Shows and Workshops for Libraries all over Central and North Florida!

Cost: $100-200

Ages of Audience: 5-12

Will travel? Yes

Smallest/largest audience: small and larger groups ok

Libraries where performed: St. Johns County Main Library, also SE Branch with Tale Tellers of St. Augustine

Cost: We are based in Orlando, so the price depends on location. The base price is $550 per show. More than 50 miles from Orlando, additional traveling fee. We prefer two shows per day to reduce travel costs.

Ages of Audience: All ages

Will travel? Yes.

Smallest/largest audience: Depends on the capacity of the room.

Libraries where performed: Orange Co., Alachua Co., and many libraries throughout Central Florida.

West Point Graduate with a M. A. In Education. 25 years as a Performer with over 8,000 shows experience. Over 15 years experience as a healthcare clown and working with grief therapy groups. Teen workshops that teach Japanese Kendama and Juggling, a crossing the mid-line and brain laterality exercise.

WHO: Shana Banana, Music and Fun for Kids (and Families)!

WHAT: A one-woman interactive musical concert with several themes offered, including customizable themes. For the library theme “Tales and Tails,” Shana Banana presented an animal-themed show featuring her dog puppets, Hal and Henson, who accompanied her on a story-and song-laden journey of celebration of animals great and small. For the 2022 Oceans library theme, Shana presented “Banana Beach Party,” which took Shana, her puppets, and her audience on a journey through the water cycle, where they met all sorts of interesting aquatic and marine species. For the 2023 theme of “All Together Now,” Shana capitalized on her extensive background as a mindfulness and yoga teacher to create the program “Good Vibrations with Shana Banana.” For 2024, we will dive into “Bananadventures: The Adventurous Spirit of Going Bananas,” in which Shana and her puppets make all kinds of incredible discoveries by honoring their adventurous spirits and curiosity! Shana Banana also wrote a BRAND NEW adventure program with Didgeridoo Down Under’s one and only Raihan Alam (“Rai the Guy”) called “Heartbeat of the Earth.”

WHEN: Shana Banana has themed programs for all different times of the year! Consider “Bananaween” for October, “Che-Han-Tah-Mo” Seminole Indian show or “Heartbeat of the Earth” for November, “Merry Chriskwanzanukah” and “Going Bananas for the Holidays” for December, “Bananimagination” and “Fairy Tales Gone Bananas” to celebrate reading any time of the year, and “Banana Beach Party” or “Good Vibrations for a Healthy Planet” or “Heartbeat of the Earth” for Earth Day, and “Good Vibrations with Shana Banana,” “Heartbeat of the Eartn,” and “Bananadventures” for anytime!

WHY: Shana actually paused her research-based Ph.D. program in Oceanography to follow her great love of writing great songs and stories and creating wholesome, educational, music programs for children. 25 years, 5 CD’s, two DVD’s, a television segment, and two kids of her own later, she has never looked back, and continues to “go bananas” as a true heart’s calling.

HOW: Shana travels self-contained, with a sound system, guitar, drum, puppets, a few bunches of bananas, and sometimes one or both of her teenagers in tow. All you need provide is a table and an outlet! She is also set up to offer both pre-recorded and LIVE, interactive, virtual Zoom concerts.

QUALIFICATIONS: 25 years as a traveling, musical, interactive family “edu-tainer.” Multiple awards, including: Parents’ Choice, NAPPA, iParenting, Just Plain Folks Best Children’s Song in the Country, two first-round Grammy nominations. Master’s degree and Ph.D. candidacy.

Links to previous presentations, resources and/or help guides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQ8vyPDOd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kv4Su_10m0

https://youtu.be/r7MN-_wPWa4?si=kWimD9iuDZP96W_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAtIbBCmVmo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su9NFEqoVok

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tar2lF7ADJ0&t=8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DLXKVHp6rE&t=505s

Jessie Shternshus is the creative force behind unforgettable “aha” moments in leadership, communication, and connection. A master of applied improvisation, she turns boardrooms into playgrounds for innovation, helping global companies like Netflix, the UN, and Johnson & Johnson find clarity through curiosity and storytelling. Whether she’s coaching an executive, crafting a keynote, or leading a workshop with her signature warmth and wit, Jessie helps people unlock their potential, speak with presence, and play their way through change.
She doesn’t just talk about transformation — she designs it, one interactive exercise, one bold reframe, and one meaningful story at a time.
Curious connector.
Story-shaping speaker coach.
Play-driven problem solver.
Creator of Together to Gather and other tools that turn connection into an art form.

Links to previous presentations: https://www.rubyevents.org/talks/keynote-unlearning-the-challenge-of-change-by-jessie-shternshus