Alan Epstein
Alan Epstein’s history may make him seem like a bit of a jack of all trades, but that’s not really the truth. Alan holds a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was awarded the Jonathan Weiss Award for Public Interest Advocacy and served as Research Editor of the highly-esteemed Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, long before he ever imagined he would have anything to do with arts and entertainment. Besides his short stint as a public interest attorney for Legal Services for the Elderly in Manhattan, he has been all over the place, in terms of career.
Amongst his many jobs, he has been a national trainer for Prudential, spent 15+ years in the cosmetics and beauty industry in a family business, has supervised call centers for Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity and FEMA, but Alan primarily considers himself an artist, and made a name for himself as a locally-renowned, underground dance music DJ in the Miami area under his alias “Alan Epps,” and is also an award-winning poet, currently under alias “eltonbomB,” taking first place in Realistic Poetry’s 2015 “Saving Lives With Poetry” contest for his poem “Togethered.” In 2020, Alan got an itch to become an event planner and promoter.
Alan had been introduced to a supplement called “Ultimate Shrooms” from Live Ultimate by botanist friend and fellow DJ, Bryan Huberty, and after experiencing several notable improvements to his health and well-being with an extended period of use, became inspired with the idea to create a mushroom festival to promote the many benefits of different types of mushrooms and fungi for humanity. He approached Bryan with the idea, and they spent countless hours creating the foundation for Miami Mushroom Fest.
Alan and Bryan later invited Darryll Fish, the progenitor of event promotions group, Miami Grooves, (in which Alan is a partner) to partner with them in Miami Mushroom Fest. All three partners have had tremendous impact and influence on the shape and trajectory of Miami Mushroom Fest.