A NASA astronaut, Joan Higginbotham is a trailblazing electrical engineer who in December 2006, flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery to become the third African American woman to travel into space. Over the nearly 13-day mission, she joined the seven-member crew to continue construction of the International Space Station (ISS), embarking on four space walks and operating the station’s robotic arm. Sharing captivating insights from her 20-year distinguished career with NASA, Higginbotham inspires audiences with her personal journey of breaking barriers into space and beyond. Taking groups aboard the International Space Station and sharing her lessons-learned along the way, she highlights the keys to succeeding in her missions – including preparation, perseverance, and never giving up – and how these tactics can be applied to any endeavor.

Cassandra “Cassi” Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many “firsts” across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI’s first African American female special agent assistant director as well as the Bureau’s first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. In addition to defining the tools motivational leaders need to mindfully build more high-performing cultures, Chandler provides actionable insights on how to move the needle while leading with empathy.

A globally recognized brand-building innovator and a champion both of creativity and challenging the status quo in the workplace, Marisa Thalberg is 1 of only 18 to be inducted into the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame. She is considered one of the most dynamic and versatile marketing executives in the field, displaying versatility and adaptability that has led to her being an exceedingly successful leader in a diverse portfolio of industries, ranging from luxury beauty (The Estée Lauder Companies) and fast food (Taco Bell) to big box retail (Lowe’s Home Improvement) and theme parks and entertainment (SeaWorld/Busch Gardens). Her passionate advocacy for women at work led her on the path to social entrepreneurship as the founder of Executive Moms, an organization created to connect and support accomplished women who are both professionals and moms. In this capacity, Thalberg became an early leading voice and supporter for women, and particularly mothers, in the workplace, appearing across a range of media outlets including The TODAY Show, FOX, CNN, NBC News, and many more.

Regarded as the “CEO-Maker,” “DEI Professor,” and the “Cubicle to Corner Office Empress,” Dethra Giles is a workplace and career optimizer who advises organizations and individuals on how to chart their unique paths to success. She is a four-time TEDx speaker who has been named a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by Engagedly, and was selected by HR Gazette’s “HRchat” podcast as one of the “Top 22 Most Influential Figures in HR.” With clients including Kaiser Permanente, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Army Corp of Engineers, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Salvation Army, Giles shares a unique blend of advanced education and industry experience that has been described as “university-tested and industry-approved,” and can be implemented by organizations of any size, and across industries.

With a master-level understanding of what it takes to survive and thrive in the workplace and how organizations can create more equitable spaces for all, Carice Anderson is a workplace development and success engineer who empowers individuals to strategically navigate their careers and advises some of the world’s top companies on aligning their talent strategies to their business objectives. As a director in leadership and manager development for a leading, multinational asset management firm, her work sits at the intersection of talent and leadership development, workplace evolution, and diversity, equity, and inclusion — helping individuals, teams, and organizations unlock the potential within and consistently perform at the highest levels.

Molly Fletcher is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. She is a rare talent of business wisdom, relationship brilliance and unwavering optimism. As a CEO, she shares her unconventional and unique techniques that made her one of the first female sports agents in the high stakes, big ego world of professional sports and now a successful entrepreneur. As president of client representation for sports and entertainment agency CSE, Molly spent two decades as one of the world’s only female sports agents.

Combat tests you. Being a beat cop tests you. Life tests you. Three brothers and being the only girl...tests you. Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour has been tested her whole life. A gutsy trailblazer, her resume is an impressive collection of “firsts” including America’s first Black woman combat pilot. She served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine. She was also a diversity liaison officer to the Pentagon for Headquarters Marine Corps. After her military service, FlyGirl revved up her career in the private sector as an entrepreneur, consultant to business, and author of Zero to Breakthrough, The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter. As a speaker, FlyGirl unleashes hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business. She helps individuals and organizations Get Gutsy and build a sustainable inner force and conviction, that results in accomplishing significant goals.

Candace Doby is founder of The Can-Do Company. She is a leadership development strategist, author of A Cool Girl’s Guide To Courage and professional speaker who works with organizations to create a culture of courage where employees spend less time and energy censoring and hiding themselves and more time performing at their highest potential. Candace combines a decade of research on courage with her experiences traveling the world solo and a 16-year, award-winning marketing career — much of which was spent leading teams at Chipotle. This unique combination equips her with the implementable strategies she has shared with thousands of leaders to help them courageously speak up, step up and show up in the workplace. Candace is known for delivering those strategies with a blend of truth, love and a bit of attitude to match the realness of courage, which prompts clients to refer to her in-person and virtual presence as "captivating." Her work has been featured on MSNBC, NPR and TEDx.

Tripp Crosby is a comedic host, inspirational speaker, and filmmaker who is at this very moment writing about himself in the third person. It’s very, very possible that you’ve seen his most popular comedy sketch called “A Conference Call in Real Life”. This video is one of, if not the most popular workplace related comedy sketches of all time and possibly the only YouTube video to ever go viral twice: Once when Tripp first created it in 2013 and again in 2020 when the painful experience of participating in conference calls became an even more relatable topic.

Offering a unique doctor/reporter viewpoint on healthcare, Dr. Nancy Snyderman provides tips for juggling life between health, career, and motherhood. She has reported on wide-ranging medical topics and has traveled the world extensively, reporting from many of the world's most troubled areas. She delivers a look at the medical future of America and explains why we need to become active in the politics behind good health.

Nadia Bilchik is a well-known television news anchor, keynote speaker, trainer and communications consultant on several continents. She has anchored for the CNN Airport Network, and was the main anchor and special assignment reporter for MNET Television, the leading network in South Africa . She has also hosted various feature programs for CNN International. Nadia currently hosts a weekly business segment on CNN International’s “Inside Africa” and is a voice talent for CNNI.

Keren Elazari is an internationally recognized cyber security analyst, author, and researcher with more than 20 years of experience in the cyber security field. Keren covers emerging security technologies and trends as an independent strategic advisor, working with leading technology providers, government agencies, innovative start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies. In 2014, Keren became the first Israeli woman to speak at the prestigious TED Conference. Keren’s talk has been viewed by millions, translated to 30 languages, and chosen for TED’s ‘Most Powerful Ideas’. Today, Keren’s TED talk is still one of TED’s most watched talks on the topic of security and hacking. Keren holds a CISSP certification and a Masters in Security Studies, and is a senior researcher at the Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University . Keren is the founder of Israel’s largest security research community event, BSidesTLV, part of the global SecurityBSides movement, and the Leading Cyber Ladies, a global professional network for Women in Cyber Security.