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.

Renowned psychology expert and Stanford University professor Michele Gelfand is one of the leading researchers and writers on culture and the impact of culture on behavior. Gelfand uses field, experimental, computational and neuroscience methods to understand the evolution of culture and its multilevel consequences for human groups. Her work has been cited over 50,000 times and has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Fox News, NBC News, ABC News, and The Economist, among other outlets. Most recently, she is the author of "Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire the World."

Four-time Olympic gold medalist, Janet Evans, has been recognized as the best female distance swimmer in United States history. Calling on her experience as a world-record setting swimmer, Janet executes motivational speeches for top companies in varying fields including: Technology, Healthcare, Real Estate, Telecommunications, Apparel, Banking, Insurance, Trade Associations, packaged goods, non profits and many others. With her easy style and grace on a podium, Janet has helped veteran salesman and senior executives alike!

Lisa Gable is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of the award-winning book, Turnaround: How to Change Course When Things are Going South, and is recognized worldwide as a turnaround mastermind. As CEO of several organizations, and as a former Presidential appointee, US Ambassador, UN Delegate, and advisor to Fortune 500 companies, Lisa has orchestrated and executed the successful turnarounds of well-known private and public organizations in all industries and sectors. Lisa most recently served as the CEO of FARE, the world’s largest funder of food allergy research. In 2004, she was appointed by President George W. Bush as the first woman in World’s Fair’s 150-year history to direct the U.S. Pavilion, a 100 percent non-federally funded $33.7 million operation with more than 70 employees. She held personal rank of Ambassador.

Sarita Maybin is an international speaker and communication expert with over two decades of experience and has shared her insights in all 50 states, 10 countries, and on the prestigious TEDx stage. Her universal message has resonated with a diverse range of clients, including the American Dental Association, Million Dollar Round Table, Department of the Navy and the University of California. Sarita is a former university dean of students and has literally written the book on how to respond to the question: “If You Can’t Say Something Nice, What DO You Say?” She continues the conversation in her latest book "Say What You Mean in a Nice Way."