Motivational Speaker Showcase 2025, Speak Sell Shine

All right, friends, welcome to this edition of the Speak, Sell, Shine Speaker Showcase. My name is Ryan Dohrn and I speak 40 to 60 times a year, as well as I'm a meeting planner, just like a lot of you that are watching here today. And I'm also joined by PR expert Pam Perry. Pam, tell everybody about yourself and kind of how you started Speak, Sell, and Shine.

Hey, thank you. Thank you, Ryan. So I am a publicist by trade for a couple of decades. I've published Speakers Magazine going on 10 years, award-winning publication, but primarily working with subject matter experts, speakers in the African American community.

Outstanding. And then we've got today 16 speakers we'd like to showcase for you, and we're going to show their sizzle reels to you. We're going to talk a little bit about them. So why don't we kick things off here? Although we should probably share, Pam, how it is these people got chosen, because these aren't just people that just walked in off the street. So maybe you could tell folks a little bit about the process of how these folks got chosen to participate in Speak Sell Shine?

Definitely. They had to fill out a quiz, and then if they scored over 80, then they were offered an opportunity to fill out the application, and then we did an interview. So really, a lot of them were already speaking for a living, and they were doing really, really well, but they needed more exposure. So that's why I really decided that, hey, we need to give them more PR exposure and more exposure to other audiences that they wouldn't normally reach.

That's great. One of the things you mentioned was diversity, and not diversity necessarily as a topic, diversity to your speaker lineups. If you're a meeting planner like me, a lot of you are, we have to make sure that we have some good diversity in our speaker lineups. And so our ability then to focus and put a spotlight on these African American motivational speakers is something that's really near and dear to my heart, and I know to, to yours as well, Pam. So, all right, let's kick off our first speaker. That's going to take the stage is going to be Mr. Mike Nguyen. And Mike is a master habits strategist, a big-time motivational speaker. He loves to be on the stage. And Mike Nguyen helps entrepreneurs unlock their potential by leveraging purpose-driven success and empowering them to scale their businesses. So his passion is really all about innovation and leadership. And friends, this really makes him a true standout. So let's kick the— kick our showcase off. Here is Mr. Mike Nguyen.

I'm Coach Michael Nguyen, and all I want to do is win. I wake up winning. I glide through the day winning. I go to sleep as a winner. Studies estimate that 40 To 90% of people, daily actions are habit. So my habits is winning. I tell you this, that my winning habits, it allowed me to take structure to it, to build a habit matrix.

Why?

It's because 20 years ago, I suffered from a bipolar depression disorder, and I was a mess. I didn't see it. My kids, my kids called me the green monster, the Hulk.

Ah!

I just screamed and yelled just to pick up that piece of paper. My friends outside of work said you are changing, but I didn't see that. But I was hearing it, so I finally went to go see my doctor. And yes, I was diagnosed with that disorder. And what she did is she put me on 3 of the most powerful drugs: lithium, Prozac, and then she said Prozac and Depakote. That stuff made me a zombie. It took me out of my game. I'm trying to work as a professional. Over 6 million men per year suffer with depression. I went back to my therapist and greeted her with open arms and said, I'm ready. And when she talked to me Oddly enough, she said, why not habits? You have habit formations. You had 2 financial certifications. You're a licensed builder. Try habits for self-care. As I thought about it, I went out and learned from all of the scholars.

Can you share with us a bit about your journey and what it has produced for you?

I have a very unique journey. I started out in, in the financial area. I worked with state government for about 35 years. I was the first auditor in charge for the state for the first casino that was built in Detroit. So during that time in my professional life, I dealt with bipolar depression disorder. Fortunate to have a doctor who suggested I use habits for my self-care, and I thought that was interesting. But I learned how to use habits so uniquely that I was able to get off of that medication in record time. Good habits are the foundation or the building blocks of success. Better behaviors will compound over time. Strong habit behaviors will allow you to bounce back from any setback. Celebrate the small wins and the tiny breakthroughs. By celebrating your small wins, you actually reinforce positive behaviors. It allows you to build this reward cycle with momentum, achieve goals Yes. Achieve your goals. Goals give direction and meaning to habits. I am a true believer that your habits will determine your level of success.

All right.

A great talk from Mr. Mike Nguyen. All right, Pam, how about if you introduce the next speaker?

So our next speaker is Dr. Laverne Collins. She's the owner of New Seasons Counseling, and she is a dynamic speaker. She provides training and consultations for counselors, provider organizations, corporations, and it really talks about the issues of race, faith, and culture and trauma. And so her work is instrumental in shaping really inclusive and resilient environments across various sectors. You will not hear a more powerful story. Her personal story is really, really powerful. So stay tuned for Dr. Laverne Collins.

I want to talk about reframing your story, how to stay grounded when life Seems so out of balance. Avoid emotional reasoning. If you're taking notes, write that down. Avoid emotional reasoning. Emotional reasoning.

What is that?

Emotional reasoning is when you count your feelings as facts. When you count your emotions as commands. Let me tell you, emotions are signs that something may be wrong, but emotions are not solutions. So you don't rely on your emotions to govern your responses. If you want to stay grounded, avoid emotional reasoning. What was, what was needed was a culturally sensitive, culturally responsive approach to working with Black and African American clients. So I'm specializing in addressing those overlooked issues. It disturbed me to think that I went to graduate school, studied all these counseling theories, and none of them were actually designed to address the needs of African Americans.

Mm-hmm.

So I decided to make that my mission, to be a national resource and advocate for clinicians, counselors who wanted to be more culturally sensitive and culturally responsive. So we don't need to go shame, shame on African Americans for not using counseling. We need to create counseling services and modalities that are engaging and relevant and Reframe and rethink your story. Expand your story. There's always a part of the story you aren't telling yourself. That, my friends, will help you to stay grounded when life seems out of control.

So that was Dr. Laverne Collins. I know you probably had a tissue listening to Dr. Laverne's story. So she is hailing from right now North Carolina. Now we have the next one, Ryan, and you can introduce Dr. Gigi.

Sure. Next to take the stage is going to be Dr. Gigi Hamilton, and she is just dynamic. She's a licensed clinical psychologist, and Dr. Gigi focuses on emotional wellness and mental health advocacy. I love that topic. She combines her expertise with a passion for self-care, creating impactful strategies that really promote healthy living in this world we know, Pam, that's a really crazy, really fast-paced world. So here we go. Next to take the stage is going to be Dr. Gigi Hamilton.

Little girls, they need a superhero. I have always been fascinated by superheroes. Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, they all wear capes, and their capes represent power and invincibility. Those are the things we need to survive and overcome anything. You all have your own invisible capes that you have, and when you know how to use your cape, you are unstoppable.

What inspired you What inspired you, however, to get beyond your struggle to become successful and thereby grow from that?

I would say my father. My dad was an integral part of my life. He saw the great in me before I could see it in myself, and ironically, I think that's the gift he gave me as well. I see that in others, and so knowing that when I meet with people, I can see things in them that they don't always see in themselves. And so I helped them get there, and so it just feels like he handed that down, that gift to me. As an organizational psychologist, I do quite a bit of work with a lot of corporations, business entities, nonprofits, and I help them figure out how to do strategic planning and really a lot of leadership development. I also work with C-suite executives, sometimes professional athletes, and I always still serve the military in some capacity. You know, post-COVID, During COVID I saw a lot of people struggle, and I love superheroes, so I ended up writing this book called The Cape Escape: Redefining Your Superpowers. And my hope is that for people who feel like they're lost and can't figure out a way, that they'll get my book and they'll understand that there's always a different way that can help them succeed and thrive. I am the epitome of 2 different worlds. I come to you with a gift My gift is the ability as a licensed psychotherapist, an organizational psychologist, an author, and an executive coach. My gift is the ability to help other people overcome the struggles that they deal with. My curse, the other part of that dichotomy, My curse is knowing that there are people that are close to me, my family, some of my friends, that no matter what's happening in their lives, I as a professional can't help them. If we're talking about using our invisible capes to have our superpowers, we need to have clarity. We need to know that it is important to have action and use the action. We need to understand that having purpose in our lives gives us the ability to thrive. And then we need to know that if we take these baby steps that turn into big steps, we will be empowered. And that, my friends, is how you actually redefine your superpowers. Having the ability to know that you're struggling, to know that life is difficult, to know that you're suffering in silence, And now you don't have to. If you understand how to use your cape to really enhance your superpowers, nothing can stop you.

All right, friends, that was Dr. Gigi Hamilton. Her book is The Great Cape Escape. All right, next is going to be Dexter Jenkins. And Pam, I'll let you introduce him to the crowd.

Yes. So Dexter is a speaker. He's a pastor. He actually has been, uh, speaking professionally for a while, but his main passion is real estate, and his background is in finance as well as entrepreneurship. He teaches people how to leverage real estate. He's a new author of the book The Wealth Creator Blueprint, and he really teaches a lot of people of faith about their financial futures and creating generational wealth. So Dexter B. Jenkins, stay tuned for him. He's awesome.

If you wanna have uncommon financial success, uh, you've got to play both offense and defense when it comes to money. Uh, most of the over-the-counter, what I call common financial wisdom, talks about you— it really has you playing defense all the time. So think about things like a budget or saving money. Or, uh, you know, put money in your 401. And all those things are good, but it really has you on the defensive side of, uh, of the money game. Now, when you come on the offensive side of the money game, you're talking about, talking about how do you explode your income. You're talking about entrepreneurship. You're talking about becoming an investor. That's when you're getting on the offensive side of the ball. And this is what I've learned in over 3 decades of doing this. You will never win the money game just playing defense. I like to use the analogy of— there's a young man by the name of Patrick Mahomes and he plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Those of you who may know who Patrick Mahomes is, you know, and the Kansas City Chiefs have an explosive offense, meaning you are not going to beat that team scoring 7 points or 14 points. You've got to get over there around 24, 27 points. Basically, you got to put some points on the board. And what I found is that most people spend their whole life playing defense when it comes to the money game, that they never get on the offensive side. And this is what you got to understand: every January 1st, that begins our personal fiscal year. And as you're beginning your personal fiscal year, this is what you got to understand: you are fighting 3 enemies every January 1st. You're fighting debt, you're fighting taxes, and you're fighting inflation. Those are the 3 enemies that all of us fight beginning on January 1st. Now, this is what you know. Inflation. Let's start with inflation. Well, inflation, you know, you know that, that things are gonna cost some more this year than they cost last year. Things don't tend to go up, they don't go down. They tend to go what? They tend to go up. That's inflation. Then you talk about taxes. You know you're gonna pay 4 or 5 different taxes every year. So you're gonna pay what? You're gonna pay income tax. You're gonna pay sales tax. You're going to pay excise tax. You're going to pay property tax. I like to joke and say next they'll be talking about oxygen tax. You know, that's taxes you pay just for breathing. So, you know, you know you're going to have to have these taxes, and then you know that you have some sort of debt payments. So if you don't have some sort of offensive game plan to overcome debt, to overcome taxes, to overcome inflation, you'll never enjoy uncommon With DBJ Enterprises, uh, what kind of clients are you reaching?

What organizations, individuals?

More individuals, you know. So people who— I find our sweet spot are really people who are like in their late 40s, early 50s, recognizing that the traditional methods of maybe building wealth has not worked for them or hasn't worked fast enough for them. And so they're coming to us to say, okay, how can we expedite this? Because I'm looking at retirement or I'm looking at taking care of my parents and I got a lot. So I'm sort of a sandwich person and they want to get some things done faster. It's never too late because I think one— well, real wealth is really one of my messages is that you're the asset. Meaning if you learn how to dig on the inside of you, there's always ways, always ways to monetize what's around you and within you. And then, you know, the real estate, all the things, those are just tools that, you know, that, that, that we use to do that. And one of my favorite stories is, I, I don't know if you're familiar with Colonel Sanders, you know, he started KFC when he was like in his 80s, you know. So one thing, one of my big messages is don't retire, get refired, because there are some things in you that, that if you put out to the marketplace, you can monetize. And so we talk a lot about that. And the last The second thing you want to do in order to enjoy economic financial success is this: you want to create what I call financial leverage. Now, financial leverage I define as this: it's the ability to earn more money with less effort. Now, and I think most people have an interest in what? Earning more money with less effort. Now, when it comes to leverage, a number of ways to create it, but when I talk about leverage And I'm talking about in the area of, of your finances. What you got to do is you have to understand that everybody understands leverage but most people who are handling their money. So if you think about your bank, your bank definitely understands leverage. What do they do? They take your deposits and they keep it moving out through what? Credit, credit cards, student loans, mortgages. They understand leverage. Your landlord, if, if you've ever been a landlord or if you've had a landlord, they understand leverage. So So what they do is they take your rent and do what? They pay either some or all their mortgage with the money that you give them. They understand leverage. Your employer understands leverage, right? That means that they have 4— if you have 4 or 5 people in your department, everybody works 8 hours, well, the corporation is benefiting from, you know, just say if it's 10 people, it's 80 hours and everybody works 8 hours a day. The company's benefiting from 80 hours So everybody understands leverage, but most people do not. If you want to enjoy uncommon financial success, number one, you got to do what? You got to make sure that you have a sense of congruence about your money. Your beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts have to be congruent. Number 2, you got to make sure that you're playing both offense as well as defense. You'll never win the money game just playing defense. And then number 3, you got to make sure that you create some sort of financial leverage. I'm All right. That's what you got to do to win the money game.

Dexter B. Jenkins. He is fabulous. He is really ready to teach people all about how to really make that generational wealth.

Yeah, he's great. Next speaker to take the stage at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. is going to be Monique Pearson, and she empowers women to be their best selves. Monique is known for her engaging speaking on empowerment. And healing and transformation. Her speaking and workshops have touched countless lives, inspiring individuals to overcome adversity and really soar without limits. So next to take the stage, here comes Monique Pearson.

Being challenged in life is inevitable, but being defeated now that is. You do not have to have a perfect resume in order to get that position. What you do need to have is the confidence to know that you can step up to the plate and get the job done. And when those negative self-talk starts coming in and those doubts start creeping in, I want you to ask yourself these 3 questions. Is that thought based on fact, or is it based on fiction? What evidence do you have to support or refute that thought? And lastly, if you had a friend who was having that same thought process, how would you advise her to move forward?

I'm seeing women not giving themselves permission permission to put themselves first. We are always the caretakers, the mothers, the aunties, the bosses, but oftentimes we're not pouring back into ourselves. So I was giving you that permission slip to give yourself permission to put yourself first and put in and give yourself the self-care that you so desperately needed so that you can continue to serve others. You can expect to be able to live up to your highest potential. You're going to have a community, a support system of women with my community, the Triple E Tribe, which is women who are in male-dominant industries. Being able to have that network, that collaboration, being able to have those women who can identify with those common issues which women in male-dominated industries have.

This is your moment. This is your time to shine. It is not the time to stand in doubt and to continue to question what you are capable of. You have everything that you need inside of you to succeed. The journey to transformation may not be easy, but with the right mindset, it is so worth it.

So Dr. Teresa A. Mosley is also an Army veteran just like Monique, and she is a trailblazer in educational leadership. She is also a World Peace Ambassador, so she's also known as Her Excellency. She won a really, really, uh, title, and she travels the globe. But you'll hear her powerful story talking about excellence and really peace, a true force for really impacting change not only in the academic academic world, but also beyond.

So I went to a master's class, and there the instructor said, there are 2 days that are important: the day you were born and the day you find out why. The day you were born and the day you find out why. And I said out loud that my gift is my voice and intuition, my passion is serving others, and my purpose My purpose is to make this world a more peaceful place by training people at home, school, and the community to be more peaceful. I am Her Excellency Dr. Theresa Ann Mosley, a WAMI United Nations Peace Ambassador, a U.S. Army veteran, an international keynote speaker. They call me the Peacemaker, and I'm a transformational leader.

How long have you been doing the work that you have established? How long have you been established in education as a principal?

Well, I'm a retired principal now. I was in education for 28 years, and I really loved working with the community and the students and the staff. It was an amazing journey.

But you're not done yet.

Oh, I have my own business now, TAM Creating Ambassadors of Peace. Well, I'm still serving school administrators and CEOs of organizations, so I'm still working with students and families and friends. Soft leadership skills, I think it's very important to lead with grace. So I wrote this book called The Essential Soft Skills for Effective Leadership, and I talk about the importance of communication, adaptability, creativity, you know, time management. All those things are very important in leading with grace. A lot of leaders, they can teach hard skills— I can teach you how to sell— but they struggle with soft skills. So that's one area of professional development that I My great-great-grandfather, Mac Allen, had a pocket watch, and he was always early. He was never late. So she said, T, you have to always be on time. Want to be on time? Be early. Now that's a leadership skill. That's something that I learned when I was 7 years old. But she also told me that I had a gift, that I had the gift of intuition, and that my voice was my gift. And she said, T, one day you're going to use your voice to help other people, and it came to fruition. Even at 18 years old, I had innate leadership skills, and I knew not to take credit for something that the team did. I want to tell you all today, if you're leaders in this organization, any organization, if you're a school leader, you have a gift and a passion and a purpose, and it's all about serving others. I am Her Excellency, Dr.

Theresa Ann That was really, really great. Esther Dillard is next to take the stage at the Howard Theater. She's a seasoned journalist. You may have heard her on SiriusXM Radio or iHeartRadio. She's a media professional. She brings years of experience covering global stories. Her story that she's going to share today, it will really just tug at your heart, friends. She's passionate. She's a woman of faith.

Thank you, Ryan.

About telling impactful stories. She's a great storyteller, really elevates underrepresented voices. She has a son that with autism, and she has written books about the subject matter as well. It really makes her a very powerful advocate for diversity in the media business and in life itself. So up next, Esther Dilly.

When the police arrived, they Convinced Stephen Sr. to let them in the house. Stephan had run to the basement. 2 officers ran right after him, and within moments, there was gunfire. Stephan was dead. Stephen Sr. was devastated. His family was heartbroken. The officers said that Stephan had a knife, but in fact, it was later revealed it was a butter knife. No de-escalation methods were used. No taser. No one called any medical professional. Just gunfire. His family, they didn't let their pain stop there. They talked to every news agency that they could. They talked to every lawmaker in the local area and in the state. And within a few months, the state of Illinois passed passed what is called now the Community Emergency Services and Support Act, or CESSA. It's a law that prevents officers from responding to a medical or mental health emergency. Stephon's family used their pain and they pushed it into purpose, and now it's a law that will likely save countless lives. That is the power Of authentic story. It can take heartbreak and turn it into hope. It can take tragedy and turn it into transformation. Every one of you has an authentic story that likely has the same power that Stefon's family had. It can change something within you or can change things for countless people around the world. I did a 4-part series with the job I work for. It's called the Black Information Network. It's owned by iHeartMedia, and it was a 4-part series called Black, Autistic, and Safe. I spoke with about 10 different parents of adults on the autism spectrum, asking them about how they prepare their young one when encountering the police, and it's so simply because my son is also on the autism spectrum and I wanted to get their advice on what to do if I were to try to prepare him for that. And I found that there were so many great insightful stories and it was so inspiring to those who were listening that I won a Gracie Award this year for it.

Wow.

And was able to put together a book that is— and it includes a lot of the things that parents do to help their children with an education, trying to get into the job field after they turn into adults, because a lot of people don't think about the adults on the spectrum as opposed to just little kids. I learned in that moment that my authentic story was my power. A piece of my past held the key to my son's future, but I never would have found it if I hadn't just Thank you for taking the time to take a breath and listen to my story. That if you have an authentic story, it is extremely powerful. It can change something within you personally, or it can change people around the world, but you have to have 3 things. You have to authentically connect to your listener emotionally. That emotional connection has to make that person want to move. But most important, you have to be able to specifically tell that listener something that you want them to do so that you and your listener can get what you want.

Next, we have Dr. Marilyn French Hubbard. She is an advocate for those that are in the caregiving space. She's an expert in leadership and diversity. both in training, that she's done that for many, many years, and she also is pioneering voices for women in leadership development. So take a listen and hear a powerful story about why she's so passionate about caregiving.

I want everyone here to know that I'm committed to changing the state of family caregiving in this country. Family caregiving is in crisis. It's been in crisis, and if we don't do something about it, the crisis is going to get worse. As our population ages, there's going to be more of a need for family caregivers. By year 2030, 1 in 4 of us is either going to need a caregiver or we're going to be a caregiver. So Caregiving is something that we're not prepared for, and it usually becomes real when we get a phone call. The phone rings, somebody was in an accident, somebody got sick, and again, we can be on either end of that. We can either be the provider of care as a family caregiver, or we could be the person that calls us is our loved one. But what happens when that call is made or when that call is received? You immediately go into crisis because you don't know what's going on. Many cases where I had to be a caregiver, I've actually been at the bedside of over a dozen people as they took their last breath. And in that, those last days as a trusted friend and confidant, They would always ask me to do things for them or put some things in order, things that they wanted to change at the last moment, but maybe it was too late. And, um, I always felt like, wow, I wish that we had known this earlier. So during the process of being a caregiver, I got burned out. One of the reasons I got burned out is because I wasn't self-identifying identifying as a caregiver, as many of us don't. Most people have not thought through the areas in their life that make a difference to them. Many of them have a will and things that happen after they die, but they don't think about the time that they're disabled and cannot care for themselves. What happens in that interim? I had planned my career, but I had never plan what happens at the end of life.

Right.

And that there is a big void between retirement and end of life. So you look at retirees like me, so you move to Florida, you move to the senior living, you know, you have a lot of fun. So you get involved with excitement and pleasure and travel and leisure, but then there's some other things that you want to create peace, joy, and contentment. And one of those things as we age is to make sure that we have everything in order.

Mm-hmm.

So if we became disabled and could not speak or care for ourselves, that other people would know what to do. So many times people think that you're just preparing for dying, but what you're doing is preparing To live well, you know, in that interim. So it's bigger than a will or, say, advanced directives. It's really thinking through, what do I need to do to make the rest of my life the best life that it possibly can be? So once I decided that transformation was needed and I was going to step into that space, things began to happen. So I I'm a Living Legacy Leader, and a Living Legacy Leader helps people through those periods of times of care, aging, and even end of life. In our retirement planning, we're trying to plan for fun in the sun, but in legacy planning, we're planning for the end of life. And, and not necessarily death, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. So what we have to do is to make the commitment that we want our life to be a blessing instead of a burden. We want to get our affairs in order, and we want to communicate to people what our story is, because if we don't tell tell our story, somebody else will. So I'm inviting you to join me in being a Living Legacy Leader, to get your life in order, share the stories that you've had from caregiving, and help us, you know, to change the world, to change this crisis of care by Coming along on this movement of transforming the state of family caregiving.

All right, friends, up next here, it's a really special treat here. Natalie Solomon, she's a thought leader in wellness and lifestyle. Let me tell you, friends, she has been— if you think you've been through a lot, Natalie has been through way more, I promise. And she loves to weave resilience into everything that she does. Her mission is really to inspire women, and, and I tell you what, I was inspired as well, really to embrace wellness, you know, stay in style, which you're going to see, and empowered through her work in health and lifestyle advocacy. She really equips others with, with tools for holistic living. So next to take the stage here at the Howard Theater, Natalie Solomon.

Close your eyes with me for a moment and listen.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

It's the rhythmic beeping of hospital machines and the backdrop to what has been primarily most of my life, trying to understand why at every turn I seem to be taking up residence in a hospital room and listening to that Little timbre of the humming of the machines, the antiseptic scent of the room. All of these things for some may seem to present a level of uncertainty, a level of fear, and a level of anxiety. But for me, it pretty much was like the soundtrack to my life and something that I've had to learn to embrace. How do you go into your day-to-day realizing when you wake up in the morning, if you're able to get out of bed, if— because most times I wasn't able to. I was incapacitated, or I would slide out the bed. I would have to drag myself to the bathroom, drag myself to the kitchen, and if I made it to the kitchen, I'd probably just lay on the floor and just sleep because the pain was so searing. The pain was just never-ending, day in, day out, 24/7. Living with a chronic illness is no fun. These hospital stays kind of did a pivot for me. They ended up being classrooms, an unexpected classroom where I had to learn how to be resilient, learn the power of self-advocacy, and understand the wisdom of living holistically. for myself to make sure that I was taking care of myself, that I secured my oxygen mask first before anybody else. And my field is public health and women's health primarily, and health equity, and— but understanding how health inequities affect how we receive care, and then also the unspoken cultural norms that impact how we receive care, how we talk about care, how we bring our families, and how we Engage with physicians to get the care that we need. So, so I help women figure out how they can create their own sacred space to heal, to vent, to cry, to recreate and reinvent themselves after they've gone through whatever traumatic experiences they may be going through. They're still there. There's different little moments they pop up, and I still have my days where the pain is unbearable, but I push through, and I'm just happy I don't look like what I've been through. So make sure you're taking care of yourself.

Advocate for yourself.

Understand your resilience. And make sure you give yourself grace for the wisdom that you've gained for all that you have gone through.

Wow, that was really, really good. So next we have Joy D. Calloway. She is a leader. She offers in this talk a candid, transparent, introspective life lover. She talks about the training that she does. She talks really about encouraging individuals to unlock the power in their potential, their passion. She really is an executive too of NMA, which is the National Medical Association, and she has a lot of leadership roles that she has that talks about organizational development. So hear her story. But enjoy her song at the very beginning.

That's great.

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind. There's something so pleasant about that place. Even your emotions have an echo with so much space. Did that make me crazy? Did that make me crazy? That make me crazy? Possibly. That 2026 Gnarls Barkley song was my jam. Never did I ever think that I would be living Living those lyrics, my emotions echoing in this expansive space where my brain was supposed to be working. Psychic inertia that happens right before your brain snaps. I saw the edge of my sanity just like I see you. I am the soon-to-be bestselling author of One Crisis from Crazy. Finding Myself Without Losing My Mind. It is a very revealing, sometimes very hard to write memoir about how I stayed on this side of sanity as I moved through what my preacher daddy would call the vicissitudes of my very big, very visible, very full executive style life. And I don't— people ask, are you a life coach? Are you a therapist? I am a woman with a platform who's been through a number of different things and still shows up looking like this. I still know how to do the things I need to do to be the transformational leader and corporate executive that I need to be because I center my own mental and emotional wellness. So after working with me either in workshops or one-on-one coaching and executive coaching that I do from the space of centering my They're able to develop, for example, their own mental and emotional wellness plan for the year. Ever heard of that? We have our weight loss plan, we have our workout plan, we have our spiritual plan and all of that. How often do we sit down and say, this is where I want to be from a position of mental and emotional wellness and wholeness, and this is how I'm going to get there and stay there across this year? So that's one of the things that results from their time with me. The woman that I am in the world and the woman I— that I am behind closed doors are different, and it's hurting me. And they will tell you that these things that they try to ignore and conceal, it's killing them, and it ain't killing them softly. More importantly, I share strategies and tools that have been successful for me and people that I know, ways that we can move through the experiences, stay on this side of sanity. I take a look at the connection between mental and emotional wellness and authentic transformational leadership. There is a connection there. What I teach women is how to center their mental and emotional wellness, their progress, their growth. I teach women that it is our responsibility, not the world's around us, our responsibility to manage what's happening inside of us. It's like a jungle sometimes. It makes me wonder how I keep from going under. The feeling and the concept of one crisis from crazy is neither new nor uncommon. My approach to it, I'm told, is transformational. It's inspirational, it's innovative, it's experiential, and it gives people what they need to stay on this side of sanity and return to the fabulosity that got them to the place where they currently stand.

Another great speaker here, friends, at Speak, Sell, Shine on the Howard Theater stage. All right, next, a nice treat for all of you, Dr. Angela Hardin Mack. And Dr. Mack is a health and wellness expert. With a focus on holistic approaches to healthcare. Her mission is really to empower individuals to take control of their health and their well-being through preventive care and holistic lifestyle changes. So enjoy this really cool and powerful talk from Dr. Angela Harden Mack.

Success is a journey that's often exciting and energizing. But this journey has a side that can be draining. The shadow side, the symptoms of success can leave you feeling less than or wondering, is this worth it? This plan that I use, these principles of this plan I used when I took that S off, when I hung up my cape and I became a well woman, Because I began to elevate my well-being, I made it a priority. This plan helped me to heal because years later when I experienced the unexpected death of my father, he was my all in all, I had a normal grieving process. I didn't just fold in on myself. It helped me so that when my body needed to heal, my mind needed to heal, my spirit needed to heal, I was able to heal and I was able to bounce back and rebalance life. I am a former superwoman, now a well woman. I wisely elevate my well-being to live my best life, but it wasn't always that way for me. At the start of my career, I was a superwoman. I was caught up in this hustle culture. I served my family at the highest level. I served my church at the highest level and my patients at the highest level, but there wasn't much left over for me. I again I have been a medical doctor and faith teacher for 3 decades. I know when I think about that, I go, wow. And a lot of people, I have watched the transformation and it has been absolutely amazing. I also talk about the holistic aspect, whole person, body, mind, and spirit. And for the professional women that I serve, we have to make sure that it's tailored to those things because hustle culture is real. Talk about how do you get work-life ease? How do you blend the two so you can thrive personally and professionally? When there is imbalance, there is dysfunction or disorder and dis-ease. Yes, we're in this time, modern time, and it's fast-paced. And yes, there are times when we have our hustle on, but hustle was only meant to be a short-term related to our projects, not a lifestyle that goes on and on. What about those societal expectations that women, we're just meant to be nurturers and writers, we just go, we do this, we have to be soft and we have to be very feminine and we have to be put into this box and we can't be bold and beautiful and brave and brilliant, we can't be the doctors and the lawyers and the physicists, we can't be the media moguls, we can't be the multimillionaires or billionaires. Society wants to put us in a box, and as a result, we put on a mask and we are walking through life as someone that we don't want to be. And this plan, this wellness plan that I learned about at the start of my career, these principles, more than 3 decades ago helped me to step out of that box. And now, as a wellness coach for professional women and female entrepreneurs and leaders, I help other women step out of the box, take the mask off, to be authentic, to be in all of their glory, and to tap into the power of feminine energy. It's so important. Your future self is waiting on you to make that decision today. How will your life be improved? What value is added when you say, yes, I choose me today for wellness? If you say no and walk away, what will be missing from your life? What will this cost you? Your energy, your vitality, your clarity, your peace. What will it cost you if you say no to you? This is your day.

So the next we have, hailing from Florida, Dr. David Walker. He is a renowned educational consultant and speaker. He's had really a lot of experience in education, but he also works a lot in the faith community as well. So he talks a lot about leadership and having a champion's mind.

So when I look back over my life, And I remember that moment, that challenge, that setback of me breaking my leg. When I look at that and what I overcame then, and now what I have become, I realize I win. I realize that I am a champion. But when a situation comes, a setback comes, and Changes your plans. Sometimes that setback is a broken leg. Sometimes it's a broken marriage. Sometimes it's a broken career. It can even be a broken spirit. But when that moment comes, don't let it get the best of you. Don't let it get you down. What I want you to do in that moment— I want you to ignite that inner champion inside of you.

So how has your perspective changed as a result of that?

Yeah, so it taught me a lot about leadership, and the one thing that I understand about leadership is really about mindset. The mindset to understand how to be successful, how to achieve, and really believing in yourself. And I try to take that when I empower people and help people to aspire to be at their greatest level, I get them to understand that being a champion is where you want to be. You want to have a champion's mindset.

Right.

A book that I wrote is called The Champion's Mind, you know. And, and I do— I did that because I understand that when people see themselves as a champion, it sort of empowers them. It changes their lives. It motivates them to do better. I work with educators because a lot of times in schools, you know, teachers lose the fire.

Right.

Especially if they've been in the classroom for a long number of years.

Right.

And so what I will do is come in, help rekindle that fire so that way they get back into the classroom, they become motivated again or get re-motivated about helping their students. And usually when the teacher's on fire, we have better engagements with students. No matter what happens, I want you to keep moving forward. Don't let any situation knock you down, knock you off, knock you out of the race. Stay in the race, keep moving forward, because there's still a destiny that you have to achieve. Sometimes life is difficult, life is challenging, there are setbacks, There are hard days, and sometimes life just seems to knock us down. But in the words of Les Brown, he said, when life knocks you down, try to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up.

You know, Pam, Dr. David Walker, really, really great. And boy, when he tells that story, About breaking his leg just made me just kind of, oh, just cringe for a little bit. He is just really dynamic and just a really good human being as well. What a great guy. Speaking of great guys, how about Kevin Lightsey? He is known as the Pivot Master, and Kevin specializes in helping professionals successfully navigate, you know, career pivots. Those times, friends, in your careers when you're like, wow, kind of what's next? Or maybe one of those business transitions is kind of forced upon you, if you know what I mean. So his unique approach to reinvention has earned him a reputation as a go-to expert for those who are looking to make bold and big changes in their careers. Up next, here comes Kevin Lightsey.

I'm Kevin Lightsey, and I want to share 3 words with you today: pivot, plan, and execute. Once I learned how to use pivot, plan, and execute, I became unstoppable, and so can you. Let me start at the beginning. At 18, I joined the Air Force without a plan, but the Air Force had a plan, and they executed it on me. They sent me to the middle of Montana, exactly Great Falls, Montana. It's a dot in the middle. And they made me a baker. Yeah, a baker. Cakes, cookies, and pies. And I didn't even like to cook, let alone bake. When I got that assignment, let me tell you, I panicked. I called my parents. I called my parents from the little phone at the church next door to the assignment office, and I begged them, please get me out of this, get me out of this. I don't want to be a baker. Please get me out of this. And my father, in his wisdom, said, no, Kevin, you made a commitment, and it's your job to live up to it. At the end of 4 years, I got an honorable discharge. Life was good until it wasn't. And on Friday the 13th, April 1984, I went to work and I got fired. When I came back from getting fired, I came back to the apartment and my girlfriend told me she was pregnant. That was a pivotal moment, but I didn't sink into despair or inaction. I used the tool that I knew how to use, which was pivot, plan, and action. And I told my girlfriend, I got you. We're gonna be okay. No job, girlfriend pregnant, and I had just enough money for the rest of the month. I pivoted, understood my new reality, and made a new plan. And that next day, I executed that plan. And for the next week, I applied for every job that I had highlighted on Sunday. And within 3 weeks, I got a job as a quality control chemist in a chemical company out in the suburbs. I remember one other pivotal moment while I was working at that company. I got a call at 2 in the morning. Now, I was on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for that company for 30 years. Now, the contract that we had with Ford The word was, if we lost minutes of production, we were charged $1,000 for every minute that they didn't run. This could potentially be a half million to a million dollar situation. But I didn't panic. I got to the plant. I had several plans. We initiated those plans as a team. We came up with a solution. We transferred the 10,000 gallons of chemistry over to the main tank, heated it up to a proper temperature of 125 degrees, plus or minus 3 degrees, chemically balanced the tank, and at 6 o'clock we were running. That is the power of pivot, plan, and execute. And you too can use that power. Let me show you how.

That was good. Kevin is really one of my favorites. He really is, because he's such a good storyteller and he does it with a little bit of humor. So, uh, even though he wasn't a stand-up comedian, he can— he can— he really has that naturally. Uh, next we have Michelle Lance, uh, hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. She really empowers high-achieving women to transition from the C-suite careers to entrepreneurship. So she's had extensive Extensive experience in Fortune 500 companies, but she's also a sought-after coach helping women embrace their leadership potential while embarking on entrepreneurial journeys. So here you hear Michelle Lance give her story, and you'll be surprised about how she started.

I didn't have a Harvard degree. In fact, I didn't have a degree at all. My first job was a bartender. Yes, folks, to make ends meet. I was trying to pay the next bill, but I knew that I had so much more to give. What is my purpose? What gives me passion? What is my drive and motivation? And when I did that, I went back to my boss and I laid it out. I said, this is my leadership style. I worked 20 years in an organization, Fortune 20 company, from the entry level to executive level and seen a lot in between. And as the years passed, I saw a lot of opportunity with women and women in leadership. And so that's what brought me here, to be a career strategist helping women It's helping women see their true value, their worth, that will help them excel in whatever it is they want to do.

What specifically were you seeing in these women that motivated you to start your career?

You know, I— what I saw most often was lack of confidence. You know, as we go through and you lose that confidence, then you start becoming someone that you're not. And that really made me stand back and say, we've got to fix that. We've got to make sure that women them to come and bring their full self because that's their unique superpower and that's what makes them who they are. Doesn't matter where you start, it matters where you finish. You gotta give it grit and you gotta put everything you have in it.

It's not gonna be a smooth sail.

You're gonna have bumps along the road, but write your own story.

Be the narrative of your journey. The further you go up, it is not about you. It's about the people that you pull up with you. Write your own story.

It's your journey to live.

Well, I don't know about you, Pam, but that is a very excellent speaker showcase. So, if you're a meeting planner out there, a corporate executive. These are fully vetted motivational speakers. I just want to reinforce to everybody, one of the passion projects of mine is Speak, Sell, Shine because I really feel at my events, Pam, that I needed to do a better job of bringing women and bringing minorities into our speaker lineups at our business events. And that's one of the reasons I got so involved in featuring these folks. Now, you have, you know, you spend so much more time with them, you have so much more knowledge of them. All of these folks fall into that good human category. They're good folks.

They are really, really good. I mean, the thing about it is that there's so many good speakers, and one of the reasons that I wanted to just bring them to the spotlight is that for you to really know who they are— Speakers Magazine showcases a lot of them, but these are the best of the best, uh, that I really wanted people to know who they were and really just connect with them personally and interview them. You know, interview them, see if they're the right fit for you. Maybe not right now, but down in the future. But they are really ready to go.

Yeah, that's great. Well, you can find out more about what Pam does as a publicist over at pamperripr.com. And if you're interested in sales coaching and sales performance training, you can find me online at ryandohrn.com, D-O-H-R-N. And Pam, I'm looking forward to another edition of Speak, Sell, Shine. I think We're going to be going back to the Howard Theater. So, if you've got some— if you're a speaker, you need to reach out to us and see if you could apply and maybe get chosen for next year's Speak, Sell, and Shine. Pam, anything you want to say before we sign off from our program?

I just want to just say thank you so much for taking the time. You know, like, share, forward this email over to someone that says, hey, you know what? Take a look at this person. So, just appreciate you so much and have a good new year.