Community & Guest List
Melanie is the owner of her own digital marketing agency, Melanie Hardcastle Marketing + Events. She left her full-time job a year and a half ago to pursue entrepreneurship and has never looked back. Melanie works with clients to help them find their brand's voice, execute their marketing strategy and produce killer virtual events. If you want to grow your audience, reach the right people and scale your business, she's your woman.
Mark Mascia is the Founder and CEO of Mascia Development. His company assists professionals and entrepreneurs to make wise investments in high-end commercial real estate, the type of stuff that normally only the country's wealthiest families are able to get involved in. Mark has also had great success in leading a location independent team and has a lot of valuable experience to share in that regard. His entrepreneurial process has brought on enormous challenges that he's had to overcome, and these have served to make him extremely knowledgeable about what it takes to be a successful CEO.
Michelle C. Thomas, Esquire is a seasoned divorce lawyer and the founder of M.C. Thomas & Associates, PC, a premier divorce and family law firm serving Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland. Michelle and her team represent a wide array of clients ranging from business owners and corporate executives to physicians, law firm partners, politicians, professional athletes and more. Her passion is helping people protect their assets and their future, and ultimately transform their lives for the better. Michelle Thomas has been repeatedly recognized as a Top Rated Family Lawyer in Washington D.C. by SuperLawyers, and recently named a Top Attorney by Bethesda Magazine. Michelle is a sought after speaker and media contributor in local and national media on issues such as effective co-parenting, parenting through the pandemic, divorce-proofing your marriage, and law firm management. She has been seen and heard on the Michael Baisden Show, Fox 5 news, News One Now with Roland Martin Radio, ESSENCE magazine, the Washington Times, The Daily Drum Show on WHUR/SiriusXM 141, and Law Talk with Ethel Mitchell on Radio One and more. Welcome, Michelle C. Thomas.
Marcia Moran has written over fifty business plans and helped entrepreneurs strategize over how to differentiate their companies in changing environments. Her twenty-plus years of experience helping other entrepreneurs caused her to found her own firm, Performance Architect, in 2012 and co-founded Positive Business DC that same year. After suffering a major stroke in 2014, Marcia applied her skills in planning and strategy as she strived to become whole. Over time she learned to walk again, but Marcia struggled with aphasia, a language disorder. She joined Toastmasters International hoping to regain her speaking abilities, and it helped some, but in August 2017 she discovered a technological breakthrough that minimized her speaking disability. Let's hear from Marcia what coming back from the stroke was like.
Melissa Rodriguez is a Marketing and Advertising Specialist and the Founder of Social Media Relations out of Los Angeles, California. With over 10 years of experience, she specializes in branding, content production, social media marketing and public relations. Melissa holds BS degrees in Global Perspectives and Corporate Finance and Accounting from Bentley University. Melissa’s contributions to Social Media Relations have contributed to their 5-star rating across multiple platforms including Google, Yelp and Facebook. A visionary at heart, it is Melissa's mission to take your brand online and create relationships that matter.
Monique Blokzyl is the founder of HeartPowered Business, helping speakers and expert entrepreneurs worldwide to build scalable businesses, so they stop just selling their time, earn a 6+ figure income, and make a much bigger impact. Monique herself is an awarded international speaker, business mentor, podcaster and published author. Bringing her passion for business together with her love for speaking, she helps you turn your message into your golden key to success. Her business mantra: Speak up. Scale up. Impact the World!
Michael Wang is Founder & CEO of Inspiren, an award winning healthcare technology company. He is a registered nurse and nurse practitioner with vast clinical experience in cardiothoracic surgery and direct patient care. In addition, he holds numerous patents on innovate technologies in both the healthcare and hospitality industry and has founded two successful companies prior to Inspiren. He received a bachelors degree from Emory University, majoring in Biology and Sociology. He attended graduate school at Columbia University, studying both business and nursing.
María is a 24 year old from Puerto Rico currently living in the DMV area. She always knew that social media was the key to helping small businesses thrive and grow but never got a chance to explore it. That’s why when she discovered Social Media Management she went after it and shortly after, launched SMS Media. She had a Bachelor's in Advertising and 2 years of experience as a Paid Ads Consultant. She is now the CEO & Founder of SMS Media, LLC, a social media management and coaching business for wedding vendors. She's passionate about helping wedding vendors save time, money, and stress & get booked out months in advance by enhancing their social media presence.
Marissa Ferguson is a 24 years-young entrepreneur who began her business just under 2 years ago with a vision and her iPhone. What started as a side gig turned into a full time job in 4 short months, all thanks to shampoo... yup, shampoo. Since then, she's been able to travel freely, pick up her dream car, build fruitful savings + investments, give back more than ever and most importantly, impact thousands of lives. This is just the beginning for Marissa as she continues to live out her god-given purpose!
Marc Snyderman is the CEO of Snyderman Law Group and a serial entrepreneur. A former C-level executive who led an international engineering and information technology firm through significant growth, Marc recognizes industries that are ripe for disruption and leads strategic change for those industries. Marc is currently an angel investor and board member for companies ranging from a healthcare payment technology solution using blockchain to a carvana-like platform for semi-trucks. He's a life-long learner and an avid management theory reader.
