Community & Guest List
Born in Moldova, Izolda learned how to communicate in multiple languages through a year-long immigration process. Today, Izolda gives keynotes and presents programs that help people tap into and master their leadership, creativity, and communication skills. She traveled the world as a NASA trainer. She is also the author of five books, including, Speak From Within, Engage, Inspire, and Motivate Any Audience and the host of the Creative Mindset podcast. Izolda, her husband, and their cats live in Maryland, USA.
Aliza Sherman is a web pioneer who founded the first woman-owned Internet company, Cybergrrl, Inc., and the first organization for women to learn about the Internet in the 90s, Webgrrls International. She is the author of 12 books including Cannabis and CBD for Health and Wellness: An Essential Guide for Using Nature’s Medicine to Relieve Stress, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Inflammation, and More, The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit and Social Media Engagement for Dummies. Her work has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, Time, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, and she has presented at the BlogHer Annual Conference, SXSW Interactive and SXSW Cannabusiness Tracks, Women Grow Leadership Summit, and The Women's Economic Forum.
Founder and CEO of Hire Talent, Fletcher Wimbush, has interviewed over 10,000 applicants, assessed tens of thousands more and has presented to numerous business groups and HR leaders on best recruiting practices based on his published content such as “Hiring Talented Team Players: a Guide to Getting it Right,” The Power Interview Guide, various eBooks, and thousands of articles.
natural way."
Brandon is the CEO and Founder of Parkes Philanthropy, a social impact consulting firm, managing over 90+ years of collective experience. Parkes Philanthropy is dedicated to equip the non-profits, corporations and individuals with the ideas and resources and support they need to positively impact the world.
He previously served as a Senior Consultant for Bridge Philanthropic Consulting LLC, nations largest African-American fundraising firm. Prior, he was the Nonprofit Engagement Manager at CariClub, an AI tech company that connects young professionals to leadership roles on nonprofit boards.
He has formerly worked in a corporate philanthropic capacity for companies such as Morgan Stanley and Toyota.
Through these professional titles, he gained experience supporting effective philanthropic strategy that increases social impact, external/internal engagement and nonprofit capacity building. He was humbled to be named one of CauseArtists’s “20 Inspiring African Americans Impacting the World Through Social Impact & Social Innovation,” named one of Startup Boost’s NYC 33 under 33, and has been featured in several publications such as Black Enterprise, Blavity, Nonprofit Technology News, and Blacks in Technology. It’s Brandon’s passion to empower any constituent looking to make a positive social impact on the world.
He previously served as a Senior Consultant for Bridge Philanthropic Consulting LLC, nations largest African-American fundraising firm. Prior, he was the Nonprofit Engagement Manager at CariClub, an AI tech company that connects young professionals to leadership roles on nonprofit boards.
He has formerly worked in a corporate philanthropic capacity for companies such as Morgan Stanley and Toyota.
Through these professional titles, he gained experience supporting effective philanthropic strategy that increases social impact, external/internal engagement and nonprofit capacity building. He was humbled to be named one of CauseArtists’s “20 Inspiring African Americans Impacting the World Through Social Impact & Social Innovation,” named one of Startup Boost’s NYC 33 under 33, and has been featured in several publications such as Black Enterprise, Blavity, Nonprofit Technology News, and Blacks in Technology. It’s Brandon’s passion to empower any constituent looking to make a positive social impact on the world.
Naomi James is a mental performance consultant who runs Naomi James Performance Consulting. As a former athlete, Naomi went through her own hurdles that lead her to study sport and performance psychology. The mental skills she implements are life skills are are applicable across contexts for business people, performers, athletes and high-achievers alike.
Michael H. Drobnis is the CEO of OptfinITy, LLC, , a technology solutions firm which has received numerous industry awards including a ranking of the top 250 small technology businesses worldwide. Mr. Drobnis has over 22 years of technology experience across many different industries and disciplines, including but not limited to records management, disaster recovery and business continuance planning, system security, web design and development, project management, technology and infrastructure design. As an accomplished technology executive and project manager, his vision and expertise have helped hundred's of organizations work smarter and more efficiently through the use and development of proper technology solutions and collaboration tools. Mr. Drobnis received his MBA with a concentration in technology from the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley University in Massachusetts. He has served on the Fairfax County Information Technology Policy Advisory Committee, the ITT Technical Institute Curriculum Advisory Board, as the President and on the board of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and on the board of the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Drobnis is an alumni of Leadership Fairfax and The FBI Citizens Academy and is the proud father of 3 girls in West Springfield.
Jaime is a brand strategist, creative director and educator for wellness & socially conscious businesses. She's been in the wellness industry for 13 years and in design for 20. Jaime has lived, worked, and studied in the US, Italy, and Japan.
Sam Liebowitz, known as The Conscious Consultant, is a mentor, coach, speaker, healer and serial entrepreneur. He has been in business since 1993 and has owned several successful businesses. His current ventures include The Conscious Consultant, Talking Alternative Broadcasting, and Double Diamond Wellness . Sam has lectured in several venues in New York City, including being a featured speaker at TEDxUpperWestSide in 2016.
Lindsay Hunt is a TV featured health expert, certified health coach, and certified personal trainer. She's on a mission to help people up level their health and happiness through nutrition, fitness and mindset training. She has created a new approach that digs deeper to help her clients get real, lasting results.
