Community & Guest List
Blaire Brown is a Brand Strategist and Marketing Expert that specializes in helping entrepreneurs evolve their businesses. With over a decade being spent in New York City's fast-paced competitive environments, her career has been primarily based in entrepreneurial endeavors, marketing, and PR. She recently created and launched her Focused Branding online course that helps new female entrepreneurs set their brand messaging foundation for success. Blaire creates value for brands through marketing consultation services, strategic writing that maximizes brand objectives, and is an expert at building brand stories to reach targeted audiences. She is currently based in Annapolis, Maryland.
Becky is the owner and CEO of three companies, all of which focus on helping people be their best. She is an avid leaner and is constant pursuit of ways to identify limiting behaviors and blind spots. Becky serves on several for and not-for-profit boards and is the President of the Nashville Chapter of The Private Directors Association. In her spare time, Becky loves to listen to Podcasts and Audible books while hiking, walking or riding her bike. She has been married for 33 years and has three adult children.
Bonnie Ortiz formed O2 Consulting Group, a premier professional services firm, in 2017 after spending almost a decade as the Chief Operating Officer for The Partnership Federal Credit Union. A recognized expert in strategy formation, process improvement, and project management, Bonnie now provides her clients with a comprehensive operational toolkit, aligning people, processes, and systems to corporate goals. She has worked with commercial for-profit and non-profit entities across numerous industries and has managed substantial budgets and staff as a leader within organizations of various sizes, from start-ups to multi-billion-dollar firms. Bonnie’s expertise is rooted in the achievement of operational excellence, focusing the organization’s executive team on advancing their priorities and achieving their desired results. Bonnie currently serves as the Commodore of the Herring Bay Yacht Club and as the Voce Chair of the Dream Queen Association Board of Directors, giving her time and expertise to cultivating the next generation of leaders.
Beth Dessen Duffy was a Landscape Architecture major for two years before graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Education from Cornell University. She began her career at Florida Power and Light Company educating homeowners about how to save money on electric bills. Beth transitioned and became involved in PA state politics and lobbying, educating and discussing pertinent issues. Beth is now a CEO and Entrepreneur and the creator of the Christmas Tree of Kindness App. Beth is sharing their family Christmas tradition with others and hopes to help individuals , families and groups teach and practice kindness by using this app activity.
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.
Ben Green is the owner of Purple Ribbon Seeds an Independent Agriculture Seed Company located in the Midwest. Ben started his career in the IT industry working in an IT startup, but a string of random events sent him on the path of leaving an IT startup and buying a seed company.
Brad Halsey is a modern-day MacGyver. He works to empower people from all places and backgrounds to solve the hardest, most important, and time-critical technical problems.
As CEO and Co-Founder of Building Momentum, Brad leads a team of Ph.D.s, engineers, scientists, innovators, trainers, makers, educators, artists, and thinkers to solve for impact in their community. Making Alexandria, the armed forces, and the region a better place – ready to solve the hard problems ahead.
As CEO and Co-Founder of Building Momentum, Brad leads a team of Ph.D.s, engineers, scientists, innovators, trainers, makers, educators, artists, and thinkers to solve for impact in their community. Making Alexandria, the armed forces, and the region a better place – ready to solve the hard problems ahead.
Brian Kelly is a Success Coach and Business Consultant who works with socially conscious small to medium sized companies to create more inclusive work environments and to unleash human greatness in their people and teams producing better business AND human results.
Brian’s career spans three decades across Information Technology, Human Resources, Project Management, Program Management, People Development, and nonprofit leadership.
Brian is committed to advancing diversity, inclusion, belonging and equity for greater economic and career opportunities for all human beings.
Brian’s career spans three decades across Information Technology, Human Resources, Project Management, Program Management, People Development, and nonprofit leadership.
Brian is committed to advancing diversity, inclusion, belonging and equity for greater economic and career opportunities for all human beings.
Barbara Maheshwari is currently building the biggest virtual assistance hub in Europe - Remote Bob. She is a Go-to-Market Consultant, working across the UK, UAE, Croatia and India. Barbara was the youngest graduate from Executive MBA in Business school Cotrugli and she is passionate about helping people and building businesses.
Brenda Batista is the Founder of Inspiring Company Culture where she helps leaders transform their work environments to be places where everyone is heard, valued, and appreciated. Brenda is an expert in establishing high-performing teams and helping business leaders eliminate the bottlenecks that are limiting their growth.
For the past 25 years, Brenda has focused on performance improvement and how the power of teams helps sustain business results. She helps teams engage and align with desired business outcomes through coaching and consulting engagements.
Brenda holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, a Masters in Health Administration, and a Juris Doctorate.
For the past 25 years, Brenda has focused on performance improvement and how the power of teams helps sustain business results. She helps teams engage and align with desired business outcomes through coaching and consulting engagements.
Brenda holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, a Masters in Health Administration, and a Juris Doctorate.
