Community & Guest List

Darius Mirshahzadeh is a dad, husband, twin, brother, and son who was born and raised in California and now lives in Austin Texas. He is a serial entrepreneur, author, conscious capitalist, speaker and entertainer. Darius’s passion is to make the world a better place using his talents and engagement. He is all about the P’s: Passion, Pizza, Puzzles and Pink Unicorns. Darius is a mad scientist CEO who has grown companies from start-up to just under 1,000 employees in three years. He is an expert on core values and author of the new book The Core Value Equation.

LORNA BORENSTEIN is CEO and Founder of Grokker, the on-demand wellbeing engagement solution for global enterprises including eBay, CVSHealth, Target, Dominos, Delta Air Lines, and GE. Her new book, It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring, thoughtfully examines the Human Connection Movement™ in the workplace, which is fueled by a growing desire among employees to feel more connected to one another and as a result, better connected to their jobs. This movement has transformed the role of employers as the benefactors of wellbeing, and It’s Personal serves as a strategic and tactical guide for company leaders who want to embrace this transformational change, improve employee engagement, and drive business results. Previously, Lorna was President of publicly traded Move Inc. and held a number of executive positions at Yahoo! including Chief of their global personals online dating service and Head of Marketing for their multi-billion dollar worldwide Search & Marketplace businesses (Shopping, Travel, Autos, etc.). In 2000, Lorna launched eBay Canada out of her guest room in Toronto (with a newborn in tow) and went on to serve as eBay Inc.’s Vice President & General Manager.

their artistic development and their cherished memories.” – Jaya Aiyar"

Kristin is an activist and conscious investor. She is founder and CEO of Nia Global Solutions, Director of Nia Community Investments and co-founder of Impact Hub Oakland. Always Interested in innovative solutions for leveraging resources in alignment with values, Kristin works as a financial change agent and portfolio manager. She enjoys her work empowering people along their money journeys. Her book highlighting women and diversity in impact investing, Voices From the Field, is forthcoming.

Mary is a former Award-Winning Hotel Conference & Catering Director who then pursued Corporate Event Planning with several large defense contracting corporations. Her creativity, attention to detail and negotiation skills resulted in savings of over $250k for one company. As an entrepreneur, one of Mary's most memorable events was planning the Nelson Mandela Statue Unveiling for the South African Embassy in Washington, DC. Afterward, South African Ambassador Rasool declared Mary an "Honorary South African" as a result of her planning efforts at that prestigious event.