New Talks + Workshops for 2024

I design leadership & development sessions and programs for digital product teams.
I offer inspirational + motivational talks for tech teams, women-in-tech, and anyone looking to own their path in life.
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Where have I spoken before? All over the world. Look here!

Living Portfolios

Format:

• 3 hr Workshop
  (in two 1.5 hr parts)

Delivery Options:

• In-person

• Live via Zoom

Background:

With all the layoffs in the tech sector in late 2022 and throughout 2023, I’ve been asked to provide portfolio reviews and offer guidance to creative/design job-seekers.

Prominent Themes:

• Outdated portfolios that folks were rushing to update for their next interview or role.

• Creatives who, in days or hours, would lose access to years of work on company cloud storage if not locked out already.

• Portfolios from well-seasoned creative folks that highlighted stunning work but fell very short of telling the story behind the work.

• People so buried in the day-to-day work that they hadn’t thought about the stories they were writing along the way.

This highlights a problem with how creative people are developed internally by their organizations more than a problem with individual creative people. And I think we can do better.

So, I wrote this workshop:

Living Portfolios
A portfolio should not be a static collection of past achievements and finished masterpieces; it should tell the story of the ongoing development of your skills, growth, and collaboration.

This is a two-part workshop designed to help creative talent elevate their professional narrative and showcase their value by leveraging a portfolio during their tenure, not saving it as a job-seeking-only activity.

This workshop guides creative talent to evolve HOW they show and talk about their work, ideas, and concepts, focusing on speaking to real business needs on the job, not after the job.

Part 1: Daily Logging & Establishing Capture Rhythms

Part 2: Elements of a Portfolio & How to Talk About Your Work

Who is this workshop for?

• Creatives of all levels, including freelance, in-house, job-seeking.

• Managers who want to level up their creative team's ability to show and present their work and ideas in a way that speaks to business objectives.

The Heartful Art of Starting Over

Format:

• 45-60 minute talk

Delivery Options:

• In-person

• Live via Zoom

Background:
Across 20 years of climbing the corporate ladder, I filled a lot of roles in the Digital Products realm, including:
Production Artist; Designer; Production Manager, Director of Interactive, Director of UX, Partner, COO, CEO, Co-Founder, and Board Member.

The higher you climb, the more you forget what it’s like to be new at something.

So, I decided to start over in a completely different realm that I’d never touched before – Human Resources. 🤯
I’ve stepped into a role as a Sr. Learning & Development Partner, and oh my, has it reminded me what it’s like to be “New” at something again.

What a beautiful gift!

Now, I get to use my 20+ years of experience in a “new” role that allows me to design learning and development programs for my people (designers and developers who create digital products.) Meanwhile, I get to learn about HR from the inside.

Prominent Themes:

• Starting over can be difficult and discouraging, but this is the third time I’ve done a complete career redesign, so I feel like a seasoned pro (even though I’m technically new again.)

• The mindset for starting over or embracing change can be our greatest ally or enemy.

• Starting over is not always a choice.

• The “How to” of starting over can be applied to tasks, habits, projects, jobs, careers, and life.

So, I wrote this talk:

The Heartful Art of Starting Over
Change is an inevitable part of life, and we all find ourselves at a crossroads where we have to navigate the path of acceptance and/or transformation.

In this talk, I will delve into the profound topic of starting over–whether task, new habit, project, job, or career–and will explore the fundamental distinction between needed change and forced change and how to assess, accept, embrace, and face “starting over” as an unstoppable force.
I want to leave you with the tools to fearlessly shape your path toward fulfillment and success!

Who is this talk for:

All levels;
Especially helpful for:

• Managers, Project and Team leads who need to inspire their teams to accept and embrace change, and equip them with the tools to start over with a grace and growth mindset.

• Anyone considering a job or career change

6 Steps to Total World Domination.
Or At Least Getting Unstuck.

Format:

• 45-60 minute talk

Delivery Options:

• In-person

• Live via Zoom

Background:

Like many of you, I've been through heavy life stuff: personal loss, divorce, single-parenting, burnout, and a global pandemic, to name a few.

I iterated my way through the dark stuff to keep going, become financially independent by age 38, find love, and worked my way through a complete life redesign, speaking at conferences and writing my way through it all.

Ten years after redesigning my life, I wrote a book to share the framework I’ve used to repeat the process every time life throws its punches. This is the talk that accompanies the book.

6 Steps to Total World Domination. Or At Least Getting Unstuck.

I’ll share my personal story and along the way, you’ll take away six actionable steps you can start right now to get unstuck and create exactly the life you want.
And maybe, take over the world!

Who is this talk for:

All levels;
As practical for company all-hands and inspiration-seekers as it is for product teams of designers and engineers.
No matter where you are in life or your career, these practical tools can springboard you forward.