Shayla O'Keeffe
Communications Coordinator, Jabil
@shaylaokeeffe

Shayla O'Keeffe is a communications specialist with a passion for writing. Shayla works at Jabil, a global manufacturing services company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, writing external and internal material for employee programs, culture campaigns, and philanthropic and community outreach. In her spare time, she writes for a personal blog, has published work on The Lady Project blog and is - uncomfortably - sitting on an unpublished book. Shayla's eclectic background includes criminology, law, public administration and marketing, but what connected all of her intersts was her desire to read and write.

Joy Liu
The Financial Gym
@thefinancialgym
@joyzliu

Joy Liu is a Certified Financial Trainer® at The Financial Gym. While her employers and clients are based in NYC, she works from her home office in North Carolina.

She started her career in Account Management in major NYC creative advertising agencies working on iconic brands like M&M’S, Dove Chocolate, Ricola, and [ yellow tail ] wine.

After time spent realizing her passions lied outside of creating 30 second commercials combined with becoming a military spouse, she began her mission to craft a career that was geo-independent and focused on solving problems that were important to her values.

Jyoti Rao
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
(she, her, hers) 

Jyoti has been a valued contributor and member of organizations centered around women in philanthropy and leadership since 2007.  As an experienced higher education professional, she has built sustainable business partnerships between students, colleges, and universities.  Jyoti enjoys a vibrant and sunny lifestyle in Florida, recently named as having the second-highest growth rate in the nation for women-owned businesses.

Megan McCourt
Director, Small Girls PR
@mccourtreport

Megan McCourt is a Director at Small Girls PR where she heads a 'Women in Business' hub, promoting the work of female entrepreneurs. She's spent her career as an impassioned storyteller, working on Capitol Hill, for national newspapers and the Girl Scouts of the USA. Her career goal is to be President of the United States.

Kathryn Rose
Founder/CEO, wiseHer
@getwiseHer

Kathryn Rose, founder of wiseHer, a technology platform offering on-demand expert advice for women in business, career and life. She is a serial entrepreneur, former Wall Street sales leader and an author of 9 books. She has been has been featured in CBS Marketwatch, Fox News and more.

Blair Imani
Author & Activist
@blairimani

Blair Imani is an author and activist living at the intersection of Black, Queer, and Muslim identity. Imani is the author of Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History. She is the founder and Executive Director of Equality for HER, a nonprofit educational platform for women and nonbinary people.

Kelly Jensen
Associate Editor & Community Manager
Book Riot 
@veronikellymars

Kelly Jensen is a former librarian turned editor for Book Riot (bookriot.com). Along with maintaining her long-running YA blog Stacked (stackedbooks.org), she has edited two anthologies for young adults. Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World is available now, and (Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start The Conversation About Mental Health will be available in October 2018. In her free time, she teaches and practices yoga and participates in 5K walks.

Leah DeCesare
Author
@leah.decesare

Leah DeCesare is the award-winning author of Forks, Knives, and Spoons and the nonfiction parenting series Naked Parenting, based on her work as a doula, early parenting educator, and mom of three. Her articles on parenting have been featured in The Huffington Post, Eligible Magazine, Simply Woman, the International Doula, and The Key, among others.

In 2008, she cofounded the nonprofit Doulas of Rhode Island, and in 2013 she spearheaded the Campaign for Hope to build the Kampala Children's Centre for Hope and Wellness in Uganda.

In a past life, DeCesare worked in public relations and event planning. She now writes and volunteers in Rhode Island, where she lives with her family.

Amma Marfo
Writer + Speaker/Facilitator, SPEAK Educators
@ammamarfo

Amma Marfo is a thoughtful yet incurably silly independent higher education professional, writer, and editor based in Boston, MA.

She is an avid and prolific writer; she writes often for her own blog and contributes on a freelance basis to several publications. Her first book, THE I'S HAVE IT: Reflections on Introversion in Student Affairs, was released in January 2014; her second, LIGHT IT UP, was released in October 2015. Her third, CULTIVATING CREATIVITY, was released in October 2017.

She speaks on college and university campuses across the country, at regional and national conferences, and has partnered with organizations like HubSpot, Wayfair, Startup Institute Boston, and OviaHealth.

Her other interests include live comedy, surfing, trivia, and gluten-free cooking/baking. You can follow her on Twitter @ammamarfo.