Gehan "G"
Haridy-Ardanowski
What My Hair Taught Me About Fitting In
Gehan "G" Haridy-Ardanowski is driven by and imparts to others the fusion of two mantras: "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" + "Go where you're celebrated and not tolerated!"
G has 20+ years of experience in multi-industry human resources (HR), training, and recruitment roles with small and large household-name companies, including Cintas, 7-Eleven, CVS, and Sara Lee. She's an edutaining speaker with an “amazing vibe” who “packs a punch,” author of the bestselling book FROM SATAN TO SENSATIONAL HR!, and the Founder & Creative Consultant of Golden Synergy Touch, LLC. She works with individuals and teams to provide HR consulting, LinkedIn® (LI) training, CliftonStrengths (Finder) activating personal brand building, and more!
G and her Cintas-coworker-turned-husband live in North Dallas, Texas, where she is working on book #2 (ask about their workplace wedding)!
Danielle
Allen
TBA
Danielle Allen is the host and founder of the podcast, Naked Nuclear which aims to strip down nuclear energy and technology for the every day audience. In 2023 Danielle pivoted away from her career as a firefighter/paramedic to pursue a degree in nuclear engineering. Inspired by the stories around climate, energy, and the need to make a difference, Danielle launched her podcast and subsequent media company to research how the public interacts with nuclear narratives and that contributes to a healthy planet.
What if we treated all waste the way we treat high-level radioactive waste—carefully, deliberately, and with long-term responsibility? It sounds extreme, yet we’ve grown strangely comfortable releasing our everyday waste back into the world: into the soil that feeds us, the oceans that sustain life, and the air we breathe. In this talk, I explore how our wildly inconsistent perceptions of risk—from used nuclear fuel to car exhaust—create real harm to our environment, our communities, and the generations who will inherit what we leave behind.
Chelsey
Scaffidi
Why Motherhood Might Feel Like Middle School
Chelsey Scaffidi is a social impact lawyer, meditation teacher, and matrescence educator whose work weaves together scientific research and lived experience. With over a decade of expertise in nonprofit law and contemplative practice, she investigates the biological, cognitive, and social adaptations that shape matrescence — the developmental transition into motherhood. Chelsey is known for translating emerging research on the maternal brain into accessible, compassionate frameworks that help women make sense of this profound identity transformation. Her work invites mothers, clinicians, and communities alike to recognize matrescence as one of the most significant — and overlooked — developmental shifts in the human lifespan.
Dr. Susan Lovelle
MD, AFMC
Medical Gaslighting:
The $78 Billion Cost of Not Believing Women
Dr. Susan Lovelle, MD, AFMC, is a former award-winning plastic surgeon turned executive health strategist who now helps organizations understand how physiology, bias, and workplace culture shape well-being and performance. Trained at Columbia University in New York, she is the founder of Balanced Performance and has partnered with companies including Cigna, Align Technology, and Vistage to transform wellness into a strategic advantage for leaders and teams.
Her commitment to rehumanizing healthcare is deeply personal, shaped by her own life-threatening encounter with medical dismissal. As the author of Thrive! and a nationally recognized educator, she develops scalable, evidence-based frameworks that advance clarity, capacity, and collaboration. Her TEDx talk, “Medical Gaslighting: The $78 Billion Cost of Not Believing Women,” exposes the hidden consequences of biased medicine—and the systemic shifts needed to build a healthcare system worthy of all women.
Cheryl Gould
SHRM-SCP
Whole. Worthy. Wise:
The New Standard of Leadership
Cheryl Gould is the CEO of Gould Consulting LLC, an HR consulting firm that helps small and mid-sized businesses build effective people strategies and develop leaders who show up with presence and emotional awareness. With more than 25 years of experience, she is a SHRM-SCP and Organizational Development expert who partners with organizations to create cultures where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to lead authentically.
She also serves as Vice President of Human Resources for Girl Scouts–North Carolina Coastal Pines and contributes her time on the boards of the International Montessori School and Raleigh Metro SHRM. Cheryl is a committed mentor to emerging professionals and the author of Workplace Ready: The Career Manual for New Grads, a practical guide for early-career success.
In her TEDx talk, “Whole. Worthy. Wise: The New Standard of Leadership,” Cheryl challenges leaders to lead from their whole selves rather than the fragmented version they feel pressured to present.
Alicia Lozano
MA, BA
TBA
Alicia Lozano is the CEO and Founder of Zero To Anything Co., where she helps high-achieving professionals stop delaying their dreams and redesign their entire lives around what truly matters.
Through her Flexible Effort Approach and tools like the Consistency Tracker, she guides multi-passionate people who are done playing small to build lives that honor all their interests—without burning out or choosing just one path.
With a graduate degree in Organizational Development and Leadership, seven years of coaching experience, and her own journey pursuing running, dancing, acting, and entrepreneurship simultaneously, Alicia knows firsthand that multiple passions aren't about having more energy—it's about working with the energy you have.
When she's not helping clients wake up to their full potential, you'll find her running with Downtown Run Group, dancing at Diva Dance, or curled up with an audiobook, enchiladas, and her five rescue pups.
Tabitha Lewis
MBA
TBA
Tabitha Lewis — founder and CEO of THL Ultimate Solutions and the THL Online Learning Center, proud mom of five, and a champion for entrepreneurs striving to gain control of their finances. She helps small business owners achieve financial clarity through strategic tax planning, profit growth strategies, and practical business advisory solutions. Her mission is to equip leaders with the tools and guidance they need to build strong financial foundations and achieve lasting, sustainable success. With a background as a Tax Professional and a MBA in Business Management focused in Project Management, She has combined real-world experience with deep technical knowledge. She is passionate about simplifying complex financial concepts and turning them into actionable strategies that help businesses grow — no fluff, just results.
Daria
Boulankina
TBA
Daria Boulankina is a junior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, where she excels as a student leader in STEM, business, and speech & debate. Key accomplishments include securing a $5,000 grant from Wake Tech's inaugural business pitch competition, serving as Vice President of Leadership for DECA, Entrepreneurship Liaison at Wakaboomee, and Science Olympiad Event Leader for Microbe Mission and Helicopter events, all while maintaining a 4.85 weighted GPA.
Driven by a passion to empower peers and learn more about the business world through the lens of consumer behavior, Daria also mentored middle school students at Thales Academy on stress management and burnout. She organized volunteer initiatives through Key Club, and competes nationally in debate at venues like Harvard and the Coolidge Foundation President’s & Coolidge Cup. Fluent in Russian and English, she fuses biopsychology research interests with entrepreneurial drive to foster inclusive innovation.
Sonia
Daptardar
Who Gets to Be the Hero? Rethinking the Stories We Read
Sonia Daptardar is a highly accomplished young leader from Cary, North Carolina who has dedicated herself to literacy, community service, and youth empowerment. A junior at Panther Creek High School, she founded Seeds of Reading, an initiative that has achieved a global reach spanning four countries and impacting thousands of people by providing accessible reading content and free educational opportunities. Her dedication to service is highlighted through her achievement of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award three times.
Beyond her philanthropic endeavors, Sonia is recognized for her excellence in leadership and the arts. She has used her social media platforms to host a talk show featuring other changemakers. A dedicated ballet dancer since age two, she also demonstrates strong academic and business acumen, having won first place at a state-level business conference and earning multiple professional certifications. Overall, Sonia is a motivated community advocate, blending her passion for the arts and her dedication to service to make a significant impact both locally and globally.
Deanna
Jones
EMCEE
Event Host
Deanna Jones brings over 35 years of experience in the technology sector with a focus on sales, operations, and project management, including 25 years at a Fortune 100 technology company where she led initiatives, built partnerships, and supported growth. She is President of the Harmony LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce and contributes her leadership on the DEI Committee for Meeting Professionals International and the Membership Committee for the National Speakers Association Carolinas. Deanna holds an MBA from Elon University and a Master’s in Instructional Technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Outside of her professional roles, she is active in her community, sharing stories with The Monti in Durham and coaching T-Ball.