Pass the Mic

Looking to make your next business event more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming? There’s no better place to start than with your speakers. We’ve hand-picked a few who may fly under the radar in the speaker circuit but raise the bar in making events more diverse — and way more interesting.

Samantha Skey

Skey leads SHE Media, a mission-driven digital media company created by and for women, which is home to properties including SheKnows.com and BlogHer, the largest conference for women content creators and entrepreneurs in the U.S.

July 15, 2019

Aurora Dawn Benton

Benton, who designs, implements, and scales sustainability programs in the hospitality, events, and travel industries founded Astrapto to provide solutions to social and environmental issues.

July 8, 2019

Mercedes Hunt

Hunt’s consulting company specializes in sustainability advice for the hospitality, events, tourism, and venue industries. An educator, she has a Ph.D. in parks, recreation, and tourism with an emphasis in sustainable events, venues, and tourism from the University of Utah.

June 12, 2019

Hattie Hill

The Women’s Foodservice Forum works for the advancement of women and is the food industry’s thought leader on gender equity.

May 5, 2019

Courtney D. Cogburn

Pollak is a leading voice on millennials and other workers in the multigenerational workplace. She advises young professionals and the companies and organizations that want to hire and market to them.

May 1, 2019

Laurie Santos

Santos studies the science of happiness and teaches a popular course called “Psychology and the Good Life,” which became the most popular class in Yale’s history.

January 30, 2019

Gina Glantz

GenderAvenger is dedicated to making sure women are represented in all facets of public discourse. It frequently makes headlines for its efforts to end “manels,” or all male panels, at events.

January 26, 2019

Lindsey Pollak

Pollak is a leading voice on millennials and other workers in the multigenerational workplace. She advises young professionals and the companies and organizations that want to hire and market to them.

January 24, 2019

Raël Nelson James

With a background in recruiting, fundraising, and program management, James leads The Bridgespan Group’s commitment to reflecting the diversity of its clients and their beneficiaries.

January 15, 2019

Ayesha Khanna

Dr. Khanna is co-founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator. Forbes featured ADDO AI as one of four Asian AI companies to watch in 2017 and Khanna was featured last year by Forbes as one of Southeast Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs.

January 14, 2019

Ingrid Fetell Lee

Lee — author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness — is an expert on the way design affects health and happiness. She is the founder of the blog “The Aesthetics of Joy,” which aims to “to shed light on the relationship between our environment and our emotions, and share inspiration for living a more joyful life through design.”

January 14, 2019

Susan McPherson

McPherson’s company, a commuications consultancy, focuses on “the intersection between brands and social impact.” This contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes invests in and advises women-led technology startups and is an adviser to nonprofits, including Girls Who Code.

January 14, 2019

Become a Member

Get premium access to provocative executive-level education, face-to-face networking and business intelligence.

Join PCMA