Michelle Young
As an educator, television personality, speaker, and activist, Michelle Young inspires many. Her persona exudes charisma and positivity, and her message is strong and passionate.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Bradley University in 2015, Michelle began her career. As a 5th-grade teacher, she delivered engaging educational content and also spread her message of self-love and acceptance to the young minds she was molding.
Prior to teaching, Michelle’s success was measured in the classroom and on the court. She showed her prowess in balancing the demands of her studies while making a name for herself as a Division I basketball player.
In 2021, Michelle charmed audiences of The Bachelor and became a nationwide sensation reaching the runner-up spot during season 25. She returned to captivate viewers as the star of season 18 of The Bachelorette.
Each of these endeavors have built the foundation for her influence as a brand ambassador, nonprofit supporter, and public speaker. Michelle is linked with companies like Lancôme and Coca Cola and also advocates for nonprofits such as The Fashion Foundation and Be The Match. Michelle strives to use her expertise in the field of education and her love of health, wellness, and fashion to reach a wide variety of audiences, helping them realize their full potential.
Through empathy and experience, Michelle speaks on mental health, overcoming anxiety, identity, and practicing self-love. She is also a passionate advocate for children and youth, striving to be a positive influence.
Through her triumphs and struggles, Michelle has the knowledge and experience combined with the positivity and strength to empower others through the message she is eager to share.
Invite me to create an engaging and relatable experience with your audience! I am available for keynote speaking engagements, guest appearances, hosting, and more.
Jasmine Brett Stringer
Jasmine Brett Stringer is an uplifting keynote speaker, award-winning author of Seize Your Life: How to Carpe Diem Every Day, on-air TV personality, host of the podcast and lifestyle blog Carpe Diem with Jasmine and founder of Share the Mic Minnesota. In these times of transformational change, Jasmine is on a mission to help people live empowered and authentic lives. Through her Seize Your Life keynotes, workshops and customized coaching sessions, Jasmine guides clients and audiences through a simple process to identify their goals and achieve their personal definition of success. Jasmine’s common-sense approach to creating a life of one’s own has inspired thousands of people across the world to carpe diem! Jasmine has shared her positive message to corporate and nonprofit organizations such as Land O’ Lakes, Federal Reserve Bank, Airbnb, Cargill, Goodwill, Mondelēz International, Bayer, Boston Scientific, Radisson Hotel Group, NEW, the Network of Executive Women and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Jasmine inspires revelation and change by leveraging her experiences working with some of the world’s biggest brands. Additionally, Jasmine speaks on how to effectively network and how to build synergy and develop interpersonal skills- core tools for living a vision-driven life.
The international “new awakening” to racial inequalities and social justice issues during the summer of 2020 inspired Jasmine to launch a new project, #SHARETHEMICMN. #SHARETHEMICMN was established to give Black and Brown women in Minnesota additional exposure through connection and engagement with new audiences. The goal is that the new conversations and relationships develop into a deeper understanding that will be impactful in tackling and overcoming unconscious biases, racial injustices and racial inequities. Through storytelling, relationship development, programming and collaborations #SHARETHEMICMN strives to help make Minnesota a more inclusive and equitable state. Jasmine is using the #SHARETHEMICMN platform to elevate the voices of women of color, inspire action and allyship, and show the world that a Carpe Diem spirit can drive change.
Jasmine is a graduate of American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington, D.C. She was named one of “100 People to Know in 2021” by Twin Cities Business Magazine, a Twin Cities Fearless Woman in 2017, and a Woman of Promise by the Girl Scouts in 2012. She received the 2020 Team Women Community Impact WaveMaker Award. Additionally, she was awarded Distinguished Alumna of American University and is an active member of the National Speakers Association. Ebony Magazine featured her as one of its “30 Future Leaders Under the Age of 30 in America.” Jasmine is based in Minneapolis but can often be found two hours south of the city working with her husband at the family farm. On a personal note, Jasmine is a Minnesota State Fair ribbon winner for her delicious canned sweet pickles grown with love in Blue Earth, MN.
Rachel Evangelisto
Rachel is from the Húŋkpapȟa Standing Rock Sioux tribe and grew up in Rapid City, SD. Working under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as an ICWA Guardian ad litem, Rachel advocates for native youth and cultural preservation in Minnesota. She is committed to keeping Native Youth out of the child protection system and is working on obtaining her Juris Doctorate in Native American law to support this mission further. She is passionate about Indigenous sovereignty rights, racial justice, advocating for the Indian Child Welfare Act, and Indigenous representation. Rachel has delivered speeches, keynote addresses, and presentations to many different organizations about diversity and inclusion. Additionally, Rachel earned the honor of becoming the first Indigenous Miss Minnesota and will be competing for the title of Miss America in December.
Dave Cornell
Dave Cornell is a speaker, coach and trainer who helps individuals and organizations overcome their fears by making courageous choices both personally and professionally so they can lead more productive, passionate and engaged lives. He founded Cultivate Courage, LLC in 2011 to accomplish this mission. He has over 35 years of experience in sales, sales management and training and development.Dave’s business is focused on three areas; Speaking, Coaching and Training. Dave’s powerful presentation, Cultivate Courage, which focuses on fear, courage and change and how those emotions affect individuals and organizations, is well received by audiences and has been a launching pad for performance development and personal improvement. Dave also serves as a Senior Consultant with David Horsager’s Trust Edge Leadership Institute. Dave and his wife, Amy, have been married for 41 years. They immensely enjoy time with their two grown daughters, son-in-law and four grandchildren. He also enjoys golf, basketball, and anything with a comedic bent. Relating to that comedic bent, he is a graduate of Stevie Ray’s School of Improv.
Jason Hunt
Jason Hunt is a dynamic, engaging, and passionate author, speaker, and trainer. During his second year as a principal of a large middle school, Jason found himself hiding in a portable classroom because he didn’t think he could do his “dream job.” After realizing that leadership has less to do with process and much to do with people, Jason turned around the toxic culture of the school in just over 2 years through developing personal influence with his staff. Jason’s messages focus on helping leaders lead through influence rather than title. Being an introvert himself, he has an interesting viewpoint and many unique tools that can help any leader navigate the complicated world of relationships, resulting in less turnover, a stronger organizational culture, and more job satisfaction of the leader. Jason’s first major leadership role was to run a branch of 100 church members in outer Siberia when he was only 19. Since then, he continues to be involved in many leadership positions. Jason has a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota in leadership, is certified by the John Maxwell Leadership Institute, and is the author of The Other Side: 5 Rules for Leading with Influence. Jason currently lives in Owatonna, Minnesota with his wife and four kids.
Jordana Green
Jordana Green is an Emmy award winning television news anchor, a Marconi award winning podcast writer and producer, and drive-time news-talk radio talk show host. Jordana started her career in television news at various stations in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Her career advanced to television news anchorwoman in Indianapolis and the Twin Cities. Jordana migrated from a teleprompter to broadcasting her points of view on a variety of topics as the co-host of the “Paul & Jordana Show” on WCCO Radio in the Twin Cities. She considers learning how to snowboard at age forty as one of her greatest physical accomplishments until being challenged with a rare form of leukemia in 2020. Her straight talk Jersey girl truth telling is funny, transparent, and humble. Her colleagues all agree that when Jordana enters a room, the energy shifts to the positive and everyone knows she’s there… and on ‘their’ side. She has learned many life lessons from her challenges of and rebounding from job loss, moving from city to city, divorce, balancing her career with motherhood, and leukemia. She remarried and is raising three teenagers in her Minneapolis home filled with lunacy, love and laughter. “Finding Your Moments of Clarity”, Jordana’s presentation allows listeners to dig deep into their experiences to identify life changing moments that have molded their past decisions. She offers clear steps to identifying future ‘moments of clarity’ that will generate the confidence everyone needs to make the next right moves. Jordana is inspiring, vulnerable, and funny. She connects deeply with all who hear her and motivates them with specific guidelines to be on their true career, personal and spiritual paths.
Vineeta Sawkar
Vineeta Sawkar is a five time Emmy award-winning television anchor who is now the Director of Public Relations at the University of St. Thomas. Vineeta spent twenty-three years in the television news business. She is best known for her eighteen years at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis. She left KSTP in 2013 and pioneered a new role at the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a video host. She and her family are proud St. Paul residents. Vineeta is a former Friends of the St. Paul Public Library board member and Children’s Hospital Association board member. She is now volunteering with the Minnesota Wild to recruit more kids of color to play the sport of hockey.
Wendie Pett
Wendie Pett, is passionate about motivating people to make fitness and good nutrition part of their daily routine. She teaches the balance of mind, body and spirit through her Visibly Fit™ wellness program. Wendie has a nationally syndicated television program that airs every Tuesday on the NRB Network. Her show also airs on Upliftv, WLCN, and IBN Television. She contributes weekly on KTIS radio in the Twin Cities as ‘Coach Wendie’ and is a featured columnist in VEGWORLD Magazine, The Christian View, Best Ever You, Refreshed, Vegan Lifestyle, and Diet.com. Wendie is a full-time business owner, a naturopathic doctor, wife, mother, author, speaker, TV host, advisory board member for Christian Women in Media and part-time volunteer. Her business consists of whole-food/plant-based wellness coaching, emotional healing, personal online training, fitness planning, educational and motivational speaking, and creating new products/tools to assist clients along their wellness journey. After a major injury to her shoulder, she resorted to body weight resistance exercises for strength and healing and hasn’t turned back to any other form of training since. She has helped countless others reach their fitness and health goals without ever compromising their joints, tendons, or ligaments – teaching that Your Body Is Your Gym™ and instilling new diet habits that have shown to reverse multiple diseases and allow people to get off medications.
Jesse Ross
Jesse is an international speaker, executive coach, & a diversity, equity, & inclusion leader, that works with leaders and organizations specializing in personal and professional development. He focuses on transformation from the inside out and believes that everyone he encounters should expect ascension.
Jesse has a keen ability to apply his education, training and certifications, over 15 years of business, nonprofit, and practical experience to motivate others to greatness, increase productivity, and to take their rightful place as a leader. Jesse has delivered over 600 speaking engagements at colleges, conferences, corporate and nonprofit companies, with a large number of Fortune 500 companies.
Jesse offers trainings, workshops, evaluations, assessments, and strategy development for your school, business or organization. Jesse has been engaging his audience with his Morning Minute call-to-actions on his Instagram and LinkedIn social media pages.
Eric Perkins
Never truly good enough to play college or professional sports, Eric Perkins decided to talk about them instead. Perk as he’s better known, grew up immersed in sports, but also in television. His father Jack was an NBC Nightly News correspondent for decades before becoming the host of Biography on A&E. Perk combined his two passions and became a sportscaster where he worked in Tupelo, Memphis and Atlanta before finding his way to Minnesota where he currently serves as the sports director for the NBC station (KARE-TV) in the Twin Cities.
Since joining KARE in the late 90’s, Perk has won several Emmy Awards for TV work. He’s covered Super Bowls, Final Fours, All Star Games and even five Olympic Games. But he’s perhaps best known for his Perk at Play segment, in which he’s taken part in everything from Skydiving to Demolition Derby, playing tennis with John McEnroe and being body slammed by Brock Lesnar during the decade long run of the segment.
Perk is very involved with local charities and often can be found serving as an emcee for galas, fundraisers, or awards ceremonies throughout the state. Over the last few years, Perk has emceed events for Gillette Children’s Hospitals, Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Second Harvest Heartland, Spare Key Foundation, St. Jude and many others. He even created his own charity event, Perk’s MessFest. The “slopstacle course” for kids is now in its fifth year, and benefits the Pinky Swear Foundation which helps families dealing with childhood cancer. Perk also regularly emcees that Foundation’s annual gala as well.
Perk lives in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities with his wife, three children and cockapoo.