Dr. Brittne Martin is the CEO of Ebbing Forward, LLC, a virtual event and professional development firm that builds custom environments . She has hosted thousands of webinars and virtual conferences for global audiences spanning from 300 to 15,000 attendees. Dr. Martin has developed virtual programs for the American Marketing Association, Adobe, Salesforce, Facebook, Marketo, Second City, Duke & Duck, Lucidpress, and hundreds of other companies. Dr. Martin has over 10 years of experience in marketing, business development, content creation, program management, and social media.

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She earned a Doctorate in Business Administration with a Marketing concentration from Argosy University by exploring social media users and employment trends. Brittne earned her MBA and BBA from Saint Xavier University.

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Nicknamed “Doctoral Mom” by her classmates, she is the proud mother of 3-year old twins and a 1-year old. As a result of her experience, Dr. Martin started an online support group that assists over 1,700 mothers in doctorate programs. She is a board member for Southern New Hampshire University, Welcome to Fatherhood, and teaches graduate students at National Louis University.

Mattie Jo is a luminous international speaker, published author, educator, and thought leader for today’s generation. Mattie’s bravery as a leader has given her the nickname #moderndayharriett. She can be found in odd and mundane places helping many out of the grip of devious influences. Mattie has received her B.A. in Business Administration, Master of Education, and currently finishing her Doctoral Degree of Education in Global Training and Development. Mattie uses her education and experience to create new personal and professional development standards within diverse areas, especially the MIND.

Mattie is also known as the great troubleshooter as well as a mitigator of conflicted thinking. Mattie is the founder of Ambassadors of Technology and Performing Arts (ATPA) and the Co-founder of Back 2 the Basics organization. In both, she believes her work will liberate minds causing many to believe in the core values of foundational leadership.

Mattie has decided to live by choice, NOT chance. She passionately helps individuals move to higher ground in an inspired and uplifting way. She is a breath of fresh air that whispers, “Be motivated, and not manipulated.”

As an international motivational speaker, she has traveled globally to various countries, helping to challenge and change people's culture in profound ways. Mattie motivates people higher by conquering emotional and mental unsteadiness and assisting each person who comes in contact with her in personal and professional development. Many have encountered her wisdom and, when applied, have soared like an eagle.

As an educator —Mattie has inspired thousands by listening and filling knowledge gaps that speaks to their soul. Mattie is the educator who provides instruction, direction, advice, and encouragement and pushes those to act upon what is given.

As a thought leader for this generation, her wisdom helps people excel in their thoughts, tap into new thoughts, and dare to apply them to various industries.

Monica is a lifelong movement and wellbeing enthusiast and an advocate for high performance team culture. Monica is thrilled to connect her 25 years of corporate and strategy consulting experience with her passion for health and wellbeing to help her clients thrive personally and professionally.

Kay’s passion for health and fitness started at an early age. After sacrificing her own personal health and passions for a highly stressful career in corporate IT consulting, she decided to pivot and follow her dream. In the last 15 years, Kay has worked with high level corporate executives, professional athletes and media personalities to create the best version of themselves.

Dr. Patrice May is an emerging icon, speaker, educator, visionary and  Host of " The Be InSpired Lifestyle Show" - an inspirational platform to encourage people to unleash their creativity.  Patrice is the author of UPPITY 21 days to Be InSpired!- A self- care guide with prayers to uplift the Soul, Mind and Body.

Sheila Yarbrough, PhD is a senior level education administrator with 20+ years of experience in teaching, student affairs, business and leadership training.  She is successful in fostering student academic success across disciplines by delivering quality classroom and online instruction through creative student engagement. Dr. Yarbrough is a transformational leader with experience managing a diverse and multicultural workforce and providing faculty development. With her excellent interpersonal skills, she has a proven history of cultivating and maintaining collaborative teams and partnerships with college administrators, staff, faculty and key stakeholders. Dr. Yarbrough is recognized by students as passionate and personable and creating an engaging learning environment. 

Judy Bowie has had a long and successful career in education.  Her most recent positions have been Director of Academic Operations and Director of Education.  She has held positions at various types of educational institutions and worked with students at all academic levels.  Judy earned a Masters of Human Resources from Keller Graduate School, An MA in Human Services Counseling  from Roosevelt University, and a BS in Elementary Education from PrairieView University. 

Lovea Smith, M.A., LCPC, is currently an independent clinical consultant, therapist and trainer.  Most recent role served was the Director of Support Services at Housing Opportunities for Women (H.O.W).  Lovea began her career in corrections at the Cook County Department of Corrections Women’s Justice Services where she became interested in domestic violence, women’s issues and homelessness.  Lovea has worked in social services for more than 17 years with various agencies throughout Chicago, Northwest Indiana, and Normal, IL and most recently providing therapy to clients using an online portal through web-based interactions such as text, phone, and video.  Lovea also has developed, conducted, and facilitated trainings for various agencies, including Chicago Foundation for Women, Willie Warriors cohort in May 2019 and April 2020, as well as with PHIMC in 2019.  

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Lovea has a passion for cooking as she learned early that, “food feeds the soul.” She also enjoys traveling, meeting new people, adventure, music, food, classic re-runs, comedies, and romantic dramas.  Lovea is a Chicago native and the oldest of 4 children and mother to one daughter, Ashera.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois State University in 2004.  She later graduated from Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2007 and obtained a Master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Counseling.  

Yara Artis is a Master’s Level Clinical Mental Graduate from Concordia University Chicago and an SIUC Alumni. This Chicago native is a highly energetic Professional Recruiter at Robert Half, Mental Health Professional, Life Coach and Interview Consultant who enjoys dancing and volunteering in her spare time.

Hephzibah Miller is the President of Concern Citizens of Cook County a Nonprofit Organization providing social programs with a primary focus on preventing unceasing gun violence taking place in the African American communities in the inner cities of America. 

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Hephzibah is a Stenographer and has experience in the freelance industry and the State of Illinois in the juvenile and adult criminal justice system.   As the Union Steward for the Cook County Juvenile Court Reporters she monitored and enforced the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and represented and defended fellow co-workers who believed they were violated under the labor contract.        

Hephzibah is happily married, and is the proud mother of three beautiful children.  She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and still resides there today.

Nicole has been in Recruiting for over 13 years; having expertise in Recruiting within the following industries:

Higher Education, Insurance, Restaurant/Hospitality, SAAS, Manufacturing, Logistics & Supply Chain and Healthcare. Nicole is a driven leader who attributes her ability to identify quality talent, to her passion

for helping and connecting people.  She is an advocate for targeting her searches to diverse talent that are often overlooked, undervalued and just unidentified.  She also enjoys volunteering to mentor youth and is almost complete on her first book, which is focused on helping people to overcome procrastination, and be able to go after the life they truly want and deserve!

Miss MarVanna Avery-Cash is a very down to earth, witty, classy, passionate, God fearing, professional Actress and Arts educator from Chicago, IL. An essential mission of her career work is philanthropy in arts & education. Also, she is passionate about teaching black students their culture, roots, history, and reminding them of their potential every chance she receives. No child regardless of their race should feel left out in a classroom. She looks forward to teaching her own theatre classes on a collegiate level one day soon, having her own acting studio, as well as courses in African American literature and drama. She loves Acting & Directing and is quite talented with it. Writing comes natural to her gifts as well. Doing inspiring things, using her voice as a tool for motivation, and supporting artistic endeavors is a common past time that she is involved with. Her passion is to motivate, innovate, and elevate through her work. She enjoys leading students to new pathways of their success. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts & English Literature from Lawrence University of Appleton, WI. She also holds a Masters of Integrated Arts from Columbia College Chicago. She looks forward to being on the big screen in a range of roles that are uplifting, funny, compelling, and showcase a positive range of roles that show a young black woman in a talented, fruitful, and respectful way. Instead of competing for limited roles in this industry oftentimes, she wants to try out for the best, but also create her own opportunities and refrain from being misled. 

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She is an alum of some of the elite theatre companies in Chicago such as the Improv Olympics and The Second City theatre companies. She works as a Director and Administrator at a nonprofit on the south side of Chicago that works with a lot of the schools in the neighborhood to provide counseling, academic enrichment, socialization, and year-round support in many ways She believes our kids cannot be handicap by gadgets and video games, and that they need to be building skills they may not learn at school or home better. Prior to becoming a Director, she taught middle school and high school Theatre and English. She is currently working on a comedic memoir of essays set to debut in the late fall, that will remind you about perseverance, give you an inside scoop on memorable journeys inside the theatre world that she has encountered, and remind you of the power of conscientiousness and never giving up. You will love the mix of comedic anecdotes woven into her conscientious essays. 

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Prior to the pandemic she was in the midst of a dramatic performance tour of her one-woman solo show entitled “Dream Kween”, which she wrote in 2018 and has been revamping, improving, and performing it across many stages. She performed it most recently at the Chicago Sketch Comedy festival at stage 773. Her Solo show was accepted into the 1st annual Black Women in Comedy Festival in Los Angeles. Dream Kween has been inspired by teaching experiences, students, hip-hop, being a professional actress, black girl magic, and the drive to succeed no matter the circumstance. You can find snippets of her show on her YouTube page Dream Kween. She wants to strive for more access, equality, and representation of performing arts in black other minority communities. She's on the road to making meaningful movies, always trusting God, creating more spaces for black creative professionals to teach and bring their work into the communities permanently and purposefully. She has curated, facilitated, and directed shows in the south side community to bring her work back into the community to foster more unity and respect for creativity. She also plans to launch her own network where she can create and direct more educational shows for kids, and meaningful shows for adults. She sees herself opening her own counseling practice in the future with a dramatic therapy approach, as well as earning her Doctorate. Creativity, giving, wit, celebrating life, being boss, and empowering is in her spirit. Feel free to follow her words, wit, black creativity, and inspiration on IG @Dramaticempowerment, twitter Dream_Kween, YouTube -Dream Kween.

Alexandria Porter is a disciplined, analytical and ambitious high school student with strong communication skills. She is planning to pursue higher education in the fall of 2021. Alexandria is interested in business, economics, behavioral psychology, and government. Additionally, she is a vocal performer and piano instrumentalist who is ready to take on new challenges.