Theme: Bridges

TEDxCrestmoorPark is holding it's 8th event with this year's TEDxCrestmoorParkWomen 2017. Joining the global theme of BRIDGES this year's event will have 15 powerful presentations.

Lakewood Cultural Center
470 S. Allison Pkwy
Lakewood, Colorado, 80226
United States

Brooke Jones

VP / Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

Brooke wants to live in a world where people choose kindness over violence, compassion over cruelty, and action over indifference. She is a certified professional life coach and a certified applied positive psychology practioner. Brooke is the founder of Sisu Coaching and the Vice President of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. As Vice President of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, she oversees an education program reaching almost 60 countries worldwide impacting millions of students, teachers and families. In addition to the education program, Brooke manages the website, social media, and strategic partnership efforts. Utilizing social media to build engagement, the RAK Facebook page engages over one million fans. When she’s not coaching clients, delivering emotional intelligence training to corporate clients, training educators on the “Kindness in the Classroom” curriculum or posting inspiring stories on Facebook.

Cheetah McClellan

Founder / Women's March Denver

Cheetah McClellan is a middle school language arts teacher and the founder of the Women’s March on Denver. Cheetah’s passion lies in walking in her talk, and empowering others, especially young girls, to do the same. As a woman, teacher and a mother, she is compelled to continue her activism and has recently begun a class for middle schoolers that will enable them to have an impact on their community through different forms of outreach, event planning and service learning. In addition, Cheetah hosts writing workshops for local activists and is working on a project entitled Stories of the Women’s March in which she seeks to highlight how many people’s lives changed on January 21, 2017 and since. When not teaching or writing, Cheetah can be found in her backyard, hanging out with her family and their chickens, or in an affordable French café.

Debbie Foster

Bi-Polar Champion

Debbie Foster is charismatic, compassionate and creative and feels most alive surrounded by children. Of all her jobs (and there have been many!) teaching preschool will always be her favorite because little people are authentic, hysterical and always in-the-moment. Being diagnosed with bi-polar and adhd at age 29 changed the trajectory of Debbie’s life. Backwards she went…from a social butterfly to a caterpillar holed up in a cocoon. 14 years, 13 prescriptions, 5 shrinks, one divorce, thousands of hours on Netflix and 8 jobs later, Debbie has become an expert in “being bi-polar” and after successfully being off all medications for 5 months, she is reemerging from her cocoon. An intuitive friend once told her that she wasn’t going through this for nothing. Debbie wants to help others understand the beauty of a bi-polar brain, show others with brains like hers how they can support their own families and friends (its hardest on them!) and inspire others to come out of the closet.

Dixie Gillaspie

Coach / Consultant

Dixie Gillaspie is a coach, consultant, firestarter, and coffee fanatic. She serves as an advisor and guide for business owners and leaders who are ready to step into the full power of their gifts to get what they want in life and business. After working as a business analyst and consultant for a nationwide consulting firm, Dixie founded her own business in 1998 and has been helping people achieve their “impossibles” ever since. In coaching founders and leaders of multi-million dollar corporations, as well as small business owners and solopreneurs, she has proven that people who tap into the core of their personal power — that unique combination of innate gifts, learned skills, and divine purpose — can overcome any adversity and create what others believed could never exist . Dixie is the author of Just Blow it Up – Firepower for Living an Unlimited Life and Doses of Dynamite – Firepower for Capturing the Inspiration in Everyday Things.

Elvis Daboni

Elvis is a freshman at Denver School of the Arts, he is a new member of the Denver Mayors Youth Commission, and he has served for two years on the Youth Action Board for the Bridge Project. Elvis enjoys playing football and listening to music. Elvis hopes to be in the music industry when he grows up, either as a performer or a DJ.

Erin Lessin Mahone

Activist / Storyteller

Erin Mahone is an activist, author, storyteller, producer and teaching artist based in Richmond, Virginia. She has worked for over a decade building stronger, more inclusive communities for people of all ages and abilities. Erin believes passionately in helping people to reframe their personal narrative to create a story of their lives that helps them to recognize the power that grows from adversity. These lessons have been learned through first hand experience in the creation of multiple projects that have helped Erin heal herself. In her first book Life, Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Sanity, scheduled to be released by Motivational Press in 2017, Mahone addresses the challenges of growing-up in a family touched by mental illness, learning to be a mom, and a human in a world for which she often doesn’t feel prepared. She is the creator of #IfYouCouldSeeMe a multi-media project designed to highlight the power and connection in telling the stories of our lives. #IfYouCouldSeeMe

Eunice Hudak

Teacher / Author / Playwright

Eunice Hudak is a teacher, author, playwright and community organizer. Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico – the surprise baby to a family of four – she grew up under the guidance of big voices and even bigger expectations on the curves and angles of Yonkers, New York. Educated in New York City she received a BA in teaching English from CUNY Hunter College and a Master’s degree in Composition Rhetoric from CUNY Lehman College. She served as adjunct professor at CUNY Lehman for seven years where she specialized in composition and literature courses focusing on the American narrative voice of minority authors. Her work in community included time at an all girls after school program running theater and writing classes, helping young ladies craft original pieces into performances in the south Bronx. Eunice crafts and creates stories both for storytelling and for the stage. Her play “The South Gate” was featured in the Going to the River Festival for female playwrights.

Heather Kennedy

Youth Engagement Expert

Heather Kennedy, MPH is a justice-oriented youth engagement expert. Heather has over ten years of professional experience in youth empowerment, youth organizing, community mobilization, social action, and youth policy advocacy. She has supported youth on a variety of social issues including mental health, racism, tobacco control, and healthy eating and active living. Heather is also in her 3rd year of a PhD program at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. Her dissertation explores how adults either suppress or support middle school youth voice within empowerment-based after school programs. She argues that young people are ready to lead; and that adults often are often unwilling to give up the power or control to provide youth meaningful opportunities to take the reins. Heather is sole author of a journal article on how adults change from facilitating youth participatory action research.

Jean Hendry

Founder / Consultant

As the founder of Be Brilliant, an Executive Presence & Image consulting firm, Jean focuses on supporting women in confidently living the fullest version of themselves by recognizing and owning their unique, authentic gifts and power (both internally and externally) and presenting their Brilliant Best to the world. So many women lack confidence, questioning if they have what it takes to fully step into their own power and magnificence. Jean has walked that thorny path! Her own transformation evolved through many years of self-doubt, low self-esteem and “not good enough-itis” into recognizing and loving her gifts, her uniqueness and her beauty, and confidently sharing them with the world. She’d like to say she’s “slayed the lack-of-confidence dragon,” but it still occasionally rears its ugly head – and one of the things she teaches is how to put out its fire. Her passion is helping women escape the traps and claim the presence and power that is rightfully theirs.

Jolene Park

Nutritionist / Health Coach

Jolene Park is a functional nutritionist, health coach and stress reduction yoga instructor who works with professional women who struggle with anxiety, perfectionism, and the gray area of drinking. She is the co-host of “Editing Our Drinking & Our Lives” podcast, an honest conversation about breaking the stigma and shame around quitting drinking. Jolene provides an inspirational, empowering way for women to come together and be part of a revolutionary health movement that reclaims their body, mind and spirit. Through her company Healthy Discoveries — a corporate wellness training and consulting company, Jolene also helps purpose driven companies and business professionals break through barriers and create richer, deeper community and connection as a result. Jolene is a Colorado native. She is the fifth generation raised on her family’s Centennial farm in Northeast Colorado.

Nadine Roberts Cornish

Founder / Caregiver's Guardian

Nadine Roberts Cornish is the founder of the Caregiver’s Guardian, LLC. She has an extensive background in public health education and served as an independent consultant for 15 years with California’s Department of Health Services where she provided expertise on some of the state’s most innovative social marketing campaigns. Nadine’s most important role was as a 15 year caregiver to her mother. That journey was so complete that when it ended, Nadine didn’t think she would ever have to utter the word or think about caregiving again. A year after her mother’s death, Nadine knew without a doubt that caregiving consulting, education and coaching would be her life’s work. For the past seven years she has care managed, consulted with and supported caregivers across the country. Those experiences were the catalyst for her inaugural book, “Tears In My Gumbo…The Caregiver’s Recipe for Resilience” which launched on October 12th, 2016.

Rosalie Chamberlain

Diversity Consultant / Leadership Coach

Rosalie Chamberlain is a nationally recognized diversity consultant and leadership coach. She has served as speaker, facilitator, consultant and coach in the legal, corporate, non-profit, government and private industries. She is a writer and frequent commentator on diversity and inclusion and leadership, having authored Conscious Leadership in the Workplace (2016), and having been quoted in numerous business publications. Rosalie’s expertise includes; diversity and inclusion strategy, multicultural competency, leadership development and effectiveness, talent management, and managing and leveraging diverse talent. She has unique experience and perspective with respect to organizational diversity and inclusion, having worked with a broad range of multicultural organizations with diversity challenges. Rosalie assists organizations with developing and enhancing strategies to create inclusive environments that provide an opportunity for everyone to succeed; helping organizations attract,

Sally Spencer-Thomas

Clinical Psychologist / Speaker / Entrepreneur

As a clinical psychologist, inspirational international speaker, impact entrepreneur, and survivor of suicide loss, Dr. Spencer-Thomas sees the issues of suicide prevention and mental health promotion from many perspectives. Dr. Spencer-Thomas was moved to work in suicide prevention after her younger brother, a Denver entrepreneur, died of suicide after a difficult battle with bipolar condition. Known nationally and internationally as an innovator in social change, Spencer-Thomas has helped start up multiple large-scale, gap filling efforts in mental health including the award-winning campaign Man Therapy (a program using humor to engage men in mental health) and the nation’s first comprehensive workplace program designed to help employers with the successful prevention, intervention, and crisis management of suicide.

Susan Frew

President / Sunshine Plumbing

Using her Business Coaching experience having coached 17 different trades to success Susan Frew now uses her experience to propel their family plumbing business. They grew Sunshine Plumbing Heating Air from 177K,000 in 2012 to projected 3M in 2017. Their secret to success is providing outstanding customer service and marketing solely on their reputation for excellence. They use a “12 points of LOVE philosophy” in serving their customers. Sunshine won the “#1 Fastest Growing Company” Flight V by the Denver Business Journal in 2015,2016,2017. Small Business of the Year DBJ 2016,2017, Top 100 Women Owned Companies 2016, 2017, Colorado Companies to Watch 2016, Congressional recognition for Outstanding Community Involvement Ed Perlmutter 2016. Susan is a former International VP with AT&T Wireless, Business Coach with ActionCOACH business Coaching, Instructor for the SBA’s national Emerging Leaders program, radio host of “Coaching Not Just for Sports” on ESPN radio in Denver.

Tracksuit Wedding

Entertainment

Libby Anschutz is a musician, community leader and philanthropist and is Director of Community Relations for AEG Presents Rocky Mountain Division. Ms. Anschutz also serves as a trustee of The Anschutz Foundation, one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in the country. Founded by her parents, Philip and Nancy Anschutz, the foundation supports a broad variety of charitable initiatives that benefit health, education, human services, public policy and personal values. Ms. Anschutz’s community efforts are far reaching. She lends her support as co-founder of Take Note Colorado, as an advisor to Little Kids Rock and as trustee for the Do it For The Love Foundation. In addition, she is President of the Libby Anschutz Foundation. She previously served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, Volunteers of America Colorado and Outward Bound Colorado. She founded Tracksuit Wedding in 2013 and is the co-creative inspiration behind the soulful, rock and roll music.

Ulcca Joshi Hansen

Associate Director | Education Reimagined

Ulcca has worked in public education for over twenty years, advocating a vision of education that recognizes, honors and maximizes the unique potential of each individual child. Ulcca is Associate Director of Education Reimagined, an Initiative of the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution. She works to build the ecosystem of partners needed to ensure that learner-centered schools and educators can succeed. She is also an author, researcher, consultant, and Founder of Educating Potential and The Third Rail blog. In addition to working directly with organizations and funders around strategic planning, research and student-centered learning initiatives, Ulcca conducted the research that is the subject of her forthcoming book, The Future of Smart. The book argues that schools must help students find the fit between their passions, their strengths and the needs of a changing world.