Rebecca Bender

MORNING KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Rebecca is a thought leader, advocate, and consultant who equips individuals and organizations to identify and fight human trafficking in their own back yards. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regularly testifies as an expert witness in court, and has trained over 100,000 professionals, including FBI, Homeland Security, regional law enforcement, and medical personnel. She works closely with the Oregon Department of Justice and is a leading voice in the fight against trafficking nationally.

For nearly 6 years Rebecca was trapped in the dark, violent world of sex trafficking. When she escaped her trafficker, she knew she wanted to fight to change culture and offer hope to survivors, so she launched Elevate Academy, currently the largest online school for human trafficking survivors in the world. With students in 430 locations and 11 countries, Elevate provides 866 survivors with professional development, mentoring, specialized curriculum, and the tools they need to thrive. A college graduate with a masters degree in religious studies, Rebecca works on the front lines as a sought-after speaker, social influencer, consultant, and podcaster. Her memoir, “In Pursuit of Love” was published by Zondervan in January 2020. She currently lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and four daughters, and a variety of pets.

Dr. Sohee Jun

LUNCH KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Sohee Jun is the Amazon bestselling author of “Mommytracked: How to Take Authentic Risks & Find Success on Your Terms” and an expert on the challenges that face working women in today’s complex world, as well as a sought-after executive coach, keynote speaker, and leadership development facilitator. Sohee has over twenty years experience in the corporate world, including serving as the executive director of organization development and change management at Warner Bros. Entertainment. Today, she helps leaders change themselves from frustrated executives to insightful, impactful, and inspired humans. She has worked with many Fortune 500 companies in high-powered industries such as entertainment, gaming, financial services, and engineering. Sohee inspires women to reject societal limitations and instead ask for what they want and need—at home, at work, and in motherhood—during the ever-changing seasons of our lives.

Session

Getting Off the Ever Elusive “Balance” Treadmill

As women, we’re programmed from early on to achieve balance and that we must “balance” everything from succeeding at work to being a phenomenal PTA mom if we have kids and to be available for our friends and family, to look great, stay fit AND more! In this session, participants dive deep into examining how chasing balance puts us on the fast track to burnout! Dr. Sohee will show you how to get off that exhaustive balance treadmill and to live in an integrated way that honors our core values, our top priorities AND aligns us to the changing milestones and seasons of our lives.

Lu Crenshaw

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Lucianne Crenshaw, more commonly known as Lu, was raised in Southern Oregon. A stand out soccer player for North Medford High School turned collegiate division 1 soccer player. Lu graduated with a bachelor’s in Exercise Physiology. She opened her first fitness facility in 2004. In 2006 she helped pioneer the Crossfit movement in Southern Oregon being one of the first 200 affiliates globally. Perhaps still her greatest adventures awaited, January of 2011 Lu sold her business, packed her bags and headed to Kona, Hawaii to be part of a missional organization, intent to love people well and learn the way of her heart. Setting travel aside Lu came back to Southern Oregon and began to brand a new business. Determined to merge both movement and holistic health, dropgym was Born. Lu is currently operating dropgym and watching women’s lives transform with her co-owner & Bestie Shantell Dayton. When Lu isn’t pioneering or packing her bags for travel, she has the honor of loving on her nieces & nephews…and yes, she’s still waiting for her dreamboat!

Shantell Dayton

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Most days you can find Shantell in the gym, wearing flip flops, loving on people and carrying heavy things. She found herself studying martial arts at a very young age and became fascinated by behavior and moment. Her love of the fighting arts transitioned into real life and became a lifestyle for Dayton. Years of searching to become more balanced in all areas of her life, she became more aquatinted with truth and began searching for the courage to live it out. For the last 6 years she has dedicated most all of her time and study to human connection and how brilliantly the body is designed. She carries a unique ability to inspire and motivate you to turn and face the truth of your story; to be kind to yourself and begin to live your life with a courageous and wondering heart.

Julie Gillis

SESSION SPEAKER

Julie Gillis is a non-profit development professional who specializes in transformational storytelling and philanthropic events. She began her development career at Bastyr University and with the Girl Scouts Totem Council in Seattle, Washington. After moving to Austin, Texas she was the Assistant Director of Community Relations at the Austin State Hospital, and then moved to the University of Texas at Austin, building successful student philanthropy programs.

In the Rogue Valley she worked at Rogue Workforce Partnership in Medford, organizing events to inspire tech students to build careers in the Rogue Valley. Julie also worked at Southern Oregon PBS as their Director of Development. While there, she led a complete reconfiguration of the Development Operations at SO PBS and was instrumental in bringing in programming support for local programs such as Rogue Lives.

Currently, she is the major gift officer at Oregon Shakespeare Festival supporting the department’s systems and outreach while securing funding, growing their donor base, and building fiscal pipelines towards new works, production, and digital innovation.

As a dedicated board member and volunteer committed to leadership, arts, and social justice, Julie has supported diverse organizations such as Lotus Rising Project, Ashland New Plays Festival, Ashland Children’s Theatre, Twin Heroes Productions, The Rogue Valley Messenger, Salvage Vanguard Theater, The Vortex Rep, Lilith Fund, NARAL Pro Choice Texas, New Leaders Council Austin, Team FX, Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, and the Day of the Dead Race.

In addition, she is an artist with over three decades of experience in film, theater, public speaking, and improvisational comedy performing in hundreds of events that merge artistic expression and cultural change. She has curated and produced over 11 years of storytelling, comedy, and improv events in Austin, Dallas, D.C, San Francisco, Ashland, and in Canada. Julie’s professional and artistic work is tied directly to her love of storytelling, where she uses that art form to raise money, build community, and forge collaborative relationships with compassion and humor.

To relax and play, Julie loves hiking with her dog, watching documentaries and scary movies with her cats, listening to podcasts, cooking with her family, and enjoying Oregon wineries with her husband.

Tira Hubbard

SESSION SPEAKER

Tira Hubbard has 25 years’ experience working with system impacted individuals as a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate and then as a parole and probation officer. She now works in Executive leadership for Jackson County Community justice. She recognizes the need to empower the next generation of women and to build resilience in ourselves and our staff. She has presented nationally on gender responsive and trauma informed services and supervision. She serves on the Board of the Association of Justice Involved Females and Organizations and is the Oregon Representative for the American Parole and Probation Association. To be an effective leader, building resilience starts with self so that empowered women, can empower women.

Session

The Recipe for Resilience

The Recipe for Resilience is a fun set of ingredients you can access to build your own resilience as well as that of your employees. Between the fires, COVID, financial and employment stressors, it gets harder to keep bouncing back. Resilience is more than bubble baths and self care. This workshop will give you the recipe you need to build resilience so you stop wishing hours or days away and enjoy each moment!

Angela Mansfield

SESSION SPEAKER

Angela Mansfield is a Financial Advisor/401k specialist passionate about helping people claim their power around their money. She hosts monthly women’s events and financial coaching clubs for women, with conversations on various financial topics. Angela teaches her clients that everyone can make financial choices that create a great life today AND a great life in the future. With 16 years of experience in the retirement services industry, Angela works with business clients as the advisor for their 401k plans and with individuals to offer education and strategy about investments, retirement planning, and insurance products. She also enjoys strategizing with her clients about how to both increase, and maximize the use of, their income.

Angela had her first position as a 401k enroller right after graduating from Occidental College and created two parallel careers, getting her Master’s Degree to be a youth pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and trading off working in the retirement planning industry and working in the church, before coming back to the corporate world full-time in 2013. She enjoys learning as well as leading and has recently enjoyed taking Landmark education courses, something her own financial advisor encouraged her to do! Outside of work, Angela enjoys watching baseball, book clubs, watching k-dramas, and travel –especially to places where there are people she loves. Angela started learning Korean last year and is looking forward to being conversant in the language and traveling to Seoul to see BTS in concert!

Session

Women & Money: Claim Your Power

My session will be a case study in how women have a different experience of money from the men in our lives and the ways that these obstacles can affect each of us. From there, we can talk about where you are today and where you want to go and some of the important steps to take along the way.

Anyania Muse

SESSION SPEAKER

Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA)

Anyania Muse (ahn-ya-nigh-ah)—she/her/hers—joined OSF’s leadership team in April 2021 in the newly evolved role of Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). Muse provides vision and strategy for the integration of IDEA into all facets of OSF’s operations—which includes the design, communication, execution, and monitoring of programs and initiatives that actively promote and foster a radically inclusive culture that is anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, and anti-ableist at the company.

Muse is well known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for her growing body of work in equity and inclusion. In her most recent role as Director of Equity for Marin County, Muse developed, led, and implemented program initiatives to target and dismantle existing systems of oppression within the County, while helping to build and evolve anti-racist frameworks across 22 departments with over 2,700 employees, including but not limited to the County Administrator’s Office, Cultural Services, Children and Family Services, Public Health, and Parks. This includes but is not limited to: launching of a county-wide “Equity Champions” program, partnering with Marin Community Foundation to create the first Universal Basic Income Demonstration providing participants $1,000 per month for 24 months, ensuring ongoing communication and engagement with communities of color in Marin, advocating for equity data collection in Health and Human Services programs, initiating and supporting application of a racial equity lens to the COVID response, and leading the Equity Capacity Building and Community Empowerment Action Teams of the Health and Human Services Department Strategic Plan to achieve health and wellness equity.

Muse has dedicated her career to helping target strengths, issues, and opportunities surrounding a model of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Access (DEIBA) as entry points to develop strategies and plans for engagement that allow organizations to dismantle barriers to becoming anti-racist. She earned her BA from Mills College, and an MA in Educational Leadership, Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management, also from Mills College.

Kim O’Hara

SESSION SPEAKER

Book Coach to Best Sellers® Kim O’Hara has delighted audiences with her knowledge and wit about the art of not just writing a book, but how sharing your story can radically change your life. She has countless examples of coach/leader/executive clients who when writing about their journey, ascended in their lives and inspired others. Called a book sherpa, ride and die, BFF, miracle maker, and guardian angel by her clients, Kim sets anyone straight who is on the fence about either writing a book or believing their vision deserves a wider audience. She coaches them to say yes to their book dream. Her two-decade career in Hollywood as a movie producer and screenwriter adds that special edge of storytelling and crafting a story that entertains as well as evokes emotion. She pulls out the greatest potential in clients willing to voice their dream and get honest to help and inspire others. She has watched book clients share their story and land major roles in TV shows (As We See It), as well as top ten positions on book lists such as the Wall Street Journal, Barnes and Noble Non-Fiction and USA Today. She has taken the stage at NAWBO Charlotte, Empower Women RI, and ICF Los Angeles (virtually.) She will be a Breakout Speaker in 2022 for We Ignite, a women’s empowerment conference in WA. She is a contributor to Biz Journal’s Biz Women (read by 14.6 million) and the You Tube Channel Film Courage (438k subscribers). She has a podcast You Should Write A Book About That.® She will release her self-help book on sexual abuse denial in 2023 with BQB Publishing, and is working on a book about how to write a book, and a collection of essays on buying her first home in South LA. She can be found at IG @astoryinside and @kimoharabooks as well as on Linked In and Facebook.

Session

Adversity in Stories: The Woman I Was Then Is Not The Woman I Am Now.

Women’s communities suffer when stories are not shared. Women are afraid to dredge up who they once were, despite how that can be an open door for others. It’s time we take the secrets out of core subjects like financial security, mental health and relationships so women can find a strong place in the world. These dialogues produce stories, and in stories there is power. Leaning into adversity truly shows the depth and power of our voice. Join Kim O’Hara as she walks participants through stories of resilience in the face of adversity, where there is no shame… only triumph.

Dr. Alena Ruggerio

SESSION SPEAKER

Dr. Alena Ruggerio is professor of communication at Southern Oregon University, where she is affiliate faculty in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program and the Ethnic and Racial Studies program. Recognized in 2017 with the SOU Distinguished Teaching Award and once honored by student government as SOU’s “Most Warm and Welcoming Professor,” she offers teaches such as persuasion, argumentation, advanced public speaking, assessing media and culture, political communication, gender and communication, and interpersonal communication. The co-author of Feminism in Practice: Communication Strategies for Making Change (Waveland Press) and the editor of Media Depictions of Brides, Wives, and Mothers (Lexington Books), her research at the crossroads of gender, language, and religion has also appeared in Feminist Media Studies, Communication in the Classroom (Bedford St. Martin’s), and Mental Health Among Higher Education Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Students (Lexington Books). She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and Culture from Indiana University. Although she is originally from Northeast Ohio, Alena has lived for twenty years in Medford, Oregon, with her husband and their astonishingly adorable cats.

Session

Communication Strategies to Break Through Leadership Barriers

Learn communication strategies for breaking barriers from twenty diverse women leaders. Examine how African-American musician Lizzo, Portuguese artist Joanna Vasconcelos, disability activist Vilissa Thompson, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and many more work towards justice by proclaiming identity, naming a problem, enriching systems, changing systems, and creating alternate systems. Participants will identify which communication tools they can use to make their own change, transform injustice, and practice leadership in breaking through barriers in their own lives.

Cassie Trujillo

SESSION SPEAKER

Cassie Trujillo has been teaching, coaching, and training groups and individuals for over 20 years. She is passionate about developing emerging and established women leaders by creating both formal and everyday opportunities for those she knows to learn, grow and practice. What else? Cassie gets kind of geeky about neuroscience, likes to be a little corny, last year she learned how to play pickleball and backpacked 40 miles from Graves Creek to the Oregon Coast.

Session

Turning barriers into bridges and boosters!

Identifying and taking control of what is in the way of our most daring goals!

By getting clear about our fears, as well as the real and perceived obstacles to our dreams, we can create a system to prevent, repair and diminish those barriers. During this one-hour session you will learn a structure to identify what you really want, get excited about it, and create a plan to achieve it!

Precious Yamaguchi

SESSION SPEAKER

Dr. Precious Yamaguchi is an Associate Professor of Communication. She has her doctorate in Communication Studies from Bowling Green State University’s School of Media and Communication Studies, Master of Arts degree in Communication from Pepperdine University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with minors in Public Relations and Ethnic Studies from Humboldt State University. Her academic research is interdisciplinary, focusing broadly on issues of culture, identity, generation, technology, social media, and international textile markets. Her single-authored book, The Journeys and Strength of Japanese American Women: Stories and Life Experiences During and After World War II, was published by Lexington Books in 2015. She has received the Distinguished Faculty Award, a Raider Academy Award, and the Queer Resource Center’s Erika Giesen Outstanding Faculty Award during her time at Southern Oregon University and also a Top Paper Award from the National Communication Association. She co-owns a small tech/ art/ podcast studio and coworking business in Ashland where she has curated two art shows.

When Dr. Yamaguchi is off-campus, enjoys traveling, painting, hiking, and spending time with family and friends from all over the world.