• Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School
  • March 8, 2025
GET TICKETS

Speakers

Get a front-row seat to the diverse minds of the most forward-thinking innovators in Sonoma, and hear how they are learning from the past, refining our present, and looking ahead to the future. Our 2025 lineup of speakers will be announced soon!

Lawrence Beamen

Reclaiming the Power of "I"

Brooke Deterline

Talking Across the Divide

Daniela Fernandez

The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Do

Cal Fussman

The Heart of It

Dawn Gross, MD, PhD

Ask: The Time is Now

Quinn Halleck

Does Film Survive AI?

Luz Hernandez

Paying It Forward and Back

Guy Kawasaki

How to Murder Your Mediocrity

Alexandre Lazarow

The Great Diffusion

Jali Bakary & Steve Pile

Griot Music of West Africa

Jess Nichol

Three Strikes Justice

Mark Shapiro, MD

Friendship 101

2025 Speaker Lineup

Jay Alexander

A Magical Experience

Juanita Capri Brown

Telling On Yourself

Nathan Cottam Mannakin Theater and Dance

Nathan Cottam

Bridging Through Dance

Kimberly Deterline

Resilience is a Team Sport

Maria Fernandez Guajardo

Solving for Speed

dr jennifer garrsion

Jennifer Garrison, PhD

Women's Health is Human Health

Ross Halleck

Time Traveling with Wine

Carla Johnson

Curious Once More

Miles Levin

Miles Levin

Why You Should Give Up on Your Dreams

Sally Srok

Loving Life's Curveballs

Daniel Weinzveg

The Surprising Cure for Loneliness

Jamie Woolf & Dr. Christopher Bell

Why Good People Become Bad Bosses

Check Out Previous Events

Watch talks from our 2024 Program, "Reimagine, Reconfigure, Reconnect" on You Tube

Bridging Divides for a More Courageous Democracy
Brooke Deterline

Daniela Fernandez
The Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

Cal Fussman
Connecting Through the Greats

Dawn Gross
Ask: The Time is Now

Quinn Halleck
Does Film Survive AI?

Luz Hernandez
Paying It Forward and Back

Guy Kawasaki
How to Murder Your Mediocrity

Alex Lazarow
The Great Diffusion

Jess Nichol
Three Strikes Injustice

Steve Pile AND Jali Bakary Konteh
Griot Music of West Africa

Mark Shapiro
Making Friends as an Adult

Check Out Previous Events

Watch talks from our 2023 Program, "This is Us" on You Tube

The Amazing Power of Awe
Jonah Paquette

Moving Beyond Boundaries
Diana Elizabeth Jordan

Burning Man: Art on Fire
Jennifer Raiser

The Future of AI
Peter Graf

Let Go and Collaborate
Gary Hirsch

Music is US
Santa Rosa Youth Symphony Orchestra

The $200 That Could Save Your Life
Tara Jasper

Protecting Earth: An Astronaut’s Perspective
Rusty Schweickart

Native Hands, Native Lands
Melissa Nelson

Fostering Differences on Common Ground
Larkin O’Leary

The Gaming Connection
Angela Roseboro

Speaker Submission

Do you have an idea worth spreading?

Our speaker curation committee will be accepting applications for 2025 beginning in August 2024.

Please note that due to TED policies and regulations, personal growth coaches will not be considered.

Lawrence Beamen

Lawrence Beamen is a bass baritone classical vocalist, songwriter, producer, and composer who began singing in a small church in Mississippi. At age 16, after moving to California, he was asked to sing for civil rights icon Rosa Parks. One year later, he performed for Pope John Paul II in Vatican City. Lawrence has performed for many notable individuals and organizations including former SF Mayor Willie Brown, the San Francisco 49ers, the San Francisco Giants, President Bill Clinton and the Billy Graham Crusades. Lawrence was a Top 5 Finalist on the NBC TV show America’s Got Talent and has collaborated with Grammy award-winning producers and music industry greats including Andrae’ Crouch, Patti LaBelle, BET Bobby Jones, and Chuckii Booker. Lawrence is involved in social justice causes and runs Fitted, a textile company.

lawrencebeamen.com

Brooke Deterline

As Founder & CEO of  Courageous Leadership, LLC, Brooke Deterline and her colleagues use evidence-based tools to help people and teams act with ethical courage and ingenuity under pressure. Brooke’s proven methodologies support teams to address complex challenges together.

Building on her experience as the Founding Corporate Director of the Heroic Imagination Project, with Phil Zimbardo, PhD, Brooke combines social and cognitive behavioral psychology with neuroscience to access our natural compassion and wisdom. (See: TEDx Talk.)

Concerned about the polarized political climate, Brooke and colleagues and advisors from across the political landscape formed Courageous Democracy. The programs help people decrease distress, reach across divides and collaborate on shared goals. (See: HuffPo The United States of Anxiety.)

Previously, Brooke co-founded a San Francisco-based consulting firm, focusing on leadership candor and credibility. A trained mediator and former journalist, Brooke has been published in SmartMoney, Huffington Post, and the Greater Good. Her work has been featured in places like the New York Times and Oprah magazine.

Brooke has helped people and teams at leading organizations, such as Pfizer, GE, the Hewlett Foundation, Microsoft, Google, the Australian government, MIT, Kaiser Permanente, the Center for Domestic Peace, Columbia Medical Center, BMW, the Omidyar Group and Rotary International. 

Daniela Fernandez

Daniela Fernandez is a visionary nonprofit leader and entrepreneur, whose life’s mission is to restore the health of the ocean. At the age of 19, she founded Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) in her dorm room at Georgetown University after attending a United Nations meeting on climate change and realizing she was the only young person in the room. Since 2014, Daniela has catapulted SOA into the global spotlight – creating the world’s largest network of young Ocean Leaders, with hubs in 165 countries, and launching the world’s first Ocean Solutions Accelerator to identify, accelerate and scale the most promising ocean innovation startups in the world.

Daniela is a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur and has been recognized for her work by former U.S. Secretary, John Kerry, U.S. President, Bill Clinton and E.U. Commissioner, Karmenu Vella. 

Cal Fussman

Cal Fussman is a New York Times best selling author, storyteller, writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine and host of the BIG Questions with Cal Fussman podcast.  As a writer for Esquire, GQ, and the Washington Post Sunday Magazine, Cal transformed the act of asking questions into an art form and conducted probing interviews with many of the influencers and icons that have shaped the last half century including: Mohamed Ali, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Serena Williams, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, John Wooden, Bruce Springsteen and hundreds more. 

Cal is well known as the lead interviewer for Esquire’s column, “What I Have Learned”, in which people with extraordinary lives share their wisdom. Some of the “What I Have Learned” columns have been reissued in two books titled The Meaning of Life.

Dawn Gross, MD, PhD

Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician, Author, Podcaster and Magic Wand Bearer, Dr. Dawn Gross (aka Dr. AsYouWish) aims to transform the taboo around talking about death and inspire each of us to discover what is uniquely essential to us and to talk about it with the people we love. She is a hospice and palliative medicine physician at UCSF and medical director of ANX Hospice, as well as the creator of the podcast, Dying To Talk. Instead of being seen as the grim reaper, Dr. Gross thinks of herself as a fairy godmother making final wishes come true. When she asks patients what would they do with a magic wand, their answers are never “just give me more time.” She captures their true stories in her new book, Heart Sounds.   https://drasyouwish.com/

Quinn Halleck

Quinn Halleck is a Hollywood director and thought-leader at the forefront of the AI-powered revolution in audio-visual media. His newest short-film “Sigma_001”, whose teaser was screened at the 2023 Marché du Film in Cannes, is about a sentient AI being. The film, which utilized AI from ideation to distribution, sets a new model for how independent filmmakers can unlock the tools once reserved for the studio system by employing AI as a collaborator across all aspects of the workflow.

Skilled in both narrative and documentary genres, Quinn received mentorship from director/producer Michael Bay, known for his work in films like “Armageddon,” “Transformers,” and “Pearl Harbor.” Since his association with Bay, Quinn has produced documentaries alongside notable figures such as Mark Wahlberg, DJ Khaled, and Jeremy Irons.

Luz Hernandez

Luz Hernandez grew up in Santa Rosa after immigrating from Mexico in 2006. Luz benefited from the 10,000 Degrees program and many people who supported her throughout high school. She recognized that mentoring students working for the 10,000 Degrees program could make a significant difference. She has helped many students change the trajectory of their lives through her work.

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist for Canva, is a Silicon Valley marketing specialist, venture capitalist and best selling author of fifteen books including Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media and Enchantment. Guy is also the creator and host of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast, which features inspiring interviews with leaders, icons and iconoclasts from around the world.

Guy is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was formerly the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. Guy has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

https://guykawasaki.com

Alexandre Lazarow

Alexandre Lazarow is a global venture capitalist that has spent his career working at the intersection of investing, innovation and economic development in the public, private and social sectors. He is Managing Partner of Fluent Ventures and was previously a Partner with Cathay Innovation, a Paris-based firm with $5B Assets Under Management (AUM) that invests across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

 Alex is the author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit – Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley (Harvard Business Review Press). Out-Innovate has been translated to Korean, Chinese and Spanish. Alex is a Senior Contributor with Forbes and his writing has been featured in publications such as the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, Venture Beat and Entrepreneur Magazine. Alex is also the author of the newsletter 99%Tech.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrelazarow/

Jali Bakary & Steve Pile

West African Griot Musical Entertainment

Jali Bakary Konteh is a kora master, carrying on Gambia’s rich kora tradition, which is passed on from father to son. Born into a legendary lineage of West African griots (a class of West African traveling poets, musicians and storytellers who maintain oral history traditions) Jali is the grandson of the legendary Alhaji Bai Konte, the first Gambian griot to bring kora music to the world audience. Jali has performed extensively throughout West and North Africa, UK and the rest of Europe. Jali Bakary brings his own personal touch and innovations to traditional songs with unique melodic and rhythmic arrangements. He performs solo, as well as with his own band, Minyanta, and Balimaya Project – a new 16 piece collective who fuse West-African folkloric music and jazz. Jali Bakary released his debut album, Konteh Kunda, in 2010 and currently lives in London.

Steve Pile is a Sonoma County singer, songwriter, guitarist and educator whose music is influenced by strands of Americana, jazz, delta blues and African rhythms. Steve traveled to West Africa and studied music with the Konteh family in Gambia, where he and Jali co-founded the Konteh Kunda School of Music in 2008. In Spring 2024, their friendship will reach a new milestone as Jali travels to the US to play a number of shows with Steve and be a guest teacher at Sonoma Country Day School, where Steve has been teaching music for many years.

Jess nichol

Jess Nichol is a survivor of the high profile kidnapping and murder of her sister, Polly Klaas. The public outrage around her sister’s case was used to pass the Three Strikes law, in Polly’s name, which increased mass incarceration in the US. After almost three decades, in 2020, Jess decided to start speaking out against punitive policies like Three Strikes, and joined the movement of survivors advocating for restorative justice, equity, and healing in their communities. Along with her sister Annie, Jess has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Elle Magazine. Jess and Annie also co-host a podcast called A New Legacy where they interview policy experts and survivor leaders from communities most impacted by crime and mass incarceration. 

Alongside her advocacy efforts, Jess is also a facilitator and teacher of communication and leadership. 

Mark Shapiro, MD

Mark Shapiro, MD is a practicing Hospitalist working at Providence Medical Group-Northern California. He is also the creator and host of Explore The Space, a popular podcast that brings those who provide healthcare and those who seek healthcare closer together through conversation. The show examines the interface between healthcare and society with experts, looking at a wide spectrum of topics including gun violence, gender equity, climate change, disaster management and advocacy.

Dr. Shapiro is also a published author, most recently co-authoring “Preventing Gun Violence: Catalyzing Action” in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and “Covid-19 CV Matrix” published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is an active and informed voice on social media and can be followed on X at @ETSshow,  Instagram @explorethespaceshow and LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markshapiromd/

Jay Alexander

Jay Alexander is a master magician and mentalist with over 30 years of experience entertaining audiences from Fortune 500 companies to intimate private gatherings. His performances are not just shows; they are finely tuned experiences that captivate and involve guests with a unique blend of comedy, magic, and mind reading.

Jay is also the star of Mind Tricks Live! at the San Francisco Magic Theater at the Marrakech, the highest-rated show in San Francisco. His unparalleled ability to engage and amaze audiences has made him a sought-after entertainer for exclusive events and corporate gatherings worldwide. jayalexander.com

Juanita Capri Brown

Juanita Capri Brown’s life’s work is the transformation of individuals, relationships, and groups towards greater interconnectedness, equity, and liberation. 

Through her societal equity consulting practice, Juanita designs experiences that help people in the public, non-profit, government and education sectors undertake breakthrough dialogues, operationalize equitable systems and cultivate restorative relationships. 

Juanita is an artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer. She wrote, produced and performed a multimedia one-person show in 2019 in Oakland, California. She also facilitated and co-produced the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North.  After the film’s debut at Sundance Film Festival, she co-founded the Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery and served on its board of directors.

Juanita received an undergraduate degree from Stanford and earned her masters of Public Policy at University of California at Berkeley, where she taught at the graduate level. www.jcbrown-associates.com

Nathan Cottam Mannakin Theater and Dance

Nathan Cottam

Nathan Cottam is a dancer and choreographer devoted to welcoming more people into the appreciation and performance of dance and theater arts. Nathan founded Mannakin Theater and Dance in Belgrade in 2013. In 2016, San Francisco became its permanent home. With his company, Nathan has created many new dances, produced three tours of Serbia, and conducted outreach with Syrian and Afghani refugees in Bulgaria and young children in California. Mannakin Theater & Dance operates the iMPACt Center for Art & Dance in San Francisco and the en Avant School in East Palo Alto.

The mission of Mannakin Theater & Dance is to expand the world of the performing arts by inviting new individuals and demographics to rich experiences in theater seats, inside the learning studio and underneath the stage lights. Their works gather a racially and ethnically diverse audience by engaging creators and artists from a wide range of communities, including Latino, Chinese, Indian and African American. mannakindance.org

Kimberly Deterline

Kimberly Deterline has spent 30 years working on communications and advocacy for criminal justice reform and equity. She founded a national narrative change firm called We Interrupt This Message, which helped reform juvenile and criminal justice policy across the country, free innocent young men jailed due to racial prejudice and remove an officer with a history of brutality from the San Francisco Police Department. Her clients have included CNN’s Van Jones and non-profit organizations across the country. For the last 8 years, she’s directed training and communications strategy for the Alliance for Safety and Justice, which advocates for community-based strategies that reduce crime and violence.

Maria Fernandez Guajardo

Maria Fernandez Guajardo has guided companies of all sizes, from startups to giants like Meta and Google, in bringing cutting-edge products to market at a global scale. Her recent book, Sail to Scale: Steer Your Startup Clear of Mistakes from Launch to Exit (2024), offers vital insights for entrepreneurs.

Presently, Maria serves as a Senior Director of Product Management at Google, leading the global product team at Gmail and enhancing user productivity with AI innovations. Maria has been recognized as one of the top 40 leaders in the Bay Area by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and as a top Latino influencer in tech by CNET. Maria holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. 

dr jennifer garrsion

Jennifer Garrison, PhD

Jennifer Garrison, PhD, is a passionate and vocal advocate for women’s health and is pioneering a global movement to advance science focused on understanding the fundamental drivers of female aging as Co-Founder and Executive Director of ProductiveHealth.org (formerly GCRLE). She is also a faculty member at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where she leads the Center for Healthy Aging in Women and holds secondary appointments in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF and the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at USC. Her research lab at the Buck Institute studies mind-body communication, particularly how age-related changes in the chemical conversation between ovaries and brain may lead to accelerated aging in females. Her goal is to discover how and why ovaries age before other tissues and use that knowledge to extend healthspan in women.

Ross Halleck

Ross Halleck’s wine journey began in 1980 when he founded a branding agency, with offices in Silicon Valley and Sonoma County, focusing on his twin passions – high technology and wine.

In 1992, Ross planted a Pinot Noir vineyard on the Sonoma Coast. His first vintage was judged the #1 Pinot Noir in North America. Halleck Vineyard wines have been judged #1 Pinot in the US four times, earning over 100 Gold, Double Gold, and Best of Class medals in national and international competitions.

The pursuit of consciousness has been a persistent calling in Ross’s life, leading to study of the Torah, the Bible, Sufi mysticism, yoga, and meditation. Several years ago, Ross became interested in plant medicine and wine as an entheogen. In partnership with local Shaman, Jens Jarvie, Ross holds workshops to explore how wine, music, and ritual can potentiate the sacred inner journey.  halleckvineyard.com

Carla Johnson

As a world-leading Innovation Architect and the CEO of RE:Think Labs, Carla Johnson has been breaking the status quo all her life. In 20 years of working with leaders, she’s learned that the safest bet is often the riskiest move. Through years of research and authoring numerous best-selling books, she’s developed frameworks and processes that teach people how to redefine what innovation means in their company, and then equips teams to make innovation everybody’s business. This ultimately leads to inspired thinking and audacious outcomes.

 Carla’s focus on “applied curiosity” transforms organizations. She believes curiosity fuels creativity and that it is particularly critical in the world of AI. While technology and generative AI have exploded, pushing the boundaries of what we believe is possible; the ability to think creatively is the one core human truth that will remain relevant in this brave new world. carlajohnson.co

Miles Levin

Miles Levin

Miles Levin is an award-winning writer, director, and disability advocate sitting on the board of two epilepsy foundations. His original short and now full-length feature film, Under the Lights, drawn from his own diagnosis and experience, has sparked a worldwide movement surrounding epilepsy portrayal on screen. 1 in 26 people have epilepsy. Under the Lights seeks to break cruel stigmas and build understanding for those dealing with the condition. After a lifetime of living with epilepsy, Miles is very proud to have turned it into something socially beneficial and to be able to use storytelling as a means to create empathy for our shared humanity.

Miles is also passionate about supporting young people as they come of age in an uncertain world. He believes that helping them explore the differences between purpose, fulfillment, and happiness will allow them to navigate the future successfully. underthelightsfilm.com    

Sally Srok

Sally Srok is an accomplished author, wine industry professional, executive coach and transformative leader known for her impactful memoirs, The New Jew: An Unexpected Conversion and Bonus Round: A Gay Ex-Husband, a Divorce, and a Life Reimagined. Her writing delves into the profound power of change and personal reinvention, with the goal of helping others find themselves in the pages of her stories.

With a diverse background, Sally has applied her insights to enhance leadership across a variety of sectors, including wineries, law firms, non-profits, and higher education. She is a sought-after public speaker and workshop facilitator, dedicated to teaching the dynamics of transformation. Additionally, she serves as an adjunct professor in California Community and State Colleges, where she inspires students with her expertise and passion for growth. Through her work, Sally continues to empower individuals and organizations to embrace change and unlock their potential. sallysrok.com

Daniel Weinzveg

Daniel Weinzveg is an Organizational Development expert who transforms groups into connected teams through playful, impactful retreats, workshops and trainings. For over a decade, Daniel has helped companies and non-profits improve communications, collaboration and performance.

Daniel’s unique approach is rooted in the belief that each of us has a rich cultural heritage, which includes how we gather with food, music and movement, that has the power to deepen and reinforce community. He shares how we can promote belonging, combat isolation and foster authentic connection by acknowledging one another’s cultures and stories and through inviting non-normative forms of expression.

Daniel is also the author of Generating Group Genius, a practical guide for those who want to hack the human habit of groupthink and harness the power of collective action.

Outside work Daniel enjoys yoga, playing guitar, exploring nature, meditating, and free diving.

dweinzveg.com

Jamie Woolf & Dr. Christopher Bell

Jamie Woolf is a renowned innovation cultivator, facilitator, and CEO of Creativity Partners. She was the first Director of Culture at Pixar Animation Studios, where she was recruited to be a force for “constructive disruption.” She consults with leaders in the healthcare, tech, government, higher education, and entertainment industries.                               

With 30+ years of experience practicing organizational psychology, Jamie works with leaders to cultivate healthy, innovative cultures.       

               

Dr. Christopher Bell is a nationally recognized, award-winning speaker and scholar who helps audiences discover the power of storytelling in building healthy relationships, workplace cultures, and organizations.

He is President at Creativity Partners and Executive in Residence in the College of Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Colorado.

Chris is a 1.3+ million views TEDx speaker and a David Letterman Award winning media scholar who uses storytelling and play to unlock creative innovation for organizations.

creativity-partners.com