S C H E D U L E

S C H E D U L E

S P E A K E R S

S P E A K E R S

A T T E N D

A T T E N D

K E Y N O T E S

K E Y N O T E S

P H O T O S

P H O T O S

2025 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

sponsored by

Michelle Anne Johnson

Candace Doby

Leadership Development Strategist, Author, and Founder of The Can-Do Company

Candace Doby is founder of The Can-Do Company. She is a leadership development strategist, author of A Cool Girl’s Guide To Courage, and professional speaker who works with organizations to create a culture of courage where employees spend less time and energy censoring and hiding themselves and more time performing at their highest potential.

Candace combines a decade of research on courage with her experiences traveling the world solo and a 16-year, award-winning marketing career — much of which was spent leading teams at Chipotle. This unique combination equips her with the actionable strategies she has shared with leaders across the globe to help them courageously speak up, step up and show up in the workplace. Her work has been featured on MSNBC, NPR and TEDx.

Candace is the creator of The Courage Hotline podcast and host of The Own Your Brilliance retreat.

Hollywood Actress, Corporate VP and Consultant

As a Hollywood actress, Michelle embodied the art of influence on stages and television for over 20 years on shows such as Friends, Bones, CSI: Miami, Modem Family. and NCIS. In practice of the craft, Michelle uncovered that acting is really about getting to the truth of your experience and finding yourself in whatever role you play.

Also known as The Speech Queen, she has facilitated dozens of workshops for companies such as Lowe's, Deloitte, AbbVie, Amex, Cisco, Genentech, and KPMG, and is an executive coach for senior leaders at major corporations.

With a BA in Psychology and an MBA, Michelle combines leadership communication and personal transformation principles to guide leaders to step into their personal power, deliver stand-out presentations and keynotes, successfully win promotions. achieve desired outcomes from strategic conversations and discover authentic, confident, and purposeful leadership.

Previous Keynote Speakers

  • Soledad O'Brien

    Award-Winning Journalist, Entrepreneur & Host of the Weekly Syndicated Political Show Matter of Fact

  • Mia Hamm

    Founder & CEO, Mia Hamm Foundation & World Soccer Champion

  • Christy Turlington Burns

    Advocate & Founder of Every Mother Counts

  • Cara Brookins

    Author & Motivational Speaker

  • Shiza Shahid

    Cofounder of Malala Fund, Our Place & Now Ventures

  • Janet Stovall

    TED Speaker, Author and Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at NeuroLeadership Institute

  • Randi Zuckerberg

    CEO & Founder of HUG, Creator of Facebook Live

  • Rebecca Minkoff

    Founder of Rebecca Minkoff and The Female Founder Collective

  • Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin

    Cofounders of The Skimm

2026 Sponsors

  • DELTA DENTAL OF ARKANSAS

    CO-PRESENTING SPONSOR

  • THE HATCHER AGENCY

    CO-PRESENTING SPONSOR

  • BAPTIST HEALTH

    WELLNESS SPONSOR

  • WOMAN RUN (WLJ)

    ENTREPRENEUR TRACK SPONSOR

CORPORATE TABLE SPONSORS

The Arkansas Financial Group