Cindy Halversen
Leader, Coach, Changemaker
Cindy Halvorsen (she/her) is a catalyst for inclusive leadership and is the founder of Carving Dragons LLC, a Leadership Development and Coaching practice. She is currently the Global Head of Capabilities and an Executive Sales Coach at Google, leveraging 20+ years of corporate experience in Marketing, Sales, and Learning & Development. Her work has been recognized by the Emmys, Cannes Lions and AdWeek. She’s published with the Kellogg School of management. Cindy and her husband, Ernie, won the reality TV Show, The Amazing Race, in 2011. They are loving parents to three sons.
Jen Walling
Environmentalist and Lobbyist
Jen Walling has served as the Executive Director for the Illinois Environmental Council since January 2011, where she oversees the strategic direction and management of the organization and lobbies decision makers on environmental issues. Jen is dedicated to building the power of Illinois’ environmental community to secure policy outcomes that protect the environment.
Jen has drafted, negotiated, lobbied and passed hundreds of bills in Springfield while working to build the power, expertise and relationships of the entire environmental community. She worked to fix the renewable energy portfolio standards and increase energy efficiency through the Future Energy Jobs Act, and as a steering committee member of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, she worked to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act. She has fought to protect state parks and natural areas through increasing funding, increasing recreation liability protections, and funding stewardship through the Natural Areas Stewardship Act.
Karyn Kerr Pettigrew
Influencer & Entrepreneur
Karyn Pettigrew is a coach, author and founder of Beyond Blind Spots and ZoeGoes. She has inspired and transformed businesses and people through her consulting, coaching, training, speaking and media appearances. While supporting her clients as a coach in Beyond Blind Spots, Karyn realized that life had bigger things planned for her. Her travels for business and pleasure led her to solve a need in the market, by creating ZoeGoes, a sustainable, work-from-anywhere capsule collection. The collection allows women to mix-and-match the pieces to make multiple outfits perfect for simplifying life or travel.
Prior to Beyond Blind Spots and ZoeGoes, Karyn worked in marketing for brands like Gatorade, the Illinois State Lottery, Peoples Gas and Fashion Fair Cosmetics. She has her MBA from Harvard Business School and has written two books, with a forthcoming title Extraordinary On Your Terms.
Lindsay Fleming
Licensed Therapist & Content Creator
Lindsay is widely regarded as one of the trailblazers in modern mental health prevention and de-stigmatization work on TikTok. She is a licensed therapist, private practice owner, keynote speaker, podcast host, non-profit co-founder, and content creator.
She is not afraid to talk about her own mental health struggles and has empowered her community of over half a million to start putting their mental health first. Her work has been featured as a segment on The Today Show and in The New York Times, Vice News, Counseling Today, and more. We all have mental health, what are you doing to take care of yours?
Lizzy Appleby
Facilitator, Educator, Therapist
Lizzy Appleby is a facilitator who works with youth and adults to build a more welcoming, inclusive, and kind world. She believes in the power of story-telling, relationships, and youth-adult partnerships.
Using popular education and narrative approaches, Lizzy seeks to evoke individual knowledge and experiences for the benefit of the group. Lizzy received her MSW from the University of Chicago –School of Social Service Administration and her BA in philosophy from Elon University in North Carolina. Lizzy’s passion is to work with youth and adults to create a more welcoming, inclusive, and kind world.
At Youth Services, Lizzy oversees several Youth Services programs, including the Pride Youth Program for LGBTQ+ youth, the SHARE Program, and the Women’s Mentoring Program, in addition to a small caseload. She believes in the power of story-telling, relationships, and experiential learning to help us grow and change the world.
Michele Weldon
Author, Journalist, Storyteller
An award-winning journalist for 44 years and author of six nonfiction books, Michele Weldon is a prolific and accomplished storyteller across many platforms and genres, with the continuous thread through her work of compelling narrative.
As a writer, speaker, trainer, editorial consultant or instructor, she maintains a consistency of voice and a belief that true, authentic stories and accurate, masterful content in any form are her mission.