Jessica Buchanan

Author, Speaker, Survivor, and Coach
Jessica survived a horrific abduction in Somalia. She went on to write, co-host a podcast, and support other former hostages and their families.

On October 25, 2011, while on a routine field mission in Somalia, working as the Education Advisor for her non-governmental organization, Jessica Buchanan was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Forced to live outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, Jessica’s health steadily deteriorated until, by order of President Obama, she was rescued by the elite SEAL Team VI on January 25, 2012.

 Jessica’s ordeal is detailed in her New York Times bestselling book, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six.

 Jessica has been named one of the ‘150 Women Who will Shake the World’ by Newsweek, and her story was the most highly viewed 60 Minutes episode to air, to date. Jessica is a highly sought after inspirational speaker and her TEDx Pearl Street talk, ‘Change is Your Proof of Life’ has been the foundation for which she travels the world, inspiring audiences to access their resilience by identifying their own autonomy and chance in the middle of their own life-changing event.

 Jessica also co-hosts the popular women’s conversational podcast, We Should Talk About That where she and Jessica Kidwell attempt to unpack the uncomfortable topics that nobody is talking about, but definitely should. As a podcast that ranks in the top 1% of the 2.6 million airing shows, Jessica has the privilege of working with women from all walks of life, experiences and gleaning from their expertise.

 Jessica also works as a family liaison volunteer for the non-profit organization, Hostage US, supporting former hostages and their families during captivity and eventual return, and also continues to serve as a dedicated Ambassador for the Navy SEAL Foundation, which works to support families of fallen SEALs.

 Jessica is currently working on her second book, Deserts to Mountaintops: Our Collective Journey to (re)Claiming our Voice – a collection of memoirs from Jessica and 21 other amazing women who have experienced hardship and are journeying from the desert of survival, back to finding themselves.

Princess Sarah Culberson

Humanitarian, Actress, Author of "A Princess Found"
Princess Sarah Culberson is a renowned international thought leader, TEDx speaker, artist, and educator known for her work on biracial and cultural identity, as well as her advocacy for Sierra Leone.

Princess Sarah Culberson is a renowned international thought leader, TEDx speaker, artist, and educator known for her work on biracial and cultural identity, as well as her advocacy for Sierra Leone. Her remarkable journey, featured on global platforms like CNN, GMA, and BBC, trended globally in over 60 countries. She co-authored the book ""A Princess Found,"" sharing her story of reuniting with her birth father, which is now being adapted into a Disney Studios motion picture. 

Alongside her brother, she founded the non-profit Sierra Leone Rising, dedicated to providing essential resources such as clean water, education, and medical attention in Sierra Leone. Princess Sarah is also involved in projects related to business, technology, and education, including an animation show with Randy Jackson and a Roblox game aimed at promoting global cultural understanding among children.

Jia Jiang

Inspirational and Emotional Intelligence Speaker
Jiang stepped out of the corporate world and his biggest fear was rejection. He soon discovered that rejection can be much less painful than we believe, and that the fear of rejection is much more destructive than we know.

Jia Jiang is the founder of FearBuster, a keynote speaker and author of the book on how to overcome rejection, Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible, One Rejection at a Time. Several years after Jiang began his career in the corporate world, he took a life-altering risk and stepped into the unknown world of entrepreneurship. His result was everyone’s biggest fear — rejection. This became the catalyst that set Jiang on the path to his true calling.

 To conquer the fear of rejection, Jiang embarked on a personal quest and started a blog to face 100 Days of Rejection. His journey revealed a world that was hidden in plain sight; a world where people are much kinder than we imagine. He discovered that rejection can be much less painful than we believe, and that the fear of rejection is much more destructive than we know.

 Jiang has taken his message to the stage and is now a highly sought-after keynote speaker. His story has been profiled in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Yahoo News, Forbes, and The Huffington Post. Jiang takes his audience on a journey of triumph and self-discovery and leaves them with actionable teaching skills and a better understanding of the impact of social media in our new world order.

Chad Foster

Author and Award-Winning Business Leader
Chad was the first blind graduate of the Harvard Business School leadership program. Today he entertains audiences with his keynote presentations, while breaking down the anatomy of resilience and encourages his audiences to push through setbacks.

An inherited retinal disease robbed Chad E. Foster of his eyesight as a young adult, but it could not take his ambition. He refused to live life on anyone else’s terms. While enrolled at the University of Tennessee, Chad was forced to relearn how to learn without the benefit of eyesight and his grades actually improved.

He made the Dean’s List with straight-A’s and was hired by a Global Fortune 500 consulting firm out of college. In his spare time, with determination, ambition, and drive, he taught himself how to write code in order to program his screen reading software. As a result, he did what Oracle said could not be done – building a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solution that created job opportunities for hundreds of millions of people. 

Chad’s success soon transcended the technical world and into the business world. He was promoted to direct the financials of multibillion dollar commercial deals in record time, serving as a renowned financial thought leader who also secured over $45 billion in government contracts with industry-leading growth and best-in-class margins despite tightening market conditions. In 2014 the University of Tennessee recognized Chad with the Accomplished Alumni Award.

Chad was the first blind graduate of the Harvard Business School leadership program (PLD), and his classmates were so impacted by his presence, attitude, and contributions that they elected him as their graduating speaker. Chad gave a graduation talk that directly and meaningfully changed lives – the lives of the audience as well as his own. His talk had such an impact on one audience member that he is commissioning an opera inspired by Chad’s life story. Today, Chad regularly entertains audiences with his keynote presentations, while breaking down the anatomy of resilience—providing tried and tested tools that empower people to emerge from setbacks stronger, sleeker, and resolute to succeed.