speaking
KEYNOTES AND WORKSHOPS FOR THE PEOPLE BUILDING STRONGER BUSINESSES AND STRONGER TOWNS
FOR CHAMBERS, EDOS, CDFIS, AND CONFERENCES
Bring Found to your people
Clarity they can use Monday: The five questions every Founder needs to answer, in plain language and built for their actual reality.
Proof from the field: Real stories from real businesses, including the 2015 daycare campaign that showed me what a story can do when a whole community decides to move.
A next step that sticks: Every attendee leaves with one small action to take and the free Small-Town Founders’ Workbook.
ONE KEYNOTE, THREE AUDIENCES
SAME SPINE, CUSTOMIZED FOR YOUR ROOM
01
LOST TO FOUND IN YOUR MARKETING
FOR CHAMBERS, EDOS, BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS, AND MARKETING CONFERENCES.
Your members know they should be marketing. Most of them are guessing just how to go about it. This version of the Found keynote walks through the five questions so they leave knowing who they’re talking to, what to say and where to say it, without a city-sized budget.
02
LOST TO FOUND IN YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY
FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGS, CDFIS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS, AND RURAL BUSINESS CONFERENCES.
Small town isn’t the obstacle. It’s the strategy. This version of the Found keynote makes the case that strong local businesses build strong local economies, and gives your Founders a plan built for the community they actually serve.
03
LOST TO FOUND AS A RURAL WOMAN
FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP EVENTS, RURAL WOMEN’S CONFERENCES, AG ORGANIZATIONS, AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS.
Former English teacher. Mom of four. Co-runner of a cattle operation. This version is my own story of checking every box I was handed, then building a different way, and what it takes to lead yourself first.
EVERY SESSION RUNS AS A 60-MINUTE KEYNOTE OR UP TO A HALF-DAY WORKSHOP, WITH INTERACTIVE PIECES BUILT IN.
MORE WAYS TO BRING ME TO YOUR PEOPLE
Managing your energy so you can live and lead without running on empty
01. DOING IT ALL IS NOT THE VIBE
women’s conferences and leadership events, professional development and wellness days, associations and networking groups, and any team coming off a busy season
Ideal for:
You’re checking every box and playing every role, and somewhere along the way you stopped checking in with yourself.
This session helps your people step off the hamster wheel and rebuild the most important relationship they have: the one with themselves.
Through stories, honest reflection and real-world practices, we look at what drains you, what fuels you, and where you’ve drifted from what actually matters. Then we build small, doable habits that fit your real life, not some imaginary one with a 5 a.m. ice bath. Because you don’t need to do it all to live and lead fiercely.
What your people leave with:
- Awareness of the energy they bring into a room, a team or a family
- A clear look at where disconnection shows up, and what drains or fuels them
- A reset on what truly matters, and where their time should go
- Simple habits to stay grounded in their everyday rhythm
First delivered at a women’s conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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Turning good ideas into real results, together
02 · BECOMING A MORE COLLABORATIVE LEADER
employer and business consortiums, leadership teams and managers, community colleges and workforce programs, nonprofit boards and community coalitions, and chamber or EDO leadership programs
IDEAL FOR:
Great ideas don’t go far without great collaboration.
This hands-on session treats collaboration as a real leadership practice (not a buzzword on a breakroom poster) and gives your team a simple path from idea to done.
In this session we name what’s getting in the way, then walk a five-step path from idea to implementation: Idea or Issue → Invitation → Discussion → Decision → Implementation. Your people find out exactly where their team tends to get stuck, practice inviting input and working through different perspectives, and get out of their chairs for activities and real scenarios. (Yes, there’s team building. No, there are no trust falls.)
What your people leave with:
- An honest look at what makes collaboration hard: going it alone, the pull toward quick results, and the fear of looking bad
- A five-step framework for moving any idea from conversation to action
- A clear picture of where their team stalls, and how to get it moving
- Practice inviting input, plus one concrete next step to take back to work
Originally delivered as a two-hour workshop for the NICC Business Consortium.
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Personal branding for people who’ve changed course (and will again)
03 · BUILT TO EVOLVE
women business owners and solopreneurs, students and young professionals, emerging leader programs, professionals in career transitions, and associations and networking groups
Who this is for
Your personal brand isn’t your job title, your logo or your platform.
It’s the throughline of who you are, and once you can name it, you can pivot, grow and change without starting from scratch every time.You're just not Found yet.
In this session we build a personal brand on the three B’s: what you believe, how you behave, and how you benefit others. When you’re anchored to those, your title can change, your industry can change, your whole life can change...and you still know exactly who you are and how to talk about it. Through reflection and hands-on exercises, your people put their own three B’s into words they can use on a bio, a LinkedIn profile, or the next time someone asks, “So, what do you do?”
What your people leave with:
- Proof that their pivots aren’t weaknesses, they’re part of the story
- The realization that they already have a brand, and the words to name it
- The three B’s: what they believe, how they behave and how they benefit others
- A way to evolve their brand as they grow, without starting over
Originally delivered to women business owners and solopreneurs.
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A GREAT FIT IF
You want your people to leave with something they’ll actually use.
Your audience builds businesses where people still know each other by name.
You want a speaker who’s lived it, not one flown in to talk about it.
You’d like the talk shaped around your event’s theme and goals.
NOT THE RIGHT FIT IF
You need a generic motivational talk with no takeaways.
You’re looking for growth hacks for venture-backed startups.
You want a partisan or political speaker.
You see small towns as a problem to fix.
Every booking includes
I DO THE PREP SO YOUR EVENT FEELS EASY.
A planning call to shape the talk around your audience and goals
The Small-Town Founders’ Workbook for every attendee
A customized keynote or hands-on workshop, with time for Q&A
A speaker kit with bio, headshot and promo copy for your event
*Travel added beyond 90 miles of Cascade, Iowa. Custom rates for organizations and multi-session partnerships.
inspire the room
KEYNOTE
The Found keynote, customized for your audience.
$1,500
*STARTING AT
BOOK A KEYNOTE
PLAN A WORKSHOP
work through it together
WORKSHOP
Your people work through the five questions, pen in hand.