Opening Keynote - Dr. Lynyetta Willis
"Powerful P.A.T.H.S to Transform Your Family’s Intergenerational Drama" -
When we transform the inherited dramas or unhelpful patterns passed down in our family, we create new legacies we’re proud to live and leave for our children and future generations.
Following the keynote, audience members will be able to:
- Illuminate unhelpful patterns passed down in their family.
- Uncover ways that unhelpful intergenerational patterns can impact their ability to be the parent and ally their LGBTQIA child needs.
- Explore 5 pathways parents and allies can take to transform unhelpful family patterns and strengthen their connection with their LGBTQIA child.
Dr. Lynyetta Willis, psychologist, family empowerment coach, speaker, and award-winning author - helps frustrated families break free from Stable Misery™ and unhelpful parenting and partnership patterns, so they can create more harmony at home. Over 20 years of journeying with countless clients led her to design the research-supported Elemental Living® Model and P.A.T.H.S. Relationship Framework. These powerful tools help families improve communication, minimize overreactions, and transform intergenerational trauma. Dr. Willis’s Harmony in the Home Couples Program and Triggered to Transformed™ Group Parenting Program have received rave reviews from couples and parents across the globe in South Africa, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia.
A sought after speaker, media contributor, and author, Dr. Willis’s multi-award winning book, My Forgotten Self: A Story about a Girl, a Powerful Encounter, and a Universal Message, received high acclaim from individuals such as Dr. Shefali Tsabary, author of The Conscious Parent and “Oprah’s Parenting Expert.
Ariella Serur, Queer Dating Coach
"My Secret To A Successful First Date" -In a world inundated with first date "how-to"s, Ariella will be flipping traditional dating advice on its head. In this workshop, she'll be teaching you a mindset to adopt that allows for more personal freedom while dating, and the top three things to focus on when meeting new people. You'll leave with a powerful way to keep first dates in perspective while learning how to prepare yourself for more meaningful connections in the future.
Queer Dating Coach, Ariella Serur, is on a mission to disrupt traditional dating advice and transform the dating pool into one we enthusiastically want to jump into.
In her practice, she helps kind, queer folks navigate the dating landscape so they have the courage to go after what they want in dating and in life, without feeling overwhelmed or exhausted. If you want to learn how to date, or date better, she'll help you understand what you want and how to talk about it, so dating becomes an enjoyable process and satiating part of your personal growth journey.
Ariella is a Certified Life Coach, Registered Yoga Teacher, and is currently receiving a Graduate Advanced Certificate from Columbia University's School of Psychology in Sexuality, Women, and Gender with a concentration in LGBTQ Issues.
Sam Hernandez
"How Being Gay Affects Your Finances: The Real Cost of an Apartment" - Description TBA
Samantha (she/her) is a lesbian money coach. She founded The Money Institute to educate the queer community on how being gay affects their finances. She has several coaching programs dedicated to empowering the queer community to eliminate debt, save thousands and live their best life.
Jenna Slaughter
"Conquering loss and uncertainty with vulnerability and imperfect action" - Audience members will walk away knowing how to:
-
Be willing to forge your own path, even if its not perfect
-
Choose to live each day and do things that light you up
-
Choose to prioritize yourself, your joy, and your boundaries at the risk of disappointing others
Jenna Slaughter is a breaker of rules, a trauma-informed Self-Love Coach, and host of The Unlearning Podcast. They help their clients unlearn limiting beliefs, release the emotional baggage and go their own way-- in both life and business.
Madison Butler & Reese Byrne
"Tokenism, Code-Switching and Showing up for yourself at work" - Description TBA
Madison Butler is a New Englander at heart but moved to Austin in 2017. Her work is focused around creating equitable spaces and creating scalable strategies to achieve psychological safety. She is an outspoken advocate for mental health, removing the stigma trauma, DEI and the ability to be "human at work". She is passionate about facilitating hard conversations through storytelling, data and tough empathy.
Reese Byrne is originally from Sarasota, Florida but currently lives in Austin, TX. They are currently a program manager and consultant. Reese also recently came out as non-binary and is passionate about helping others find their voice. They are passionate about community building and event creation. Reese is a fierce DEI advocate and mental health champion. Reese played division I softball at Alabama State and is driven by team work.
Daija
"The Perks of Being a Multipotentialite" - Description TBA
Daija Moss is a bisexual, Afro-Latina and a multipotentialite with a dual degree in English and Italian from UCLA. Her passions include roller skating, writing, acting, modeling, styling, podcast hosting, creating content, community organizing, and MORE. Her ability to balance working in so many fields is rooted in her own pursuit of self-love and genuine authenticity and her goal is to inspire others to live their best lives regardless of the status quo.
Kalyela Josephs
"The Purpose of Spirituality in the Queer Journey" -Coach Kay will present a 20-minute keynote presentation on the topic of Queer Spirituality. She defines Spirituality, “The essence of who you are and the connection to something greater…” She invites the audience to explore what spirituality means to them and how we all experience it uniquely. She will share a brief story of how spirituality helped her overcome identity issues as a Queer woman and find her purpose in life. She aims to encourage those to tap into their spirituality as it helps them navigate their life’s journey. Getting in touch with one’s spirituality can help with self-acceptance and empowerment as a Queer person. Making friends with your spirituality helps one to become the best version of themselves and live a life of purpose. In the end, the audience will have 10-min to ask questions.
Kalyela Josephs (she/her) best known as Coach Kay. She is a Spiritual Life Coach who guides the LGBTQ community to experience love and peace with their spirituality and sexuality. She is considered a “Soulspeaker'' helping LGBTQ+ individuals heal limiting beliefs so they can live in their truth. Through first-hand experience, she knows the journey and challenges that a Queer person faces. For over 25 years as a lesbian, she struggled with religious trauma, lack of family acceptance, and internalized homophobia. As she encountered a spiritual awakening where she found her purpose and a sense of peace that being LGBTQ is a divine gift. Her mission is to help you receive the same so that you can live a life of purpose, love, and freedom. Kalyela resides in Charlotte, North Carolina where in her free time she loves to read, spend time with her family and her fur baby. Her life’s mantra, “Live Life with Purpose."
Lauren & Nicole, Coming Out Pod
"Coming Out Stories" - Join the award-winning hosts of the Coming Out Pod, as they share the importance of sharing your own Coming Out journey.
Lauren is gay! Nicole is bi! "Coming Out with Lauren & Nicole" is a weekly podcast where actor/comedian Lauren Flans and actor/LGBTQ activist Nicole Pacent invite queer folks from all walks of life to tell the tales of how they came out to friends, family, and the world at large. Because who doesn’t love a coming out story?! "Coming Out with Lauren & Nicole" aims to share diverse coming out stories with an even wider audience in order to empower all members of the LGBTQ+ community to be exactly who they are in the world. They’ve released nearly 150 episodes since launching in 2018, and have featured such guests as Stephanie Beatriz of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," Dot-Marie Jones from "Glee," and journalist and author Lauren Duca.
"Supporting your Fellow Queer People" - Allyship, Communication, and Boundaries Panel Discussion
Moderator - Noopur Shah
Trauma and racism impacts every decision we make, subconsciously and consciously. Oftentimes, we think we’re alone in these interpersonal and systemic burdens, which is why I approach therapy through a relational-cultural lens, bringing forth the vast experience that each person holds. As a queer person of color and child of immigrants, I am deeply interested in assimilation/deassimilation, cultural upbringing + dissonance and intersectional identities. Noopur spends their free time listening to loud music + dancing, spending time with his cats and connecting with loved ones.
Micah Ismach
Micah Ismach is a Portland raised performing artist, animal lover, and amateur poet. They are a CSA and domestic abuse survivor, sharing their story in hopes that it will reach and bring hope or change to those going through the same. They are currently neck deep in the circus world but have dreams of one day becoming a pediatric ER nurse. For now, they are content with training, hiking with their dogs, actively participating in local race and climate activism, and experimenting with new recipes in their kitchen.
Isabella Armour
Isabella Armour (she/they) is a Digital Marketing Specialist who serves LGBTQ+ owned and inclusive small businesses. They focus on normalizing queerness within digital spaces like Pinterest and Instagram and pushing to make the online business world a place that is human-first and trauma-aware.
Kristin Kazyaka
Dr. Kristin Kazyaka is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist based in Chicago. She works primarily with the LGBTQ+ community and with survivors of trauma. Kristin attempts to lead with love in her work, and utilizes a blend of self-compassion and accountability to help herself and the people around her grow. She is known by her clients to be both kind and direct in service towards their healing, and is known by coworkers as an advocate and accountability buddy.
Sav Souza
Sav Souza is queer, non-binary trans performer and creator breaking the binary in the New York theatre scene. They are a Barrymore Nominated actor, writer, and trans advocate, working to amplify the voices of the queer and trans communities in their work and on social media. During their time at home in the pandemic, Sav founded Binder Drive, a completely crowd funded organization that has raised over $125,000 to distribute over 3,000 free chest binders to Black TGNC folks all over the country. Once the theatre industry opens back up again, Sav will be joining the A.R.T./Roundabout Broadway revival cast of the classic musical, 1776.
