Topic: Leadership

Candace Doby

 Candace Doby knows that life is too short to play games with your potential. She has spoken to nearly 100K+ people about how to own your brilliance at work, transforming employees into more confident, empowered, and productive people.

Past Speaking Engagements

 
Blacks in Business
United States Navy Logo
YMCA
SUNY Oneonta
EGR – Global Gaming
International Interior Design Association
Novozymes
Duracell
FREENOW
American Association of Medical Colleges
University of Georgia
TedX Atlanta
MARTA
 

Speaking Options

(Ideal for a Juneteenth Celebration) – Calling On Courage: What Black History Can Teach Us About Taking More Worthwhile Risks At Work

(Note: Candace also has a WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH version of this talk)

What stops us from taking worthwhile risks in the workplace — risks like having hard conversations about diversity and inclusion, showing up authentically for ourselves and our teams, and challenging old systems that do not serve new workplace realities? The answer centers on courage. Speaker and coach Candace Doby leverages stories of incredible courage from leaders in black history to show participants how to conjure their own to speak up, step up and show up at work. 

Create A Courage-Ready Culture

Candace Doby HeadshotWhat could your organization accomplish with a workplace culture that duly equips and rightly supports team members to take worthwhile risks and perform to their potential? A lot — including more innovation, higher employee engagement and increased productivity. In this presentation, speaker and coach Candace Doby shows leaders how to create a Courage-Ready Culture™ where everyone can contribute and own their brilliance.

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  • Follow the courage process its team members go through to prepare themselves to own their brilliance at work.
  • Identify key opportunities within that process to deliberately engage and support their teams in taking worthwhile risks.
  • Apply key strategies to those opportunities that, when repeated, start to create a culture where employees are ready, willing and able to courageously speak up, step up and show up.

Courage at Work: How to take more risks and own your brilliance

Candace Doby Promotional Head Shot PhotoAn organization’s ability to reach its highest level of excellence comes down to one thing: its people — courageously owning their brilliance, in both typical and transitional times.  But how do you get them to speak up with divergent ideas, show up with authenticity and step up with confidence when failure and judgment loom as potential outcomes? In this leadership development presentation, speaker and coach Candace Doby blends storytelling and research to take participants through a process for how to manage fear, activate personal courage and take worthwhile risks — so they can unleash their potential and make a greater impact on their organization.

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  • Identify three key components in the development of courage that will eliminate the frustrating feeling of not knowing where to start when facing a new challenge.
  • Convert those components into a process that prepares them to evaluate risks from insight, instead of insecurity.
  • Leverage that process when opportunities arise for them to step outside of their comfort zone and demonstrate their brilliance.

The Courage To Own Your Brilliance: DEI In The Workplace

Candace Doby TedXIt takes a lot of courage to thrive in a world where you are challenged, questioned, and/or dealing with daily microaggressions as a person of color. In this talk, Candace shares stories of DEI + belonging through the lens of courage. She offers advice about how to conjure your courage to more fully embody your own brilliance — to lay claim to your uniqueness, skills, and experiences — to support the creation of space for DEI+Belonging initiatives to take root in organizations. This talk is ideal for corporate ERGs as well as youth (schools/colleges/organizations) and is ideal for Black History Month, too.

Selected Media

Sizzle Reel

TEDx: Be Courageous. Not Fearless.

Press

Testimonials

Candace doby testimonial by ashlie white“Our organization was looking for an energetic and engaging speaker to motivate our attendees in their roles as advocates. We were incredibly fortunate to find Candace Doby to give the keynote during our annual Policy Forum in Washington D.C. She presented with a fantastic energy. Her engaging style is also approachable and down-to-earth, allowing attendees to connect to her message and see themselves within it.”
Ashlie White, Chief Programs Officer – Amputee Coalition

 

Cara Dollinger testimonail for Candace Doby“Candace spoke for us at our  council conference, kicking off our main event which had about 1100 attendees. Having her speak really set the tone and filled everyone with excitement as we went into the week! Her message was well-delivered, inspirational and she tailored it to fit our attendees. She was professional, fun and relatable. I highly recommend Candace as a keynote speaker!”
Cara Dollinger, League of SE Credit Unions

About Candace DOBY

Featured on MSNBC and NPR, Candace Doby is a speaker, author, and coach who works with companies and organizations to create a culture of courage where employees perform at their highest potential.

Candace combines a decade of research on courage with her experiences leading marketing teams at Chipotle and traveling the world solo. This unique combination equips her with the implementable strategies she has shared with thousands of leaders to help them courageously speak up, step up and show up in the workplace.
 
Candace is known for delivering those strategies with a blend of truth, love and a bit of shade to match the realness of courage, which prompts clients to refer to her in-person and virtual presence as “captivating”. She has spoken with thousands of employees at organizations such as the The Timken Company, The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transportation Authority, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and The American Camp Association.
 

Who Caught Your Eye?

Melibee Global Speakers is a boutique speaker booking agency, laser-focused on the needs of event professionals in any industry or field seeking to book diverse keynote speakers and corporate edutainment. Our mission is to provide an easy, customer-friendly, efficient and trusted talent booking experience.

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Desiree Adaway

Desiree creates and sustains a culture of equity and inclusivity. She’s the one who runs towards the difficult questions.  

Past Speaking Engagements

 
The Gates Foundation
3 Percent Conference
DePaul University
AWWEE
Vaya Health
OnTrack
 

Speaking Options

Organizational Reckonings: Past, Present, And Future

As organizations work to challenge, address, and repair racial inequities in the present, we need to know the truth of our past.

The truth is that American industry was built on genocide and chattel slavery. It’s not surprising that the concept of middle management and many accounting practices were developed on slave plantations. One year, ten years, of anti-racism work won’t reverse 400 years of colonization and white supremacy. But a long-term, resourced, intentional commitment can transform our organizations into places rooted in transparency and trust, where People of Color experience true equity, power, and inclusion.

During this talk, we’ll explore our history, its impact on today, and look at ways organizations have successfully pushed back on the norms of white supremacy.

The History Of The Racial Sleep Gap & Creating Communities Of Care 

Did you know that nearly 1/2 of of all Black, multiracial, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders get fewer then 7 hours of sleep every night? And that the decrease in duration and quality of sleep leads to poor health outcomes?
 
The history of racial inequities in rest and health pushes us to ask: What is the cost on our bodies and minds as we live with White Supremacy? We’ll also explore the Praxis of Liberation and what it takes to develop communities of care to heal.

Bipoc Resiliency

Desiree Adaway - Melibee Global Speaker on topics of Diversity, Women, and History

What would it look like to be a person of color in the US and flourish? To be safe and to thrive in our workplaces, in our communities. To thrive in our own bodies and minds, without the constant need to contort and conform? To move beyond the relentless pressures placed on us. This is a moment to push what we’ve been told is possible, to deepen our analysis and imagination of what justice, equity, and liberation can look like. To invest even more deeply in each other. This workshop will create space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to be in conversation about racial equity, the pressures of dominant cultural norms, tools for resiliency, and building collective power.

 

A Critical Analysis Of Power: The Relationship Between Racial Equity And Truth

We’ll name different types of power that operate in the workplace and explore exactly what white dominant culture is, and how it impacts organizational culture, relationships, policies, and processes. We’ll look at what behaviors and practices reinforce dominant culture and share ways we can work to mitigate it.

 

Black Joy: Rest And Resilience

In this talk, we’ll talk about White Dominant organizational culture, the problem with expectations of constant resilience from BIPOC, and rest as a pathway to healing.

 

Black Joy: Waging Love And Claiming Joy

Are we treating ourselves with enough joy, tenderness, and peace? What practices are we engendering and developing in the community to support a love ethic and claim joy? In this talk, we’ll look at a framework for lifelong learning, pleasure, and Joy as resistance.

Selected Media

Sizzle Reel

At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Spring 2023

Desiree Adaway, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Testimonials

“Desiree’s teaching and mentorship have radically enhanced our leadership, focus and vision for our work at Be Nourished. Her wisdom and skillful presence has touched every layer of our business, imbuing each with a renewed depth of focus on equity and inclusion. Desiree leads with the kind of love that is fierce, true, and holds you to your wisest self. She embodies the kind of leadership that holds space for growth and depth of change. Working with Desiree will solidify your vision for a new world so you can stay in process with that vision for a lifetime.”
Hilary Kinavey & Dana Sturtevant, Co-Creators of Body Trust®

“Desiree Adaway is a powerful doula for this lifelong process of inquiry and praxis. She takes participants down a sometimes painful and always revelatory path towards a deeper and more personal understanding of freedom, inclusion, access, race, and equity.” 
Tucson, AZ

“Desiree Adaway is a gifted coach and mentor. 
I appreciate Desiree’s extensive wisdom, her direct, no-bullshit style of communication and her huge heart. With her guidance, I have not only developed and enhanced my leadership and communication skills but I have been able to gracefully navigate my transition out of direct leadership of the organization I founded and move into an emerging new role related to that work.”
Amy Mandel, Founder and Funder, Tzedek Social Justice Fund

“Desiree brings compassionate rigor. She tells the truth about what she sees. Desiree challenges us to think deeply about what real equity looks like, and in the process, we live into our values and amplify our impact.”
Danielle Keiser, Exec. Dir. and Founder, Menstrual Health Hub

Carrie Meyer, Assistant Professor, Head of Special Collections and Archives, Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library

“As an organization with a lot of energy behind DEI, but without much experience, Desiree Adaway has helped us navigate several important junctures on our still emerging journey. I’ve grown as a person and professional because of our partnership.”
Carrie Meyer, Assistant Professor, Head of Special Collections and Archives, Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library, University of Nebraska Medical Center

About Desiree Adaway

Desiree Adaway is a consultant, trainer, coach and speaker building resilient, equitable, and inclusive organizations. Desiree is the person who says the “thing”, who runs towards difficult conversations. She is an expert at teaching others how to handle complex, charged conversations (particularly around identity and power) with grace, assertiveness, and transparency.

Desiree has over 20 years of experience creating, leading and managing international, multicultural teams through major organizational changes in over 40 countries. As the Senior Director of Mobilization for Habitat for Humanity, she was responsible for planning the strategy and training for hundreds of membership organizations, totaling more than 50,000 members. She was responsible for the overall strategy and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) plans for 1,600 US affiliates and one million volunteers globally. 

Her keynotes have a mix of thought-provoking content presented with humor and wit. She makes a point to create a safe space for growth. Desiree is known by colleagues, peers, and partners as being great at open, honest, and productive conversations. She is not afraid of addressing anything that gets in the way of great work. Her style is positive, approachable, engaging, service-oriented, and audience-centered.

 

Who Caught Your Eye?

Melibee Global Speakers is a boutique speaker booking agency, laser-focused on the needs of event professionals in any industry or field seeking to book diverse keynote speakers and corporate edutainment. Our mission is to provide an easy, customer-friendly, efficient and trusted talent booking experience.

Inquire about booking MelibeeGlobal speaker, Desiree Adaway using the form below.

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MelibeeGlobal Speaker - Jeffrey Binney Side Profile on mountain trail

Jeffrey James Binney

Jeffrey Binney was losing his mom to a health crisis. His fear for his own health turned this comedic, non-athlete into an ultrarunner. His inspiring film and storytelling will motivate you to do what feels impossible. Book inspirational speaker Jeffery Binney through Melibee Global Speakers.

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Meherwan Irani

James Beard Award winner for outstanding restaurant (2022), Meherwan Irani is a storyteller as much as a chef, restaurateur, and food entrepreneur. His story is one of great risk and commitment, radical creativity and success, all starting with a huge leap of faith to open his award winning restaurant, Chai Pani, in 2009.

Speaking Options

Recruitment & Retention

How organizations can build great teams that last, and how we’ve done it for nearly a decade.

The Importance Of Company Culture

Meherwan_Food_SpeakerWhat does it mean and how do you articulate and implement it in a way that feels meaningful?

Inside Out: Why Should A Dishwasher Have Any Less Access To Information Than The CEO? Structuring Organizations Differently.

Meherwan_Irani_SpicesWhat’s the reasoning behind transparency, and why does it matter? How a simple change in the way we share information and knowledge can make employees feel empowered and engaged.

Embracing the Change: How To Create A Work Environment Where People Aren’t Living In Insecurity.

Meherwan_Irani_Chai PaniWe all know that most people are naturally afraid of change. Why? Most change in real life is exciting and looked forward to, so why are people afraid when it happens in a company? How do we shift that perception and make change exciting?

Thinking Differently: Why Best Practices Are The Worst

If you keep doing what everyone wants you to do, you sound like everyone else. How do you break out of that cycle?

How To Make It Easy To Be A Customer

Meherwan_Irani_ChaiPaniHow to gain customer loyalty and make people instinctually return.

Making India Cool, One Restaurant At A Time

Meherwan_Irani_SpeakingJust like there’s no European food in Europe, there’s no Indian food in India. The first time Meherwan had Indian food was when he came to America. He was shocked and he vowed to change that. The story of Chai Pani.

How Well Are You Telling Your Story? Use Your Brand, Culture, And Your Background In An Engaging Way.

Meherwan_Irani_Revolutionary_ChefNo matter what your business is, you have to tell your story. Hear it from Meherwan‘s perspective. 

Selected Media

Sizzle Reel

James Beard Awards

Indian Cuisine In America

Chai Pani Restaurant

Press

Testimonials

Coming soon!

 

About Meherwan

Meherwan Irani is a chef and restaurateur changing the perception of Indian food in America through his growing restaurant and spice empire in the South’s most essential culinary cities. He is a leading voice in the industry’s conversation around diversity and cultural exchange. Meherwan was named by TIME Magazine as one of the “31 People Changing The South”, the 2022 James Beard award winner for Best Restaurant for his flagship Chai Pani, and a five-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast.

Meherwan leads a team of more than 300 as Founder, Chef and CEO of Chai Pani Restaurant Group that includes Chai Pani Asheville, Chai Pani Decatur, Botiwalla Atlanta, Botiwalla Charlotte, Buxton Hall Barbecue, Buxton Chicken Palace, Nani’s Rotisserie Chicken in Asheville, Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken in Atlanta, and Spicewalla. 

Meherwan grew up in Ahmednagar, in the midwestern state of Maharashtra in India, and he came to the U.S. at age 20. In 2009, he and his wife and business partner, Molly, introduced Asheville, North Carolina, to the colors, flavors and faces of India with Chai Pani.

Who Caught Your Eye?

Melibee Global Speakers is a boutique speaker booking agency, laser-focused on the needs of event professionals in any industry or field seeking to book diverse keynote speakers and corporate edutainment. Our mission is to provide an easy, customer-friendly, efficient and trusted talent booking experience.

Inquire about booking MelibeeGlobal speaker, Meherwan Irani, using the form below.

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Vimala Rajendran

Vimala is an award winning (accidental) chef, community activist, domestic abuse survivor, immigrant, mother and grandmother. She’s got a lot to say about triple bottom line in business.

Speaking Options

People, Planet and Profit: Living Your Values in Business

Vimala Rajendran is a chef and restaurateur who deeply believes that we grow our community by engaging intentionally in the farm to fork process and living our vision of creative resiliency. She proudly states that food is a human right and her business motto is “Vimala cooks, everyone eats.” No one is ever turned away at her restaurant – yet she still makes a profit. Her business, Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, prioritizes worker, environmental, and social justice; accessibility through affordability; and sustainability at every level. Her award winning restaurant, founded rather unexpectedly in 2010, pays a living wage. Their producers and investors are local, and their long-term goals are about transforming the local economy. They source produce and meat from nearby family farms; organize their workplace around joy and liberation; honor the land and our relationship to it; and practice interdependence with other organizations and small businesses with whom common values are shared. 

The idea to be a triple bottom line business came naturally to Vimala, given her mission to be sustainable on every level possible. The three areas they focus on are people, planet and profit.  The people they are committed to caring for include the farmers who grow the food, the hands at the back of the house that prep the food, and all the others who contribute making the food come to the table and the guests who come to their business to eat. They pay the farmers a fair price for the food, pay the workers fair wages, and have some benefits like flexible hours, allowing staff with kids to be home with their families at dinner time, offer paid sick days and vacation.

Care of the Planet Earth is honored by intentionally reducing waste. Vimala composts all food waste, utilizing all edible parts of vegetables and fruits by trimming off as little as possible, which keeps food costs down. The restaurant is mindful to keep an eye on making a profit.  This is surprising to some of their supporters and that is understandable because they are so thoughtful in everything done for the community’s farmers, workers, and guests. 

Vimala’s presentation takes us on a journey from India to Canada to the US – telling the story of a woman’s path from memories of her mother cooking, immigration, domestic violence, liberation and how she ultimately became a triple bottom line business owner. Her story teaches us  the power of ethical business and intention in our work – and that profit CAN be attainable through this model.

Selected Media

Vimala Interview

Curryblossom Cafe Feature

Press

Testimonials

“Vimala is a warrior, builder, and weaver all rolled up into one.  She fights for women, immigrants, workers, and anyone who wants to participate in the culinary world.  She builds community one meal at a time, sharing and teaching people not only how to make beautiful food but how to run a business that centers on equity and inclusion. She weaves together people, ideas, and practices, connecting us to her story, her community, and her food. ”
Alice Julier,  Founding Director of Food Studies, Chatham University

“We sure enjoyed having you with us for our chef training during spring break!  You were terrific to work with… both during the planning process and during the training itself.  I am so glad that I’ve come to know you!”
Administrator, Oberlin College

“You are such a great role model to women everywhere.  I really enjoyed hearing about how you saw your challenges as opportunities’ to grow and try new things. Also it is so inspiring that you call the US home after not being recognized as a citizen.  You are AMAZING!”
Student, St. Mary’s School (Private High School)

 

About Vimala

Vimala Rajendran grew up in Mumbai, India where she learned to cook from family, street vendors & friends. In 1994, a single mother of three, Vimala started cooking donation-based community dinners in Chapel Hill, North Carolina home. Sixteen years later, in 2010, thanks to the support of our beloved community, Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe was born. Despite being an “unexpected chef,” her restaurant has won the Best Indian Restaurant in the Triangle (beating out all Indian restaurants in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary) for 9 years and best chef in 2022  She is an immigrant, survivor of domestic abuse, community activist, social entrepreneur, mother of three and mentor to countless people.  

Who Caught Your Eye?

Melibee Global Speakers is a boutique speaker booking agency, laser-focused on the needs of event professionals in any industry or field seeking to book diverse keynote speakers and corporate edutainment. Our mission is to provide an easy, customer-friendly, efficient and trusted talent booking experience.

Inquire about booking MelibeeGlobal speaker, Vimala Rahjendranusing the form below.

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