Ashley Rhodes-Courter is the quintessential American success story. Born in 1985 to a single teen mother, by the age of 3 she was in Florida’s foster care system where she spent almost ten years being shuttled between 14 homes—some quite abusive—before being adopted from a Children’s Home at the age of twelve.
Despite her ordeal, she excelled in school and advocated for children in abusive foster homes. Since the age of 14, Ashley has spoke on behalf of the half-million children still in foster care in America by giving speeches throughout the U.S. and abroad. She has spoken on Capitol Hill, has been invited to the White House, and has taught at numerous colleges and conferences for elected officials, judges, social workers, policy makers, and families.
On June 1, 2003, the New York Times Magazine published her grand prize-winning essay about her adoption day. She expanded her essay into a memoir, Three Little Words, which was published by Simon & Schuster in January 2008 and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Her memoir is currently being made into a major motion picture. The book has been adopted by schools and communities as part of One School, One Book initiatives across the country.
Todd’s journey towards authenticity began with degrees from the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee. Next came process improvement and team-building experience with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Ernst & Young. He then earned a Ph.D. in Management from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, as well as a prestigious Post Doctoral Fellowship, and eventually a position on the graduate faculty at Wright State University. After ten years in the classroom, early tenure, many awards, and many scholarly publications, the entrepreneurial spirit took over.
Todd left the ivory tower and now wears many hats: speaker, author, trainer, advisor, not to mention being the go-to leadership and life expert for millions of people through Lynda.com at LinkedIn. His library of work with Lynda.com has made him a two-time global best-seller earning praise from professionals in over 170 countries.
Mel Robbins is best known for delivering one of the most popular TEDxTalk’s in the world: “How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over”. Mel is a powerful keynote speaker who jumps into the audience (literally); creating motivational experiences with unforgettable engagement, surprising research, vivid imagery, original videos, and music. Mel is a third generation entrepreneur who’s launched and sold two companies and currently owns and operates a multi-million-dollar publishing and speaking business. Her provocative and compelling views on leadership, courage and human potential have earned her international attention and invitations to train executive teams at some of the world’s leading brands.
On February 28th, 2017, Mel's new book The 5 Second Rule will be available for purchase.
Amy Blankson is the only person to be named a Point of Light by two Presidents (President Bush and President Clinton). She received a Presidential appointment to serve a five-year term on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National Service, and was one of the youngest delegates to the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future. Amy received her BA from Harvard and MBA from Yale School of Management. She went on to co-found the Future of Philanthropy Conference at Yale University, and in 2007, joined GoodThink on the ground floor to develop and scale the company as it sought to bring the science of happiness to life.
Drawing on over 17 years of management and consulting experience with businesses, foundations, and nonprofits, Amy Blankson brings both passion and practicality to GoodThink. She is currently doing research in partnership with Google to determine how to make positive psychology strategies stick and create sustainable positive change. Amy is the author of the award-winning children’s book Ripple’s Effect, and has three beautiful daughters who teach her about the joy of positivity and the importance of gratitude on a daily basis.
Very few people have the ability to combine the adventure world and the business world quite like Matt McFadyen. For over a decade Matt has worked with organizations all over the world to align leaders, energize culture and build winning teams. Matt is a world-class speaker and facilitator who addresses, leadership, building high performing teams, motivation and inspiration.
From dragging heavy sleds to the North Pole to sailing small yachts through some of the world’s deadliest oceans, adventurer Matt McFadyen has pushed himself and others to the ends of the earth, testing the limits of human potential. He has been a leader of teams in some of the toughest conditions on the planet. This includes three record-breaking expeditions to the North Pole & two long-haul sailing trips to Antarctica & in 2013 Matt rowed, sailed & dragged a small boat 2000 miles across the North West Passage. Matt’s presentations not only inspire and motivate the audience but more importantly challenge them to think and act differently both personally and professionally.
