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Meet Our Speakers

Dr. Linda Lin

Psychologist-Mental Health Expert-Professor

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Dr. Linda Lin is an international expert on mental health who has conducted psychological research on well-being, body image, and health behaviors for the past 30 years and has published dozens of scientific journal articles and book chapters. She has given over 65 national and international presentations around the world and is currently a Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College and was the Director of Social and Emotional Learning for Moms as Mentors, an organization that promotes self-esteem in young girls. Dr. Linda Lin earned her Master and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology at the Boston University School of Medicine.

 

Learn more about Linda in this downloadable 1-page overview.
 

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • The Science of Making Friends

  • The Science of Happiness & Belonging

  • Growth Mindsets & Mental Well-Being

  • Navigating Social Media & Tech Use

  • Managing Stress & Anxiety

  • Exercise & Mental Health

  • Gen Z Mental Health & Support Strategies

  • Promoting Positive Body Image in Girls ​

Kim Meninger

Kim Meninger

Kim Meninger is a sought-after speaker who has delivered hundreds of keynotes and leadership workshops to Fortune 500 companies, global organizations and high-impact teams across industries. She helps leaders and their teams perform at their best, especially under pressure. With a degree in psychology, an MBA from Boston College and high-tech leadership experience, Kim delivers compelling, actionable keynotes that challenge conventional thinking, elevate leadership effectiveness and maximize business outcomes.

Her signature keynote, Master the Moment, equips leaders with a practical framework to bridge the gap between who they aspire to be and how they actually show up in high-stakes moments. Through relatable insights and real-world examples, Kim helps leaders shift from reactive to intentional leadership in the moments that matter most, resulting in greater trust, innovation and bottom lines. Check out her demo roll!

Learn more about Kim in this 1-page overview.

Speaker, Consultant, Coach

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FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Master the Moment: Bridge the Gap Between Reactive & Intentional Leadership 

  • The Confident Leader: Leading Beyond Impostor Syndrome 

  • Lead with Your Value: Authentic Visibility  Strategies for Greater Impact 

  • Speak Up with Confidence: Mastering  Difficult Conversations at Work 

  • Walking the Tightrope: Mastering the  Balance Between Likability & Respect 

  • Raising Your Self-Awareness to Maximize Inclusion 

Mara Bolis

Mara Bolis

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Mara L. Bolis is the founder of First Prompt, a groundbreaking initiative for people - especially mature women - to engage confidently with generative AI through curiosity-driven peer-based learning. With over 25 years of experience at the intersection of gender equity, inclusive innovation, and economic systems change, Mara has held influential roles at Oxfam America, Value for Women, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. A seasoned global speaker, Mara has spoken across the US, at the OECD (Paris and Berlin), Skoll World Forum (Oxford), the Social Impact Forum (Toronto) and has led workshops in Guatemala, India, and Cambodia. She was a Harvard Kennedy School fellow, and has an MBA from Johns Hopkins, a master’s in international development from Georgetown, and a BA from Barnard.

Learn more about Mara in this 1-page overview.

Strategist, Educator, Founder, Leadership Expert

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • First Prompt: Interactive AI Workshops for Everyday Professionals ​​

    • Beginning to explore generative AI

      AI tools to innovate on real-world challenges

    • AI for creativity and story telling

    • Developing personal AI Goals

  • Preparing for the Future of Work: A Gender Lens on AI and Automation

  • Your Organization’s New Superpower: Gender Analytics for Innovation and Risk Management

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Leslie Coles

Leslie Coles

Women’s Empowerment Advocate, Founder, Founding Advisor of Harvard HealthLab Accelerators

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Leslie Coles is a strategist, speaker, and builder of programs that empower people—especially women, girls, and mission-driven leaders—to drive meaningful change. She serves as the Manager of Accelerators and Partnerships at Harvard University, where she supports early-stage student-led ventures. She is also a Founding Advisor of Harvard HealthLab Accelerators. Leslie co-founded and led the nonprofit Moms as Mentors®, helping over a thousand mothers and girls build connection and confidence in topics like STEM, entrepreneurship and body image. She led programs at the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools and VentureLab (an international K–12 entrepreneurship initiative) and managed projects at MIT’s Playful Journey Lab. Leslie is the founder of SpeakHer Collective, a curated group of women using lived experience and real-world insight to shift the narrative in topics like leadership, mental health, parenting and gender equity. 

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Learn more about Leslie in this downloadable 1-page overview

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Opening Doors To Your Daughter's Future - Careers in STEM

  • Raising STEM-Confident girls (and all children!): A Guide for Parents and Caregivers

  • Teaching Changemaking: How to Cultivate Entrepreneurial Mindsets in Children

  • Building for Good: Supporting the Next Generation of Social Impact Founders and Changemakers

Emilie

Emilie Liebhoff

Education Leader, National Nonprofit Founder, and Women and Girls' Advocate

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Emilie Liebhoff is an education leader, nonprofit founder, and enrollment strategist with over 25 years of experience strengthening schools and building mission-driven organizations. She currently is the Assistant Head of School and Director of Enrollment at Dedham Country Day School and was formerly Deputy Director of the International Coalition of Girls' Schools. Emilie is also the founder of Moms as Mentors® and co-founder of Invest in Girls, two national programs advancing girls’ confidence in STEM, leadership, and financial literacy. She serves on business and education boards, and as a seasoned facilitator and speaker, Emilie brings deep expertise in school leadership, girls’ empowerment, and educational entrepreneurship. She holds an MBA with a leadership focus from Cornell University, an Ed.M. in Human Development & Psychology from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. She is a former Division I athlete and a passionate advocate for girls’ empowerment, women in sports, and leadership.​

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Learn more about Emilie in this downloadable 1-page overview

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Girls Confidence and Female Leadership

    • How to Design Programs to Foster Girls’ Leadership, Confidence, and Empowerment

    • What Parents Can Do: Raising Confident Girls in the Anxiety-Age

    • Female Leadership in Education: Resilience & Reinvention

    • Leading with Purpose: Lessons from Education, Entrepreneurship, and Sport

  • Schools & Parent Education

    • Launching Meaningful Parent Education Programs at Schools (and Why It Matters) 

    • Independent School Enrollment: What Drives Family Decisions in 2026 and Beyond

    • Lessons from School: Teaching Youth How to Bounce Back from Setbacks

    • The Always More Mindset: Re-evaluating the Pressures of Achievement Culture

Ashley

Ashley Olafsen

A Forbes-featured 5x founder with a passion for helping people and businesses unlock their full potential.

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Ashley Olafsen is a trusted force multiplier who has spent her career helping people and businesses unlock their full potential. With extensive experience across innovation hubs, startups, and small teams, Ashley is happiest when she's turning big ideas into seamless operations, scalable systems, and impactful results. As the founder of Beacon Impact Advisors, Ashley helps high-net-worth individuals turn wealth into meaningful impact. She curates socially impactful opportunities—from early-stage startups to established nonprofits—based on each donor's personal values.

 

At the Harvard Innovation Labs, Ashley leads community programming for over 3,000 student founders annually. She meaningfully connects founders with resources, opportunities, and one another. As Chief of Staff at Old Girls Club, Ashley streamlines operations, scales core programming, and cultivates thoughtful growth. Formerly, Ashley personally advised over 500 founders on funding strategy, pitch refinement, go-to-market planning, and sales strategy. Through her work at Visionaria Consulting, she has also built high-performing sales funnels and driven over $1.8M in revenue for a leading content creator. As Co-Founder of MOVE, Ashley spent eight years designing empowerment workshops and summer programs for young women—an early commitment to inclusive, purpose-driven spaces that continues to guide her work today.​

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Learn more about Ashley in this downloadable 1-page overview

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • How to: Curate Your Philanthropic Portfolio

  • ​Strategies for Building Authentic Confidence

  • How to: Pitch Yourself with Confidence

Nicole

Nicole Van Valen

Internationally recognized speaker, consultant, and published author

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Nicole Van Valen, M.S., L.M.F.T., SHRM-SCP is an internationally recognized speaker, consultant, and published author of The Joyful Leader®. With over 25 years of experience spanning healthcare, behavioral health, and entertainment, she equips executives and organizations to manage stress, build resilient cultures, and lead with empathy, clarity, and impact.

Nicole is the Founder and CEO of Keane Insights®, where she Nicole integrates neuroscience, mental health expertise, and leadership development to transform workplaces into high-performing, engaging environments. Nicole Van Valen is a trusted mental health expert frequently featured on CBS4 News Miami, where she provides insights on topics ranging from student anxiety and depression linked to bullying to workplace burnout and performance. Her thought leadership on resilience and organizational well-being has also been spotlighted in SUCCESS Magazine, where she explored the power of generational strength, further establishing her as a leading voice at the intersection of mental health, leadership, and high performance.

A former Miami Dolphins Cheerleader and Miami HEAT Dancer, Nicole brings dynamic energy and authenticity to every stage—championing transformation through joy and proving that resilience isn’t just a mindset; it’s a strategic advantage.

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Learn more about Nicole in this downloadable 1-page overview

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Growing Your Resilience: Navigating the Changes at Work

  • Empowering Resilience: From Insight to Action

  • The Joyful Leader®: Elevate Resilience, Prevent Burnout, and Lead with Lasting Impact

  • Navigating Burnout: Resilience Tools for Healthcare Providers

  • Culture That Energizes Performance

Meet Our Rising Voices Speakers

Rising Voices Speakers are exceptional young women—current students, recent graduates and young professionals —who bring deep expertise, lived insight, and fresh perspectives to the topics they speak on. As part of SpeakHer Collective’s commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices, this program elevates the next generation of women leaders who may not yet have long careers, but have powerful ideas worth hearing.
Yutian Li

Yutian Li

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Yutian Li is an award-winning and internationally-recognized human right activist and public speaker. From immigrating to the US at 11 without speaking English, to speaking at MA State House, MIT, Boston Children's Hospital, etc eight years later, she is passionate about using her story to advocate for and empower LGBTQ+ youths, immigrants, BIPOC youths, and/or FGLI students. She is currently an undergraduate student at Harvard College, studying Neuroscience and Government. She is also a psychology researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital who specializes how racial discrimination impacts immigrants and Asian American youths' racial socialization and mental health. She has presented her research at international conferences, like the American Public Health Association's Annual Conferences. 

Learn more about Yutian Li in this 1-page overview.

Human Rights Activist, Youth Advocate, Psychology Researcher

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Culturally Responsive Care: What Parents, Educators, & Providers Should Know About Supporting BIPOC and Immigrant Youth

  • Healing in Community: Resilience Practices for Youths Facing Mental Health Challenges

  • Supporting LGBTQ+ Youths: What Every Parent Should Know

    • How to Talk to Your Kids About Race

    • How to Talk to Your Kids About Gender & Sexuality

    • Youth Activism 101: How young adults can drive real change in schools and beyond

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Sara Falkson

Sara Falkson

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Sara Falkson is a Harvard Design Engineer, former captain of the Dartmouth College field hockey team, IBM Software Engineer, and the founder of Robyn Athletic. Robyn is a company dedicated to keeping girls in sport through body-confident education and better-designed athletic gear. Drawing from her experience as a competitive athlete, engineer, and founder, Sara bridges sport, science, and storytelling to help schools, teams, and organizations address the challenge that nearly 50% of girls quit sports by age 14 due to low body confidence. Sara’s work centers on the belief that confidence is trainable, and that when girls are given the right support, language, and gear, they are far more likely to stay active, engaged, and confident through adolescence and beyond. Sara has been featured in the Boston Globe, Harvard Gazette, Chronicle Channel 5, and NBC’s On Her Mark Podcast. 

Learn more about Sara in this 1-page overview.

Founder, Athlete, Engineer, Body-Confident Sport Advocate

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • Body-Confident Sport & Keeping Girls in the Game

  • The Youth Sports “Gear Gap” & Why Fit Matters

  • Confidence, Puberty & Performance in Female Athletes

  • Designing for Girls: Where Policy, Product & Education Meet

  • Supporting Coaches & Teams Through Preventative Confidence Education

  • Engineering Sports Bras for Youth & Teen Athletes

  • Women in Engineering  & Leadership

  • Design Thinking 

  • Female Founder experiences 

  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation 

Nila

Nila Ibrahimi

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Nila is a youth activist and advocate for girls, education and storytelling. She is the co-founder of HerStory, a storytelling initiative that amplifies the voices of Afghan girls through narratives of courage, resilience and hope. By documenting the experiences of girls both inside Afghanistan and across the diaspora, Nila uses storytelling as a tool for connection and change. At just 13, she led a viral campaign that successfully overturned a government ban preventing Afghan girls over the age of 12 from singing in public, an act that marked the beginning of her lifelong advocacy for education and gender equality. After the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Nila and her family fled Afghanistan, spending months in hiding before resettling in Canada. Since then, she has continued to champion girls’ education and represent displaced communities on global stages. Nila is a recipient of the International Children’s Peace Prize and has been recognized by CNN’s As Equals, the MOSAIC Awards, and with King Charles III’s Coronation Medal for her leadership and activism.

 

Places she has spoken include at TED Vancouver, Microsoft Vancouver, Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2024 and 2025, Geneva Summit for Human rights and Democracy and the Harvard Project for Asians and International Relations.


Learn more about Nila in this 1-page overview.

Youth and Girls' Rights Activist and Advocate, Co-Founder and President, HerStory, UN Young Leader for the SDGs

FEATURED TOPICS:

  • When Girls Sing: Education, Resistance, and the Power of One Voice

  • From Kabul to the World Stage: What Young People See That Others Miss

  • HerStory: Storytelling as a Tool for Human Rights

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