2026 Podium Project Speakers
Meet the leaders taking the stage on February 17
Podium Project speakers bring real decision-making experience—the kind earned by leading teams, building companies, shaping strategy, and carrying responsibility when it counts.
Keynote Speaker
Haddie Djemal (Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex)
Founder, #HIREAJOURNALIST | Keynote speaker, journalist & strategic communications consultant
The Talk: From Inner Narrative to Outer Impact: Owning and Amplifying Your Story
Haddie Djemal is a keynote speaker, journalist, and strategic communications consultant with more than a decade of experience across earned and owned media. A former national TV host and producer, she has worked across newsrooms, lifestyle shows, and branded content—bringing a rare, end-to-end understanding of how stories move from idea to impact. Today, through Djemal Media & Communications LLC, she helps leaders and teams clarify their message, strengthen positioning, and show up with credibility in high-stakes communication moments.
What to expect: a keynote that helps you rewrite the internal story that keeps you small—so your message lands with clarity, confidence, and real influence.
Podium Project Speaker Cohort — At a Glance
11 speakers
100% have 10+ years professional experience
Majority are C-suite executives, founders, or board leaders
Multiple published authors and educators
6+ industries represented
This is not an aspirational speaker lineup. This is a leadership one.
Speakers Who Build, Lead, and Decide
Podium Project speakers are not just storytellers. They are founders, CEOs, C-suite executives, board directors, advisors, and published authors. Many hold (or have held) responsibility for teams, P&L, strategy, culture, and governance.
What this means for audiences: practical wisdom from women who actively shape organizations and industries.
Cross-Industry Perspectives with Executive Credibility
Our speakers represent a powerful cross-section of today’s economy—spanning corporate technology, healthcare, construction and real estate, law and finance, HR and people operations, and wellness and coaching.
What this means for audiences: insights that translate across industries and functions from the boardroom to the front lines.
2026 Speaker Cohort
Karla J. Aghedo (Houston, TX)
Executive Wellness Mindset Coach & Retreat Curator | Founder & CEO, Houston Wellness Workshops for Women (H3W) | Managing Attorney, The Aghedo Firm PLLC
Talk: There’s No Place Like Home
Karla J. Aghedo is an executive wellness mindset coach and attorney who helps professional women reclaim power through wellness. She is the Founder & CEO of Houston Wellness Workshops for Women (H3W), where she coaches and curates retreats, and she previously served as a Room Tilter with Limitless Minds, supporting high-performance corporate teams through group mindset coaching (2022–2025). Karla is the author of Gifts from a Broken Leg: 6 Lessons of Relentless Gratitude in the Midst of a Bad Break (2023) and the founder of SisStore Joy Christian Bookstore (2024).
Birgess Angelus (San Francisco, CA)
Founder & CEO, B Line Events, Inc. | Experiential Event Producer | Community Builder
Talk: The Business of Bringing People Together
Birgess Angelus is the Founder & CEO of B Line Events, where she and her team produce information-packed, inspiring experiences that deliver on vision and budget. Since 2004, her company has produced hundreds of events worldwide—ranging from intimate gatherings to experiences with 20,000+ attendees. Birgess is known for building real community inside her company, including an average employee tenure of 9+ years, and she brings that same “design connection on purpose” philosophy to the work she does for clients.
Priscilla Arthus (Houston, TX)
Debt Finance & Trusts and Estates Attorney | Partner, Pierson Ferdinand | Former Big Four CPA
Talk: Pivot, Promote, or Launch: The Multisentric Path to a Career that Fits
Priscilla Arthus is a debt finance and trusts & estates partner at Pierson Ferdinand and a former Big Four CPA, with more than a decade of experience structuring, negotiating, and closing complex financings across sectors including energy and real estate. She also advises families and business owners on wills, trusts, succession planning, and tax-efficient transfers with clarity and precision. Alongside her legal work, Priscilla supports high-achieving women—especially working moms—as they pivot careers, pursue promotions, or launch ventures that better fit the lives they want to lead.
Maya Blanton (Houston, TX)
Founder & CEO, Blanton Properties | Luxury Residential Real Estate Broker | Relationship-Driven Advisor
Talk: The Quiet Advantage of the Long Game: How Relationships Outlast Markets
Maya Blanton is the Founder & CEO of Blanton Properties and a luxury residential real estate broker with 15 years of experience in residential sales. Known for delivering a true high-touch client experience, she combines deep market knowledge, premier marketing strategy, and hands-on leadership from first conversation through closing. With a background in website development, research analysis, and online marketing—plus degrees in art and design—Maya brings a modern, creative edge to real estate and has built a reputation for integrity, responsiveness, and long-term client relationships.
Lemar Marie Brown, NACD.DC, MBA (Houston, TX)
CEO, The Negocium Group | Keynote speaker and workshop leader | Corporate Board Director & Negotiation Strategist
Talk: You’ve Got to be Hungry
Lemar Marie Brown is a keynote and workshop speaker on corporate boards and win-win negotiating. She has 25+ years of global business leadership experience with Shell plc and Goldman Sachs. She has led high-impact teams, closed six-figure deals, delivered profit growth, and shaped global strategy. She then became an Executive Professor at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School. Lemar has served as a corporate board director supporting Certarus through a successful $1B+ exit and currently serves on the board of a private renewable company. She holds the NACD Directorship Certification, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Dr. Laurinda Calongne (Miramar Beach, FL)
Author | Executive Coach | Speaker | Leadership & Well-Being Expert
Talk: Still Standing: Finding Strength After the Storm
Laurinda Calongne, EdD, is an author, executive coach, and nationally recognized leadership expert with 30+ years of experience leading through crisis in healthcare and education. A former senior healthcare executive and licensed clinical social worker, she has guided leaders through hurricanes, pandemics, organizational transformation, and disruption—bringing grounded insight from crisis-tested systems. Laurinda is the author of Still Standing, which offers a practical framework for rebuilding clarity, energy, and purpose after sustained adversity.
Angela Cotie, LEED AP BD+C (Houston, TX)
Construction Operations Executive | Former Vice President of Operations, Bartlett Cocke General Contractors | Workforce Development & Women in Construction Advocate
Talk: Burned Out to Fired Up
Angela Cotie, LEED AP BD+C, is a construction operations leader with 28+ years of hands-on experience spanning superintendent, scheduler, estimator, project manager, and project executive roles, most recently serving as Vice President of Operations at Bartlett Cocke General Contractors. She has helped deliver major Houston-area projects including the Bush Intercontinental Airport modernization, Houston Zoo African Forest Exhibits, and Minute Maid Park renovations—bringing real-world operational insight to every room she’s in. A sought-after speaker and mentor, Angela is known for championing inclusive, high-performing teams and talent pipelines for women and underrepresented groups; her leadership has earned recognition including ENR Texas/Louisiana Top 20 Under 40 and founding involvement with AGC Houston’s Women Who Wear Boots initiative.
Nicole Herrera (San Rafael, CA)
Founder, Her Era | Keynote Speaker & Leadership Strategist | Former Google Culture Change Leader
Talk: Reclaiming You: How to Rise After Challenges
Nicole Herrera is a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, and founder of Her Era, where she helps individuals reclaim their voice, confidence, and power during pivotal career and life transitions. With 13 years at Google leading global culture change and inclusion initiatives, she brings a rare blend of enterprise leadership, systems thinking, and lived experience to the stage. Her signature keynote introduces the RECLAIM Framework™, a proven methodology that helps individuals and teams build resilience that accelerates growth—not just recovery—after personal and professional setbacks.
Ashley Keller (Richmond, TX)
Transformational Coach | Purpose & Intuition Guide | Inner Work Facilitator
Talk: Everything Happens For A Reason
Ashley Keller is a transformational coach who helps women reconnect with their authenticity and intuition so they can step into purpose and build a life they love. Her approach blends practical tools with deeper inner work—supporting clients in healing limiting beliefs and inner-child patterns that keep them stuck. Ashley is known for helping clients create lasting, life-changing shifts from the inside out.
Dara Wheeler (The Woodlands, TX)
Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Product Strategy and Innovation, Axiom Medical | Workplace Health Strategy Leader | Digital Transformation Executive
Talk: Bridging Physical and Behavioral Health: Redefining Workplace Injury Management
Dara Wheeler is Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Product Strategy and Innovation at Axiom Medical, a leading provider of outsourced employer services focused on workplace injury management. With 18+ years of experience helping organizations transform and scale, she specializes in bridging physical and behavioral health in the workplace—partnering with health and safety leaders to improve outcomes for employees and employers. At Axiom, Dara leads marketing, product strategy, and digital transformation, pioneering the integration of AI, automation, and proactive case management to deliver measurable organizational impact.
Lisseth Zouhbi (Tarzana, CA)
Chief People & Culture Officer, Child Care Resource Center | CHRO | Author & Speaker
Talk: Evolve to Thrive: Change, Agility, Transformation
Lisseth Zouhbi is Chief People & Culture Officer at Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) and a distinguished HR leader, author, and speaker with nearly 25 years of experience shaping people strategy and organizational culture. Since joining CCRC in 2022, she has led HR for a rapidly growing nonprofit of nearly 1,400 employees, bringing deep expertise in aligning business goals with talent growth, engagement, and transformation. With global HR leadership experience across the U.S., Asia, and Europe—and recognition including Top 50 Women CHRO and Top 100 HR Professional finalist—Lisseth is known for empathetic, high-impact leadership that builds trust, agility, and performance.
Be in the room.
If you want a day that leaves you energized, more connected, and thinking differently—Podium Project is it.