The World Around Us has Changed and YOU have to PIVOT to succeed.

 

PIVOT! Is a virtual conference designed to help you rebuild and get ready for life after COVID-19. The virtual conference held on May 22 was a day filled with high performance coaching, conversations centered around fiding your purpose, and AMAZING music and prizes. From career and entrepreneurship panels with elite coaches to soul conversations about purpose with inspired leaders, PIVOT! provided tools and guidance to compete in the face of this global economic reset.

 

#PerfectYourPIVOT

 

Cheryle

What to Expect for the Day

Schedule of the Day

9:00 – 9:15 AM
Welcome

9:15 – 10:15 AM
Decoding the Signature of Your Soul

An honest conversation about the soul’s purpose and psychology behind what holds us back from pursuing our desires.

Panelists: Soulbbatical CEO Shelley Paxton, Licensed Therapist Kalli Kerr, and Cheryle Jackson

10:15 – 10:30 AM
Music and Prize Break

10:30 – 11:30 AM
The Art of Being Your Best Self

Discover how to create a life you love and build everything else around that.
g2Coaches: Melanie Foote-Davis and Michelle Herndon

11:30 – 11:45 AM
Music and Prize Break

11:45 – 12:45 PM
Perfecting Your Pivot: Desiree Rogers
From running the C-Suite and the White House to becoming a beauty business mogul, learn the art of reinvention from a career maverick who has mastered the pivot.

12:45 – 1:00 PM
Music and Prize Break

1:00 – 2:00 PM
To Pivot, Stay Put, or Start Over?

How to come out stronger after this world crisis, advance in your career and set your sight on the C-Suite.
g2Coaches: Tami Chapek and Neha O’Rourke

2:00 – 2:15 PM
Music and Prize Break

2:15 – 3:15 PM
Don’t Blink. Launch! Grow Your Business Post-Pandemic

Growing your business in a crisis, taking it all online, and moving your side hustle to the main stage.
g2Coaches: Rahama Wright and Paulina Panszczyk

3:15 – 3:30 PM
Music and Prize Break

3:30 – 4:30 PM
Dish with the Divas
This is the exhale moment that you’ve been waiting for. Six highly accomplished women come together to talk about sisterhood and the confidence and moxy it takes to claim the life you were born to have.
Divas: Cheryl Burton, Meldody Spann-Cooper, Cheryl Grace, Shawnelle Riche, Camille Edwards and Cheryle Jackson

4:30 – 5:00 PM
Closing Address

Special Guests

g2Coaches

Meet the Event Founder


Cheryle Jackson

CEO and Founder, Grit+Grace The Movement

 
 

Cheryle Robinson Jackson’s career has been marked by many firsts, spanning international business, civil rights, politics, government, not-for-profit, and the media. Jackson is CEO and Founder of Grit+Grace, The Movement, a women’s empowerment, coaching and media company she founded in 2018. Until 2019, she served as a senior aviation executive at AAR, and a rare woman of color in this position, Cheryle is a real go-getter. Prior to joining AAR, she ran for President Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in 2010 after serving as the first female president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League.

In her intimate TEDx Talk “Grit and Grace,” Cheryle validates the career trajectories of go-getters like herself but also implores women to self-advocate and practice grace, love in action toward self, as a sustainable model of success. The overwhelming response led Cheryle to consider ways to serve women on a broader scale. Cheryle wants to provide accessible and affordable coaching to all women ready to live out their best lives.

Meet the Keynote Speaker

Desiree Rogers

CEO of Black Opal

 

Desiree Rogers is the CEO of Black Opal Beauty, former Special Assistant and White House Social Secretary for President Obama, former CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, former President of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas and serves on several corporate and non-for-profit boards. She has a MBA from Harvard and resides in Chicago

Meet the Special Guests

Chicago native and 13-time Emmy Award-winning anchor/reporter, Cheryl Burton, anchors two of the #1 rated newscasts in Chicago. Burton anchors the ABC 7 Eyewitness News at 5 PM and, in June 2018 was promoted from contributing anchor to anchor of the station’s 10 PM newscast. Burton joined ABC 7, the most watched station in Chicago, in 1992 as a weekend co-anchor and reporter.

Melody Spann Cooper is Chairman of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, a best-in-class African-American owned media boutique whose properties include radio and interactive platforms. The two properties combine to provide niche programming to Chicago’s thriving Black and Hispanic populations. As Chairman of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, she joined an elite list of America’s female broadcast owners after purchasing the company’s controlling interest in 1999. Spann Cooper’s other professional affiliations include Commissioner of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission; Vice Chair of the Illinois Broadcasting Association, Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council for the Obama Library Foundation, and others.

Shelley Paxton is a Chicago-based author, international speaker, and transformational coach – aka the Burnout Fighter and Fire Re-igniter. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as CBS, Thrive Global, Forbes, and PBS. And her first book, Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to FInding Your Best Life, was published by Simon & Schuster in January 2020. Shelley spent 26 years as a highly regarded marketing and advertising executive, stewarding some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Harley-Davidson, Visa, McDonald’s, and AOL. She launched Soulbbatical with the mission to liberate the souls of leaders and organizations by inspiring them to embrace their greatest truth, purpose and possibility. As a certified professional coach, Shelley works with executives at Fortune 100 companies and fellow rebel-soul individuals and entrepreneurs. She’s on a mission to liberate a billion souls.

Michelle Robinson McKissack is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who made the pivot from broadcast career to elected official as a School Board Commissioner at the local and national level.

Director of Communications and Public Affairs, CBS-2/WBBM-TV Shanelle Richie manages the media and public relations activities for the local Chicago news station currently ranked number two in the market. When she accepted the position in 2003, she brought more than 20 years of valuable experience to the job. Under her leadership, CBS-2 has implemented important in-community as well as on-air campaigns, partnering with organizations including American Red Cross, the Chicago Public Schools and even the City of Chicago’s Farmers Markets.

Camille Edwards is a Realtor and an Emmy Award-winning media executive and broadcast producer. Camille achieved top ratings across platforms, led teams in big markets even in the most critical crisis. Camille is passionate about supporting others and contributing to corporate social responsibility. She is dedicated to coaching and mentoring professionals to advance in their careers, volunteering or leading community initiatives, or serving on the Board of Directors of diverse organizations

Cheryl Grace, SVP of Consumer Engagement at Nielsen, is a brand strategist with 25+ years’ experience with Fortune 500 clients, C-suite executives, elected officials and non-profit leaders. Other senior-level experience includes NBCUniversal’s WMAQ5; Press Secretary for Office of Chicago City Treasurer; Boys & Girls Clubs, the Girl Scouts and the YWCA. Founder of the aspirational lifestyle brand, Powerful Penny LLC, a mentoring service that helps women get to their next level of best in their career and other areas of their lives

Kalli Rimikis-Kerr is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist. With more than 30 years experience in individual, couples, and family therapy, she welcomes all family members and helps facilitate their quest for healthy and stable relationships. Her areas of expertise include couples’ therapy, mood disorders, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, parenting, divorce, and family transitions. Kerr lives in Chicago and is the founder of City Therapy Center which is uniquely situated alongside divorce attorneys who often make themselves available to City Therapy clients that need legal and strategic advice

Meet the g2Coaches

Neha O’Rourke is an award-winning career coach and Founder of Somewhere In Between Coaching, a company dedicated to empowering unfulfilled and burned out women to design a career and life they love. Since founding Somewhere In Between, Neha has served hundreds of women through her coaching programs that have been embraced by brands such as Expedia, WeWork, NEMA, and more. Her thought leadership has been featured in publications such as The Chic, Yoga Digest and Lux and Concord. Neha has also been a featured expert commentator on Fox 32. Among her accolades, Neha was named “20 on the Rise” in 2019 in the coaching category by Honeybook and Rising Tide Society.

Paulina is a branding consultant who helps entrepreneurs and home-based business owners successfully launch an online presence that will allow them to attract high-quality prospects via social media. With more than 10 years of experience in e-commerce selling over $1 million worth of product, Paulina specializes in lead generation, niche marketing, social media branding and system automation.

Michelle has always had a love for food, wine, hospitality and living. She has spent a great deal of her career traveling and working with some of the most renowned chefs in the world, enhancing her already wide palate and knowledge of food and wine. While working in Michelin star restaurants, Michelle’s love for interior design and organization went from a personal hobby to the birth of a promising business. Michelle takes her clients on a journey of discovery and enlightenment about what their spaces mean to them and how their homes reflect each of their individual personalities.

Melanie understands the value and impact on future generations by helping women make space for themselves. Today Melanie Foote-Davis is a Best Selling Author, Self-Love Cultivator and Self-Care Coach. She arms successful, driven women with the tools to unapologetically say, ‘Yes’ to themselves, ‘Yes’ to their heart’s desires and ‘Yes’ to living a radically bold and courageous life. She is most recognized for her gentle, yet no nonsense approach to leading women to breakthroughs that position them for lifelong success without compromising their well-being. She has been featured on ABC 7 Chicago News, Fox32 Chicago News, WVON 1690 AM, Rejoice 102.3FM Radio and Smooth Jazz 90.5 FM HD

Rahama Wright is the Founder & CEO of Shea Yeleen a DC based social impact company that creates ethically sourced shea butter body care products. Her entrepreneurial journey spans bootstrapping to securing venture capital investment from Ron Lauder and Dick Parsons, and landing deals with Whole Foods Markets & MGM Resorts International. Additionally, Rahama has merged business and policy with her role on the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa created during the Obama administration. She can provide insight on a wide range of topics including social entrepreneurship, women in business, fundraising, manufacturing, supply chain development, and retail distribution.

 

Tami Chapek is the founder and head coach of WeInspireWe – a unique leadership and career coaching organization dedicated to supporting female leaders, regardless of title or tenure, in their plight to rise up beyond their current state and amplify their impact on the world around them. Tami harnesses her unique approach to coaching to empower individuals and teams to identify and reach professional and leadership goals, overcome barriers to success creating sustainable change, and support leadership development and career advancement. Tami has 20 years of corporate experience in team and individual coaching, strategy, and marketing and advertising. Tami holds her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentials through the ICF and Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and a Master Practitioner for the Energy Leadership Index (ELI-MP) through the Institute for Professional Excellence (iPEC).

 

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