Humanities & Social Sciences

Esteemed speakers contributing their insights into human culture, behavior, and societal development

Dr. Majadi Baruti

Dr. Majadi Baruti

Rev. Dr. Majadi Baruti is an Earth Chaplain, poet, and theologian whose work bridges eco-spirituality, African cosmology, and the Musical and Poetic radical traditions of the African Diaspora. As founder and priest of Udja Temple, he has guided communities for over two decades in reclaiming ancestral wisdom, ecological balance, and the sacred presence of the Divine African Feminine.
His voice unites spiritual ecology with the rhythms of resistance found in Black music, ritual, and art. A dynamic and deeply grounded public speaker, Dr. Baruti delivers transformative keynotes, lectures, and workshops that inspire faith leaders, students, and activists to embody spirituality as both ecological practice and political liberation. His oratory carries the soul of a bluesman, the insight of a theologian, and the urgency of a justice worker.

Rev. Dr. Majadi Baruti is an Earth Chaplain, poet, and theologian whose work bridges eco-spirituality, African cosmology, and the Musical and Poetic radical traditions of the African Diaspora. As founder and priest of Udja Temple, he has guided commu... Show more

Isabella Matticchio

Isabella Matticchio

I hold a PhD in Linguistics (Univ. Padova), and I am currently an Assist. Prof. of Italian in the University of Rijeka (Croatia, EU). I have previously held research and teaching appointments in the universities of Pula/Pola (Croatia) and Klagenfurt (Austria, EU). In Fall 2024 I was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Italian, Columbia University, and in Spring 2025 a Fellow of the Italian Academy at Columbia University.

I hold a PhD in Linguistics (Univ. Padova), and I am currently an Assist. Prof. of Italian in the University of Rijeka (Croatia, EU). I have previously held research and teaching appointments in the universities of Pula/Pola (Croatia) and Klagenfurt ... Show more

Steve Andrews

Steve Andrews

Steve is a frequent and engaging keynoter, speaker, and trainer at over 150 events across North America, speaking to diverse audiences including families and individuals, business leaders, healthcare professionals, and the United States Military. Steve is passionate about the human sciences and wellbeing. He is currently writing a book. Having spent over 20 years as a passionate technologist, he also speaks about cognitive accessibility.

Steve is a frequent and engaging keynoter, speaker, and trainer at over 150 events across North America, speaking to diverse audiences including families and individuals, business leaders, healthcare professionals, and the United States Military. Ste... Show more

Julia Kurkowski

Julia Kurkowski

Julia Kurkowski is founder and CEO of aimea, the real-time voice AI for structured first interviews in hiring, high-risk under the EU AI Act. Trained as an organizational psychologist, she builds aimea with orchestrated coding agents: 60 skills, 40 hook scripts and a plan chat that judges every package before a human merges. aimea holds 5 signed pilot agreements with German companies. Julia is overall winner of the Harbour Founder Summit Hamburg 2025, chosen from hundreds of applicants and sixteen startups that pitched across four categories, which took aimea to the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in San Francisco on 6 November 2026. She holds an EXIST Women grant.

Julia Kurkowski is founder and CEO of aimea, the real-time voice AI for structured first interviews in hiring, high-risk under the EU AI Act. Trained as an organizational psychologist, she builds aimea with orchestrated coding agents: 60 skills, 40 h... Show more

Finja Filzinger

Finja Filzinger

Communication designer and sociologist with special interest in inclusive design, digital skills, critical theory, and society-nature-relations. I'm working at Goethe University since may 2026.

Communication designer and sociologist with special interest in inclusive design, digital skills, critical theory, and society-nature-relations. I'm working at Goethe University since may 2026. Show more

Mohamed Ali Saeed

Mohamed Ali Saeed

Dr. Mohamed Ali Saeed is a senior educational leader with over 25 years of experience in Arabic language education, curriculum development, educational leadership, and school improvement. He currently serves as Senior Leader for Ministry of Education subjects at Safa British School, Dubai, leading whole-school strategy to enhance teaching quality, student outcomes, and curriculum innovation.

Holding a PhD in Educational Leadership, Dr. Mohamed is also an experienced bilingual school inspector, with extensive expertise in evaluating teaching quality, curriculum implementation, assessment, and school performance against national and international quality standards. Throughout his career, he has led successful educational transformation projects, developed innovative Arabic curricula aligned with UAE and international frameworks, and coached educators in delivering high-impact, student-centred learning.

A passionate advocate for excellence in Arabic education, Dr. Mohamed regularly delivers professional learning on curriculum design, assessment for learning, phonological awareness, AI in education, and effective classroom practice. His work bridges educational research with practical classroom implementation, empowering teachers and improving student outcomes.

Dr. Mohamed Ali Saeed is a senior educational leader with over 25 years of experience in Arabic language education, curriculum development, educational leadership, and school improvement. He currently serves as Senior Leader for Ministry of Education... Show more

Santino Lopardo

Santino Lopardo

Hola, cómo estás?
Mi nombre es Santino y me posiciono como speaker instruido en gestión de comunicación interna. Desde el año 2022 me encuentro enfocado en el estudio y el desarrollo de habilidad sociales tales como: Presencia de Líder, gestión de equipos y creación de identidad grupal, y el trabajo corporativo en pos del bienestar organizacional. Además, en mis inicios como aprendiz (el cual sigo cultivando día tras día) me centré en entender el poder de las disposiciones individuales ante las tendencias naturales humanes para encontrar un motivo de acción ante un proyecto unipersonal; y, por último pero no menos importante, la fundamentación discursiva para la creación de redes de apoyo.
Dentro de mis estudios se encuentran:
- Licenciatura en Psicología (Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires)
- Carrera de Coaching Ontológico Level 2 (Escuela de Formación de Líderes)

Hola, cómo estás? Mi nombre es Santino y me posiciono como speaker instruido en gestión de comunicación interna. Desde el año 2022 me encuentro enfocado en el estudio y el desarrollo de habilidad sociales tales como: Presencia de Líder, gestión de ... Show more

Zaje Richardson

Zaje Richardson

Zaje Richardson is the author of Happy Habits and host of the Happy Habits Podcast for Self
Development. She also hosts the Rethinking Connection podcast for executives looking to unpack the behavioral science behind high-performing teams, psychological safety, and organizational culture.

Zaje Richardson is the author of Happy Habits and host of the Happy Habits Podcast for Self Development. She also hosts the Rethinking Connection podcast for executives looking to unpack the behavioral science behind high-performing teams, psycholog... Show more

Frank Malaba

Frank Malaba

Frank Malaba is a multidisciplinary artist, storyteller, photographer, and creative facilitator working between Oslo, Norway and Cape Town, South Africa. His work moves fluidly across theatre, performance, poetry, and natural light photography, guided by a central question: How does the body remember, and what stories does it insist on carrying?

Drawing from Southern African oral traditions, queer lived experience, and a deep commitment to dignity and presence, Frank creates narrative spaces where memory becomes a form of knowledge. His solo works, including Stories of My Bones and The Chaos of Belonging, have toured internationally, inviting audiences into intimate encounters with ancestry, identity, and the quiet rituals that shape us.

As a photographer, Frank documents everyday rituals and marginalised lives with tenderness and clarity. His 2025 exhibition Rituals opened in Cape Town to critical acclaim, and his ongoing project I Met a Mermaid explores African water spirituality, homelessness, and the ocean as a site of survival and myth.

He is also the founder and curator of Uncovered: Stories in Oslo (Avdekket: Fortellinger i Oslo), a live storytelling platform centred on true, lived narratives. His facilitation practice blends embodiment, listening, and community building, creating spaces where people can speak from the truth of their lived experience.

Across all mediums, Frank works from the belief that storytelling is not performance, it is presence, witness, and a return to the body as archive.

Frank Malaba is a multidisciplinary artist, storyteller, photographer, and creative facilitator working between Oslo, Norway and Cape Town, South Africa. His work moves fluidly across theatre, performance, poetry, and natural light photography, guide... Show more

Giselle Fuerte

Giselle Fuerte

Giselle Fuerte, M.A. is a Forensic AI Researcher, Learning Architect, and the founder of Being Human With AI (BHWAI). With over 20 years of experience designing high-stakes training systems for global organizations like Microsoft, Atlassian, and Paychex, she specializes in the intersection of algorithmic risk and human psychological safety.

Giselle is the creator of the Problem AI Use Severity Index (PAUSI), a first-of-its-kind clinical screening tool used to measure AI dependency and relational harm. Her pioneering research into the "Taxonomy of Algorithmic Coercion" maps more than 50 specific model behaviors—such as sycophancy and "love bombing"—to technical failure modes.

A recognized industry speaker, she has advised audiences at the American Psychological Association (APA) and the SHIELD Global Online Safety Conference on moving from "user error" narratives to product liability in AI safety. Her work has been featured by the BBC and Bloomberg, and her interactive curriculum, "The Spiral: AI Safety Investigation," is a featured partner of Code.org’s Hour of AI.

Giselle Fuerte, M.A. is a Forensic AI Researcher, Learning Architect, and the founder of Being Human With AI (BHWAI). With over 20 years of experience designing high-stakes training systems for global organizations like Microsoft, Atlassian, and Payc... Show more

Verónica Mota Galindo

Verónica Mota Galindo

Verónica Mota Galindo is a transdisciplinary researcher and epistemological activist at the Free University of Berlin, focusing on philosophy, gender studies, technoscience and decolonial theory. As a member of the international research project Human-Machine, she is contributing to a forthcoming 2026 volume on artificial intelligence, representing Latin America with a focus on AI in Mexico. She is currently studying for a PhD in Philosophy at FU Berlin and a Master's degree in Technology at TU Berlin. She mentors students from minority backgrounds and has created the “Decolonising AI: Intersectional, Feminist and Ecological Literacy” prototype, which has been selected for integration into the Humboldt University's Gender MINT project this year. Drawing inspiration from Haraway's cyborg, her work blends critical AI pedagogy with inclusive, feminist, and decolonial perspectives.

Verónica Mota Galindo is a transdisciplinary researcher and epistemological activist at the Free University of Berlin, focusing on philosophy, gender studies, technoscience and decolonial theory. As a member of the international research project Huma... Show more

Yvonne Fietz

Yvonne Fietz

Seit 2016 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der HAW Hamburg
Seit 2018 Geschäftsführerin der Arbeitsstelle für Migrationsforschung und Integrationspraktiken an der HAW Hamburg

Seit 2016 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der HAW Hamburg Seit 2018 Geschäftsführerin der Arbeitsstelle für Migrationsforschung und Integrationspraktiken an der HAW Hamburg Show more

Carmean Moss

Carmean Moss

Carméan Moss is an Identity and AI Strategist, speaker, teacher, and founder of & Suddenly Inc. She helps leaders, teams, and purpose-driven people gain understanding before action so they can lead with clarity, protect identity, and use emerging tools with wisdom.

At the intersection of faith, identity, neuroscience, leadership, and AI, Carméan brings a people-first approach to transformation. Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: technology should support who we are becoming, not replace discernment, wisdom, or human connection.

As a Certified AI Consultant, Certified Neuro Coach, and Certified Enneagram Coach, Carméan equips audiences to think clearly, lead confidently, and integrate new tools without losing their voice, values, or judgment. Whether she is teaching leaders, ministry teams, entrepreneurs, or community builders, her message is consistent: clarity changes how we decide, build, and lead.

Her signature phrase, “Ain’t Nothing Like Understanding,” captures the heart of her work — helping people understand themselves, others, and the tools shaping the future so they can move with purpose and confidence.

Carméan Moss is an Identity and AI Strategist, speaker, teacher, and founder of & Suddenly Inc. She helps leaders, teams, and purpose-driven people gain understanding before action so they can lead with clarity, protect identity, and use emerging too... Show more

Patrick Smyth

Patrick Smyth

Dr. Patrick Smyth is Staff Developer Relations Engineer at Chainguard, where he shows developers how to deploy AI and other applications with 0 CVEs using Chainguard Images. Patrick has a PhD in the digital humanities and in a previous life led technical bootcamps for researchers at Columbia University. In his free time you can find Patrick swimming in a frozen lake or hanging out with his six-month-old baby.

Dr. Patrick Smyth is Staff Developer Relations Engineer at Chainguard, where he shows developers how to deploy AI and other applications with 0 CVEs using Chainguard Images. Patrick has a PhD in the digital humanities and in a previous life led tech... Show more

Benedikt Weygandt

Benedikt Weygandt

Secondary school teacher (mathematics & physics), Ph.D. in mathematics (with specialization in the teaching of mathematics at the university level)

Research Interests: instructional design of mathematics courses, mathematical sophistication & enculturation, mathematical beliefs, fostering giftedness, future skills, AI & data literacy

Secondary school teacher (mathematics & physics), Ph.D. in mathematics (with specialization in the teaching of mathematics at the university level) Research Interests: instructional design of mathematics courses, mathematical sophistication & encu... Show more

Thomas Grundnigg

Thomas Grundnigg

I am a researcher and entrepreneur with a focus on memory systems, cultural evolution and rhetoric.

I am a researcher and entrepreneur with a focus on memory systems, cultural evolution and rhetoric. Show more

Ivan Balykin

Ivan Balykin

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Balykin, LL.M. has expertise in Ukrainian culture, politics, history, and law.
He works as a Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Chair of Contemporary History at the Universität Mannheim. Where he teaches the seminar “Ukraine Today & Yesterday Culture, Politics, History”, and exercises “Modern History of Ukraine. The Path of Eurointegration” (immersive with the usage of VR glasses) and “Politics of Memory: Evolution of Ukrainian History Education”.
Dr. Balykin promotes an interdisciplinary approach in science and education.
He is an enthusiast of implementing new immersive, digital, media technologies in higher school teaching.
Ivan Balykin is the co-founder of the biggest Ukrainian community of educators of higher school NGO “Progresylni”.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Balykin, LL.M. has expertise in Ukrainian culture, politics, history, and law. He works as a Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Chair of Contemporary History at the Universität Mannheim. Where he teaches the seminar “Ukraine... Show more

Susanne Iris Bauer

Susanne Iris Bauer

seit Feb 2026 Professur für Soziale Arbeit an der DHSH Kiel
2021- 2025 H³ - Projektkoordination HS Fulda
seit 2017 Lehre und Forschung Sozialwissenschaften
Systemische Organisationsentwicklerin
Doktorandin HS Fulda, M.A. Social Works

seit Feb 2026 Professur für Soziale Arbeit an der DHSH Kiel 2021- 2025 H³ - Projektkoordination HS Fulda seit 2017 Lehre und Forschung Sozialwissenschaften Systemische Organisationsentwicklerin Doktorandin HS Fulda, M.A. Social Works Show more

Lindsey Jarrett

Lindsey Jarrett

Lindsey Jarrett, PhD, serves as VP of Ethical AI Services at the Center for Practical Bioethics, and Adjunct Faculty for the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center. She works to identify and articulate ethical problems, risks, and potential harms associated with the unexamined use of artificial intelligence and machine learning when applied to health information and services. Dr. Jarrett holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Sociology and in Criminal Justice and Criminology (2004), a Master’s Degree in Social Policy and Administration from the University of Nottingham, (2007), and a Ph.D. in Therapeutic Science from the University of Kansas (2015). When she's not wearing her professional hat, you can find her living the Mom life, on the soccer field, listening to her husband's music, or giving her cat Otis all the pampering she deserves.

Lindsey Jarrett, PhD, serves as VP of Ethical AI Services at the Center for Practical Bioethics, and Adjunct Faculty for the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center. She works to identify and articulate ethical ... Show more

José Luis Jiménez Figarotti

José Luis Jiménez Figarotti

EdTech scholar & VE expert, Prof. Jiménez is a prolific author on equity & human rights. His work bridges cultures inspiring empathy. His publications spark critical conversations on global exchange & social justice.

EdTech scholar & VE expert, Prof. Jiménez is a prolific author on equity & human rights. His work bridges cultures inspiring empathy. His publications spark critical conversations on global exchange & social justice. Show more

Tega Edwin

Tega Edwin

Dr. Tega Edwin helps companies reduce turnover and boost employee engagement through trauma-informed leadership and strategic career development.

As a Licensed Professional Counselor and former Associate Professor of Counseling, she bridges clinical psychology with business outcomes, teaching leaders how to retain top talent, navigate difficult conversations with confidence, and build cultures where people actually want to stay.

Dr. Edwin has delivered keynotes and trainings for Northwestern Mutual, Lockheed Martin, St. Louis Public Schools, and universities, including the University of Houston Clear Lake and New Jersey City University. Through her signature coaching program, Find Your Fulfilling Career, her clients have secured roles at KPMG, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and Henkel, with salary increases averaging $35,000+.

Her award-winning research on career development has been published in Career Development Quarterly (2019 Article of the Year), Professional School Counselor, and other leading journals. As a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she trained the next generation of career counselors in the evidence-based communication and relational skills that drive meaningful change.Dr. Edwin is the author of Helping Relationship Skills: Facilitative Skills that Foster Change (Cognella), which teaches the relational communication framework that transforms managers into leaders who inspire engagement, navigate difficult conversations, and drive measurable results.

She holds a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Penn State and an M.A. in Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. She's a National Certified Counselor and Certified Salary Negotiation Facilitator.

When she's not on stage or coaching clients, you'll find her on the pickleball court or diving into her Bible.

Dr. Tega Edwin helps companies reduce turnover and boost employee engagement through trauma-informed leadership and strategic career development. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and former Associate Professor of Counseling, she bridges clini... Show more

Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi

Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi

Chinenye Ikwuemesi is the founder of the Afrodeities Institute and architect of Afromantasy™ — a framework that treats African mythologies as operating systems for history, governance, AI, and storytelling. She helps organisations and conferences rethink AI ethics, itechnology transformation, nstitutional design, and “future of X” conversations by bringing in African civilisational logics that have been systematically excluded from Western narratives. Her work spans a 40+ volume Afrodeities Codex and The Shadow Storm, a 50‑chapter speculative epic that turns decolonial theory into vivid, accessible story. On stage, she translates complex histories and mythic systems into practical tools for leaders, technologists, and creatives who want to build futures answerable to more than markets alone.

Chinenye Ikwuemesi is the founder of the Afrodeities Institute and architect of Afromantasy™ — a framework that treats African mythologies as operating systems for history, governance, AI, and storytelling. She helps organisations and conferences ret... Show more

Renee Samantha

Renee Samantha

Renee Hamilton is a lecturer at Nagoya University of the Arts working at the intersection of AI, visual culture, and identity. Her work explores how artificial intelligence can be used as a creative and symbolic medium to examine race, perception, and digital identity.

Through her visual project “Lady Gorilla,” Hamilton experiments with AI-generated imagery to study audience reactions, symbolism, and the psychology of online engagement. She also incorporates these visuals into lectures to explore how emerging technologies influence cultural narratives and representation.

Her work sits between art, technology, and academic inquiry, examining how AI reshapes the way we construct and interpret identity in the digital era.

Renee Hamilton is a lecturer at Nagoya University of the Arts working at the intersection of AI, visual culture, and identity. Her work explores how artificial intelligence can be used as a creative and symbolic medium to examine race, perception, an... Show more

Ewa Tamar Lewandowska

Ewa Tamar Lewandowska

Ewa Tamar is a multidisciplinary researcher, curator, and builder leading experiential spaces for leadership, creativity, and community in an increasingly automated world. Following a decade in tech leadership, she pivoted to PhD research at GCAS to investigate the existential and somatic impacts of the automation transition.

Her work is anchored in three pillars:

• Reclaiming Authentic Intelligence: finding clarity and agency beyond algorithmic logic.
• Somatic Sovereignty: recognizing the body as a site of resistance against the nervous system activation of the ever-present logic of optimization.
• Imagining Alternatives: Creating ways of working and relating rooted in relational intelligence and care.

In addition to research and teaching, Ewa is currently establishing a multidisciplinary eco-cultural residency on her great-grandfather’s ancestral land in Masovia, Poland.

Ewa Tamar is a multidisciplinary researcher, curator, and builder leading experiential spaces for leadership, creativity, and community in an increasingly automated world. Following a decade in tech leadership, she pivoted to PhD research at GCAS to ... Show more

Girard Newkirk

Girard Newkirk

I am building the operating system for the Neighborhood Economy. I started my entrepreneurial journey 10 years ago in Silicon Valley, turning from a retail exec to a founder at 39.

My work sits at the intersection of economics, humanity, and community through Genesis Block, Newkirklytics, the Neighborhood Economy Index, and Newkirk Enterprises. I’m not talking about hypothetical frameworks or abstract policy theory. I’m designing and deploying real systems that make local economic activity visible, measurable, and investable, especially the micro-entrepreneurs, creators, informal workers, and neighborhood-level producers who have always powered our communities but rarely show up in the data.

I believe the future of prosperity isn’t top-down theories based on outdated economic models but rooted in local ownership, inclusive entrepreneurship, and circular capital systems that keep value circulating where people live. My work turns that belief into infrastructure. The Neighborhood Economy Index and our sector tools quantify what has long been unseen: the economic power of microbusinesses, shared kitchens, creatives, disabled entrepreneurs, local manufacturing ecosystems, and underserved communities across the U.S., the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa.

As a speaker, I bring together data, story, spirit, and strategy. I’ve lived this work for years, building entrepreneurial ecosystems, supporting founders who’ve been overlooked, creating pathways to upward mobility, and designing new economic systems that honor dignity and human possibility. My goal on every stage is simple: help leaders see the Neighborhood Economy differently, not as charity work or an “equity initiative,” but as a powerful engine of growth, resilience, and wealth creation that deserves real investment and serious strategy. It’s actually market inefficiency that needs to be corrected.

I’m here to shift the conversation from wealth extraction to community circulation, from scarcity to abundance, from invisibility to proof, from disconnected programs to systems that actually work. And I’m building alongside institutions, cities, universities, DFIs, foundations, and community leaders who believe, as I do, that the people closest to the problem are also closest to the solution; they need better tools, better data, and better support.

That is the work. That is the calling. And that is the Neighborhood Economy.

I am building the operating system for the Neighborhood Economy. I started my entrepreneurial journey 10 years ago in Silicon Valley, turning from a retail exec to a founder at 39. My work sits at the intersection of economics, humanity, and comm... Show more

Dr Pedro A González Jr MJ MAC

Dr Pedro A González Jr MJ MAC

Dr. Pedro A. González, Jr., M.J., MAC, is a Cuban American exiled professor, Author, and Researcher who teaches the Theory of Communication in U.S. universities after retiring from a successful career as a Journalist and War Correspondent on TV.
He is a member of and participates in national and international professional journalism and academic organizations.
In total, he has published 20 books.

Dr. Pedro A. González, Jr., M.J., MAC, is a Cuban American exiled professor, Author, and Researcher who teaches the Theory of Communication in U.S. universities after retiring from a successful career as a Journalist and War Correspondent on TV. He... Show more

Aldo Pisano

Aldo Pisano

My research fields are Ethics and AI, Narrative Ethics, Didactics of Philosophy. I had my bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 2018 and I worked in Aix-Marseille University with Carlo Rovelli linking Contemporary Sciences to Philosophical Anthropology. Humankind ontological status has changed because we share a digital and physical identity.
I'm a Phd Student in Learning Sciences and Digital Technologies and I work with Prof.ssa Ines Crispini, Full professor of Ethics.

My research fields are Ethics and AI, Narrative Ethics, Didactics of Philosophy. I had my bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 2018 and I worked in Aix-Marseille University with Carlo Rovelli linking Contemporary Sciences to Philosophical Anthropology.... Show more

Anaïs Chanclu

Anaïs Chanclu

My thing is figuring out how things work.

I started out with language and machines: linguistics, speech and natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and software development.
These days, my interests have shifted towards evolutionary biology and paleontology.

In my spare time, I play and compose music.
I also have a perfectly reasonable fascination with dinosaurs and an entirely unreasonable love of platypuses.
I don’t look up that often, but when I do, it's usually at the stars.

My thing is figuring out how things work. I started out with language and machines: linguistics, speech and natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and software development. These days, my interests have shifted towards evolutionary... Show more

Mary Foster

Mary Foster

Mary serves as Heritage and Cultural Arts Program Manager for the City of Allen, where she manages programming at Allen Heritage Village, develops local history and heritage programs, and works with community partners to preserve and interpret Allen’s historic resources. Her work also includes preservation, documentation, and interpretation of the historic Allen Cemetery, with a particular interest in cemetery history, local archaeology, and the stories of Allen’s early residents.

Mary serves as Heritage and Cultural Arts Program Manager for the City of Allen, where she manages programming at Allen Heritage Village, develops local history and heritage programs, and works with community partners to preserve and interpret Allen’... Show more

Doug Belkofer

Doug Belkofer

Doug Belkofer is a transformation coach, U.S. Army veteran, longtime technology leader, and founder of Forging Truth.

For much of his life, Doug had a life that looked successful from the outside. He was professionally accomplished and had been married for more than a decade. But beneath that surface were deeply embedded beliefs quietly shaping how he related to himself, others, and intimacy. Beliefs that said he wasn't enough. That love had to be earned. That perfection was the price of safety.

Doug didn't recognize those beliefs as distortions. They didn't feel like lies. They felt like truth. They felt like his own voice. And because of that, they went unquestioned, even as the same emotional and relational patterns kept repeating.

That experience now shapes Doug's work with others and his speaking. He explores how beliefs formed through earlier experiences can quietly influence what feels safe, possible, and even visible to us, and why knowing that a behavior isn't working is often not enough to change it.

Doug doesn't approach this work as someone who has "arrived." He speaks from lived experience and continues to learn through listening, witnessing, and walking alongside others as they uncover what they haven't been able to see.

His work isn't about standing above anyone. It's about standing with them, bringing clarity where there was confusion, language where there was self-blame, and awareness where there was once only repetition.

Doug Belkofer is a transformation coach, U.S. Army veteran, longtime technology leader, and founder of Forging Truth. For much of his life, Doug had a life that looked successful from the outside. He was professionally accomplished and had been ma... Show more

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