Humanities & Social Sciences

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

Andrew Kolikoff

Andrew Kolikoff

For over 25 years, Andrew Kolikoff has been a leadership coach who identifies & solves where issues are stemming from and elevates company cultures.

For over 25 years, Andrew Kolikoff has been a leadership coach who identifies & solves where issues are stemming from and elevates company cultures. Show more

Oliver Larsson

Oliver Larsson

My PhD journey in the cold of northern Sweden has led me down a path to much of the latest cloud-native tech. Between that and my somewhat alarmingly high interest in homelabbing, I really live in the cloud-native ecosystem. But those are just side-hustles, cat-dad is my main occupation.

My PhD journey in the cold of northern Sweden has led me down a path to much of the latest cloud-native tech. Between that and my somewhat alarmingly high interest in homelabbing, I really live in the cloud-native ecosystem. But those are just side-h... Show more

Nicolle Petersen

Nicolle Petersen

Nicolle is a certified Personal Performance & Relationship Coach specializing in conscious relationships and embodiment, including feminine embodiment. Her work helps high-achieving women navigate love, leadership, and personal growth with greater presence, clarity, and connection. Drawing on transformational coaching, mindfulness, high-level communication, and trauma-informed somatic practices, she has coached individuals, teams, and businesses and facilitated workshops and seminars with organizations such as Simon Sinek’s The Optimism Company and Lululemon.

Nicolle is a certified Personal Performance & Relationship Coach specializing in conscious relationships and embodiment, including feminine embodiment. Her work helps high-achieving women navigate love, leadership, and personal growth with greater pr... Show more

D.J. Moore

D.J. Moore

D.J. Moore is a creative marketing and communications leader with more than 20 years of experience in education. His career has been dedicated to advancing institutional goals through strategic marketing, brand development, and cross-sector collaboration.

Across leadership roles at Suffolk University, Worcester Academy, and Wentworth Institute of Technology, D.J. has led integrated enrollment marketing initiatives, guided institutional brand evolution, built and scaled social media strategies, and developed high-impact partnerships that expand visibility, strengthen engagement, and drive measurable growth. His work has included comprehensive publication redesigns, award-winning rebranding efforts, and partnerships that connect institutions more deeply to their communities.

D.J. is also a dedicated educator. He has served as adjunct faculty at Simmons University and Wentworth, where he developed and taught courses focused on film studies. His teaching explores the intersection of entertainment and marketing, examining film as a reflection of—and response to—broader cultural forces. He is a frequent guest speaker at high schools, colleges, and conferences across New England, presenting on marketing, film studies, career pathways, and strategic partnership development.

D.J. Moore is a creative marketing and communications leader with more than 20 years of experience in education. His career has been dedicated to advancing institutional goals through strategic marketing, brand development, and cross-sector collabora... Show more

Luka Pavlešić

Luka Pavlešić

Detective in IT world.

Detective in IT world. Show more

Károly Füzessi

Károly Füzessi

Full-stack application creator. Musician. With degrees in philosophy and librarianship. A father, a husband, a brother, a son. Human, after all.

Full-stack application creator. Musician. With degrees in philosophy and librarianship. A father, a husband, a brother, a son. Human, after all. Show more

Tyler Suard

Tyler Suard

Tyler Suard is a Python software developer in the field of Machine Learning and AI. He loves spaceships, giant robots, and his cat Ridley.

Tyler Suard is a Python software developer in the field of Machine Learning and AI. He loves spaceships, giant robots, and his cat Ridley. Show more

Ludmila Dubini Zerga

Ludmila Dubini Zerga

I’m a Labor Relations graduate (UNLaM) with a postgraduate degree in Neuroscience applied to organizations (UCEMA) and over 15 years working in the world of talent—always within the tech and digital ecosystem.
I’ve worked across consulting, outsourcing, and product companies, and today I lead Boost Inc., a company I co-founded to help startups and digital teams grow with a people-first, business-savvy approach. My focus is on building strong leadership, shaping culture, and making sure talent strategies actually drive impact. I work side by side with technical leaders and teams that want to grow with purpose, make better decisions, and turn talent into one of their biggest assets.

I’m a Labor Relations graduate (UNLaM) with a postgraduate degree in Neuroscience applied to organizations (UCEMA) and over 15 years working in the world of talent—always within the tech and digital ecosystem. I’ve worked across consulting, outsourc... Show more

Phillip Meade

Phillip Meade

Dr. Phillip T. Meade is a transformational leadership expert with over 30 years of experience in systems design and culture change. As a senior leader at NASA, he led the cultural transformation following the Columbia tragedy, guided the workforce transition during the Space Shuttle retirement, and helped reinvent Kennedy Space Center into the world’s busiest commercial spaceport. Now a consultant and keynote speaker, Dr. Meade helps organizations navigate complexity, drive cultural shifts, and build high-performance systems from the inside out.

Dr. Meade’s keynotes and presentations are designed to meet the unique needs of your event, whether you’re looking to inspire leadership teams or dive deep into culture transformation and strategic alignment. Dr. Meade is also available for on-demand speaking, offering his signature talks to deliver immediate, actionable insights that create lasting impact.

Dr. Phillip T. Meade is a transformational leadership expert with over 30 years of experience in systems design and culture change. As a senior leader at NASA, he led the cultural transformation following the Columbia tragedy, guided the workforce tr... Show more

Alex Reis

Alex Reis

Alex Reis is a Experience Strategist and Service Design leader with 10+ years of experience leading user-centered transformations in high-complexity sectors including Finance, Telecom, and Agribusiness.

As the founder of Cliente Sempre, Alex facilitates the intersection of User Research and Product Ownership, ensuring that design decisions are treated as strategic business investments. His career is defined by measurable impact: from saving $1M in operational costs through automation to scaling support operations for over 1 million active users.

Holding certifications in Design and Strategy Execution from Harvard Business School, Alex provides a pragmatic, data-grounded approach to CX that prioritizes revenue, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency.

Alex Reis is a Experience Strategist and Service Design leader with 10+ years of experience leading user-centered transformations in high-complexity sectors including Finance, Telecom, and Agribusiness. As the founder of Cliente Sempre, Alex facil... Show more

Stephen Morris

Stephen Morris

Stephen is an author, speaker and accomplished and award-winning leader with over twenty years of experience in complex, uncertain and high-scale technical organisations.

Across diverse sectors, including information technology, healthcare, banking, insurance, manufacturing, and government, Stephen has a track record of driving real success, backed by hands-on achievements and industry recognition.

Leadership highlights
• C-Suite leader during a period of extraordinary growth, achieving 400% YoY
• Leadership coach for a 300-million-dollar international software rollout
• Mentor and consultant for an international leadership team managing over 750 professionals through an organisational transformation
• Strategist for the successful launch of 50+ commercial cloud-based products and services, shaping the future of business technology

Awards
• Most Influential Business Leader, 2016 Agile Awards
• Most Improved Agile Team, 2016 Agile Awards
• Best Leadership and Agile Coaching Provider, 2020 UK Enterprise Awards

Stephen is an author, speaker and accomplished and award-winning leader with over twenty years of experience in complex, uncertain and high-scale technical organisations. Across diverse sectors, including information technology, healthcare, banki... Show more

Sarah Burne James

Sarah Burne James

I am a data scientist and AI architect with a specialism in speech processing and natural language processing. I have broad experience of incorporating AI into solutions, especially virtual assistants. In my current role, I help clients adopt watsonx Assistant for Z, enabling them to power up their mainframe operations with AI.

I am particularly interested in ethical and inclusive technology. Technology plays an ever increasing role in our world, and it will take collaboration and thoughtful design from across all sectors to make sure it works for everyone. I have led work on Coercive Control Resistant Design as part of IBM’s Academy of Technology, which was featured on BBC News.

I am a data scientist and AI architect with a specialism in speech processing and natural language processing. I have broad experience of incorporating AI into solutions, especially virtual assistants. In my current role, I help clients adopt watson... Show more

Ibrahim Mustapha

Ibrahim Mustapha

Ibrahim Mustapha is a public speaking coach and communication consultant dedicated to helping individuals and organizations speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. With a strong background in communication and international marketing, he specializes in training leaders, professionals, and young people to develop persuasive speaking skills and effective communication strategies.

Through coaching, workshops, and digital learning programs, Ibrahim empowers his audience to overcome fear, articulate their ideas powerfully, and create opportunities through communication. He is also passionate about using modern tools, including AI, to enhance public speaking and leadership development across Africa and beyond.

Ibrahim Mustapha is a public speaking coach and communication consultant dedicated to helping individuals and organizations speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. With a strong background in communication and international marketing, he speciali... Show more

Stephanie Lee Hayes

Stephanie Lee Hayes

Stephanie Lee Hayes is a somatic educator and writer specializing in nervous system education and the biological foundations of emotional safety, learning, and human behavior. Her work focuses on helping people understand how the nervous system shapes attention, perception, and emotional responses, and why physiological safety is the foundation for learning and meaningful change.

She is the founder of Roots & Rituals Somatic Education, where she develops educational guides and resources that translate nervous system science into clear, practical frameworks. Her teaching helps individuals recognize protective nervous system patterns and understand how safety supports engagement, clarity, and connection.

Her work is informed by both scientific research and her own lived and embodied experience navigating nervous system dysregulation, which deepens her ability to translate complex concepts into practical, accessible education.

Stephanie Lee Hayes is a somatic educator and writer specializing in nervous system education and the biological foundations of emotional safety, learning, and human behavior. Her work focuses on helping people understand how the nervous system shape... Show more

Suzi Edwards-Alexander

Suzi Edwards-Alexander

She led global recruitment for Thoughtworks - once described as the most selective hiring process in the world - as well as helping shape the Tech Radar and establishing operations in more than eight countries.

Now a fractional TA/HR leader, and a sought-after career coach, Suzi helps startups and scale-ups build teams where belonging and psychological safety are the baseline, not just buzzwords. Through her company Appartenir, she brings values-driven hiring, radically better interviewing, and inclusive leadership to life with warmth, wit, and the occasional well-placed challenge to the status quo.

Expect honesty. Expect humour. Expect really great questions.

Her mission? To help people interview with confidence, put humanity at the heart of hiring and help topple the patriarchy.

She led global recruitment for Thoughtworks - once described as the most selective hiring process in the world - as well as helping shape the Tech Radar and establishing operations in more than eight countries. Now a fractional TA/HR leader, and a... Show more

David Alexander

David Alexander

A father of three, David focuses on openness: Open access to knowledge, open collaboration, and a firm believer in sunlight's disinfecting properties in software.

David's career has ranged from full stack webdev, release management, site reliability, application security, and "DevSecOps" leadership. His most recent technological obsession is around cryptographic protocols and TLS.

A father of three, David focuses on openness: Open access to knowledge, open collaboration, and a firm believer in sunlight's disinfecting properties in software. David's career has ranged from full stack webdev, release management, site reliabili... Show more

Judson Kauffman

Judson Kauffman

Judson Kauffman is a creator, an adventurer, and innovator. He started his career as a Navy SEAL and later transitioned into business, co-founding three successful companies with a combined value of over $300 million. Throughout his career, he has disrupted multiple industries and earned a reputation for thinking and acting differently. In addition to being an award-winning entrepreneur, he is an investor, personal coach, and keynote speaker. He is an expert on innovation, human potential, and personal fulfillment.

Judson Kauffman is a creator, an adventurer, and innovator. He started his career as a Navy SEAL and later transitioned into business, co-founding three successful companies with a combined value of over $300 million. Throughout his career, he has di... Show more

Paula Ledesma

Paula Ledesma

Consultora y Mentora en Comunicación Estratégica, Marca Personal y Corporativa | Ayudo a personas y empresas a conectar, posicionarse e influir con impacto | Speaker |CMO

Soy Estratega en comunicación, creación y posicionamiento de marca. Llevo más de 18 años trabajando en contextos donde lo que se dice y cómo se dice influye directamente en decisiones, percepción y resultados.
Con el tiempo entendí que, para comunicarnos mejor, no es suficiente tener un buen mensaje. Sino que este debe que ser comprendido, recordado y generar una reacción.

Por eso decidí ir más allá de la estrategia tradicional y profundizar en cómo funciona la mente cuando interpreta, conecta y decide. Me especialicé en Gerencia de Mercadeo, cursé un Máster en Neuromarketing y actualmente profundizo en Programación Neurolingüística.

He liderado equipos y procesos en áreas de mercadeo, publicidad y comunicaciones en compañías como; Casa Editorial El Tiempo, LATAM Airlines, Tigo y Grupo Bolívar, además de mi trabajo actual como CMOm en JFC Group y mi plataforma Comunicar es Poder.

Integro estrategia y comportamiento humano para trabajar sobre cómo las personas y las organizaciones se posicionan a partir de lo que comunican… incluso cuando no son conscientes de ello.

Consultora y Mentora en Comunicación Estratégica, Marca Personal y Corporativa | Ayudo a personas y empresas a conectar, posicionarse e influir con impacto | Speaker |CMO Soy Estratega en comunicación, creación y posicionamiento de marca. Llevo má... Show more

Vadim Deylgat

Vadim Deylgat

Vadim discovered his passion for business analysis at the intersection of his training as psychologist and his deep interest in information technology. With years of business and IT experience in his backpack, he now focusses on training & coaching best practices to the analysts at Colruyt Group IT, and on building a thriving BA community where knowledge sharing is second nature.

Vadim discovered his passion for business analysis at the intersection of his training as psychologist and his deep interest in information technology. With years of business and IT experience in his backpack, he now focusses on training & coaching b... Show more

Stephan Swart

Stephan Swart

Stephan is a consultant, advisor, and Fractional CTO. He has held a range of titles including: developer, architect, agile coach, and CTO. He is passionate to help organisations and their leaders to get the best out of their dev teams. He is passionate about creating work-environments where software teams and individuals can flourish. He has seen the insides of small, medium, and large organisations. In all teams he has been part of, he has grown a reputation of bringing clarity, trust, and courage.

Stephan is a consultant, advisor, and Fractional CTO. He has held a range of titles including: developer, architect, agile coach, and CTO. He is passionate to help organisations and their leaders to get the best out of their dev teams. He is passiona... Show more

Paul-Georges Crismer

Paul-Georges Crismer

Paul-Georges Crismer a 25 ans d’expérience comme développeur, méthodologiste, architecte et chef de projet. Il en retient que ce qui active ou plombe la performance d’une équipe, ce ne sont pas les problèmes techniques, c’est la qualité des interactions et la participation engagée de chacun.

Passionné de dialogue authentique, il est formateur certifié en Communication NonViolente.
Il pratique depuis 2006 la Sociocratie, un mode de gouvernance participatif qui contribue à réinventer les organisations. Il est enthousiaste des méthodes Agiles et de l’auto-organisation.
Aujourd’hui Il est formateur, coach et médiateur : alliant ses compétences il accompagne les individus ou les équipes pour clarifier leur intention, mieux dialoguer et mieux coopérer.

Paul-Georges Crismer a 25 ans d’expérience comme développeur, méthodologiste, architecte et chef de projet. Il en retient que ce qui active ou plombe la performance d’une équipe, ce ne sont pas les problèmes techniques, c’est la qualité des interacti... Show more

Caleb Roose

Caleb Roose

Caleb Roose (MDiv) is the founder and coach of Good Enough Dads (goodenoughdads.com), where he provides holistic life, career, and parenting coaching for fathers. In addition to his coaching and speaking on fatherhood, he also manages research and training at the Fuller Youth Institute and coauthors resources. Caleb lives with his wife and three young children near Pasadena, CA.

Caleb Roose (MDiv) is the founder and coach of Good Enough Dads (goodenoughdads.com), where he provides holistic life, career, and parenting coaching for fathers. In addition to his coaching and speaking on fatherhood, he also manages research and tr... Show more

Mark Porter

Mark Porter

Dr. Mark Porter is the founder of Soteria Alliance and the architect of its governing doctrine, Performance Mastery Culture (PMC). His work is grounded in sustained exposure to organizations where excellence was expected to hold under pressure, endure leadership change, and remain reliable over time. His Best-selling book: The Architecture of Excellence: Engineering Excellence that Endures Under Pressure outlines the foundations of Performance Mastery Culture (PMC):
• Systems thinking: identify why current efforts fail at the root level
• Behavioral science: understand how people think and respond under pressure
• Structure: clarify roles, accountability, and decision ownership
• Anti-Drift doctrine: recognize the inevitability of performance decay
• Architecture: governing laws that organize structure into coherent performance
• Design: embed architecture into daily behaviors that sustain excellence

Across more than two decades, Mark has operated inside large, complex organizations with direct responsibility for the enterprise conditions under which excellence either persisted or decayed. His experience spans executive leadership, system-wide organizational responsibility, and post-acquisition integration in environments defined by regulatory scrutiny, operational interdependence, and real consequence.

Repeated exposure to these conditions revealed a consistent failure pattern. Capable leaders intervened more frequently, carried increasing load, and applied greater effort as excellence became less reliable. Intent, experience, and commitment were present. What failed was the architecture’s ability to preserve excellence once conditions changed.

Performance Mastery Culture emerged as the architectural response to that reality. It exists to govern excellence as a permanent institutional condition, independent of individual leaders, episodic initiatives, or cultural reinforcement.

Mark holds a Doctor of Business Administration in Leadership and a Master of Science in Organizational Psychology. His academic grounding informs his work, but it is the sustained responsibility of operating inside consequence-bearing systems that ultimately shaped the architecture now embedded within Soteria Alliance.

His work spans North America and Europe and is confined to environments where authority, accountability, and institutional continuity cannot be delegated or diluted.

Dr. Mark Porter is the founder of Soteria Alliance and the architect of its governing doctrine, Performance Mastery Culture (PMC). His work is grounded in sustained exposure to organizations where excellence was expected to hold under pressure, endur... Show more

Eileen Fürstenau

Eileen Fürstenau

During my studies I discovered my enthusiasm for technology, innovation and programming. After a few years in larger corporations such as Continental and IBM, I moved to the IT service provider MaibornWolff. Today, I work there as a software engineer in agile teams designing various digital products.

https://www.eileen-fuerstenau.com

During my studies I discovered my enthusiasm for technology, innovation and programming. After a few years in larger corporations such as Continental and IBM, I moved to the IT service provider MaibornWolff. Today, I work there as a software engineer... Show more

Samantha Goldberg, MSW

Samantha Goldberg, MSW

What happens when a clinically trained social worker builds a multi-seven-figure business from the ground up, and then watches her entire team walk out the door? If you're Samantha Goldberg, you don't retreat. You rebuild. And then you take everything you learned about shame, failure, and what real leadership actually requires, and you bring it to every stage you can find.

Samantha Goldberg, MSW, is a clinically trained social worker, entrepreneur, executive coach, and keynote speaker who works at the intersection of shame resilience, leadership, and self-worth. Named a Woman of Steel by PNC Bank and the Pittsburgh Steelers, she's on a mission to help people show up boldly and lead intentionally--without shame, imposter syndrome, or fear of failure calling the shots.

Samantha is the Founder & CEO of a group mental health therapy practice and multidisciplinary wellness hub in Pittsburgh established in 2018, built around a staffing model centered on business mentorship and entrepreneurial support. She built her practice into a large multimillion dollar operation, navigated a significant organizational crisis, and rebuilt it with radical transparency--an experience that grounds every framework she teaches in real operational leadership, not just research. Through her executive coaching and speaking platform, Unleashed Impact, she helps leaders and high achievers break free from shame, imposter syndrome, and the confidence barriers holding them back. She also serves as a private practice business consultant, providing business coaching to group practice owners across the country.

With 15+ years in the field, Samantha brings rare clinical depth to the leadership conversation--delivering keynotes that are equal parts research-backed and disarmingly honest, turning complex psychological frameworks into tools that actually change how people lead. Samantha is known for her sharp wit, radical honesty, and an uncanny ability to make a room full of high-achievers feel deeply seen--and ready to move.

Off stage, she lives in Pittsburgh with her first responder partner, two dogs, and a cat who has never once struggled with self-worth.

What happens when a clinically trained social worker builds a multi-seven-figure business from the ground up, and then watches her entire team walk out the door? If you're Samantha Goldberg, you don't retreat. You rebuild. And then you take everythin... Show more

Tim Huff

Tim Huff

Tim Huff is a decorated combat veteran, certified executive coach, and award-winning CEO recognized for servant leadership and character. A graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, Tim served 14 years as an Infantry Officer, culminating in a year-long deployment to Afghanistan with the US Army National Guard as Chief of Operations for a brigade responsible for training and sustaining the Afghan National Army. For his leadership in combat, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

After active military service, Tim made what he calls his ‘most extreme transition’… from command of over a dozen tanks and leading 100 troops, and a few months later, to a cubicle at The Walt Disney Company, managing spreadsheets. That moment reinforced in him that genuine leadership isn’t tied to uniforms, titles, or settings. It’s about character: the one constant that endures when pressure mounts. He later advanced in technology leadership roles with Macy’s, CRH Americas, and Owens & Minor, but his life took another defining turn in 2017 when he became the client of an executive coach. The experience gave him a profound sense of leadership freedom and clarity and set him on a new mission: to help leaders everywhere discover the same success based in character.

Today, Tim is the President of Turknett Leadership Group, a 38-year-old Atlanta-based firm trusted by Fortune 500 companies and global organizations. He is a Titan 100 honoree and recipient of the Servant Leader of the Year Award, recognized for his commitment to building leaders who live and lead with integrity, respect, and responsibility. In 2024, he extended that commitment in the most personal way, by donating a kidney to help save the life of a colleague.

Tim’s message is clear: skills can be taught, strategies can shift, but character is the bedrock of leadership. Whether on the battlefield, in the boardroom, or at the side of someone in need, it’s character that inspires trust, courage, and authentic leadership.

He lives in Cumming, Georgia with his wife, Kristin, and enjoys hiking in the North Georgia mountains where he finds both rest and renewal for his life of service!

Tim Huff is a decorated combat veteran, certified executive coach, and award-winning CEO recognized for servant leadership and character. A graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, Tim served 14 years as an Infantry Officer, culminating in a year-l... Show more

Margaret Juhae Lee

Margaret Juhae Lee

Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of the award-winning Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which was named a best book of 2024 by the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. A former literary editor at The Nation, she received a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies Fellowship from Harvard University and a Korean Studies Fellowship from the Korea Foundation. Her articles have been published in The Nation, Newsday, Elle, ARTnews, Writer's Digest and The Rumpus. A seasoned public speaker, she has lectured and taught workshops at universities, libraries and community organizations on searching for family history and how to talked to loved ones about the past, She lives in Oakland, California, with her family.

Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of the award-winning Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which was named a best book of 2024 by the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. A former literary editor at The Nation, she received ... Show more

Eric Hazoumé

Eric Hazoumé

Méthodique, rigoureux et empathique, passionné par la dynamique de groupe et par la complexité, deux aspects majeurs de la vie des équipes IT actuelles, j'interviens pour trouver un équilibre entre les besoins des équipes et ceux de l'entreprise. Mon approche vise à faire cohabiter management et autonomie, en mettant l'accent sur l'amélioration continue, les objectifs et la manière de les atteindre.
Avec toujours cette phrase de François Dupuy en tête : "Le changement se produit quand il est possible et non quand il est nécessaire".

Méthodique, rigoureux et empathique, passionné par la dynamique de groupe et par la complexité, deux aspects majeurs de la vie des équipes IT actuelles, j'interviens pour trouver un équilibre entre les besoins des équipes et ceux de l'entreprise. Mon... Show more

Alan Yeh

Alan Yeh

Alan Yeh is a PhD candidate in French at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in refugitude aesthetics, memory, and food in 20th- and 21st-century French and francophone literature. Foregrounding refugee experiences and epistemologies, his dissertation combines archival research and oral histories with close readings of culinary encounters and tensions in diasporic Vietnamese literature in order to uncover transdiasporic approaches to care through feeding.

Alan Yeh is a PhD candidate in French at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in refugitude aesthetics, memory, and food in 20th- and 21st-century French and francophone literature. Foregrounding refugee experiences and epistemologies... Show more

Samuel Rangel

Samuel Rangel

Meet Samuel Rangel

Samuel Rangel, a proud Merced, California native, is a devoted husband, father of seven, and grandfather of eight. He currently serves with the Merced County Human Services Agency’s All Dad’s Matter Program, where he empowers fathers and families through support, education, and advocacy.

With over two decades of service, Samuel has established himself as a licensed substance abuse counselor, Certified Lactation Education Counselor, author, court-appointed gang culture expert, motivational speaker, and community advocate. He is also the co-founder of two nonprofit organizations—Mentoring Odd Jobs Organization (MOJO) and Distinguished Outreach Services—both of which are dedicated to improving the quality of life for Merced County residents with a strong emphasis on youth engagement, prevention, and fatherhood initiatives.

Samuel’s work extends beyond titles. He is widely recognized for his ability to connect with people from all walks of life, often using his own experiences to inspire others. Having overcome personal challenges, he understands the struggles many in his community face today. His story of resilience fuels his mission: to help individuals break cycles of hardship and to create pathways toward healthier families and stronger communities.

Outside of his professional and nonprofit leadership, Samuel has lived a dynamic and inspiring life. He is a former MMA coach and fighter, a recording artist with seven albums, and a five-time competitive BBQ rib champion. Each of these pursuits reflects his belief in discipline, creativity, and the importance of pursuing one’s passions fully.

His passion and dedication have earned him numerous accolades, including Safeway’s Humanitarian of the Year Award, recognition as Hispanic Man of the Year by the Merced County Hispanic Chamber, and formal accommodations from both the California State Assembly and the United States House of Representatives. These honors reflect not only his personal achievements but also the profound impact he continues to make on families, youth, and the broader community.

Looking ahead, Samuel remains committed to expanding his work in advocacy, mentorship, and fatherhood education. His vision is to see every father equipped with the tools to lead with love, responsibility, and purpose—because stronger fathers create stronger families, and stronger families build stronger communities.

Samuel often shares this guiding belief:

“You can spend a lifetime looking for your purpose, but when you find your passion, you begin to live.”

Meet Samuel Rangel Samuel Rangel, a proud Merced, California native, is a devoted husband, father of seven, and grandfather of eight. He currently serves with the Merced County Human Services Agency’s All Dad’s Matter Program, where he empowers fa... Show more

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