Celebrating Our Speakers’ Life-Changing Books and More
Backstory: The Field Notes of My Life
Backstory: The Field Notes of My Life is a guide that breaks down the steps of writing your biographical backstory – a literary resource that will assist you in writing personal narrative. By initially accessing your familial data through family trees, ancestral documents, photographs and DNA data, and then, by identifying your individual data through mining the memory and interviewing family members, archival librarians and other key influences (who have witnessed and passed through your life), writers are primed to construct their BACKSTORY, a valuable resource from which they can later access pertinent life details to write their personal narratives – be it memoir or autobiography. This resource will serve as a personal genealogical document for yourself, your family, and for generations to come.
Author:E.M. Roach, MA – Teacher, Speaker, Writer, & Radio Host (The Arts Edge, CJSF 90.1 FM)
E.M. Roach, MA, is a writer whose personal story has been informed by, and woven through, the worlds of performance and education—having been an Arts Education, Creative Writing and Primary school teacher as well as an English Language Learning specialist, a sign language interpreter and a stand-up comedian. For the past twelve years, Roach has
brought her bent for storytelling to the airwaves as the radio host of The Arts Edge, earning her recognition for being shortlisted for the Chambers Thesis Award for her academic research in radio broadcasting, life writing and The Radio Tales.
Roach is currently writing The Back Pages: A Memoir
Website (might not yet be online, but it’s coming): differentkindofcrazy.com
Don’t miss E. M.’s mini-workshop, An Introduction to Backstory: The Backbone of Writing Personal Narrative.
The Belonging Paradox: How to Fully Belong. No Matter Who You Are, What You Are or Where You Are.
Are you a member-leader trying to bring belonging to your team, a young adult searching for belonging in friendships, a parent trying to belong in your life stage, or an immigrant trying to find your place? In The Belonging Paradox, Dr, Iwuchukwu brings a fresh perspective to belonging, using a story-based lens to frame our very human need for belonging in liminal spaces—those life spaces where we stand on thresholds between wanting to belong and yet not belonging. In this exploration on belonging paradoxes in families, friendships, work, and parenting, readers will find similarities to their own belonging stories, evocative reminders that belonging is found both within and outside of ourselves. This incisive narrative takes readers on a journey of finding answers to the many questions of belonging in interpersonal relationships. The journey to discovering and practicing true belonging described in this book does not end without a destination as Dr. Iwuchukwu offers practical and easily implemented ways for readers to enhance belonging both personally and collectively in their communities at different life stages.
Author:Otito Iwuchukwu, PhD, CPTD, CQ-CF, crosscultural, multipassionate educator, organizational psychologist, career strategist, consultant and fierce advocate for women in leadership
Otito F. Iwuchukwu, PhD, is a pharmacist-scientist educator, organizational psychologist and consultant. A career strategist, international speaker and author, Otito helps clients learn how to live and thrive in the spaces in-between. A current WriteSpeak participant, Otito has been studying and researching on the impact of belonging in cross-cultural experiences since immigrating to the United States twenty years ago for graduate school. A certified facilitator in cultural intelligence, Otito has been training and teaching using a cultural and trauma-informed framework for many years. As a native of Nigeria, currently living and working in New Jersey, USA, Otito considers herself an amalgam of two cultures who has learned to live and thrive in the many spaces betwixt and between.
Website: www.otitoiwuchukwu.com
Don’t miss Otito’s mini-workshop, Betwixt and Between: Thriving in the Liminal Spaces of Life Through Belonging Practices.
Gentle and Kind: A Nurture and Stretch Self-Care Journal
All serious daring starts from within. – Harriet Beecher Stowe
Self-care is about your relationship with yourself. Your self-care practice includes cultivating respect, understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of an amazing person—you.
Practicing self-care and self-love is essential. When you practice self-love, you grow to accept and appreciate yourself. You begin to accept your emotions for what they are; you’re able to start to make your physical, emotional and mental well-being a priority. It’s the old, “secure your own oxygen mask first,” lesson. We need to practice self-care and self-love so that we don’t drain our emotional fuel tank and have nothing left for anyone—including ourselves.
Using a journal is one of many ways to take care of yourself. Writing or drawing in a journal allows you to look back on older entries and gain perspective, it helps you to connect to your inner self, listen to your inner voice and sometimes talk back to it. Think of this book as a gentle invitation to be kind to yourself. This book includes sections on defining self-care and self-love and reminders of ways you can add some of these practices to your daily life.
This journal is a place to feel supported, in particular, a place to notice how you are supporting yourself. It is a place to feel vulnerable, content, grateful, joyful, happy, confident, brave, grounded, connected, energized, excited, encouraged, loved.
Author: Suzi Larkin, M.A. Award-winning speaker, Self-Expression Coach, author, singer, director, playwright, homeschool educator, theatre nerd, self-care encourager
Suzi Larkin, M.A., is passionate about helping people to express themselves. She also cares deeply about helping people find the peace and confidence that a practice of self-care helps to create. A firm believer in stretching yourself and nurturing your strengths, Suzi coached the Penn State Speech Team students to achieve their goals while also teaching Public Speaking and Oral Interpretation of Literature.
An award-winning speaker, Suzi speaks and conducts workshops on Self-Expression, Self-Care, Readers Theatre, and Presentation Skills. She writes and directs plays and acts in shows with the local community theatre which she helped to start in 2008. An inclusive view of education led Suzi to homeschool her two daughters and she encouraged their participation in theatre, singing, and speaking as they grew. Suzi studied Psychology and Speech Communication at the University of Minnesota and earned her Master’s degree in Speech Communication from Penn State. Between her workshops and her work in community theatre, she continues to provide opportunities for anyone wishing to explore self-discovery and self-expression onstage or off.
Website: suzilarkin.com
Email: suzilarkin@icloud.com
Don’t miss Suzi’s mini-workshop, Heart Space Habits: A Self-Care Workshop to Unlock Your Inner Peace.
Get your copy of Gentle and Kind: A Nurture and Stretch Self-Care Journal on Amazon
How to Be Born: Begin Anew in Integrity, Joy and Power
In this workbook, we will go gently explore all the hidden causes that keep you in “stuckness” and how to free yourself and reclaim your energy for a life of more joy, integrity and power. This workbook is an ideal tool to use before any major birthdays or the new year. To your brand new beginning!
Author: Fatima Viola, Writer, Speaker, Life Coach
Fatima is a high-energy person with deep feelings and a creative mind that verges on the wild. A born poet and a voice for nature, her mission in life is to live a life of fierce joy and uncompromising integrity. Her experiences have taught her how to wield an axe to anything standing in the way to authenticity. She helps others see themselves as powerful and beautiful as they truly are. She is a life coach who completed Martha Beck Life Coach training.
Get your copy of How to Be Born: Begin Anew in Integrity, Joy and Power on Amazon
I Like This Heart Space: Quotations & Reflections to Inspire Your Best Self
Opening your mind and heart to great quotations and reflections on them can inspire you to become your best self.
This book is a place where I know you’ll find inspiration and encouragement that comes from the heart.
Author: Suzi Larkin, M.A. Award-winning speaker, Self-Expression Coach, author, singer, director, playwright, homeschool educator, theatre nerd, self-care encourager.
Suzi Larkin, M.A., is passionate about helping people to express themselves. She also cares deeply about helping people find the peace and confidence that a practice of self-care helps to create. A firm believer in stretching yourself and nurturing your strengths, Suzi coached the Penn State Speech Team students to achieve their goals while also teaching Public Speaking and Oral Interpretation of Literature.
An award-winning speaker, Suzi speaks and conducts workshops on Self-Expression, Self-Care, Readers Theatre, and Presentation Skills. She writes and directs plays and acts in shows with the local community theatre which she helped to start in 2008. An inclusive view of education led Suzi to homeschool her two daughters and she encouraged their participation in theatre, singing, and speaking as they grew. Suzi studied Psychology and Speech Communication at the University of Minnesota and earned her Master’s degree in Speech Communication from Penn State. Between her workshops and her work in community theatre, she continues to provide opportunities for anyone wishing to explore self-discovery and self-expression onstage or off.
Website: suzilarkin.com
Email: suzilarkin@icloud.com
Don’t miss Suzi’s mini-workshop, Heart Space Habits: A Self-Care Workshop to Unlock Your Inner Peace.
it’s still good: Dreams Don’t Have Expiration Dates
Do you have a dream that has been hanging around for a long time? Maybe you’ve tried to dismiss it, convince yourself it’s not important, probably won’t work, and instead tried to be content. How’s that working for you?
A dream that’s still good doesn’t give up easily. That’s how dreams work. They might grow silent with time, but they can’t be silenced. They resurface as future regrets and lost opportunities. Don’t let this happen to you!
it’s still good…Dreams Don’t Have Expiration Dates is a little book with a big goal—to rescue you from the regret of a dream you didn’t go after. With inspiring stories and research-based strategies, author Patrice Jenkins offers advice that will move you to action. Once you start, your dream begins to exist!
Author: Patrice Jenkins, Ph.D. is an organizational psychologist, author, and Founder of Day One Dreams
Patrice Jenkins, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist, consultant, speaker and host of Day One Dreams Podcast. She is the author of two books, it’s still good: Dreams Don’t Have Expiration Dates and What Will I Do All Day? Wisdom to get you Over Retirement and on with Living! Her online course, A Guide to Take the Weirdness Out of Retirement is available at Udemy.com.
Website: patricejenkins.com
Don’t miss Patrice’s mini-workshop, How to Be a Life-Changing Author and Speaker by September 2026.
Get your copy of it’s still good: Dreams Don’t Have Expiration Dates on Amazon
A Journey to an Organized You: A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Organized Home (3 Book Set)
A Journey To An Organized You – A Step-By-Step Guidebook to Your Organized Home – Room by Room you will be able to create your organized home. Each guidebook is specific to a room. There is plenty of space to work on each area of your home. There are helpful tidbits in each guidebook to assist you along your journey.
- You will look at the current function and design of your room
- You will be able to think about the future function and design of your room
- There are tidbits on cleaning and investigative organizing
- Planning states and next steps and so much more
Author: Kandy M. Sartori, CPO®, Organizing Consultant and Life Coach, “An Organized Life Is A HAPPY LIFE!”®
Kandy M. Sartori is a Certified Professional Organizer, serial entrepreneur, author, coach, and Creative Guide. She has over 20+ years working in Fortune 500 companies in positions ranging from Administrative Assistant, Fire/Theft Team Leader, Tax Branch Manager, Financial Advisor to Bookkeeper. She started her first business in 2009 as an organizing and cleaning business. Over the years, she has developed systems that really help her clients stay organized and streamlined. She works with her clients to feel into their well being. She takes a holistic approach and understands the flow of energy in our lives. Everything and everyone is connected, on every level.
She holds a BA in Business Administration and several certificates in a variety of areas, as a true scanner would. She is currently working on her master’s degree in Organizational Development. Kandy also worked as part of an organizing crew on A&E’s popular TV series, HOARDERS. She has also trekked to Mt. Everest’s Base Camp, ran the Athens Marathon, took up strength training, and is competing in her first USA Powerlifting Master’s World Cup in May.
Kandy’s motto is, “An Organized Life is a Happy Life™”.
Don’t miss Kandy’s mini-workshop, How to Be a Life-Changing Author and Speaker by September 2026.
Mindful Reflections: Patterns of Hope; a guided journal
This journal is a tool to assist you in reducing the frustrations experienced by most as they seek to incorporate sitting meditation. It incorporates small life affirming and sustaining steps, designed to help shape your quiet time, and provides a record of your growth over time. Four elements, reflection, self-appreciation, gratitude, and therapeutic coloring will help to shape your journey, as you gain the focus that mindfulness can infuse in a life.
This book is the result of reading Barbara Sher’s Refuse to Choose while at a crossroad in my life and allowing the Scanner in me to flourish. I am thankful for the encouragement and guidance that it provided, and the courage it gave me to ask the questions I would not have otherwise asked. This was a miraculous time in my life. Doors that I did not know existed opened for me, and people were willing and able to provide me with answers I did not know I needed.
Author: Antonieta Kashimbiri, career educator, proud scanner, lover of many things, Mindfulness Meditation advocate and author
Antonieta Kashimbiri is a career educator, a proud scanner, and a lover of many things, a Mindfulness Meditation advocate and author. She is the creator of Mindful Reflections: Patterns, a series of mindfulness guided journals. In these, reflection, self-appreciation, gratitude, and creativity through therapeutic coloring come together to shape your mindfulness journey.
Antonieta is an avid reader and quote collector, who enjoys vintage shopping and people watching. She gives back to her community by volunteering and sharing resources. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and is looking forward to all the adventures that this new phase of her life will bring.
Email: Kajirusgifts@gmail.com
Don’t miss Antonieta’s mini-workshop, How to Cultivate Hope.
Get your copy of Mindful Reflections on Amazon
The New Earth Quest Codes: Insights from a Sacred Journey – Leadership lessons, Personal Growth, Authentic Self Expression and Co-creation
The Book New Earth Quest Codes – Insights from a Sacred Journey presents 33 Codes – 33 leadership and life lessons – interpreted by 22 Authors, coming together to inspire new ways of leadership, authentic self expression and co-creation.
The collection of texts, poems and art is meant to inspire and encourage you to go on your own Quest, to discover insights that empower you to embrace your essence and walk your unique path.
Author/Compiler/Editor: Antonia Daniek, Source Leadership Mentor, Transformational Coach, Conscious Business Developer, Artist; Creator of the SourceDynamics Method
Source Leadership Mentor, Transformational Coach, Conscious Business Developer, Artist; Creator of the SourceDynamics Method. Author of the upcoming book SourceDynamics in CoCreation, publisher of the New Earth Quest Codes book and contributing author in vol. 3 of the Pay it forward series by Kezia Luckett.
Antonia believes in co-creating a world of meaning and reconnection where resources and wisdom are shared to improve the life and environment for all of us. A world where every person is appreciated.
As a transformational coach Antonia supports Changemakers to re-connect to their purpose and inner wisdom so that they can create great and make an impact in the world that they are truly passionate about.
Her programs focus on Entrepreneurs, Coaches and Business Owners who want to be part of the global change by sharing their unique gifts and innovative tools and utilize the power of connection and collaboration to grow their business.
Antonia uses her big picture vision process with the founder as the source of the project to make new opportunities for business growth, partnerships and co-creation visible. This brings clarity and courage and enables to act.
Website: antoniadaniek.com
Facebook: the.antonia.daniek
Hear Antonia Daniek’s mini-workshop, Be the Author of Your Life – Exploring Inspired Action and Conscious Co-creation.
Get Your Copy of The New Earth Quest Codes on Amazon
Notes to My Younger Self (The Pay It Forward Series Book 3) by Kezia Luckett
This collection of 18 heart warming stories of hope, wisdom, and inspiration, written by women around the world as they write notes back to their younger selves, includes Antonia Daniek’s story.
Have you ever wished that you could go back to a pivotal time in your life and give yourself sound advice? Words of hope, wisdom, knowledge and inspiration that everything is happening for a reason and all will work out. That those failures, challenges and detours that you are experiencing, that have sometimes taken you to the edge of darkness and beyond, will end up being looked upon as some of your greatest, life divining moments. In this third volume of The Pay It Forward Series: Notes to My Younger Self you will be taken on a journey of self-discovery as you read the heart-warming, inspirational stories from 18 key women of contribution from around the world, as they pay forward the words of wisdom gained through the experiences of life.
Contributor: Antonia Daniek, Source Leadership Mentor, Transformational Coach, Conscious Business Developer, Artist; Creator of the SourceDynamics Method
Source Leadership Mentor, Transformational Coach, Conscious Business Developer, Artist; Creator of the SourceDynamics Method. Author of the upcoming book SourceDynamics in CoCreation, publisher of the New Earth Quest Codes book and contributing author in vol. 3 of the Pay it forward series by Kezia Luckett.
Antonia believes in co-creating a world of meaning and reconnection where resources and wisdom are shared to improve the life and environment for all of us. A world where every person is appreciated.
As a transformational coach Antonia supports Changemakers to re-connect to their purpose and inner wisdom so that they can create great and make an impact in the world that they are truly passionate about.
Her programs focus on Entrepreneurs, Coaches and Business Owners who want to be part of the global change by sharing their unique gifts and innovative tools and utilize the power of connection and collaboration to grow their business.
Antonia uses her big picture vision process with the founder as the source of the project to make new opportunities for business growth, partnerships and co-creation visible. This brings clarity and courage and enables to act.
Website: antoniadaniek.com
Facebook: the.antonia.daniek
Hear Antonia Daniek’s mini-workshop, Be the Author of Your Life – Exploring Inspired Action and Conscious Co-creation.
Get Your Copy of Notes to My Younger Self (The Pay It Forward Series Book 3) on Amazon
The Overwhelmed Overachiever: Reclaim your Sanity and Thrive Again
Are you an overachiever? Are you overwhelmed? Then I’m writing this book for you! I was in just the same boat, trying to get way too much done with too little time, and running my energy into the ground in the process. Come learn a better way with me.
Author: Megan Hall, Ph.D., , Medievalist. Speaker. Writer. Coach. Productivity Expert. Storyteller
Megan Hall has a Ph.D. in English Literature, with a focus on Medieval English Literature, from the University of Notre Dame. In her academic work, she researches and writes about a range of historical and literary topics, primarily women’s history, the medieval world and literature, and the relationship of environment to human experience.
She also coaches high achievers, especially writers and academics. As an experienced academic and writer herself, Megan knows from the inside out the often gut-wrenching processes of succeeding in high-achieving environments (especially academic programs) and working to overcome the challenges every student, teacher, scholar, and writer faces: procrastination, imposter syndrome, overwhelm, and overwork are often the chief among those challenges. Fortunately she discovered early on an innate appreciation for organization and time management and has developed those skills ever since, using them to help those who need it.
Megan’s latest book, to be published this year is The Overwhelmed Overachiever: Reclaim Your Sanity and Thrive Again.
Website: www.meganjhall.com
Don’t miss Megan’s mini-workshop, The Overachiever’s Emergency Kit: A Simple System to Beat Overwhelm.
Get your copy of The Overwhelmed Overachiever: Reclaim Your Sanity and Thrive Again
What Will I Do All Day?: Wisdom to Get You Over Retirement and On With Living!
Patrice Jenkins wrote this book to rescue people who are trapped in their careers. These individuals have prepared financially for retirement but they stay in jobs/careers because they don’t know what they would do if they weren’t working. After conducting interviews and coaching individuals through the retirement transition process, she learned their resistance boils down to one looming question, What will I do all day? This question isn’t about keeping busy. There are always enough things to do, but who wants to wake up to a to-do list for the next 20-30 years? At the core of “What will I do all day?” is a deeper emotional question. What will I do all day that will be meaningful, provide direction for my life, keep me engaged in society, and still be fun and rewarding? That’s a much harder question to answer than how will I keep busy? To get over retirement and on with living, you need to understand the deeper issues of retirement. The issues a simple financial strategy or get-away vacation won’t solve. What is rarely discussed is how you feel about retirement. In her book, Jenkins helps you identify these core feelings and address your unspoken fears if retirement feels like a long road to the end. You’ll get to know what really matters to you, the things you want to build into your retirement plan. You’ll learn from other people’s experience with retirement what you need to do now to start preparing. There is life after work, in fact this life probably includes work, but you’ll need to get over retirement to start living and enjoying this next stage of life. This book will help you do that!
Author: Patrice Jenkins, Ph.D. is an organizational psychologist, author, and Founder of Day One Dreams
Patrice Jenkins, Ph.D. is an organizational psychologist, consultant, speaker and host of Day One Dreams Podcast. She is the author of two books, it’s still good: Dreams Don’t Have Expiration Dates and What Will I Do All Day? Wisdom to get you Over Retirement and on with Living! Her online course, A Guide to Take the Weirdness Out of Retirement is available at Udemy.com.
Website: patricejenkins.com
Don’t miss Patrice’s mini-workshop, How to Be a Life-Changing Author and Speaker by September 2026.