SHExperience Speakers and Facilitators
SHE Suite
Featured Speakers
Barbara Bry
Council President Pro Tem Barbara Bry represents San Diego’s First City Council District. She is a high-tech entrepreneur and community leader who worked her way through college and graduate school, earning a Master’s Degree in Business from Harvard.
Barbara was on the founding team of several local high-tech companies, including ProFlowers.com, which has created hundreds of local jobs. She is co-founder of Atcom/Info, one of the first companies to develop technology for Internet kiosks and high-speed Internet access in hotel rooms. Additionally, she served as the first associate director of CONNECT, and is the founder of Athena San Diego, the leading organization for women in the San Diego tech and life sciences community.
Barbara has deep roots in the community and has lived in San Diego for more than 35 years. She is married to Neil Senturia, raised her two daughters here, and is a proud grandmother.
Geneviéve L. Jones-Wright
Geneviéve L. Jones-Wright was raised by her single mother in a low-income home in San Diego, California where devotion to family and self-respect was cultivated. In the fourth grade Geneviéve decided to follow in the steps of Justice Thurgood Marshall and become a “social engineer.” Since that day, she has been determined to “carry the bags” of Justice Marshall as he had done for Mr. Charles Hamilton Houston.
In keeping with the vision, Geneviéve obtained a J.D. from Howard Law after graduating from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in mass media communications. She obtained an LL.M. in Trial Advocacy specializing in federal criminal defense from California Western School of Law. This one-of-a-kind program helped her perfect her craft and allowed her to work in both the Southern and Central Districts of California. Since 2006 she has proudly served San Diego County as a public defender.
Beyond the courtroom, Geneviéve serves on the City of San Diego’s Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention where she chairs the Gang Documentation committee. She is a volunteer attorney for the California Innocence Project and a member of the State Bar of California’s Council on Access and Fairness.
Geneviéve serves on the Board of Directors for the David’s Harp Foundation, a local nonprofit that transforms the lives of “at-risk” and homeless youth through the power of music. In addition to being a proud member of Lawyers Club, Geneviéve is President of the Howard University Alumni Club of San Diego, Vice President of the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association, and a board member for Historically Black Colleges and Universities Alumni Club San Diego as well as the San Diego branch of the NAACP. Recently, Geneviéve re-launched her professional motivational speaking firm, Motivation.In.Action (MIA).
Her life goals are to use the law as a tool for our most vulnerable groups. Geneviéve has an abiding love for God and sincerely desires to manifest Divine Love through service by way of her life.
Susan Tousi
Susan Tousi is Senior Vice President of Product Development at Illumina, Inc., (NASDAQ: ILMN), a company on a mission to improve human health by unlocking the power of the genome by delivering market and technology leading DNA sequencers. Illumina is a global company headquartered in San Diego, California. Susan is responsible for Illumina’s global engineering, consumables, sequencing applications, software and informatics development efforts, ensuring Illumina’s scientists and engineers continue the culture of innovation and product excellence that has been a hallmark of Illumina.
Under her leadership, Illumina has launched seven years of industry-leading sequencing platforms, and achieved the most innovative and expansive product portfolio in the company’s history, including the NovaSeq Series, a new and scalable sequencing architecture expected one day to enable a $100 genome; this platform redefines high throughput sequencing with unrivaled throughput, ease of use, low per sample costs, and unmatched flexibility. Susan has been a vital asset to Illumina as she has helped navigate the organization through significant scaling and growth – the revenue from the sequencing platforms and consumables from her team was directly responsible for contributing $9B to the company’s growth from 2012 to 2018 YTD, representing 25% CAGR and contributing to market cap increase from $4B at start of 2012 to >$40B today.
Susan has more than 25-years of R&D and business leadership at Fortune 100 technology companies and within the life sciences industry. Formerly, Susan was as a Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Eastman Kodak’s Consumer Inkjet Systems organization. Prior to joining Kodak, Susan was an R&D program manager for Phogenix Imaging LLC, a joint venture start-up of Hewlett-Packard and Kodak. She previously spent 10 years with HewlettPackard in technical and management roles.
In 2017, Illumina was recognized by MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies (for the 5th straight year), Forbes’ 2017 America’s Best Mid-Size Employers, BioSpace's 2017 Life Sciences Ideal Employers, and Computerworld’s Best Places to Work in IT. And, Glassdoor named Illumina a Best Place to Work in San Diego this year.
Susan holds an M.B.A. degree from UCLA and a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Pennsylvania State University. Along with many academic honors, she has received numerous awards in both business and technology, most recently being named a finalist for 2017 Businesswoman of the Year by San Diego Business Journal. Susan was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineers, one of our nation’s “highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.”
Susan is a lover of the arts and serves as a trustee at the world-renowned La Jolla Playhouse. She also has a Board Advisory Council role at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego. Susan is a proud mom and an avid art history student who believes and strives to live by the simple leadership philosophy: “transformative products come from bringing out the best in our people.” She resides in the San Diego area with her husband, Randall Camp, and is the proud mother of three boys; Brandon Camp (20), Spencer Camp (18), and Cameron Camp (10).
Samantha Hua
Samantha Hua has been involved in nutrition and health coaching since 1992. With a bachelor’s degree in biology, she spent the first part of her career focusing on research. She then became AADP certificated as a Health Coach and started her own company, Happy Food, in 2009. After witnessing poor health in her own family, she is dedicated to support others regain their health and vitality through an effective system that incorporates nutrition, emotions, and behavioral change. She focuses on addressing the root cause of the problem for weight loss, optimal nutrition, and balance that lasts a lifetime. She was featured on San Diego CW6 Morning News & SD Voyager Magazine as a local expert. She has been invited as a wellness speaker for the county and corporations all over San Diego.
Brittany Kirk
Brittany Catton Kirk is the Founder and Executive Director of Sunlight Retreats for Survivors, an accelerator for healing for survivors of rape. After being attacked overseas in 2012, she struggled in her career, relationships and gained 60 pounds as she tried to recover from her attack and Post Traumatic Stress. She looked for a safe place to go and heal but found nothing so she created Sunlight Retreats for Survivors. Drawing on her ten years’ experience creating award-winning programming for military families and wounded warriors at the San Diego Armed Services YMCA, she set out to create a tangible in-person program to empower survivors with tools, trauma education, resilience training and peer support. Sunlight Retreats is a changemaking program that gives survivors a better way to heal, so that they can rebuild and empower others. 100 percent of the forty participants from the first two retreats reported via anonymous survey that they would recommend Sunlight Retreats to a fellow survivor, 100 percent said it aided them in their healing, and 100 percent said Sunlight Retreats made them stronger. Brittany is married to Lieutenant Commander Brian Kirk. They reside in San Diego, CA, with their two sons, Cal, age 2, and Bo, age 4 months. www.sunlightretreats.org
Aeiramique Glass Blake
Executive Director Generation Justice and Candidate for the 51st Congressional District.
Aeiramique Glass Blake known to most as Meeka has a 10-year background in mental health and has been working in the juvenile justice field for nearly 12 years. She is a full-time restorative justice consultant and Director of a youth and student-led activism, organizing and advocacy organizations, Generation Justice. Generation Justice focuses on racial, social and juvenile justice and school culture discipline reform. Aeiramique serves on multiple advisory boards representing communities of color, such as San Diego chief of police board of advisors, the City Attorneys advisory board, Restorative Justice Steering board and the Peace Promotion Momentum Team, working to keep these individuals and systems transparent and accountable. Aeiramique is known for her leadership and was most recently featured in Teen Vogue for her activism leadership through Generation Justice. Aeiramique speaks across the country on topics such as Peace, Justice and women empowerment. She now a Congressional Candidate.
Moriah Meyskens
Moriah Meyskens is a Clinical Professor of Management at the University of San Diego School of Business. She holds a PhD from Florida International University, where her dissertation focused on the role of partnerships in nascent social ventures. She also conducted post-doctoral work at Babson College with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Her research interests lie in entrepreneurship, strategy and international business with a particular focus on social entrepreneurship, microfinance, design thinking, pedagogical and partnership research. She teaches classes in strategy, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and design thinking. She is extremely passionate about integrating life design into her courses. She actively assists with the USD Social Innovation Challenge, other entrepreneurship initiatives on campus and case competitions. She has published over 20 book chapters and peer-reviewed articles. She is the co-founder of the annual professional development workshop at AOM on content analysis (since 2008), and is on the editorial board of Management Decision and the Journal of World Business. Prior to academia, Moriah worked for eight years in microfinance and finance in the United States, Latin America and Africa. She loves spending time with her three wonderful little sons and husband at home and traveling in their RV and around the world. Due to her work in life design Moriah recently decided to focus full time on her family starting September 2019 (after 20 years working full-time). Moriah feels very lucky to lead a well-lived joyful life professionally and personally.
Dr. Tess Mauricio
Dr. Tess Mauricio, is a Board Certified Dermatologist, fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology,
graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine, and a Summa Cum Laude graduate of The University of California San Diego (UCSD) with a degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and minors in theatre and
sociology. She is the founder of M Beauty by Dr Tess with multiple clinics in San Diego and Beverly Hills. She is the youngest woman to hold the position of President of The San Diego Society for Dermatologic Surgery.
She is the recipient of the UCSD Warren College Distinguished Alumni award.Dr Tess is an internationally recognized cosmetic surgeon, author of California Total Beauty, renowned speaker, teacher, sought after media personality and has educated thousands across the globe on technologies she has helped pioneer such as the Time Machine Procedure and ALMI Procedure. She is considered one of the leading experts in regenerative stem cell medicine therapies and women's health.
She is a favorite medical expert on TV with regular network appearances on the CBS' The Doctors, The Talk, Dr Phil, Rachael Ray show, Fox News, America’s Next Top Model, The Dr Oz Show along with many local TVshows. She produced and starred on "The Dr Tess Show" and her family’s reality show, “All in the Family with Dr. Tess”.
Internationally, Dr. Tess has been featured in UK Cosmopolitan magazine, France’s Les Nouvelle Estetiques, Philippines’ YES magazine, and in the US’ Aesthetic Buyers, Health, Beauty Life, Cosmopolitan, New Beauty, MedEsthetics and Hollywood Reporter magazines.
Dr. Tess is married to her Stanford Medical school classmate, Dr. James Lee and together they have founded the nutritional supplement company, Liveli. They have a daughter, Jana who is a sophmore at Stanford University and son Michael is 12 years old. They live in San Diego, California.
Jackie Freiberg
For more than 28 years, Jackie has been helping leaders to create Cultures of Innovation & Change through People, Performance, Profit & Purpose.
Recognized as one of the “Top 30 Best Minds on Leadership”, Jackie is one of the most sought-after female business speakers in the nation.
A business owner and entrepreneur, Jackie speaks, consults and writes on Leadership, Innovation, Employee Engagement, Cause, Team Chemistry and The SheEconomy (a $20 trillion female strength to know). In addition to speaking, Jackie teaches graduates classes at the University of San Diego, School of Leadership & Education. You can read current articles by Jackie and her husband Kevin at Forbes.com where they are regular leadership contributors.
Jackie is the co-author or 8 award-winning books: the international bestseller, NUTS! describing Southwest Airlines' leadership, service culture and profitability, it’s sequel GUTS!, BOOM! (7 timeless choices for inspiring leadership and accountability), NANOVATION! (a how-to on innovation), Do Something Now and Be a Person of Impact, two quick reads that will change your organization and your life, CAUSE! A Business Strategy for Standing Out in A Sea of Sameness (companies that define themselves as cause-oriented have better employee engagement, customer loyalty, stronger profitability and growth) and most recently, Bochy Ball! The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business and Life – a how-to for building team chemistry and leading people to perform like champions.
Aixa Morales
Ms. Aixa Morales (Calleros) serves as the Director of the Office of Civilian Human Resources
(OCHR) Operations Center San Diego. As the Director, Ms. Morales is responsible for the
processing of personnel actions supporting 30,000 civilian employees of all Navy Commands in
the Western Pacific, Space and Naval Warfare Command (SPAWAR), Naval Special Warfare
Command (NSWC) and the entire Marine Corps.
With an excess of 30 years of federal experience, Ms. Morales’ federal career has provided her a
well-rounded orientation to the varied specialties internal to the HR field. Equally compellingly,
however, are her many years of experience as an organizational leader and executive mentor and
coach.
Meahalani Tolbert
Ms. Mahealani Tolbert currently serves as a Leadership Mentor to the leadership staff at theOffice of Civilian Human Resources Operations Center San Diego. In this capacity she is
responsible for working with managers and supervisors, both new to the field and those “well-
seasoned”, who are interested in optimizing both managerial and leadership competencies. Ms.
Tolbert retired in 2013 with in excess of 30 years of federal service. She currently serves as a
reemployed-annuitant.
Lisa Howe
Lisa Howe is an MSW, a mother, and a Certified Peaceful Parenting Coach. Over the last twenty-five years, Lisa has worked with women, children, and families providing them with education, support, and empathy as they navigate their lives and relationships. Lisa has a special interest in supporting survivors of sexual assault and has been a California state certified Crisis Counselor for 14 years working with Center for Community Solutions. In January 2016, Lisa was one of only 15 clinicians chosen worldwide for an intensive six-month training with Dr. Laura Markham, Clinical Psychologist, and author of AhaParenting.com. Using her knowledge, professional experience, and personal journey as a parent, Lisa teaches workshops and coaches other parents to develop happier, healthier, and more peaceful relationships with their children.
Erica Pinto
Erica M. Pinto currently serves as Chairwoman of the Jamul Indian Village of California, one of the 13 tribes of the Kumeyaay Nation who trace their roots back 12,000 years in San Diego County, California.
Ms. Pinto has been involved with the JIV Tribal Council since 1997, becoming a Council Member at the age of 22. Serving for more than 17 years on the Council, she was appointed Vice Chair of the Tribal Council in 2008. In 2015, she was the first woman elected Chairwoman of the Jamul Indian Village, an honor she proudly holds today.
Since becoming Chairwoman, Ms. Pinto has led JIV through significant economic progress on their path to self-reliance.
She is the co-founder of the Acorn to Oaks tribal program, which organizes activities focused on culture, youth development, health and fitness, and technology – all designed to help prevent drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, as well as to promote education and family togetherness. She hopes to build pride in future tribal leaders, so they respect their native heritage.
Ms. Pinto serves on the board of the Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association. She is Vice-Chair of the Board of the Southern Indian Health Council and Chairwoman of the Personnel Committee. She is a Transportation Committee Advisory Board Member and co-chair of the Interagency Technical Working Group on Tribal Transportation Issues with the San Diego Association of Governments as well as Advisory Board Member for Native American Advisory Committee (NAAC).
She serves on the San Diego International Film Festival Native American Advisory Board. In 2015, she received the Women in Leadership award from the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Ms. Pinto grew up with her three brothers on the Jamul Indian Village reservation and Viejas reservation, where she witnessed the hardships and prejudice inflicting on her people. Her mother, who has been active in Tribal government for several decades, instilled in her the importance of respecting our ancestors and giving back to the Tribe, lessons she carries with her to this day.
In her free time, Ms. Pinto is passionate about travel, music, photography, exercising, reading and film. Her wild imagination inspires her to write, which she hopes to translate into film. Her creativity inspires her to cook and bake and she has always loved bringing people together around food.
Jenni Prisk
Jenni Prisk founded Prisk Communication in 1990 with the mission to provide exemplary public speaking and communication skills. She has coached hundreds of corporate executives and corporate teams in the United States and internationally. She has provided communications training skills to Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Sony, and serves as a presentation training coach to the United States Navy’s Special Forces Seals teams.
She is the author of Communication Skills Training, a publication of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). For six years she was a faculty professor at the University of San Diego in the Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program. In collaboration with PRIDE Inc. San Diego, she developed and led a recurring course in public speaking for developmentally disabled adults.
Jenni is a Commissioner on the Status of Women, San Diego. In 2001, she founded Voices of Women (VOW), a nonprofit organization with the mission to expand knowledge of global issues, advocate for human rights, and support the equal participation of women and men in advancing human security. VOW has presented 70+ educational events, and raised significant funds for global nonprofit organizations. The organization supports the Daraja Academy for Girls in Kenya, and in San Diego collaborates with refugee women from East Africa to provide professional development workshops. Jenni emcees TEDx Del Mar programs. She is the emcee for the National Conflict Resolution Center’s Peacemaker Awards.
For almost a decade she anchored (live) KPBS-TV San Diego fundraisers and has interviewed numerous guests: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Sarah Brightman, Paul Anka, JohnTesh, Patti LuPone, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Andrew Weil (and more.)
Jenni was born and raised in New Zealand, where she gained a Diploma in Adult Teaching and qualified as a Human Relations and Communications Instructor for the New Zealand Marriage Guidance Council. She has a Diploma in Speech & Drama from Trinity College of London, England.
Featured Guests
Signature A Cappella
Signature A Capella was established in 2007 at the University of California at Los Angeles as an all-female a cappella group.
We have performed at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, UCLA’s Spring Sing, the California A Cappella Festival and the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival. In 2015 Signature A Cappella won the UCLA Prytanean Alumnae Award for Best A Cappella Performance.
Most importantly, Signature A Cappella has provided each member with a sisterhood that has become a home away from home. We support, encourage and empower each other. We laugh and celebrate our triumphs; we cry and lean on each other through our challenges, and through it all, we sing together. Our friendships last a lifetime.
Facilitators
Cristina Schaffer
Cristina Schaffer has worked in sales, training and marketing strategy for over 30 years. Her interests in working to help empower women grew while raising her daughter. “I wanted my daughter to think critically, feel empowered and speak with strength, and I realized, the best way to do that was to be the best role model I could be!”
Cristina is finishing her graduate work in Leadership Studies at USD and is working with The Center for Women’s Leadership (CWL) and the Conscious Leadership Academy (CLA) to ignited passion and purpose in others. “We are never done. Conscious leadership is about being mindful about our own strengths and weaknesses and facing the world every day with a fierce curiosity and the willingness to grow.”
Dr. Lorri Sulpizio
Dr. Lorri Sulpizio is the Director of the Conscious Leadership Academy at the University of San Diego, and the founder of the Center for Women’s Leadership at USD. Dr. Sulpizio’s leadership interests include 1) gender dynamics, specifically women, voice, and power; 2) application of group relations theory to the practice of leadership and building effective teams; 3) how authenticity and a balanced sense of self leads to effective leadership; 4) developing confidence, mental strength and team cohesion in athletes. Dr. Sulpizio created the Women in Higher Education Leadership Summit and the Cultivate Conscious Kids Program and is committed to creating and designing programs that meet the deeper needs of individuals and organizations.
Ashley Adams
Ashley serves as the community outreach and recruitment manager for the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate within the USD School of Business. While pursuing her Master's in Leadership Studies, she played an integral role in launching Grow Great Girls, a mother-daughter leadership experience that grew into Cultivate Conscious Kids. Her passion for leadership led her to pursue a variety of experiences, which include facilitating political dialogue within an improv comedy setting, coaching a group of women working through challenges within higher education, and leading a team of coaches to support transitioning military members. Ashley strives to navigate our complex world as her best and strongest self, and finds great joy in supporting others in doing the same.
Helena Zandstra
Helena has worked in Higher Education the last twenty years, and is currently Director for Continuing Medical Education at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. In her second year of the Masters of Arts in Leadership Studies program at USD she is enjoying the experiential learning process that the program offers and the ability to focus on her own growth and development. She is pursuing a coaching certificate and is passionate about helping others find their true “charism” or purpose in life. Mom to two boys, Helena is activated to cultivate consciousness in our culture about boys and within boys to drive change in future generations. Her leadership interests include group relations and building highly efficient teams, early gender roles and impact on culture, and organizational development.
Amy Levine
Amy has been working in college admissions for over 25 years, from evaluating and deciding admissions candidates for the University of California, to starting her own college admissions consulting firm. Amy enjoys helping high school students identify and gain admission to the colleges and universities that best match their values and goals. “I am extremely honored to be helping our younger generation with the next phase of their journey.” Amy has always been physically active and believes that running marathons has taught her that “You can achieve any goal when you can imagine it. Marathons are like life, they require training, passion, focus, and most importantly, belief in yourself.”
Leigh Haubach
After visiting 42 countries and 48 states, when Leigh Haubach is not packing for her next trip, she is a passionate digital marketer, ESL teacher, hiker, photographer, and aspiring (but hopeless) yogi. As a mother, a Girl Scout leader, and founder of an Indivisible group, Leigh encourages others to become courageous leaders who use their voice to make a positive change in the world.
Molly Patrick
Daughter of two California educators, Molly learned from a young age that “Education is the great equalizer”. Passionate about supporting and creating channels for traditional and non-traditional students to succeed in today’s global society, Molly has a deep personal commitment to lifelong learning. She has served as facilitator and coordinator for local, national, and international leadership development programs. Going through an intensely personal discovery process in graduate school led Molly to more than a few huge “Ah-ha!” moments. The most important was, “We have the capacity to create our futures, and the work is never done”. Her specialty is in intercultural communication and finding better ways to engage in order to communicate what is important. “I believe communicating our values is an act of leadership.”
Stephanie Eikermann
Stephanie is the Lead Technology Support Analyst assisting the University of San Diego community with tech challenges and is in her third year of the Masters of Arts in Leadership Studies program at USD. Her compassion, empathy, and love for helping people, paired with her curiosity of what makes people tick, has driven Stephanie to pursue USD’s coaching certification program. She is also working in an intradepartmental setting to cultivate a culture of positivity and empathy, focusing on fostering a safe environment for female employees in technology-related roles.
Tanisha-Jean Martin
Tanisha-Jean is a San Diego native who passionately advocates for people, animals, and environmental justice. She holds a Master’s degree in Leadership Studies and a Coaching Certificate from the University of San Diego where she has won multiple awards for her research, involvement and leadership on campus. Tanisha-Jean is excited to be a part of the planning committee for the SHExperience and invites discussions on all topics, creating space to brainstorm ideas and get better acquainted with diverse cultures. Tanisha is a proud and involved mother and she welcomes new challenges and projects. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Leadership Studies.
Meaghan McCaughey
Meaghan is a Training & Development Specialist and Leadership Coach creating and facilitating dynamic curricula that include the basics of conscious leadership and how anyone can be a more effective leader through a mixture of lecture, improvisation, activities, and coaching. She has an accomplished background in public speaking, speechwriting, and loves to work with people who are looking to up their presentation game. One of Meaghan’s personal passions is helping parents raise their children more consciously focusing on the parents’ own emotional well-being. Meaghan has her MA in Leadership Studies and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching. She enjoys the outdoors as much as possible, is a podcast nerd, and a budding plant-enthusiast.
Brecia Kralovic-Logan
Brecia Kralovic-Logan is an artist, author, and advocate for creativity and women. She is a creative life coach and the author of “The Spiral of Creativity- Mastering the Art of a Spirited Life.” She founded the International Women’s Festival Northwest to honor women’s accomplishments and highlight issues facing women globally; and the Pebble Rebel Award which honors women making a positive difference in their communities. Kralovic-Logan serves as the Southern California representative for the Global Art Project for Peace, and is a member of UNA-USA San Diego. She is the founder of the Women’s Woven Voices project, an international art collaboration that empowers women through writing, weaving and sharing their stories. www.breciacreative.com www.thespiralofcreativity.com www.womenswovenvoices.com