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About the event
AVIXA - Women's Council Virtual Event
AVIXA’s Women’s Council is hosting a virtual event in late September (targeting September 29 or 30 at 1:00 PM ET), open to all AVIXA members. The audience will include audiovisual and technology professionals from a variety of sectors—consultants, manufacturers, live events, systems integrators, and technology managers—spanning roles from business owners and engineers to project managers and technical specialists.
The Council is seeking a dynamic speaker who can inspire attendance and engagement while keeping within a $3,000 virtual event budget. Ideal topics may center around women’s empowerment, career development, personal growth, and emerging technologies such as AI—particularly when tailored to early- and mid-career professionals who are seeking mentorship, growth, and connection within the AV industry. The session is also intended to raise awareness and interest in the Council itself, particularly among AV professionals not yet connected to a professional community.
From Oracle to Startup: A Bold Roadmap for Leading, Scaling, and Thriving in Tech
Courtney Caldwell is an award-winning entrepreneur and former tech executive who has built a career leading through transformation—from Fortune 100 boardrooms to startup scrappiness. As co-founder and COO of ShearShare, she has disrupted the beauty and wellness industry by creating an app-driven workspace solution used by tens of thousands globally. Prior to her entrepreneurial leap, she led global digital marketing at Oracle.
Courtney’s talks are dynamic, motivating, and filled with hard-earned insight—ideal for professionals navigating ambition, adversity, and evolving industries. She speaks to the challenges of being “the only one in the room,” scaling companies without a roadmap, and thriving at the edge of innovation. Whether talking about leadership, identity, or building for impact, Courtney invites audiences to lead fearlessly and redefine success on their terms.
Speaker Highlights
Speaker Reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckevQD0QC4A
Speaker Profile: https://www.gravityspeakers.com/speakers/courtney-caldwell
Why Courtney
Courtney represents the intersection of emerging tech, entrepreneurship, and women’s leadership that AVIXA aims to spotlight. Her AIVA awards reflect her direct connection to the visual and communication excellence valued by AV professionals. With a corporate-to-startup journey and passion for empowering underrepresented voices in tech, she’s an ideal fit to engage, inspire, and uplift AVIXA members seeking meaningful career growth and community.
Suggested Topics:
- From Corporate to Startup: Rewriting the Leadership Playbook
- No Permission Needed: Leading with Grit, Grace, and Growth
Recommended Topic:
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Thriving as a Women in Tech
Success in tech isn’t just about skills—it’s about early confidence, measured strategy, and intentional impact. In this empowering keynote, Courtney Caldwell, a post-exit tech founder and startup entrepreneur, shares actionable insights on navigating new workplace dynamics, building a strong personal brand, and using resilience as a competitive advantage. From overcoming self-assigned syndromes to leveraging unique perspectives as women—especially women of color—Courtney provides a roadmap for early-career professionals to thrive. Attendees will walk away with practical strategies to advocate for themselves and to shape the future of tech on their own terms.
Do It Scared
Fear is universal—whether you’re scaling a business, raising a family, or climbing a literal mountain. In this powerful keynote, Courtney Caldwell will share how fear has been a constant companion on her journey—from navigating the build, scale, and successful exit of an award-winning startup to parenting with purpose an NFL athlete to pushing past physical and mental limits on the world’s toughest climbs as she summited Mount Kilimanjaro. Through real-life stories and hard-earned insights, she challenges the idea that fear is something to avoid. Instead, she shows how embracing fear can be the key to achieving audacious goals. Whether you’re launching a startup, stepping into leadership, making a career pivot or life-changing decision, raising the next generation, or tackling a personal challenge that seems insurmountable, the lesson is clear: the greatest breakthroughs happen when you do it scared.
Audiences will rethink fear, reframe risk, and take bold steps toward their biggest goals.
Three Key Objectives:
- Reframe fear as fuel: Learn how fear can be a powerful driver for growth, resilience, and success in all areas of life.
- Take decisive action: Develop strategies to push through uncertainty, take calculated risks with confidence, and make bold decisions in business, parenting, and personal challenges.
- Cultivate a resilient mindset: Gain insights from real-world experiences—scaling companies, raising a family, and conquering mountains—on how to keep moving forward even when the path gets steep.
Highlights:
- Co-founder and COO of ShearShare, a Y Combinator–backed platform named one of Google for Startups’ “Top 10 Apps”
- Winner of two Communicator Awards from the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA) for excellence in audio/visual storytelling
- Named one of Inc. Magazine’s “Most Innovative Women in Tech to Watch”
- Former Global Director of Digital Marketing at Oracle
- Featured speaker at Google Cloud Next, AfroTech, and Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network
"Honestly, she was one of the best speakers I have seen in my career. -- Her story was inspiring, engaging, relevant, and just brought so much joy to me. After hearing her talk, I took to heart some of the things she does and even took a few of them and implemented them in my daily routine. -- I had a banana for breakfast too! Anyhow, this was a fantastic speaker -- Incredible." - Code42
Designing the Future: Where Ethics, Innovation, and Empowerment Intersect
Aniyia Williams is a tech entrepreneur, movement builder, and systems strategist whose work centers on transforming the future of technology into one that is inclusive, ethical, and human-centered. As Director of Responsible Tech at Omidyar Network, she leads initiatives focused on reimagining the systems that govern innovation—including incubating The Tech We Want, a collaborative project to make the tech industry more just and equitable.
Aniyia’s journey—from music conservatory to startup CEO—embodies non-linear leadership and bold reinvention. She speaks passionately about building meaningful careers in tech without sacrificing identity or values. Her expertise spans emerging technologies, community-led innovation, and what it takes to build and lead in systems not designed for you. Her presence is both disarming and deeply insightful—ideal for audiences navigating purpose, identity, and leadership in tech.
Speaker Highlights
Speaker Profile: https://www.gravityspeakers.com/speakers/aniyia-williams
Why Aniyia:
Aniyia brings an interdisciplinary, future-forward lens to AVIXA’s audience—connecting emerging tech trends with real conversations about inclusion, growth, and agency. She offers a compelling example of how women in tech can lead with vision, ethics, and impact, while encouraging early- and mid-career professionals to define success on their own terms. With her background in audio tech, startups, and systemic change, she’s a natural bridge between AV’s creative roots and its future.
Suggested Topics:
- Designing Inclusive Innovation: Leading in Tech Without Losing Yourself
- Some days it feels like we are doomed. Maybe we are. Either way, we should make the most of our lives while we’re here. The key is to NOT make it about winning or losing, but deftly playing an infinite game. That’s only possible when you are able to lead with the reason why you do what you do. In this talk, Aniyia will share ways to search within to discover your WHY, distinguish what is necessary and real for YOU, and how to use this as a compass to navigate the world…. as long as it keeps turning.
- The Future is Cooperative: A New Model for Building Tech and Community
- From Voice to Vision: What a Nontraditional Career in Tech Can Teach Us About Leadership
Highlights:
- Director of Responsible Tech at Omidyar Network, leading the multistakeholder initiative The Tech We Want
- Founder of Black & Brown Founders and Co-Founder of Zebras Unite
- Angel investor and advisor shaping inclusive innovation in tech ecosystems
- Former opera singer turned startup CEO—bridging creativity, leadership, and systems change
- Featured in WIRED, Fast Company, and NPR’s Code Switch
“Aniyia was great! She was professional, fun, relatable to the audience and had good ways of engaging with them throughout the presentation.” — Christina George, Education and Events Manager, League of CA Cities
“Aniyia was fun to work with and gave a great talk.” — Barrett Clark, Ruby Central
Cut Through the Noise: AI, Leadership, and the Courage to Reinvent
Cassandra Rodrigues is a global executive and thought leader who blends technical expertise with deeply personal insight. Now SVP of Core AI at Publicis Groupe, she helps major brands make AI practical, human-centered, and results-driven. Prior to this, she spent nearly two decades at Google leading high-stakes digital transformation and go-to-market innovation.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Cassandra’s leadership story is one of relentless reinvention—from immigrant beginnings to boardroom strategist, twin mom, and AI powerhouse. Her keynotes offer more than inspiration—they provide tactical frameworks for navigating complexity, staying relevant, and owning your story even when the room wasn’t built for you.
Speaker Highlights
Nasdaq Article - https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/lessons-in-leadership-cassandra-rodrigues-rise-to-head-of-google-workspace
Why Cassandra
Cassandra is uniquely positioned to speak to AVIXA’s theme of blending women’s empowerment with emerging tech and career development. She brings credibility in AI and marketing, a track record of leading in male-dominated spaces, and an ability to speak candidly about leadership, motherhood, and personal growth. Her clarity, humor, and actionable guidance make her an ideal fit for AVIXA’s virtual event—especially for members seeking to grow in both their craft and confidence.
Suggested Topics:
- Get on the Train: Leading When the Room Isn’t Made for You
- Beyond the Job: Reinventing Yourself for What’s Next
- The Real Deal: Using AI in Marketing Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Customers)
Highlights:
- SVP of Core AI at Publicis Groupe, leading enterprise-wide AI strategy for Fortune 500 clients
- Former Google executive with 18 years of experience in marketing, digital transformation, and global leadership
- MBA from Stanford GSB, specializing in Sales & Marketing
- Frequent speaker on AI, innovation, and inclusive leadership at executive forums and industry panels
- Passionate advocate for women in tech, career pivots, and navigating ambiguity with purpose
Where Emerging Tech Meets Empowerment: An Engineer’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Inspire
Ugwem Eneyo is a Nigerian-American engineer, entrepreneur, and researcher who has built her career at the intersection of advanced technology and human impact. As the co-founder and former CEO of SHYFT Power Solutions, she led the development of AI- and IoT-powered platforms to optimize power infrastructure in emerging markets—experience that directly translates to AV environments reliant on intelligent systems, sensors, and connected tech.
What sets Ugwem apart is her ability to connect complex technology to real human outcomes. She speaks powerfully about navigating male-dominated industries, leading as a woman of color in STEM, and the personal growth that comes from building something out of nothing. Her message is part technical, part transformational—making her a compelling voice for professionals seeking meaning, mentorship, and momentum in their careers.
Houston, TX
Speaker Highlights
Speaker Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CQ-otMy1Og
Speaker Profile: https://www.gravityspeakers.com/speakers/ugwem-eneyo
Why Ugwem -
Ugwem bridges AV-relevant emerging technologies like IoT and automation with themes of women’s leadership, inclusion, and purposeful innovation. Her story—building award-winning tech, leading in global energy and sustainability sectors, and championing equity in access—will resonate with AVIXA members navigating both technical growth and personal career development. She’s especially well-suited to inspire early- and mid-career professionals seeking to lead with courage and clarity in the evolving tech landscape.
Suggested Topics:
- Powering Possibility: Building Tech that Works for People and the Planet
- Lead Like an Engineer: Innovation, Identity, and Owning Your Career
- Leadership in Ambiguity: Thriving as a Woman in Tech and Business
- As a former Engineering Ph.D. student, an engineer in the oil and gas industry, and now tech entrepreneur, Ugwem has seen the challenges and opportunities for women in technology and the role women are playing in shaping the future.
Highlights:
- Co-founder and former CEO of SHYFT Power Solutions, a Forbes 30 Under 30-recognized company
- Speaker at global innovation and tech forums including TED, Davos, and BloombergNEF
- Built AI- and IoT-enabled platforms for intelligent infrastructure and real-time system optimization
- Advocate for climate justice, tech inclusion, and empowering underrepresented leaders in STEM
“All we hoped for and more!” - Rachel Burch, Maxeon Solar Technologies