Get Smart 2022 Cultivate Curiosity

HALF-DAY CONFERENCE

October 21, 2022
at KMFA Classical 89.5

Thank you for a successful Get Smart!
We will see you at the next conference in 2023.

WCA Get Smart Speakers 2022

2022 PROGRAMS & SPEAKERS

WCA Get Smart Conference 2021

TIME TO RECONNECT

Morning Coffee & Networking

Come early to check-in and network with fellow WCA members, peers and community leaders! Check-in table opens at 8:00AM with coffee and light breakfast. Programming starts at 9:00AM.

Laura Bond Williams

INTERACTIVE SESSION

Get Curious: Learn where curiosity comes from and how to create more of it in your life and work.

With Laura Bond Williams, M.A.

Laura owns Laura BW Coaching & Consulting. As a certified Pilates instructor and life coach, she empowers clients to pursue their most ambitious personal and professional goals. She is a four-time board member of WCA and past recipient of the Gladys Whitley Hearst Outstanding Member Award.

Lorelei Gonzalez

INTERACTIVE SESSION

Interactive Conversations Around Mentorship + Panel Q&A

with Lorelei Gonzalez, MPA

Lorelei Gonzalez, MPA (she/her), is a communications consultant and nonprofit expert based in Austin, Texas; operator of Siren’s Song Consulting. She is a passionate advocate for women’s issues and people-centered missions; proudly serving on the Advisory Council of the Young Women’s Alliance and an active member of the WCA.
Meme Styles, Speaker

FEATURED SESSION

Keynote: The Presence of Joy

Meme Styles, Founder, MEASURE

In 2015, Meme Styles founded MEASURE to promote the use of evidence-based projects and tools to tell real-life stories behind the numbers. As a catalyst for systems change, MEASURE has grown to a fully operational nonprofit social enterprise that provides free data support to Black and Brown-led organizations.

ABOUT MEME

Meme (mee-mee) is founder of MEASURE.

In 2015, Meme Styles founded MEASURE to promote the use of evidence-based projects and tools to tell real-life stories behind the numbers. As a catalyst for systems change, MEASURE has grown to a fully operational nonprofit social enterprise that provides free data support to Black and Brown-led organizations. 

So far the organization has provided thousands of free data support hours to Black and Brown – led organizations. They are also responsible for strategic partnerships with the University of Texas, Texas Southern University and more with a goal of disrupting traditional research in exchange for BIPOC-led lived-experience protocols. Last year, Meme was named an MIT SOLVER for anti-racist technology in the United States and for the next two years has been awarded a fellowship by the Social Science Research Council. 

Jameila “Meme” Styles was a past-Chairwoman of Miss Juneteenth, Austin Police Chief’s Award of Excellence recipient, Austin 40 under 40 WINNER 2019, past-Chairwoman of African TV5 (AFTV5) and the DivInc Nonprofit Leader of the Year for 2021.

Mrs. Styles holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Communications, Masters Of Public Administration with a concentration on National Security, a Certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Cornell and was certified in Performance Measurement through George Washington University College of Professional Studies. She is also the wife of a US Veteran and the mother of four.

MEASURE Logo

Monica Talan, Speaker, Get Smart

SPEAKER SESSION

Introduction to the Decentralized World: Blockchain, Crypto, Web3, NFTs and the Metaverse

Mónica Talan, Founder & Contributor, CryptoConexión

Are you curious about the future of technology? Monica Talan, founder and contributor to CryptoConexión, will help us understand how to navigate the decentralized world and what it will mean to us as communicators. We will learn how communicators should think about decentralization and the best channels to connect and learn about the decentralized world.

Click here to learn more

Mónica Talan is the founder of CryptoConexión, a Spanish-language platform to drive awareness and engagement in the decentralized economy. Today her platform is attracting users in Latin America who are new to blockchain, crypto, Web3, NFTs and the Metaverse. Her team is located in Argentina, Mexico, Spain and the United States.

Crypto Conexion

Virginia Lacayo, Speaker, Get Smart

SPEAKER SESSION

Decolonizing Your Mind

Virginia Lacayo, PhD

Are you curious about where your thoughts and beliefs come from? Or from where the stories we tell about ourselves and others arise? Systemic change expert and mindset coach, Virginia Lacayo, Ph.D., will unlock how much of what we think we think comes from social conditioning or what she refers to as “colonization of the mind.” Participants will learn to recognize limiting and/or unconscious beliefs, how they influence our leadership and communication style, and ways to become more creative, authentic and more confident.

About Virginia

Inspired by the belief that it is easy to colonize an unchallenged mind, Virginia Lacayo, Ph.D. is a mindset coach who works with conscious leaders to develop an “Indomable” mindset, equipping them to use their status to spark systemic change.  Besides coaching, Virginia is also a social entrepreneur and feminist activist.

Virginia Lacayo Logo

Shuronda Robinson Speaker 2022

SPEAKER SESSION

Is it me? Or them? Tapping Into Your Inner Genius

Shuronda Robinson, Adisa Communications

Sometimes life gets tricky and confusing. It’s easy to retreat into familiar patterns when that happens. In this high powered workshop you practice easily applicable skills to help you break through the tough issues by using your innate curiosity and imagination. You’ll learn about your Six Mental faculties, practice breakting through stuck points with ease, and up level your capacity to solve big problems and get ahead.

ABOUT SHURONDA

Shuronda is an award winning journalist and fourth-generation entrepreneur whose family operates an African American weekly newspaper in Houston. It is there that she gained a passion for communications and the power of the story. Since founding Adisa Communications in 1995, the firm has garnered a reputation for creative professionalism by providing a full spectrum of communications and community relations services. 

In January 2023 Shuronda takes the helm of Austin Woman magazine as its CEO. The magazine has covered women in business for the past 20 years.

She is a mom of three young men and lives in Austin, TX.

Adisa Communications Logo

Central Machine Works Venue

AFTER PARTY

Let’s continue the conversation after Get Smart – just down the road!

Where: Central Machine Works, 4824 E Cesar Chavez Street
When: After Get Smart – 3:30 (or whenever you want to go home!)
(Note: Drinks/refreshments are self-pay.)

More speakers in store! Stay tuned for the big reveal.

THANKS TO OUR EVENT SPONSORS

Civiltude Sponsor
Decent
Laura Bond Williams Coaching
Zilker Media
Matthew Lemke Productions
Lace & Ashes
Hayley Cakes and Cookies food partner