Speakers

Battalion Chief, Raleigh Fire Department
Program Manager for Behavioral Health, First Responder Center for Excellence
Author, Hope out of Darkness: A Guide to First Responder Mental Wellness​​​​​​​

Dena Ali is a battalion chief with the Raleigh (NC) Fire Department, where she has worked her way up the ranks. She also serves as the program manager for behavioral health for the First Responder Center for Excellence. She holds a degree from North Carolina State University and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where her research focused on firefighter suicide. She is an Executive Fire Officer Program graduate through the National Fire Academy.

Ali’s passion for mental health awareness stems from her personal and professional experiences, which have led her to become a vocal advocate for the mental health and resilience of firefighters and other emergency personnel. She has conducted extensive research on the mental health challenges faced by first responders, including the impact of trauma and stress. As a sought-after speaker, Ali has delivered numerous presentations and workshops on mental health, resilience, and leadership, sharing her expertise with fire departments, conferences, and organizations nationwide. Her efforts have contributed significantly to developing supportive resources and programs to reduce stigma and promote mental wellness within the fire service. Her work has been recognized with various awards and honors, reflecting her dedication to her profession and her unwavering commitment to the well-being of her colleagues. Her leadership, compassion, and advocacy inspired positive change and support within the firefighting community.

Ali has also served as a subject matter expert at the National Fire Academy, where she assisted in reviewing the health and wellness curriculum. Additionally, she is the founder and director of North Carolina Peer Support, where she played a key role in developing the statewide curriculum.

Enshalla Anderson’s career has taken her from Wall Street to management consulting to “agency land”—with stops along the way in New York, London, Istanbul, and Caracas. And now she serves as the Global Head of Brand Strategy and Creative for Google Cloud. Anderson is passionate about building brand love for Google’s fast growing cloud portfolio, and she strongly believes that the “B” in B2B Marketing doesn’t have to stand for boring.

Anderson earned her BA in History from the University of Pennsylvania, and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Lauren Kennedy Brady, a former Broadway veteran, studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and performed in Sunset Boulevard, Side Show, Les Misérables, Spamalot on Broadway, and as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific at London’s National Theatre. As a producer, she invested in Bull Durham and Off-Broadway shows Rated P for Parenthood and Vanities, developed musicals such as Drift and Peace of Clay, and produced two albums with PS Classics.

As Executive Director of Theatre Raleigh, Brady has leveraged her Broadway connections to elevate the company, attracting top talent like Tony winners Norm Lewis, Stephanie J. Block, Norbert Leo Butz, and Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose. She led the company’s 2020 move to North Raleigh, spearheading a $1 million campaign to transform an 18,000-square-foot facility into the Theatre Raleigh Arts Center. Its centerpiece, the De Ann S. Jones Theatre, opened in 2022 alongside other performance and rehearsal spaces.

Former Associate Dean for Finance and Administration at the UVAs Darden Graduate School of Business
Former Chief Operating Officer at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago
Co-Founder Unlad, Educational Access Non-Profit

Terry Samala de Guzman’s forty-year career spans C-suite positions both in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, building a successful career and family life, becoming a leader, a teacher, an executive/life coach, and business consultant. Prior to retiring from employment, she was COO at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago where she also led the museum’s bold renovation, lauded by architectural and art critics as “sensitive, modest, sustainable, reflecting how audiences interact with art, and each other”.

De Guzman immigrated from the Philippines in her early 20’s, starting a career in corporate finance at American Express; moving on to become Principal at Kwasha Lipton; then Division CFO at Bellcore; after which she successfully transitioned to education as COO at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, while leading the financing and construction of the school’s transformational $70M+ campus expansion in New York. De Guzman then joined the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, in the role of Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration, actively participating in the school’s global outreach.

She discovered executive coaching during her tenure at Darden, and established her coaching and consulting practice, TSDCoach using an integrated approach to empower her clients to find professional growth and sustain life-long learning. Her consulting engagements include board development and governance, financial and operations management, and organizational strategy.

Having held faculty appointments at Harvard, Darden, Kellogg, the Financial Executives Institute, and Piedmont Virginia Community College, de Guzman’s teaching portfolio included global leadership, family business management, and personal finance. An advocate for financial literacy, access to education, and diversity, equity and inclusion, de Guzman instructed at the Fluvanna Correction Center for Women in Virginia.

Author of “Here I Am, Learning Along the Way,” de Guzman published a non-fiction collection of short stories about her hard-won life tenets. She and her husband founded Unlad, aimed at increasing access to education to the underserved youth in the Philippines and the US.

De Guzman completed her B.S. in Accounting from St. Theresa’s College, and the recipient of the school’s “Alumna Achievement Award in Education.” She is a CPA, holds an MBA from New York University's Stern

School of Business, and is an International Coaching Federation Certified Coach. She presently serves on the boards of the Piedmont Virginia Community College Foundation and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila.

She and her husband Allen love to travel, and divide their time between their home in Charlottesville, VA, and their farm in the Philippines. They have two grown children, Alexandra and Philip, who live in the US.

Sabrina Lee is a designer, dressmaker, and fiber artist based in Cary, NC. She works primarily with vintage fabrics found in local thrift stores, which she elevates with impeccable construction and couture sewing techniques to give a second life to beautiful textiles. Lee’s designs mix vintage silhouettes with modern clean lines and fabrications.

After receiving her law degree from Georgetown University, Lee traveled around the globe as an attorney for an international law firm, living in London for six years, with a brief stint in Paris, and in the United States in Washington, DC, New York, and finally North Carolina. Despite finding great success in the legal field, Lee yearned to reconnect with her artistic side. Creative expression had always been a part of her life. She took her first sewing class while living in New York, setting her firmly on the path toward her new obsession.

Lee went on to study fashion design, draping, and flat pattern making at Central St. Martins, the London College of Fashion, and other universities in and around London. She also attended a tailoring intensive workshop at the National Tailoring Academy in Dublin, Ireland. Lee currently shows her work at craft fairs and art festivals around the country, and she sews custom wedding and other special occasion attire for customers in the local Triangle area.

Sabrina is also a full-time practicing lawyer. She practiced litigation and international arbitration at two large international law firms in New York and London for over a decade. She is now in-house litigation counsel at a multinational manufacturing company, and she also teaches part-time at Duke Law School.

Erin Matson is the most decorated player in Carolina Field Hockey history. On January 31, 2023, she was named head coach of the program in which she had starred months before she had even finished her degree. Matson wasted no time making her mark as a coach, leading the Tar Heels to Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA Championships in her first season. She coached UNC to a 20-1 record and another ACC title in 2024. In her two full seasons since becoming the program’s fifth head coach, Matson has amassed a 38-4 record on the way to two ACC regular season and tournament titles and has coached her athletes to a Honda Award, three All-American honors, and nine All-ACC commendations.

While a student at Carolina, Matson played on four NCAA Championship teams and five ACC Championship teams. She was a three-time recipient of the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey, becoming just the second player ever to win that honor three times alongside her former coach Karen Shelton, who retired in December of 2022 as the winningest coach in the sport’s history after 42 years at the program’s helm. Matson finished her career as the all-time scoring leader in both ACC history and NCAA Tournament play. In 2021, she was named by the ACC Network as one of the top 10 female athletes in conference history. A five-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year and the only student-athlete in any sport to earn ACC Player of the Year recognition five times, Matson started for three of the five undefeated teams in program history.

A member of the U.S. National team since the age of 17, Matson has extensive international playing experience in addition to her collegiate experience. She was the top scorer at the 2022 Pan American Cup in Chile and has represented the U.S. all over the world, in countries including India, England, South Africa, and New Zealand. In March of 2024, she returned to international play at the Indoor Pan American Cup, helping the U.S. secure a gold medal and a berth in the 2025 FIH Indoor World Cup.

While balancing collegiate and international play and her studies, Matson also became an entrepreneur, founding a brand “ONE” that sells gear bearing her logo. A champion of the Carolina program and the university, as well as of field hockey, Matson was named to the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports List in recognition of her incredible accomplishments as a player and a coach. A three-time team captain while at UNC, Matson majored in Advertising and Public Relations, graduating in December of 2022.

Director of Hospitality, Augusta National Golf Club

A proud graduate of Saint Mary’s School and the University of South Carolina, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management, Caroline serves as the Director of Hospitality at Augusta National Golf Club. She has over 13 years of experience leading the strategic planning and execution of all hospitality initiatives for the club’s premier events and venues. Caroline oversees the hospitality for a diverse portfolio of global Masters Tournament Foundation events, including the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship, the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, the Latin America Amateur Championship, and the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. In this role, Caroline ensures that these prestigious events deliver world-class experiences for the Club’s members, players, partners, and patrons alike.

In addition to the Foundation events, Caroline is responsible for the seamless management of hospitality operations for Augusta National’s most distinguished venues, including Partner Cabins and Suites, Berckmans Place, and Map & Flag. With a passion for excellence, meticulous attention to detail, and a commitment to creating lasting memories, Caroline takes pride in providing unparalleled service that reflects the traditions and values of Augusta National.

Throughout her career, Caroline has cultivated a deep appreciation for the power of hospitality to connect people, create meaningful moments, and drive organizational success. Her leadership continues to enhance Augusta National’s reputation for excellence, strengthening relationships with members, partners, players, patrons, and staff across the globe.

When she’s not managing world-renowned events, Caroline enjoys spending time with her husband and their three young children—Mary Hunter (6), Carter (4), and Hampton (1).

Interim Chair and Full Professor at North Carolina Central University, Adapted Sports, and Kinesiology
Former Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State

Dr. Andrea Woodson-Smith is an Interim Chair and Full Professor at North Carolina Central University specializing in Adapted Sports and Kinesiology. She has been a faculty member since 2008 and is the Adapted Sports graduate coordinator for the MS Kinesiology and Recreation Administration Graduate Program.

Woodson-Smith has published articles, written book chapters, and presented at conferences, internationally and nationally. Her current research focuses on adapted sports on college campuses, perspectives and attitudes towards adapted sports, and coaching in adapted sports. She has received grant funding equivalent to $225,000 to assist those with physical disabilities and to provide teaching tools for students in adapted sports and adapted physical education.

Woodson-Smith has served on several committees within the university, including Chair of the Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee and Chair of the Governance Committee.

Externally, Woodson-Smith served as a member of the Move United Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, which is the largest Disability Sport Organization in the U.S. She was one of the first Sports Envoys with a disability to represent the United States on behalf of the Department of State, traveling abroad to discuss disability rights, inclusion, gender equity and adapted sports. She has presented in Guangzhou, China; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and Gaborone, Botswana, to speak on these topics with government leaders, organization/agency leaders, athletes, parents, and students.

Woodson-Smith has participated in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) since 1999 and held leadership positions on the Board of Directors, including Vice Chair of the Athlete Advisory Council. She also served as a member of the Athlete Development Model Coaching Education Committee, High Performance Committee, Chair of the Women’s Growth and Diversity.

Raleigh native Susan LaSalla graduated from Broughton High School and High Point University. She went on to become a trailblazer for women in the network news industry, spending 43 years at NBC News and winning three national Emmys.

Upon graduating from college, LaSalla canceled a teaching contract, borrowed $100 from her father, and headed to Washington, DC, with no job and only knowing one person. Her first job was with Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia as his assistant press secretary. Then on to a local TV training program, where she learned the basics of her desired profession.

LaSalla finally got her foot in the door at NBC in 1967, answering phones on the network news desk. Over the next 13 years, she worked as a researcher, production assistant, desk editor and finally--a producer. The next 30 years she spent as a field producer, White House producer, Bureau Chief in Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta. For the final 13 years of her career, LaSalla was the Washington Senior Producer on the TODAY show.

In between, LaSalla covered numerous hurricanes, sixteen national political conventions, eight Presidential debates and inaugurations and six Presidential funerals. Starting in 1976, she covered every national political campaign through the election of President Obama in 2008. She also covered the U.S. military invasions of Grenada, Panama, and the two Gulf Wars in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, plus a few revolutions.

Upon retirement from NBC News, LaSalla was awarded a two-year Franklin Fellowship in the U.S. Chief of Protocol’s office at the U.S. State Department. She went on to work for NBC Sports and has covered the last five Olympics. Currently, LaSalla sits on the Board of Advisors of General Hugh Shelton’s Leadership Council at North Carolina State University.

More people have walked on the moon than have visited places Jill Heinerth has explored on Earth. From the most dangerous technical dives deep inside underwater caves to swimming through giant Antarctic icebergs, Heinerth has been the hands and eyes of climatologists, archaeologists, biologists, and engineers worldwide.

Heinreth was named the first Explorer-in-Residence of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the inaugural recipient of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration. She is a Fellow of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, Women Diver’s Hall of Fame, National Speleological Society, WINGS WorldQuest, and the Explorer’s Club, which recognized her work with the prestigious William Beebe Award for ocean exploration.

The Wall Street Journal, O-The Oprah Magazine, and The New York Times have lauded Heinreth’s best-selling memoir Into the Planet. Dolly Parton selected her book, The Aquanaut, for her Imagination Library program. Running Cloud Productions of Australia worked with Heinerth to release a feature documentary in 2024.

Dr. Eleanor Tomczyk is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and chemistry from Duke University and a medical degree from Pennsylvania State University. She completed a residency at the University of Massachusetts Division of Plastic Surgery and a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Tomczyk specializes in breast reconstruction, transgender surgery, and general plastic surgery. Her research interests are related to quality improvement in the mastectomy and reconstruction surgical pathway and nerve reconstruction for patients that have mastectomies. She has received several awards for her contributions to resident and medical student education. Combining her personal and professional lives, Dr. Tomczyk mentors women who want to be mothers and physicians, understanding the demands of both.

Nikki is an acclaimed Broadway actress and concert soloist. She recently starred as Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago company of Hamilton, and as Jenny in the Tony Award Winning Broadway revival of Company. Her other Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara) Les Misérables (Fantine), Anything Goes, Promises Promises and Lestat. She recently played Martha Jefferson in 1776 at Encores, and Rose Lennox in The Secret Garden at David Geffen Hall.

She made her New York City Opera debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess. Nikki’s regional credits include Emmie in Caroline or Change at the Guthrie; Sarah in Ragtime at North Shore Music Theater; Belle in Beauty and the Beast at Sacramento Music Circus and Hope in Anything Goes at Williamstown Theater Festival. She has been seen on TV in “Madam Secretary” and “The Sound of Music: Live.” Nikki has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, Omaha, Indianapolis, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and at Carnegie Hall.

International tennis sensation ,Maria Sharapova, expanded her presence further in the sporting universe as she became an Olympic correspondent for NBC’s coverage of the 2014 Olympic Games. Sharapova holds hometown hero status in her native Sochi and offered NBC viewers exclusive and personalized access to the Olympic Games in Russia. Sharapova is the winner of multiple Grand Slams in her career; Wimbledon (2004), US Open (2006), the Australian Open (2008) and French Open (2012 & 2014).

During the Summer 2012 Olympic Games in London, she was awarded the Silver Medal for Women’s Singles Tennis. Sharapova holds a number of firsts for her native Russia. She is the first Russian to win the Australian Open and the only Russian to win multiple Grand Slams. As an international icon, Sharapova garners worldwide press coverage - both on and off the court - with a dominating social media presence.  She serves as an ambassador to many of the world’s top luxury brands and a number of Fortune 500 companies.

In 2012, Sharapova flexed her entrepreneurial muscles and debuted her eponymous couture candy collection, Sugarpova. A portion of Sugarpova’s proceeds go towards the Maria Sharapova Foundation, which helps children around the world achieve their dreams. In 2007, she became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and has donated significant contributions to Chernobyl-related projects in her native country. Sharapova enjoyed her transition from tennis champion to Founder and spoke to Inc. during the Inc. 5000 Vision Conference 2020 and on the Inc. Uncensored podcast about starting a company.

A retired NASA astronaut, Joan Higginbotham is a trailblazing electrical engineer, who in December 2006, flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery to become the third African American woman to travel into space. On the nearly 13-day mission, the seven-member crew continued construction of the International Space Station (ISS), embarking on four space walks with Higginbotham operating the station’s robotic arm.

Higginbotham utilizes the International Space Station as the backdrop for sharing insights and lessons learned during her 20-year distinguished career with NASA, while inspiring and captivating audiences with her personal journey of breaking barriers to boldly go where few have gone: space. In doing so, she highlights the keys to succeeding in her missions – including seizing opportunities, being prepared, perseverance, working with diverse teams, and thriving in demanding, high-stakes environments – as well as how these tactics can be applied to any endeavor.

A real-life rocket scientist, Higginbotham began her career at NASA in 1987 as an aerospace technologist at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, where she worked her way through numerous promotions and actively participated in 53 space shuttle launches during her 9-year tenure. Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1996, she reported to the Johnson Space Center and was assigned various technical duties including testing modules of the ISS for operability, compatibility, and functionality prior to launch. Higginbotham has logged more than 308 hours in space, retiring in 2007 after 20 years with NASA, joining Marathon Oil to manage their corporate social responsibility office and the Bioko Island Malaria Control Program in Equatorial Guinea, Africa.