Why do we do this?

We started a free speaker series at the 2008/09 global financial crisis, as a way to connect with friends, hear an inspired speaker and spend casual time in our kitchen. It has continued, to this day, now adapted to a digital environment, restructured to be an interview of two inspired characters. We continue to be amazed by the generosity of our community, those willing to show up and share their inspiration, and those willing to lend an ear.

Perhaps it is because it began in a kitchen or because our years of travel and clients have intersected us with an abundance of inspired people. Whatever the case, our fantastic line up of speakers continues. We have the following pairings on the calendar for you.

This Thursday we have Leah Hernandez founder of Young Authors Publishing with Michael Keller children's book author and former CMO at Dairy Queen and a casual "surprise" drop in by my amazing daughter, Maria Keller, founder of Read Indeed.

Go here to reserve a seat for: Leah Hernandez and Michael Keller.

Coming up July 8th we have Guy Kawasaki, famed author and startup founder paired with Lisa Mann, former CMO at KIND and a variety of other notable brands.

Go here to reserve a seat for: Guy Kawasaki and Lisa Mann.

Then, on July 22nd we have Ishveen Anand, founder of Open Sponsor, Inc magazine Top 100 Female Founder, and Forbes 30 under 30 paired with Julia Landauer, NASCAR driver and motivational speaker.

Go here to reserve a seat for this one: Ishveen Anand and Julia Landauer.

And, if that isn't enough for you, here are our pairings for August, typically the hottest month of the year.

August 5th, we have Shawn Hostetter of Katadyn Group, our Swiss client from the AlpineAire foods case study. Shawn is paired up with DeAnna Murphy an organizational development consultant to talk culture.

August 19th, we have Erin Wallace of thredUP a Fast 50 company this year with an amazing story. Erin is paired up with Jessica Appelgren of Impossible Foods (yes, that one).

This has to be our best summer schedule since we started this 13 years ago. Now back to answer the question starting this message, "why do we do this?"

We started this originally to inspire a select group closest to our team, then learned quickly there are others out there like us who would like to hear an inspired story and connect with a community of like-minded individuals.

As we enter a new phase of this global recovery these are the stories of how people survived, thrived, recovered, learned, and kept moving forward. We do this to learn from those around us, find inspiration on a Thursday and help our friends do the same.

The only thing we ask in return is you refer a friend every once in a while.

Enjoy.