Theme: Bold + Brillant

This is our year to be bold and brilliant — without apology. At TEDxHiltonHeadWomen 2019, we’re shining a spotlight on dazzling ideas from some of the world’s most extraordinary risk-takers and innovators. Celebrating pioneers making power moves, brilliant people who are just getting started, and those who tirelessly show up as allies and advocates. TEDxHiltonHeadWomen 2019 will be no less than a joyful, thought-provoking celebration of smarts, savvy and diverse dynamism.

Harbour Town Clubhouse at Sea Pines Resort
7 Lighthouse Rd
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, 20028
United States

Amanda Cifaldi

Owner, Pomodori Italian Eatery

Amanda Cifaldi is the chef and owner of Pomodori Italian Eatery here on Hilton Head Island. She is a graduate of the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria, Italy and has a BA in History from The University of Georgia. Her life experiences have taken her around the world, beginning with her participation in The Young Americans musical outreach program in Los Angeles, CA. With The Young Americans she was fortunate enough to travel the country promoting the fine arts in school systems and helping children find their voice through music and performance media. Her love of nurturing her community has helped her to maintain a successful business in hospitality, and has allowed her to plant deep roots here on our island. Through this process of establishing a home here on the island she is finding new ways to bring fruitful and thoughtful discussion to a variety of important topics. Amanda believes in positivity and kindness, and hopes to share her art with you at this year’s TedX event.

Anya Sarre

Celebrity Stylist & TV Personality KTLA5 Resident Style Expert

Anya Sarre is an internationally known fashion, beauty and lifestyle expert, tastemaker, brand influencer, and television host. She has been featured on numerous television outlets and in hundreds of magazines and online publications. As a celebrity stylist, Anya has dressed talent for numerous red carpet events such as the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Emmys, Grammys, Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards, The Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival. Currently, Anya hosts and curates her own television special on KTLA5 “Countdown to Gold: Getting Ready Carpet Ready with Anya Sarre,” where she also serves as the resident style expert. Anya has been featured on tv shows including Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, The Insider, Extra, E!, The Rachael Ray Show, The CBS Early Show, and Home and Family.

Dr. Bahby Banks

Creator, host, guide, cheerleader and MC extraordinaire of ENVISION Empowerment Experience™

Dr. Bahby Banks is a highly sought after leadership strategist, diversity consultant and implementation scientist based in Durham, North Carolina. She is the founder and CEO of Pillar Consulting, a program evaluation research firm dedicated to helping non-profit, philanthropic and corporate organizations measure the impact of their initiatives. Dr. Banks’s work has led to a career that has spanned the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Australia. This multilingual scholar is also the creator and facilitator of ENVISION Empowerment Experience™, a leadership intensive that helps attendees develop strategies and create roadmaps to achieve their personal and professional goals. In her spare time, Dr. Banks enjoys trying new cuisine, traveling, spending time with family and friends, drumming, dancing, karaoke and vision boarding!

Erika Kramer

CEO & Founder, Sleeves Up Productions

Erika Kramer is an award-winning filmmaker and writer living in New York City. Kramer has worked for over a decade in entertainment, from long days and nights spent in the perilous world of reality TV all the way back to her student film days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She’s worked in nearly every area of the industry: scripted television and feature films, short and long-form documentary film, reality TV and digital content. In 2013, Kramer created an independent production studio called Sleeves Up Productions (SUP) where she’s produced and directed over 1,000 videos for brands like Microsoft, Venmo, Zocdoc and many more. She’s also had the pleasure of producing TV commercials for Hilton Head locals, Lean Ensemble Theater and the Hilton Head Orchestra Symphony. Kramer was born and raised in the Bay Area but ditched the calm serenity to embrace the enchantment, chaos, and discomfort of Manhattan.

Fran Capo

World's Fastest Talking Woman + 6-time Guinness Book World Record holder

Fran Capo is a 6- time Guinness Book World Record holder, most known as the World’s Fastest Talking Woman at 603.32 WPM. She’s a comedienne, actress, 21-time author, ordained minister, consultant, spokesperson, motivational speaker, producer and adventurer who has dove with sharks, eaten fire, bungee jumped, climbed Kilimanjaro and gone down to the Titanic. She’s appeared on 450 TV and 4500 radio shows including: Dr. Oz and Larry King Live. She is the radio host of “Fran’s World”, CBS’s “Live it Up” adventure correspondent, performs a one-woman show, “Love, Laughter and Light” and has entertained our troops on every continent.

Katie Girardi

Owner, Core Pilates on HHI

Katie Girardi is the owner of Core Pilates on HHI, and faculty member of Pure Body Teacher Training. Katie is a comprehensively certified Pilates Teacher who uses Pilates to help clients therapeutically restore their bodies in order to feel strong and confident in every day movements. She has been certified with the industry's top trainers including Doris LePasteleur-Hall, Jennifer Gianni, and Heather Erdmann and she holds the equivalent of three Master's Degrees in the Movement Field. In 2018, Katie had the honor to host the very first Pilates Unfiltered LIVE with industry expert Jenna Zaffino, now a frequent guest trainer at Core Pilates.

Kweighbaye Kotee

Creator Bushwick Film Festival and Bushwick Film Institute

Kweighbaye Kotee—a Liberian born, Brooklyn based entrepreneur, writer, director & producer—attended public school in Newark, received a Wight Foundation scholarship to attend Blair Academy, and graduated from NYU with a B.S. in Media, Culture, and Communications. Developing creative platforms that equally include women and other underrepresented voices is a personal mission and significant component of her projects and businesses including Bushwick Film Festival and Bushwick Film Institute. She has been featured on NBC, Fox, NY1, Huff Post, AMNY, Brooklyn Magazine and was the subject of Delta Air Lines and Popsugar’s national campaign about women making positive impacts in their communities.

Lee-Anne Gilchrist

Managing Director, International Junior Sports & Education Advisors

Lee-Anne Gilchrist is a motivator and educator who has worked with hundreds of athletes and their parents in the quest for athletic success in college and on the professional tours. With a dream to create a unique environment for athletic development, Lee-Anne was a founding partner of two successful junior golf academies. She is currently is a Managing Director of the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, working with young people from all over the world to nurture intrinsic motivation and unlock human potential. Her daughter Caitlin is her greatest inspiration and proudest accomplishment.

Loren Brill

CEO & Founder of Sweet Loren’s, Inc

Loren Brill is CEO & Founder of Sweet Loren’s, Inc., a clean food company transforming what it means to be convenient and delicious. Every product offered is crafted with simple, allergen friendly ingredients. After beating cancer, Loren made it her mission to eliminate processed foods from her diet. When she couldn’t find great tasting cookies made from clean ingredients, she set out to make her own - and it led her to create Sweet Loren's. Sweet Loren’s ranked #114 in Inc. 500 for 2019. Loren has been featured as a Top Entrepreneur, NBC, Forbes, and in Inc.’s 2019 Female Founders 100.

Mel Savage

Founder & CEO, The Career Reset

Mel Savage is the Founder and CEO of The Career Reset where she empowers people to take back control of their careers. Mel spent 20+ years in the Corporate trenches working with companies like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, General Motors and Ford, working both in Canada and the UK. As a certified coach, mentor and host of The Career Reset Podcast, Mel has spent 1000s of hours helping people take control of their careers. Her signature program, The Ultimate Career Reset, helps experienced professionals go from totally stuck to making career moves that change lives.

Melissa Wagner

Owner, Envision Coaching Services

Melissa Wagner has lived on the wonderful island of Hilton Head for 10 years. Originally from Altoona, Pennsylvania, Wagner's been a physical therapist for over 20 years and enjoys helping people return to their active lifestyles and previous functional levels. She is also a life coach and the owner of Envision Coaching Services, LLC. She specializes in working with introverts to help them develop assertiveness and confidence in their professional and personal lives.

Michelle Meissen

Founder, Palmetto Ocean Conservancy

Raised by naturalists to respect the land and sea, Michelle Meissen spent her formative years exploring nature and learning how vital preservation is. An avid diver, Meissen still remembers her first encounter with a shark, and how much her life changed in that moment. Right then, she didn’t see a dangerous creature staring back at her, but another living creature who needed her protection. Her true purpose revealed itself that day. She founded Palmetto Ocean Conservancy with the goal of raising awareness and spearheading conservation efforts in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, encouraging area businesses to end single-use plastics and leading educational workshops for youths.

Rebeka Smyth

Author & Platform Creator Emotional Bitch

Rebeka Smyth is a long-time television journalist whom you would never expect to have suffered deep emotional disappointment and codependency issues. With her career on the rise at the US largest broadcasters, she managed to mask her pain for years. Meanwhile, she also encountered countless stories of emotional hardship in her job, so she started her quest of figuring out what makes us happy or miserable. Her conclusion; the way we think rules the way we feel. After Rebeka learned how to control her emotions, she managed to build her dream life. She wanted to help other women do the same, that's when she wrote her first book: "Emotional Bitch: What we feel is a choice". Rebeka also launched a platform under the same name.

Tiffany Reed Briley

Owner of Charleston Photography Tours, The Photography Workshop Company and Sharpen Your Shutter

Tiffany Reed Briley is a professional, nature photographer, who turned her passion into three thriving and very successful businesses. She is the owner of Charleston Photography Tours, The Photography Workshop Company and Sharpen Your Shutter. Twice she has been named Diamond Photographer Of The Year through the Professional Photographers Association. She is a sought after mentor and in-demand instructor who guides photographers towards identifying and establishing their styles. Tiffany is a frequent speaker at photography clubs, associations and organizations around the country, as well as one of only a handful of professional photographers invited to teach a workshop at the acclaimed and world-famous Biltmore House in Asheville. She has been a contributing writer for a landscape photography magazine for the past six years.

Victoria Baylor

Intuitive Mindset & Brand Confidence Coach, Founder & CEO Baylor Brand Consulting

Victoria Baylor is passionate about helping Women Professionals & Entrepreneurs “Brand Confidently and Impact Relentlessly”. Victoria is a Teacher, Consultant, Speaker, and Author. She is an Intuitive Mindset & Brand Confidence Coach. Her love for helping women get over their mental blocks and identify and increase their brand value intersects with her analytical ability from a background in Research science & Clothing design. She has been an Image professional and Business owner for 13 years. Victoria launched her own Branding Boutique and uses her unique analytical, intuitive and creative approach to help Professionals polish and sharpen their brand while exponentially increasing their confidence. Her mission is to help women build a strong mindset and brand that allows them to uniquely see their value, expand their visibility and leverage it to make a huge impact in their businesses and the world.

Whitaker Gannon

Assistant to Director, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina

Whitaker Gannon recently attended Wake Forest University, as a Presidential Scholar, majoring in Communications and graduating cum laude. She participated in multiple theatrical productions in a various capacities (directing, performing, composing, and scenic designing). She aspires to combine her passion for the arts with her communication skill set to create visual and performing art, with an emphasis on social change. Her inspiration is Blake Gannon, her brother and best friend, who just happens to have autism. Whitaker has been involved in volunteer work for several organizations for individuals with ASD, in the Southeast and continues to be an ally for the differently-abled community.