Public Speaking as a Leadership Tool

Presented by JANINE FONDON and DR. LUCIE LEWIS: 

Janine Fondon enjoys creating inclusive environments that explore communication technologies, human perception, equity, diversity and shared value. She is a professor, diversity enthusiast, workforce trainer, speaker and journalist who focuses on inclusive leadership, diversity and equity focused projects. With corporate management experiences at Digital Equipment Corporation, BankBoston, ABC-TV (New York and Washington, D.C) and CBS-TV (New York), she brings the realities of the real word into the classroom. Born and raised in New York City, Janine earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University (with study groups in Barbados and London) and received her master’s degree in Communications and Business/Media Ecology from New York University. Also, over the past 15+ years, she has directed her own social network enterprise (UnityFirst.com), managed a successful urban communications consulting group and inspired hundreds of people via diversity and inclusion workshop. Over the years, she has received numerous awards as well as has been noted in major regional and national publications including FORTUNE, ENTREPRENEUR, Forbes, Black Enterprise, BuinessWest, The Republican, Upscale, and The Boston Globe.

Dr. Lucie Lewis is an experienced business consultant specializing in supporting nonprofits organizations with a focus on the many applications of planning and assessment from organizational change to grant development. As a freelance technical and creative writer, she is passionate about writing and its value in building understanding among decision-makers. She is a storyteller and an educator at heart. She believes that writing is an incredibly powerful tool through which organizational leaders can craft important organizational insights in order to inform strategy development. She is the owner of Creative Futures, LLC providing diverse services to her clients and is the author of I AM: Renewal From Within the Garden. Through Creative Futures, LLC, Dr. Lewis works with business leaders to capture, document and interpret critical planning and operational information in meaningful ways that allow them to improve their organizational operations. She is passionate about helping these decision-makers make better decisions about how effectively their business are operating through the use of quality information. She specializes in organizational and strategic planning, evaluation, creating case statements to support organizational advocacy and grant writing to support organizational sustainability. “Helping decision-makers to understand the relationship between performance and finances is central to my consulting role.” She holds a Masters in Human Services Administration and an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership. Dr. Lewis is an adjunct faculty at Springfield College in the Organizational Leadership Graduate Program and at BayPath University in the School of Science and Management Business Department.