Dr. Val Margarit is an expert in Transformational Education, an award-winning educational leader, college professor, speaker, and the author of Why Not You? How to Become an Empowered Woman.
Val has a Doctorate in Education/ Educational Leadership and Masters & Bachelors degrees in Sociology and political science. She teaches, mentors, and advises future educational leaders. A passionate advocate, Val speaks on education equity, women empowerment, gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
Val grew up on a farm in a third world country, without money or indoor plumbing, and was determined to change her family’s legacy. Her mother’s lack of education set her on a transformational journey from working on a farm, working in a factory at 16 years old, moving across the globe, learning English, working multiple jobs, and becoming a transformational educator. Val believes that ”achieving one’s full potential has less to do with genetics and IQ and everything to do with opportunity, high quality education, and how you think about and live your life – the habits, self-discipline, resilience, hard work, and mindsets.”
Keith Weedman is Principal/ Founder of Level 3 by Design, LLC. focusing on empowerment & change. He is also a member of the
Alicia Mitchell, owner of The Smoothie Patch in Oak Ridge, TN, is helping communities understand how eating real food can by healthy: restore and maintain health.
Chattanooga Council Against Hate
Sybil Topel serves as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. She led the marketing department for a boutique architecture firm in Nashville prior to earning her Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Atlanta in 2014. As a media consultant her clients included insurance companies, healthcare systems and FedEx. She has worked in communications for AT&T and SunTrust Banks. Sybil started her career as a journalist.
Originally a professional educator from Ukraine, Fiona Citkin is among the successful women immigrants to the US. She came to America as a Fulbright Scholar studying languages and cultures. She holds 2 doctorates, speaks 3 languages, and has published several books, including the award-winning Transformational Diversity. Fiona is Managing Director of Expert MS Inc. For her latest book, How They Made It in America , she interviewed 100 immigrant women and profiled 18 of them in this book.
Oluwaseun Babalola is a Sierra Leonean-Nigerian-American filmmaker who founded DO Global Productions, a video production company specializing in documentaries and docuseries. Her focus is to create and collaborate on projects across the globe, while providing positive representation for people of color. She is a co-founder of BIAYA consulting, a consulting firm that bridges resource and knowledge gaps for African entrepreneurs in emerging industries. BIAYA’s first project was a convention in Lagos, Nigeria to help build a sustainable creative industry that can grow and export content.
Dr. Eylene Pirez is an accelerator physicist and photographer who focuses on science literacy and multi-disciplinary education through exploration and world travel. Most recently, she has been working on a project called Access Chile, a docuseries tackling unique adventures in the name of science.
Lily Sanchez, a first-generation Dominican-American, is the Communications Coordinator for La Paz Chattanooga and serves its Latinx community. She graduated with a degree in Communication and English Writing from the U. of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she founded the Spanish Language version of the campus newspaper.