Opening Keynote
Jamerika Haynes-Lewis
Jamerika Haynes-Lewis is an award-winning communications professional and motivational speaker with over a decade of experience amplifying voices and driving meaningful change. A proud alumna of Washington State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, she overcame the challenges of growing up in foster care to build a remarkable career rooted in resilience and empowerment.
Her diverse background includes roles as a communications manager, multimedia journalist, commercial actress and model, and resource specialist supporting young adults navigating homelessness and foster care.
As the founder of Clever Jam Communications, Jamerika offers strategic communications guidance, motivational speaking, and facilitation services to empower individuals and organizations to make a lasting impact.
Crowned USA Ambassador Ms. 2021, Jamerika championed her platform, “A Chance to Succeed: Empowering Youth in Foster Care.” She traveled nationwide, advocating for children and families in the child welfare system and proving that no one is defined by their circumstances.
Through her work, Jamerika inspires audiences to embrace their stories, turn challenges into opportunities, and create meaningful change.
Lunch Keynote
Dr. Mariel Buqué
Dr. Mariel Buqué is an Afro-Dominican, Columbia University-trained Psychologist, intergenerational trauma expert, and the author of the book Break the Cycle: a book that focuses on healing wounds of intergenerational trauma. Her clinical framework is holistic and infuses ancient and indigenous healing practices into a modern, comprehensive therapeutic approach. During her clinical training, she co-developed and completed a 3-year immersive holistic mental health care fellowship in collaboration with the United States Health Administration and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she offered holistic psychotherapy, in the Spanish language, across multidisciplinary clinics in the Columbia hospital system, including cardiology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, and primary care.
She has utilized her training in holistic care to integrate holistic practices, like sound bath meditation and breathwork, into therapy, which has helped to deepen trauma healing for her clients. She additionally provides healing workshops to Fortune 100 companies including Google, Twitter, Capital One, and Meta and lectures within the psychology department of Columbia University. Dr. Buqué is widely sought out for her clinical expertise and trauma approach and has been featured on major media outlets including The Today Show, Good Morning America, and ABC News. During her doctoral training and then within her clinical position as a psychologist at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, Dr. Buqué was able to see the profound impact of intergenerational trauma, which led to her adopting a more holistic lens to healing layered trauma. This is now the underlying methodology behind her proprietary intergenerational healing approach. Dr. Buqué now makes her healing practices accessible through her book Break the Cycle, her newsletter, and a growing community on social media. As such, she has been named as a School of Greatness’s 100 Greatest People Doing Good in 2022.
Her work can be found on www.drmarielbuque.com.
Closing Keynote
Dr. Dhriti P. Stocks
Dr. Dhriti P. Stocks serves as Chief Development Officer for Big Thought, an organization located in Dallas and dedicated to catalyzing the creativity in young people. In her role, Dhriti is responsible for overseeing the fundraising strategy for the organization. Dhriti has spent the majority of her professional career in nonprofit fundraising in a variety of roles at respected community organizations like Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Children’s Medical Center Foundation, and Junior Achievement of Dallas. Dr. Stocks has a PhD in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas.