summit series experts heading

The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.

Brian Herbert

Afshan Tafler

Whole Life Coach &
Conscious Parenting Coach

A conscious parent coach and holistic life coach who helps clients create transformation in their health and relationships by developing better emotional health and living authentically. She is also a mom to a special needs child and is passionate about coaching parents with sensitive and spirited children to thrive in their relationships.

Alyson Schafer

Parenting Expert, Author, Speaker, Family Counsellor and TV Host
Alyson is one of Canada’s most notable parenting experts. She is a family counsellor with a clinical practice in Toronto, and the author of 3 best-selling parenting books; Breaking the Good Mom Myth, Honey, I Wrecked The Kids, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ which have been translated into Russian, Korean, Bulgarian and Turkish. Alyson is a 3 time TEDx speaker and has presented to audiences in Uruguay, Bulgaria, Belgium and Switzerland. At home, she is the resident parenting expert for many media outlets such as; The Marilyn Denis Show, Global Morning, CBC radio and HuffPost Parents Canada. As well, she hosts her own TV show; The Parenting Show. Alyson delivers her deep insights in ways that today’s busy parents can easily understand and immediately apply. She promotes a firm but friendly “”democratic parenting”” style, and offers practical solutions backed by extensive research and 20 years of working with families.

Ashley Avinashi

Certified Coach Practitioner, Conscious Parenting, Dr. Shefali and Best Selling Co-Author

Ashley had a seemingly perfect life. Despite coming from a family of poverty, she was gifted a deep curiosity for the human experience, and a strong work ethic which led her to a life of her dreams. She had spent 7 years in the corporate world, in a fast track management program and then transitioned into real estate. Despite her incredible success and financial security on the outside, her life was crumbling. She no longer felt she was living on purpose. The resistance starting showing up in her body, and she endured a great deal of anxiety and later burn out, as a result of refusing to listen. With this, she was called to take a sabbatical, spending the year in nature and with her children. Though she maintained her real estate business to help her pay the bills, she was called to working in the world of parenting. The work was very close to her heart, as she had moved through profound shifts in her own parenting journey with her two sons. She came to see, through years of deep inner work and sitting in parenting circles around the world, that many were struggling as a result of their earliest relationships. From this, Raising Humanity was born, a transformational platform to help parents realize the truest version of themselves, so that their children can walk their most authentic path. Raising Humanity offers life changing experiences for those ready for real change. She believes that it is the work of parents to meet themselves authentically, so they can raise children who honour themselves and rise with others truthfully.

Barbara Coloroso

Author, Educator and Speaker

Barbara Coloroso is an international bestselling author and educator and for the past 49 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution, restorative justice and a short walk to genocide She is the author of six international best sellers including the latest edition of The Bully, The Bullied, and The Not-So-Innocent Bystander.
She has appeared on CBC, BBC, Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and NPR and has been featured in the New York Times, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and other national and international publications.

Bonnie Chan

Author, Coach, Entrepreneur

Bonnie is on a mission to serve and empower ambitious mamapreneurs in their lives and businesses. She facilitates, connects and coaches her clients to step into their power and own their unique gifts while leaving a positive impact on their families and communities. Bonnie celebrates her newly released Amazon Best Seller book, Ignite Your Parenting. She is also the co-creator of a children’s book series (@OliverOctopusBooks) that introduces success principles inspired by the work of Napoleon Hill to children at an early age. Although she mainly works with women, she enjoys being a beacon of light for families that cross her path, and in particular, inspiring her husband, Aaron and two boys, Lucas and Jaden to uplevel on a daily basis and be the best version of themselves!

Cai Graham

Child & Family Expert
Speaker, Author and a Child & Family Therapist, Cai is the founder of Peak Parenting and the TEEN Toolbox™ Series. Specializing in Childhood Anxiety; it is Cai’s MISSION : To Help Parents to Support their Children, so that Together we can Build a Mentally Healthier and Happier Generation of Young People. She specializes in supporting families overcoming obstacles; including communication issues, loss and trauma, so that they can enjoy a brighter future.

JB Owen

The Pink Billionaire

JB Owen is a fearless female leader and highly successful Megapreneur. She is a world-class speaker, bestselling author and powerful business owner. By creating award-winning products that span the globe and initiatives that have inspired millions, JB’s dedication to business has shifted the paradigm of the old staunch-and-stale into the new fiercely-fun and fabulously-feminine.
Her dynamic personality and contagious enthusiasm are compelling both on stage and in print. She is an inspiring, prolific and highly enjoyable speaker, addressing issues of the new ‘pink’ business world. She combines fun, fabulous and femininity in everything she does. Exemplifying this new paradigm of fierce, fearless and feminine; JB motivates and inspires the female business woman of today.
JB constantly pushes the boundaries of traditional ‘success’ and has an unwavering passion to challenge and inspire others to do the same. She is motivated by the opportunity to assist individuals in breaking through their limiting beliefs and experience their own business prowess and personal triumphs.
As a transformational Leader for women, JB – The Pink Billionaire, fuses innovative business techniques with charismatic flare. She offers powerful success strategies while encouraging women to step into their greatest potential with the feminine grace they enjoy. Completely redefining the business paradigm, JB boldly shows women how they can Live without Limit, Live Xceptional and Ignite their Life.

Jen Harrison

Parent Coach
Jen Harrison is an advocate for children’s mental and emotional wellbeing and coaches Moms around the world to build their child’s self-esteem. Jen specializes in coaching Moms of highly sensitive children because she is a sensitive personality type herself. With her deep understanding of self and experience of coaching 100’s of parents over the last decade, she brings much wisdom to the table so that parents can understand their children on a deeper level which leads to greater connection in the parent-child relationship, less anger and frustration in the home and a reduction in parent and child anxiety. Her philosophy is that there is no greater work than the work that we do on ourselves and within our own homes. She also recognizes that it is never too late to make changes and that what every human being craves is to feel unconditionally loved.

Jennifer Kolari

Child and Family Therapist, Founder of Connected Parenting

Jennifer Kolari, M.S.W., R.S.W. Child and Family Therapist and Founder of Connected Parenting. One of the nation’s leading parenting experts, Jennifer Kolari is a highly sought-after international speaker and the founder of Connected Parenting. A child and family therapist with a busy practice based in Toronto and San Diego, Kolari is also the author of Connected Parenting: How to Raise A Great Kid (Penguin Group USA and Penguin Canada, 2009) and You’re Ruining My Life! (But Not Really) Surviving the Teenage Years with Connected Parenting (Penguin Canada, 2011). Kolari is a frequent guest on Canada AM, CBC, Breakfast Television, CTV News Channel, and Global’s The Morning Show. Her advice can be found in many Canadian and U.S. magazines, such as Today’s Parent, Redbook, Parents Magazine and Canadian Family. Kolari is on Chatelaine magazine’s health advisory board and entertains and educates audiences with her powerful parenting model based on the neurobiology of love. Kolari’s wisdom, quit wit and down-to-earth style helps parents navigate modern-day parenting problems, offering real-life examples, as well as practical and effective tools and strategies. Her highly entertaining, inspiring workshops are shared with warmth and humour, making her a crowd pleasing speaker with schools, medical professionals, corporations, and agencies throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit her website: www.connectedparenting.com or call 416 781 4700.

Karla Smith

Personal Transformation Coach

Karla is (step)mom of seven wonderful children and has created, with her husband Rob, a beautiful blended family life filled with love, joy and optimism.

She is a brilliant problem solver and deep thinker who offers people an optimistic, uplifting perspective to life that propels them to take the inspired actions they need to shift and grow.

As a Personal Transformation Coach, Karla helps her clients untangle from complicated personal issues they face so that they can begin to see how capable and equipped they are of handling anything that comes their way.

Many of her clients are women, who struggle with balancing the responsibilities of family life and living a life that focuses on what they want to share with the world.

She helps them to unearth and release the negative patterns and limiting beliefs that have been holding them back. Simultaneously, they learn and practice new tools and skills giving them a new, positive and self-confident operating framework to use when making their decisions. Clients are guided to set and implement step-by-step goals, reflecting their biggest dreams, transforming them toward empowered and joyful living, both personally and professionally.

Karla’s experience, wisdom and thoughtfulness, as a devoted mom and coach, elevates her clients to new heights, making it possible for them to create transformative changes and live their best lives.

Lea Waters

Professor, Researcher
Professor Waters is a Professor in Psychology at the Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. She is the first Australian to be appointed a Professorship in Positive Psychology, the Founding Director of the Centre for Positive Psychology and the Inaugural Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology. She is a researcher and has held an academic position at the University of Melbourne for more than 20 years. Lea holds affiliate positions at Cambridge University’s Well-being Institute and the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations. She also holds a position on the Science Board of The University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Lea has published more than 100 scientific journal articles and book chapters. Her book, The Strength Switch: How The New Science Of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen To Flourish. A gifted teacher and facilitator, Lea has been awarded many International and National Teaching Awards including the Management Educator of the Year Award (2004) by the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management and two National Teaching Excellence Awards from the Australian Government (2008, 2011). Most recently, in 2020, Lea was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia!

Lenore Skenazy

President of Let Grow, Founder of the Free-Range Kids movement

After her column “Why I Let My 9 Year Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on every talk show from The Today Show to Dr. Phil, Lenore Skenazy got labeled “America’s Worst Mom.” Nice. She turned around and founded “Free-Range Kids”, the movement that says kids are NOT in constant danger. That grew into “Let Grow” a no-partisan nonprofit working to make it easy, normal and legal to give kids back some independence. To that end, Lenore has lectured all over (Microsoft, DreamWorks, Sydney Opera House…) and been profiled everywhere from The New York Times to The New Yorker to The Daily Show. A journalist herself, she spent 14 years at the New York Daily News and has written for everyone from The Wall Street Journal to Mad Magazine. Yep. Mad! (And Cracked! But no one cares about Cracked.) Her reality show “World’s Worst Mom” airs on Discovery Life (from time to time, late at night, in re-runs). Last year, Utah became the first state to pass a “Free-Range Parenting Law” guaranteeing parents the right to let their kids do things like walk to school or play at the park without a security detail. Lenore lives in New York City with her husband and beloved computer. Her sons have (safely) flown the coop.

Lindsay Miller

Mindfulness Coach and
The Stress Nanny Host

Lindsay Miller is a Mindfulness Coach who teaches kids to channel their energy into productive and intentional action. She is passionate about helping kids learn to self-regulate emotions and behavior at school and at home. When kids learn to manage their emotions using mindfulness they are able to focus, relax and try new things. Mindfulness is an essential skill for kids in our modern fast-paced culture and steady practice can lead to better grades, relationships and confidence. Lindsay facilitates online groups and courses for kids to give them fun and practical ways to incorporate mindfulness into each day. Lindsay uses activity-based mindfulness to teach high energy kids how to channel their energy into productive uses. Lindsay holds a degree in Child Development. She’s an RYT 200 Yoga Instructor and Yoga Health Coach who is passionate about helping this generation of kids grow into strong and resilient people.

LovePowerCo
Lindy Sood & Anna Lozano

Co-founders, Love Powered Company
Anna Lozano & Lindy Soods are co-founders of Love Powered Co., The Affirmation Company! They are moms and friends on a mission to power the next generation of mindful leaders and make affirmations a common practice in homes around the world!

Lynne Newman

Occupational Therapist,
Founder of Gray Mothering

Lynne Newman is the founder of Gray Mothering where she mentors women navigating the unknown— in motherhood and life. After going through fertility struggles, pregnancy losses and supporting her husband with advanced Melanoma, she learned first hand, the depth and meaning of self-compassion as she struggled with loneliness, comparison and doubt. She’s an inspiring speaker, author and holistic occupational therapist who loves to support families make small yet profound changes, so they can feel seen, safe and calm. Her ultimate wish is that every mother and child listen and trust their intuition. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Mark and their daughters, Stella and Gwen.

Michelle Jacob

Therapeutic Coach, Founder of Rewiring Minds
Michelle Jacob is a certified practitioner of the heartmath intervention, an EFT practitioner and a mindfulness coach. She is also an active member of the Complementary Therapists Accredited Association. Being a former therapist she integrates psychological interventions with coaching and has a powerful program that rewires your mind to transform old limiting beliefs, negative emotions and blocks to experience increased states of happiness and peace no matter your present circumstances. She is the founder of Rewiring Minds and the author of the book ” You are Enough: A transformational journey to finding your inner happiness and peace” that will be releasing soon.

Sarah Rosensweet

Peaceful Parenting Coach
Sarah Rosensweet is a certified Peaceful Parenting Coach and educator, and the parenting advice columnist for Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. She lives in Toronto with her husband and three big kids (ages 12, 15, and 18). Peaceful parenting is a non-punitive, connection-based approach that uses firm limits with lots of empathy. Sarah works one-on-one virtually with parents all over the world to help them be the parents they want to be and enjoy their kids again!

Scarlett Lewis (ChooseLoveMovement)

Founder and Chief Movement Officer, The Choose Love Movement

Scarlett Lewis founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, a nonprofit organization, after her son was murdered during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in December 2012. Scarlett decided to be part of the solution to the issues in society—and that also caused the tragedy. She became an advocate for social and emotional learning (SEL) which teaches children how to manage emotions, feel connected, and have healthy relationships.

Scarlett travels across the United States and internationally to promote the Choose Love Enrichment Program, a no cost, comprehensive SEL program empowering educators and students to choose love. The Choose Love Enrichment Program has been downloaded in all 50 states and in nearly 90 countries.

Valerie Tih

Speaker, Parent Coach and Educator

Valerie Tih is a teacher and parent coach. She has over 20 years experience as a speaker, presenter and facilitator of retreats and educational workshops. She is a trained art therapist, an OISE trained educator, a certified “Happiness Coach” (a program taught by Dr. Robert Holden as seen on Oprah), and she recently completed Certification training at the Enneagram Institute in Stone Ridge, New York with Russ Hudson. Valerie combines the Enneagram teachings with Positive Discipline practices, to help parents return to Presence, and to flourish into their best parenting selves.
Valerie believes deeply in giving back and taking action towards making the world a more loving place. She and her husband Dave Tih co-founded Step Up in 2007 to empower tsunami-affected children living in poverty in Sri Lanka. They opened a school in Habaraduwa village on the southern tip of Sri Lanka in 2014.
Valerie and her husband have 2 young boys and her youngest has Down syndrome. She enjoys advocating for people with disabilities and has done a series of webinars on disability topics for Partners for Planning. Valerie is passionate about building community, spreading kindness, and choosing joy.