Hailing from farm country Missouri, Amy learned the value of Grit on the farm as she fought for survival with older brothers and a twin. This attribute serves her well as the Executive Director and co-founder of RevRoad, a venture services firm in Provo, UT. In her past life Amy has been involved in executive management in high-end boutiques, corporate retail sales, and cellular company sales management, organizing large fundraising events and building strong customer networks. Amy‘s talent is connection to people and empathy towards how to negotiate through the waters of venture agreements and partnerships. She worked for Caroline Productions on the management team with directors and producers to film the hit show "Touched by an Angel." Currently she officially oversees new business development, portfolio company communications, events, investor engagement, and community interactions. She serves on the board of directors for four RevRoad portfolio companies Momni, SkillStruck, 6Jays and Mentorli, the executive board of the BYU WE (Women in Entrepreneurship), and Chair of the UVU WE LIFT advisory board.
Christy Hair attended Dixie University with a leadership scholarship and then later transferred to UVU. When she started working at Fishbowl Inventory, it was only to get her through college. 13 years later the tech industry has become one of her passions. She has held numerous positions including technical support, training, customer service, sales rep, and account executive. She is now sales & growth director over a newer product called Boxstorm – which grew 2400% the first year she took it over. She has worked with companies such as SnapChat, Coca-Cola, 1-800-Flowers, Temper-Sealy, Hilton, 3M, NASA, Texas A&M, Symantec, MGM Grand, the US Military (DARPA) US Navy, and US Airforce. Christy is a serial entrepreneur, with those ventures being in addition to her full-time position. She has purchased failing businesses, fixed them and then sold them. She has started and sold multiple businesses of her own. She currently owns a private consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses with marketing, scaling, and increasing revenue.Christy is the President of the Chief Advisory Board for the Food Forever Foundation. She interfaces with the State of Utah and their food partners to build farms and solve hunger in Utah. Christy’s husband is a firefighter and CTO in the tech industry. She is the mom to McKinlee (11) & Alexis (7) who are just as crazy as she is. Christy’s hobbies include writing songs, playing the piano, riding 4-wheelers, boating, and cars – lots of cars!
Crystalee helps smart tech marketers save time and build thought leadership through high-value content. At the intersection of mamahood and entrepreneurship, she cofounded The Mama Ladder® to empower mom entrepreneurs to "create their own ladder" that fits their family.
Her passion for corporate storytelling and writing expertise converge in dynamic corporate communication. She’s lassoed sentences for some of the world's most admired companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Schneider Electricand Sony. She’s also orchestrated celebratory events for 800+ people, celebrating causes and organizational milestones that bring people together. Her master's thesis about managerial gratitude in the workplace has been published in an international corporate communication journal. She is a loyal wife, playful mama, semi-annual triathloner, mountain admirer, and frequent smoothie maker. Crystalee believes in staying curious, being grateful, and finishing strong. Former flight attendant, she has traveled to all 50 U.S. states and 14 countries on four continents.
Cydni works with the world’s largest brands, retailers and technology companies to deliver innovative technology products, drive execution, and build high performing teams. She has worked with hundreds of companies including Disney, Microsoft, Marvel, StarWars, Facebook, MLB, MLS, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, NFL, Disney Stores, Target, Walmart and Toys R Us. She was founder and CEO of 3DplusMe, a 3D printing software platform that was recently acquired by WhiteClouds. She spent 4 years at Disney as an EIRbuilding technology businesses from R&D projects and launching those products into Theme Parks, ESPN, ABC and Interactive. She is faculty for the Goldman Sachs 10k small business initiative where she teaches growth planning, leadership, sales and marketing. She is an Operating Partner at Mercato, a growth equity firm. She is founder and President of the Women Tech Council,a non-profit with more than 10,000 members in its community. Cydni holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s in computer science from Brigham Young University.
Erin was raised in Utah with 4 brothers and entrepreneur parents who helped them see possibilities everywhere. She stayed home full-time for 13 years raising kids, during which time she homeschooled, moved their family to Malaysia for 2 years (that was an adventure, ask her about it sometime!), sang in a jazz trio, taught High Fitness classes, and practiced guest writing on various blogs.
When her kids went to public school and she looked to return to the workforce she realized how much supportwas lacking for women in the workplace. She had the vision for a large-scale women's business conference in Utah, the first of which was held June 2020--online due to Covid gathering restrictions. She looks forward to many years of conferences in person and hopes you'll gather with Aspire Her!"
Jeanette Bennett started Utah Valley Magazine 20 years ago with a big vision and two little children at her knees. In the past two decades, she’s grown her company by adding Utah Valley Bride, BusinessQ, Prosper Magazine and more. In 2018, she was named Top Woman Entrepreneur in Media during a luncheon in New York City where Martha Stewart was also recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jeanette has been involved at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and has hosted numerous business events and panels. In 2019, UVU awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Business. Jeanette is the mother of five —and a brand-new mother-in-law to two additions! She enjoys walking/running on local trails, following the stock market and watching her kids play sports.
Kara Schneck was recently named the new chief of staff for the Office of the President at Utah Valley University. Schneck has spent more than 20 years at Nu Skin Enterprisesin a variety of communications leadership roles. She served as vice president of global corporate communications and prior to that held positions that included head of global corporate communications, senior director of marketing communications, and media relations manager/director. In the past two years, Schneck has built a referral-based consulting practice, serving as senior advisor and brand and communications strategist.
Among Schneck’s accomplishments at Nu Skin, she was the architect of the company’s global reputation management strategy, led research and development of its global corporate narrative, oversaw the organic growth of its Facebook presence to more than a million followers with industry-leading engagement levels, and led the creation of a first-to-market crisis app. Schneck received a bachelor’s degree in communications from BYU. She served a nine-year term on the Utah Valley University Foundation Board, and she is also a member of the UVU Women’s Success Center Advisory Board. She lives in Utah County with her husband and three daughters, two of whom are UVU students.
Kimmy Paluch is the founder and Managing Partner of Beta Boom, a venture academy that invests in traditionally overlooked founders, providing them with a team of product, marketing, sales and startup coaches that work alongside startups daily to jump-start execution and develop fundamentally strong founders and companies.
Prior to Beta Boom, Kimmy founded a Silicon Valley innovation firm where she defined the strategic vision and design of award-winning interactive products for high-profile clients including TiVo, LeapFrog and HubSpot. Currently, Kimmy sits on the executive leadership board for VentureCapital.org, Womenpreneurs and UnVentures. She is also a part of the leadership circle for The Conservation Lands Foundation. Kimmy earned her B.A. in Computer Science from Dartmouth College and MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Kristi Holt is is a bootstrap entrepreneur, wife, and mother of 4. After years of personal experience and research in neuroscience and human behavior, she went on to build an innovative voice technology that uses the vibration of your voice to give biofeedback on your emotional and mental wellbeing.
Her self-awareness technology brings many to know and observe what they feel and how their thoughts, feelings, and actions create the life you desire.
Her business strategy has radically transformed businesses and the lives of those who have used her tool. Her tool sheds light on emotions and how to build a healthy relationship with each one of them to help people along their self-awareness journey.
Leslie is General Partner & Co-Founder of The Artemis Fund, one of a handful of female founded, female focused VC funds based in the US. Leslie is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Torch. Legal, a firm which provides strategic legal support and commercial work for early stage companies and investors. Leslie has practiced corporate law both in large law firms and in-house (as a general counsel) for almost 30 years.
In addition, Leslie, an angel investor in over 45 companies, is a board member of the Houston Angel Network (most active in the US), an Investment Committee member of Blue Ivy Ventures, a Strategic Advisor to the Rebel Fund, a YC Fund in Silicon Valley, a board member, advisory board member of, and consultant to, early stage companies, and a frequent speaker on venture capital financing, diversity in the startup community, unconscious bias in corporations, boards, hiring and venture capital, and angel investing. She is also a board member of the Utah and Texas TriCities chapters of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and on the Board of Trustees for the Egyptian Theatre in Park City.
Lindsey is the cofounder of Vox Nutrition, Inc. As a leader in the Private label and supplement manufacturing arena, Vox made its name by moving the industry in a direction that will support the changing market of retail to eCommerce. Before Voxshe spent time as a regional float manager for Jenny Craig and a manger in American Express customer service.
Vox today, through vertical integration, has expanded into not just retail space, but wholesale, full manufacturing, shipping and fulfillment, and business management. While she considers her husband the entrepreneur, she has found a strong place in being the structure and organization within the companies that set the foundation of each area for growth. She and her husband also own and manage all commercial properties utilized by their companies. Her greatest business achievement is learning how to actively see opportunities to support entrepreneurs as they climb the jungle gym of growing a company, helping them move faster and with less pain (hopefully) through the process.
Today she enjoys working towards a balance of family life with 3 kids ages 5 and below while running multiple businesses and is a senior at UVU finishing an economics degree in Spring 2021. The idea of helping women work throughthe difficult dynamics of the company from startup through success while managing family and other aspirations is a task, she looks forward to more than anything.
Mark is an executive that loves small to medium businesses. "There is an element of excitement about making all the pieces fit and work together to achieve success." He is an MBA graduate from BYU with early career experience in the semi-conductor, polycrystalline diamond and electronic manufacturing industries.
He credits his early experience as the foundation to his startup success with Precision Assembly, Creating Keepsakes magazine and his work with Inspire Graphics and Big Picture Classes. Mark servedon the Orem City Council and is currently the Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU helping students create their own success stories.
Paige is the Hidden Co-Founder of Homie, meaning she is the spouse of Homie’s founder with a backstage pass to all of the decision making that goes into a startup. She assists in filtering through all ofthe ideas, pains, fears, and challenges that go into the business. She is also a Life Coach for Connexions Classroom, where she focuses on healing and changing lives by teaching the foundational principles of honesty, responsibility, and humility. She is also a Content Developer for her Startup Family, where she spends time with her kids and discovering their stories. She is a faithful wife to her husband, Johnny.
Getting girls inspired to engage in technology and science is a goal of Hen House Venture’s founder and presidentTara Spalding. She spends countless hours volunteer and mentoring for organizations like the Women Tech Council, which hosts the SheTech event that brings girls to a forum that is designed to inspire them to pursue STEM careers.
Additionally, she was the Founder and Head of Products for BenchPick Inc., where she was responsible for the prototype development and validation of the companies business strategies. She was the Marketing Vice President forMagnet Systems, Inc, andCMO of Groundwork Open Source.In addition to many other managing positions, she has also served as an Advisory for Commtrex, a Board Member forVentureCapital.org, an Event Committee Member for WERoC, and a SheTech Volunteer Mentor for the Women Tech Council.
Taunya is the Founder of Women in Entrepreneurship at BYUand is the Programs Manager in the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. Taunya manages the Rollins Center’s extensive event portfolioalong with the Center’s numerous affiliated programs. Prior to working for BYU, Taunya wanted to explore, developing a company based on that passion quickly followed: bridal gown design, home design, business consulting, event planning and coordination. Taunya enjoys organizing and supporting large fund-raising campaigns, most recently with Intermountain Healthcare’s Ascent Campaign. She donates her time and efforts to planning and emceeing charitable events, has been featured on a worldwide TLC reality TVseries, and is a sought-out speaker on female trauma and relationship dynamics. Above all things, Taunya is a Mom! She contributes all of her professional success to being a mother to her two children. Throughout her career, Taunya has been known for having her children involved in all things business related. They are her secret weapon!
Megan went from producing a #1 lifestyle TV show to producing extensive creative projects and social media strategies. She left the world of live television because she decided social media was just way more fun!
Now she helps companies of all sizes make the most of their social presence, all without the constant need for checking in and keeping tabs. Her commitment to creativity and strategy is changing the way owners handle social media management and growth. She’s retained the same clients for years because of the partnership she’s created and the ease she bring to their business’ social media.
As the owner and founder of Meg B Marketing, she specializes in solving your current social media problems. She create long-term content and strategy calendars that brings purpose back into your social footprint. She can help you grow your passion projects, marketing plans and social media strategies, allowing you more time to focus on the sides of your business you are passionate about.
When she’s not producing rockin’ social media content, you can find her binge-reading a good book or raiding the freezer for chocolate.
Tara S. Ivie is the Senior Director of the Women's Success Center and Wee Care Center at Utah Valley University. She has worked in higher education for more than a decade and is especially invested in inclusion and diversity work in educational spaces.
Tara received her Ph.D. in Education from Utah State University. Her work and research interests include educational attainment of historically underrepresented populations, recruiting and retaining underrepresented populations in faculty and leadership roles, and academic affairs and student affairs partnerships in higher education.
Shauna Smith With more than 15 years of executive management experience in business operations, finance, and accounting, Shauna Smith acts as Chief Merchandising Officer of Four Foods Group, which she founded with her husband in 2008. As the head of one of the most profitable components of the Four Foods Group business, Shauna is key in the overall success of the business. Her division alone accounts for nearly 28% of business profits each year.
Prior to Four Foods Group, Shauna was an integral part of her husband’s entrepreneurial years, acting as his key sounding board as he founded and successfully operated CaptureQuest, MoneyWizard, and AxisPointe. During her career in the automotive industry, Shauna worked closely with the owners of Christensen Chevrolet, a Utah mega-auto dealer, and was instrumental in keeping the dealerships tied together operationally. With duties that included operational, financial, and accounting functions for the management team, Shauna was a key part of a multi-million-dollar enterprise.
Shauna engaged the Four Foods Group business model early on, operating the first store in Highland, Utah. While running that Kneaders Bakery & Café with the management team, she proved to have a natural talent for managing a food service business with precision and a high level of customer satisfaction. Shauna brought that expertise to the Four Foods Group corporate office, where she currently runs all strategy, buying, merchandising, and logistics for the more than 30,000 square feet of retail goods.
