Misc Personal Speaking

Selected Speaker’s Topic Titles:

• Reprogramming Nature’s Computer: 7 Brain Hacks For A Better Life – With the popularity of books like Psycho-Cyberneticsby Maxwell Maltz and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, most people are familiar with the idea of autosuggestion. Autosuggestion is the process of programming one’s mind to bring about more resourceful behaviors. Although many people are aware of autosuggestion, few practice it. The highest level performers in any field train their minds regularly to achieve success. If you desire to be a top performer in sales, business, speaking, or life, you simply cannot ignore the importance of mindset. In this informative talk, Sean teaches you 7 powerful tools to upgrade your thinking and upgrade your life.
• 5 Strategies to Shrink Stress – Conquering stress is paramount for a healthy lifestyle. Not only is stress uncomfortable, it is deadly. Stress is the root cause of disease. This is because stress suppresses the immune system. When you are under stress, your thinking becomes cloudy and you make poor decisions. Such cloudy thinking makes it much harder to achieve your goals. In this informative talk, Sean will give you 5 strategies to shrink stress and its negative impacts on your life.
• 7 Tools to Transform Bad Habits Into Better Behaviors – Habits are automated strategies to meet specific needs. Getting control over your habits is important to be healthy, happy, and to achieve your goals. Most people try to deal with bad habits by fighting against them. This is an ineffective and frustrating strategy. In this talk, you will learn how habits are structured and how to identify your underlying needs. You will learn 5 practical, easy to use tips to transform bad habits into better behaviors.
• Hypnosis Methodologies for Medical Professionals – The mind tells the body what to do. This simple fact is the reason the mind must be addressed when working with health issues. More and more medical professionals recognize the importance of a holistic approach for health care. Hypnosis is one of the most effective and powerful tools in a complementary approach to heal the body. Medical professionals will learn about the effectiveness of hypnosis for a variety of conditions. Scientific evidence on medical hypnosis compared to other methods will be presented in conjunction with case studies. After hearing this talk, medical professionals will be well-informed on the use of hypnosis as a complement to traditional medicine.

Sean Maness is a Certified Hypnosis Practitioner (CHP), and a member of the International Board of Hypnotherapy (IBH).

Mr. Maness trained at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He specializes in helping people improve their confidence and performance in life through the power of the mind. He works with a wide variety of clients from public speakers to business people and athletes. Another focus of Maness Hypnosis is physician-prescribed hypnosis. Under the supervision of the client’s primary care physician, Mr. Maness helps people improve all aspects of health through teaching self-hypnosis and other self-care tools. He also works with smoking cessation and weight control.

Prior to becoming a Hypnosis Practitioner, Mr. Maness was a professional musician. He holds degrees in trumpet performance from Eastman School of Music and the University of Houston. As a musician, he performed with many professional ensembles in both the United States and abroad. He was a core member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (Japan) from 2010-2013.

Mr. Maness resides in Irving, Texas with his wife Xiaolei.

Selected Speaking Topics:

• Someone Found Your Blog! Now What? – A breakdown of why storytelling in marketing is so important, and how to incorporate stories into your blog posts and other marketing materials.
• Is SEO Important? How Can People Find You Online? – A breakdown of how SEO works and how business owners can use it to their advantage to get in front of prospects when they’re looking for them.
• 10 Things You Can Blog About Right Now – A list of 10 ways you can come up with topics to blog about, regardless of your industry.
• Who Are You Blogging For? – Actionable tips people can use to identify their target audience and create their marketing personas.

Alison Ver Halen is a content marketer and SEO strategist who helps small business owners such as yourself attract, engage, and convert high-quality leads online so you don’t have to go hunt them down. She does this by creating long form website content that is engaging, SEO friendly, and leads readers to the next step in the buyer journey.

Selected Speaker Topics:

• Is Your Superpower Actually Your Kryptonite? – “You’re great at THAT!” Have you ever heard those words and felt a little twinge deep down? The truth is, you ARE brilliant, talented, and amazing. Sometimes, your superpower comes from this beautiful well of talent that you were born with; and, sometimes, that superpower comes from a more difficult place, a wound, a hardship, a trauma, which can make it like kryptonite to your long-term peace and sustainability.  In this talk, Gini discusses her walk through darkness to discover that the very things she thought were her superpowers were actually the coping mechanisms of a traumatized childhood. Through awareness, she was able to transform daily trauma at work into peace, joy, and nurturing her true talents and now she is passionate about helping others do the same. Get ready to embark on a journey of gentle self-realization that will provide real-life tactics for differentiating wounds from true talents, allowing you to step fully into your REAL superpowers!
• Generation Why: How to Stop Hating Your Most Important Customers – Millennials get a bad rap from just about everyone, in this talk Gini will take a deep dive into the Millennial mindset and how to win over the generation that are soon to be their most important customers. Millennials simply will not do business “old school,” and in this talk she will discuss why and how to adapt business to win in the “new school.”
• Solve it Forward: The WIN-WIN-WIN of Selling the Solution – In this talk Gini goes in depth on how to quickly identify the driving human need and position solutions to appeal to that need so to create a win for both company and client.
• Psychic Solutions for Non-Psychic People: It’s Not What You Think – In this talk Gini will detail how to make their clients feel like they are a mind reader by giving exactly what their clients want, often before they have to ask. There is nothing better for a client than to feel that a company “really gets them” and when there is a problem, that the solution is even better than what they had expected.
• Rock the Stage – Gini teaches speakers and aspiring speakers to create a talk that is clear, concise, and converts, learn the easiest ways to get paid on stage, map your talk to attract your Ideal Audience, and get your audience to lean in and say: “I Want That!”

Gini Trask was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated with a BA in Theater from the University of Northern Colorado. By that time Gini Trask was already an entrepreneur. She moved back to Texas and launched into partnership with her mother in a Bus Charter business that expanded to a multi-million dollars enterprise. Her ability to operate and grow companies to multi-millions of dollars in revenue for other people became the driving force for Gini Trask to start her own Company Top Tier Travel which has since become a multi-million-dollar success, creating one-of-a-kind incentives and experiences for tens of thousands of travelers in the corporate and network marketing space.

Throughout her professional life Gini has been sought after for her ability to make find solutions and facilitate outcomes as if by magic. Her attraction to running businesses in the travel, hospitality, and retail space and working with corporate and network marketing clients is their need for solutions are a win for both the customer and the company. Her turning point came when she realized that the need for solutions that bridge the gap was bigger than her small sphere of companies and clients. Everyone should understand how to create solutions that go beyond compromise. So, she set to bring her methods for “Solving Problems Forward” and “Creating a WIN WIN WIN” to the world at large.

Gini Trask now travels the world as a speaker and consultant helping companies and individuals to go beyond compromise to creating solutions that truly make everyone feel that they have “won”. She teaches the understanding of core needs, solving problems “forward”, and the super powers that can transform any issue into an opportunity to WIN.

Lin O’Neill speaks on:

• If You Put Fences Around People, You Get Sheep! – A look at the leadership that is required when sparking and sustaining innovation is the goal.
• Watching the Monkey Instead of the Organ Grinder – A look at organizational politics and power
• Good Teams Equal A Good Profit Picture
• Managing High Maintenance Employees
• Can You Ever Have Too Much Leadership?
• Anyone Can Lead When Things Are Going Well
• Participation Means Everyone But Me – Why Teams at the Top Don’t Understand Employee Participation
• If You Ask a Question and No One Answers – A Look at Pseudo-Participation
• Service With a Smile Just Isn’t Enough Anymore
• Victims Are Only Attractive to Bullies – Real and Perceived Helplessness in the World of Work
• Boredom Kills More People Than Stress
• Sacred Cows Aren’t Cholesterol Free

Lin O’Neill, founder and President of Futures Consulting is a consultant with in-the-trenches experience. She uses her blended background (operations and H.R.) to guide the transformation of individuals, teams, and organizations desiring enhancement or in conflict into profitable, high performers who achieve or exceed their goals.

As a former Vice President of Inflight Service and Corporate Officer for Continental Airlines, she managed several thousand employees and was responsible for inflight service quality.

Today, through Futures Consulting, O’Neill helps her clients solve the stickiest people problems, both in the corporate and non-profit sectors. She knows how to empower employees while driving results, encouraging creativity, resolving conflicts, and reaching closure. Whether on site with a client or delivering a keynote address, she brings extensive experience in culture change, turnarounds, business process definition, and multi-level cross-functional team building to her engagements.

Are you passionate about something? Do you like helping people? Have people always come to you for advice? Coaching is a calling, and it makes a huge difference in people’s lives. The Professional Coach Academy is committed to helping natural-born coaches become professional coaches who make money making a difference.

Selected Speaker’s Topics:

• From Captivity to Freedom: Embracing Resilience and the Power of Hope, Love, and Faith
• Discovering Inner Strength: Unleashing the Power Within You

Jose Pereira was wrongfully detained and held captive in Venezuela for nearly five years, from November 21, 2017, to October 1, 2022. Pereira was one member of the so-called CITGO6. His only crime was that he is an American. Before he was taken hostage, Pereira spent thirty-five years as an oil company executive and CEO of Citgo Petroleum (a US-based refineries complex and broad gas station distribution center.)

Pereira obtained a degree in Business Administration from the Universidad de Oriente (UDO) in Venezuela in 1985. He joined Corpoven, S.A. (now Petróleos de Venezuela-PDVSA (a Venezuelan State-owned company), the fifth-largest oil company in the world at the time. In 1989, he completed his Master of Business Administration at Florida International University through a joint program with Universidad De Oriente (UDO.) In 2012, he received a Diploma in International Taxation from Santiago de Compostela University in Spain.

Throughout his career, Pereira held several managerial positions in various PDVSA subsidiaries worldwide. He was assigned to numerous Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) JVs with Ente Nationale Idrocarburi (ENI), including ENI—Italy, Inpex—Japan, China National Petroleum Company (CNPC)—China, Statoil—Norway, Total—France, and Chevron, Conoco, and Exxon—US. He was the CFO of CVP (a PDVSA affiliate of the international JVs) and rose to become the CEO of Citgo Petroleum, replacing Nelson Martinez, who later became the Ministry of Petroleum and the President of PDVSA.

Pereira was part of the great oil and petrochemical projects in Venezuela in the 80s, launching PDVSA to become one of the top five companies in the international oil business. He actively participated in several managerial positions, including the “Apertura Petrolera” (privatization of the oil fields in Venezuela) in the 90s—the most extensive privatization of state-owned companies at that time. Pereira was integral in directing the internationalization of PDVSA in the late 90s and early 2000s and the re-nationalization of PDVSA in 2006-2007. He was also part of the PDVSA team that created Corporación Venezolana de Petróleos (CVP.) This affiliate managed more than forty JVs with international oil companies in Venezuela. His strategic leadership promoted him to the US-based CFO and CEO positions of Citgo Petroleum, which he held until his retirement.

While at the top of his career as Citgo’s CEO (the sixth biggest refinery complex in the US), Pereira was called to attend a business meeting in Caracas at Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA)—(the parent company of Citgo)—headquarters. On that day, the Venezuelan regime accused him of corruption, espionage, and treason, among other false charges, and captured and imprisoned him. This nightmare lasted 1,775 days—four years and eight long months.

After the United States Government orchestrated his release, Pereira turned his focus to advocating and supporting hostage families enduring similar nightmares and broken processes. His experience made it clear that what he survived can help others that are struggling to be able to overcome, thrive, and succeed in any circumstance. He now speaks to spread a message of resilience, hope, faith, and survival. Pereira is proof that we can conquer anything. He works to combine his career and life experiences with his strategic planning and relentless mindset approach to coach others through seeming insurmountable situations. He calls this program: LIFE PILLS FOR A SURVIVAL GUIDE (LPSG.)

Alana Hill speaks on:

• What’s Your Catalyst: The Power of Managed Change – We learned in science that change needs a catalyst, but what about in life? Ms. Hill demonstrates how passion can reinforce your career, personal, or project goals.
• Love is a Catalyst – In this revealing talk, Alana goes beyond her book of the same title to tell the story of the most important project she has ever managed. This is a story of faith, family, love, and living through the most difficult of times, the life-threatening illness of a child. We learn from Alana how powerful it is to be able to rely on others at the same time we are being strong for them. And how much of our strength comes from our faith.
• You’re Not Their Parent, Even If They’re Behaving Like Children: Leading and Developing Talent – Dealing with people on your team can often seem like dealing with an unruly child. This presentation features techniques for handling non-compliance on your team to ensure that deadlines and deliverables are met, while keeping team morale high.
• They Always Fire the Coach: Effective Leadership that Wins! – In today’s performance-based workplaces, leading a team to victory is not just desirable, it is necessary. Learn strategies to improve team dynamics and ensure a victory. Participants will learn objective-setting and communication skills that win the game.
• Promoting Workplace Diversity: It’s More Than Skin Deep – Workplace diversity is not just about color, but about different ideas, talents, and goals. In this talk, Ms. Hill relies on her years as a project manager to explore how to promote and manage diversity.
• Preparing for Life the Ms. Engineer Way! – In this talk, aimed at youth, Ms. Hill encourages and inspires teens to prepare for their futures, despite the obstacles that life may bring.
• Raising Your Boys the Ms. Engineer Way! – Drawing from her experience as a mother, combined with her tireless service in schools, churches and community organizations, Ms. Hill delivers an inspiring talk about raising future husbands. Witty and to the point, this speech can be tailored for a variety of audiences.

Alana M. Hill, PMP is a passionate speaker, author, trainer, and mentor. Her experience as an engineer and certified Project Management Professional (PMP) in upstream oil and gas provides a real-world insight into how people and teams can excel. She has been recognized for her excellent communication, leadership, and team-building skills. Her international, cross-cultural business knowledge shapes her perspective of developing talent. Ms. Hill holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University and 20 years of leading successful projects.

Ms. Hill began her career as a Field Engineer in South Texas for Schlumberger, where she led an oilfield services crew. Ms. Hill was promoted to Headquarters after displaying a strong interest in business systems and workforce automation. In her ten years with the oilfield giant, Ms. Hill advanced from Field Invoicing Process Engineer to Program Manager for Training Technologies, leading numerous projects of varying size and scope. In 2006, she established a consulting practice leveraging her expertise in learning technologies in the Talent Management space.

Ms. Hill is a member of Project Management Institute (PMI), Toastmasters International, the Association for Talent Development (ATD), and Sugar Creek Baptist Church. As a strong advocate for corporate and personal philanthropy, Ms. Hill donates her time to the Fort Bend ISD School Health Advisory Committee, local Texas PTA boards, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and other civic and charitable organizations.

Together with her husband, she has raised four handsome boys as part of a beautiful blended family. As a passionate ministry leader and teacher, Ms. Hill continues to pour God’s love into the children and youth she encounters. As an involved mother, she offers encouragement and advice to parents of children of all ages. Her faith, perseverance, and desire to encourage others inspire her speaking and writing. She is the author of Love is a Catalyst, where she shares her family’s trials and triumphs over cancer. When she is not traveling the globe, you will find her running and serving in her church and community. Ms. Hill resides in Sugar Land, TX.

Selected Speaker’s Topics:

• The Trifecta of Never Giving Up 
• Breaking Through the Baggage 
• Finding Freedom in Life’s Storms
• Positive Internal Environment 

When Julia suffered a sudden stroke in 2016, she did what most people don’t.  She refused to let it defeat her, even as she spent the next 6 months learning the basics of reading, writing, eating, talking and walking all over again. Determined to keep a positive environment, Julia dedicated herself to the study of the mind and brain, and is now proud to serve as a Resilience Speaker and Brain Performance Trainer.

After suffering another traumatic brain injury, and the sudden loss of her adult son, Julia is a living testimony to the fact that without a positive internal environment, we don’t stand a chance against the onrush of life’s unexpected storms.

Julia has a Bachelors in Psychology and Life Coaching, Masters in Human Service Counseling: Life Coaching, is certified as a Maxwell leadership Coach, Speaker, Trainer, and as a Brain Health Professional through Amen University.

Obsessed with helping others define and achieve their legacies, Julia works with individuals to identify their passions, gifts, and purpose and uses proven tools and techniques to help them align those with their strengths.

When Julia is not helping others achieve living legacy status, you can her spending time with her family in Louisville, Kentucky, or near the water listening to a book.

Selected Speaker Topics:

• Surrender the Struggle to Release the Pain – How unconscious stories you don’t even know about are affecting your prosperity, relationships, and health as your grow your business. How the stories of the people around you are affecting you.
• The Problem is Actually the Solution: Why you secretly want that big problem to stay and don’t realize it. – How to create bigger results in your business and your life with simple tools. How you are addicted to situations of struggle in your business.

Shiraz Baboo is an Award-Winning Author, International Speaker, and Reality Shifting Specialist. Entrepreneurs, Coaches and Healers hire Shiraz to rewrite their business stories, and with them, their reality because most people are unknowingly addicted to stories of adversity and struggle and left with a lack of success, confidence, and freedom. Shiraz helps you to eliminate, terminate, and annihilate your unconscious addiction to these stories in order to ignite a stream of high paying clients while fuelling an abundance of free time, money, and energy.