WORK is a pop-up conference exploring creative and entrepreneurial approaches to work.
WORK 2024
MEET OUR SPEAKERS.
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MEET OUR SPEAKERS. ⭑
✹ RAASIN MCINTOSH, FOUNDER, URBAN ARTS DESIGNER AND CULTURAL LEADER ✹
Raasin McIntosh (she/her) is the founder of Raasin in the Sun and Vice President of Urban Activation at Downtown Austin Alliance. As a former Track and Field Olympian, whose career spans nearly a decade, she dedicates her time to community arts and placemaking initiatives in cross-disciplinary collaborative work across the City of Austin and Texas at large.
✹ CHELSIE KERN, BRAND ARCHITECT AND GROWTH MARKETING LEADER ✹
Chelsie Kern (she/her) is a brand architect and high-growth marketer with 10+ years executive experience generating revenue, increasing brand equity, and driving customer acquisition for startups across diverse industries, including B2B, B2C, and CPG. As the VP of Marketing and an early employee at Blackbird, Chelsie played a pivotal role in the SaaS company's $50 million acquisition. Chelsie's creative marketing campaigns have earned top-tier media placements in publications such as Bon Appétit, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Rolling Stone, and Hypebae, resulting in 20m+ media impressions.
Throughout her career, Chelsie has orchestrated influential partnerships with brands, including Golde, Diaspora Co., Pineapple Collaborative, East Fork, and more, helping her clients acquire 100k+ new customers. Currently serving as Head of Marketing for Wooden Spoon Herbs, Chelsie's growth marketing strategy resulted in a 110% revenue growth and a 176% increase in direct-to-consumer sales YoY. Her expertise drives massive growth for startups, propels brand awareness, and converts customers to superfans. As an advisor to tech startups Buddy and Mavyn, she extends her visionary leadership, fostering growth and innovation. Chelsie is a recognized industry leader and past recipient of the Young Professionals Network 20 Under 40 award.
✹ REYNA VAZQUEZ, CHEF & CO-FOUNDER OF VERACRUZ ALL NATURAL ✹
Reyna Vazquez (she/her) is the co-founder of Veracruz All Natural, Veracruz Fonda & Bar and soon to open La Mezca Agave Bar. Reyna and her sister have been in the restaurant and food service industry for over 15 years, successfully opening 8 locations with their tacos being locally and nationally recognized.
✹ SHAUNTAVIA WARD, WELLNESS PRACTITIONER & ENTREPRENEUR ✹
Shauntavia Ward (she/her) is a social wellness entrepreneur and Nurse Practitioner whose work intersects culture and wellbeing. Through health and wellness initiatives spanning, physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing, her goal is to cultivate healthy environments in which we thrive holistically and inspire empowered, bold, purposeful lives. Shauntavia is the founder of eleMINT Skin, a bespoke botanical facial studio in East Austin that amplifies self-care as community care!
A registered yoga teacher, breathwork and meditation practitioner, Shauntavia is working to create intentional space and practice for Black, Indigenous and bodies of color, to process healing through mindfulness practices.
✹ AMANDA JOHNSTON, TEXAS POET LAUREATE AND NONPROFIT FOUNDER ✹
Amanda Johnston (she/her) is a writer, artist & the 2024 Texas State Poet Laureate. She has over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them, Callaloo, Poetry Magazine, The Moth, Puerto del Sol, Muzzle, and the anthologies, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, American Short Fiction, and the Austin International Poetry Festival. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation and the founder of Torch Literary Arts.
✹ ALYSSA HART, GLOBAL EVENTS LEADER ✹
Event success is all about connecting with every person along the way. Alyssa Hart (she/her) first immersed herself in Austin's event scene in 2018, collaborating with premier event planners and producers as a local vendor. However, it was her transformative experience during the pandemic that profoundly shaped her as a producer. In 2020, Alyssa co-founded Sober Voices, co-producing two large conferences tailored for the sobriety and sober-curious community. These events, held amidst a time of heightened need for connection, drew renowned voices and authors while championing diversity and accessibility in online spaces. As all of our desire for virtual came to a close in late 2021, Alyssa's was led to join the inaugural team at OTHR Agency based here in Austin. Here, she orchestrated notable events such as the Tesla Gigafund Grand Opening, 2023’s ACL After Party for C3Presents, a private paddock club at Formula 1, and the Texan Feminist Throwdown in partnership with FutureFront. Presently, Alyssa serves as Global Sales Manager for both OTHR Agency and its affiliate, Reimagine Meeting Management. Her firsthand expertise lends credibility to her sales approach, although she admittedly struggles with occasional pangs of longing for the onsite event hustle. During her downtime, Alyssa relishes moments spent with her rescue dog, Baxter, or enjoying a mocktail and a side of fries with people she loves.
✹ SARA LORETTA, CREATOR & SYSTEMS-THINKING SPECIALIST ✹
Sara Loretta (she/her) is the 10th Certified Notion Consultant in the US. Through her agency SYSTMS™, Sara is focused on helping small teams & freelancers work better online. When not building for others, Sara can be found sharing uncanny business advice with her community and on Twitter/Youtube.
✹ MICHELLE KAO, INDEPENDENT ILLUSTRATOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER ✹
Michelle Kao (she/they) is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Austin, Texas. She grew up in culturally diverse houston and was originally born in Taiwan where she likes to think the local love language is food. In an effort to honor all parts of her background and fill a void in still-growing Austin, Michelle co-founded Gan Bei Gals in 2019 to celebrate Asian American nostalgia and stories through pop-up dinners, cooking classes and art workshops. She leads brand and event design for nearly every event, focusing on storytelling, creating immersive environments and maximizing fun and joy with take-home menus and recipe cards. She also carries this focus into her design work with notable clients in the food space such as Omsom and Made In.
When she's not working, you can find her at a local bookstore or coffee shop adding to her visual library and dreaming up what to make next.
✹ MARGO CRAIGE, DESIGNER, MARKETER & AUTHOR ✹
Margo Craige (she/her) is a graphic designer, illustrator, and intuitive. She celebrates the beauty of imperfection and proudly embraces her neurodivergent perspective. Margo left the 9-5 lifestyle in 2019 and moved from Philadelphia to Austin, TX in 2021. With a passion for making spirituality more accessible and approachable, she challenges its seriousness and complexity in the creation of her oracle deck, KISS Oracle, and book, Mystical Musings: An uncomplicated guide to working with Spirit (and other woo-woo things). Drawing from over a decade of experience as an illustrator and graphic designer, she has integrated her intuitive abilities into the creation of her card deck and book under the business name KISS (Keep It Simple, Sweetie) Mystic.
✹ SEHER, WRITER, ARTIST & CULTURAL STRATEGIST ✹
Seher is a writer-artist, facilitator, and creative strategist who weaves a healing ethos into art, media, culture, and community as a form of social change. Through nuanced awareness and intuitive expression, Seher’s work invites meaningful self-inquiry and transformative dialogue to help elevate the way we exist as humans.
Clients have included HBO, Red Bull Music Academy, A24, Adidas, Google, Kripalu, Sundance Institute, AFROPUNK and Jewish Voices for Peace.
✹ JANE HERVEY, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, NONPROFIT FOUNDER & CULTURAL STRATEGIST ✹
Jane Hervey (she/her) is a creative director, recording artist and accidental nonprofit founder, living and working in Austin, Texas. Originally from the border in South Texas, she currently spends her time running Future Front, a showcase series and community space she started in 2015, as well as own design house, group work. Over the last decade, she has collaborated with a range of people & places on curated experiences, thoughtful design strategies and community projects — whether she’s working with independent creatives and orgs or clients like The Line Hotel, Bumble & Red Bull. Outside her professional world, Jane is an electronic producer and vocalist, pulling sonic and visual influences from the likes of Björk and Frank Ocean, her former life as a rodeo queen, the shores of her Gulf Coast hometown and slow coffee in the morning. Since putting out her first four-track EP “Sour Grapefruit” in 2019, she has played South by Southwest (SXSW) and opened for the likes of OSHUN, Nomi Ruiz, Bunny Michael and more.
Her work has been profiled in Texas Monthly and ADWEEK, as well as recognized in the City of Austin’s Women’s Hall of Fame.
✹ HALI MARTIN, DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST & COMMUNITY LEADER ✹
Hali Martin (she/they) is an accomplished marketer, born in the Bay Area, living and working in Austin, Texas. Her work includes campaigns for technology companies, film festivals, and universities. Currently, Hali is the Digital Marketing Manager for Social Solutions a technology company creating nonprofit tech for the good of communities.
They have a professional and personal passion for diversity & inclusion, facilitative deliberation, queer theory, and uplifting up the voices of QTPOC. Outside of work, they moderate panels, and teach workshops on google analytics and SEO best practices. Hali can be found at the farmer's market, reading the Sunday paper, and finding new recipes to cook.
✹ LIZ MARTINEZ-NELSON, BRAND STORYTELLING STRATEGIST ✹
Liz Martinez-Nelson (she/her) is the founder of Favorite Things Studio, a boutique brand and website design studio specialized in creative business solutions for interior designers. Through her signature strategic approach, Liz has helped dozens of business owners make deep connections with their target audience, amplifying both their income and their impact in their industry. Liz is a curious and creative soul, a mom of two imaginative girls, and a super enthusiastic supporter of other female founders.
✹ YVONNE UWAH, EDITORIAL AND EVENTS PHOTOGRAPHER ✹
Yvonne Uwah (she/her) is a portrait photographer based in Austin, Texas. Though other people are often the subject of her work, she uses these portraits as a way to better understand herself. Her most recent project comes from a self-reflective curiosity involving the changes that happen when capturing images of people repeatedly over time. She is also exploring the ways in which a growing familiarity affects how she sees and captures those around her. Her work can be found on yvonneshoots.com and @yvonneshoots on Instagram.
✹ LINA ZULUAGA, WEB ENGINEER & DESIGNER ✹
Lina Zuluaga (she/her) is a Colombian born, east coast raised web engineer and designer living and working in Austin Texas. She is passionate about uplifting women's voices, creativity, art, and community building. Her experience as an immigrant sparked an interest in the concept of being "neither from here nor there" which she explores through her experimental drawing practice. In addition to coding and drawing, she enjoys long walks with her husky Grits, sharing a home-cooked meal with her husband, tending to her fifteen plants, reading about the lives of artists, and singing out of tune in karaoke.
✹ LU FARRELL, NONPROFIT PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY LEADER ✹
Lu Farrell (they/them) is a Chicanx trans nonbinary artist, community organizer and digital strategist living in Austin, Texas. Originally from San Antonio, Lu has extensive experience in digital design, nonprofit marketing and communications, fundraising strategy, and project management. Prior to joining the team at Friday, Lu worked in fundraising and communications with Global Health Corps, a global health nonprofit based in New York City. While attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Lu used their time living abroad to work as a translator with La Fondation Scelles in Paris, France. During this time, Lu worked in both French and English, translating and editing the organization’s United Nations conference proposal and review regarding international sex trafficking policies and cultural practices.
During their free time, Lu can be found either at home binging Are You the One? and cooking for their dog, or out on the town with friends, boot scootin’ and begging the DJ to play more Shania.