Scarlett Lewis

Our opening keynote speaker, Scarlett Lewis, is the mother of Jesse Lewis who was killed in his first grade classroom during the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, along with 19 classmates and 6 teachers and administrators in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

She founded of The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation in honor of Jesse and to spread a message he left on their kitchen chalkboard shortly before he died, Nurturing Healing Love, the formula for choosing love, and to promote social and emotional education in schools as well as a consistent message of compassion in our communities. 

Clifton Taulbert

Our afternoon keynote speaker, Clifton Taulbert, is a Pulitzer nominated author, entrepreneur and international lecturer defines his life as one benefiting from ordinary people who proudly displayed their character for him to see—through the unselfishness that fueled and guided their life actions.

Taulbert recalls their lives with great affection because the lit the pathway to his purpose. He would go on to embrace the unselfishness lived out in his presence. Their Eight Habits of the Heart would become his own. According to Taulbert, "our journey is better served when our lives become the light that shines for others to see and find their way." Audiences around the world sit on the edge of their seats and rise in thunderous applause as Taulbert, noted author and businessman, transports them to his childhood, engaging them in the stories that are timeless and universal - ordinary people becoming extraordinary leaders in life.