Jammin’ Sessions

Session Description:
Jennifer will walk us through her 2016 Everest expedition and talk about how a farm girl from Iowa got into climbing mountains. She’ll also talk about climbing the 7 Summits.

Speaker Bio:
Jen is a climber, photographer, guest speaker, author, and humanitarian. She was born and raised in Jesup, Iowa. After high school she went on to Wartburg College and graduated with a degree in biology. She currently lives in Marengo and works in Cedar Rapids. Jen started mountain climbing in 2010 and since that time has climbed mountains all over the world, including Everest on May 19, 2016. She’s the first woman from Iowa to climb it. She recently became one of less than 25 women in the United States to complete the “7 Summits”, which is when you climb the highest mountain on every continent. Jen has released a book called “Shots From The Heart”. It’s 238 pages of photographs and journal excerpts from her travels both near and far. The book and select prints are available on her website Iowaclimberjen.com. She’s been featured in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the Des Moines Register, KWWL, KCRG, and NPR. When she’s not climbing or working, she also does a lot of volunteer work.  

Session Description:

During the past two decades, Kevin Fedarko’s work as a freelance reporter has taken him to some of the world’s most dramatic places, from the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir to the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest and Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His deepest connection, however, is to the landscape that was the backdrop for his first book, The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon.
The book, which became a New York Times bestseller, winning both the National Outdoor Book Award and the Reading the West Award, has been lauded as “a masterpiece of literary nonfiction” and “a work of jaw-dropping scope and page-turning action.” It chronicles the largest flood in the modern history of the Grand Canyon, a snowmelt-driven surge that overwhelmed the Colorado River in the spring of 1983, threatening to destroy one of the largest hydro-electric dams in the West while serving as a hydraulic catapult for a trio of intrepid oarsmen attempting to set a speed record atop the maelstrom in a small wooden dory. More importantly, the story also opens a window into the secret and hidden world tucked deep within the crown jewel of our National Parks system.

During the six years that Fedarko spent researching and writing the book, the canyon imparted a series of confounding insights, many of which struck him as paradoxical and counter-intuitive. These ideas, whose relevance and impact extend far beyond the walls of the canyon itself, help to illuminate the perils that can accompany single-minded striving, the rewards that await those who fall short of their goals, and the overlooked gifts to be discovered in the depths of failure—all of which can trigger epiphanies that have the power to transform the shape and direction of one’s life.

Join Fedarko as he shares some the lessons that he was taught by America’s best loved, most iconic, and least understood natural wonder.

Speaker Bio:
Kevin Fedarko has spent the past twenty years writing about exploration, conservation, and nature. He studied Russian history at Oxford University before joining the staff at Time Magazine, where he worked primarily on the foreign affairs desk, then later moved to Outside, where he was a senior editor. His writing has appeared in the New York Times and Esquire, among other publications, and a trio of his adventure stories from the Himalayas, the Horn of Africa, and the Colorado River are anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing. Fedarko lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and is currently working on a book that traces a 14-month, 800-mile hike along the entire length of the Grand Canyon that he completed for National Geographic with the photographer Peter McBride.

Session Description:
Rachel Evangelisto, 25, has had the privilege of becoming the first-ever Indigenous Miss Minnesota. Evangelisto is an enrolled member of the Húŋkpapha Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. As a young Lakota girl, Rachel often felt a negative stigma surrounding Native American people in her community and that there was only so much she could achieve in life because she was Indigenous. Through the Miss America Organization, Rachel found a platform where she could use her voice to correct the negative stereotypes she encountered and celebrate her culture proudly.

Speaker Bio:

Rachel Evangelisto grew up watching the Miss America competition and wanted to emulate the empowered women she saw on television. She stepped on stage for her first pageant at the age of 13 and has since been awarded over $23,000 in scholarships. In addition, she is proud to have graduated debt-free with the help of the Miss America Organization.

Rachel came to Minnesota to pursue her undergraduate degree. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris, with a degree in Political Science and an emphasis on Law. She has been accepted to Mitchell Hamline Law School where she hopes to obtain a Juris Doctorate in Tribal Law.

Currently, Rachel works as an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Guardian ad Litem for the ICWA Division of Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Húŋkpapȟa Standing Rock Sioux tribe and is proud to represent the Winona community as it has a rich Indigenous history.
As Miss Minnesota, Rachel spent her time serving the state of Minnesota through her Social Impact Initiative, “Celebrating Culture & Driving Diversity.” In Minnesota, Native Americans account for 1.7% of the population yet makeup 26% of all child protection and foster care cases – the highest disproportional rate of any state in the nation. Similarly, Native American children are 16 times more likely to be put into out-of-home placements than other children. For the eleven Indigenous Nations of Minnesota, this is a dire issue to address in our state and communities.

Rachel puts community and culture at the heart of everything she does. Throughout her service, she will set out to share authentic Indigenous culture, raise awareness around the Indian Child Welfare Act, and create cultural connection programs to support Indigenous youth in Minnesota involved in child protection and foster care cases.

Rachel performed an exciting talent of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and was crowned as the 86th Miss Minnesota on June 17th, 2022, at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN.

Session Description:
“Disability” is a topic that can make people feel uncomfortable, but on a long enough timeline it’s something that most all of us will have to work through in some form or another. So, why not build and design the world with that in mind? Matt Axelson, a disabled guy himself, will share with us some thoughts on how each of us can help make this a more accessible and better world for others and ourselves.

Speaker Bio:
Matt Axelson (he/they) has Spina Bifida and over the past number of years has found vocation as a disability advocate by bringing both personal and professional experience to accessibility work locally in the Twin Cities as well as digitally around the world. This has taken the form of seeking and obtaining changes to physical and digital spaces to make them more accessible; giving presentations in a number of forums regarding inclusive design and accurate representation of disabled people in media; and in championing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Twin Cities improv scene and soccer supporter culture as a co-founder of AccessiLoons. Matt currently works at Capella University as a Disability Services Advisor and is also just wrapping up their two-year stint as a member of the CEO’s Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion where he led the Council’s Subcommittee on Disability and Accessibility. 

Session Description:
Ben and Randy present a behind-the-curtain conversation on college basketball and college athletics from a Big Ten Conference and National perspective.

Session Description:
An invigorating dialogue with Paul Williams, President & CEO of Project for Pride in Living. Paul will be reflecting on his journey as a bi-racial leader (a son of Rondo) who has traversed the nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors, all while pursuing his passions for rugby, travel, baseball, music and racial equity.

Speaker Bio:
Paul Williams is President and CEO of Project for Pride in Living, Inc., one of Minnesota’s premier multi-service community development organizations. A St. Paul native, Paul brings an extensive background in affordable housing, economic development, education, and diversity, equity and inclusion to PPL. PPL provides affordable housing to over 3,500 individuals and families on a nightly basis and delivers employment training and education to close to 8,000 individuals annually. Prior to coming to PPL, Paul served as St. Paul’s Deputy Mayor, where he led a wide range of community initiatives as well as directing day-to-day operations of the city. Paul also spearheaded community development investments for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), first as Twin Cities LISC’s Executive Director, and then for five years as LISC’s national Senior Vice President for Field Strategies, directing LISC’s operations in 30 cities across the country. Prior to his work at LISC, Paul served as a grant maker with the Minneapolis and Saint Paul community foundations, as well as Vice President of Allocations for the United Way of St. Paul. Paul is active on numerous community boards, serving on the boards of Minneapolis’ 9th District Federal Reserve, HealthPartners, Inc., and the Destination Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Paul previously served as the board chair of the F.R. Bigelow Foundation and as a Commissioner of both the Minnesota Ballpark Authority and the St. Paul Port Authority. He is an active member of the business-led Itasca Project and the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs Dean’s Advisory Council. Paul holds a master’s degree from the Humphrey School and a B.A. in Government from Saint John’s University.

Session Description:
While Jess now has two beautiful kids, and a career she loves, getting to this point has had quite a few unimaginable twists and turns. She will share her story of persistence and resilience, as she navigated infertility, child loss, and birth trauma while trying to find a career that filled her cup with meaning. You will hear her story and the lessons she learned along the way in an effort to bring light to others who may be struggling with silent, and not so silent battles.

Speaker Bio:
Jessica Gottlieb was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. After graduating from Indiana University, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to start a career in pharmaceutical sales. In 2010, she moved to Minneapolis as a specialty sales rep for Eli Lilly and received her MBA from University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. She met her husband, Brent, a small business owner at a fundraiser, and Minnesota is now home.

After years of infertility, they lost their daughter Natalie on her due date in 2017. Soon after, Jess decided after 13 years in pharmaceuticals, to follow her passion in the non-profit world and received her certificate in fundraising management form the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She started her development career at the Minneapolis Jewish Federation while she was pregnant with her son. At just 29 weeks pregnant, Jessica was in heart failure due to an un-diagnosed congenital heart condition. Jack was born via emergency C-section in the Cardiac OR at Abbott Northwestern so that she could have open heart surgery to save her life. Jack spent 67 days at Children’s Hospital in Minnesota. After taking 5 months off to recover from surgery and be with her newborn, Jess went back to work, but was soon recruited to work at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. MHIF is the research arm of the heart hospital at ANW, the organization that saved her life and her son’s life. Thanks to the cardio-obstetrics team, Jess is now the mother to a healthy baby girl, Sarah, as well. Jessica, Brent, Jack and Sarah reside in Plymouth.

Session Description:
Learn how an idea becomes a TV show and how a writer eventually gets paid to do what they love! Emily Schmidt shares how she went from doing improv in Minneapolis to lurking outside of Saturday Night Live to writing for network comedies and films.

Speaker Bio:
Emily Schmidt is a comedy writer originally from St. Louis Park, Minnesota. She started improvising with Stevie Ray’s and the Brave New Institute while in high school, because when you’re tall and awkward and write fan letters to the Golden Girls, you pretty much have to be funny. She attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she majored in TV Writing and minored in being painfully midwestern. After graduating, she spent a few years back in Minnesota teaching and performing improv before moving to Los Angeles. Emily broke into the industry with a job as a writers’ assistant for Netflix’s GIRLBOSS, where she also made her onscreen debut. She then worked as an on-set joke writer for the feature film, BLOCKERS, before being staffed on the Netflix family show, NO GOOD NICK. She has since written on Fox’s WELCOME TO FLATCH and currently writes for CBS’ GHOSTS. Emily spends quite literally all of her free time spoiling her pit bull, Stella.

Session Description:
The Pearl Effect is an inspirational framework with aims to empower marginalized communities and allies to flourish. The lesson of the pearl is a reminder that in adverse circumstances beauty is always present because the human spirit will always find a way. Let the Black community be an example for all of not just resilience, but a magic of flourishing through oppression.

Speaker Bio:
Frank Jackson is a speaker and current assistant instructor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program where he created his theory, The Pearl Effect, as a student. Frank’s primary work centers around the science of well-being for which The Pearl Effect is based, but hones in on the Black experience.

A Philadelphia native, Jackson aims to continue to spread his inspiring message to communities as a reflection of his own pearl-like experiences growing up in the inner city. Previously, he sharpened his skills as a speaker, writer, and researcher as an undergraduate student at Texas Christian University where he studied Journalism, Sociology, and Spanish.