Michael Port is an American entrepreneur, author, and angel investor. A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Michael's nine books have been translated into 29 languages. After spending a decade delivering thousands of paid speeches on the world’s biggest stages, Michael sold his first company, Book Yourself Solid Worldwide, and founded Heroic Public Speaking with his wife, Amy Port. Heroic Public Speaking develops and nurtures the next generation of thought leaders, as well as CEOs and founders, bestselling authors, business owners, and movement leaders.
Amy Port is the Co-Founder and President of Heroic Public Speaking; her work extends from the execution of corporate training packages, to development of CEO keynotes, private masterclasses and coaching.
After earning her MFA in Acting from The Yale School of Drama, Amy spent years acting professionally in theaters such as Seattle Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare and Yale Rep, and working consistently in commercials. She now applies the skills of performance that only well-trained actors know to the coaching of ‘non-actors’ looking to crush their sales presentations, to make their voices heard in TED Talk style presentations, and to take the big stage keynoting major conferences.
Geoffrey H. Garrett, a senior attorney at Byrd Garrett Wealth Preservation, said: “As a military pilot and B-747 captain over a forty-year career, I received every kind of skill-specific training and encountered every sort of teacher. I consider Amy to be, hands down, the best trainer-coach I have ever met. I cannot recommend her services highly enough."
Julianne doesn’t just crunch numbers: she crushes them, saves them, and plans them for bigger, better student experiences. As our Director of Operations, Julianne is in charge of helping our leadership team make smart decisions that support the financial health and growth of the company. She’s also proven to be a fantastic project manager for many of our events and programs. You’ll never hear Julianne say “that’s not part of my job.” She’s been a team member of a global accounting firm, on her family’s farm, and now she’s with us.
If there’s a new tech platform our team needs to learn, Becca will be the first to master it. A CRM + InfusionSoft analyst, Becca sends out all of our communications, ensuring the tech side of your experience is smooth, whether it’s in virtual programs and events, learning platforms, or simply updating your information. She doesn’t drop balls. In fact, as a lacrosse coach in her spare time, Becca makes sure balls stay off the ground, at all times.
Big things are always happening at HPS, and Shana is the In-Person Events Manager who makes the magic happen. A logistics wiz with a keen knack for making meaningful connections, Shana spent years producing high-profile events featuring icons like Julius Erving, Allen Iverson, and even “Tha Doggfather” himself, Snoop Dogg.
A podcast host and mover and shaker in her own right, Shana is HPS’s very own in-house influencer — no, really! Shana’s glowing personality and strong leadership have proven so effective over the years that she’s been celebrated by the Philadelphia Tribune, the Philadelphia NAACP, and Philadelphia City Council as one of Philly’s most influential leaders.
At Heroic Public Speaking, moments of magic happen all the time. Stirring performances, creative breakthroughs, those aha! instances when everything suddenly becomes clear—that's what we're all about.
Only, it's not (just) magic. It's result of fine-tuned, perfectly calibrated experiences that have been designed, refined, and whipped into shape by Alex Mottershead. As Heroic Public Speaking's Manager of Experiential Design, Alex draws on her experience in events, entertainment, and education to identify and drive innovative strategies that enhance (and maximize) our students' experience. When magic happens at Heroic Public Speaking, take a close, close look, and you'll find that Alex's fingerprints are all over it.
From emails, to websites, to podcasts, posts, proposals, and blogs, story drives everything at HPS. That’s where Dylan comes in. With years of experience as an award-winning writer, independent filmmaker, and messaging strategist, Dylan’s an unshakable believer in the power of compelling storytelling, and he feels most comfortable when his fingers are clacking away at the keyboard. The voice of HPS’s brand, Dylan dreams up, writes, and revises content that communicates HPS’s vision and brings it to life across all platforms.
As the Assistant to the Director of Sales, Courtney is laser-focused on making sure the student onboarding experience at HPS is smooth, seamless, and even a little fun. Before joining HPS, Courtney worked in wine sales for sixteen years—so not only can she answer your questions about the student enrollment process; she can also recommend a pitch perfect Chablis.
We know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes: Queena Bergen’s title really is “Creative Swiss Army Knife.” (How cool is that!?) When you witness the cross-platform creative magic that Queena’s capable of, you’ll know exactly why.
A natural born performer, talented producer, and professional poet whose wordsmithing skills have carried her around the world, Queena’s a writer and social media guru who can seamlessly jump from videos to podcasts to the stage and beyond. Find her deploying her Swiss Army knife creativity to craft captivating content and coordinate eye-grabbing campaigns that help tell the Heroic Public Speaking story.
Damon Brown helps side hustlers, solopreneurs, and other non-traditional creatives bloom. As a best-selling author, two-time startup founder, and three-time TED Speaker, he co-founded the popular platonic connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year, all while being the primary caretaker of his infant first son.
He now guides others through his one-on-one coaching, Inc. Magazine column, and public speaking on platforms like TED. Damon’s latest book is Bring Your Worth: Level Up Your Creative Power, Value & Service in the World, the follow-up to his best-seller The Ultimate Bite-Sized Entrepreneur: 76 Ways to Boost Time, Focus & Productivity on Your Big Idea.
Damon is a long-time writer for Playboy, New York Post, and more, and has two degrees in journalism, including a Masters in Magazine Publishing from Northwestern. Most recently, Damon was the Toledo Library’s first Entrepreneur-In-Residence. He is now based in Las Vegas.
Zoë Bird is a poet, editor, teaching artist, and performer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, and featured in collaboration with artists in all media including ceramicists, harmonium players, and Butoh dancers. She has been a teaching artist with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP) since 2005 and the director of APP-Minnesota since 2012, and is a longtime mentor and consultant in the field of creative aging.
Zoë was Book Lab’s Lead Editor for nine years. Her editing credits include 15 nonfiction bestsellers, and winners of numerous honors and awards in fiction including an NYC Big Book Award, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a Lambda Literary Award.
Cosmin Costin, founder of Retina Web Agency, has been developing websites and internet applications for the coaching industry since 2006. He has more than 20 years' experience on the web and is skilled in project management, programming, seo and affiliate marketing. While running his own internet ventures with ROI of over 1000%, Cosmin also develops web applications with tens of thousands of users and millions of records per day for businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies.
Andrew Davis is a bestselling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker. Before building and selling a thriving digital marketing agency, Andrew produced for NBC’s Today Show, worked for The Muppets in New York and wrote for Charles Kuralt. He's appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and on NBC and the BBC. Davis has crafted documentary films and award-winning content for tiny start-ups and Fortune 500 brands.
Recognized as one of the industry's "Jaw-Dropping Marketing Speakers," Andrew is a mainstay on global marketing influencer lists. Wherever he goes, Andrew Davis puts his infectious enthusiasm and magnetic speaking style to good use teaching business leaders how to grow their businesses, transform their cities, and leave their legacy.
Cristina helps coaches look great online and work more efficiently. She knows a lot about responsive websites, optins, building a list, autoresponders, content dripping, personal branding, automating your business, graphic design, online marketing, having fun! She's proud to work with an amazing team of developers and designers that she coordinates with great results.
AJ Harper is a developmental editor and publishing strategist. She has helped hundreds of authors—from newbies to New York Times bestselling authors with millions of books sold—write and publish game-changing books, develop significant and loyal followings, and build their brand.
For ten years, AJ wrote exclusively for personal and professional development authors. As executive editor for collaborative books, AJ worked with thought leaders and bestselling authors, among them Lisa Nichols, Les Brown, Barbara De Angelis, Mark Victor Hansen, Dr. George Fraser, DC Cordova, Barbara Marx Hubbard, T. Harv Eker, Brendan Burchard, Marcia Wieder, Lisa Sasevich, Hyrum W. Smith, Fabienne Fredrickson, Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolan, and Adam Markel.
AJ is the writing partner for business author, Mike Michalowicz, author of several books, including The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, The Pumpkin Plan, Profit First and Surge. For several years, AJ served as publishing strategist and managing editor for eWomen Publishing Network, a division of eWomen Network, the largest women’s business network in North America. In 2015, AJ retired from ghostwriting so that she could give her full attention to mentoring authors. She accepts a limited number of book development projects each year.
Kristin Pape is a writer and editor based in New York. Before retiring from academia, she worked as a professor for nearly twenty years, teaching writing, literature, disability studies, queer studies and film theory, most recently at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
She earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and she completed her Ph.D. studies in Comparative Literature at SUNY@Stony Brook. Thanks to her doctoral work and her upbringing as the child of an immigrant parent, Kristin learned to speak six languages (English, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin Chinese). Under her pen name Alysia Constantine, she is the author of three novels: Sweet (2016), Olympia Knife (2017) and Luckmonkey (forthcoming in February 2021).
Brenda Barbosa is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including USA Today, Inc.com, Forbes.com, and the Huffington Post. She uses the timeless art of storytelling to help authors, speakers, professionals and business owners craft unforgettable copy that captivate and inspire audiences around the world to think, feel and act differently.
Brenda has worked with New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling authors, CEOs, tech entrepreneurs, world-class scientists and scholars, as well TEDx speakers whose talks went on to be featured on the renowned TED.com. Brenda wrote and performed her own talk in front of hundreds at the prestigious Moth Miami where she was voted among the top three finalists.
As a journalist whose career has spanned more than two decades, Brenda will do almost anything for a good story. She's interviewed drug dealers in cemeteries and jumped out of an airplane to document an 80-year-old's lifelong dream of skydiving – all that despite a crippling fear of heights and dead people.
With sites, printed materials, and even a bit of interior design, Sienna crafts design from a service-oriented mindset. Everything Sienna touches turns to gold … unless she’s working on our branding … then it turns to #2e2d51, #dee1ee, #e11c4e, and #000000.
With every event and program, Sienna thinks about ways to serve and provide you with tangible takeaways. Not only does Sienna work behind the scenes, but she also works with our long-term students on how to create websites and contextual models that make event planners want to book a conversation. She makes everyone’s days brighter and their experiences optimal.
In addition to being a CPA and a CFP® professional, Matt has earned quite a list of licenses & certifications throughout his career. If we included all the acronyms here, it might start to look more like alphabet soup than a bio. While they are certainly admirable accomplishments, it is the combination of Matt’s training and education, alongside his practical real-world experience that allows him to assist our clients in this forward-thinking manne.
Jen Singer is a Heroic Public Speaking writing faculty member and an award-winning writer, author, and editor. She helps speakers and authors access their inner wisdom to craft compelling stories for the stage and the page.
Her work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and she has appeared on the CBS Evening News, Fox & Friends, and Today.
Named one of the “Top 10 Creative Canadians” by Marketing Magazine, Ron has been an award winning advertising writer and Creative Director for some of the world’s most respected brands including Air France, Evian, Fidelity, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo, and many others.
His advertising work has been recognized by The London International Advertising Awards, The New York Festivals of Advertising, The Crystals, The Extras, The Canadian Marketing Association, The Advertising & Design Club of Canada, and The Marketing Awards, to name just a few.
He is founder and CEO of The Tite Group, Executive Producer & Host of the Canadian Comedy Award-winning show Monkey Toast, and Publisher of the award winning and best selling humour book, This is That Travel Guide to Canada with CBC Radio’s hit show, This is That.
He has written for a number of other television series, penned a children’s book, and wrote, performed, and produced the play, The Canadian Baby Bonus. In demand as a speaker on innovation, branding, content marketing, and his own take on modern business, The Expression Economy, Ron has spoken to leading organizations all over the world.
Ron’s own book, Everyone’s An Artist (Or At Least They Should Be), was published by HarperCollins in 2016.
Andrea (she/her) is a writer, editing strategist, leadership coach and watercolorist. She’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders - people who are caring, daring and a little bit bonkers - create intellectual property that generates revenue while solidifying their thought leadership.
Her own writing includes Multiple Streams of Coaching Income which was heralded as “the Bible for coaches who want to make money” back when people used to say “what sport?” when you told them you were a coach. She also wrote We Need to Talk: Your Guide to Challenging Business Conversations and articles in Filter-Free Parents and the Washington Post. She is a loud and proud alumni of Heroic Public Speaking where she first met AJ Harper, her writing coach, and reconnected with Michael who she once co-hosted a workshop with in New York, back when he had hair. She has taught and presented on stages in Ecuador, India, Romania, the US, the UK and the smallest Chamber of Commerce in Canada.
Andrea is first-generation Canadian of Taiwanese parents, living near Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
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