Did you know the BigSpeak Team is predominantly female? During international women’s month and always, we’re honoring the women around us and putting the spotlight on them. 

Throughout history, women have faced inequality in the workforce. Today, 52% of women in the world deal with non-inclusive behavior at work, based on gender discrimination in the workplace statistics. Working against that statistic, BigSpeak prioritizes gender inclusivity and being a space for women to push limits, crush their goals, and pursue their dreams. 

At BigSpeak, females make up 75% of the company, including 8 in leadership roles. Get to know these powerhouse women of BigSpeak below:  

Founders

Elise Wygant, Vice Chair 

Elise brings logical as well as intuitive thinking, balance, and harmony to our Board of Directors and the team at Big Speak. Her unique sensitivity to emotional issues as well as the ability to read between the spoken lines provides deep insight that propels our uniquely supportive corporate culture.

Events

Aggie Arvizu, Event Coordinator

Aggie is BigSpeak’s jack-of-all-trades and has worn many hats at the company before settling in as an Event Coordinator. She works side-by-side with our clients every step of the way from ensuring all their needs are met throughout the planning process.

Eleanor Linton, Event Coordinator

Eleanor Linton is a BigSpeak Event Coordinator. She began as an Event Associate, dedicated to supporting the Events team, speakers, and clients with diligence and efficiency. Within a year, Eleanor’s enthusiasm and commitment to the team earned her a promotion to Event Coordinator. She now manages speaking engagements full time, ensuring successful events by collaborating with speakers and clients to achieve their goals.

Haley Ware, Event Coordinator 

Haley is an Event Coordinator. As a member of BigSpeak’s events team she works alongside clients to ensure a smooth and effortless coordination of keynote speakers. She dedicates her time to connecting top keynote speakers with valued clients, guiding them through every step of the process.

Michelle Schiowitz, Event Coordinator

Michelle’s propensity for planning started from an unlikely role as a Group Sales Manager for Starwood Hotels. She was quickly promoted to Director of Group Sales, where she managed the sales team and exercised her coordination skills. She spent years volunteering for local charities, planning and organizing fundraising events and finally moved into a Client Services and Logistics Coordinator role with New Leaf Speaker Management. 6.5 years later BigSpeak snagged her as a virtual Event Coordinator, based just outside her hometown of Boston, MA. 

Marketing

Jennifer Neisse, Sr. Marketing Manager

Jennifer brings over 17 years of marketing experience to her role as BigSpeak’s Senior Marketing Manager. Prior to joining BigSpeak, she worked in the medical device industry at both Sientra and InTouch Health, driving marketing and communications strategies in the healthcare sector. She brings experience in planning events and conferences, as well as building a healthcare speaker bureau for her previous role.

Sophie Sterling, Marketing Associate

Sophie is a Marketing Associate, jack of all trades, and social media guru. She works closely with speakers to manage their client relations, and even knows her way around the inbound department. Sophie is the office’s European influence, having received her M.Lit in Renaissance Art History from the University of Glasgow, after finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Art History from Mills College in Oakland, California.

Katelynn Kent, Marketing Associate

As a marketing associate, Katelynn helps drive awareness to BigSpeak by crafting speaker spotlights and content articles, assisting in the maintenance of BigSpeak’s website, and occasionally handling inbound operations, among several other marketing duties. With her background in public relations and marketing, Katelynn is committed to making BigSpeak speakers shine.

Operations

Beth Ford, Contracts Manager

Beth uses her eagle eye and negotiation skills as our Contracts Manager. She turns the moving pieces of ideas and event details into a logical set of instructions for our speakers and clients to follow. Whether she’s wielding her red pen or a mean backhand on the tennis court Beth is a force to be reckoned with. She always has our clients’ best interest in mind and will work tirelessly to make sure they are receiving everything they need.

Jenelle Mullick, Accounting Specialist

Jenelle joined the BigSpeak, Inc team as Accounting Specialist in 2020, bringing with her over 20 years of professional experience. Born and raised on the Central Coast, Jenelle began calling Santa Barbara home when she attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where she earned a BA and once won a car on the Price is Right as a UCSB college student.

Laura Karl, Contracts Associate

Laura Karl joined BigSpeak as a Contracts Associate. Graduating from Mary Washington with a Bachelors in Sociology and a Masters in International Planning and Sustainable Development from Westminster University, she joins the Contracts team following a career in real estate development. With new adventures always on the horizon, she’s constantly planning her next trip and looking to add to her passport stamp collection. Four continents, twenty-five countries and countless cities under her belt…her life-list is constantly growing.

Candice Vandenbrink, Accounting Specialist

Candice has been a number cruncher for as long as she can remember. It started when she opened a business in elementary school selling Fireball jawbreakers that she bought wholesale and upcharged her classmates. As an adult she obtained her bachelor’s in accounting and received most of her professional experience doing tax returns as well as bookkeeping at a small accounting firm in Carpinteria, Ca for the last 12 years. 

Partner Relations

Laura Yellen, Bureau Liaison

Laura is adept at facilitating speaker relations with international heads of state, CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, diversity and inclusion specialists, racial equality activists, leadership professionals, news media experts, celebrities, professional sports athletes and political figures. She consistently maintains a steady pulse on world affairs, US politics, business, economics and pop culture, in order to recruit/book the most cutting-edge experts in their fields, for her client’s live and virtual meetings, conferences and events.

Cara Tracy, Talent and Speaker Liaison  

Cara’s passion for working with professional speakers began when she was Director of Professional Development with the National Speakers Association. For 12 years, she was responsible for the design, planning and implementation of NSA’s meetings and educational programs. She also spent eight years as sales director for a New York Times bestselling author, booking him and his certified trainers to speak around the world.

Sales

Amy Eddy, Vice President & Strategic Account Advisor

Amy Eddy is a Vice President and Strategic Account Advisor, where she advocates for her clients, empowers them to make the right investment and is energized by the potential of the human spirit. After studying at Copenhagen Business School, Amy received a B.A. with double-majors in Business/Economics and Social Science from Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

Amy Dernus,  Vice President & Strategic Account Advisor

Amy Dernus is a Vice President & Strategic Account Advisor at BigSpeak. She is born and raised Pittsburgh-proud, and has made Santa Barbara her home for the last 17 years. Her aptitude in marketing and communications prepared her for understanding and serving the unique needs of BigSpeaks Fortune 1000 partners. In her position as Vice President and Strategic Account Advisor, Amy ensures that all partner clients are 100% thrilled with their BigSpeak experiences.

Sondra Ulin, Vice President & Strategic Account Advisor

Sondra Ulin joined the BigSpeak team after a career spanning over 15 years in sales, account management, and coordinating speaking engagements. She managed several speakers offices as well as booked big name speakers on a global level for several years. Sondra shares similar passions with the BigSpeak team. She has a knack for booking speakers, building lasting relationships with clients, and happily exceeding her clients’ needs.

Daria Wagganer, Vice President & Strategic Account Advisor

Daria is a veteran marketing and sales professional with broad-based experience in organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies in the software, e-services, education, retail, semiconductor and petroleum industries. Prior to joining BigSpeak, Daria spent four years in the speaking industry as the marketing director for a high-profile keynote speaker. She brings a unique combination of sales, marketing, customer service and research skills to our team.

Mikaela Harn, Strategic Account Associate and Assistant to the President 

Mikaela Harn is a Strategic Account Associate and Assistant to the President. Her dual role is something only a weekday warrior like Mikaela could handle. Her tenacity and gumption make her the perfect person to find any client their ideal speaker, while also assisting the President with his events and bookings. She somehow finds time in the day to give each of her clients her undivided attention, while also supporting the company at its foundation alongside Barrett. 

Julie Whalen, Strategic Account Advisor 

Julie brings 20 years of consultative sales experience to her role as a BigSpeak Strategic Account Advisor. Prior to BigSpeak she worked at LinkedIn and Lynda.com providing training solutions to government clients. She is relationship-oriented, focused on best serving every individuals’ needs. As a Strategic Account Advisor she is committed to building lifelong partnerships with her clients. 

Michelle Gustafsson, Strategic Account Advisor

Michelle Gustafsson is a Strategic Account Advisor at BigSpeak. Prior to joining BigSpeak, Michelle worked with WSB for two decades, first as a member of their Sales Team and then as a Speaker Relationship Manager before striking out on her own as an independent Speaker Consultant. Over the years of experience, she has developed a unique talent for assessing event objectives with a 360-degree view to make sure clients and their audiences leave events exhilarated after hearing the speakers they’ve selected and excited to apply valuable take-away ideas they can implement immediately back at the office and in their personal lives.

Heather Cabral, Strategic Account Advisor 

Heather Cabral is a Strategic Account Advisor at BigSpeak. Heather has over 25 years of experience in talent and speaking representation, including 21 years as Senior Vice President at American Program Bureau, securing speaking engagements for a broad range of speakers as varied as Nobel Laureates, Academy Award winners, former elected officials and business thought leaders. Heather prides herself on collaborating with her speakers and clients to produce the most engaging events, with the goal of having everyone look like Rock Stars.

Melissa Mann, Strategic Account Advisor 

Melissa Mann is a Strategic Account Advisor at BigSpeak bringing over 20 years of experience in strategic communications and government relations.  Prior to BigSpeak Melissa spent over a decade in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where she led initiatives to promote federally-funded research and development as well as scouted keynotes and thought leaders for international cybersecurity conferences. 

Nicole Young, Strategic Account Advisor 

Nicole Young is a seasoned marketing professional with a passion for storytelling, branding, and communications. Prior to joining BigSpeak, Nicole worked directly with the Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment on a diverse portfolio of businesses in entertainment, sports, and technology. With the audience always at the forefront of her mind, Nicole brings a unique perspective to the BigSpeak team, and provides creative solutions for turning the forgettable into experiences that are memorable, resonant, and actionable.