Seasons greetings from everyone at Ignite Seattle. We’ve missed you and the energy and community you bring to all of the events we do.
The team got most of us together in-person for the first time in far too long. We met for beers and snacks at Redhook on Capitol Hill and talked about our plans for the future and the possibility of our return to Town Hall early in 2022.
We’ve missed all of you. And the energy you bring to all of the events we do. We wanted to share some energy back to you with some updates from our speakers.
Inspiring things our alumni have done:
- Keisha Garrison, who spoke about inspiring courage from her daughter at an Ignite Seattle open night, left her corporate job to pursue being an emcee and storyteller full time.
- Melissa Reaves, who talked about her family’s experience with OCD, started her own thriving storytelling coaching business, Storyfruition.
- Science journalist Sally James, who gave a talk about better communication, won with her team at Matters of Gravity, a science game show.
- Multi-talk alumni Sarah Schacht, who has talked about the wedding industry, the Me Too movement and her work on Seattle’s restaurant food safety posters, worked with the CDC and National Environmental Health Association, including new pool inspection standards being used across the U.S. this fall.
- Colin Henry, who spoke about what he learned from the Navy and how it applies to managing engineers, announced the birth of his first child, a baby girl. And Bonnie Toland, who talked about the conflict built into the design of everyday life, was 3 months pregnant when she spoke, and her daughter is now 21 months old.
- Kent Godfrey, who gave a fascinating talk about using animation and music to teach autistic children (and maybe everyone), is launching a podcast that explores how humans experience tone, rhythm and melody.
- Linnea Westerlind, who gave a talk about her experience visiting every park in Seattle, started Outdoor Childhood Puget Sound, a group that promotes getting kids to spend more time outside.
- Sixta Morel, who gave a talk about overcoming the Seattle Freeze, now works as an emcce, speaker and voice actor. She also hosts her own podcast of real life stories in Spanish.
- Ginger Chien, who talked about a transgender band playing in rural WA, has had her talk used in virtual courses and as part of the D&I masterclass at universities.
- Nancy McSharry Jensen, who talked about diversity and the reality of workplaces, published a book on finding your confidence after a career pause.
- Marie Bolla, who presented about how to court women of color, is doing a writer’s residency to work on a book and a one person show.
- Danielle Fague, who spoke about why you should love origami, visited this origami inspired sculpture by Hacer recently in NYC.
We’re so proud of these and all of our former speakers!
REQUEST: We’re looking for more inspiration: What have YOU been up to that you’re proud of or excited about since our Ignite #41 in March of 2020? It’s been a rough ride, but what has been something positive for you?
We need to know! Share it with us: leave a comment. It just takes a minute. Thanks.
Ignite Seattle 