2022 Keynotes, Panelists & Special Guests

Keynote

Bethany Van Delft

Her “hip & grounded, laid back delivery” has earned Bethany Van Delft the honor of performing at JFL and other cool ass comedy festivals. She was named “Best Comic” by Boston Magazine in both 2020 & 2019 and her debut comedy album “Im Not a Llama” dropped to good reviews and an impressive number of minutes at #2 on the iTunes charts. She regularly hosts The Moth live events and has a story included in The Moth book “All These Wonders”. She hosts iHeart Radio’s kids news podcast “The Ten News”, co-hosts the Nova/PBS series PARENTALOGIC, has a weekly IG comedy & hangout show ARTISANAL COMEDY, and somehow keeps her kids and husband alive, and not suuuper unhappy. She also bakes pretty well.

Keynote

Derith Cass

Derith Cass (Coach D.) Bio

Derith Cass, aka Coach D., is a powerful presenter, mindset shifter, habit change specialist, women’s wellness coach, and a lover of the human connection. Her work centers around banding women together as a fierce tribe and transforming perspectives of what is possible so we can fully step into the life that is waiting for us.

Through Coach D’s presentations, women’s retreats, habit coaching programs (both group and individual), and fitness classes, countless stories have emerged about women breaking through what’s been holding them back by embracing lasting change, choosing to show up for themselves, getting back up when they fall, and celebrating the palpable power of community.

Her motto is: “All women. All ages. All stories. All destinations.”

This is what she built FIERCE by Choice, LLC (her passion-project-turned-business) on and the root of everything she teaches.

Living FIERCE is choosing to start where you are in this moment, creating the path that best fits you, and pushing yourself past where you thought you could go!

For over 20 years, Coach D. has shared her passion for empowering women to fiercely love the skin they’re in. From young girls to grandmothers and every age in between, Coach D. teaches you how to tap into that deep inner wisdom we all have, the place where all the answers are, so you have the tools to architect a life you love!

To learn more about habit coaching, group programs, women’s retreats or fitness classes, please visit her website at https://www.fiercebychoice.com

You can also connect with Coach D. on Instagram and Facebook,

Emcee

Erica Ayisi

Erica Ayisi is a freelance multimedia journalist focusing on human feature stories and documentaries around the world. Her work has appeared in numerous digital outlets, including NBCNews.com, The Root, Essence, Afroelle Magazine, and xoNecole. 

Her work includes online stories pertaining to the African diaspora, reporting on the surfing community in Ghana, Black atheism in London, natural beauty remedies with Rastafarian women in Jamaica, the legacy of activist Recy Taylor, the opening of Juices for Life juice bar in Brooklyn, as well as several other long-form articles capturing the global Black experience.

She has filed reports as an on-air reporter for Rhode Island PBS Weekly, Charter TV3 in central Massachusetts, as well as for ETV Ghana, in West Africa. 

Her passion for telling international stories has earned her a Distinguished Alumni & Friends of the Worcester Public Schools Achievement Award and a Ceremonial Key to the City of Worcester, Massachusetts. She is a two-time Pulitzer Center Reporting Grantee publishing ‘Swallowed by Sea’ an investigative project exploring coastal erosion livelihood in Ghana for MongaBay in 2022. In 2019, with the Pulitzer Center’s support Erica published ‘If This Hair Could Talk’ which examines how women in some of the most impoverished areas of Cambodia sell their hair as a means of survival for NBC News.  She is also receipt of the National Association of Black Journalists 2021 Ethel Payne Reporting project. 

A graduate of New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), she holds a master’s and bachelor’s in Communication Arts with a focus on broadcast journalism. She also teaches digital media and journalism production classes to high school and middle students outside Boston. Erica also founder and chief executive office of Akosua’s Closet-an African sourced online boutique shop featuring women’s clothing, jewelry, and home décor curated by Erica.  https://www.ericaayisi.com