Speakers

Speaking Topics:

– “Eyewitness to the World’s Biggest Stories”
– “Overcome Life’s Struggles and You Might Meet Oprah Too!”

Les Trent faced many challenges on his way to becoming the Senior Correspondent of the syndicated television news show Inside Edition. He overcame them on his way to becoming one of the most recognizable faces on syndicated news magazines.

Les grew up one of seven children of a divorced mom in Southern Ontario. Working a variety of jobs, including radio DJ, he put himself through college. His hard work landed him in television news where he worked his way up from local news to national syndication.

However, in 2000, Les had surgery for a rare type of tumor called a Pheochromocytoma. It was removed. Unfortunately 12 years later it reemerged and in an extremely rare case it metastasized in a tumor on his spinal cord. Fortunately surgery, spinal fusion and radiation treatments put the cancer into remission. He says the issues he faced as a patient, before and after the cancer diagnosis, have helped him understand the need to keep a positive attitude and advocate for your patient’s rights.

Les has covered such high-profile stories as Princess Diana’s funeral, the 9-11 attacks, the O.J. Simpson Trials. He was also was one of the first journalists to report from inside a nursing home, where 34 elderly residents died after being left behind during Hurricane Katrina, where he covered the storm. Trent was one of the first journalists to bring the incredible story of Ted Williams, the homeless man with the Golden Voice who captured America’s attention.

He has covered breaking stories around the world for more than 20 years. He was on the 2004 and 2008 campaign trails interviewing the presidential candidates. The New York Observer praised Trent for his insightful and persistent questioning of then U.S. Sen. John Edwards and declared that Trent “stole the show” at the presidential hopefuls Manhattan press conference.

Les has provided Inside Edition’s coverage of the Cannes Film Festival over the years, and he traveled to Rome for a Vatican screening of the CBS miniseries on the life of the late Pope John Paul II. He is constantly interviewing the biggest names in entertainment ranging from Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie to Oprah Winfrey and Harry Belafonte to Hugh Jackman and Jerry Seinfeld.

Prior to joining Inside Edition, Les spent five years as an on-air correspondent for King World’s “American Journal.” He also served more than 10 years as a local reporter in San Francisco and Buffalo, New York, where he started his career in radio. He has been inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Speaking Topics:

– Women’s Leadership Issues
– Female Sexual Health

A seasoned and dynamic executive, Rachel has focused on driving Growth Through Innovation for a range of Fortune 500 clients and start-up companies, as well as several of her own businesses. Rachel brings a wide range of experience, an entertaining style, and a great sense of humor to her speaking, focusing on a range of business topics, including management, entrepreneurship, and women in the business world.

In 1998, she co-found SPARK Solutions for Growth. The firm provides pragmatic, business-building and innovation expertise to some of the world’s best companies and brands in the world, including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Disney, American Express, Allergan, Deloitte, Merck, and Bayer.

Rachel and her partner created Semprae Laboratories, Inc., a company created to focus on developing and marketing women’s sexual health products. Rachel speaks frequently on issues related to women’s leadership and female sexual health.

Rachel has lectured at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Barnard College as well at other major universities and conferences. Television appearances include ABC’s Nightline, CBS News, and MSNBC, among others. Rachel has also been interviewed and quoted in leading publications including The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, AOL, The Huffington Post, and CNN.

Rachel has a B.A. in Psychology from Duke University, as well as an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Once a small kid, who was bullied in high school Joe Mesi overcame a great deal of adversity to become the number one heavyweight boxing contender in the world with an unbeaten record.

Then just as he was about to realize his dream of a title shot, a brain injury, took it away. But as he had with everything else in his life, he prevailed over that injury, returned to the ring and moved on to a new phase in his life as a successful businessman and family man.

As a motivational speaker Joe Mesi relates all those experiences and the lessons they taught him to a wide array of audiences. He talks about Anti-Bullying, Dealing with Brain Injuries and Goal Setting.

Baby Joe started boxing at 19, a little later than most fighters, but his career was marked by success from the beginning. Joe was a three-time New York State Golden Gloves champ and defeated future heavyweight titleholder Hasim Rahman to win the Empire State Games championship in 1993.

Also in the ring as an amateur, “Baby Joe” was a 1996 Olympic Team alternate, winning against the German and English representatives before the games started that year.

His professional titles include New York State Heavyweight champ, WBC US heavyweight champion, and North American Boxing Federation heavyweight champion and at one point ranked as the number one heavyweight contender in the world by the WBC before an unfortunate injury against former cruiserweight champion Vassily Jirov in March of 2004 derailed his title shot.

Today, the ex-fighter makes his living in medical sales, where he calls on neurosurgeons and pain management physicians, selling surgical implants to help patients suffering from chronic pain. It’s an irony that’s not lost on him.

Joe also created a foundation called Champs Against Bullying where he spends considerable time talking to people, young and old, about the bullying issues that many young people face.

Joe has the ability to relate his experiences to all types of audiences, motivating them to make changes in their lives. If you’d like to book Joe for your next event, please contact us at [email protected].

Tired of the same old liberal vs. conservative political lectures? How about someone who says both conservatives and liberals are wrong?

Meet Brian Wilson, a nationally-known radio and television host, author, speaker and consultant.

Throughout his decades long career, Brian hosted successful radio programs in the nation’s largest cities, including New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore and Washington, DC.

As morning drive host at the “Big Apple’s” WABC, he assisted the station with its transition from music to talk. As co-host of the highly successful Z-Morning Zoo at Z-100, Wilson opened at Radio City Music Hall for two weeks of sold out performances for world-famous entertainers Siegfried and Roy.

While in New York, Brian made numerous guest TV appearances on major network programs, including Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, ABC World News Tonight, as well as starring in the premiere episode of ABC’s sitcom Anything for a Laugh.

He continues his TV appearances to this day as a guest on numerous talk and political programs.

Wilson also played a role in the start-up of CNN, hosting an entertainment segment called Take Two. In a return to Atlanta in the 1990s, Brian not only worked in talk radio, he also hosted Talk at Night, a week-night television talk program.

Wilson is the author of two books – A Media Guide for Market-Liberal Organizations, and The Little Black Book on Whitewater.

Brian was also a trailblazer as the first major-market talk radio host to fill-in around the country without leaving the comfort of his home studio. Wilson hosted radio programs in Seattle, Sacramento, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York, to name just a few of the cities.

The Washington Post’s Marc Fisher wrote, “He’s so good that his listeners could be forgiven for thinking that he’s in the ‘City by the Bay’ rather than in a bedroom in Maryland.” Brian McTavish at The Kansas City Star noted, “He was only supposed to be a fill-in (and wasn’t even in town). But Brian Wilson – not the fabled Beach Boy, but the freelance radio personality – gave off enough good vibrations as a temporary morning host to be offered a full-time job.”

Brian’s political beliefs center on personal responsibility and self-ownership.

Susan Candiotti may be best known for her 21-year career as national correspondent at CNN. But the journalistic foundation for that career was forming here in Western New York.

If there was a major national story, chances are Susan covered it … and won awards in doing so. She played a key role CNN’s award-winning investigative team covering the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. While reporting on the Times Square bomber as it happened, she was the first reporter to find and reveal video of the plotter buying ingredients for his homemade device.

Susan also led the team of correspondents covering the Boston Marathon bombing and broke ongoing developments in the investigation. She was also the first CNN correspondent on the scene of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Some of her other notable assignments included Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, the Penn State child abuse scandal and trial, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, trial and execution of Timothy McVeigh, which included an interview with McVeigh in prison.

Susan has covered many air disasters over the years including the being the first CNN team on the scene of the Miracle on the Hudson. Her career has also included presidential politics as she covered the 2000 Florida Presidential recount and 2008 Presidential campaign.