Meet Our Speakers and Sponsors
Connect With Your Speakers and Sponsors!
MAIN STAGE SPEAKERS
Mike Ross
Just Build Wealth
Michael Ross is a force in the financial industry: a veteran portfolio strategist, outspoken educator, and trusted voice for cutting through bad advice.
With more than four decades of hands-on experience managing stock and bond portfolios, Michael has helped clients navigate market cycles, avoid costly behavioral mistakes, and build wealth through discipline, not guesswork. He has seen firsthand what works, what doesn’t, and why so many people stay stuck with the wrong financial guidance for far too long.
Caterina Rando
Thriving Women in Business
Caterina Rando is a woman on a mission to uplift the lives of women everywhere through thrive entrepreneurship. She is an author, sought-after speaker, podcaster, and business transformation coach who passionately serves women leaders and entrepreneurs.
Caterina is all about positivity, integrity, generosity, community, and providing massive value while uplifting others. Her over thirty years of educating and empowering, makes her truly masterful at providing a ton of value to her clients. Caterina specializes in authentic selling, embracing speaking to build influence, how to bliss in your business, and all about thriving women’s retreats.
SPOTLIGHT SPEAKERS
Suszi Mcfadden
Suz Mcfadden Photo
Suz is an award-winning, internationally published photographer located in Sunnyvale. Focusing on brand photography for business, theatre, dating profiles, and creative expression, Suz offers a safe, inclusive space for creating images that change the way her clients see themselves – so they can go out and show the world what they’re made of.
Caron Shahrestani
Caron Modern Media
Caron Shahrestani is a professional videographer, video marketing strategist, and San Francisco Bay Area native who helps entrepreneurs and creatives show up with clarity and authority on camera. With a background in newspaper reporting and visual storytelling, she brings both strategic messaging and production expertise to her work.
Maurine Xavier
Transformational Leader, Speaker & Divine Guide
Maurine Xavier brings a unique blend of professional expertise and personal transformation to her work. After a successful career as a CPA, Division Controller for Esprit, and Home Loan Professional, she followed her calling to help others achieve greater freedom and fulfillment. Drawing from her own journey of growth and healing, Maurine now supports individuals in overcoming limiting beliefs and creating lives of physical, financial, and emotional freedom.
Yulin Lee
Project M – Mind & Money
Yulin Lee is a Money Empowerment Coach dedicated to helping women build financial independence as an expression of self-love and personal power. As a Globally Certified Coach with the Napoleon Hill Institute, she combines proven success principles with a holistic approach that integrates mindset, spiritual growth, and wealth expansion. Yulin is also known for leading transformative retreats for women and inspiring others through her passion for travel and personal growth.
VISIBILITY & GROWTH
Mary E. Knippel
Your Writing Mentor
Mary E. Knippel, Author, Speaker, and Soul Story Mentor, draws on 40+ years of journalism and a lifelong journaling practice to help women transform experiences into stories of hope and wisdom. A three-time breast cancer thriver, she inspires others to share their voice, heal, and create meaningful legacies through storytelling.
Katrina Sawa
Jumpstart Publishing
Katrina Sawa is a sought-after business coach, speaker, and CEO of JumpstartYourBizNow.com. She is known for her no-nonsense approach to helping entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses. With over two decades of experience, she has helped thousands of business owners streamline their marketing, monetize their expertise, and build sustainable revenue streams. As the founder of Jumpstart Publishing, Katrina has also guided over 250 entrepreneurs through the process of becoming published authors, using books as powerful tools to boost their visibility and credibility.
Bahar Tolu
Apex Payroll
Let Apex Payroll simplify and streamline your payroll and human resource management, while you spend more time running your business. When Apex Payroll manages your payroll, you will have the flexibility and control of a powerful enterprise payroll system coupled with personal service from experienced professionals who know you and your business. You can rely on us to provide prompt and accurate payroll, no matter how large or small of a business you run.
TRUST & TRANSITION
Nickell Melo
Oasis Senior Advisors
Nickell Melo is a Certified Senior Advisor and owner of Oasis Senior Advisors – Greater San Jose. After a 35-year career in tech partner marketing, she transitioned into senior care to make a more meaningful impact. Nickell provides personalized, concierge-style guidance to families navigating senior living options, helping them make confident decisions with clarity and compassion. Deeply rooted in the community, she builds strong partnerships with healthcare professionals and advocates for seniors through education, connection, and support.
Lucy Gillies
Jettywave Distillery
Lucy Gillies grew up in Zimbabwe and graduated from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she began her career in the retail fashion industry. Her path took her to London, where her work expanded into merchandise planning, new store openings, systems integration, and training; experience that now anchors Jettywave. At Jettywave, Lucy manages our finances, keeping in tune with all her many spreadsheets while staying deeply hands-on, often helping on the bottling line, and solving problems as they arise.

Olga Garcia
CG Moving
Olga is a 12-year veteran of CG Moving Company, a family-owned business specializing in biotech, lab, hospital, senior, and residential moves. In this interview, Olga shares why she’s returning to the Bay Area Connect Conference as a panelist, and drops powerful insight on what it really means to make a connection in business: coming from a place of service, putting good into the world, and letting inspiration — not intimidation — drive your growth.
MASTER OF CEREMONY
Karen Clarke-Hoffman
Coldwell Banker | Be Venus Coaching
Karen brings a global perspective to her real estate work, having lived and worked across three continents before making the United States her home in 2013. She specializes in assisting expatriates, empty nesters, seniors, and families navigating probate and trust sales. With a background in business development, investment banking, and financial services, Karen is known for her strong negotiation skills, compassionate approach, and commitment to guiding clients through every step of the real estate process.
CONFERENCE FOUNDER
Anne Kenney
Chief Marketing Strategist |
Bullseye Marketing
Producer |
Bay Area Connect Conference
Anne Kenney
Chief Marketing Strategist | Bullseye Marketing
Anne works directly with business owners because she fundamentally believes that small businesses are the engine of the economy, that no business owner should ever pay for bad marketing again and that every town in America would collapse were it not for local businesses. After all, a small local business is the one who sponsors Little League, contributes to school auctions, organizes benefits when disaster or tragedy strikes and the thousands of ways we give back to make our community work.
Every business owner has a local presence even if you consider yourself an online marketer or online store. Just like every business has or should be looking at your Google My Business page too – you want to be found on the #1 search engine, right?
Her Story and How She Got Here
Prior to starting Bullseye Marketing, she worked in a variety of marketing positions, including working up to Marketing Communications manager at Silicon Graphics. SGI taught me a lot about generating leads and invaluable perspective on working those hard-won leads.
She took that passion for leads, working as a contractor and consultant for companies like Aspect, Latitude Communications and Autodesk.
That’s when she found her true calling and carved out a path of small business owners getting advice from another small business owner and created Bullseye Marketing, a full-service marketing agency and consultancy for small businesses.
She’s also a sought-after speaker, workshop leader and am the recipient of the Best of San Mateo in Digital Marketing for the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce.












