James Francis

James

Francis

Speaker 2025


James Francis operates at the intersection of capital, culture, and code, shaping how AI will influence culture, commerce, and identity. He is the Founder and CEO of Sole AI, an AI-native media company creating context-aware systems that protect authorship, amplify diverse voices, and ensure Black and Brown communities don’t just adopt AI, but actively shape it.

James is also the author of the forthcoming book Artificial Integrity: Coding Leadership, Trust, and Humanity, which introduces his Living Intelligence System (LIS) framework — a blueprint for building AI that encodes dignity, preserves narrative sovereignty, and unlocks equitable growth.

His career spans finance, technology, and civic leadership. He co-founded Paradigm Asset Management, managing more than $7 billion AUM and pioneering data-driven investing long before it was mainstream. He later launched Raptor Vision, an early computer vision and AR/VR company, deepening his expertise in how emerging technologies shape markets and narratives.

James graduated from Morehouse College and went on to co-found the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) to advance diverse leadership. He leads the Francis Family Foundation, continuing a family legacy of entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and has served on numerous nonprofit and civic boards committed to equity, education, and leadership development.

A sought-after keynote speaker and panelist, James has spoken at the OpenAI Commission (East Palo Alto), Human Tech Week (San Francisco), the National Bar Association Annual Meeting (Martha’s Vineyard), the National Black MBA Association Conference (Houston), and the Chat Summit at Howard University, among others.

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Warren Jolly

Warren

Jolly

Speaker 2025


Warren Jolly is the CEO of adQuadrant, a modern growth partner trusted by leading consumer brands to deliver measurable, scalable growth.

A serial entrepreneur and investor, Warren co-founded his first internet company at 17, scaling it to reach 180M+ visitors annually, and has since bootstrapped multiple businesses to 8-figure revenue. Under Warren’s leadership, adQuadrant has become a recognized partner to Meta, Google, and TikTok, working hand-in-hand with platform leaders to test, adopt, and scale next-generation AI capabilities. He has deep expertise in MMM, incrementality testing, and AI-enabled creative optimization, making him a trusted voice for brands navigating the increasingly automated, AI-first media landscape.

He has been recognized on the Empact100 list for entrepreneurs under 30, received multiple Inc 500 placements, and was named a 40 Under 40 M&A Advisor Award winner, alongside being an active investor and advisor in 10+ companies and a partner in a venture fund focused on LA and Seattle-based startups.

Beyond business, he values family and the balance it brings to high-stakes leadership.

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Mic Fox

Mic

Fox

Speaker 2025


Bio coming soon.

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Wood Harris

Wood

Harris

Speaker 2025


Bio coming soon.

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Lisa Price

Lisa

Price

Speaker 2025


Lisa Price’s journey begins like that of many entrepreneurs—with curiosity and determination mixed with moments of panic and a resounding belief that products that were made with love and delivered on their promise would find their following. It was a company born of Price’s love for fragrance and a passion for scent alchemy that formed the foundation of her high-performing products.

Carol’s Daughter began in Price’s Brooklyn kitchen. With a career in TV production, mixing up fragrances, perfume sprays, and creams served as a creative outlet. It wasn’t long before Price began dabbling in aromatherapeutic oils, educating herself on their healing properties.

In 1993, Price, with the gentle nudge from her mother Carol, began to sell her products. With $100 in cash and a cramped kitchen, she crafted a collection that would become the foundation of a beauty empire. Selling her homespun concoctions at flea markets, and later out of her living room, favorable word-of-mouth began to spread for early iterations of Almond Cookie, Hair Milk, and Black Vanilla Hair Smoothie—all of which retain their cult status today.

“To name my company, I listed everything I was, and wanted to be, and realized the most special thing that I am, is Lisa, Carol’s daughter.”

Over the next few years, word spread, with celebrities like Jada Pinkett-Smith, Erykah Badu, Rosie Perez, and Halle Berry becoming loyal customers.

During the Obama administration, Price was appointed to the National Women’s Business Council, an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration, on economic issues that face female business owners.

Price was featured in the film She Did That (2019) and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Black MBA Association’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2000), the Working Woman Magazine’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award (2001), and a Cosmetic Executive Women Achiever Award (2010). She is also the author of “Success Never Smelled So Sweet,” a memoir that chronicles her transformation from a young Black woman deep in debt to president of a paradigm-changing business. Price is also a member of the Board of Directors for First Watch Restaurants (July 2020.)

In April 2021, Price and Carol’s Daughter partnered with the world-renown doula Latham Thomas and her foundation, The Mama Glow Foundation to launch Love Delivered, an initiative focused on raising awareness of the Black Maternal Health Crisis in the United States and the importance of advocates and doulas at the times when Black birthing people and babies are most vulnerable—before, during and after birth. Love Delivered is working to positively impact the lives of Black birthing people and babies by raising awareness about Black Maternal Health amongst 100 Million people and directly engaging 10,000 people to be advocates.

More than three decades later, even amid massive industry disruption, new company leadership, Carol’s Daughter continues to thrive and remain relevant in an industry where brands come and go as quickly as trends change. In March 2025, after a decade under the L’Oréal umbrella, Carol’s Daughter begins a new chapter under the leadership of its founder and new President, Lisa Price, alongside an independent beauty entrepreneur with a proven track record of acquiring and growing beauty brands, including Dermablend, AcneFree, Baxter of California and Ambi.

Price and her husband, Gordon, have three grown children and still live in Brooklyn. When she can find the time, Price enjoys going to the beach, reading, crocheting, knitting, and watching movies.

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Diamant Blazi

Diamant

Blazi

Speaker 2025


Diamant Blazi enters his second year with the Cold Hearts as one of the most explosive and eclectic players the league has ever seen. Blazi averaged 15.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 2.7 BPG per 40 minutes in 18 regular season appearances for the Cold Hearts in 2024-25. In the playoffs, Blazi averaged 1.0 BPG, which landed as the seventh most of any player in the postseason. Blazi’s best game of the playoffs came in Game 3 of the Semi-Finals, where he scored 13 points and pulled down seven boards in 25 minutes of action.

Prior to joining OTE, Blazi was a First Team All-State selection by the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association at Jordan Christian Prep in 2024. Before coming to the US, he played as an amateur for Roanne in the French LNB Espoirs League. In addition he also played for the 3×3 French National Team in 2022. On top of his basketball acumen, Blazi is also a star off the court with 3 million followers on Instagram and 7.4 million followers on TikTok.

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Lucinda Martinez

Lucinda

Martinez

Speaker 2025


Lucinda Martinez is a brand builder, culture shaper, and strategic marketer with more than 25 years of experience leading global media and entertainment brands, including HBO, HBO Latino, Netflix, and Comedy Central. She is known for pioneering multicultural marketing and launching award-winning campaigns for titles such as Game of Thrones, Insecure, The Wire, and The Defiant Ones. Over the course of her career, she has overseen portfolios generating more than $37 billion in revenue and managed marketing budgets up to $300 million.

She currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer at HarbourView Equity Partners, where she shapes the narrative around intellectual property as a cultural and financial asset, leading brand and marketing strategy across a portfolio that includes Mucho Mas Media, MACRO, and Usher’s 2024 concert film Rendezvous in Paris. In 2022, she founded The CultureShaker, a strategic marketing firm focused on audience-first, culturally aligned campaigns, which now operates as HarbourView’s first operating partner under its Create Platform.

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Monica Raye Simpson

Monica

Raye Simpson

Speaker 2025


Monica Raye Simpson is the Executive Director of SisterSong, the southern-based national Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Monica is a proud Black Queer Feminist born and raised in rural North Carolina and is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, a historically black university (HBCU). For nearly 20 years, Monica has been organizing for LGBTQ liberation, civil and human rights, and sexual and reproductive justice. As a creative and cultural strategist, Monica lives by the charge set by Nina Simone that says, “It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times” and is deeply committed to using the power of cultural organizing to educate the masses and dismantle systems of oppression. Monica is also a member of the Trust Web and has been committed to dismantling poverty mindsets and organizing across class to develop pathways for personal and systemic transformation around wealth. She is certified in “Power, Innovation & Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School and has been featured on major news outlets such as MSNBC, CNN and Democracy Now. Monica has received numerous awards for her innovative leadership including – Fast Company Queer 50 awardee, STATUS List awardee, being named a New Civil Rights Leader by Essence Magazine and being named as one of TIME 100’s most influential people of 2023.

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Charlene Polite Corley

Charlene

Polite Corley

Speaker 2025


Charlene Polite Corley combines data and storytelling to amplify the power of historically excluded audiences from women’s sports to Rural America.

As VP, Inclusive Insights at Nielsen, Charlene is the principal researcher for Black/African American audiences on the Business Impact, Inclusion & Belonging Thought Leadership Team. Her work showcases media trends and the influence of Black culture to highlight opportunities for brands and programmers to connect through inclusion.

Charlene brings over 15 years of experience in sales, client service and market research roles to her current role. As a thought leader, she has been featured on Good Morning America, Essence, AfroTech, Cannes Lions, SXSW and more.

Charlene is a proud graduate of Florida A&M University, wife, and mom of two.

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Imani Greene

Imani

Greene

Speaker 2025


Imani Greene, M.B.A. is the Founder and CEO of AAmplify MEDIA, a Washington, D.C.–based agency specializing in paid media strategy, influencer integration, and behavior change campaigns. With over 30 years of experience, she has led groundbreaking initiatives in public health, policy, advocacy, and consumer marketing.

Imani is recognized for directing some of the nation’s most visible campaigns, including the largest federal media buy in U.S. history—a $750 million effort to promote COVID-19 vaccinations. Her expertise spans every channel, from television and radio to programmatic, social, and influencer-driven activations, where she designs campaigns that move audiences to evaluate, and then reevaluate.

Widely respected for her strategic acumen and clarity of vision, Imani is a frequent speaker and trusted advisor, shaping conversations on media, culture, and impact across industries.

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