Event Speakers
Janice Cardinale
Founder,
Cardinale Creative & Events Minds Matter
Janice Cardinale is a heart-centric entrepreneur who founded Event Minds Matter in February of 2022. Her passion and advocacy around mental health and wellbeing comes from her own experiences with depression and her knowledge and experience with the changes required to Build Brave Spaces to Amplify the Industry’s Conversation on Mental Health and Wellness.
Janice manages a community of like-minded events and meeting professionals who want to make a difference. The goal is to create a new badge that has been stressful to one that reads, “the 1st Most Mentally Fit.” Janice began a campaign in the summer of 2023 called ‘Hello My Name is Human’. This has drawn a lot of attention from the industry and the media which is now being used to bring mandatory mental health training to the certification programs within the associations, online programming, and Colleges and Universities.
Janice maintains her role as the board chair for Seneca Polytechnic, Event Management and Creative Design program. She writes monthly for The Meeting Professional on wellness and has written for Smart Meetings. She is sponsored by Caesars Entertainment and Meetings as an ambassador of wellness.
She is the first Canadian to win 3 back to back awards in 2023 for 100 of the most influential people in the events industry, 50 most influential event professionals, and 50 of the most influential professionals in the US and Canada. Janice continues to climb mountains while making positive change in the event and meeting industries.
Sonia Satra
Soap Opera Star l Mind-body Coach l Motivational Speaker
Sonia Satra is a mindset and fitness thought leader who specializes in personal transformation  by integrating the mind, body, and emotion to create lasting change. The former star of Guiding Light and One Life to Live is now the founder and CEO of the award-winning wellness company Moticise, which she has shared around the globe helping people reach their own personal greatness.
As a certified coach, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) Practitioner, holistic health coach and group fitness instructor, Sonia regularly coaches business leaders, entrepreneurs, and others to improve mental health and wellness and foster better communication and productivity. Formerly, the president of the National Speakers Association NYC, Sonia also founded Women’s Empowerment Adventures, a company that combines coaching workshops with a physical challenge such as kayaking, trapeze, and rock-climbing. She continues to offer Adventures through Moticise, as well as keynotes, break-out sessions, and corporate presentations.
Sonia has presented at UPenn’s School of Positive Psychology, Goldman Sachs, Paychex, Cisco, Seamless, Bank of America, Verizon, FERC, Disney, United Healthcare, Women’s Leadership Training Conference, Global Wellness Conference, and others. Sonia has also been featured in Forbes, The New York Post, Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, CBS, ABC, Fox, the Examiner, Shape Magazine, Celebrity Parenting, Women Fitness, and other media. She also presented on the main stage at the 80,000- attended NBC4 Health & Fitness Expo in Washington, DC.
Melissa Sherwood
Culinary Instructor l Nutrition Counselor l Public Speaker
Melissa Sherwood is a seasoned public speaker on the topic of nutrition. She is passionate about food and its correlation to our ability to stave off illness, its health benefits and how a simple meal can bring people together. Melissa understands that what we eat – or don’t eat – impacts our overall health. She therefore strives to ensure people understand the value of proper nutrition and how to eat for their optimal health.
Twenty years ago, speaker Melissa Sherwood noticed the unfortunate direction our healthcare and food industries were heading.  She therefore sought to find healthy alternatives to ensure her family would thrive nutritionally. She is now a passionate expert on nutrition, sharing her knowledge as a Television & Radio Personality, Personal Chef, Nutrition Educator, and Culinary Instructor.
As a speaker Melissa Sherwood combines years of experience on television and syndicated radio with her unique approach to health.  She has successfully launched two food & health based companies: Deliciously Nutritious, Inc. and her non-profit, Feed a Healthy Mind.  She is credited with helping thousands of children and families have access to healthy foods, being a pioneer in the childhood nutrition/cooking movement and is renowned for her positive, loving, upbeat Food Adventurer mantra.
David Stevens
Co-founder,
Olympian Meeting
David Stevens is a 20-year veteran planner and 5x Fittest Male #EventProf, an honor achieved by topping the occupational leaderboard of the annual CrossFit Games Open. He has planned meetings, events and incentives for media, live entertainment, agency, association and corporate organizations. Dave has a Delos Wellness for Meetings and Event Certificate, he is Pandemic Meeting Event Design certified, and he has been recognized by a number of industry organizations for his contributions to improving wellness in the sector. He credits his ability to create memorable experiences for event attendees to the clarity he gleans from workouts and mental breaks. He is the cofounder of event-wellness consulting firm Olympian Meeting — where he co-authored, along with a medical doctor and nutrition coach, a white paper on the increased ROI that can result from incorporating wellness elements into a meeting.
He also hosts a web series called Return on Wellness. Find him on LinkedIn @davidTstevens.
