During the summer of 2011, Jess Ekstrom participated in an internship at a wish-granting organization for kids with life-threatening illnesses. She discovered that a lot of kids losing their hair to chemotherapy loved to wear headbands after hair loss, but they were only given wigs and hats.
Armed with inspiration, she spent her junior year at North Carolina State University developing her company, Headbands of Hope. For every item sold, a headband is given to a child with cancer. By the time she graduated, she had donated thousands of headbands to kids with cancer and was elected to give the commencement speech at her graduation to 20,000 people.
Along with her business, her message started to spread across America. Jess focuses on increasing workplace engagement and employee empowerment through meaningful work and establishing a healthy relationship with failure.
Today, Headbands of Hope is in over 2,000 stores across the United States and Canada including Ulta and Justice. They’ve been featured on the TODAY Show, Forbes, Seventeen, Vanity Fair, People Magazine, Good Morning America and the headbands have been worn and supported by numerous celebrities. But their biggest accomplishment has been donating over 350,000 headbands to every children’s hospital in America and across 15 countries.
The company has launched impact initiatives such as hosting proms at children’s hospitals and starting their headBAND Together program where they partner with a childhood cancer charity and donate proceeds from sales to their mission. They’ve also joined hands with art therapy by having the patients create their own headbands with the flower crown kits they provide.
Jess was named the Women’s Health Magazine Ultimate Game Changer in 2017 and was also honored as the Most Outstanding Alumni of NC State University. Jess is also a professional speaker and has a book coming out with Harper Collins in November 2019.
She believes that you shouldn’t have to choose between making a living and making a difference and is passionate about helping others find those collision points in order to live a more fun and purposeful life.
Zitty was born in Swaziland, southern Africa, and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina with her family when she was 4 years old. She grew up passionate about authenticity, stories, connection, and leadership, and has worked in a number of sectors including higher education, nonprofit, and finance. No matter the role, every position has led her back to those same passions. They now serve as the foundation for Deftable®, LLC.
In 2016, Zitty was recognized as one of the Triad Business Journal’s 40 Leaders Under 40, and received a full scholarship to attend Google’s Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) in New York, NY. Her SIYLI experience strengthened her ability to approach inner development and authentic leadership as the convergence of emotional intelligence (EQ), mindfulness, and neuroscience.
As a freelance writer, Zitty’s work has been featured in several publications including O.Henry Magazine, Triad City Beat, Black Business Ink Magazine, Huffington Post, and the International Association of Women (IAW) blog. She has also authored speeches, op-eds, and research-based web content on a variety of topics including leadership, spirituality, addiction recovery, and culture.
Zitty has danced with the E. Gwynn Dance Company of NCA&TSU for over 15 years. She earned her B.S. in Business Management from Guilford College, her M.A. in Communication Studies from UNC-Greensboro, and her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from NC A&T State University.
Alisha Wielfaert is a Leadership, Life and Creativity coach who lives by the motto “We rise by lifting others”. She is the creator of the Yoke and Abundance Wise Women Wednesday interviews, Panels and podcast.
Alisha spent 11 years as an award-winning internal wholesaler in the life insurance industry. Early in her career in corporate America Alisha became a 500-hour certified yoga teacher and founded Greensboro Downtown Yoga.
While juggling a successful full-time job and running her own business Alisha discovered the tools she used to spark creative endeavors and bring mindfulness into her days were the very tools that made her most successful in all other aspects of her life. In 2017 Alisha left corporate America to her coaching business Yoke and Abundance. Alisha is an avid traveler, writer and speaker who enjoys working with anyone who has a propensity to take action towards their dreams.
Donna Warrick is President of Jamesson Solutions, Inc. With 20+ years in training and development, she brings solid experience facilitating programs for team development, leadership development, change management, conflict management and presentation skills to name a few. Her dynamic, interactive style makes being in her programs both educational and enjoyable.
Her desire to help people be their best drives her to continually learn and improver her own craft. She feels most satisfied when months or years later she sees a past participant who shares what a difference her work has made in their work and personal life.
Education and Career: After attending Appalachian State University, Donna began her career in sales but soon discovered her true passion was developing others to be better in their roles and as leaders. As an independent consultant and facilitator, she has worked with organizations from small, family-owned businesses to Global Fortune 100 companies. Her clients represent most business sectors including the consumer products, heavy manufacturing, telecommunications, chemical, biotechnology, real estate, transportation, and financial industries.
Interests: A resident of Greensboro, NC, Donna is married to her college sweetheart; together they have 3 children ages 30, 28, and 13. Although the two oldest are out of the nest, she still stays quite busy with the youngest child who is involved in soccer, boy scouts and swimming. Donna is also an avid tennis player and loves to compete. Being passionate about helping others, she volunteers her time at her church, St. Francis Episcopal.
