Storytelling & Business Communication

Why organisations work with Tahl Raz The frameworks Raz presents aren’t drawn from his interpretation of others’ research. Rather, he co-constructed them, working directly with the FBI hostage negotiator, the CEO performance researchers, and the business practitioners behind three of the most widely read business books of the past two decades. The CEO Next Door, which Raz co-authored based on analysis of more than 17,000 CEO and C-suite assessments, gives boards and senior leadership teams a data-validated model for identifying and developing executive talent, not one built on anecdote or convention. Never Split the Difference has sold more than five million copies and been translated into over 40 languages, which reflects genuine market validation of the negotiation system Raz helped shape. It is now embedded in corporate training programmes globally. Never Eat Alone is used as a textbook in MBA programmes worldwide, making Raz a source-level contributor to how the next generation of executives is taught to build professional relationships and organisational influence. His background as an award-winning business journalist gives him an ability to take complex behavioural research and make it immediately actionable in a room – a skill that is structurally different from the researchers and practitioners who generated the underlying work. Biography highlights Co-author of Never Split the Difference with former FBI lead hostage negotiator Chris Voss, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, 5 million+ copies sold, translated into 40+ languages Co-author of Never Eat Alone with Keith Ferrazzi, New York Times bestseller, adopted as an MBA textbook in business schools worldwide Co-author of The CEO Next Door with Elena Botelho and Kim Powell, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller; CMI Management Book of the Year 2019; based on analysis of more than 17,000 CEO and C-suite assessments; research published as an HBR cover story Award-winning journalist published in Inc., GQ, Harvard Business Review, and the Jerusalem Post Former CEO of MyGreenLight (online education), Chief Content Officer, and founder and editor-in-chief of Jewcy Media Degree in Philosophy, Vassar College Biography The prevailing models for negotiation and leadership development share a common flaw: they were built on theory, intuition, and case studies drawn from a narrow slice of experience. What changes the conversation is evidence. Evidence from 20 years of hostage negotiation under life-or-death conditions, from a decade of performance data on 17,000 executives, from the social science of how professional relationships actually generate career capital. Tahl Raz has spent his career working at the intersection of that evidence and the people who need to act on it. Raz co-authored Never Split the Difference with Chris Voss, former lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, translating a field-tested system developed in extreme-pressure environments into a framework that business leaders and sales teams now use worldwide. The book has sold more than five million copies and been translated into over 40 languages – a scale of adoption that reflects the practical utility of what the negotiation system actually delivers, not just the appeal of the source material. His work on The CEO Next Door, developed with researchers Elena Botelho and Kim Powell, draws on analysis of more than 17,000 CEO and C-suite assessments to identify the four behaviours that statistically separate executives who reach and sustain top performance from those who plateau. The research – published as a cover article in the May-June 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review – overturns widely held assumptions about pedigree, charisma, and the shape of a successful executive career. The book won CMI Management Book of the Year 2019. Before these collaborations, Raz co-authored Never Eat Alone with Keith Ferrazzi, a study of professional networking and relationship capital that remains in use as an MBA textbook in business programmes globally. His journalism has appeared in Inc., GQ, Harvard Business Review, and the Jerusalem Post. That background – knowing how to extract what is genuinely new in a body of research and make it land for a senior audience – is what distinguishes his platform: he is not interpreting these frameworks from the outside, he helped build them. Key speaking topics Negotiation strategy and behavioural influence Executive leadership behaviours and CEO performance Professional relationship capital and network strategy Storytelling and leadership communication Organisational decision-making under pressure Career development and leadership advancement The future of work and professional influence Ideal for C-suite and senior executive audiences in leadership development or strategic offsites CHROs and talent leaders building executive assessment or succession frameworks Sales leadership and commercial teams focused on high-stakes negotiation Boards and governance teams examining executive performance and leadership pipeline Audience outcomes A working understanding of the negotiation tactics developed in FBI hostage situations and how they apply in commercial and leadership contexts Clarity on the four behaviours; decisiveness, engaging for impact, relentless reliability, bold adaptation which CEO performance data identifies as the genuine predictors of executive success A reframed view of professional networking as a deliberate, structured strategic practice rather than a social variable Practical approaches for improving persuasion, communication, and influence in high-pressure conversations Sharper criteria for evaluating leadership potential – their own or others’ – against evidence rather than convention

Why organisations work with Rohit Bassi Three decades of cross-cultural coaching across 21 countries, with named engagements at Oracle, Honeywell, Canon, the World Bank, HSBC and KPMG. A communication method built around four operating disciplines, courage, clarity, conviction and compassion, that gives leaders a usable structure for difficult conversations rather than a generic communication framework. A Gulf-based perspective on executive presence that translates between Western corporate norms and Middle Eastern, South Asian and Southeast Asian leadership cultures, useful for organisations with distributed senior teams. A combined practitioner record as keynote speaker, sales communication coach and author of Living Through Self Compassion, allowing him to work credibly with both commercial leaders and people leaders in the same organisation. Biography highlights Founder of ROI Talks, the coaching and training practice he established in Dubai. Author of Living Through Self Compassion (2019) and contributing author of Success Mastery alongside Jack Canfield (2018). TEDx speaker and Senior Level Executive Contributor at Brainz Magazine. Member of the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors. Three decades of speaking, coaching and training experience across more than 21 countries. Named client engagements include Oracle, Honeywell, the World Bank, Canon, HSBC, KPMG, Harley-Davidson and Armani Hotels & Resorts. Biography Most leaders are not promoted for how they communicate. They are promoted in spite of it, and only at the senior level does the cost become obvious. Boards lose patience. Sales teams stop closing. Talent quietly leaves. ROI Talks, the practice Rohit Bassi founded in Dubai, was built to address that specific gap. His method is structured around four operating disciplines, courage, clarity, conviction and compassion, drawn from a long study of mindfulness and applied to the conversations leaders actually have. The work covers executive presence, persuasion under pressure, conflict that has become organisational, and the daily communication habits that either build or erode trust over time. He has worked across more than 21 countries with named clients including Oracle, Honeywell, the World Bank, Canon, HSBC and KPMG. His book Living Through Self Compassion sets out the personal story behind the method, a return from depression and self-sabotage to a working philosophy of communication. He is also a contributing author of Success Mastery alongside Jack Canfield and a TEDx speaker. What sets the offer apart is the geography and the register. He coaches senior leaders fluently across Western, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures, and writes regularly as an Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine. For organisations with distributed leadership teams, that cross-cultural read on executive presence is not common in the category. Key speaking topics Leadership communication and executive presence Persuasion and influence in high-stakes conversations Mindful communication and emotional intelligence Sales communication for senior leaders Conflict, difficult conversations and trust repair Resilience and self-leadership under pressure Public speaking for executives Ideal for CEOs, business unit heads and senior leaders preparing for board, investor or all-hands communication Sales leadership and commercial teams in high-stakes B2B environments Heads of L&D, talent and executive development commissioning leadership communication programmes Senior leadership teams in multinational and Gulf-based organisations with cross-cultural workforces Audience outcomes A clearer language for the four disciplines that drive credibility, courage, clarity, conviction and compassion Specific tools for high-stakes conversations: persuasion, conflict, trust repair and assertive listening A more honest read on where their own communication erodes trust, and what to change first A working approach to composure under pressure that they can apply the next working day

Why organisations work with Larry Jacobson A source experience that is independently documented and book-published. The six-year voyage, the 40 countries, the tsunami in Thailand, the pirate threat in the Gulf of Aden are not rhetorical devices, they are a verifiable record audiences can read after the keynote. Direct translation between an extreme personal undertaking and the corporate context he left to begin it. Jacobson ran a company before he sailed, and speaks to commercial audiences with the cadence of someone who has carried a P&L. A specific argument that fear is a workable variable, not a problem to be removed. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of how to act while still afraid, rather than waiting for the fear to subside. A track record with mainstream corporate and financial-services audiences, including Northwestern Mutual, Investment & Wealth Institute, and Retirement Coaches Association, alongside two TEDx platforms. Biography highlights Six-year circumnavigation by sailboat, 40,000+ nautical miles, 40 countries visited. Author of The Boy Behind the Gate, an Amazon best-seller and award-winning memoir of the voyage. Two-time TEDx speaker: TEDx Golden Gate (“Passion Trumps Fear”) and TEDx Youth (“Passion, Priorities, and Perseverance”). Additional books include What’s Your Encore? A Step-by-Step Guide to Retiring with Purpose and Fulfillment, Beyond the Meeting Room: A Practical Guide to Mastering Communication in a Remote World, and Navigating Entrepreneurship: 11 Proven Keys to Success, with companion video programmes (Sail Into Retirement, Navigating Entrepreneurship) hosted at Buoy Training. Certified World Class Speaking Coach, the credential awarded through the 12-week certification programme run by 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking Craig Valentine. Keynote and coaching clients include Northwestern Mutual, Investment & Wealth Institute, Retirement Coaches Association, InVision, The Henderson Group, Hill Physicians, CASE District VII. Biography Most leadership content is written for the crisis. The harder problem is the long stretch in between, when conditions stay difficult, fear becomes ambient, and the easy decision is to retreat or wait. Jacobson’s material is built for that stretch. He spent six years sailing around the world after running World Class Incentives, a corporate incentive and meeting planning business. The voyage covered 40,000 nautical miles and 40 countries, and included the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and a transit through the Gulf of Aden during a live piracy threat. The book that followed, The Boy Behind the Gate, became an Amazon best-seller and the spine of his speaking practice. The argument he builds from that experience is practical. Fear is a workable variable in any sustained undertaking, not an obstacle to be removed before starting. Audiences hear how to make decisions while afraid, how to sustain conviction over months rather than minutes, and how to finish a long commitment that no one else can see the end of. He has spoken twice on the TEDx platform and works regularly with corporate, financial-services, and association audiences, including Northwestern Mutual, Investment & Wealth Institute, and the Retirement Coaches Association. His retirement work extends beyond the keynote into What’s Your Encore?, a step-by-step retirement guide, and Sail Into Retirement, the structured video programme advisers use with clients. His other books include Beyond the Meeting Room on remote-world communication and Navigating Entrepreneurship. He is a Certified World Class Speaking Coach, a credential earned through the programme run by 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking Craig Valentine. Key speaking topics Resilience and decision-making under sustained pressure Fear management in leadership Perseverance through long commitments Personal reinvention and career transition Goal-setting and execution Retirement and second-career planning Communication and presentation skills for senior audiences Ideal for Sales kick-offs and annual corporate off-sites where the brief is morale and conviction, not analytical content Financial-services and wealth-management association audiences working on client retirement and life-stage conversations Leadership teams entering a long restructuring or turnaround, where the work will outlast the initial mandate Audience outcomes A direct, named framework for acting while afraid, rather than waiting for confidence to arrive first. A clearer view of what sustains conviction over months of difficult conditions, drawn from a six-year first-person example. Permission to take a personally difficult decision they have been deferring, supported by a specific story rather than abstract encouragement.

Why organisations work with Malaika Vaz She has gone undercover inside wildlife trafficking networks across India, Myanmar and China, and can speak to environmental crime as a live operational and reputational risk, not a policy abstraction. Her documentary Sacrifice Zone, made in association with the National Geographic Society, reported pollution exposure across New Delhi, Dhaka, Baton Rouge and La Guajira, giving boards a concrete picture of what fenceline impact looks like in four very different jurisdictions. She has built Untamed Planet into a production house whose work reaches National Geographic, BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, PBS and ARTE France audiences in more than 150 countries, which means her storytelling is calibrated for global, non-specialist viewers, not insiders. The credentials are independently verified: Wildscreen Panda Award for On-Screen Talent (2024), Forbes 30 Under 30 North America 2025, Earthshot Prize Advocate, and UNEP recognition as one of six environmentalists changing the world. For a sustainability or risk audience used to consultants, she offers something different: a reporter who has been in the room with traffickers, regulators and affected communities, and can connect those scenes to the decisions executives are making. Biography highlights National Geographic Explorer and presenter; films broadcast on National Geographic, BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, PBS and ARTE France in more than 150 countries. Co-founder and creative director of Untamed Planet, an independent documentary production company. Wildscreen Panda Award for On-Screen Talent, 2024 Wildscreen Festival, Bristol, for Sacrifice Zone. Forbes 30 Under 30 North America 2025, Media category. Earthshot Prize Advocate; named by UNEP as one of six environmentalists changing the world. Presenter of On the Brink (Discovery Channel and Animal Planet) and Living with Predators (National Geographic), and lead reporter on Peng Yu Sai, a Green Oscar-nominated investigation into the illegal manta ray trade. Biography Manta rays were disappearing from the waters off the coast of Goa. Tracing why led Malaika Vaz, on camera and undercover as a seafood trader, from Indian fishing vessels to the Indo-Myanmar border and into the wildlife trafficking hubs of Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The resulting documentary, Peng Yu Sai, was nominated for a Green Oscar and aired on National Geographic India. That is the kind of reporting Vaz does. As a National Geographic Explorer and co-founder of the documentary production company Untamed Planet, she has built a body of work focused on environmental crime, industrial pollution and the human-wildlife interface. Her films have been broadcast on National Geographic, BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, PBS and ARTE France, reaching audiences in more than 150 countries. Her 2024 documentary Sacrifice Zone, produced with the National Geographic Society, examined the human cost of industrial pollution in New Delhi, Dhaka, Baton Rouge and La Guajira. It won the Wildscreen Panda Award for On-Screen Talent at the 2024 Wildscreen Festival in Bristol. She has also presented Living with Predators, a three-part National Geographic series on coexistence with India’s big cats, and On the Brink for Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 North America list in 2025, in the Media category. She is an Earthshot Prize Advocate and was named by the United Nations Environment Programme as one of six environmentalists changing the world. For an executive audience, the value she brings is specific: an investigator who has stood inside the trafficking routes, fenceline communities and ecosystems that sit underneath their environmental and supply chain risk reports. Key speaking topics Environmental crime and illicit wildlife trade Industrial pollution and frontline community impact Supply chain exposure to environmental risk Investigative environmental journalism Biodiversity and human-wildlife coexistence Documentary storytelling for non-specialist audiences Field reporting in fragile and high-risk environments Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers, ESG leads and risk committees responsible for environmental and supply chain exposure Boards and executive teams setting climate, biodiversity and human rights priorities Communications, brand and public affairs leaders translating environmental commitments into credible external narrative Investor and asset management forums focused on natural capital, biodiversity and climate-related disclosure Audience outcomes A clearer picture of how wildlife trafficking and environmental crime intersect with global supply chains Specific case material from frontline reporting in India, Myanmar, China, the United States and Latin America A sharper sense of where ESG narratives diverge from on-the-ground reality, and what that means for credibility A working model for using storytelling and visual evidence to move non-specialist stakeholders Renewed urgency, grounded in named places and named systems, not abstract climate framing

Why organisations work with Gabrielle Walker Her perspective on carbon removal comes from inside the market. She co-built CUR8, which sources and vets removal credits for corporate buyers, and Rethinking Removals, which shapes standards alongside the UNFCCC – giving her direct sight of which approaches are credible, durable, and scalable, and which are not. She addresses the most contested part of any corporate net zero strategy: the removal of residual emissions that cannot be cut, and how to handle it without regulatory or reputational exposure. Where most climate speakers argue for urgency, she argues for precision – helping senior teams distinguish between carbon removal approaches that will survive investor and legal scrutiny and those that carry long-term risk. Her four books on climate science include The Hot Topic, co-authored with Sir David King, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, described by Al Gore on the TED.com platform as “a beacon of clarity” – a scientific credibility that goes beyond most ESG commentators. She has facilitated sessions at COP26 and COP27 in partnership with the UNFCCC, and delivered keynote addresses to organisations including AstraZeneca, BP, KPMG, and Lazard – giving her an uncommon understanding of where corporate intent meets policy reality. Biography highlights PhD in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University; has taught at Cambridge and Princeton Co-founder of CUR8 (for-profit carbon removal market maker) and Rethinking Removals (non-profit in partnership with UNFCCC Climate Champions) TED speaker; main talk “What You Need to Know About Carbon Removal” (TED.com, 2022) Author of four books including The Hot Topic, co-authored with Sir David King, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Former Climate Change Editor at Nature; former Features Editor at New Scientist Contributor to The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times; BBC radio and television presenter Biography Every credible net zero pathway now requires carbon removal – not as an optional extra, but as a scientific necessity. Most corporate climate strategies have yet to reckon with what that means in practice. The gap between what the science requires and what organisations are actually building is where Gabrielle Walker works. Walker has a PhD from Cambridge University. She spent more than a decade at the editorial centre of climate science – first as Climate Change Editor at Nature, then as Features Editor at New Scientist. Her four books – including The Hot Topic, co-authored with UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King – have brought the science of climate to boardroom-level audiences. Her 2022 TED talk on carbon removal extended that reach to a mainstream global audience. She co-founded two organisations that sit inside the carbon removal ecosystem rather than describing it from the outside. Rethinking Removals works in partnership with the UNFCCC Climate Champions to put carbon dioxide removal on the policy agenda. CUR8 helps corporations source vetted removal credits and build portfolios that are scientifically sound and commercially realistic. The combination – active policy work, scientific credibility, and commercial market-building in one practitioner – is unusual in this space. At board level, the questions she addresses are precise: which removal approaches are durable enough to withstand regulatory scrutiny, which carry reputational risk, and how a corporate climate commitment should be structured to remain defensible over time. Her work is not about inspiring broad action on climate. It is about helping organisations close the gap between a pledge and a plan that will hold. Key speaking topics Carbon removal and net zero strategy Corporate climate commitments and credibility ESG strategy and carbon markets Energy transition Climate risk and regulatory scrutiny Science communication for business leaders Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and heads of ESG developing or defending net zero commitments CFOs and investment officers evaluating climate-related financial risk and carbon credit exposure Boards and executive leadership teams navigating regulatory change in corporate climate strategy Conference organisers seeking a credible moderator for high-level climate, energy, or sustainability debates Audience outcomes A working understanding of what carbon removal is, why it is necessary for net zero, and which approaches are scientifically credible The ability to distinguish between carbon removal strategies that will hold investor and regulatory scrutiny and those that carry reputational risk A clearer framework for evaluating the strength of corporate climate commitments – their own and those of suppliers, partners, and competitors More precise questions to ask of climate advisers, carbon credit providers, and internal sustainability teams A more accurate view of where the carbon removal market stands today and what organisations need to do to stay ahead of it

Why organisations work with Shola Kaye Her Emotional Audacity™ framework reframes empathy as an organisational capability – not a personal virtue – giving leaders a structured approach to courageous communication that is immediately applicable in high-pressure, high-stakes environments She holds an unusual credibility position: a Cambridge and Emory-trained scientist who also performed professionally on four continents. That combination makes her content land differently with technical and analytical audiences who typically resist people-skills programming Her work addresses a gap that DEI programmes and EQ training often miss separately: the intersection of speaking up, psychological safety, and inclusive communication as a single, integrated practice Her two published books and LinkedIn Learning instructor role mean buyers are extending into a content ecosystem, not just a single keynote She has worked across the full range of organisational contexts – from board-level at institutions including The United Nations and Deloitte to company-wide culture programmes – with consistent evidence of rebooking Biography highlights BA Natural Sciences, Cambridge University; PGCE, Oxford University; MSc Analytical Chemistry / Neuropharmacology, Emory University, with postgraduate research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Early career in IT management consulting with clients including Goldman Sachs and Prudential Assurance, followed by account director roles in aviation and finance Professional entertainer and jazz singer; performed on four continents including BBC appearances Author of How to be a D.I.V.A. at Public Speaking (Amazon.com #1 bestseller) and Big Talk, Small Talk and Everything in Between (Callisto Media, 2020) Winner of the Jenny Seagrove Speaking Award (2016); Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), Toastmasters International; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) Regular contributor to Management Today, HR Zone, and People Management; featured in Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Forbes, and BBC; TEDx speaker on empathy in the workplace Biography Shola Kaye spent her early career moving between worlds that rarely overlap: neuroscience research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, management consulting at investment banks in New York and London, and professional performance on stages across four continents. That trajectory is not a curiosity: it is the basis of her work. She understands analytically rigorous environments, the dynamics of corporate invisibility, and what it takes to hold a room. The core tension she addresses is one that organisations consistently underinvest in: the gap between stated inclusion values and the actual behavioural competencies required to make them real. Most people, even experienced leaders, struggle to give honest feedback, speak up under pressure, or navigate difficult conversations without defensiveness. Kaye’s Emotional Audacity™ framework names this gap explicitly: combining empathy, self-regulation, and courageous communication into a single, teachable practice. Her two books and a TEDx talk on workplace empathy establish the intellectual architecture behind the keynotes. Her contributors to Management Today, HR Zone, and People Management position her as a credible voice in the professional management conversation, not only on the conference circuit. Clients including The United Nations, Deloitte, HSBC, Google, and IBM have rebooked or extended her programmes into training formats, evidence that the content holds beyond a single session. What makes Kaye distinctive in a crowded DEI and communication space is the precise nature of her argument: that empathy, done seriously, is not a softening of leadership but a structural condition for high performance. For organisations navigating transformation, hybrid work, or underrepresentation challenges, that reframe tends to land where other approaches have not. Key speaking topics Empathy at work Inclusive leadership Psychological safety and communication Emotional intelligence Courageous workplace communication Diversity, equity and belonging People-first culture Feedback and difficult conversations Ideal for CHROs and People Directors building cultures where psychological safety is a practical reality, not an aspiration Leadership development programmes targeting mid-to-senior leaders managing diverse, distributed, or technically-oriented teams Organisations running DEI initiatives that need to move beyond awareness into behavioural change International Women’s Day and women’s leadership events where communication confidence and visibility are the focus Audience outcomes A named framework (Emotional Audacity™) for integrating empathy, courageous communication, and inclusive behaviour into daily leadership practice Practical tools for navigating difficult conversations, delivering constructive feedback, and creating environments where people feel safe to speak up Greater understanding of the structural conditions – not just the personal attitudes – that determine whether inclusion is felt in practice Specific techniques for communicating with clarity and impact, particularly for those in technical, analytical, or STEM-rooted working environments Renewed understanding of how communication behaviours at the manager level directly affect team performance, retention, and innovation output

Why organisations work with Jamie Siminoff He has the full founder arc on the record: invented a product category in a garage, pitched it on national television and walked out without a deal, rebuilt from near-bankruptcy, and sold to Amazon for about 1 billion dollars. He has run the acquired business inside Big Tech, giving buyers a rare view of what integration, reporting lines, and product autonomy look like after a landmark exit. He has repeated the cycle: founded Honest Day’s Work, sold it to Latch Inc., took the CEO seat at the acquirer, then returned to Amazon as a VP running Ring and adjacent smart home units. Most speakers have one exit story; he has a sequence. The Shark Tank rejection is specific and documented, which makes the resilience material credible rather than motivational. It is cited by the Sharks themselves as one of the biggest misses in the show’s history. He co-authored “Ding Dong: How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject to Everyone’s Front Door” with Andrew Postman, published in November 2025, which gives buyers a named, durable reference point for the material. Biography highlights Founder and original CEO of Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018 for approximately 1 billion dollars. Pitched DoorBot on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2013 and left without a deal; returned to the show as a guest Shark in 2018. Earlier founder of PhoneTag, the first voicemail to text service, and Unsubscribe.com, both acquired. Founder of Honest Day’s Work, acquired by Latch Inc. in 2023; subsequently appointed CEO of Latch. Rejoined Amazon in 2025 as Vice President running Ring and related smart home businesses, leading a pivot to AI. Babson College, Class of 1999, and Honorary Doctor of Laws from Babson in 2021, where he delivered the undergraduate commencement address. Co-author with Andrew Postman of “Ding Dong: How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject to Everyone’s Front Door,” published November 2025. Biography Ring began as DoorBot, a Wi-Fi video doorbell built in a garage in 2011. By 2013 it was on Shark Tank, where every investor passed. The company was close to running out of money. Seven years later, Amazon bought it for roughly 1 billion dollars. That arc is the material Siminoff brings to the stage, and he brings it with the receipts. The more useful part of the story for serious operators is what happened between the rejection and the exit. Siminoff rebuilt the product and the brand, raised from Kleiner Perkins, Qualcomm Ventures, Goldman Sachs, DFJ Growth and Sir Richard Branson, and built Ring into a category defining consumer technology business. After the Amazon acquisition he stayed inside the company for five years, running Ring alongside Blink, Amazon Key and adjacent smart home lines. Most founder talks stop at the exit. His continues through integration. He has since extended the pattern. He founded Honest Day’s Work, sold it to Latch Inc. in 2023, stepped in as Latch’s CEO, and in 2025 rejoined Amazon as a Vice President running Ring and nearby smart home units, now pivoting the category toward AI. In November 2025 he published “Ding Dong” with Andrew Postman, the first full account of how Ring actually got built. A Babson graduate and Honorary Doctor of Laws from the same institution, he is one of a small group of founders who can speak to rejection, category creation, acquisition, and re-entry as connected stages of one working life. Key speaking topics Consumer technology product invention and category creation Scaling from prototype to acquisition Founder resilience through investor rejection Operating an acquired business inside Big Tech Smart home, connected devices, and AI in consumer hardware Brand building in hardware startups Hiring and team building in early stage companies Ideal for Founders, CEOs and product leaders in consumer technology and connected hardware Corporate innovation, strategy and M and A teams working on acquisition integration Investor audiences and startup ecosystems running portfolio or founder programmes Entrepreneurship centres and executive education audiences in business schools Audience outcomes A concrete, non-generic view of what it takes to get a hardware startup from prototype to billion-dollar exit. A working model for how to treat a high-profile rejection as distribution rather than a verdict. Specific insight into how an acquired category runs inside a company like Amazon, and what that means for teams going through similar integrations. A clear read on where consumer smart home and home security technology are heading as AI becomes the core layer of the product. Hiring and early team construction principles drawn from building Ring from a Craigslist hire list to a company sold for 1 billion dollars.

Why organisations work with Raheela Mahomed A working anchor’s interview discipline applied to corporate panels: senior speakers get pressed cleanly on the questions an audience actually wants answered, without the host losing the room. Subject fluency across digital transformation, climate and sustainability, geopolitics and DEI, built from live news coverage rather than a single specialism, useful for agendas that span more than one track. International newsroom credibility from Al Jazeera English, CNN International and DW News, including a co-presented Emmy-nominated programme, NewsGrid, that translates immediately for global audiences. A studio operator who can hold a live, multi-camera broadcast format on stage, demonstrated on SAP’s Sapphire Now and at the Future of Media Leaders Summit in Doha. Biography highlights News anchor, Deutsche Welle (DW News), Berlin, since 2021; presenter of hourly bulletins and DW News Africa. Eight years at Al Jazeera English in Doha, anchoring the flagship Newshour and serving as Indonesia correspondent. Co-presenter and producer of NewsGrid, Al Jazeera English’s interactive news programme, International Emmy nominee in News, 2018. Earlier roles at CNN International, including contribution to the launch of the CNN Freedom Project on human trafficking. Current contributor to BBC World News on Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, and Iran. Conference host and moderator for SAP’s Sapphire Now and the Future of Media Leaders Summit, Doha; UN conference speaker at Shoko Festival Hub in Harare. BA Journalism, University of Westminster; MA International Public Policy, University College London; BRIT School alumna. Biography A live news desk is the closest professional analogue to a complex corporate stage. Both demand fluency across unfamiliar subjects, the ability to ask a sharper question than was scripted, and the composure to keep an audience inside a story that could otherwise unravel. Raheela Mahomed has worked that desk for more than a decade. Her anchoring career runs through three of the major international broadcasters. At CNN International she covered the 2012 Olympics, the Arab Spring and Egypt’s elections, and contributed to the launch of the CNN Freedom Project on human trafficking. From 2012 to 2020 she was based in Doha for Al Jazeera English, presenting the flagship Newshour, serving as Indonesia correspondent, and co-presenting NewsGrid, an interactive news show nominated for an International Emmy in News in 2018. Since 2021 she has been a news anchor at Deutsche Welle in Berlin, hosting hourly English-language bulletins and DW News Africa across the pandemic, Sudan, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the war in Ukraine. She also contributes to BBC World News on Israel and Gaza and on Iran. The same instincts carry into corporate work: hosting SAP’s Sapphire Now in 2021, moderating Digital Transformation at the Future of Media Leaders Summit in Doha, and speaking on the future of broadcasting at the UN’s Shoko Festival Hub in Harare. Her academic grounding is in international public policy, with a master’s from UCL on top of a journalism degree from the University of Westminster and time at the BRIT School. The combination matters at the front of a room: enough policy literacy to chase a serious answer, enough broadcast technique to keep the show moving when a panellist runs long. Key speaking topics Conference hosting and emcee Panel moderation Digital transformation Climate and sustainability International affairs and geopolitics Diversity, equity and inclusion Future of broadcasting and media Ideal for Corporate summits and customer conferences needing a credible main-stage host across a multi-track agenda. Communications, marketing and corporate affairs teams running flagship industry events with senior external speakers. ESG, sustainability and DEI forums where panel discussion needs to be pressed harder than a friendly chair would. Internal leadership town halls and global all-hands where a working broadcast anchor can hold a live format on camera. Audience outcomes A main-stage event that holds shape across keynotes, panels and Q&A, with timing kept and senior speakers asked the questions the audience came for. Panel sessions that surface the actual disagreement on stage rather than a round of prepared statements. A broadcast-grade hosting register suitable for streamed, hybrid and on-camera formats, not only in-room. Coverage of digital, geopolitical and sustainability sessions by a host with the literacy to follow the substance, not only the script.

Why organisations work with Nina Moghaddam Two decades of live broadcast and corporate event hosting across Super RTL, RTL, RTLZWEI, ProSieben, VOX, Sat.1 and WDR, including current presentation of Lokalzeit OWL and the consumer affairs programme Servicezeit on WDR. Fluent in six languages (German, English, French, Spanish, Farsi and Mandarin), which means she can hold a multilingual room without flipping to translation. Particularly useful for international audiences and for German-Persian programmes. A corporate moderation portfolio across automotive, FMCG, foundation and public-sector clients. Includes Audi, Porsche, MAN, FERRERO, the Liz Mohn Stiftung at Bertelsmann (Zeitenwende on tour) and the City of Cologne (Viva la Green). A personal sustainability practice running back to 2014 (her HappyAndFitDIY YouTube channel, focused on homemade sustainable beauty products), which gives her honest footing on climate-themed agendas without playing the substantive expert. Works as a Moderationstrainerin, coaching others in presentation and moderation craft. For internal events, this means she can prep speakers and panel chairs ahead of the day, not only host the room. Biography highlights Current presenter of Lokalzeit OWL on WDR (since February 2024) and Servicezeit on WDR (since 2025). Two-decade run as a presenter on Super RTL, RTL and RTLZWEI, including Toggo TV, WOW Die Entdeckerzone, Kiddy Contest, Deutschland sucht den Superstar Das Magazin, Das Supertalent Backstage, and Wohnen nach Wunsch Das Haus on VOX. Adolf-Grimme-Preis nominee in 2005 (Spezial category) for her work on Super RTL’s youth programming. Studied Regional Studies East Asia (China focus) at the University of Cologne. Speaks German, English, French, Spanish, Farsi and Mandarin. Corporate event portfolio includes Audi, Porsche, MAN, REWE Group, FERRERO, Vodafone, UNESCO, the Liz Mohn Stiftung at Bertelsmann (Zeitenwende on tour) and the City of Cologne (Viva la Green). Operates the HappyAndFitDIY YouTube channel since 2014, focused on homemade and sustainable beauty products. Also coaches presenters as a Moderationstrainerin. Biography Most corporate sustainability programmes share the same failure mode: a celebrity host who introduces but cannot moderate, and a panel that reverts to talking points by question two. The organisations doing this work seriously want a different kind of room, one where a host knows the territory well enough to ask the right second question. Moghaddam has spent more than twenty years on German live television. She presented Toggo TV, WOW and Kiddy Contest on Super RTL in the early 2000s, work that earned her a Grimme-Preis nomination in 2005. From there she moved to RTL, anchoring the backstage magazines for Deutschland sucht den Superstar and Das Supertalent. She now presents Lokalzeit OWL and Servicezeit on WDR. That broadcast spine carries into a corporate setting. Live television teaches four habits: hold a drifting panel, keep an executive answer crisp, recover from a missed cue, and never let the room feel the strain. Her client list reflects where this lands: Audi, Porsche, MAN, FERRERO, REWE Group, UNESCO and the City of Cologne (Viva la Green). Foundation work includes Zeitenwende on tour for the Liz Mohn Stiftung at Bertelsmann. Her sustainability footing comes from personal practice. She has run the HappyAndFitDIY YouTube channel since 2014, focused on homemade sustainable beauty products, which gives her honest credibility on climate-themed agendas. The booking is for moderation craft. Senior corporate audiences on values-led programmes get a host who has run live television for two decades and works in six languages including Farsi and Mandarin. Key speaking topics Corporate event moderation and hosting Awards ceremonies and gala moderation Sustainability and conscious consumption Climate-themed corporate programmes Multilingual and cross-cultural events Presentation and moderation coaching Ideal for Sustainability summits, ESG awards programmes, climate-themed corporate forums and foundation-led panels needing a moderator with broadcast credibility and topical fluency International or multilingual corporate gatherings with German, English, French, Spanish, Farsi or Mandarin audiences CHRO, Head of Communications, and CSR/Foundation leads commissioning senior-audience programmes where the moderator has to do real work Awards ceremonies, gala dinners and after-dinner programmes for German-speaking corporate audiences Audience outcomes A programme that finishes on time, with senior speakers having said what they came to say Honest panel exchanges that do not drift into talking points, because the moderator pushes when a question gets dodged Broadcast-quality opening and closing that hold the room without feeling like corporate set-piece Content delivered cleanly across language groups, including mixed German-English audiences and wider international rooms

Why organisations work with Dunja Hayali A working anchor on ZDF’s flagship heute-journal and main presenter of ZDF-Morgenmagazin, which means boards and conference organisers are hiring the same journalistic judgement that reaches millions of German viewers every morning. Trained to interview politicians, CEOs and activists on live television without losing the thread, an asset when a panel includes genuinely opposing positions or a keynote speaker the room wants pressed. Carries public recognition for civic engagement, including the Bundesverdienstkreuz and the Goldene Kamera Integration award, which signals to international audiences that the chair on stage has standing beyond the broadcast booth. Works fluently in German and English, useful for DAX-30, EU-level and cross-border corporate forums that need a single moderator across languages. Author of “Haymatland” (Ullstein, 2018), a published argument on belonging, migration and social cohesion that she can draw on directly when a brief calls for substantive contribution as well as stage craft. Biography highlights Main presenter, ZDF-Morgenmagazin (since 2010); joined the heute-journal presenting team in 2023. Former host, “dunja hayali” talk show on ZDF (2017-2020), and co-presenter of das aktuelle sportstudio (2018-2023). Recipient of the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit, 2018) for engagement against racism and online hate. Goldene Kamera 2016, Integration category. Author, “Haymatland: Wie wollen wir zusammenleben?” (Ullstein, 2018); co-author, “Ist’ was, Dog?” (Ullstein, 2014). UNICEF supporter and active with the initiative “Gesicht Zeigen! Fuer ein weltoffenes Deutschland”. Biography Live television is where reputations get made or broken in real time. For most of the last two decades, Dunja Hayali has been one of the German journalists entrusted with that responsibility, first on ZDF’s morning news strand and now also on the evening flagship heute-journal. That role is the anchor of her speaking work. When a corporate conference, political forum or industry gala books her, they are not buying a keynote lecture. They are buying the same interviewer who questions ministers before breakfast and the same composure that keeps a studio conversation on track when a guest tries to pull it elsewhere. Her publishing and civic work give that stage presence a specific edge. “Haymatland” (Ullstein, 2018) sets out her thinking on migration, belonging and social cohesion, drawing on her own Iraqi-German background. The Bundesverdienstkreuz followed in 2018 for her public stand against racism and online abuse, recognition anchored by her long association with Gesicht Zeigen! and UNICEF. The practical case for organisations is narrow and strong. When an event puts senior leaders, politicians or campaigners on the same panel and the room will not settle for bland, Hayali is one of the few moderators in the German market with the journalistic standing, bilingual reach and on-stage authority to run it cleanly. Key speaking topics Live event moderation and panel chairing Political and current affairs interviews Media, journalism and public discourse Social cohesion, integration and belonging Civic engagement and countering online hate Sport and public broadcasting Bilingual (German / English) corporate moderation Ideal for Corporate and industry conferences needing a senior moderator for keynotes, panels and plenaries with politicians, CEOs or regulators in the room. Award ceremonies, galas and anniversary events that require an anchor-grade host rather than an entertainer. CSR, DEI and civic-themed summits where the moderator’s own public record on integration and anti-racism adds credibility. Bilingual German / English forums in DAX-30, EU policy and cross-border corporate settings. Audience outcomes Conversations that stay on the agenda the organiser actually wanted, including the difficult questions. Senior speakers handled with the same level of preparation and follow-up they would expect from a flagship news interview. A neutral, credible chair presence that lets sensitive topics (migration, political polarisation, corporate controversy) be discussed without tipping into spectacle. Clear narrative threading across a multi-speaker programme, so that plenaries, panels and Q and A feel like one event rather than a sequence of slots.

Why organisations work with Jana Azizi Her live broadcast range covers hard news, live morning television, entertainment magazines, and lifestyle formats, so she can shift register inside a single event without the audience registering the adjustment. She presents professionally in German, English, French, Spanish, and Russian at television standard, which is unusually rare in a single moderator and genuinely useful for events with multiple language markets in the room. Her Sky Sport News role included editorial team work, not only on-screen presenting. She arrives as a journalist who has already researched the guests and anticipated the angles. Thousands of hours of daily live broadcasting, including live sport, guest drop-outs, and technical failures, mean she has already encountered most of what can go wrong in a live room. A business administration degree from Mainz University of Applied Sciences lets her absorb a corporate brief quickly and translate dense business content for mixed audiences. Biography highlights Presenter at Sky Sport News from 2017 to 2020, working on the editorial team as well as on-screen Presenter across RTL flagship formats including RTL aktuell, Punkt 12, Guten Morgen Deutschland, Extra, Explosiv, and Explosiv Stories Presenter of Deluxe, the n-tv lifestyle and luxury format, from October 2020 Business administration degree from Mainz University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Mainz) Marketing communications training at Grey Worldwide, Dusseldorf; presenter training at Logo Institut, Frankfurt Works professionally in five languages: German, English, French, Spanish, and Russian Biography Seven years of daily live television at Sky Sport News, RTL, and n-tv shape a specific kind of professional. Jana Azizi reads a room mid-conversation, absorbs the unexpected, and keeps an audience with her through shifts the room never sees. Her Sky Sport News role ran from 2017 to 2020 and included editorial team work alongside on-screen presenting. That side of the job built a journalist’s instinct for interview structure and story preparation, rather than only camera presence. At RTL she presented across the broadcaster’s flagship formats including RTL aktuell, Punkt 12, Guten Morgen Deutschland, Extra, and Explosiv. From October 2020 she also fronted Deluxe, the n-tv lifestyle and luxury programme. Sport, hard news, morning television, entertainment, and lifestyle each demand a different register. A moderator who has worked across all five reads what a corporate audience actually needs in the moment. Azizi works professionally in German, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. The five-language range matters most for events that are genuinely multi-market in the room, not simply bilingual on paper. She holds a business administration degree from Mainz University of Applied Sciences, which gives her the vocabulary to move confidently through a corporate brief and carry dense content for a mixed audience. Key speaking topics Live event moderation and conference hosting Broadcast communication and on-camera presence Interview craft and panel facilitation Storytelling in a business context Multilingual event hosting Women in media and male-dominated industries Ideal for Corporate conferences and leadership summits requiring a professional moderator or host International events where facilitation in multiple languages is needed at broadcast standard Award ceremonies, galas, and high-profile company anniversaries Media, sport, and communications sector organisations that need a credible, broadcast-trained panel moderator Audience outcomes Events that run with broadcast-level control, professionally paced and clearly structured Panels and interviews driven by focused, well-prepared questions rather than generic facilitation Live sessions handled cleanly when guests go off-script, formats slip, or tech fails Multi-language audiences held by a moderator who moves between languages without losing authority

Why organisations work with Hasnain Kazim He has spent a decade testing, in public, what actually works when people shout at you. “Post von Karlheinz” turned his replies to hate mail into a national bestseller, and the method underneath it travels directly into how leaders and communications teams handle hostile audiences. He reports from inside the conditions most executives only read about. Six years as a Der Spiegel foreign correspondent in Islamabad and Istanbul, ended by the Turkish state refusing to renew his press credentials, gives him concrete material on authoritarian drift, migration and press freedom rather than abstract commentary. He speaks and writes in German and English with equal fluency, which matters for DAX and European-headquartered organisations briefing a single voice across jurisdictions on identity, integration and public discourse. He works as both author and moderator. The same person who wrote the argument can host the board dinner, chair the panel, or carry an awards night, which reduces briefing overhead for events that need a serious thinker on stage. His published rhetorical guide, “Auf sie mit Gebruell!”, is specifically about how to argue in public against populism without losing the room. That is a usable internal-comms and leadership-communication frame, not a lecture topic. Biography highlights Der Spiegel South Asia correspondent, Islamabad, 2009 to 2013. Der Spiegel Turkey correspondent, Istanbul, 2013 to 2016; left after the Turkish government refused to renew his press credentials. CNN Journalist Award winner, 2009. Bestselling author with Penguin Verlag, including “Post von Karlheinz” (2018) and “Auf sie mit Gebruell!” (2019). Studied political science in Hamburg; served as an officer in the German Navy, 1994 to 2000. Keynote speaker at re:publica 2022 on language in times of division; regular contributor to IPS Journal and Goethe-Institut publications. Biography The Turkish government refused to renew his press credentials in 2016, and with them his legal residency. Hasnain Kazim had been Der Spiegel’s Istanbul correspondent for three years. He moved his reporting on Turkey, and later on identity and migration across Europe, to Vienna. The work before and after that moment is unusually concrete. Four years as South Asia correspondent in Islamabad, three in Istanbul, a CNN Journalist Award in 2009, and a German Navy officer’s commission before any of that. For organisations trying to understand what authoritarian pressure, migration and press freedom actually look like on the ground, this is first-hand material rather than commentary. The second arc of the career is what makes him useful in a room of executives. Since 2018, as a full-time author with Penguin Verlag, he has built a public method for responding to hostility. “Post von Karlheinz” collected his replies to racist and abusive reader mail, became a long-running bestseller, and turned him into a case study for the Dangerous Speech Project. “Auf sie mit Gebruell!” followed, a rhetorical handbook for arguing with populists without surrendering the tone. That body of work gives him something most geopolitics speakers do not have: a practical grammar for how leaders, communications teams and frontline staff should actually speak in a climate where silence reads as complicity and escalation damages the brand. He writes and speaks in German and English, and works as both keynote speaker and moderator for events that need a single serious voice to carry the evening. Key speaking topics Counterspeech and responding to online hostility Language, polarisation and public discourse Migration, identity and integration in Europe Populism, extremism and democratic resilience Press freedom and authoritarian pressure Germany, Turkey and South Asia in geopolitical context Ideal for CHROs and internal-communications leaders dealing with polarisation inside the workforce. External communications, public affairs and brand teams briefing leaders on migration, identity and reputational risk. Boards and executive committees at European-headquartered organisations working through integration, DEI or social-cohesion questions in their markets. Conference organisers and awards committees looking for a serious bilingual moderator or host. Audience outcomes A concrete method for replying to hostile or abusive communication, drawn from a published and tested body of practice. A clearer read on how language choices in internal and external communication either defuse or deepen division. First-hand perspective on Turkey, South Asia and migration into Europe from someone who reported on them under pressure. A sharper sense of what leaders can say in public on contested social questions without conceding ground to populism.