Ashley Stahl is an entrepreneur, international bestselling author (You Turn), podcast host (You Turn Podcast) and

internationally recognized speaker. She stepped onto the TEDxBerkeley stage in 2013 and the

TEDxLeidenUniversity stage in 2019. Both of her talks went viral at 2 million and 10 million views, respectively.

Her talk in 2013 (“Three Questions to Unlock Your Authentic Career”) also happened to be the first speech she’s

ever given in her life. At the time, she’d just finished working in counterterrorism for the Obama Administration,

where she learned everything she knew about speaking through writing tips from colleagues who wrote speeches

for key members of the administration.

Her second talk (“How to Figure Out What You Really Want”) in 2019 went even more viral, and is one of the top

100 most viewed talks on YouTube’s TEDx channel. Knowing the impact these talks had on her career, she was

inspired to build Wise Whisper Agency and help other inspirational professionals create their own signature talk and

land their spot on stages around the world so they could make more of an impact, generate more leads for their

business, and establish themselves in the speaking arena.

Maximos Lih is an Executive Coach and founder of Emboldened LLC, where he helps small teams scale without losing their edge and leaders grow with purpose and trust. His leadership philosophy was shaped by his grandfather—a self-taught orphan who became a four-star general—who taught him that true greatness is measured by how you make people feel. After immigrating to the U.S. and graduating from UC Berkeley, Maximos joined Google, where he specialized in recruiting top engineering talent before moving to Google Ventures. There, he guided hundreds of founders through rapid growth, witnessing companies like Uber and Flatiron Health scale at remarkable speed. Today, he draws on those experiences to coach the next generation of leaders in building mission-driven, high-performing teams.

Julie Castle has dedicated her life to saving animals. Since joining Best Friends Animal Society in 1996 as employee #17, she has grown with the organization and advanced its mission to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s animal shelters.

Now CEO, Julie has helped guide Best Friends through a period of significant growth, including expanding the organization’s fundraising from $60 million to more than $130 million. Under her leadership, Best Friends has been recognized as a Harris Poll Brand of the Year four times and named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Throughout her career, Julie has championed an approach rooted in collaboration, helping bring together shelters, rescues, and communities around our shared commitment to lifesaving.

Celebrating 30 years with Best Friends in 2026, Julie remains focused on strengthening the partnerships, policies, and momentum needed to help every shelter and every community reach no-kill. She leads a team of nearly 1,000 employees working toward one shared mission: Save Them All.