About Our Speakers Bureau

TransNewYork is pleased to announce that we have started a Speakers Bureau, featuring prominent members of the Transgender, Gender Non-conforming and Non-binary Community. Our speakers are available for you to hire for any speaking engagement for your organization. For example, Transgender Awareness Week begins on November 12th through November 19th with The Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th this year. This month – and quite frankly, any month – is an excellent opportunity to bring visibility to the Transgender Non-Conforming community.

We find ourselves – as individuals, organizations and companies – at a unique intersection in the evolution of corporate America and the LGBTQIA+ movement. Our speakers all believe that we have been brought to this point in our history with a clear and specific objective: to educate, inform, and inspire. This produces an energy that creates the power to change minds and, more importantly, to change hearts.

We offer in-person speeches (60-90 minutes) and panels (90-120 minutes). The topic for each speech is specifically tailored to the needs of the client and/or event. We believe that there is strength in numbers; bringing together a consortium of professionals with different skill sets will provide corporations with a variety of options in selecting a speaker that fits their audience.

If you would like to book a speaker or have further questions regarding a speaking engagement you are interested in booking please contact us at speakersbureau@transnewyork.org

Dr. Gennifer Herley

Associate Dean of the Speakers Bureau | speakersbureau@transnewyork.org

Dr. Gennifer Herley PhD is the founder and executive director of TransNewYork. Gennifer is a proud transgender woman who recently transitioned and earned her doctorate degree in 2014. TransNewYork’s mission is to bring awareness to the issues facing the transgender non-conforming (TGNC) community and give guidance and support to individuals and their loved ones within an open and safe environment. It provides individual and group counseling and monthly meetings that address issues such as gender dysphoria and encourage transgender individuals to share their stories, and wishes to be an informative source for transgender resources, activities, and events. Dr. Herley and TransNewYork work with allies of the transgender community to provide Transgender Non-Conforming educational training seminars, guest speakers, and other resource materials to help maintain and expand diversity and inclusion within organizations, along with helping raise public awareness on transgender issues through hosting and sponsoring speaking engagements, featuring prominent transgender leaders, and organizations.

Stephanie Battaglino

Director of the Speakers Bureau | speakersbureau@transnewyork.org

As the founder and owner of Follow Your Heart, LLC, Stephanie is an internationally recognized transgender motivational speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, workplace diversity and inclusion consultant. A major voice in the LGBTQ workplace equality movement focusing specifically on transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, Stephanie casts a bright light on all of the pertinent Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) issues that companies and organizations must face to successfully transform their workplaces into a truly welcoming environment for all of their employees. Stephanie’s warm and personal style has engaged and enlightened her audiences wherever she speaks. She currently sits on the Board of PFLAG National and is the Chair of their Business Advisory Council. She has proudly served on the Boards of the following organizations: the LGBT Community Center of New York and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF). She is also a past member of the Transgender Advisory Committee of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. As a recently retired Corporate Vice President at New York Life Insurance Company, Stephanie possesses over 40 years of management and leadership experience in marketing, advertising and communications within the Fortune 100 of Corporate America. She is the author of Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My True Self in Corporate America, a memoir that shares her experiences while transitioning in the corporate sector. Her book encourages and inspires others to embrace their true selves, find their voices in the workplace, and speak up for diversity. You can learn more about Stephanie’s book here on our blog.

Dr. Chloe Schwenke

Dr. Chloe Schwenke is an openly transgender international development ethicist and practitioner, human rights activist, researcher and educator, and is now the president and founder of the Center for Values in International Development. Her career covers project experience in over 40 countries. She served as a political appointee at USAID under the Obama Administration, and was later a vice president at Freedom House. Chloe received her Ph.D. in public policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland at College Park. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Department of Philosophy at Makerere University in Uganda from 2005-6. In 2013, she was awarded a National Public Service Award by the National Center for Transgender Equality. She has published a memoir (Self-ish: a transgender awakening), and is a frequent speaker including a TED Talk and two talks at the Obama White House.

Rikki Nathanson

Rikki Nathanson is a fierce activist for the rights of trans and gender diverse persons, globally. In September 2015 she formed Trans* Research, Education, Advocacy & Training [TREAT], which seeks to address the civil rights issues of this marginalized population of Zimbabwe in the areas of health, justice and the socio economy. TREAT is based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and is registered as a Trust. In 2016, she was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Africa Trans Forum, initially serving as its Secretary and later becoming its Chairperson. She is a member of the Africa Key Populations Expert Group to the UNDP, and the Every Woman Everywhere Coalition. She serves on many Boards – regionally and internationally. These are, Social Health Empowerment [SHE], African Men for Sexual Health and Rights [AMSHeR] and ENZA Research (South Africa), Trans Bantu Association Zambia, the IRGT – a global network of trans women in the fight against HIV and OutRight Action International & Global Action for Trans Equality [GATE] (United States of America).

Toni Newman

Toni Newman is the Interim Executive Director/President for LYRIC, consultant Director for the SF LGBT Center and a faculty member at the Transgender Strategy Center. Toni is a graduate of Wake Forest University and current candidate for her Juris of Doctorate (JD).  Toni was the Executive Director for St. James Infirmary and the Director of Development for Maitri Compassionate Care, and previously served as the Interim Director of Development & Communications at To Help Everyone Health and Wellness Centers and as a Strategic Fundraiser, Volunteer Recruiter, and Legislative Aide for Equality California. 
Additionally, Toni is a best selling author, noted for her memoir I Rise -The Transformation of Toni Newman released in 2011. Her memoir was based off the poem I Rise by Wake Forest University Reynolds Professor, Dr. Maya Angelou, who Toni interviewed with in 2012. The memoir has been featured in Ebony and Advocate magazines, and nominated for the prestigious Lambda Literary award. Most recently the memoir has been produced into a short film titled Heart of a Woman by Alton Demore and Keith Holland being featured at several film festivals in the USA, Thailand and Germany.

Sam Brinton

Sam Brinton is one of the world’s leading advocates for LGBTQ youth. They are the founder of the 50 Bill 50 States campaign at The Trevor Project to end the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy, first in the United States and then around the globe. As a survivor of conversion therapy, Sam has spoken before the United Nations and Congress as well as testified on legislation from coast to coast to protect LGBTQ youth mental health across the country. They have been featured in numerous media including multiple New York Times op-eds as well as The Washington Post, Playboy Magazine, and TIME Magazine. Sam uses they, them, or theirs as their pronouns as a genderfluid person.

Ashley T. Brundage

Ashley T. Brundage is the founder and president of Empowering Differences. While seeking employment at a major financial institution, she self-identified during the interview process as a male to female transgender woman and subsequently was hired. She was offered a position and started as a part time bank teller and worked in various lines of business before moving to Human Resources in 2016. Ashley recently celebrated 18 years of marriage to Whitney and together they have two biological sons; Bryce, 15, and Blake, 13. Since beginning transitioning in 2008, she has worked tirelessly to promote awareness and acceptance of gender identity and expression. She works to accomplish this goal by volunteering in the community, and holding education sessions for corporations. She serves on the Corporate Advisory Council for the NGLCC-National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Also is the co-chair for NGLCC’s new global Trans+ Inclusion Task Force. She chaired the successful bid to host the NGLCC convention in 2019, and Visit Tampa Bay named her their Tourism Champion for 2017. In 2018, she started serving on the board of the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. In 2019, she was voted on the National Board of Directors for GLAAD. GLAAD works to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ+ Community through media advocacy.

Karen DeJarnette

Hired in December, 2013, Karen DeJarnette is an SEO Manager for Expedia Group. In December, 2014, she had a moment of personal crisis, as many others like her face, and she finally accepted her truth that she is transgender. She met with HR in March of 2015 and learned that she was the first person in Expedia history to come out and transition on the job! She came out to her team in July, then went full-time in October, 2015. She joined the company LGBT diversity group that year, then got elected to the group’s Board of Directors, and has been re-elected every year since. She’s driven many EG-wide D&I initiatives in her role as a D&I leader in Expedia, and this year she completed a 3-year project to launch the much anticipated, renewed LGBTQ Hotels campaign for Orbitz in Q3 2020. Karen is a fan of absurd humor, a history buff, a Beatles and Queen fanatic, and is enjoying learning the finer points of peaty, smoky, Islay single malt scotch. Fun fact: In 1992, Karen had a pitch meeting with an executive producer at Paramount Studios for new script ideas for Star Trek: The Next Generation! In case you’re wondering how it worked out, she lives in the Seattle area, not LA!

Sophie Delannoy

Sophie Delannoy is an energizing and cheerful business development professional who has been running investment projects for a leading retail firm all over France. She has also been sitting as a judge for more than fifteen years in the city of Tours under her former male identity, and then as Sophie in the city of Lyon. Nothing has more appeal to her than bringing diverse people together to make things happen. She is a happy father of three, an admiring grandmother of a lovely French/American girl, a rotary club member, a licensed private pilot, and a Padi Divemaster.

Since her transition in 2018, Sophie has devoted a greater part of her time to talk about what it took her to become her true self; trying to stress how life saving this path has been to her. She is a member of “l’autre cercle” the leading NGO on the matter of LGBTI people in the workplace in France. She recently joined the ethics committee of “le refuge”, France’s leading organization sheltering young LGBTI people thrown out of their families as a reward for just being whom they are. Sophie delivers strong speeches, and answers questions either in English or French. German is a “emergency use only” option!