2025 Women’s Leadership Forum Program: Meet the Speakers

Armida Ascano
Futurist and Chief Insights Officer
Trend Hunter
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Armida Ascano is the brain behind Trend Hunter’s content, trend sessions and innovation work. As a Futurist, Founder and leader of Trend Hunter’s Futurist Team, she has crafted hundreds of trend frameworks and innovation tools that are used by some of the world’s largest brands including: Red Bull, Domino’s, Panasonic Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, Bacardi, Mastercard, Viacom, Universal and Toms Shoes. Her expertise is in getting high performance teams to think differently about their customer segmentation and opportunities.
As Trend Hunter’s most-requested Futurist, Armida has a passion for trend forecasting with a specialized focus on generational segmentation. Armida joined Trend Hunter in 2010 as an editor. With 10 years of hunting trends under her belt, she has curated and studied over 50,000 trend case studies and one billion views of traffic, making her an expert in Internet culture and consumer behavior in the digital age. She has been featured by Global News, the Globe and Mail, CTV, and more.

Rebecca Heiss, Ph.D.
Author, Speaker, CEO and Stress Physiologist
Rebecca Heiss, LLC
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Rebecca knows fear. As a stress physiologist, Dr. Rebecca Heiss is dedicated to helping us overcome our instinctual limitations – the ancient, often subconscious fears that hold us back from our optimal performance and our happiest lives. Her research has been designated “transformative” by the National Science Foundation, and it is waking up audiences around the world.
As the author of two books, Springboard and Instinct, founder and CEO of the leadership 360-review mobile application, icueity, and highly sought-after professional speaker, Rebecca has found her calling in helping others recognize the power of biological applications in their lives. A former educator, Dr. Heiss spent much of her earlier career in the classroom at both the high school and college levels and was recruited to be a founding member of an innovative charter school with a focus on entrepreneurial thinking and impact-based learning. Today she shares her Fear[less] Stress formula to transform fear to fuel from stages around the world as a full-time speaker and facilitator of her Fearless Masterclass. She continues her research on how we can turn trauma into Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) rather than PTSD.
Rebecca’s “fear(less)” message inspires hope and actionable insights to train our brains to work for us, rather than against us in times of change and uncertainty. With surprising humor and palpable energy, no matter if Dr. Heiss is delivering virtually or on stage, she wins over her audiences with interactive, inspiring, and timely takeaways.
Rebecca lives in South Carolina with her spoiled rotten dogs named Guinness & Murphy and every day tries to live her life motto: “Spread Happy.”

April LeJeune
Senior Vice President, Client Relations & Strategic Sales Planning
Freeman
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April LeJeune is the Senior Vice President of Client Relationships and Strategic Sales Planning at Freeman, bringing over 20 years of industry experience to the role. With nearly 14 years at Freeman, April has a proven track record of leading high-performing teams, managing her own book of business, and serving as the chief of staff for the Chief Client Officer. Her extensive background in client relationships and strategic sales planning has been instrumental in driving growth and fostering strong client partnerships.
Outside of her professional achievements, April is passionate about mentoring young professionals. She enjoys spending her free time with her family, exploring new travel destinations, and indulging in her love for cooking. April’s leadership and expertise, combined with her personal dedication to helping others, contributes to the continued success of Freeman’s success in the industry.

Yvette Simpson, MBA, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer, Author, Speaker, Yvette Simpson, LLC
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Yvette Simpson is the Founder & CEO of Yvette Simpson LLC, Your Power Unlocked, a strategic consulting firm focused on executive strategy, politics, policy, and program development. Yvette is also a Political Contributor with ABC News and a panelist for NPR. She is also a licensed lawyer, who serves as Counsel for Ulmer & Berne LLP. She served six years on Cincinnati City Council, including four years as President Pro Tempore.
Yvette is an energetic, authentic, and empathetic speaker who shares her own personal journey to executive leadership, the wins, the losses, the advances and the setbacks that have navigated her through her own career. For over two decades, she has advised and trained corporate leaders, startups, political and non-profit leaders, emerging leaders and professionals, and students helping them to identify lessons, work through difficult situations, leaving them with a roadmap on how to thrive and excel against the toughest odds and most significant obstacles.
Yvette earned two undergraduate degrees at Miami University, a law degree from The University of Cincinnati, and her MBA from Xavier University.
Active in her local community, Yvette has served on several boards and commissions. Yvette was named YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, A Top 100 Influencer by the American City Business Journals, a Woman of Influence by Venue Magazine, A Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, and a Woman Who Means Business by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Yvette is a proud Cincinnatian, a home vintner and proprietor of Vette’s Vineyards, the wife of cartoonist and home brewer Joe Hoffecker, and the bonus mom to three amazing adult daughters: Katie, Maggie, and Annie.

Mori Taheripour
President, Author, Faculty
The Wharton School, MT Global Strategies
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Mori Taheripour is a globally recognized negotiation expert, a 12-time award-winning faculty member at the Wharton School, a highly sought-after speaker, and the author of Bring Yourself: How to Negotiate Fearlessly.
With over 20 years of experience in negotiations, DE&I, and sports business, Mori has an impressive roster of clients, including Fortune 100 companies, major sports leagues, leading charitable institutions, and government agencies. Her current and past clients include Equitable, the Goldman Sachs Foundation, Google, Major League Baseball (MLB), Live Nation, Medtronic, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the National Football League (NFL), The Timberland Company, United Parcel Service (UPS), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Wasserman, Wells Fargo, White House Fellows Program and YPO.
Mori’s work has been featured in top business publications and media outlets, including ESPN, Forbes, Inc., Marketplace, Money, NPR, The Next Chapter by American Express and The Wall Street Journal.
She serves on the Board of Directors for USA Track and Field (USATF), the Advisory Board of the Sports Leadership & Administration Undergraduate Degree Program at UMass Boston, and as a Trustee Emeritus of the Women’s Sports Foundation. She is also a Commissioner for the Women’s Refugee Commission. Mori earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sherron Washington, M.A.
Chief Executive Officer
The P3 Solution
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Sherron Washington is a marketing and communication (marcom) professional who has imparted her wisdom and expertise for over two decades. She has an uncanny ability to develop simple, innovative and results-driven marketing and communication. She is the founder and CEO of The P3 Solution, a full-service marketing and communications (marcomm) firm located in the Washington, DC Area, that specializes in providing simplistic marcomm consulting and training.
A leading expert and author in the marcomm industry, Sherron specializes in providing manageable solution-driven insight that identifies ideal marcomm results. Coupled with an elite keenness for effective communication, she uses strategy, learning theory, and technology, to create a perfect fusion of communication and marketing efforts that assist in creating an impactful presence that leads to expanded growth opportunities.
Sherron sought-after international speaker, trainer, facilitator and professor, who provides an energetic passion that permeates the crowd and creates an unforgettable electrifying experience.
Sherron also trains and facilitates sessions for multi-million-dollar corporations such as: Goldman Sachs and Events DC instructing them on everything from generating leads and sales, to managing bias and conflict. In addition, she is currently a Communication professor of graduate and undergraduate marketing and communication courses at Trinity Washington University and Temple University.
Lastly, Sherron is a global connector, she has been tremendously skillful at creating and cultivating authentic interactions that generate synergy that flourish into countless opportunities. She has an extraordinary ability to create and cultivate environments that harness authentic interactions to generate synergy that flourishes into great vibes with captivating results.
She has a Master of Arts in Communications and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a double minor in Business and Media Technology.

Marcella Mollon-Wiliams, BFA™
Licensed Behavioral Financial Advisor™ Co-Founder
Legacy Builder Group, LLC
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Marcella Mollon-Williams is a licensed Behavioral Financial Advisor, award-winning entrepreneur, and co-founder of Legacy Builder Group, LLC, a premier coaching and investment firm dedicated to helping families build wealth with purpose. With over 15 years of expertise in finance, she is a leading authority in guiding first-generation six- and seven-figure earners to achieve financial certainty by shifting their mindset, eliminating mental barriers around money, and developing sustainable wealth-building behaviors.
A Certified Master Mindset and Cognitive Behavioral Coach and Certified Flexibility Coach, Marcella blends financial science with behavioral discipline to empower high-income households to create and sustain multi-generational family legacies. Her transformative insights have earned her recognition across the finance and entrepreneurial sectors, along with features in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, NPR, Yahoo! Finance, and other major media outlets.
As a sought-after speaker, Marcella delivers dynamic, results-driven presentations on financial psychology, legacy building strategies, and wealth behavior transformation.
In addition to her professional work, Marcella is a dedicated advising mentor for Discovering Butterflies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to empowering young women aged 18-35. Through comprehensive instruction and unwavering support, she helps participants overcome barriers and fulfill their professional and personal aspirations.
Marcella resides in Prince George’s County, Maryland, with her husband of 28 years. She is a proud mother and grandmother and remains deeply committed to reshaping the financial future of American families.