Designer, founder, and philanthropist Kendra Scott started her company in 2002, just three months after her first son was born, with only $500. Going door-to-door to Austin boutiques armed only with a tea box full of her jewelry, Kendra captivated businesses and customers with her vibrant personality and unique eye for design.

Known for her dynamic use of color and genuine materials, Kendra’s commitment to innovation, quality and detail has brought her from a small start-up to a billion-dollar business and has won over loyal fans, media and celebrities alike. With over 2,000 employees, Kendra Scott boasts a thriving web business and over 100 standalone stores and has expanded beyond fashion jewelry into the categories of fine jewelry, home décor, and beauty. Today, her company continues to operate out of Austin, TX, with their state-of-the-art corporate office complete with design lab and an industry leading distribution center both catering to her employees’ career goals and family-life balance.

With Family and Fashion as two core pillars of her business, Kendra maintains a focus on her other core pillar of Philanthropy in all she does. Since 2010, the company has given back over $40 million to local, national and international causes. In 2018 alone, the company gave over $5 million in monetary donations, almost $10 million in in-kind donations, over 2,000 volunteer hours to philanthropic organizations, and partnered with more than 8,000 philanthropic organizations nationwide.

Kendra has been awarded with the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 National Award; the Breakthrough Award from the Accessories Council Excellence Awards; named Outstanding Mother of the Year by the Mother’s Day Council; awarded Texas Businesswoman of the Year by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce; listed by Forbes as one of America’s Richest Self-Made Women; Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Upstart Business Journal; Best CEO by Austin Business Journal; and Honorary Celebrity Chair for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas. She is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and maintains her position as Executive Chairwoman of the Board of Kendra Scott, LLC.

John C. Maxwell, the #1 New York Times best-selling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 30 million books, has been identified as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association® and the world’s most influential leadership expert by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. John has also received the Horatio Alger Award, as well as the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network. His organizations — Maxwell Leadership, The Maxwell Leadership Certified Team, EQUIP, and the Maxwell Leadership Foundation— have trained millions of leaders from every nation in the world.

Marcus Buckingham is the world’s most prominent researcher on strengths, leadership and high performance at work. After spending two decades studying excellence at the Gallup Organization and co-creating the StrengthsFinder tool, he built his own software company focused on helping team leaders excel. Today he leads the ADP Research Institute’s global studies into people and performance at work. He is the author of two of the best-selling business books of all time, has two of Harvard Business Review’s most circulated, industry-changing cover articles, and has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, The Today Show, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. His latest book, Love + Work, reveals the capacity of love to pinpoint a person’s true power, and shows how to turn this power into contribution, in life and in work.