Speaking
Frameworks, not motivational speeches.
Sound familiar?
“My team is scared, and I don't have all the answers.”
“My board wants AI results next quarter. My company needs 18 months.”
“If I get AI wrong, it's my job on the line.”
“What if the skills that got me here aren't the ones that will keep me here?”
“Everyone's using the same AI tools. What makes us different?”
“I'm afraid to say 'I don't know' in front of my people.”
“We've announced three AI initiatives this year. Nobody believes the fourth.”
“My best people are quietly updating their résumés.”
Every one of these is a story. Let's rewrite it.
Talk 01
Become the Authority
How to Build a Brand That Makes Clients Come to You
“Everyone's using the same AI tools. What makes us different?”
AI has made it easier than ever to sound like everyone else. Every competitor can now publish more content, faster, with the same tools. Yet even CEOs who rely on AI every day admit they don't trust it to act alone. Your buyers, investors and talent feel the same way. In a market full of noise, they aren't looking for more information. They're looking for someone to trust.
Drawing on 26 years in venture capital and private equity, and on taking companies from seed to IPO and category leadership, Danielle shows founders and executives how to build the one thing AI can't copy: a credible, human point of view. She covers why most thought leadership fails, how to own a category before competitors notice, and how to turn your story into a lasting source of inbound demand.
Audiences will leave with
- —A clear point of view that sets them apart in an AI-saturated market
- —An authority roadmap matched to their stage of growth
- —The channels that build credibility, and the ones that only build noise
- Formats
- Keynote, or the From Seed to IPO workshop
- Ideal for
- Founder events, fintech and healthtech conferences, advisor and investor summits
Talk 02
Against All Odds
How to Turn Your Hardest Chapter Into Rocket Fuel
“What if the skills that got me here aren't the ones that will keep me here?”
Even the most accomplished leaders are quietly asking whether their role, their expertise or their company will still matter in a few years. Eight in ten CEOs believe their job is at risk if their AI strategy fails. Uncertainty has made reinvention a business skill, not just a personal one.
Danielle has rebuilt her life from the ground up more than once. She grew up in the group home system, became a teen mom and high school dropout, and by 19 was one of the youngest traders on Wall Street. She went on to build a multimillion-dollar organization and launched The Avayah Institute, where women find the support to get back on their feet and build safe, stable, loving homes and fulfilling careers and businesses. After her daughter was attacked, she turned pain into purpose with a global anti-bullying campaign that led to legislation presented before the Supreme Court.
This talk isn't about luck. It's a practical framework for leading through uncertainty, rebuilding when the ground shifts beneath you, and turning your hardest chapter into rocket fuel.
Audiences will leave with
- —A practical framework for reinvention when their industry or role is changing
- —Ways to move from uncertainty to decisive action
- —A clear sense of the human strengths that technology can't replace
- Formats
- Keynote or fireside chat
- Ideal for
- Corporate leadership events, women's leadership programs, ERGs, opening and closing keynotes
Talk 03
Make Them Believe
How to Create a Rally Cry That Moves Your Entire Organization
“My team is scared, and I don't have all the answers.”
Today's leaders are caught in the middle. Most U.S. CEOs say their boards are pushing for measurable AI results, often on timelines the business can't support. Meanwhile, fewer than one in four employees have heard from their CEO about how AI will affect the business. That silence is expensive. When people believe their jobs may disappear, engagement drops, burnout rises and the best ones start looking elsewhere. No wonder leadership teams now rank trust as their top people priority, ahead of AI adoption itself.
Strategy decks don't move people. Stories do. Using the storytelling method she teaches executives preparing for the world's biggest stages, Danielle shows leaders how to find the one message that cuts through uncertainty, aligns teams, energizes sales and makes customers believe. It's the same methodology she used to help raise over $3.7B, rebuild a multimillion-dollar organization after losing it all, and get people to believe in her ideas so passionately that they became fans for life.
Audiences will leave with
- —The Story Before the Stage 5-step framework: origin wound, self-doubt and the turn, rally cry, bigger stakes, commanding the room
- —A rally cry that gives their people clarity, even when the future isn't clear
- —Tools for keeping that message alive long after the offsite ends
- Formats
- Keynote or leadership team workshop
- Ideal for
- Company offsites, sales kickoffs, leadership retreats, AI transformation kickoffs
Past stages
SXSW · Adweek · Inbound · Advisor ScaleCon · and many others