Speaking Topics
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With 20+ years of producing music, award-winning poetry, and creative writing, I'll show you how to unleash your creativity with five proven steps for consistent inspiration.
In a rapidly changing world, creativity is a must-have skill. While tech excels at refining existing ideas, we need creative minds to pioneer tomorrow's solutions.
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How do you boost collaborative creativity in the workplace? Enter improv and its five golden rules:
1) Yes, and
2) There's no right or wrong
3) Make others look good
4) Be in the moment
5) Have fun
With 10+ years in tech at Cisco, Workday, and startups, coupled with five years of improv experience, I lead workshops using improv games to boost your facilitation and public speaking skills, along with inclusivity, collaboration, and innovation in diverse teams.
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Nervous about coming out at work? I was, too. It's common to see our gender identity and sexual orientation as liabilities. But what if they're our superpowers?
After coming out as queer at Workday and then trans at Grammarly, I discovered that my LGBTQ+ perspective is a creative powerhouse.
I share why embracing our uniqueness unlocks innovation, courage, and empathy – our workplace superpowers.
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After 15+ years of preaching in anti-LGBTQ+ pulpits, I discovered that embracing my gender, sexuality, and spiritual identity has led to a profound realization of self-love.
I share the transformative power and freedom of embracing our whole selves.
Past Hosts of Aiden
Acclaim for Aiden's Speaking Engagements
“Aiden was our speaker at our March DINT - Diversity & Inclusion in Tech event. The event combined practical advice, personal stories and examples to support the advice, and workshop elements to embed the learning and make things real for the attendees. Our feedback from the attendees has been phenomenal, which is even more impressive given this was a virtual event with a global audience. I recommend Aiden unreservedly. The depth of his experience is second to none, as is his ability to connect with his audience.
– Davina Sirisena, Founder at Difference Digital
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We hosted a panel with three industry experts doing incredible work in the DEI space, who were also incredibly amazing, smart, funny, and insightful humans. The conversation focused on allyship, being an accomplice, intersectionality, and the realities faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community in tech. A colleague on the panel planning committee introduced me to Aiden to participate, and I was BLOWN AWAY. Aiden contributed a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and personal experiences, fostering a beautifully authentic yet educational moment for our team.
I, along with many others, was deeply moved by Aiden’s sharing of how an inclusive culture of belonging allowed him to show up safely, authentically, and fully in his identity and offered practical insights on how we could build a similar culture of compassion, acceptance, inclusion, and belonging. Aiden shared so many important nuggets of wisdom, defined key terms to help build a shared understanding, and prompted attendees to consider change on individual AND systemic levels. Even though the panel was virtual, Aiden’s presence, humor, and thoughtfulness shone through immensely! I can't wait to invite him back again!"
– Lauryn N. Nwankpa, Co-Managing Director at Brand Citizens
“Aiden was PBWC’s webinar speaker in June 2021. He is such a powerful and moving speaker, leading with honesty and light. His enthusiasm is contagious, and his openness allowed others to share and be vulnerable in unexpected ways. He was organized and well prepared, so easy-going with the technical issues we had prior to the event, and a natural public speaker, injecting humor to balance the seriousness in a discussion about Creating a S.A.F.E. Space for Diversity.
He paused for self-reflections, which gave attendees an opportunity to not just learn, but realize healthy and positive things about themselves. As one of our audience members said, we are all better people having heard Aiden’s story.”
– Jennifer Inouye, Community Manager of Professional BusinessWomen of California (PBWC)
“Aiden is a popular leading expert on creativity, DEI, employer branding, and storytelling. He spoke to packed sessions at our OpenUp Summit and Women Who Code in Taipei, Taiwan, and was one of our highest-rated speakers. Aiden’s talks are especially poignant and impactful because they share relatable stories, compelling data, and practical takeaways to apply to both work and life immediately. I highly recommend Aiden if you want an inspirational, engaging, insightful, and global thought leader to speak at your next conference, panel, event, or workshop.”
— Jane Shih, Founder and CEO of WeTogether.co
“Aiden facilitated a fantastic "Creativity Workshop," capturing attendees' hearts and minds. I have never seen so much enthusiasm at an Oracle Women's Leadership (OWL) event. He shared real-life steps we can take to explore our creative selves, his fascinating life journey, and how we can enrich our lives (and the world!) by trying new things.
Throughout Aiden's workshop, I wondered how meaningful these concepts would be for my daughter and her friends, who had just graduated high school. I wanted to do something special for them before they all went separate ways, and I felt an inspirational talk from the amazing Aiden - who I knew the kids would magnetically relate to – would be just the thing.
The workshop was a true hit. The kids had a blast. Aiden included improv games they loved and discussed his "failures" and how mistakes are critical to creativity and, ultimately, success. His easy, comfortable communication style works magic with a room. There was not a minute he lost anyone’s attention. He is truly a talented, gifted speaker."
– Aprelle Deuell, Senior Director at Oracle