Inspirational Speakers | Ultimate Women's Expo

Inspiring, Motivating, Empowering Keynote Speakers on the GEICO Main Stage

Presented By:

SATURDAY AT 12:00: American Idol, Grammy-winning vocalist, and actress, and husband, successful businessman, Kendall Taylor, were both living in their purpose when they met and married—three weeks later! Getting married was the easy part BEING married is when the real work begins!

Immediately following Fantasia and Kendall’s Keynote Address you’ll have an opportunity to meet them as they sign copies of their new book NO CROWNS IN THE CASTLE, Building a Strong Relationship and a Harmonious Life at the Books Pavilion located adjacent to the Stage.

Fantasia and Kendall Taylor talk honestly about their marriage, the ups the downs and give tools to help other on their journey to wedded bliss! They began hosting “Taylor Talks” on their social media platforms and now people from all over the world people tune in to hear real honest marital advice from the Taylors.

The one constant that has sustained them through it all is the practice of taking off their crowns—the accolades, their egos, the things the world tells you matter—and serving each other within the home. It doesn’t matter who you are in the world—you need to humble yourself and serve your partner in order to put your marriage, your family, and your faith first. In their trademark no-nonsense, real-talk style, they discuss topics that affect all relationships, including the importance of submitting to one another, handling conflict, clearing the lines of communication, keeping the romance alive, navigating the challenges of blended family, and how to maintain healthy relationships when you haven’t seen them modeled before.

Insightful, wise, and grounded in faith, Fantasia and Kendall’s story offers hope and encouragement and gives straight-up advice about making relationships last.
Immediately following Fantasia and Kendall’s Keynote Address you’ll have an opportunity to meet them as they sign copies of their new book NO CROWNS IN THE CASTLE, Building a Strong Relationship and a Harmonious Life at the Books Pavilion located adjacent to the Stage.

Don’t Miss Fantasia and Kendall Saturday at 12:00

At the teen age of 14, Abby founded the Abby Lee Dance Company. With a penchant for creativity and a drive to succeed, Abby recognized that her 15 original company members age 7 to 9, needed to be strong, fearless and technically trained to be able to execute her innovative choreography. This is when Abby’s zeal for teaching was established. At the age of 22, Ms. Miller took over the reins at her mother’s esteemed dance studio. Under Abby’s direction, the ALDC Competition Team grew to 148 members. She soon built her own state of the art facility in her hometown to house over 400 students. She not only produced professional, employable dancers but also created Stars! Year after year countless trophies, banners, crowns and titles, both regional and national, were won. Abby’s creation, the ALDC, forged a legacy of champions!

Today, Abby Lee Miller has had students perform in 34 different Broadway shows (most recently the original cast of Funny Girl), graduates sign 17 consecutive contracts to perform at Tokyo Disney, the Dance Captain of Disney World’s Beauty and the Beast for 23 years running, along with numerous Radio City Rockettes, featured ensemble dancers and, of course, her protégés dancing the role of Clara in the Christmas Spectacular-while countless other alum have traveled the world with their dance training from the ALDC in Pittsburgh, PA.

In 2011, Abby Lee burst onto the reality TV scene and into your homes on screen when Lifetime Television followed a group of her students and their overzealous stage mothers to dance competitions. The rest, as they say, was history! Abby appeared on Jimmy Fallen, The Talk, Doctor’s, Dr Oz, co-hosted The View and served as a guest judge on Dancing With The Stars! Dance Moms, became a pop-culture phenomenon which consistently drew 2.8 million viewers weekly, sold to international outlets, aired in 134 countries and in 11 different languages. A spin off, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition came next, followed by Abby’s Studio Rescue! The show is currently streaming on HULU to a whole new audience! While Ms. Miller works on several new TV projects, she continues to entertain audiences on her YouTube channel and teaches the art of Dance & Acrobatics to thousands of children worldwide on Zoom.

At the age of two, Melissa Gilbert made her on-air debut modeling baby clothes and continued with over 32 television commercials until 1973, when the nine-year-old joined the cast of “Little House on the Prairie,” continuing with the number one rated series for 10 years.

Over the years, Gilbert has continued to bring powerful stories to the small screen, starting at age fourteen with the Emmy award-winning “The Miracle Worker”, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Splendor in the Grass,” “Family Secrets” and “Choices of the Heart”.

She made Broadway debut earning an Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Debuting Actress and has also starred in such productions as “The Miracle Worker,” “The Glass Menagerie,” “Bus Stop” and “Love Letters” .

Having fully outgrown the “Half-Pint” image of her “Little House” youth, Melissa has proven herself a successful adult actress and director. She made her directorial debut with the critically acclaimed ABC special “Me and My Hormones,” and teamed up to produce the highly rated A & E documentary “Child Stars: Their Story,” which gave an insider’s look at the privileges and pain of child stardom. Melissa’s legacy came full circle when she starred as Ma in the national tour of “Little House on the Prairie the Musical.”

Melissa shared her story of growing up in front of the cameras, dealing with a complicated family, overcoming addictions, and how she finally learned to move on in her New York Time’s bestselling memoir, Prairie Tale.

An avid philanthropist, Melissa is the President of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Hospice and palliative Care Coalition, and became the first-ever national spokesperson for The Partnership at Drugfree.org. Through her work with the Children’s Hospice, Melissa has dedicated her life to ensuring that all chronically and terminally ill children get to live and die with the gentleness, dignity and grace they deserve.