Welcome to Day #4
Igniting the Next Generation
Empower
Welcome to Day 4 of the Igniting the Next Generation: Empower Summit—your launchpad to inspiration, transformation, and the tools to empower today's youth for a brighter tomorrow!
EMPOWER
Virtual Summit
Topic #1
How to Get More Playing Time
with Rich Grogan | Author, Mentor, Lifelong Martial Artist and Hockey Dad
Topic #2
The Wellness Umbrella- Staying Well While Helping Others
with Brody Powell | Suicide Prevention and Wellness Speaker
Topic 3
The Power of Mentorship
with Melahni Ake | Teen & Parent Coach
Topic #4
Your Job Isn't to Keep Them Safe
with John Eades | Author, Speaker, Coach
Topic 5
Be Your Own Superhero
with Christy Marvel | Author, Mentor, Lifelong Martial Artist and Hockey Dad
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Meet Your Host
Rich Grogan
Teaches athletes how to get noticed for the right reasons, earn trust, communicate with confidence, lead with integrity, and become the kind of teammate coaches want
Brody Powell
Passionate about helping adults recognize warning signs, respond with confidence, and create environments where young people feel seen, valued, and supported.
Melahni Ake
Empower leaders to believe in themselves, embrace daily growth, and create the change they want to see in the world.
John Eades
Named one of LinkedIn's Top Voices, where his newsletters have over 300k subscribers
Christy Marvel
Her mission is simple: to help people realize that their greatest challenges can become the very source of their greatest strength.
Rich Grogan
How to Get More Playing Time
Coach Rich Grogan tackles the question every sports parent asks: How can my athlete earn more playing time? Drawing from 40 years of coaching, he explains why minutes are not won through complaints, comparisons, or pressure—they are earned through trust. In this practical presentation, Rich reveals the myths that keep players stuck and the habits that help athletes stand out, communicate well, work harder, and become stronger people both on and off the field.
Coach Rich Grogan is the founder of Warrior Confidence and the author of Becoming Bully Proof and How to Get More Ice Time.
He is a lifelong coach, teacher, and mentor with over 50 years in and around ice hockey, along with decades of experience across sports, martial arts, education, and leadership.
He is a 7th Degree Black Belt, Master Martial Arts Instructor, former Physical Education teacher, and mental strength and leadership coach who has spent nearly four decades helping athletes, students, and families build confidence, discipline, respect, resilience, and integrity.
Through his Warrior Confidence programs, Coach Rich teaches athletes how to get noticed for the right reasons, earn trust, communicate with confidence, lead with integrity, and become the kind of teammate coaches want on their teams.Â
In his presentation, How to Get More Playing Time: A Champion’s Playbook — Winning with Integrity, Coach Rich helps parents, coaches, and players better understand what coaches truly look for, how athletes can separate themselves the right way, and how families can support their player’s growth without adding unnecessary pressure, entitlement, or excuses.
Playing time is not just about talent. It is earned through character, work ethic, attitude, communication, leadership, and doing the little things right on and off the playing surface.
Brody Powell
The Wellness Umbrella- Staying Well While Helping Others
Brody Powell introduces the “Wellness Umbrella,” a simple framework that helps parents, teachers, and caregivers check their own well-being before burnout takes over. As a licensed counselor, he explains why caring for yourself is not selfish—it is essential to caring well for others. This practical presentation helps caregivers recognize when they are losing themselves in their role and take meaningful steps toward greater balance, health, and emotional strength.
Brody Powell is a Licensed Professional Counselor, author, and professional speaker based in Abilene, Texas.
Through Brody Powell; Life Potential, LLC, he helps educators, parents, counselors, and youth-serving professionals better understand suicide prevention, bullying resiliency, and sustainable wellness for the parent or educators involved.
Brody spent five years serving in school-based counseling before expanding into private practice and professional speaking. His work is rooted in both clinical experience and lived experience, including his own story of suicidal thoughts. He is passionate about helping adults recognize warning signs, respond with confidence, and create environments where young people feel seen, valued, and supported.
Brody is the creator of practical frameworks including the Wellness Umbrella, the Bully-Proof Vest of Self-Worth, and the Counseling Analogies that Stick. His presentations are known for being relatable, memorable, and immediately usable. He currently serves as President of the Big Country Counseling Association and continues to provide counseling, training, and speaking across Texas.
Known for presentations that are relatable, memorable, and immediately useful, Brody equips audiences with tools they can apply in schools, homes, counseling settings, and communities.
Tori Barker
Preparing Female Student-Athletes for Life Beyond Sports
Tori Barker explores the question every female student-athlete eventually faces: What happens when the game ends? Drawing from her experience as a Division I softball player and founder of Beyond Her Game, she helps parents, coaches, and mentors prepare young women for life beyond sports. This powerful presentation offers practical ways to build confidence beyond performance, strengthen identity beyond athletics, and help student-athletes step into their next chapter with purpose and possibility.
Tori Barker is the founder of Beyond Her Game, a mission-driven platform dedicated to helping female athletes build confidence, leadership, identity, and success beyond sports.
As a former Division I athlete, she understands firsthand the challenges athletes face when navigating life beyond competition and is passionate about creating conversations, resources, and opportunities that support women through every stage of their journey.
In addition to her work with Beyond Her Game, Tori is the founder of Creative Marketing, a visibility and brand strategy consulting firm where she helps entrepreneurs, organizations, and thought leaders strengthen their presence, amplify their message, and build meaningful connections with their audiences. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing, branding, and business strategy, she is known for helping clients move beyond simply showing up to becoming recognized, respected, and remembered.
Through her work as a speaker, podcast host, strategist, and entrepreneur, Tori is committed to helping individuals step into greater confidence, clarity, and impact, whether on the field, in business, or in life.
Sheri Gazitt
When Your Daughter Says, “No One Likes Me”: The 4-step Response to Empowerment
Coach Sheri Gazitt helps parents respond more effectively when their daughters face girl drama, exclusion, and friendship pain. She reveals the four common ways adults react—and why even loving, well-meant responses can leave girls feeling unheard. Through her simple L.O.V.E. framework, parents will learn how to listen, validate emotions, and empower their daughters with the confidence and skills to navigate difficult friendships without rushing in to fix everything for them.
Sheri Gazitt is an international friendship expert, speaker, author, and founder of Teen Wise. With more than 30 years of experience and a background in counseling psychology, she has helped thousands of girls navigate friendship challenges, social anxiety, peer conflict, and the emotional ups and downs of growing up.
Sheri is the author of Girl Drama Decoded, a practical guide that helps families better understand the hidden dynamics behind friendship struggles and social stress. Through Teen Wise, she works directly with teen girls in private coaching, helping them build confidence, strengthen communication skills, and create healthier relationships.
She also supports mothers through the Mom Wise Collective, giving them practical tools to guide their daughters without overreacting, withdrawing, or trying to solve every problem for them. Sheri is known for making complicated social situations feel clear, manageable, and less overwhelming.
Through her speaking, coaching, and writing, Sheri helps parents and teens replace confusion with understanding and fear with confidence.Â
Her work equips families to build stronger connections, respond to friendship challenges with greater wisdom, and help girls develop the resilience and self-trust needed to thrive.
Gene Jochen
Becoming Who You're Meant to Be Instilling Confidence, Purpose, and Resilience in Youth
Gene Jochen shows how the mindset behind endurance sports can help young people build confidence, resilience, and lasting motivation. Drawing from his book, *One Step Forward*, he equips parents, teachers, and coaches with practical ways to help youth embrace discomfort, move beyond limiting beliefs, and recover from setbacks. This energizing presentation offers simple strategies for developing consistency, character, leadership, and the courage to keep moving forward—one step at a time.
Gene Jochen is an elite endurance athlete, author, and professional speaker who has spent more than two decades testing the boundaries of human potential.
Once navigating a high-stress lifestyle, Gene underwent a profound personal reinvention that completely reshaped his mind and body. Today, he is an 11-time Ironman triathlon finisher, a Six Star Finisher of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, and has crossed the finish line of over 100 marathons.
In early 2026, Gene published his acclaimed book, One Step Forward: 100 Life Lessons from 100 Marathons - Becoming Who You're Meant to Be, which distills the grit, community, and mental toughness of long-distance racing into 100 practical life lessons for overcoming adversity and becoming who you are truly meant to be. As an entrepreneur, business leader, and coach, he is a firm believer that sustainable peak performance—whether on the racecourse or in daily life—always begins by investing in the human being first.
At the Empower Summit 2026, he is excited to share his unique "one step forward" framework with parents, coaches, and youth leaders, equipping them with the mindset tools needed to cultivate unwavering resilience, optimism, and discipline in the next generation.
Gene’s message focuses on the power of positive self-talk, incremental progress, and surrounding oneself with a resilient community.
Purpose in Every Paycheck
Kyle Blackwell
Discover Financial Freedom and the Future you're Made For
Girl Drama Decoded
Sheri Gazitt
Empower Your Daughter Through The Ups & Downs of Girl Drama & Friendships
One Step Forward
Gene Jochen
100 Life Lessons Learned from 100 Marathons - Becoming Who You're Meant to Be
How To Get More Ice Time
Rich Grogan
