Fall 2023 Speakers and Presentations
Stephen Yusko | Visual Arts
Stephen Yusko creates sculpture, furniture, vessels and public art in his Cleveland, OH studio using mixed material combined with forged, machined and fabricated steel. Yusko has taught at several schools and universities, including Haystack School of Crafts (ME), Penland School of Crafts (NC) and SUNY Purchase. He has exhibited his work widely including the Metal Museum (TN) and the Ruthin Craft Centre (Wales, UK) and has received four Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence Awards.
Speaker Presentation
Tracy Vollbrecht | Fashion
Tracy Vollbrecht is the founder of Vollbrecht Adaptive Consulting, an adaptive fashion consultancy rooted in universal design principles. With work featured in WWD, Vogue, Oprah Daily and Cosmopolitan, Tracy is a recognized adaptive and universal design consultant. Her first experience with inclusive, functional fashion came when she unknowingly put universal design principles into action to help her dad manage his Multiple Sclerosis. Previously, Tracy served as the founding designer of JuniperUNLTD's women’s and men’s adaptive brands, Yarrow and ULEX; as a sweater designer at Macy’s; and as a designer and production manager for all categories at La Ligne. Combining her men’s and women’s wear design experience with her universal and adaptive knowledge, she develops customized strategies for each brand, organization, and university she works with to make the fashion industry more inclusive.
More information can be found on Vollbrecht Adaptive Consulting’s website www.vollbrechtadaptiveconsulting.com and LinkedIn page www.linkedin.com/company/vollbrecht-adaptive-consulting.
Speaker Presentation
Jamey Garner | Music
Jamey Garner most recently toured the US, Canada and Europe with his band High South, releasing two records with Universal Music Group, and entering the Top 10 Album charts in Germany and Austria. In addition, Rolling Stone magazine featured High South in their March 2020 David Bowie issue, subsequently presenting the band's 2020 and 2023 tours throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Jamey has appeared Off-Broadway in the award winning musical, Our Sinatra, toured arenas across the U.S. and Canada as a featured soloist with the Trans Siberian Orchestra and has appeared on numerous television shows in America and Europe.
Speaker Presentation
Eduardo Placer | Theatre
Eduardo Placer, CEO and Founder of Fearless Communicators, is a Public Speaking Coach, Story Doula, and International Community Builder. He is a global facilitator who has led workshops with groups at Tik Tok, HBO, Google, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Yale, The Juilliard School and the Wharton School of Business. Private clients include US Presidential Candidates, UN Diplomats, Industry Leaders, C-Suite Executives, entrepreneurs and social activists. He was a professional actor for 15 years, working across the U.S. in over 38 plays and musicals.
Education: B.A. in English, University of Pennsylvania; M.F.A. in Acting, University of California, San Diego
Speaker Presentation
Dominic Moore-Dunson | Dance
Dominic Moore-Dunson is an award-winning professional dancer, producer, teaching artist and speaker. Dominic is the Co-founder of MooreDunson Co. a holding company committed to producing companies and brands helping its clients unlock their stories.
As an artist, Dominic is 2023 Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch, a Top 40 finalist for the National Dance Project Grant, 2019 Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow and a 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize Winner.
Dominic is a co-owner of THRIVE Leadership and Team Development where he helps organizations thrive by equipping leaders and teams to reach their goals. In addition, Dominic is the founder of Creative Change Maker, an online e-course platform helping artists make the money they need so they can change the world.
Moore-Dunson is co-founded of the Akron Black Artist Guild, an organization committed to building a network of Black artists in Akron, OH. A former Program and Arts Manager for the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Dominic serves as secretary of the board for ArtsNow.
Speaker Presentation
Grace Collins | Game Design
Grace Collins (they/them) is the Founder/CEO of Snowbright Studio, a Cleveland-based LGBTBE-certified game studio dedicated to publishing heartwarming games and experiences. Grace previously led games and education policy at the US Department of Education and later coordinated federal game policy across the executive branch. Prior to serving at the Department, they managed and developed educational game projects at the Smithsonian Institution. Grace has taught computer science and game design at multiple levels and was profiled by the Associated Press for founding the first esports team in the nation at an all-girls’ high school.
Speaker Presentation
R. Scott French | Marketing and Branding
R. Scott French has extensive experience in all areas of the fashion business from collection inspirational concept, design, marketing, sales, production and finally to retail sales. As a designer, he’s shown 10 collections on the runways of "The Tents" during New York Fashion Week under his own label “R. Scott French”. In 2009, he co-founded a media company to report on the world of fashion from the perspective of the participant/attendee of fashion events from around the world.
In 2014, Scott joined The Bromley Group Public Relations as Creative Director and Vice President. In this role, he oversaw the overall visual and conceptual direction of the agency's work for their clients in the fashion, accessories and home furnishings markets for both the traditional and digital media channels. This led him to his current role as Co-Founder of VERY New York, a fashion events and relations agency based in New York and Los Angeles. VERY New York was founded with the specific goal of scaling public relations and events to the reality that exists in the post-COVID business landscape.
Scott is a regular lecturer Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and The Parsons School of Design, in New York City. In addition, he serves on several advisory boards in the fashion industry. He’s an active member of the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) and FGI (Fashion Group International). Scott’s work has been featured in 10 internationally published books and more TV shows and websites than can possibly be counted.
Later this year, Scott adds the title of “Author” to his resume with the pending publication of his first book, “It’s Donald With a J”, a biography of the iconic shoe designer Donald J Pliner, which he penned with co-author Vivian Kelly. The book is slated to be filmed as a documentary with a release in early 2024, in time for the global film festival season.
Speaker Presentation