The Problem: Networking. Everyone hates going to conferences or events hoping to connect with industry icons, only to find that approaching them is just TOO awkward.

The Solution: Speed Mentoring – a live event where people get and give career advice and hack business problems in record time.

Check out the video to see how it works.

Powered by Owned, Earned & Social Media. The first Speed Mentoring event was offered at The 3 Percent Conference in 2013. We spread the word through our website, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter and mentees clamored for a chance to meet their idols. Mentors showed up to drop their wisdom. And the 4As stepped up to sponsor the event three years in a row. It grew from there.

Outcome: Hundreds of mentees and mentors connected at Speed Mentoring events offered in San Francisco, NYC, London, and Atlanta, as well as in Austin at #SXSW. Many of them remain connected to this day.

The 3% Conference championed female creative talent and leadership in advertising. Working with founder Kat Gordon, I helped shape the 3% story & agenda, designed curriculum, was a speaker and facilitator, directed the digital, video, and social teams, and created programming like Speed Mentoring and CD Bootcamp.

Why was 3% a big deal? Because the lack of diversity is not a women's problem. It's a business problem. When the talent base of ad agencies doesn't reflect the diverse world we live in, advertisers are wasting their money. And consumers are getting shortchanged.

As the CCO, I helped The 3% Conference triple its impact and grow into a nationwide conference, with multi-city MiniCons, a vibrant online community on multiple Social platforms, a student scholarship fund, and a creative award.