In his line of work as Executive Director of The Kinsey Institute, and author of the new book, The Intimate Animal: The Science of Sex, Fidelity and Why We Love and Die For Love, Justin Garcia PhD, fields a lot of inappropriate, embarrassing questions at cocktail parties and events. He politely declines, saying he is a private person.

But what the award-winning researcher in evolutionary biology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, social science and human behavior at the world’s leading sexuality and relationship research center, does appreciate are other kinds of inquiries.

“The part I do think is an honor is when people come up to me with questions, wanting to know if they are normal. I realize they don’t know who else to ask,” says Garcia, 41, a married father of 11-month-old son, Nicholas, and Founding Co-Director of Human Sexuality and Health at the Indiana University School of Medicine who is speaking at this year’s Power Up Conference.

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“I am a fighter and if there ever was a time to fight, now is the time. And I know we will move forward to protect ourselves, our children and our communities in order to love this country and have it be the way it needs to be,” says Avis Jones-DeWeever, PhD,  Principal and Founder of Nouveaux Strategies.

A speaker at Power Up Conference 2026, Audacity: Leadership in Action, in Washington, D.C., August 26 on the panel, “Invest in Herself: Women, Money & Long-Term Success,” Jones-DeWeever previously served as the youngest ever Executive Director of the National Council of Negro Women.

What Jones-DeWeever, who launched her firm in 2025, says she plans to offer at the conference are her decades of experience in policy, social justice and strategic communications internationally at a divisive and disrupted period in American history.

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Many would agree the parenting process from birth to adulthood is not easy. Strategizing for equity as a parent and caregiver in the workplace is even more complicated, stressful and grueling for millions of American mothers, fathers, daughters and sons.

So Lauren Smith Brody, 48, journalist, author, caregiving activist, mother and founder, trademarked a phrase and declared the process of support her life’s mission: The Fifth Trimester.

“The idea was to address the corporate angle of motherhood, and it morphed into all moms and dads and all people providing short term and long term care. We are all in the Fifth Trimester,” says Smith Brody, the married mother of two sons, 15 and 18 years old, who is speaking at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference August 26 on the panel, The Power of Care: Women Leading at Work and at Home.

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 “Your phone could be the perfect place to get healthcare.”

Joanna Strober, CEO and co-founder of Midi Health, a virtual care platform for women in perimenopause and menopause, says years ago she had the realization that each phone carries the potential for better health. Strober is speaking on the panel, The Audacity to Thrive: Women Claiming Midlife Health & Power, at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference August 26.

“It is so hard to get in the car,” says Strober, 58, who also founded Kurbo, the first digital therapeutic for childhood obesity, that she sold to Weight Watchers. And it is so easy to get on the phone.

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Healthcare entrepreneur and serial enterprise founder Emily Serebryany says her superpower is her curiosity.

Born in the USSR (the former Soviet Union, now Ukraine) Serebryany, 58, explains that at 10 years old she knew she wanted to leave her native country when her best friend moved to the U.S. with her family.

“I knew I wanted to leave, but my parents said no. I did not know how it was going to happen,” but she had made a promise to herself to try and she wanted to explore all possibilities.

Read more in Take The Lead on power of immigrant women’s stories

In 1988, at 21 years old, the young mother left the Soviet Union with her husband, $200, and their small child, emigrating first to Vienna, then to Italy and finally landing in the U.S. in Los Angeles because her husband had a cousin who lived there.

“We came as refugees, barely spoke English, but it did not scare me,” says Serebryany,  who is speaking at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference on the panel, ”The Audacity to Thrive: Women Claiming Midlife Health & Power.” As a panelist, she says she will offer these strategies: ”First, you're not alone. Second, your brain isn't failing—it's adapting to profound biological changes. Third, midlife isn't the beginning of decline. It can be the beginning of a new chapter of wisdom, resilience, and leadership.”

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My trust is in William He to be the first Gen Z president of the United States, the first Asian-American president and the most qualified individual to bring America together for a brighter future.

That is because two years ago on July 4, when he was 16, He founded Dream For America, and Dream For Action, a non-profit movement with 1,200 volunteers across the country, 1 million followers, 1 billion social media hits  and $600,000 in funds raised. He is speaking at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2026, on Women’s Equality Day, August 26.

“Too many young people have lost faith in democracy,” says He, now 18, who recently completed his freshman year at University of Texas-Austin where he is a pre-law, government history major.

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“You can’t save the world, but you can take care of the postage stamp in your yard.”

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Ann Patchett, 62, best-selling author of 17 books, winner of the PEN/Faulkner award, Pulitzer Prize finalist, winner of the Women’s Prize For Fiction in the UK, the President’s National Humanities Medal, named Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world, and owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, told a crowd recently as part of the Chicago Humanities, that stories frame everything.

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In an on-stage conversation with Lisa Lucas, former senior vice president at Knopf Doubleday, and former executive director of the National Book Foundation, Patchett says, “What we all need is a sense of community, something we feel good about, that is something I am thrilled to be a part of.”

Her mission to use storytelling for leadership and change is aligned with the work of Kendall Cherry, Founder and Chief Storyteller at The Candid Collective, who is leading a Storytelling workshop at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference August 26.

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