Laura’s raspy voice hits airwaves across the country on Rock Radio Stations, commercials and in voiceovers. She is the voice for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network and is the emcee for the Colts pre-game events. In 2010 Laura was honored as the Alumni of the Year at Columbia College Chicago, and in 2018 was inducted into the Pikce High school Hall of Fame.

Manny is a highly experienced and accomplished hospitality professional with over 10 years of experience at Nordstrom. He is currently the General Manager of the Bistro Restaurant and Coffee division.  He was born in Mexico and raised in South Texas and passionate about traveling. great food and excellent red wine. Manny is also a fitness and nutrition enthusiast and enjoys spending time with friends and family.

Tracey was born and raised in Indianapolis, studied speech and theatre at Tennessee State University. She met her husband of 39 years in Brooklyn NY. and has 4 children. She Produced and directed a weekly television show “Around Our Way”. Her love of telling stories has become her passion.

Barb grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in music. She has taught private violin and piano lessons for almost fifty years. Barb and her husband have seven adult children. The oldest was educated in the public schools and Barb homeschooled the younger six for twenty-five years. Barb’s favorite things to do include taking grandchildren to the car wash, buying the grandchildren candy, riding her recumbent bicycle, and hiking. She also loves the challenge of flipping the caber as a competitor at the Scottish Highland Games. Barb’s Scottish heritage comes from her mother

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Carmel, as well as a few teenage years in Chicago, Tom grew up playing and watching sports. His grandfather was a former professional baseball player and coach, and his father played semi-professional  after playing multiple sports under the great Tony Hinkle. Tom enjoyed baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling with some occasional swings of the golf clubs. Now Tom is a Real Estate Broker and Actor as well as member of the board of directors for the Mud Creek Players. He lives with his wife Barb in Broad Ripple.

An educator, storyteller, and self-proclaimed “aspiring alchemist.” She believes in the magical power of words used to heal, love, and build community. The teacher by trade, and an inquisitive storyteller by nature, draws inspiration from her village of family, friends, and sisters of all kinds to capture the beauty of black life and womanist principles. The Indianapolis native is a proud alumna of DePauw University, where she studied Political Science and Africana Studies and received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Marian University. Her work can be found on her website peacelovendnika.wordpress.com.

Lisa is a spoken word artist and motivational poet. She is suburban mom who uses poetry to express her frustrations with the world. With topics ranging from polititcs to parenting, no one is spare her ire. Luckily for the listener, the madder she gets, the funnier she is. Dr. Seuss heavily influences her work, with wordplay sandwiched between rhythm and rhyme.  This is her second appearance at LTYM as she branches out into storytelling. Look for Lisa performing her original poetry or telling stories at a nearby  venue.

Scott sold his first story when he was just 16 years old. That’s when he got hooked on storytelling. Right out of college, he got a job teaching engineers and scientists how to tell stories about the cool stuff they were doing.  For the past 25 years, he’s been teaching at Purdue University as a Technology Leadership and Innovation professor.  He is co-founder and Chief Social Scientist of Hutcheson Associates, where he works with organizations like NASA, research hospitals and tech companies, working with over 4,000 organizational and community leaders.  He continues to tell stories in books, magazines, TV and to live audiences. He is the author of a best seller book, Two Emmy nominations for stories he produced and a TED Talk speaker.

After nearly 9 years in the classroom, Samantha decided to step back from teaching to focus on herself and her family. She’s happily married to her college sweetheart (Boiler up!) and is a stay-at-home mother to her daughter Joanna. Together, they have two lovably chaotic dogs, Thor and Jane.  She works part-time for the Indiana Storytelling Arts of Indiana whil working toward a masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction.  Writing is also a passion for Indianapolis Moms Blog.

Yolanda is committed to empowering others through her mission of fully embracing her divine purpose by improving the lives of others. She is a seasoned professional whose drive and self-determination have resulted in a myriad of accomplishments in the private and public sectors. She currently serves as the President of Diversity Initiatives for Engage Mentoring, leading the expanxion of diversity focused mentoring and leadership programs.