MOSAC 2026 Keynote Speakers
Jenn Whitmer
Jenn Whitmer—keynote speaker, award-winning author of *Joyosity*, podcast host, Enneagram specialist, and all-around joy-bringer—teaches leaders to use joy as a performance tool. Your team walks out with the human skills to actually deliver business results: higher engagement, increased productivity, and a culture people don’t want to leave.
No one lives in a highlight reel. You want real change for real life. Jenn’s got the experience and the credentials to bring the shift for you. She has a Master of Arts in Communication and Culture from Webster University, graduate certificates in music education, theology, and leadership, extended training in conflict resolution, and certification as an Enneagram coach. She’s also lived the pressure of leading: 20+ years as an educator and school leader, wrangling students, mobilizing volunteers, managing projects, and leading professionals.
Her bestselling book, *Joyosity: How to Cultivate Intense Happiness in Work & Life (Even If Things Are What They Are)*, has won eight publishing awards and has 300+ citations. She’s spoken for SXSW, TEDx, Kiwanis International, Mayo Clinic, Chick-fil-A, Intuit, and the U.S. State Department—proof this isn’t theory, it’s been tested in rooms with no patience for ideas that don’t work.
When she’s not on a stage, Jenn’s breezing through TSA PreCheck with her Frownies on, quoting *Ted Lasso* to strangers, and holding onto her not-so-secret dream that her real life is a musical. She lives in St. Louis with her husband, four kids, and one surly cat who lets them stay in the house.
Julia Gabor
Julia Gabor is an education innovator, entrepreneur, national speaker, and co-founder of kid-grit, an organization on a mission to transform education by developing the human capacities that make learning—and life—possible.
After more than 20 years working alongside students, educators, and school leaders, Julia has come to believe an uncomfortable truth: while education has become exceptionally good at teaching content, it too often overlooks the human skills that help people connect, thrive, and reach their full potential. Many educators enter the classroom without ever being taught how to intentionally build relationships, foster belonging, or sustain their own well-being.
That belief inspired the creation of kid-grit.
Today, Julia designs evidence-informed curriculum, professional learning, and leadership experiences that help educators and students strengthen self-awareness, emotional intelligence, resilience, communication, and authentic relationships. Her work challenges schools to move beyond simply teaching content to teaching the human first.
Throughout her career, Julia has developed experiential learning programs with organizations including the TGR Foundation (Tiger Woods Foundation), WRiTE BRAiN BOOKS, and LA ALL STARS. Her work has helped reach hundreds of thousands of young people and trained thousands of educators nationwide. As Director of Education for WRiTE BRAiN BOOKS, she expanded a project-based literacy model into 45 states, empowering more than 60,000 students to become published authors. She also contributed to the national implementation of Tiger’s Action Plan (TAP), a character education initiative that reached nearly 1 million students.
Julia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the State University of New York at Fredonia and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Antioch, Los Angeles University, where her action research explored how intentional teacher-student relationships improve student engagement.
She believes that before we can teach students how to succeed, we must first help them discover who they are becoming.