Speaking & Events

Speaking Experience:

Ananda speaking at Vision Quest Retreats Conference in 2011

Since 1994, Ananda Leeke has served as a moderator, panelist, speaker, workshop facilitator, and/or yoga teacher for BlissDom, Blogging While Brown, Blogalicious Weekend Conference and DC Meet Ups, BlogHer, Capital BookFest, DC Digital Capital Week, Feminist Majority, Holy Cross Hospital, Howard University, Ignite DC, Latinos in Social Media, Metropolitan Baptist Church, She’s Geeky, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Spelman College, Social Justice Camp II, Society for the Arts and Healthcare, Vision Quest Retreats, Washington Hospital Center, Washington National Cathedral’s Sacred Circles Conferences, WOMANIFESTING, Women in Film & Television Atlanta, and YWCA.  If you would like her to speak at your event, contact kiamshaleeke@yahoo.com or 202.607.3509.

Photo Credit: Spelman College Women of Color Leadership Conference, May 2012

2013 Events:

• April 10: Ananda will serve as a panelist for the Discussion 2: Re-entry/Reintegration Military Treatment Facilities at the Second National Summit: Arts, Health and Well-Being Across the Military Continuum in Bethesda, Maryland.
• July 26 @10:30 am – 11:00 am: Ananda will give a presentation on What Type of Social Media Leader are You? at the Blogher 2013 Conference held at the Sheraton Chicago and McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

2012 Events:

• February 24 @2:30 pm - 4:00 pm - Ananda will be facilitating a workshop on “Fierce Living from Your Creative Heart” at the BlissDom Conference in Nashville, TN.
• February 25 @11:00 am – Ananda will participate in a book signing for her novel, Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One and creative memoir, That Which Awakens Me, at the Barnes & Noble booth at the BlissDom Conference in Nashville, TN.
• March 1 @8:00 pm – 9:00 pm ET - Ananda will speak about “New Media Marketing: Understanding Pinterest” at the SistaSense Power Circle Telesummit for Web Entrepreneurs (online event). Click here for more information and to register and pay for the event.
• March 12 @8:30 pm ET: Ananda will participate in a Spreecast video interview with Tawanna Browne Smith, Founder/Publisher of MomsGuidetoTravel.com.
• March 15 @6:00 pm – 9:00 pm ET: Ananda will speak about her work with wounded warriors as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at the Veteran-Civilian Dialogue Project held at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC.
• May 17 @11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Ananda will participate in a panel discussion on how social media can help women shape their leadership brand at the Eighth Annual Spelman College Leadership and Women of Color Conference: Leading with Purpose in Atlanta, GA.
• June 9 @11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Ananda will lead a kind and gentle yoga class for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts’ Wellness Works/Healthy U session at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.
• August 3 @1:15 pm – 2:30 pm: Ananda will speak about Podcasting 101 at the BlogHer 2012 Conference held at the Hilton New York in New York City.
• September 28: Ananda will participate in a Blogger Town Hall during the Blogalicious 2012 Conference held at the Red Rock Spa in Las Vegas, NV.
• December 2-30: Ananda will host 22 Digital Sisterhood Month events in Washington, D.C., New York City, and online via Twitter and Digital Sisterhood Radio.

 Summary of 2011 Events:

• January 15 – Ananda served as a keynote speaker for the Vision Quest Retreats’ Taking your Dreams from Design to Destiny: The Next Level Conference, 20 F Street, NW, Washington, DC. Her talk addressed the inner women who live inside of women as archetypes or personalities and how they can help shape women’s dreams and ultimately their destiny.  Click here to watch a video (19 minutes and 49 seconds) of her talk.
• January 21 – Ananda gave an Ignite talk about the power of digital sisterhood as a self-care, self-discovery, and social justice movement for women in social media at the Social Justice Camp II,  St. Paul’s Lutheran Church 4900 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Click here to watch a video (7 minutes and 11 seconds) of her talk.
• February 25-28 – Ananda traveled to Haiti as a Heart of Haiti Blogger Ambassador with Willa Shalit of Fairwinds Trading and the Everywhere team. Click here to read her blog posts (photos and videos included).
• March 19 – Ananda participated in “WOMANIFESTING IN ACTION:How Local Women Leaders Make A Difference Through Community Building, Collaboration and Social Activism” at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 900 G Street, NW, Room A-5, Washington, DC.  The panel moderators are Marita Golden, Author, Master Literary Teacher and Co-Founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation,and Nikita Mitchell, Gen Y Writer/Blogger. Womanifesting develops and supports programs that foster self-empowerment, sisterhood, and service and positively impact the lives of women and girls, particularly those under-resourced and marginalized. Click here to read Ananda’s recap blog (photos and videos).
• April 6 – Ananda served as a panelist for Howard University’s New Media Symposium at Founders Library in Washington, DC.  Click here to read her blog recap (videos and photos).
• April 9 - Ananda spoke about digital sisterhood and the women’s movement as a panelist for the “Conversations across the Generations on Women’s Issues and the Women’s Movement” workshop at the Feminist Majority/YWCA‘s annual convention at the Mayflower in Washington, DC. The YWCA’s conference theme is “Own the Future.” Click here to learn more.
• April 12 – Ananda served as a panelist for the Digital Digital Doyennes: A Celebration of Female Digital Innovation discussion at Spelman College’s Science Center Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.  Click here to read the Digital Sisterhood Network’s blog recap (photos and Twitterverse commentary).  Watch the live streaming video (104 minutes) here.
• August 5 – Ananda taught Blogger Wellness, a workshop featuring kind and gentle office yoga, breathing exercises, and self-care practices, at BlogHer 11 in San Diego, California.  Click here to read a blog recap.  She also served as a panelist for  Skills: Minding Your Own Business – Peer Networking: Working together to help all boats rise session at BlogHer 11.
  August 13 - Ananda discussed the benefits of writers using blogs to write their books at “Women Write Now! Two,” a day-long seminar for women writers and women who want to write. The seminar was hosted and presented by author and master teacher Marita Golden in Maryland. Watch video #1 and video #2 of Ananda’s presentation.
• September 1 - Ananda was featured as BeBlogalicious.com‘s guest during the #BeUplifted Twitter chat.  She discussed the power of the BeBlogalicious community, her role as a Blogalicious Weekend 2011 conference blogger ambassador, digital sisterhood, blogging,online fundraising, peer networking, and publishing a book.
• September 20 - Ananda participated as a panelist with Stacey Ferguson (@JusticeFergie), co-founder of the Blogalicious Weekend and Social Niche, LLC, and Leticia Barr, founder of Tech Savvy Mama Media (@TechSavvyMama) at the DC Meet Up hosted by Blogalicious  Black Public Relations Society of Washington, DC, at Hager Sharpe Public Relations.  Click here to read a blog recap (event photos and video included).
• October 17 – Ananda was a guest on the Technocolor Show hosted by Lena Marvin and Martin Johnson on WHCR 90.3 FM. She discussed her role as a Blogalicious Conference Ambassador, the Blogalicious Weekend Conference, and the Digital Sisterhood Network.
• October 20 – Ananda gave a talk on “Digital Sisterhood for DC Women Entrepreneurs” at Ignite DC #8. Click here to watch the video.