Speaking

Driving Engagement, Performance, and Retention

What makes people bring their best to work—and want to stay? Jennifer shows how mattering—the feeling that we are valued and have value to add—can drive engagement, strengthen performance, improve retention, and buffer against burnout. Through compelling stories and her validated SAID framework, she equips leaders to help employees feel Significant, Appreciated, Invested In, and Depended On. Audiences leave with actionable strategies to make recognition meaningful, connect everyday work to its impact, and build a culture that sustains both people and performance.

Building an Ecosystem of Connection, Contribution, and Purpose

What would change if every student, faculty member, and staff member knew the campus was better because they were part of it? Drawing on the science of mattering, Jennifer offers a compelling vision for an interconnected campus where people feel valued and have meaningful opportunities to contribute. From classrooms and residence halls to advising offices and leadership, she explores how everyday interactions and institutional decisions shape who feels seen, whose voice counts, and who has a chance to make a difference. Audiences learn practical ways to strengthen relationships, recognize overlooked contributions, and give people an active role in shaping their community. This keynote offers a roadmap for making mattering a defining feature of campus life—a shared commitment that reaches everyone who studies, teaches, and works there.

Helping Kids Thrive in an Achievement-Obsessed World

How can we nurture ambition while protecting our children’s well-being? Drawing on Never Enough, Jennifer explores how achievement pressure shapes family and school life and what it takes to raise children whose sense of worth extends beyond grades, trophies, and college acceptances. Parents and educators leave with practical ways to support healthy motivation, build resilience, and help young people pursue meaningful goals without losing themselves along the way.

Protecting Your Mattering Span

When a career or role ends, where do we find the daily reminders that we are valued and have something to offer? Jennifer explores how to approach retirement and aging with intention, building relationships, discovering meaningful ways to contribute, and expanding our sense of who we are. This hopeful, practical keynote helps audiences imagine a next chapter rich in connection and purpose, with opportunities to share their experience, explore new interests, and feel that they matter.

Connecting Healthcare Professionals to Their Impact

Healthcare is inherently meaningful work. And yet, it is also one of the professions most vulnerable to burnout. That tension points to something important: meaning and purpose alone are not enough. People need to know their work matters. In this compelling keynote, Jennifer brings the science of mattering to healthcare, exploring our fundamental human need not only to feel valued, but to know that we add value to patients, colleagues, teams, and the organization as a whole.

In complex healthcare systems, that connection to impact can easily get lost amid administrative burden, relentless demands, siloed teams, and the pace of care. Jennifer explores why this “mattering gap” can contribute to burnout and disengagement and why addressing it is not simply a people problem, but a systems problem. Drawing on research, powerful stories, and practical strategies, she shows leaders and care teams how to design mattering into the everyday experience of healthcare by making impact visible, strengthening interdependence, and helping people feel relied on and supported.

Helping Those Who Give So Much Feel Valued and Supported

What happens when everyone depends on you, but few people ask what you need? In this compassionate keynote, Jennifer explores a painful paradox of caregiving: being deeply needed while feeling unseen, underappreciated, or unsupported. Through compelling stories and the science of mattering, she helps family and professional caregivers find ways to share the load, ask for support, and preserve a sense of self beyond their caregiving role. She also shows families, organizations, and communities how to turn appreciation into meaningful action by recognizing invisible work, sharing responsibility, and making room for caregivers’ own needs and aspirations. Audiences leave with practical tools to make care more sustainable and to ensure caregivers feel valued for who they are as well as all they do.

Turning Gathering Places into Communities Where People Count

What makes a place one where people know your name, notice when you’re missing, and welcome what you have to offer? In this inspiring keynote, Jennifer explores how libraries, community centers, places of worship, and other gathering spots can become places where people feel valued and discover the value they can add. Through memorable stories and the science of mattering, she shows how everyday encounters can grow into enduring relationships, shared rituals, and meaningful roles that give people reasons to return. Leaders, staff, and volunteers learn practical ways to reach those on the margins, invite contributions, and make each person’s impact visible. Audiences leave with tools to build communities that communicate a powerful message: You are valued here, you have something to offer, and your presence makes a difference.