MEET THE 2026 SPEAKERS
Maria Finkelmeier
Keynote: Superpowers Aligned - Build Beyond Yourself
Workshop: Superpower Speed Dating - Identify Your Strengths. Find Your People.
Maria Finkelmeier, named a “one-woman dynamo” by the Boston Globe, is a percussionist, composer, new media artist, and Associate Professor of Creative Entrepreneurship at Berklee College of Music. Obsessed with making noise, she transformed Fenway Park into a percussive playground and turned the Roebling Bridge into a sound and light instrument. She's used AI to investigate gender bias through music, flipped a bus into a mobile electronic bucket drumming program, and performed at iconic global venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Her cutting-edge work has been featured in the Boston Globe, National Parks Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vulture, SunSentinel, I Care if you Listen and on WGBH, WBUR, and CBS. She is the Founder of the experimental music, art, and technology studio, MF Dynamics, and holds a BM from The Ohio State University and MM from the Eastman School of Music. She is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Ebony Vaughan
Workshop: The Mind Behind the Vision: Mental Wellness in the Creative Economy
Ebony S. Vaughan, LCSW-C, is a licensed clinical social worker, mental health advocate, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and leadership trainer with over 30 years of experience in behavioral health. She bridges emotional wellness and entrepreneurship, equipping emerging and established leaders with practical strategies to pursue success without sacrificing their mental health. Using her extensive experience in clinical practice, coaching, and leadership development, Ebony creates transformative experiences that promote resilience, self-awareness, and purpose-driven success. Her engaging, authentic approach empowers individuals to challenge limiting beliefs, prioritize well-being, and cultivate the confidence needed to create, innovate, and build sustainable success with purpose.
Bryce Besaw
Panelist: Real Talk on Building a Sustainable Creative Business
Bryce Besaw is the District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Baltimore District Office, where he leads initiatives to help small businesses across Maryland access capital, secure federal contracts, and grow through counseling and economic development programs. Bringing extensive strategic leadership experience, he takes a pragmatic approach to building partnerships that advance small business success. As a small business owner himself, Bryce offers a practical, firsthand perspective on the challenges entrepreneurs face every day.
Nick Rudolph
Panelist: Real Talk on Building a Sustainable Creative Business
Nick Rudolph is the Baltimore Regional Director of Maryland Capital Enterprises, Inc. He has worked in economic development for 20 years, developing and managing programs that provide essential resources, technical assistance, capital, and advocacy for individual small businesses, emerging entrepreneurs, and diverse commercial districts across the state of Maryland.
Chad Buterbaugh
Chad Buterbaugh
Workshops: Coffee with the Council and Grant Help
Chad Buterbaugh is the Deputy Director at the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), where he supervises communications, Arts in Education, and Maryland Traditions staff while directing professional development and federal data reporting. He joined MSAC in 2016 and previously served as Senior Program Director and State Folklorist, during which time he led the creation of the Grants for Artists and Folklife Network programs. An experienced journalistic and academic writer, Chad holds a Ph.D. in folklore studies from Indiana University and has published research on professional storytelling as cultural entrepreneurship.
Patricia Ofori
Workshop: Reap What You Sow: Cultivation, Community, and the Ecology of Developing Neighborhoods
Patricia Ofori uses space as a medium to test, transform, and bring ideas to life. Driven by curiosity and a commitment to ethical decision-making, she is a creative problem-solver who approaches complex challenges with simple, adaptable solutions. Working across residential, industrial, commercial, and agricultural environments, Patricia leverages the built environment to cultivate dynamic ecosystems. Her practice embraces flexibility as an essential path toward meaningful change, designing spaces and systems as evolving models that empower the communities around them and transform creativity into lasting, purposeful impact.
Thomas Gardner
Presenter & Moderator: FIELDwork: Art, Design & Science in Collaboration
Thomas Gardner is an architect, designer, and educator whose work applies human-centered, community-engaged, and material-based design to address social and spatial challenges. He directs MICA’s MA in Social Design program and co-founded HousingOperative, a Detroit-based design-build agency advancing architecture for social and cultural change. His practice spans hands-on construction, large-scale public projects, and research focused on drawing, representation, and full-scale fabrication. Thomas has taught at RISD, Parsons, and Lawrence Tech, and previously led Studio H, a design-build program for high school students. His work has been widely published and exhibited.
Varshini KVSS
Student Speaker: FIELDwork: Art, Design & Science in Collaboration
Varshini KVSS is a graphic designer and collage artist pursuing an MFA in Graphic Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her practice spans publication design, typography, image-making, and creative entrepreneurship, and she is the founder of Glood, an independent collage platform exploring collage as a tool for creative learning and community.
Chelsea Foster
Student Speaker: FIELDwork: Art, Design & Science in Collaboration
is an entrepreneur, visual storyteller, and Co-owner and Creative Director of Tetra Creative Studio in York, PA. Her work combines design, strategy, research, and community engagement to help organizations connect people to place and purpose. She is also the co-founder of The Grotto Community Center, a Creative Impact fellow with the Center for Creative Impact at MICA, a Design Research fellow for FIELDwork, and in her final year of the MFA in Graphic Design program at MICA. Her approach to entrepreneurship is grounded in curiosity, listening, collaboration, and the belief that meaningful work begins with understanding people.
Tori Sudan
Keynote: The Future Belongs to Those Who Create
Workshop: The Way You See - Discover how your life has shaped what only you can create
Tori Soudan is a footwear designer, entrepreneur, and speaker whose work explores creativity, craftsmanship, and the enduring value of human imagination in a rapidly changing world.
For more than seventeen years, Soudan has designed Italian-made footwear through her eponymous label, Tori Soudan Brand, including time spent working alongside master shoemakers in Italy's renowned Brenta Riviera. There, she witnessed artisans who had spent decades educating the eye, refining their discernment, training their hands, and pursuing an exacting standard of excellence. The experience deepened a conviction that now informs her work: good work can be taught, but exceptional work is cultivated.
Her designs have been worn by Angela Bassett, Zendaya, Carrie Underwood, and Tamron Hall and featured in Vogue Italia, InStyle, and Essence. As founder of The Bronze Suite, a creative and cultural platform, she explores creation, craftsmanship, and culture through curated experiences around the world.
Krystle I. Myers, Esq.
Workshop: The Art of Ownership: Protecting, Negotiating, and Monetizing Your Creative Work
Krystle I. Myers, Esq. is a Baltimore-based attorney, entrepreneur, educator, and Founder of Eleven Law Firm, LLC, "where law meets legacy." With over 15 years of legal experience, she advises creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners on intellectual property, contracts, and brand protection. As an award-winning legal educator and content creator, Krystle demystifies complex legal concepts through modern storytelling. She received the American Bar Association’s 2024 Trainer Award and the 2026 Smokeball Beacon Award. Ultimately, she equips clients with the strategies needed to protect their assets, negotiate with confidence, and build lasting economic value.
Lady Brion
Panelist: Real Talk on Building a Sustainable Creative Business
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, activist, and Executive Director of the Black Arts District. Appointed by Governor Wes Moore as the Poet Laureate of Maryland, she is the youngest and first spoken word artist to hold the position. A Howard and University of Baltimore alumna, she is a multiple-time National Poetry Slam champion and was named the Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion.
Karen Sippel
Moderator: Real Talk on Building a Sustainable Creative Business
Karen Sippel is the Managing Director of the Maryland Women’s Business Center, a program at Rockville Economic Development, Inc. that is dedicated to helping small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to start and build sustainable companies. Karen brings more than 20 years of strategy and leadership experience at entrepreneur support organizations, nonprofits, and global corporations, including five years leading the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative.
Emily Sollenberger
Workshops: Coffee with the Council and Grant Help
Emily Sollenberger is the Program Director for Arts Services at the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), managing state grant programs including Grants for Organizations, Creativity, and Professional Development. Specializing in visual, media, and traditional arts, she also serves as MSAC’s representative for emergency preparedness. Prior to MSAC, Emily raised funds for Baltimore nonprofit arts organizations like Maryland Art Place, Baltimore Clayworks, and BOPA. She holds a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Business from Muskingum College.
Steffanie Espat
Workshop: Increasing Safety for All Road Users Along Falls Road: A Human-Centered Design Case Study
Steffanie Espat is a social designer, graphic designer, and artist passionate about sustainability and hands-on creativity. She earned her BA from the University of Maryland and an MA in Social Design from MICA. Previously, Steffanie was a Design Strategist at Booz Allen Hamilton, leading human-centered design projects for federal clients like CMS and the VA to improve healthcare services. A frequent guest speaker and former Smithsonian SERC advisory board member, she is currently the Design Lead at MICA’s Center for Creative Impact, using human-centered design to address critical issues like food waste, road safety, and the Jones Falls watershed.
Marlena Doerr
Student Speaker: FIELDwork: Art, Design & Science in Collaboration
Marlena Doerr is a graphic designer, educator, and organizer whose practice is built around the strength of people. She is currently working as an EcoDepot Design Research FIELDwork Fellow while pursuing an MFA in Graphic Design at MICA, where her design research centers around craft as a catalyst for human connection. In late July, she set off to Ileret, Kenya, where the EcoDepot team worked on a design-build project with Daasanach craftswomen and craftsmen. She is drawn to projects that build infrastructure for care: platforms that make resources accessible, publications that hold memory, and visual systems that earn trust.
Anjali Biju
Student Speaker: FIELDwork: Art, Design & Science in Collaboration
Anjali Biju is a visual designer whose practice moves between commercial and research contexts, spanning identity, publication, digital experience, and communication design. She currently works with archaeological and geological research teams in Kenya and Botswana, collaborating with scientists, researchers, and local communities as a designer and documenter. Across these projects, she is interested in the designer's role within research environments, not only as a communicator of findings but as an embedded observer, documenter, and collaborator.
