Ana Homayoun Speaking Information
After 20+ years of working with students and young professionals, I love speaking at schools, corporations, and conferences worldwide. My focus is sharing a powerful, research-based framework that cuts through the chaos of today’s always-on digital world and offers practical, solutions-oriented strategies.
At schools, I am thrilled to discuss executive function skills, the culture of perfectionism, social media and technology. My goal: to help students, educators, administrators and families build the foundational skills needed for long-term academic success and overall well-being.
With corporations, I enjoy supporting early level career professionals - and their supervisors! - with productivity and wellness strategies that foster growth and innovation.
Whether I am speaking to 800 middle schoolers or 1000 entry-level staff members and mid-level managers, I want every audience member to feel motivated, self-assured, and inspired to confidently tackle the next chapters of their lives.
As a facilitator, I provide thoughtfully-curated opportunities for engagement, reflection and community building, so every participant leaves armed with strategic tools to propel their lives forward.
Keynote Speeches
Life Navigators: Helping Students Build the Foundational Skills for Success in School and Life
(for parent education at schools and employee resource groups at companies)
In our always-on, comparison-heavy digital world, it can be hard for tweens and teens - and adults! - to find authentic fulfillment beyond the heightened anxiety caused by faulty finish lines such as college acceptance. In this interactive keynote, audience members will gain a deeper awareness of the effects of this shame-inducing culture and learn how to instead focus on the crucial underlying tools that students will need to navigate life with grace and confidence. With empathy, compassion, and humor, I discuss some of the modern parenting dilemmas in the age of post-pandemic new normals, and speak about the five overlooked skills– systems, connection, perspective, acceptance, and building your own blueprint – that will help students thrive in today’s ever-changing world. My work, which is grounded in research and based on over two decades of working with students, offers practical solutions for students, parents, and educators as they navigate the unprecedented issues involving energy management and healthy child and teen development.
“Thanks again for a great presentation. You did a very good job sharing your message and making it applicable to the broadness of the audience, and feedback was very positive. "
President of Employee Resource Group,
Fortune 10 Global Company
Beyond Faulty Finish Lines: Creating a New Blueprint for Success
(for early career professionals, associates at firms, financial analysts)
For today’s young professionals, entering a job market rife with instability and uncertainty, and characterized by phenomena such as “quiet quitting” and the “Great Resignation,” can feel overwhelming and dispiriting. This sense of malaise is only exacerbated by the constant cultural bombardment of “highlight reels” on social media, leading recent graduates to feel that true fulfillment lies continually out of reach. It doesn’t have to be this way.
In this interactive workshop, I directly address the challenges that today’s young professionals are facing, helping them see beyond false narratives of comparison and inadequacy and navigate their career in ways that honor their own intuition, energy, and sense of worth. For anyone who is feeling lost, unprepared, or disheartened, this practical framework will provide much-needed clarity.
The Erasing the Finish Line strategy is a 4-stage process that will help you:
- Develop the foundational, underlying systems that allow for optimal energy management and prevent burnout
- Build valuable social capital while fostering genuine connections
- Spark creativity and innovation by expanding perspective
- Remain adaptable in the face of disappointments and setbacks
Keynote Includes:
- 45-90- minute workshop
- Time for Q&A
- Optional book signing
“You were perfect for our community and we are so grateful we had the chance to have you interact with students and parents!
I have already heard from several parents who attended who said they found your presentation very valuable and that the content was applicable, tangible and non-judgemental. The only complaint is that the parent portion should have been 3-4 hours long because our parents could have talked with you for several more hours!"
Katie Sillup
Family and Community Engagement Coordinator
Montgomery School, Chester Springs, PA
Erasing the Finish Line for Managers: Empowering Young Staff Members
(for senior managers)
In today’s post-pandemic era, managers are often left at a loss for how to motivate and empower their younger staff members. The rise of remote and hybrid workplaces has brought new challenges for mentors and mentees alike, making communication bumpy and accountability increasingly onerous. In this session, I offer a thoughtfully-designed framework for managers to foster a culture of adaptability, mutual investment, and constant growth– both for individual employees and the company as a whole.
The Erasing the Finish Line method highlights the pivotal tools and transformational coaching language that will unite and spark creativity within companies, promoting authentic engagement and propelling teams to achieve more than they initially thought possible. Audience members will walk away with practical strategies for building relationships across varying levels of age and expertise, allowing managers and leaders to cultivate ever-growing potential within their teams and create a dynamic, enriching workplace fueled by shared ambitions.
What’s included:
- Highly interactive, experiential 3-hour training session
Optional add-ons:
- Private coaching for individual managers and coaches
"Ana's work is inspirational! For decades, Ana's has focused on equipping students with the tools and skills they need to understand themselves as learners to find success in and out of school. Her books and presentations have helped families and adolescents understand how research in brain development and the power of executive functioning can help students use their strengths to overcome challenges. I have had the pleasure of working with Ana for years. She has spoken to families, faculty, and students at my school, and each time I listen to her, I learn something new."
Tracy Fedonchik
Head of School, St. Luke's School, New York, NY
Erasing the Finish Line for College Students: Building Key Life-Management Skills and Finding Your “Why”
Collectively, we’ve been sold on the idea that achievement and status must precede, and even supersede, our well-being, authentic self-expression and sense of purpose. Today’s college students are feeling the weight of these external pressures now more than ever, as they are faced with an unprecedentedly immersive digital landscape, record low college admissions rates, and rampant uncertainty surrounding our society’s future. Rather than doggedly pursuing the never-ending list of “must do’s” and “should do’s,” it’s time for us to accept that there is not one “perfect” way to find success.
With acute insight and practical strategies honed from decades of research and working directly with students, I help students dig deep, authentically reflect, and shift gears with ease so they can navigate the transition into the job market with grace and confidence. In grounding themselves in an awareness of their own values, strengths, and areas for growth, students will gain the tools to reframe experiences and find motivation in each iteration of their journey, regardless of where it takes them.
"I am truly grateful for the time that you spent with the Woodland Hill community. Your presentations have already sparked many conversations that I believe are just the start of the work to come. In fact, one of our most senior teachers felt compelled to share about her experience and encouraged the parents of her students to attend. My conversations with you and all that I was able to soak in during the presentations have opened my eyes to the many ways technology impacts our work with children and how we can empower them to be savvy consumers.
Thank you for your partnership and I hope we can work together again!"
Michelle Edwards
Head of School
Woodhill Montessori School
Rensselaer, NY
Organizing Your Day/Week/Month/Year: The Foundational Life Skills for Building Your Own Future
It’s no secret that today’s kids are facing a world drastically different from the one their parents grew up in. Why, then, are we using the same one-size-fits all “résumé-building,” comparison-inducing checklists to outline a narrow pathway to fulfillment?
In this interactive keynote, I help audience members expand their vision beyond these never-ending to-do’s by sharing the four critical undervalued skills that will help students become the architects of their own futures. By placing greater focus on these overlooked skills– organization, planning, prioritization, flexible thinking, and energy management– we can nourish the creativity, innovation, connection, and leadership that are increasingly at the heart of true success in our fast-changing world. In my decades of work as an educator, I have seen firsthand how this framework can utterly change life trajectories and promote overall well-being in remarkable, even surprising ways.
Ana has spoken at and consulted with a wide range of schools, corporations and organizations.
A partial list of speaking and consulting clients:
American School of Dubai
Annie Wright Schools
Athenian School
Barclays Bank
Burlingame High School
Bret Harte School
Brown Deer School District
Capital One
Carlmont High School
Carmel Middle School
Central Middle School
Charlotte Country Day School
Charlotte Prep
Connect Summit County
Convent of the Sacred Heart (NYC)
Convent of the Sacred Heart (SF)
Crystal Springs Uplands School
Cupertino High School
The Dalton School
Derby Academy
Design Tech High School
Divine Savior Holy Angels High School
Durham Academy
Egan Junior High School
Grant Halliburton Foundation
Greene Middle School
Harpeth Hall School
Highland Park/Dallas Unified School District
Hillside Family Agencies
Hutchison School
Instagram
Jordan Middle School
Katherine Delmar Burke School
Learning and the Brain Conference
Live Oak School
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Los Lomitas Elementary School District
The Lovett School
Marin Primary and Middle School
Memphis University School
Menlo-Atherton High School
Menlo School
Mill Valley Elementary School District
Mill Valley Middle School
Mount Tamalpais School
Mt. Tam High School
National Charity League
New Canaan Country School
Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS)
Notre Dame des Victories School
Office of Women's Policy, Santa Clara County
The Parent Venture
Pace Academy
Penn Charter School
Pinewood School
The Presentation School
Quail Hollow Middle School
Ramsey School District
Ridgewood Public Schools
Roland Park Country School
Safe Community Coalition of McLean
Santa Clara Public Library
Sequoia High School
Sonoma Valley Schools
St. Francis High School
St. Hilary School
St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's
St. Mary's Episcopal School (Memphis)
St. Michael's Catholic Academy
Stuart Country Day School
Thomas Jefferson Schools
Town School
Trinity School (Austin)
Trinity School (New York)
Tri-State Camp Conference
University Prep (Seattle)
Woodside High School
Woodside Priory
