KEYNOTE SPEAKER
The Keynote They Are Still Quoting On Monday.
Dr. Tana M. Session, JD, spent 30+ years inside the rooms she now speaks to. Keynotes, speaker series, and conference sessions for leaders who have to go back afterward and actually run something.
SHRM & PIHRA
SXSW KEYNOTE
65+ ORGANIZATIONS
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
30+ YRS IN HR
AWARD-WINNING CONSULTANT
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
TRACK RECORD
Booked By The Rooms That Are Hard To Get Into.
65+
organizations have booked her.
10+
federal agencies, including NASA, the FAA, the EPA, and the CDC.
2,000+
federal senior executives in a single room.
30+
years in human resources before she took the stage.
Conferences & Summits
SXSW. The Senior Executives Association Federal Leadership Summit. The Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference in Bangkok. The PMI Global Conference. A university commencement keynote in 2019, as the only MBA alumna in that institution's history invited to give it.
Associations & Member Bodies
SHRM. PIHRA. The National Contract Management Association. The National Equipment Finance Association. NACE Dallas Fort Worth. The California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Promax. The BOSS Network national tour.
Corporate & Government Stages
Keynotes, town halls, and leadership sessions for NASA, the FAA, the EPA, the CDC, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Spotify, Amgen, Illumina, Universal Music, Interscope, WPP, Arm, Lands' End, and the LA Rams.
THE ROOM
Built For The Decision-Makers.
Dr. Session's strongest work is in front of leaders who leave the room and change how an organization runs: CEOs, CHROs and HR directors, business owners and franchise owners, business unit heads, and the executive teams reporting to them.
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She does not need to be briefed on what that job is like. She held top HR leadership roles for ten years at domestic and global organizations, including EY and Coca-Cola, before founding TMS. When she talks about the multigenerational workforce or what hiring is really costing you, she is talking about problems she has owned, not read about.
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She also speaks to full-employee audiences, ERGs, women's networks, and student and early-career groups, and she calibrates the register accordingly. The point is the same either way: everybody leaves with something they can do.
SIGNATURE TALKS
Three Core Pillars
Every session is customized to your audience and your theme after a pre-event call. All eight run as a conference keynote, a fireside chat, or a multi-part speaker series.
PILLAR ONE
Leadership And The Future Of Work
For leaders being asked to hold a team together through change they did not choose.
Future of Work: Emotional Intelligence & People Skills for Leadership Success
Emotional intelligence stopped being a soft skill the moment technology started doing the hard ones. This session makes the business case and then gets practical about composure, trust, and the leadership presence that holds a team together under uncertainty.
BEST FOR
CHROs, HR directors, executive teams, leadership conferences, management offsites
Why emotional intelligence is the competitive advantage in the future of work.
The four components, and how each strengthens leadership presence.
How empathy, self-awareness, and adaptability drive collaboration and trust.
Strategies to model it in a way a team can actually see.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
HIGHLY REQUESTED
FOCUS | PROPEL | ACTIVATE
Direction, momentum, and action. A three-step framework for teams that are working hard and moving sideways, built to send people back to their desks with priorities they can name and defend.
BEST FOR
Business unit heads, franchise owners, sales and operations leadership, annual kickoffs
How focus drives productivity, clarity, and alignment.
Building momentum from real strengths rather than stated priorities.
Turning plans into outcomes someone else could measure.
A three-step framework to sharpen focus and sustain drive.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
PILLAR TWO
The Workforce You Are Actually Building
For the people accountable for who gets hired, who stays, and whether five generations can work together.
HIGHLY REQUESTED
Generational Competencies: Managing the Multigenerational Workforce
Five generations are sharing a workplace for the first time in history, with different expectations, values, and communication styles. This session decodes the friction and turns it into something a manager can use on Monday.
BEST FOR
CHROs, HR directors, people managers, association conferences, all-employee events
Defining traits, motivators, and communication preferences across generations.
Bridging gaps in expectations and engagement through empathy and curiosity.
Mentoring and knowledge sharing that runs in both directions.
Building one team culture without flattening the differences.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
Intentional Recruiting & Interviewing For A Competitive Workforce
The future of your organization depends on who you hire this year. A modern, practical look at structured interviewing, candidate experience, and what unstructured hiring is quietly costing in turnover.
BEST FOR
Talent acquisition leaders, hiring managers, business owners, HR association events
How intentional hiring strengthens culture and long-term performance.
Proven techniques for structured, fair, effective interviews.
Improving candidate experience without lowering the bar.
Treating recruitment as a strategic advantage rather than a reaction.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
PILLAR THREE
Personal Power And Visibility
For rooms where the work is not the problem. Being seen for it is. Written for women's leadership conferences, ERG summits, and any audience full of people doing excellent work quietly.
SIGNATURE KEYNOTE
STOP BEING THE BEST KEPT SECRET®: Own Your Power
Everyone has a story, but few learn how to turn that story into strength. Dr. Session takes an audience from self-doubt to self-definition, using her own transformation from fear of rejection to fearless ownership, with raw honesty and a lot of humor.
BEST FOR
Women's leadership conferences, ERG and affinity summits, professional networks, all-employee events
Identify and release the mental barriers that limit potential.
Redefine success as something self-determined, not externally imposed.
Turn adversity into an advantage rather than a story you avoid.
Leave equipped to show up as your most powerful, authentic self.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
Leave To Breathe: Reclaiming My Independence For Personal Success
Many professionals are tethered by expectations, roles, or environments that quietly cap what they can do. This session is about strategic autonomy: clearing the constraints, asserting your value, and leading on your own terms.
BEST FOR
Women's networks, mid-career and high-potential cohorts, professional associations
Identify the internal and external constraints limiting career freedom.
How independence fuels originality, influence, and reward.
Build a mindset of strategic autonomy aligned to purpose.
Leave equipped to act bolder and lead more authentically.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
HIGHLY REQUESTED
The W.E.A.L.T.H. Experience
Wealth reimagined beyond the financial. How mindset, purpose, relationships, and values combine into a version of success that is sustainable, and a framework for aligning personal growth with professional impact.
BEST FOR
Women's leadership conferences, entrepreneur and franchise owner networks, member associations
The W.E.A.L.T.H. framework, balancing measurable results with meaningful growth.
How values and relationships affect long-term performance.
Actionable shifts in mindset and habit.
A concrete plan to carry into daily work and leadership.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
Persistence Will Get You There. Consistency Will Keep You There.
Ambition starts things; consistency sustains them. The difference between the two, and how high performers turn an initial breakthrough into a career that keeps compounding.
BEST FOR
Early and mid-career audiences, sales and performance teams, member associations, student groups
Why persistence alone is not enough for long-term success.
Building habits and routines that hold up on the ordinary days.
The role of feedback, adjustment, and discipline in momentum.
A three-point framework for converting wins into sustained performance.
FORMAT
Keynote, fireside, or series
LENGTH
60 min virtual, 45 min in person
Do not see your theme? Every one of these has been rebuilt for a specific room before. Tell us the outcome you need and the session gets built around it.
ON STAGE
High Energy. Real Stories. Nobody Sits Back.
Dr. Tana M. Session, JD, does not lecture from behind a podium. Talks are interactive by design, and audiences participate whether they planned to or not.
Customized before she arrives.
Every session starts with a pre-event call and a short questionnaire covering your audience, your theme, and what has already been tried. The talk is rebuilt around that, not relabeled.
Practitioner, not commentator.
Thirty years of running HR functions means the examples are hers. She has sat with the succession decision, the reorganization, and the exit conversation, and the room can tell.
Something to do on Monday.
Every session ends with a framework, not a feeling. Attendees leave with a named model and three or four moves they can make without permission from anyone.
Formats:
Conference keynote, opening or closing.
Fireside chat or moderated on-stage interview.
Multi-part speaker series, typically three sessions.
Workshop or masterclass, half day or full day.
Webinar, town hall, or all-hands.
Panel moderation.
Delivery:
In person, virtual, or hybrid, all three delivered regularly.
Standard length 60 minutes virtual, 45 minutes in person.
Recording and internal replay rights available by arrangement.
Q&A, live polling, and breakout facilitation on request.
Sessions delivered across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.
WHAT ORGANIZERS SAY
Ask The People Who Booked Her.
Every quote below carries a name, a title, and an organization. None of it is anonymous, and none of it came out of a client deliverable.
"I invited Dr. Session to speak at the second annual Superwoman Summit and she delivered a powerhouse presentation that attendees couldn't stop talking about! Tana brings a unique perspective to women's empowerment that is exactly what I was looking for: grit, grace and power. I would definitely recommend her for your next keynote speaker."
Jessica Williams
Founder, Superwoman Summit
"Dr. Session's speech 'Stop Being the Best Kept Secret' was a huge success and I witnessed Dr. Session's ability not only to inspire the attendees but to keep them interested and engaged at all times. Delegates were delighted and thankful for an inspiring speech at the conference and we received only positive feedback."
Vladimir Mladjenovic
Director, Tomorrow People Organization · 9th Annual Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference, Bangkok
"We were fortunate to have Dr. Tana M. Session as an opening Keynote Speaker at our state association's annual conference. She is an excellent communicator and brings a wealth of knowledge as a subject matter expert. She has high energy, is very engaging, and most interactive with our audience as she got them to participate throughout her presentation. We have received positive feedback from our members and gladly recommend her as your next Keynote Speaker."
Thomas Le
Conference Chair, California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
"We invited Dr. Tana M. Session as a keynote speaker at our inaugural virtual conference, designed to create community and amplify Black voices within the organization. She is an inspiring, knowledgeable and captivating speaker. Her strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome, sponsorship and mentorship resonated with our audience, and have empowered our ERG and allies to be agents of change."
Sarmia Osbourne
Senior Project Manager, Sales and Partner Enablement, Arm
The room in December 2021.
Dr. Session presented at the Senior Executives Association Federal Leadership Summit, a three-day gathering of more than 2,000 career senior executives from across the federal government. The program also featured the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, and the State Department's Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.
Her session was on the harder half of organizational change: not announcing an initiative, but following through on one.
BOOKING QUESTIONS
The Practical Answers.
What does it cost to book Dr. Session?
The fee depends on format, location, length, and how much customization the session needs, so we quote rather than list. Tell us the date, the audience, and the outcome you want and you will have a number back the same day. In-person and virtual are priced differently, and multi-session series and recording rights are quoted separately.
How long is a keynote, and what formats do you offer?
Standard is 60 minutes virtual and 45 minutes in person, including Q&A. Sessions also run as fireside chats, moderated on-stage interviews, three-part speaker series, half-day and full-day workshops, webinars, town halls, and panel moderation. In-person, virtual, and hybrid are all delivered regularly.
How far in advance do we need to book?
Flagship conferences usually come to us six to twelve months out, and that is the comfortable window. Shorter notice is often possible, particularly for virtual sessions, so ask rather than assume the date is gone.
Will the session be customized to our audience?
Yes, always, and it is not an upsell. Every booking includes a pre-event call and a short questionnaire covering your audience, your theme, what has already been tried, and what you need people to do differently afterward. The talk is rebuilt around those answers.
Can we record it and use it internally?
Usually yes, by arrangement, and it is quoted separately from the live session. Organizations regularly license a recording for internal replay so the people who could not attend live still get it.
Does she travel internationally?
Yes. Sessions have been delivered for organizations across the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, in person in Bangkok and Kigali, Rwanda.
Our audience is not senior leadership. Is that a problem?
No. Dr. Session speaks to full-employee audiences, ERGs and affinity networks, women's conferences, member associations, and student and early-career groups, and calibrates the register to the room. The pillar three topics were built for exactly those audiences.
Can she do more than one session while she is with us?
Yes, and it is usually the better value. Multi-session bookings are common: a keynote plus a breakout, a leadership session plus an all-employee session, or a three-part series across a quarter. Several organizations in her record have booked three or more sessions on one engagement.