Chase the Flood.
Invite Crisis.
Reimagine What’s Possible.
A keynote built from lived crisis, grounded in a replicable framework, and designed to change how your audience thinks about disruption before they leave the room.
As Seen On
Trusted By
Your organization is standing in a flood
right now.
AI is flooding your organization. Workflows are changing faster than your teams can adapt. The instinct is to close the door, hold the line, and hope the water recedes. It will not.
The question is not whether disruption is coming. It is already here. The question is whether your leaders will stand at the door watching the water rise, or draw the line and find higher ground.
Chase the Flood is the keynote for the second group. It is not about surviving AI. It is about leading the people who are afraid of it, and coming out with a framework they can use Monday morning.
“She took a horrible personal tragedy and used it as a hook anecdote for her speech relating it perfectly to issues we have with technology and AI.”
Teresa · Leadership Conference“Technology is ever changing. This session helps guide you to less anxiety and more strength with AI, explained with an engaging and inspiring true story.”
Claire Hilton · EdTech ConferencePath to Higher Ground
This is not a metaphor. It is a three-part replicable framework drawn directly from Ayo’s experience of surviving Hurricane Harvey and the discovery that followed. Every audience member leaves with a practice they can apply to their own flood, whether that flood is AI, organizational change, or the moment the wiring inside their walls is finally exposed.
Draw Your Line
When the water is rising and the noise is deafening, clarity is the most powerful leadership tool in the room. This pillar teaches the Sharpie Line strategy: how to identify your non-negotiables, filter out the chaos, and draw the line that tells your team exactly when to move and where to go.
“When the water hits this line, we go.”
Chase the Flood
The courage to stop defending the burning house and get in motion, even when the destination is still obscured. This pillar breaks the analysis paralysis loop, gives teams a replicable method to release what no longer serves the mission, and teaches leaders how to move forward with conviction when the path is not yet clear.
“We didn’t stop until we found higher ground.”
Live Your Vision
Stop rebuilding the past and start architecting the future you actually want. This pillar teaches the difference between restoration thinking and vision thinking, and shows leaders how to design for higher ground instead of the exact house the flood destroyed. When you live your vision, you give others permission to chase theirs.
“The flood was not the disaster. It was the rescue.”
The flood was not the disaster.
The flood was the rescue.
When the floodwater receded from Ayo’s Houston home, volunteers ripped out the drywall and found the wiring inside the walls had been sparking for years. The insulation was ash. The house her family had been desperately fighting to get back to was going to kill them. The normal they were racing to restore was a death trap they never knew they were in. This is the idea that lands differently in every room. Because every organization has faulty wiring. And the flood that seems like a disaster is often the thing that finally forces it into the light.
The six capacities that separate people who command AI from people who are commanded by it.
Chase the Flood is not a talk about what AI can do. It is a talk about what humans do that AI cannot. Specifically, it is about the six capacities that determine whether a person leads the technology or is displaced by it. Every audience member leaves knowing exactly which of these they need to develop, and why.
Critical Thinking
AI generates. Humans evaluate. The ability to pause, question, and challenge what the machine produces is the first line of defense against costly errors and the first gate to genuine innovation.
Sequential Thought
AI responds to prompts. Humans build the logic. The ability to break complex problems into ordered steps is the skill that turns a language model from a gimmick into a productivity multiplier.
Creativity
There is no innovation without creativity. AI remixes what already exists. The human who brings a genuinely new idea to the prompt is the one who gets a genuinely new result.
Common Sense
AI hallucinates. Confidently. The human in the loop with enough common sense to recognize a nonsensical output is not a bottleneck. That person is the most important safeguard in the workflow.
Collaboration
AI works alone. Humans work together. The teams that share context, build on each other’s prompts, and develop shared AI fluency will outperform individual high performers every time.
Communication
AI relies on a command of language. The quality of what you get out is a direct reflection of how precisely you can articulate what you need. Communication is not a soft skill. It is the technical interface.
Built for the room
you are planning.
Conferences, Districts & Campus Teams
From state EdTech conferences to district professional development days, Chase the Flood was built inside education and speaks the language of teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders who are exhausted by the pace of change.
Audiences leave with a clear framework for processing AI adoption without abandoning the human core of what makes good teaching. They do not leave with another tool to add to the pile.
- EdTech and innovation conferences
- District and campus leadership teams
- State and regional education service centers
- Curriculum and instructional leadership retreats
- Special education leadership and specialist cohorts
Leadership Teams & Industry Conferences
For corporate audiences navigating workforce transformation, AI adoption, and change management, Chase the Flood delivers the same urgency with a business lens. The framework translates directly to organizational strategy, team resilience, and the leadership decisions that separate companies who command the technology from those who are commanded by it.
Ayo has shared stages with leaders from Google, IBM, Deloitte, AWS, and Microsoft and understands how the conversation lands in a boardroom.
- Corporate leadership and executive team offsites
- HR, L&D, and workforce transformation conferences
- Association annual conferences and conventions
- Technology adoption and change management initiatives
- Entrepreneur and creator economy events
The room does not forget
this keynote.
“She does a phenomenal job of taking her personal narrative in relation to the flood, using it as a theme and metaphor for AI and then breaking that ish DOWN. Double her bag because she ATE.”
“I’ve been attending since 2014 and I think this has been my all time fave keynote speaker!”
“Your presentation inspired my theme for next year. Reimagine the future right NOW.”
“It’s like talking to your friend, your therapist and your sister who keeps it real, but she gives you hope about educational technology and life!”
“Contagious enthusiasm, meaningful and relevant content. I felt like she was talking directly to me and what is going on in my personal and professional life.”
“I heard someone say your session was like church service. For me, your session was engaging and inspiring. Thank you.”
“This is the best presentation I’ve heard in a while. She’s on point and relatable. She’s the kind of friend I’d like to have!”
“Ayo was extremely engaging, relevant and funny. She kept my attention throughout, even when the technology went down on her. She was phenomenal!”
“Technology is ever changing. This session helps guide you to less anxiety and more strength with AI, explained with an engaging and inspiring true story.”
“I loved how engaging you made this AI talk for someone who is young and still worried about teaching in a classroom with AI for the next 28 years!”
“I love the idea of getting unshakable clarity and drawing lines toward unstoppable action!”
“I am thankful for the vulnerability of Ayo and her encouragement to see the good in the unexpected. I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.”
Formats, fees,
and availability.
Keynote Address
45 – 90 MinutesThe full Chase the Flood keynote with all three Path to Higher Ground pillars, the faulty wiring reveal, and a personalized close built around your event theme and audience. Includes three audience participation moments and the six commanding capacities framework.
Breakout Session
60 – 90 MinutesA working session that takes your audience deeper into one of the three pillars or into a specific application framework. Education audiences can add the PEACE Framework for AI lesson design. Corporate audiences can add the SHiFT System for AI collaboration workflows.
Workshop Day
Half Day or Full DayA full facilitated experience for leadership teams, district cohorts, or organizational off-sites. Combines the keynote framework with hands-on application, team-level exercises, and a structured output your team walks away with. Available for select engagements.
Stages Ayo has delivered on.
Georgia EdTech Conference
Opening Keynote · 2025
Pan-African AI Summit
Keynote Speaker & Panelist · 2025
TCEA
Featured Speaker · 2025
TCCA
Featured Speaker · 2025
TPT Forward
Opening Keynote · June 2026
Texas Education Agency
Professional Development · 2025
Region 4 ESC
Featured Workshop · 2025
Regional ESC Network
50+ Strategic Workshops · 2024–2025
Don’t just hire a speaker.
Ignite a movement.
Watch how Ayo moves audiences from nervous silence to unstoppable momentum. This is what your attendees will experience.
“Double her bag because she ATE.” — Hassan Kariem, Leadership Conference
Bring Chase the Flood
to your stage.
Ayo speaks at four windows per year and dates fill quickly. If this is the right keynote for your event, the best time to reach out is now.