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.
Every organization has a flood. The flood in your room right now might be AI. It might be a market shift your team isn’t ready for, a generational gap in how work gets done, or a strategy that stopped working but nobody said it out loud. The shape of the flood changes. The human response to it doesn’t. The instinct is always the same: close the door, hold the line, and wait for things to go back to normal. They won’t.
The question isn’t whether your people are in a flood. They are. The question is whether your leaders will stand at the door watching the water rise, or make the decision to move.
Chase the Flood is the keynote for the second group. It’s not about surviving one specific disruption. It’s about building the leadership capacity to move through any of them, and coming out with a framework your people 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’s a three-part replicable framework drawn from Ayo’s lived experience surviving Hurricane Harvey. Every audience member leaves with a practice they can apply to their own flood, whether that flood is AI, organizational change, a workforce in transition, or the reckoning every institution eventually faces. The framework works because it wasn’t built for a conference room. It was built in a crisis.
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.”
Build Momentum
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.”
Be the Proof
Stop rebuilding what the flood took and start building what the flood made possible. This pillar shows leaders how to step into the life they already know is possible, instead of racing to restore the one they lost. When you live as proof that a different way is real, you give everyone watching permission to believe it too.
“The flood is not the disaster. It is the rescue.”
Your audience walks in rebuilding. They walk out building.
The Path to Higher Ground moves in three directions. Each one takes your people further from what the flood cost them and closer to what it made possible. This is what happens in the room.
Unshakable Clarity
They stop waiting for the water to stop rising before they decide. They draw the line. What they’ll hold, what they’ll release, what they’ll never negotiate away again. They leave knowing exactly when to move.
Unstoppable Action
They stop defending the burning house. The analysis paralysis breaks. They leave with a method for moving through uncertainty that doesn’t require pretending the path is clear when it isn’t.
Unbounded Vision
They stop rebuilding what the flood took. They start asking a different question. Not “how do I get back?” but “what am I building now?” They leave carrying the answer, and permission to believe in it.
- A personal decision-making filter for high-disruption moments (the Sharpie Line)
- Language to lead their teams through change without performing false confidence
- The three moves that break the analysis paralysis loop and create forward momentum
- A framework for talking about disruption that works across every audience level, from the tech-fluent to the tech-resistant
- A clear sense of what they’re building next, and the first move to make
- A practical tool they can hand to their own teams the week after the event
Chase the Flood has been delivered for corporate leadership teams, K-12 and higher education audiences, professional associations, and entrepreneurial conferences. The framework meets every audience where their water is rising.
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 and a personalized close built around your event theme and audience. Includes three audience participation moments and The Build™ framework in full.
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
Model Schools Conference
Featured Speaker · 2026
GCHRA
Featured Speaker · 2026
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.