Looking for Event Industry Speakers for Your Next Conference or Presentation?
Need a duo that can relate to your audience and inspire them to take action? You just found them.
We’re Courtney Hopper and Dana Kadwell, founders of Hustle & Gather and owners of three successful event businesses in Raleigh, NC.
In addition to our venue consulting services, we’re passionate about sharing our story with audiences across industries. We can customize a talk for any event and audience, but our specialties are leadership, management, event business ownership, the hospitality industry, and growing a small business.
We’ve spoken at..
“It was such a pleasure to have Hustle and Gather at our conference. They were relatable, funny, and had great rapport with the audience. It was a fantastic, insightful presentation. They were so on-point! Loved it! I hope we can work together again in the future.”
— Lynn, ACCP
We’ve been in the venue ownership and hospitality space for over 18 years. We know our stuff — and share our knowledge through our own conferences, VIP Days, and trainings.
Meet Your Speakers
But if you had asked the Courtney and Dana from 15 years ago what they knew about growing a successful business…you’d get a totally different answer:
Dana: I thought it was all about how hard you hustled and how many sacrifices you made. Oh, and that I was the only one who could do my job. Biggest lie I ever believed.
Courtney: I thought that doing something we were passionate about and hoping for good results was enough. Even though this approach technically worked for us, it made our progress slower than it needed to be.
Now we know that success is built upon who you have in your corner, who’s got your back. It’s about using that passion for your work as motivation, but relying on business skills and expertise, too.
We’re taking the lessons we’ve learned and helping others in this industry. Through Hustle & Gather, we want to do more. That’s why we started speaking at events. Sometimes, all someone needs in order to take action is to hear the right story at the right time.
Our hope is that, when your guests see us on stage, they’re inspired to do that for their businesses.
Our Speaking Topics
We’re serious about professional speaking, but that doesn’t mean we get on stage and bore your audience. We’re a little sarcastic and a whole lot of encouraging, and we're dedicated to helping your audience walk away with a tangible plan.
Our signature presentation topics include:
Company Culture
Leadership
Management
Crafting Your Own Path
Being Authentically You
Developing Leaders on Your Team
Using Data to Grow Your Profit
We’re often asked to speak on these topics, but we’re always open to create a custom presentation for your event.
We want your audience to learn from our mistakes (and wins)
Launching your own business isn’t easy. Running it smoothly, expanding your team, and scaling it? Even more challenging.
Though we own three successful event venues in Raleigh and a consulting firm, Hustle & Gather, it wasn’t all smooth sailing to get where we are today. You could call us a success story, but trust us, there were plenty of failures and setbacks along the way.
Whatever’s scaring you or holding you back in your business right now, trust us…we’ve been there! Fear of financial rejection, not knowing where to begin, not knowing how to network and promote yourself, putting money and time into efforts that don’t get you results?
Been there, done that. We get it.
That’s what drives us to speak at event industry conferences — as well as a variety of other industries’ trainings and events. We want to share our experiences so audiences can learn from our experiences. They can skip the trial-and-error and get to the good part. Plus, we share our story with authenticity and transparency. No BS or overly fluffy inspiration in our talks.
One of the best ways to learn is by hearing someone else’s story. If you want your audience to hear ours, let’s chat about your upcoming event.
“Team culture/building chat with Dana gave me the confidence to move forward in thinking through this for our team! It had already been something moving through my brain and heart but struggled on where to start.”
— WeWed Attendee
“I have attended many of Dana and Courtney's sessions over the years at industry conferences, and each time, I leave with a renewed sense of purpose and actionable strategies. Their sessions are the ideal blend of polish and approachability, demonstrating her deep expertise and genuine care for her topics. They offer practical steps and ideas I have successfully implemented in my own life, especially around work-life integration. I highly recommend these two to both conference organizers and program directors looking for an engaging speaker that is guaranteed to spark meaningful conversations.”
- Kevin Dennis
Book Courtney & Dana
Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!
You can book us individually, too!
Courtney Hopper
Courtney specializes in presentations on authenticity, leadership, and using data for your business.
[Courtney has spoken to entrepreneurs, managers, and business stakeholders in conference settings as well as smaller local training events.
Your audience will love Courtney’s charisma, sarcastic sense of humor, and innovative way of thinking.
Dana Kadwell
Dana specializes in presentations on company culture and finding your path.
Dana has spoken to groups that are geared more towards entrepreneurs/business owners as well as high level managers.
Your audience will love Dana’s passion, trustworthiness, and talent for explaining complex information in an easily understandable way.