A one-day immersive professional development experience where we explore how leaders' beliefs, behaviors, and choices shape workplace culture and organizational success.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2026
8:30am-5pm
The Columbus Museum of Art
480 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43215
Is the Brave Space Leadership Conference for you?
- 🔗Are you a leader who understands your impact on your team, but doesn’t yet have the tools to consistently create a culture of belonging and trust?
- 🔗Are you ready to deepen your self-awareness and understand how your beliefs, behaviors, and choices shape your leadership so you can advance in your career?
- 🔗Are you an organization that already invests in professional development and is looking for creative, high-impact ways to grow your leaders?
- 🔗Are you a funder who wants to invest in the growth and development of community leaders who may not otherwise have access to these opportunities?
- 🔗Are you ready to move beyond surface-level leadership strategies and engage in deeper, transformative learning?
If you said “yes” to even one of these… this conference is for you.
Step into the kind of leadership our communities need now.
The Skills That
Lead to Six-Figure Leadership Roles
in Ohio
Across Ohio, organizations are investing in leaders who understand that culture is not accidental—it is shaped by beliefs, behaviors, and choices. Recent six-figure leadership roles—from Vice Presidents to Senior Program Directors—are sending a clear message: technical expertise alone is not enough.
High-impact leaders are expected to:
- Build trust through transparent communication and accountability
- Navigate complex relationships with empathy and clarity
- Develop people, not just manage performance
- Lead culture, not just operations
- Align values with strategy to drive organizational success
Check out these examples.
Core Values:
- Inclusive Teamwork
- Ownership-Based Accountability
- Trust-Based Stewardship
- Transparent Communication
- Service to Others
$95,000 – $130,000
Core Values
- Creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected
- Everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day
- Foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities
$146,090 - $208,700
Organization's needs
- Balance empathy with accountability and clarity
- Strengthen culture in a remote hybrid and distributed fast-growing organization
- Lead engagement, listening, and action planning efforts that result in real change
- Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on workforce risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities
$120,000+
Estimated
Senior Program Director
Organization's needs
- Empower associates to use their skills and talents to positively impact the world
- Train and develop team members and identify those who can grow into more advanced roles. Responsible for mentoring personnel
- Serves as a trusted advisor to senior client executives; builds and sustains long-term executive-level relationships
$120,188 - $266,214
What These Roles Have in Common
- Culture is Strategy
Each role centers culture as a driver of performance—from belonging and engagement to collaboration and innovation. - Relationships Drive Results
These leaders are trusted advisors, responsible for building and sustaining relationships across teams, clients, and communities. - Self-Awareness is a Leadership Competency
From coaching teams to managing conflict and leading through change, these roles require leaders who can reflect, adapt, and respond—not react. - Communication is Critical
Transparent, thoughtful communication is named repeatedly as essential to trust, alignment, and success. - Leadership Development is Expected
These positions don’t just lead—they grow other leaders, shaping the future of their organizations.
This is exactly what the Brave Space Leadership Conference builds.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is designed to develop the very skills these organizations are seeking.
- Deep self-awareness to understand how your experiences shape your leadership
- Relationship-building and sustaining skills to lead with trust and clarity
- Communication strategies to navigate conflict, bias, and high-stakes conversations
- Decision-making frameworks grounded in reflection, accountability, and impact
- Courageous leadership practices that strengthen culture and drive results
You already know leadership matters.
You understand that your presence, decisions, and communication shape your team. But if you’re being honest, you may not always have the tools to consistently create a workplace rooted in trust, belonging, and well-being.
And you’re not alone.
Research from The Workforce Institute shows:
- 60% of employees say their job is the biggest factor impacting their mental health
- Managers impact mental health as much as a spouse (69%)—and more than doctors or therapists
- 1 in 3 employees say their manager doesn’t recognize their impact on team well-being
- 7 in 10 employees want more support from their organization and leaders
- 78% say stress is hurting their performance
The reality is clear:
Leadership is not just about performance. It’s about people.
And yet, many leaders have never been given the space or the tools to reflect on how their beliefs, behaviors, and choices impact the environments they lead.
The Brave Space Conference is curated with you in mind.
Why Arts-Based Leadership Development Works
The arts are not an “add-on”—they are a powerful leadership tool.
Creative, arts-based learning:
Engages both thinking and feeling—where real change happens
Helps leaders make meaning of their experiences, not just consume information
Builds deeper self-awareness, empathy, and communication skills
Creates space for leaders to own their stories and leadership patterns
This is where transformation begins.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference offers a new path forward.
A space where leaders don’t just learn what to do. They understand who they are while doing it.
In 2018, a lack of inclusion and equity cost the Columbus region about $10 billion.
- Advancing Workforce Equity in Columbus: A Blueprint for Action Report (2022 )
Inequity is costing Columbus
Columbus is one of the fastest-growing economies in the nation, yet growth has not been experienced equitably. The
Advancing Workforce Equity in Columbus: A Blueprint for Action Report
(2022) makes it clear: economic exclusion continues to limit opportunity and cost the region billions in unrealized potential. Workforce equity—where income gaps are eliminated, and all jobs are good jobs—is not just a moral imperative; it is essential to building a stronger, more forward-thinking city.
The City of Columbus has committed to this vision through Opportunity Rising, calling for bold collaboration to ensure every resident has access to economic stability, health, and opportunity. A critical part of this work is workforce development—preparing residents not only to enter the workforce, but to advance and thrive within it.
Strengthening the Workforce, Strengthening Columbus
There is a critical challenge: while middle-wage jobs are growing, access to those opportunities is constrained by a training bottleneck—particularly in the relational and leadership skills needed to succeed. At the same time, fragmented workforce systems leave many individuals without the support they need to fully participate in the economy.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference contributes to closing this gap by:
01
Preparing leaders to adopt inclusive hiring, retention, and promotion practices.
02
Creating shared learning spaces that reduce fragmentation and build alignment across sectors.
03
Supporting workforce readiness through development of essential interpersonal skills.
04
Strengthening trust in systems by centering reflection, dialogue, and human connection.
Where the Brave Space Leadership Conference Fits
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is designed to address one of the most urgent gaps identified in the report: the need for leadership development and “soft skills” that support career advancement, retention, and equitable workplace cultures.
We believe leadership becomes more effective, ethical, and inclusive when leaders have the courage to reflect on their experiences, assumptions, and decision-making patterns.
Through arts-based reflection, dialogue, and skill-building, the conference equips participants with the competencies that drive workforce equity:
- Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
- Communication and conflict navigation skills
- Trust-building and inclusive leadership practices
- The ability to recognize and interrupt bias in decision-making
These are the skills that help individuals move from entry to advancement—and help organizations create environments where diverse talent can succeed.
About the Brave Space Leadership Conference
We believe leadership becomes more effective, ethical, and inclusive when leaders have the courage to reflect on their experiences, assumptions, and decision-making patterns.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference exists to help leaders develop the self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and relational skills needed to build workplaces and communities where people feel respected, valued, and able to thrive.
We cultivate this kind of leadership by creating immersive learning experiences that combine:
- Arts-based reflection that slows thinking and surfaces hidden assumptions. 📽️Watch an example.
- Structured dialogue and storytelling that deepen empathy and understanding.
- Practical leadership tools that strengthen communication, trust, and accountability.
- Guided facilitation that helps participants translate personal insight into professional action.
Through this process, leaders learn how to move from automatic reactions to intentional leadership.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is a one-day immersive professional development experience where leaders will:
- Engage in interactive workshops and facilitated dialogue.
- Explore art as a catalyst for reflection and leadership insight.
- Learn strategies for navigating conflict, bias, and complex workplace dynamics.
- Strengthen communication and decision-making skills that build trust and inclusion.
People don't quit jobs, they quit supervisors.
Get a peek into the process of arts-based reflection for leadership growth. Watch 👇🏾
About the host, Dr. Melissa Crum
Dr. Melissa Crum is a certified executive coach and award-winning diversity and inclusion strategist who helps leaders and teams create workplaces where everyone thrives. She earned her PhD in Art Administration, Education, and Policy from The Ohio State University, where her early work focused on supporting museum educators and cultural leaders as they examined the choices they make with visitors, peers, and the stories they tell through art.
Grounded in the belief that reflection drives better decision-making, Dr. Crum’s work bridges the arts and leadership development. Dr. Crum is a Cornell University Certified Diversity and Inclusion Professional. She is also certified through the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and UC Berkeley’s Executive Coaching Program, combining rigorous coaching practice with arts-based methods that deepen self-awareness, communication, and accountability. She has published several academic articles and book chapters and has facilitated global projects exploring culture, leadership, and learning through the arts.
As founder of Mosaic Education Network, Dr. Crum leads workshops and shares keynotes across the United States on arts-based reflection as a tool for leadership growth. Drawing on her experience teaching at Columbia University and The Ohio State University, she translates complex ideas into practical, reflective practices that help leaders slow down, examine patterns, and make values-aligned choices that create lasting, inclusive impact.
Check out Dr. Crum!
The Problem With Safe Spaces on Negotiate Anything with Kwame Christian
We discuss how to communicate about building better relationships with people who are different from you.
How to Speak the Truth Without Burning Bridges on The Nona Jones Show
We delve into how to not only have tough conversations—but also how to hear them with grace and self-awareness.
TEDx Talk: A Tale of Two Teachers
My eighth-grade math teacher told me I was “pretty smart for a Black girl.” Find out what I’ve been doing to help teachers ever since.
Race and Identity Definitions Toolkit for Educators
You need to arm yourself with the right language to have the difficult conversations... this is a good starting point.
Creative Mornings: The Taboo Stories We Hold
One to watch if you’re curious how educators can demystify implicit biases, institutional prejudice, and taboo in the classroom.
Testimonials
Check out what Dr. Crum's clients have to say about her.
"Dr. Crum is a consummate researcher and dynamic speaker who packs a lot of important insights into her instructional time. Her presentation to Wexner Center staff was accessible to people on lots of different levels and we all walked away with practical tools to move our dialogue forward as a team. I especially appreciated her deep incorporation of fundamental skills in arts education: analyzing visual culture can both reveal the sources of our biased viewpoints as well as provide a pathway for understanding multiple truths."
Shelly C.
Former Director of Education
"I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Dr. Crum's breakout session and keynote address. Dr. Crum did an excellent job of creating a safe space to discuss a sensitive topic. I wish there was an opportunity for a full-day training because I left both sessions wanting more. Since I belong to a marginalized population in the United States, I was appreciative of being in a space that acknowledged my experience. It was also nice to witness the beginning phases of barriers being removed from the blind spots of some colleagues who were less in tune with the experiences of others."
Johnel A.
School Psychologist
"Dr. Crum has an efficient and effective way of taking the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion and breaking them down in a way that anyone can understand. She's also not above challenging her audience to think critically about what they believe and why they believe it. If you need someone to help you/your organization better understand and effectively discuss issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Crum is a great person to lead you through that process."
Dante F.
Talent Director
AGENDA
Healed Leadership: Courage, Wholeness, and the Art of Belonging
Breakfast & Check-In
Start the day with a shared breakfast and informal check-in time designed to help participants arrive fully, connect with others, and transition from daily demands into a reflective learning space.
Welcome
The Welcome formally opens the Brave Space Leadership Conference by setting intentions, outlining the day’s flow, and establishing shared community agreements. Participants will be introduced to the Brave Space framework and invited into a learning environment rooted in courage, care, reflection, and collective responsibility.
Opening Keynote:
Strengthening Your Voice Without
Self-Abandonment
Dr. Melissa Crum connects emotional validation to workplace culture transformation. Through personal stories, she shows how self-abandonment begins early—and follows us into leadership. At work, it appears as people-pleasing, weak boundaries, silence in the face of misalignment, and chasing approval over purpose. Cultures built on self-abandonment cannot sustain trust or equity. When leaders stop self-abandoning, they stop modeling it—and culture change becomes possible.
Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Building Trust, Communication, and Accountability
In today’s workplace, technical skills alone are not enough; leaders must be equipped with emotional intelligence to foster trust, strengthen relationships, and create a culture of accountability. This interactive workshop explores how self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, and effective communication directly impact workplace dynamics. Participants will learn practical strategies to navigate difficult conversations, build trust within teams, and hold themselves and others accountable in ways that promote growth rather than fear. Through reflection, discussion, and real-world application, attendees will leave with tools they can immediately implement to improve team performance and workplace culture.
From Verse to Vision: Turning Music into Leadership Insight
This interactive, arts-based session invites participants to explore leadership through music, storytelling, and collective reflection. In this 30-minute workshop, local hip-hop artist Chris Hearn performs an original song centered on bravery, resilience, and overcoming challenges. Participants receive the song’s lyrics and engage in guided table conversations, identifying lines that resonate with their personal leadership journeys. Together, groups unpack themes of courage, rejection, identity, and perseverance—connecting the emotional truths in the music to real workplace dynamics.
Leading for Justice: Self-Awareness, Empathy, and Inclusive Leadership in Action
Lunch + Workshop
Leadership capable of guiding growing organizations requires more than technical expertise. Self-awareness and intentionality are crucial elements of creating inclusive workplaces. This session will explore foundational concepts and provide practical examples for attendees to enhance their leadership skills.
The Art of Leadership: Healing Workplace Systems Through Brave Leadership
This workshop invites leaders into the galleries to examine how identity, assumptions, and everyday leadership practices shape workplace systems and culture. Grounded in Brave Space principles and critical reflection, participants will explore how power, race, gender, and unexamined beliefs become embedded in policies, norms, and behaviors. Leaders will work in small groups with an art educator, using select artworks in the galleries as reflective tools to surface insight, practice accountability, and clarify impact versus intent.
Keynote: The Gift of Rejection—From Wound to Wisdom
In this powerful keynote, Nona Jones invites leaders to reconsider rejection not as a setback, but as a profound teacher. Drawing from her personal journey, Nona shares how moments that could have derailed her instead became catalysts for purpose, resilience, and leadership clarity. The session will conclude with a live Q&A, offering participants space to engage, reflect, and connect the message to their own leadership journeys.
Book Signing & Closing
The conference concludes with a reflective closing and book signing with Nona Jones, offering participants space to integrate the day’s insights and honor the collective journey.
ABOUT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Nona Jones is a rare combination of Bible teacher, business executive, bestselling author, global speaker, and entrepreneur.
As a certified Trauma-Informed Coach and Counselor, she is CEO of Inside Out Leadership, where her team builds resilient leaders who change the world.
Nona has held multiple senior executive roles, including Chief Content & Partnerships Officer at YouVersion, Head of Global Faith Partnerships at Meta, and Chief External Affairs Officer for PACE Center for Girls. She is the bestselling author of The Gift of Rejection, Killing Comparison, and Success from the Inside Out.
Nona is a sought after speaker on the topics of emotional resilience, leadership, and hope in uncertainty who has delivered standing ovation keynotes for Global Leadership Summit, Black Enterprise Magazine, US Bank, the United Nations, the United States Attorney General, and more. Nona has been profiled by ESSENCE Magazine as an “Under 40 Woman to Watch” and Florida Trend Magazine as one of Florida’s “30-Something All Stars.” She has been featured on Good Morning America, the Tamron Hall Show, and is a regular co-host of Better Together on TBN.
She is a graduate of Leadership Florida and the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program, a joint initiative of President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. She serves on the boards of Gloo (NSDQ: GLOO), Christianity Today Magazine, Salvation Army of North America, and Holy Post Media Company.
She holds a Bachelor of Communication and Master of Business Administration from the University of Florida where she has been recognized as an Outstanding Young Alumnus. She has completed executive studies at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation.
Pre-Order: The Gift of Rejection by Nona Jones
Greatness and mediocrity are separated by how you respond to rejection. In The Gift of Rejection, Nona Jones reframes rejection as a catalyst for growth and fulfillment, drawing from her personal journey through family, career, and infertility challenges.
Pre-order your copy to pick up at the conference and get it signed by Nona Jones.
*Requires conference registration.
OUR PARTNERS
Cultivating Change Together
The partners investing in courageous leadership, reflective practice, and workplace transformation.
Individual Brave Space Experience
Conference programming, conference bag + swag, curated breakfast, and lunch.
Collective Brave Space
Experience
Conference programming, conference bag + swag, curated breakfast, and lunch.
SAVINGS of over $350
*After purchase, you will share a form to be completed by attendees.
A Call to Partner
Advancing workforce equity requires collaboration across policymakers, employers, educators, and community organizations. This is the spirit of the “Columbus Way”—and it is how we create lasting, inclusive growth.
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is one way to do this work—together.
If we are serious about making Columbus one of the strongest and most forward-thinking cities in the world, we must invest not only in jobs—but in people. In how they lead. In how they communicate. In how they make decisions that shape opportunity for others.
We invite you to partner with us in building a workforce—and a city—where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
FAQs
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is intentionally different. This FAQ is designed to help you understand the experience, expectations, and logistics so you can decide if this brave, reflective space is right for you.
What do you mean by a “Brave Space”?
A Brave Space is a learning environment that prioritizes courage over comfort. Participants are invited to engage in honest dialogue, self-reflection, and critical thinking while practicing empathy, accountability, and respect.
Brave Spaces acknowledge that growth often includes discomfort—and provide the structure and care needed to move through it productively.
Click here to download your FREE Brave Space guide.
What is the Brave Space Leadership Conference?
The Brave Space Leadership Conference is a one-day, immersive leadership experience for people ready to move beyond inspiration and into practice. Grounded in arts-based reflection, storytelling, and critical inquiry, the conference invites participants to examine how their beliefs, behaviors, and choices shape workplace culture and organizational outcomes.
This is not a traditional leadership conference. It is reflective, interactive, and intentionally designed to support personal transformation as a pathway to organizational change.
Who should attend?
The conference is designed for anyone responsible for shaping culture, people, or systems:
- Executives and senior leaders
- Mid-level and emerging leaders
- Educators and administrators
- Nonprofit, government, and mission-driven professionals
If you are ready to ask hard questions, reflect honestly, and strengthen your leadership practice, this space is for you.
What will I experience at the conference?
Participants can expect:
- A powerful keynote experience
- Interactive sessions grounded in research and lived experience
- Arts-based reflection and guided dialogue
- Practical tools for leadership, communication, and culture change
- Time for individual reflection and collective learning
- Community with leaders across sectors
- Conference registration includes breakfast and lunch. Dietary accommodations will be available.
You will leave with both insight and actionable strategies you can apply immediately.
Is this conference suitable for teams or organizations?
Absolutely. Organizations are encouraged to attend together. Table purchases are available and offer a shared learning experience that supports collective reflection, language-building, and aligned leadership practice.
How do I become a sponsor?
I would love to have you!
Click here to learn about the partnership opportunities.
Join us in supporting immersive learning that translates values into everyday leadership practice, creating lasting impact beyond the conference.
What is your refund or transfer policy?
All registrations are non-refundable. However, tickets may be transferred to another attendee up to three weeks prior to the conference. Please contact Melissa Crum for transfer requests at MelissaCrum@MosaicEducationNetwork.com
Join us!
Be a part of an immersive experience for leaders who are ready to move beyond inspiration and into practice.