Prior to creating her diabetes fashion brand, Myabetic, Kyrra Richards was a professional dancer, choreographer, and model. She worked with Nickelodeon, Spike TV, BET, Kids’ Choice Awards, Guys’ Choice Awards, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, ZZ Top, Jessica Biel, Tracy Morgan, Shaquille O’Neal, Carrie Ann Inaba, the Jonas Brothers, Carmen Electra, and photographer David LaChappelle on music videos, commercials, premieres, stage productions, print campaigns, and concerts. Her type 1 diabetes diagnosis at the age of 24 caused discouragement and insecurity. She was embarrassed to carry and use her medical supplies because she didn’t want to be associated with a disease. In an effort to brighten her outlook, Richards decided to give diabetes a makeover by designing stylish wallets, bags and accessories. Her company, Myabetic, continues to create products that promote style, not shame.
Sebastien Sasseville is an international keynote speaker, a TEDx speaker, and an endurance athlete. He speaks to corporations on change management, teamwork, peak performance, and leadership. Sebastien offers rigorous business content combined with inspiration, a truly unique mix. His impressive list of clients includes Dell/EMC, Johnson & Johnson, Hewitt Cat, L’Oréal, CIBC, Merck, and many more. Founder of Inc.spiration, he helps organizations to create and to maintain peak performance in changing environments.
Sebastien Sasseville is the first Canadian with type 1 diabetes to reach the summit of Mt Everest. In 2014, he faced the biggest challenge of his life: a solo run across Canada, a journey equivalent to 180 marathons in 9 months. His inner fortitude, key insights, and authenticity come from an ability to draw from lessons provided by seeking great challenges and to apply them to today’s most pressing and complex business concerns. His message connects with audiences worldwide from his exceptional storytelling, energy, and humor.
Emily is a cofounder of Pump Peelz. After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2010 and put on an insulin pump, Emily and her now husband, Scott, realized that the options to customize and decorate insulin pumps were limited. Together, they have worked since 2011 to create an entire line of custom fit graphics for diabetes medical devices. Their products are sold and worn by people with diabetes all over the world. Emily holds a BS in Graphics and Multimedia. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is her baby boy Oliver.
Johnnie J. Refvik a New Yorker and graduate of SUNY Buffalo has spent the past decade and a half growing his telecommunications company from a startup into a nationwide service provider for the largest wireless carriers. In 2009, Johnnie learned he had become a Type 1 Diabetic after a tragic loss of a loved one. After a few years of exploring different management techniques and utilizing every glucometer on the market, Johnnie found himself frustrated with the multiple supplies, meters, insulin pens and carrying kits. As an entrepreneur and a New Yorker, life has to be quick and easy and being a young diabetic with outdated technology and multiple supplies/kits didn’t make it so quick nor easy. It was then he had the AH HA moment and developed The SugarCube. The SugarCube is a Bluetooth enabled glucose testing kit that supports insulin delivery and communicates with its SugarCube mobile app. With The SugarCube Kit and App, he hopes to change the way diabetics manage their condition to improve their quality of life. He set out to make this change not only for himself, but also for the same people struggling to balance diabetes and everyday life.
Sigurjón Lýðsson’s father has been living with Type 1 diabetes for over 40 years, and Sigurjón noticed that his short term memory has been greatly affected, and increasingly so. His father has injected insulin in front of him, and 5 minutes later asked “Did I inject already? I can’t remember.” Then, in 2010, his father was diagnosed with lung cancer, which then spread to his kidneys, liver, and brain. When Sigurjón spoke to his doctors, they said the treatment might affect his short term memory. This drastically increased the anxiety for everyone in his family, as his insulin pens do not store the injections. Sigurjón started looking for a solution that would help his father, though nothing relevant existed. That’s where the idea of Medilync began. Along with a few colleagues, Sigurjón designed a concept and began working with providers, patients, and family members to verify its utility.
Aaron is a maker; from sculptures to business, he is fascinated with the process of taking an idea from concept to reality. He is passionate about creating interfaces that drive a shift towards ubiquitous computing. He is currently Co-founder and CEO of Sproutel, the creator of Jerry the Bear – a platform for pediatric health and wellness education. Aaron has shared his expertise in robotics and social entrepreneurship through speaking at numerous conferences including TED@IBM, Hardware Innovation Workshop, Big Ideas Fest, MakerCon, TEDxUnisinos, CUSP, and Stanford MedX. Aaron has also been recognized as one of 50 honored makers by the White House in 2014. He holds a degree in Mechatronics and User Interaction Design from Northwestern University. When unplugged Aaron is likely either carving stone or surfing.
Amin lives with T1D since 2006, he is a solar energy engineer by training and a hardware expert by trade. After a frustrating accident in 2013, when his insulin was frozen in the domestic refrigerator, he became discovered a massive flaw in the way medications are stored and handled at home, and decided to found MedAngel to solve this problem. He is currently leading a team of engineers, pharmacists and designers to revolutionise the interaction patient-medication, and bring peace of mind to everyone.
For five years, Kate Milliken has been immersed in the personal stories of people living with chronic illness as the founder of MyCounterpane, an online platform that allows patients and caregivers to lay out their personal moments and connect to others who get it. The venture began when Kate was diagnosed with MS in 2006. Kate saw a need for moment-based authentic content of what it was like to actually live with an illness, where every entry was tagged with an emotion to make it immediately helpful and easily searchable for people in need of finding others to relate to. MyCounterpane aimed to demonstrate insights and prove outcomes in the emotional realm of health, healing people through the story of them in the process. Kate will continue this work with Moodify, a 2.0 version of MyCounterpane.
Pre-MS, Kate founded Milligrace Productions, a video production company specializing in mini documentaries for private, corporate and non-profit clients. She has worked in television for more than 15 years, off camera as a producer for the View and VH-1 and as a correspondent in alternative sports (such as snowboarding, mountain biking and monster trucks) where she worked for Fox Sports NET, TNT, TNN the Outdoor Life Network and Oxygen.
Kate lives in Bronxville, New York with her husband and two young children, an 8-year-old son who works to throw 3-pointers on a basketball court like Steph Curry and a 6-year-old daughter who wages a daily battle against the hairbrush.
Hanna Boëthius has lived with Type 1 Diabetes as her constant companion for 35 years, and it was as if her whole life fell into place when she started eating real food in 2011. Since her wake up call, she has gained much of her health back, thanks to simply eating the right things and nutrients for her body.
Hanna is an international speaker, writer, podcaster and action taker, who loves diabetes topics that are off of the beaten track. She’s passionate to find motivational and inspiring ways to bring about a change in diabetes management. Through her own company, Hanna Diabetes Expert, she’s inspired thousands of people with diabetes to live a healthier life by sharing her own story and experiences, as well as the puzzle pieces she’s helped others to find. She has a profound understanding of how things like nutrition and lifestyle choices can balance diabetes.
She is also the founder of the very first interactive, 100% real food event, called The Low Carb Universe. It’s Europe’s healthiest event!
Dr. Hehenberger has close to 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector. She served as an executive at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals (EYET) & Coronado BioSciences (CNDO) and had strategic management roles at Johnson & Johnson (Vice President Metabolic Strategy), JDRF (Senior Vice President Strategic Alliances), and McKinsey, as well as senior partnership roles at public (Brummer & Partners) and private (Scandinavian Life Science Ventures) multibillion dollar investment funds. She received her MD and PhD degrees from the Karolinska institute, and did her post-doctoral fellowship as a JDRF stipend recipient at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School.