The Era of Empowered Women Panel

Audrey Bell-Kearney is the CEO of Noise Media Network which is a media, marketing, and consulting firm that produces and distribute digital content for clients and help them get exposure for their business, product or service by leveraging podcasting, streaming TV & AI.  Audrey is also the founder of Noise Podcast Network which is a division of Noise Media Network. Audrey is the host of the #1 hyper-local globally syndicated podcast Good Morning Gwinnett.  Audrey is the founder/President of the Gwinnett Women’s Chamber Of Commerce.  Audrey is the author of What’s Your Big Idea? The Ultimate Guide For New Entrepreneurs and I Want To Write A Book Now What? AtoZ Of Self-Publishing and Can They See You Now?  Easy Video Marketing Even When You Hate Being On Camera which can be found on Amazon.com in both print & Kindle versions.  Her book PodChix: Women Who Have Launched A Podcast & How You Can Too is available on Amazon.

Audrey is passionate about entrepreneurship.  Audrey started her first real business in 1999.  She realized that she was a single mom who wanted to create a nice life for her daughter who was 8 years old at the time.  So, she had this idea for a plus size fashion doll which was more realistic than the Barbie Doll.  She told a friend about the idea and the friend thought it was a great idea.  The two became partners and Big Beautiful Dolls, LLC was born June 1999. They invented the first plus-size fashion dolls.  Audrey went on to start her own newspaper titled Women In Business Today.  The paper profiled women who were already in business.  Audrey later became a consultant with the Rutgers & Kean University Small Business Development Center in New Jersey.  She also sat on the advisory board for the Rutgers University Small Business Development Center.

The paper opened many doors for Audrey.  She was asked to be interviewed on a local radio station.  The host liked her so much that he brought her on full time with her own show which had the same title as her newspaper, Women In Business Today.  Audrey did the show for one year on WSOU 89.5 FM until her husbands’ job transferred him to North Carolina.  While in North Carolina, Audrey decided that she would start her own TV show.  So, she walked into a local TV station in Rocky Mount, NC and pitched the show idea to the station manager and the Women In Business Today TV show was born.

From 2010 to 2013 Audrey was the host of The Ask Audrey Show on Harvest Radio WKMB 1070 AM.  Audrey is currently the host of Good Morning Gwinnett, Popcorn & Politics and Built2gether which can be heard on Apple Podcast & other podcast platforms.  You can also listen to Good Morning Gwinnett on your Amazon Fire TV or Amazon Alexa by going to the Amazon store and searching for Good Morning Gwinnett and adding the app to your devices.  Audrey host Impact Marketing & also Wise Women Invest and all her shows are syndicated across the Noise Media platforms, which includes Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Alexa.

Audrey has been interviewed on national television talk shows and written up in national publications including Insight on Fox 5 TV in Dallas, Money Matters Talk Show, The John Walsh Show, The Network Journal, Today’s Black Woman, The Motherhood, Global Black Women and more.

MELISSA LARAMIE is passionate about education and equity, Melissa has more than 22 years of experience in communications, marketing, and public relations. Melissa joined Gwinnett County Public Schools in April 2022, where she serves as the district’s first Chief Engagement Officer. Prior to joining Team GCPS, Melissa served for more than six years as a lead communicator for the third-largest district in Washington state and nearly eight years at the largest educational service district in Washington state.  Melissa’s work advocating for student success, equitable access to high-quality instruction, and amplifying teacher voice were the basis of her years of leadership on the Washington School Public Relations Association Board and led her to run for and secure a seat on her local school district board of education.

Able to provide strategic communication, marketing, and engagement strategies and services for private corporations, non-profits, and school districts Melissa’s diverse experience provides a unique perspective.  As a communications professional, she has a wide variety of experience, including excellent writing, editing, strategic planning, multimedia and interpersonal skills, budget management, planning, and grant writing, and extensive experience in web design/management, social media, graphic design, blogging, and content marketing. And as a Head Start graduate, first generation college graduate from a reservation town of less than 1,000 people, and single mother, Melissa’s empathy for people and belief in the power of public education fuel her work daily.

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Arts in applied sociology and social work from Seattle University and earned a master’s degree in communication and leadership studies from Gonzaga University. Melissa is an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated tribes from the Sinixt band, is a trained Action Collab Design Thinking facilitator; she is an advocate for student and teacher voice, an active PTA member, a national speaker, and is enjoying exploring with her twelve-year-old daughter all of the beauty and fun that Georgia has to offer.

DENISE SANTOS is an actress and Producer Denise Santos is a Miami, Florida native with parents from South America. A fluent Spanish and English speaker, being bilingual created many opportunities for her to work on a variety of productions. She is best known for her roles on Long Slow Exhale (Paramount), MacGyver (CBS), The Resident (Fox), and Family Blood (Netflix). 

After moving to Atlanta in 2009 and seeing the need for representation of Latin talent in Atlanta, she co-founded Latinas in Media Atlanta. LIMA would then go on to showcase original one-act plays directed and performed by Georgia talent to the community and industry professionals. Today, Denise continues to advocate for inclusion and representation in the media.

Some of Denise's on-stage performances include Carmen Rivera's La Gringa, The Vagina Monologues, and Alan Ball's Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, she is also credited with over 100+ national and regional commercials. 

Denise Santos is represented by Stewart Talent Agency (Atlanta) and Eris Talent (LA) | www.imdb.me/DeniseSantos | linktr.ee/denisepsantos

LAURA BALLANCE has grown a reputation for creative thinking, development and innovation within the arts community, was named Executive Director of the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning in Duluth in April 2020.

After launching her career at Atlanta College of Art and the Woodruff Arts Center almost 25 years ago, Ballance, an Atlanta native, has held various positions in arts management, arts educational programming, fundraising and development. Prior to her role at the Hudgens, she spent more than a decade with Savannah College of Art and Design, and has worked with the National Art Honor Society, the Georgia Art Education Association, and The College Board, coordinating Advanced Placement curriculum training for high school educators of Studio Art and Art History. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Art Education Association.

As Executive Director at the Hudgens Center, Ballance has cultivated partnerships with Gwinnett County, the City of Lawrenceville, and Sugarloaf CID, among others, in an effort to promote and prioritize the visual arts throughout our larger community.

Laura earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology from Georgia State University. She is an active member of multiple civic and professional organizations, serving on the Board of Directors for the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Gwinnett County, and Sapphire Youth Development Center. Ballance, also, served on the Advisory Council for the launch of the School of the Arts (SOTA) at Central Gwinnett High School, and continues to serve on the Executive Committee for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s annual benefit for ALS research and patient care.

Laura is married to Peter May, Director of International Admission at Savannah College of Art and Design, and considers playing her cello and playing with her beloved Pitt/Collie rescue, Ozzie May, as the world’s greatest ways to spend free time.