Carol Kent is an international public speaker and the bestselling author of When I Lay My Isaac Down and A New Kind of Normal. She is hilariously funny, biblically sound, and heartbreakingly transparent in person and in print. Founder and president of Speak Up for Hope (a prison ministry), Speak Up With Confidence (a communications training seminar), and Speak Up Speaker Services (a speakers bureau), Carol is an expert on public speaking, writing, and on encouraging people to hold on to hope when life’s circumstances turn out differently from their dreams. She sits on the advisory boards of MOPS International and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She travels the world, speaking to thousands each year. Carol has spoken on the Women of Faith tour and for events such as Extraordinary Women, THRIVE, and Women of Joy. And when they’re back home in Florida, Carol and her husband, Gene, enjoy walking in the rain, summer sunsets, trail biking, and the new adventure of river kayaking.

Jennie Afman Dimkoff  is a motivational speaker, trainer, and author, speaking widely throughout the US and Canada, as well as in both South Korea and Germany. President of Storyline Ministries, Inc. and author and storyteller for Kids' Time, a children's audio story ministry on CDs, Jennie also serves on the staff of Speak Up With Confidence Seminars teaching each year. Jennie has a BA degree in Business, with a minor in speech and drama. She has been featured repeatedly on 100 Huntley Street in Canada, The Harvest Show, and TCT television programs. Her books and storytelling have been twice featured as 5-day programming for Moody Broadcasting Network. Married to her best friend, Probate Court Judge Graydon W. Dimkoff, she is mom to their two grown children, Amber and Josh.