Ida Byrd-Hill

Ida Byrd-Hill Speaking Topics

• Black America: The $2 Trillion American Dream Fueled by 30 Years of Relentless Tech Growth

  Black America is not simply a community. It is an economic nation.

  With nearly $2 trillion in annual buying power, Black America stands as one of the most powerful economies on the planet. If recognized as a standalone country, it would rank among the top ten largest economies in the world—a global force built not by inheritance, but by innovation, resilience, and momentum in pursuit of the American Dream.

  Over the past 30 years, Black economic power has surged—from $321 billion to a projected $2.1 trillion 2026—driven by a powerful throttle: technology. Digital tools, automation, mobile platforms, AI, STEM careers, and tech-enabled entrepreneurship have reshaped how Black Americans earn, create, and compete. Black America evolved from labor-restricted participation to technology-accelerated economic engine.

  Yet the defining question of this moment is not how fast the economy has grown—but who controls the future of growth, wealth and legacy.

  As AI, data, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, and digital platforms reshape the global economy, Black America stands at a critical inflection point: to move from buying power to ownership power, from income growth to asset creation, and from economic presence to economic leadership.

  This is Black History not as remembrance—but as real-time nation-building.

  The $2 trillion Black economy is here. Technology built the throttle. The next chapter is about control, scale, and legacy.

  Learning Objectives"

  By the end of this Black History Month program, participants will be able to:

  • Describe Black America as a modern economic nation, understanding the scale and significance of its nearly $2 trillion buying power.
  • Explain how technology has accelerated Black economic growth over the last 30 years, particularly through AI, STEM careers, digital platforms, and workforce mobility.
  • Identify pathways to economic leadership, including tech upskilling, credentialing, entrepreneurship, and innovation that convert buying power into long-term wealth and ownership.

• Death Unleashed the Beast

  When Ida Byrd-Hill’s daughter Karen died at just 20 years old from a seizure, a local CEO told her, “You spent all those years fighting Detroit Public Schools and you did not benefit.” The message was brutal and dismissive: fifteen years as an educational activist to improve urban education had been a waste. That moment could have ended Ida’s story—but instead, it ignited it. Death did not defeat her. Death unleashed the beast. Grief stripped away fear, caution, and the need for validation, revealing a relentless resolve to prove what others insisted was impossible.

  What emerged was an uncompromising vision: to prepare urban young people to dominate industries they were never expected to master. Ida built a behavior-insights platform that became the foundation for rigorous tech skill coaching in IoT, network engineering, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI/machine learning—creating a pipeline of front-liners equipped with both technical excellence and data-driven behavioral intelligence. Her bold endgame is clear: to build a semiconductor plant in Michigan, training the next generation to conquer a high-demand sector long deemed out of reach. This keynote is a raw and powerful exploration of purpose forged in pain, leadership born from loss, and the conviction that when systems underestimate you, the only response is to build something they cannot ignore.

  Key Takeaways / Learning Objectives

  1. Transform Pain into Purpose-Driven Leadership: Learn how personal loss can become a catalyst for clarity, courage, and decisive leadership rather than paralysis or retreat.

  2. Build Talent for Industries That Say “You Don’t Belong”: Understand how data-driven behavior insights combined with technical rigor can prepare underestimated talent to excel in the most demanding sectors.

  3. Create Systems That Outlast Skepticism: Discover why the most powerful response to doubt and exclusion is building scalable systems—pipelines, platforms, and institutions—that redefine who wins in the future.

• Forget Your Grand Dad - Adopt the Next-Gen Executive Playbook

  The AI gold rush is here. Yet, an MIT study highlights 95% of companies are seeing ZERO ROI on their $30–40 billion GenAI investments while a quiet 5% of leaders are turning cutting-edge technology into millions.

  What separates them? Next-gen executives know AI and cutting-edge tech success starts with people, not just code. Employees fearful of being replaced by AI and cutting-edge tech are stalling innovation, and blocking ROI. Next-Gen executives who confront this truth are the ones getting promoted, recognized, and fast-tracked to the C-suite. The question isn't whether AI and cutting-edge tech will reshape your industry. The question is: Will you be leading that change, or scrambling to keep up?

  WHAT YOU'LL TAKE AWAY

  • Catapult Your Career - Master the mindset and leadership skills that move middle-managers and mid-professionals into executive positions in this AI era.

  • Lead AI Transformation - Discover how to position yourself as an indispensable strategic culture leader.

  • Unlock Hidden Knowledge - Learn proven strategies to capture failure data to drive AI profitability.

• American Dream — The Tune of Hope

  For generations, the American Dream has played like a living soundtrack—a tune of hope, a rhythm pulsing through our corporate veins—guiding how leaders build companies, grow industries, and define success. Like any powerful composition, it has swung through soaring crescendos of innovation and jarring crashes of economic disruption. Each era rewarded leaders who could hear the shift in tempo early, adapt their strategy, and keep their organizations in rhythm when the music changed. Today, AI, workforce upheaval, and global uncertainty have altered the beat once again.

  In this keynote, Ida Byrd-Hill reframes leadership as orchestration. The Dream hasn’t ended—it has been remixed. Technology has always been the instrument that restarts growth after disruption, but leadership determines whether organizations create harmony or noise. This keynote challenges leaders to stop replaying outdated melodies and instead compose the next movement—aligning talent, culture, and technology to sustain growth in an unpredictable economy. The Tune of Hope is still playing. The leaders who thrive will be the ones bold enough to conduct the next verse.

  Key Takeaways/Learning Objectives

  1. Hear the Tempo Shift Before It Becomes a Crisis: Learn how economic and technological cycles repeat—and how leaders who sense the rhythm change early gain strategic advantage.

  2. Use Technology as the Lead Instrument, Not Background Noise: Understand why innovation has always reignited growth—and how AI now demands leaders who can integrate talent, culture, and strategy into a coherent performance.

  3. Conduct the Organization Toward the Next Movement of Growth: Gain a leadership mindset that moves beyond managing disruption to intentionally orchestrating resilience, adaptability, and long-term relevance.

• Culture Re-Wired - — Increase AI ROI and Mitigate Lawsuit Losses

  In today’s volatile economy, organizations are racing to adopt AI—yet many are ignoring the one factor that determines whether those investments deliver profit or legal exposure: corporate culture. When culture is misaligned, AI accelerates bias, burnout, compliance failures, and lawsuits. When culture is intentionally designed, AI becomes a force multiplier for revenue, productivity, and long-term resilience.

  In this high-impact keynote, CULTURE RE-WIRED, Ida Byrd-Hill demonstrates how leaders can re-engineer culture to increase AI ROI while mitigating risk—without slowing innovation. Grounded in the real-world transformation of Dr. Bronner’s, a 75-year-old family-owned brand sold at Costco, Kroger, Publix, Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods, this keynote highlights the work of Lilia Vergara, VP of Human Resources, and Ida Byrd-Hill, CEO of Automation Workz. Their comprehensive culture audit produced measurable results:

  • 45% revenue growth
  • 25% employee growth
  • 400% expansion of the HR function in three years

  This keynote challenges leaders to adopt a CEO-level mindset—treating culture as a financial asset that directly impacts AI profitability, employee behavior, and legal risk. This is not theory. It’s a proven playbook for leaders who refuse to get squeezed out in the AI era.

  Key Takeaways / Learning Objectives

  1. Understand How Culture Determines AI ROI: Learn why culture—not technology—is the deciding factor in whether AI drives revenue growth or amplifies compliance failures and lawsuits.

  2. Identify Hidden Risks Before They Become Legal Losses: Discover how cultural blind spots and unspoken behaviors quietly increase legal exposure—and how leaders can surface and correct them early.

  3. Adopt a CEO-Level Lens on Culture and Profit: Gain the language and mindset needed to connect culture decisions to revenue, risk mitigation, and ROI, making leaders indispensable in an AI-driven economy.