2025 Featured Presenters

Mickey Smith Jr. is a GRAMMY Music Educator Award-Recipient, motivational keynote speaker, author, and musician. A significance & resilience expert for educators & employees, Mickey is entertaining, educating, and elevating in his approach – and a no-stress speaker clients love to work with.

Mickey is a Premiere Professional Saxophonist performing for over 30 years, sharing the stage with top headlining artists & musicians of various genres, even performing on shows such as NBC’s The Today Show.

Mickey has been featured in various publications such as Thrive Magazine as one of their “Thriving Thirty-somethings” as a premiere Educator & Speaker. He has appeared on CBS This Morning, as well as a celebrated featured appearance with singing-songwriting sensation Alicia Keys on the GRAMMYS! However, for Mickey, life is more about purpose than any performance. Success comes second to significance.

Renowned as a conductor of “uncommon emotional intensity” (Marie-Celine) and a “force at the podium”(Eugene Scene), American conductor Mélisse Brunet is a native of Paris, France with Spanish and Italian roots. She is quickly gaining attention on both sides of the Atlantic as “a skilled and polished conductor with an excellent pedigree…Brunet led the orchestra with panache and clarity, giving inspiring and assured renditions of each work.” (Cleveland Classical). In July 2022, she became the fifth Music Director of the Lexington Philharmonic, and the first woman to hold the position. She is also in her fifth season as the Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.

Brunet is one of the five conductors featured in the documentary “Maestra”by the Director Maggie Contreras and produced by David Letterman and Melanie Miller (“Navalny”). “Maestra” garnered 2nd place in the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film’s exploration of Brunet’s daring journey at the international La Maestra competition and has received rave reviews in the press, including two articles in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Hollywood Reporter.

2024/25 season highlights include her opening the Delaware Symphony Orchestras’s season as one of four Music Director finalists, as well as engagements with the Phoenix Symphony, Carmel Symphony, and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In the previous season she also led the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, and the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence (France).

As a dynamic advocate of contemporary music, Brunet has collaborated with composers such as Shawn Okpebholo (appointing him as the Lexington Philharmonic’s first-ever Black composer-in-residence), MaryD. Watkins, T.J. Cole, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Shulamit Ran, James Barry, Loren Loiacono, and Jennifer Higdon, among others.

As an opera and musical theater conductor, Brunet has conducted Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at the Power Center in Ann Arbor; four staged performances of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, and two staged performances of Verdi’s La Traviata.

Brunet is a respected educator in both France and the USA. Most recently, she served as the first womanDirector of Orchestral Studies at the University of Iowa-School of Music, where she conducted symphonic concerts, operas, and musical theater.

Brunet began her studies on the cello, and learned to play the trumpet, French horn, and piano. She holds six diplomas from the Paris Conservatory, a bachelor’s in music from the Université la Sorbonne, a Professional Studies diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan. As a true citizen of the world and intrepid conversationalist, she speaks English, French, Italian, Chinese, as well as some rusty Spanish, Hebrew, and German.

Recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the inaugural Outstanding Original Score for Film/TV category, EmmoLei Sankofa’s innovative compositions have left an indelible mark on acclaimed productions such as Hulu’s The Other Black Girl, Three Ways, Disney+’s Project CC, Lizzo’s Emmy-Award winning series Watch Out For the Big Grrrls and much more.

In addition to her remarkable body of work as a composer, EmmoLei has led as sound supervisor on projects for major brands such as Nike, Pandora, Vans, Kamala Harris for the People, and Pulse Films, and more through her creative audio company, Bèl Son.

EmmoLei’s diverse discography comprises over twenty-one independently released albums, EPs, and singles, showcasing a fusion of soul, jazz, classical, and rhythm and blues. Notably, her single “Don’t Fight” was featured on Adult Swim’s OPUS compilation album. A dynamic percussionist, EmmoLei has shared the stage with the likes of Nelly, Ella Mai, and Kurt Schneider. Her debut on Mobley’s Devil in a Daydream Virtual Tour marked a significant milestone in her career as a solo act.

An alum of the Sundance Composers Lab and Recording Academy NEXT program, EmmoLei has been guided by esteemed figures in the Film/TV and music industry and championed as an emerging talent and influential voice among the next generation of industry leaders.

EmmoLei’s work has been recognized across multiple platforms, including Hollywood Records’ The Big Score, The Karen Hunter Show, The Film Scorer, Lyrical Lemonade, OC Weekly, and Billboard. She was honored in the inaugural class of Hampton University’s Young Alumni 40 under 40, served as the alumni speaker at SCAD Atlanta’s 2023 Commencement ceremony, and was a recipient of the New Music USA Reel Change Grant for Diversity in Film Score.

Born on July 18, 1979, in Chicago, Illinois, Jason Weaver has always been surrounded by the world of entertainment. His mother, Kitty Haywood, a legendary studio singer, was a staple in his young life and encouraged his pursuit of singing as well as acting. In being surrounded by some of the best entertainers to date, Jason learned some of the most intricate works of the industry and found himself even more intrigued and driven in his goal of stardom.

Weaver got his break in acting as a kid named Ernie in the movie “The Kid Who Loved Christmas”. By the age of 12, Jason had appeared in two other projects: “The Long Walk Home”, a film by Whoopi Goldberg, and “Brewster’s Place”, a television series produced by Oprah Winfrey. Having been successful in his previous three roles, it was imminent that this young man’s career would be of legendary status. In 1992, Weaver landed the role of a lifetime.

He was cast to play the young and most talented Michael Jackson in the small-screen film, “The Jacksons: An American Dream.” This made-for-television movie garnered him rave reviews and proved to be a launching pad for other areas of his career. 

1993 branded Weaver in one of the two most notable roles of his career. Playing alongside Brandy in the television series “Thea”, Jason continued his acting success until the abrupt cancellation of the show later that year. Weaver landed a role in one of the top Disney films in 1994. Jason was blessed with the opportunity to display his other talent, singing. He graced us with his passionate sound as the singing voice of Simba in the box office hit, “The Lion King”. In 1997, he continued his on-screen success as teenage sibling, Marcus Henderson, in the hit television series “Smart Guy”.

After a two-year hiatus, Jason was back at it with a role in the civil rights movie, “Freedom Song”, starring Danny Glover and Loretta Divine, to name a few. The turn of the millennium also brought about a huge turn in Weaver’s career. In 2002, he enjoyed a highly successful role as Earnest in the mega hit movie “Drumline”, opposite Nick Cannon. The movie was set in Jason’s hometown of Atlanta. In 2004, Weaver followed the success of “Drumline” with a role in “The Lady Killers”, starring Tom Hanks. 

In 2006, Jason Weaver was back in Atlanta to shoot “ATL”, starring T.I. The Chris Robinson film was set in a roller rink and depicted the life of a teenage male who deals with the everyday struggles of finance, school, and friendship, but finds solace in a female whom he meets at the roller rink he frequents. Let it be known that TI’s female costar is not as she appears. The movie was a huge box office success.

In addition to Jason’s enormous success as an actor, he sets his sights on his other love, music. After releasing only one of his two albums with Motown in the early 90s, Weaver enjoyed short-lived success from “Love Ambition”. He has since refocused his energy and dedication to long hours in the studio in pursuit of his musical dreams. The 2004 hit, “One Call Away” by Chingy, featured a rejuvenated Weaver singing the hook. This single topped the Billboard 100 chart at #2 in the U.S and #26 in the UK. In late 2006, Jason worked with BG on his new album and did several collaborations with close friend and super producer/writer Roger “Mista Raja” Green on his album, “Chip off the Ol’ Block”, due to be released in mid-2007. 

With Weaver’s long list of accomplishments in his star career, many power hitters in the entertainment industry suggest that this Hollywood story is only at its midpoint. Jason is set to release his second album, entitled “Declaration of Independence”, in early summer 2007. 

In 2018, Jason and Mark Stewart kicked off their sports podcast called Stat Lines Matter (SLM). This podcast ties hot entertainment industry people with professional athletes.

Dr. Aaron K. Campbell is an award-winning performer, educator, and advocate for contemporary music engagement. Based in Tampa, Florida, he serves as the instructor of tuba and euphonium at the University of Tampa, is the founder of the Tampa Brass Band, and the musical director of the Sunshine Brass Band. He regularly performs with leading Florida ensembles including the Florida Orchestra, the Florida Wind Band, and the Brass Band of Central Florida, and is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and musical theater performer. Dr. Campbell also maintains a large private studio and frequently presents clinics, recitals and masterclasses around the world on topics ranging from brass pedagogy to musical entrepreneurship.

A dedicated supporter of the fraternal music community, Dr. Campbell was inducted into the Alpha Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi at the University of Tampa after his first semester on faculty and is also a proud brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In recent years, he has developed a specialized focus on the role of music in popular media and has been actively teaching and lecturing on film and video game music for the past two years. His work explores the deep musical and cultural value of these genres and how they can inspire innovation and relevance in modern music education.

Outside the classroom and performance stage, Dr. Campbell creates content for his YouTube channel “AKCEuph,” produces and co-hosts the “New World Brass” podcast, and remains dedicated to mentoring the next generaQon of brass musicians. A Besson, Denis Wick, and Lefreque performing arQst, Dr. Campbell holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in euphonium, with a cognate in entrepreneurship, from the University of Florida, where he was the first to complete the degree in this field.