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The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Stephanie Mehta

Any company can become a Fast Company by pushing their creative boundaries.

CEO of Mansueto Ventures | Former Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company

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Lavin Exclusive Speaker

The world is changing quickly, and if we want to succeed, we need to move even faster. Stephanie Mehta will help us step on the gas. She spent years as the Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company—the most influential business magazine in the world—before stepping up to become CEO of its parent company, Mansueto Ventures. She’s worked with the most innovative, forward-thinking businesses on the planet, learning how they unleash radical creativity and how anyone can do the same. Stephanie has a unique and savvy view on business in America, and she’ll show you practical ways to prepare your company for the future: like using generative AI to not only make your teams more productive, but revolutionize your organization from the ground up. Succeeding in today’s fast-paced business landscape is not just about learning how to deal with disruption, she says—it’s about building disruption into everything you do.

Whether she’s investigating the unprecedented rise of AI, the domino effect of technology on our lives, or what makes a workplace truly innovative in today’s world of breakneck change, Stephanie Mehta has her finger on the pulse. She served as editor-in-chief of Fast Company—the publication that businesses all over the world turn to for inspiration and guidance—before being promoted to CEO of its parent company Mansueto Ventures (which also publishes Inc.). The magazine has a storied history of eschewing traditionalism, rules, and the “old way” of doing things, instead showcasing the people, teams, and organizations inventing the future of business. Today, the company operates a number of franchises that highlight the world’s most progressive leaders and companies, including “Most Creative People,” “Most Innovative Companies,” and “World Changing Ideas.”

Over her prolific three-decade career in the world of business journalism, Stephanie has come to value a human-centered approach to her work, modeled by her commitment to thoughtful storytelling. In her dynamic keynotes, she draws on those stories to show the next generation of business leaders how to push creative boundaries, nurture a radical vision, and make innovation happen.

Prior to Fast Company, Stephanie was Deputy Editor at Vanity Fair, where she coedited the influential New Establishment ranking, curated the New Establishment Summit, and oversaw the Founders Fair conference for women entrepreneurs. Previously, she was editor of Bloomberg LIVE and Bloomberg Media’s global conference division. At Fortune, she rose to the #2 spot on the masthead, driving the magazine’s overall editorial direction while overseeing its technology, management, and international coverage. She also spent six years as an editor and writer at The Wall Street Journal.

Testimonials

Stephanie Mehta was dazzling, diving deep into her expertise to drive genuinely insightful, relevant, and current insights into current business trends. It was as if she held up a mirror to the audience and made them see themselves differently, but did so in the most engaging way possible. She also customized her presentation to her audience and was an absolute delight to work with behind the scenes. She was terrific!

BOMA Canada

Lavin Exclusive Speakers

Angela Duckworth

Author of Grit, the #1 New York Times Bestseller | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Science of Success

Daron Acemoglu

2024 Nobel Prize Winner | 3rd Most Cited Economist in the World | MIT Institute Professor | Bestselling Co-Author of Why Nations Fail and Power and Progress

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-Winning 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius

Greg Hoffman

Nike's Former Chief Marketing Officer | Author of Emotion by Design

Nicholas Thompson

CEO of The Atlantic | Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED

Speech Topics

ChatGPT and Generative AI

AI for CEOsWhat Executives Need to Know About Leading in the AI Future

When it comes to the myriad different applications of generative AI, “we’re just beginning to scratch the surface,” says Stephanie Mehta. Writing emails is just the start—if executives can lead their organization through the AI revolution, it will completely change how we work, what we put our energy into, and how we find success.

In this hopeful, forward-looking talk, Stephanie covers the business implications of generative AI, and how leaders can take advantage of these new tools to get ahead of the competition. She draws on her experience as CEO of Mansueto Ventures, where she plays a crucial role in the direction of its magazines Fast Company and Inc., to show executives what they need to know and do to lead their company through this change. She explains how to lead workforces that are both energized and terrified by AI, why AI won’t take CEOs’ jobs but might actually add to them, and much more.

Innovation

Building an Innovative Culture7 Ways to Make Your Company Faster

Former Fast Company Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Mehta spends time with the entrepreneurs and inventors who are transforming business at dizzying speeds. She also knows, from her years interviewing the chieftains of the biggest corporations in the world as an editor at Fortune and The Wall Street Journal, that big organizations are working hard to inject their cultures and processes with entrepreneurial and innovative zeal. A natural storyteller, Stephanie provides a lively, anecdote-filled roadmap that offers executives practical, actionable insights on how they can make any department or company a fast company.

Innovation

Rules are Meant to be BrokenSecrets of the Most Creative People in Business

The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has shown us that AIs are capable of matching (or even outmaneuvering) humans at almost anything. But, to paraphrase superagent Ari Emanuel: “Find me the machine that can think like Larry David.” The future, increasingly, belongs to creative thinkers whose brains don’t follow a traditional set of rules.

Former Fast Company Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Mehta is the rare business editor who talks to corporate leaders and pure creatives like Pharrell Williams and Kerry Washington. Drawing on 10 years of Fast Company’s reporting on the Most Creative People in Business, Stephanie explains how to bring a creative, rule-breaking mindset to any aspect of business, from engineering to marketing to forecasting and planning.