Speakers

Keynote Speaker
& Planning Committee Chair:
Jenna Guizar is the Creative Director of Blessed is She Women's ministry + community, a lover of coffee (with lots of cream), and a firm believer that every woman should be who she was meant to be and set the world ablaze with her passions, her love, and her service.


Keynote Speaker:
Meg Hunter-Kilmer is a hobo missionary, living out of her car and traveling the world trying to set it on fire with the love of Christ. She's spoken to audiences from ages one to ninety-eight at churches, schools, and retreats across the US and the world, all in between stints on strangers' couches. Learn more at Held by His Pierced Hands.


Emcee
& Planning Committee Chair:
Nell O’Leary Alt is a recovering lawyer, mother to three littles, voice behind Whole Parenting Family  seamstress behind Whole Parenting Goods  and managing & content editor of Blessed is She ministries. She loves loves building and being part of community. Please come stay at her ancestral home in Minnesota and eat fudge & caramels.


Musical Guest + Breakout Speaker:
Marie Miller is a Curb records artist triple threat: singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. Her song You're Not Alone was #1 on Billboard and 6'2" was featured on Dancing with the Stars. She's performed as an opening act for everyone from the Backstreet Boys to Pope Francis. 


Breakout Speaker
& Planning Committee Chair:
Annie Tillberg is the wife of Dan and mother of two girls. In her writing she shares her experiences with secondary infertility, pregnancy loss, fostering, the loss of their foster daughter, and the lessons she's learned about God's grace along the way. Learn more at Annery at Home.


Breakout Speaker:
Nancy Piccione is the Book Page Editor for The Catholic Post, the official paper of the Diocese of Peoria. She is also a wife, a mother of three, and a lover of running, travel, social media, chocolate, Jesus, and pro-life issues. (Not in that order.) She is a voracious reader and has a soft spot for kidlit.


Breakout Speaker:
Colleen Mitchell is a wife, homeschooling mom, missionary and writer. Her family runs the St. Francis Emmaus Center in Costa Rica, a ministry that welcomes indigenous mothers into their home. She believes in the power of fancy shoes, hot tears, fine wine, good words, strong coffee and deep vulnerability. Her first book, Who Does He Say You Are, will be released by Servant Books this fall. Learn more at Blessed Are the Feet.


Breakout Speaker:
Laura Kelly Fanucci is a wife, writer, and mother of three sons here on earth and two daughters in heaven. She works on a practical theology research project about vocation and calling for the Collegeville Institute at Saint John's University in Minnesota. She is the author of Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting and co-author of Living Your Discipleship: 7 Ways to Express Your Deepest CallingLearn more at Mothering Spirit.


Breakout Speaker:
Sr. Clara Maria Malay, sctjm was born and raised in Minnesota, served in different ministries prior to entering Religious Life, and attended Franciscan University of Steubenville. When ministry brought her to Illinois and the Lord made clear his will for her life she encountered the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Her heart had found a home! She entered the Community in 2010 and professed her first vows giving her Total Fiat to the Lord, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe 2012. Since 2013 she has been serving at the St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center in Normal, IL doing college campus ministry.

The Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary are called to be a living image and presence of the Heart, Person, and Mission of Mary in the heart of the Church and in the world. They are at the service of the New Evangelization, and with a Marian missionary heart, they go out into the deep of all the areopagus of our times. All for the Heart of Jesus through the Heart of Mary,! 


 FYF Conference Co-Founder

& Planning Committee Co-Chair:
Abbey Dupuy writes her life as a homeschooling mom of four. She muses about parenting, practicing gratitude and celebrating the liturgical year with her young family at Surviving Our Blessings. In her spare time, Abbey enjoys running, knitting, coffee, and cookbooks, not usually all at the same time.


FYF Conference Co-Founder:
Molly Taylor is a wife and a mother and a convert to Catholicism. She is a passionate homemaker with an outside job and a dedicated educator of her children, who uses public education. Molly writes about surviving multiple miscarriages, being crafty, reading great books, gardening, and life at her blog Molly Makes Do


FYF Conference Co-Founder:
Bonnie Engstrom is a national speaker, a baker, a writer, and a homemaker. A cradle Catholic, Bonnie is a wife and the mother of six kiddos. She co-hosts of The Visitation Project radio show and watches too much BBC. She blogs about life with food allergies, Fulton Sheen, nfp, liturgical living, and pop culture. She bakes a fabulous chocolate chip cookie, dislikes doing the laundry, and blogs at A Knotted Life.



Want to join us? We'd love it if you did! Purchase your tickets here.