Cameo is a fun way to hire a celebrity to surprise (or playfully tease) friends and family. With tens of thousands of celebrities on the platform and millions in venture capital funding, the startup has been on a rocketship, accelerating from novelty to a full-fledged advertising platform. In this fireside chat, Cameo founder Steve Galanis will discuss what's ahead for the celebrity shout-out platform.

Deryl McKissack’s extraordinary story of starting a business from scratch is atypical given the challenges Black female founders face in America. Armed with little more than an entrepreneurial mindset, $1,000 in savings, a self-authored business plan and a prospect list, this remarkable leader went on to build one of the nation’s most notable Black-owned Architecture, Engineering and Construction business.

McKissack & McKissack has six offices around the country. More significantly, it is known for its outstanding work on transformative landmark construction projects. The McKissack portfolio includes the Obama Presidential Center, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the George H.W. Bush Library Foundation and the Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials—structures that help Americans and all visitors to the nation see how history and civic engagement impacts the nation.They also work in every consequential sector in our nation: energy, education, aviation, infrastructure, culture, and commercial real estate.

On December 8th, Margaret Mueller, President and CEO of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, will sit down with Deryl McKissack as she celebrates the 30th anniversary of her ground-breaking design and construction firm McKissack & McKissack to discuss this anniversary, her overarching principles, sense of fair play, gutsy approach to business and more.

At approximately 50 acres, Bronzeville Lakefront, formerly the site of the Michael Reese Hospital, may become the largest Qualified Opportunity Zone redevelopment in the Midwest and the Life Sciences headquarters for all of Chicago. GRIT, a multi-partner development company including Farpoint Development and Loop Capital, is working to create an 8.2-million-square-foot mixed-use mega-development. With the City of Chicago's focus on developments that can enhance the quality of life of our City's most vulnerable residents, Bronzeville Lakefront is poised to do just that for the Bronzeville community and the Southside as a whole. The initial phase of the project will be anchored by the ARC Innovation Center, a division of Sheba Medical Center, the largest medical center in Israel and currently ranked in the top 10 hospitals in the world.