Speakers
Stephen R. Sroka, Ph.D.
Stephen grew up in poverty in a housing project in a single parent family. His third grade report card read, “Parent notified boy is retarded.” In the ninth grade, after being involved in a school fight, he had two hip operations and was told that he may never walk again. The doctor told him he better start to listen to his teachers. And, as he tells students today, the more he listened, the smarter the teachers became.
Education was the only way out of the ghetto for Steve. When he graduated from high school, he worked full-time to get his family off welfare before entering college. His childhood offered unique challenges that helped him become a better educator.
Today, Dr. Stephen Sroka is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, trainer, author, teacher, professor and consultant. He often presents about at-risk youth, alternative education, reluctant learners, dropout prevention, brain based education, teaching to the whole child, character education, tobacco prevention, school safety, parenting and all hazards emergency planning for schools and communities.
He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Division of Adolescent Health, Case Western Reserve University, a former Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Education at Cleveland State University and President of his company, Health Education Consultants. He has worked in schools (K-12) worldwide for over 30 years, including several school systems with high profile shootings. He retired as a teacher and member of a crisis response team from the Cleveland Public Schools. He is married and has four daughters and two grandsons. He has spoken thousands of times in schools (K-12), as well as in hospitals, colleges, churches, Indian reservations, clinics, and various community settings. He often speaks to youth in schools, and at youth leadership summits. He has worked extensively with Native Americans. He has served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control, and was chosen as an Expert in Residence for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation three times.
Dr. Sroka’s spirited presentations stressing the importance of "Just Say Know" and "The Power of One" have resulted in guest appearances on many TV programs, including the "Oprah Winfrey Show," as well as coverage in many newspapers including "USA Today."
La Tanisha Wright
La Tanisha is a nationally acclaimed speaker and anti-tobacco activist and is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon graduation of college in 2000, she worked as a high school mathematics teacher in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 2001, she pursued career opportunities in Detroit, Michigan with Brown & Williamson (B&W) Tobacco Company. There she took on multiple roles as a Trade Marketing Manager and a Controlling Manager. She quickly developed expertise in tobacco industry marketing, advertising, and merchandising. She obtained exceptional knowledge of the tobacco industry’s strategy of demographic targeting to minorities, tobacco industry retail contracts, the overall tobacco retail landscape/culture, the strategic placement of tobacco products, and the general characteristics (including sales volume and targeted age groups) of tobacco trade channels.
In 2003, she received a promotion and was transferred to Atlanta, Georgia to restore and increase market share in an undeveloped urban territory. During that time, B&W introduced the KOOL MIXX campaign to their employees. The campaign clearly targeted African American youth. Unbeknownst to Ms. Wright, it was a violation of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement which prohibits the tobacco industry from targeting youth. Ms. Wright realized that she could no longer tolerate the tobacco industry’s marketing tactics aimed at youth and minorities.
In May of 2004, Ms. Wright clandestinely briefed Attorneys Generals and the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) on B&W’s KOOL MIXX campaign and tobacco industry practices in African American communities, which resulted in a settlement where RJ Reynolds (RJR) agreed to pay $1.46 million to four non-profit organizations, including NAATPN. When the B&W and RJR merger was completed in September 2004, Ms. Wright was offered a position with RJR. She rejected the offer and soon joined NAATPN to take on tobacco challenges that impact communities of color.
She envisioned and created Follow the Signs (FTS) workshops. She is the author of two training manuals: Follow the Signs I: Tobacco Control Leaders and Follow the Signs II: Youth & Community Leaders. FTS raises awareness about the impact of tobacco industry retail contracts on the sale of tobacco products, as well as predatory tobacco industry marketing tactics aimed at increasing menthol use, youth access, and addiction in underserved, low socio-economic, and predominately African American communities. Ms. Wright has trained thousands of tobacco control advocates representing federal, state, and local agencies with diverse tobacco control objectives.
Victor DeNoble, Ph.D.
Victor was employed by Philip Morris in the Behavioral Research Department from 1980-1984. He was Associate Senior Scientist at Philip Morris Behavioral Research. He performed in-house Philip Morris rat studies on nicotine and addiction and was later fired by Philip Morris because of sensitive nature of what studies revealed about nicotine addiction.
Dr. DeNoble received his Doctorate degree in 1976 in Experimental Psychology from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. He has performed postdoctoral fellowships from the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York and the National institute of Drug Abuse at the University of Minnesota. Dr. DeNoble also worked in drug discovery for DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company and Ayerst Research Laboratories specializing in the area of Central Nervous System Diseases. Currently, Dr. DeNoble is the Vice President of Hissho, Inc., a scientific and medical communications company.
In 1994, after the U.S. Congress released him from a confidentiality agreement with Philip Morris, Dr. DeNoble became the first "Whistleblower" to begin speaking out against the tobacco industry. He served as a key witness in the Federal government's case against the industry and has testified before Congress, the Food and Drug Administration and former Vice President Al Gore's Tobacco Settlement Committee. He has been featured on several television shows such as "60 Minutes," "Dateline NBC" and Sunday Morning with David Brinkley.
Reggie Cajayon
With over seventeen years of professional experience empowering young people as a coach, an educator, and a motivational speaker, Reggie shares what he has learned throughout his life to inspire others to find their purpose, follow a plan, and fulfill their potential.
As a coach at the college, high school, and youth levels across the country, and working with athletes from countries around the world, he has discovered the importance of genuinely connecting with people through Care, Understanding, and Education. And his experience working for a variety of organizations has also given Reggie insight into effective leadership strategies that he enthusiastically shares with his audiences.
Whether it’s a workshop or a keynote, Reggie will not only have you laughing and learning, he will inspire you to think more deeply about yourself and the role you play in your community and the world we live in.