Discover Our Services

Dr. Benny offers value-driven consulting and storytelling services that help colleges, nonprofits, businesses, and student organizations strengthen culture, deepen connection, and lead with purpose.

Through mission-aligned strategic planning, keynotes, workshops, and hands-on programming, Dr. Benny supports teams in building authentic belonging and meaningful engagement.

Using his Five Rs of Student Sense of Belonging framework, he helps communities assess climate, create actionable plans, and implement real, lasting change. He also partners with institutions to reimagine first-year experience programs, lead retreats, and design team-building experiences that align communities around shared values. Together, these services create environments where students, staff, faculty, and organizational teams feel supported, connected, and empowered to thrive.

Our Expertise

“Dr. Benny offers tailored services for colleges, student organizations, and educational settings, using storytelling to bring your vision to life. Grounded in Indigenous knowledge and the Five Rs belonging framework, he helps institutions see the big picture and create meaningful, lasting connections.”

Strategic Planning

Dr. Benny supports colleges, nonprofits, and businesses in developing strategic plans that align deeply with their mission, vision, and values. Whether working with academic departments, Student Affairs divisions, student organizations, or professional teams, he helps groups clarify goals, strengthen identity, and build sustainable roadmaps for growth.

His approach emphasizes collaboration, authenticity, and community-building ensuring that each plan doesn’t just sit on a shelf but becomes a lived, guiding document.

Motivational Talks

As a speaker, Dr. Benny brings storytelling, humor, and lived experience to inspire audiences to embrace joy, gratitude, and possibility.

Key topics include:

  • The Glass Is Half Full: Joy as Resistance and Renewal

  • Radical Joy: Reclaiming Hope in Our Work and Lives

  • Relational Spaces: The Five Rs of Student Belonging

  • Smile at the World and the World Smiles Back

  • Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being: Indigenous Wisdom in a Western World

Each talk connects to shared values and the power of community, inviting audiences to find meaning in their work, their relationships, and the spaces they inhabit.

First Year Experience 

A strong first-year experience is foundational to student success, and Dr. Benny brings his own story to the forefront when connecting with students. He delivers engaging keynotes that inspire first-year students to explore who they are, lean into college life, and discover a sense of belonging.

Beyond keynotes, Dr. Benny partners with institutions to revamp FYE programs making them more interactive, joyful, and rooted in connection. This work can include curriculum design, orientation redesign, staff training, and creating programs that support students’ academic, social, and cultural transition. Through storytelling and intentional program design, Dr. Benny helps students and institutions create a first-year experience where belonging and growth are lived every day.

 

First-Year Experience Keynotes:

  • Be Curious, Be Brave, Be You: Discovering Yourself in College

  • You Belong Here: Leaning Into the College Experience

  • Becoming Takes Time: Leaning Into the First-Year Experience

  • Try, Fail, Grow: Leaning Into the First-Year Experience

Belonging Framework

Using his original Five Rs of Student Sense of Belonging Assessment, Dr. Benny partners with campuses, nonprofits, and organizations to strengthen community, connection, and engagement. His work includes:

  • Conducting belonging assessments

  • Reviewing culture and climate data

  • Facilitating interactive workshops

  • Coaching leaders on belonging-centered decision-making

  • Building action plans that improve connection, retention, and success

Workshops are a natural next step after a keynote, allowing teams to dive deeper into the concepts, explore practical strategies, and put ideas into action—but they also stand alone as powerful, hands-on experiences. Dr. Benny’s approach blends research, Indigenous perspectives, and storytelling to help communities move from intention to meaningful, lasting change.

More About My Services

Keynote Presentations

Engaging, reflective, and action-oriented keynotes tailored to your audience in a storytelling format. Available for conferences, staff & faculty development, student leadership events, community gatherings, and orientation & First-Year Experience programs.
Delivery Formats:
• Virtual
• Driveable (same‑day travel)
• Flight Required (multi‑day travel)

 

Popular Keynote Themes

For Teams & Employees:

  • The Glass Is Half Full: Joy as Resistance and Renewal
  • Radical Joy: Reclaiming Hope in Our Work and Lives
  • Relational Spaces: The Five Rs of Belonging
  • Campus Ecology: The Five Rs of Student Sense of Belonging In Action
  • Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being: Indigenous Wisdom in a Western World
  • Finding Your Spot at the Table: A Journey top the top
  • The Seat at the Table Wasn’t Enough
  • Building the Table: Story, Belonging, and Creating the Space You Deserve
  • Climbing the Ladder, Building a Different Table


For Students:

  • Be Curious, Be Brave, Be You
  • You Belong Here
  • Try, Fail, Grow
  • Becoming Takes Time
  • Finding Yourself: The Queer College Journey
  • Carrying Our Stories: Strength, Culture, and Belonging
  • Walking in Two Worlds: Indigenous Identity in College
  • Becoming You, Not Just Becoming “Successful”

 

Workshops

Interactive and skill‑building sessions that can stand alone or build from a keynote. Topics include belonging and identity in teams, Indigenous approaches to leadership, navigating conflict and discomfort, and re‑centering joy and sustainability in work.

Team Facilitation

Guided conversations and retreats designed to strengthen relationships, alignment, and clarity of purpose. Includes retreats, community agreements, trust‑building, and reconnecting with mission and values.

Consulting & Project Partnerships

Longer‑term collaborations focused on transformation and implementation such as strategic planning, belonging assessments, program design, leadership coaching, and First‑Year Experience redesign.

 

Our services are available in-person, virtual, or hybrid. We collaborate with you to design accessible, engaging experiences that fit your needs—wherever you are located.

Our fee structure is shaped by the scope of work and the unique needs of each engagement.

We understand that organizations hold different levels of resources, and we work collaboratively to create a fee structure that honors both your organizational capacity and the value of the work we do together. We welcome open and honest conversations about fees and strive to design processes that align with your goals, resources, and shared commitment to learning, growth and change.

 

Authentic Transformation

“Authentic transformation begins with reflection, story, and connection. Lasting change doesn’t come from checking boxes or following trends. It comes from understanding who we are, the values we hold, and the communities we are part of. By blending storytelling, research, and Indigenous ways of knowing, we can move from intention to action and create environments where belonging, joy, and growth are lived every day.” — Dr. Benny