Speakers – Beast Your Biz!

MEET THE Event Producers

Linda Baumann

Partner at Marketplace Events

Linda Baumann, is the founder and co-owner of Marketplace Media and Events,.

Linda has worked in the media world for 30+ years and has worked hard to earn positions in management such as Publisher and General Manager at radio and television stations and newspapers for some of the largest media companies in the country. She has also worked with some of the largest advertising agencies such as McCan Ericson, BBDO and J Walter Thompson.

Linda received the 2012 Businesswoman of the Year award from the Missoula Businesswomen’s Network. The MBN Missoula Business Woman of the Year Award recognizes women who excel by promoting professional excellence for women, being an outstanding personal or business leader, promoting participation in MBN, and who participate in community, civic, or other charitable organizations.

Linda has been a community volunteer years in Missoula since 1993. She has served on the boards of the Missoula City/County Animal Control, March of Dimes, YWCA and American Cancer Society. Community and giving back are important to Linda and her business partner and daughter, Megan. Together, they were the 2015/16 Chairs of the Missoula County Relay for Life and are volunteers for countless community non-profit events.

Linda recently received the 2020 Flying High award from the Missoula Businesswomen’s Network. This prestigious award celebrates two extraordinary women each year who have made significant contributions to the Missoula Businesswomen’s Network and the Missoula community.

Megan Pfaff

Partner at Marketplace Events

MEET THE Host and Moderator

Logan Foret

Owner of BFK Presents

MEET THE Event Speakers and Panelists

Danni Moore

Realtor with Engel & Volkers in Missoula

Danni Moore

Realtor with Engel & Volkers in Missoula

A second generation realtor and graduate of the University of Montana, Danni brings to real estate seven years of experience in the hospitality business along with most recently assisting several top producing agents while expanding her own real estate business.

Transitioning to real estate seemed natural for Danni because of her entrepreneurial spirit, passion for Western Montana and most of all, her natural ability to connect with her clients.

Effectively working with clients with the utmost confidentiality and professionalism reflects in her recent successful transactions with buyers, sellers and investors.

Danni's commitment to her clients and their lifestyle needs, along with her extensive market knowledge and exclusive level of service translate effectively into successful results.

Kia Liszak

Executive Director of Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC)

Kia Liszak

Executive Director of Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC)

Kia Liszak has been the Executive Director of the Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC) for ten years.

She spearheaded and led the visionary process and multimillion dollar campaign efforts to bring the ZACC downtown and triple its size and ability to build community through accessible arts experiences for all.

She was recognized by the Missoulian in June, 2013, as one of Western Montana's top 20 business leaders under 40 years old to have made a positive impact through exceptional entrepreneurship, leadership, creative vision, innovation and dedication to the community, and recognized by the Missoula Downtown Association in 2019 as the Downtowner of the Year.

She has served as a volunteer on many committees including The Missoula Public Art Committee and on Missoula's Community Arts Team to implement the Kennedy Center’s support of the SPARK arts program. She was able to travel to Thailand and Laos to enrich her work through the YSEALI professional fellows program in 2017 and subsequently invited to participate in the US State Department’s seminar, “Art, Culture, and Transforming Conflict" in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She is extremely passionate about empowering people of all ages through the arts and creative community building.

Susan Hay Patrick

CEO of United Way of Missoula County

Susan Hay Patrick

CEO of United Way of Missoula County

Susan Hay Patrick has served as chief executive officer of United Way of Missoula County since 2006. Under her leadership, United Way directs a number of community-wide collaborations focused on kindergarten readiness and student success, preventing suicide, ending homelessness, reducing substance abuse, improving family health and health equity, preventing catastrophic fire damage in the wildland-urban interface, and strengthening the local nonprofit sector.

Susan’s past experience includes serving as deputy director of Feeding America, one of the nation’s 10-largest nonprofits; working as a lobbyist in Washington, DC; serving as executive director of a national foundation; and operating her own independent consulting business, specializing in nonprofits and small businesses.

Prior to joining the nonprofit sector, she was a reporter for a daily newspaper and a corporate communications writer for a Fortune 500 company.

Susan is a past president of the board of directors of City Club Missoula, and a past president and current member of Missoula Sunrise Rotary. She is also on the boards of the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce and the Glacier National Park Conservancy. She is a Montana Ambassador, appointed by the governor to serve as an ambassador for economic development in Montana.

In 2015, Susan chaired a citizens’ committee that worked successfully to pass two bonds totaling $158 million – the largest in Montana history – to improve the facilities and technology at all Missoula County Public Schools.

Susan has won local, state and national awards for service, including, in 2019, being named the U.S. winner of the State Department’s Professional Fellows Alumni Impact Award and the Missoula Downtown Association’s “Downtowner of the Year.” She writes and speaks locally, nationally, and internationally on board governance, strategic planning, and leadership.
A Connecticut native, Susan graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English and a double minor in French and Journalism from Castleton University in Vermont.

Amy Esp

Owner of Missoula Bookkeeper

Amy Esp

Owner of Missoula Bookkeeper

Amy is the owner and founder of Missoula Bookkeeper. She has built a career around creatively solving problems, taking an inkling of an idea and bringing it to life. She brings creativity, attention to detail, an innate desire to watch ideas flourish and thrives in an environment of collaboration, brainstorming and growth.

As small business owners, you are calling the shots and making the important choices, but it helps to have an ally that can see problem areas, offer unbiased advice and help you make choices that will lead to the most growth and fulfillment in your career.

Amy recognizes that for small business owners, business is personal and she wants to help you make smart choices for success in both areas. And when she’s not helping small business owners, she’s building her own tiny empire, spending time in the sunshine with her two on-the-go kiddos and scheming her next big thing.

Micah Larsen

Marketing Mother-Hustler

Micah Larsen

Marketing Mother-Hustler

Hi, I’m Micah.

I’m a marketing guide for women business owners who want to support their households without feeling icky or inauthentic about selling their stuff.

And, if you’d told me about 10 years ago that this is what I’d be doing, I’d have been pretty darn surprised.

I also would’ve been, like: “Whose kid is THAT?”

Because, back then, I was folding thongs and selling bras part-time at Victoria’s Secret and getting ready to publish social science research on how to influence people to have safe sex.

I know … it’s an interesting combo.

I never thought I’d have kids of my own, and I was going to either get my PhD in persuasion research or work for the CIA.

I didn’t do either of those things. Instead, I:

wrote speeches in the Texas House of Representatives
I donated my eggs and helped a couple I didn’t know have a baby I’d never meet
packed up my Master’s degree and hopped on the back of a handsome, tattooed doctor’s motorcycle to move to the middle of nowhere, Wyoming
started a business doing political and public speaking consulting

And, eventually, that tattooed doctor and I had a baby of our own, and not without complications. I spent more than a month in the hospital, and then, the NICU, with “Biscuit.”

All those things taught me some really important lessons:

there are some really effective ways to get people to buy into your business without ever having to “sell” or feel pushy
women often carry a heavy burden and sacrifice a lot for others
working moms need to have a lot of flexibility if they’re going to support their families

… And, in a nutshell, that’s how I ended up here.

I teach women like you exactly what to say to get their ideal customers to book and buy at their small businesses so they can get off the high-low income rollercoaster, and do the meaningful stuff that makes them feel fulfilled.