Damon Arredondo, Brewer, Consultant, Dad

Crafted KC Services, Make Room For Us, Rizoma Liquid Creations

Damon Arredondo is a dad, community builder, entrepreneur, and award-winning brewer. Current projects include Crafted KC Consulting Services, Make Room for Us: Stories, Connections & Wellness from the Humans in Beer & Beyond, Rizoma Liquid Creations, and Unify Brewing Company (a brewery in planning).

From volunteering on a bottling line to a private consultant, he has held just about every position in the beer industry. Damon has worked in the beer industry for more than ten years at breweries in Oregon, Colorado, Missouri, and Canada. Damon attended the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and Germany and continues to stay connected with beer industry people all over the world.

Currently, Damon is on the Brewers Association (BA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Education Subcommittee, CBC 2022 Seminar Subcommittee, and has presented and hosted seminars and webinars on mental health and personal wellbeing.

Damon's mission is to help inspire a cultural shift within the beer industry, and to empower people to make the change they'd like to see. To make these cultural changes, however, it starts with challenging ourselves to grow through vulnerability, building our emotional vocabulary, holding space for people, setting appropriate boundaries, and working as a team.

Jacquelyn Burt, Owner & CEO

First Looks LLC

Jacquelyn Burt (she/hers) has integrated her education, training, and wide array of personal and professional experiences into an innovative service that’s disrupting the wedding industry: emotional support for the emotional, relational, and communication aspects of wedding planning.

After earning her B.S. in Business Marketing Education, Jacquelyn started her career in higher education as a student advisor and leadership instructor. In 2016, she launched a business as an independent professional makeup artist alongside her advising and teaching, and earned highly prestigious back-to-back industry awards in her first three years of business.

In 2019, she completed a Masters of Education program in Policy and Leadership and subsequently relaunched her company as First Looks LLC, which in its first year has won a Hall of Fame industry award for excellence in service; introduced an innovative Equity & Reparations business model to the wedding industry; and is building the service of professional emotional support to help celebrants navigate the emotions, stresses, and challenges of planning a modern wedding celebration.

She also has continued to work full-time as an undergraduate student advisor and instructor, including the development and teaching of a mandatory implicit bias training course for 200+ undergraduate teaching assistants, as well as the creation and instruction of a unique Leadership and Adaptive Communication seminar.

Jacquelyn is deeply committed to centering justice and equity in her work as both an educator and entrepreneur, and is passionate about the role that celebration can play in creating sustainable change. Her unique blend of skills and experiences allow her to bring courageous, creative, and compassionate expertise and guidance to clients and students alike.