Katrina’s background in business-to-business sales and marketing began during her years in print magazine advertising sales, where she worked with ad agencies and advertising executives to craft compelling, client-centered solutions.

From 2003-2007, Katrina was the owner of the Boulder, Colorado location of a global franchise, Bark Busters Home Dog Training, an award-winning, in-home, dog training approach. As a franchisee, Katrina learned first-hand the challenges and rewards of owning an effectively run franchise operation and the fundamental value of healthy franchisee/franchisor relationships and supportive system cultures.

Katrina Mitchell founded Franchise Speakers in 2008 with a mission to help franchisors find the right speakers. As a successful franchisee herself, Katrina was constantly pursuing continuing education opportunities and decided to launch Franchise Speakers to help franchisors find the perfect speakers to support their franchisees. Being a natural “connector”, Katrina has been happily hunting down perfect matches for Franchise Speakers’ many clients ever since.

When not busy match-making, Katrina loves to backpack and hike. Other passions include dancing, skiing, weaving, and playing her banjo.

Aletha has been an integral part of the Franchise Speakers team since 2012. Over the years her roles have included managing our extensive customer service process (we fondly call it our ‘Stellar Service Checklist’), building and launching a WordPress site, Speaker Liaison, Sales Support, Contract Manager, and all around go-to for anything and everything. Aletha is truly an expert in ‘all things Franchise Speakers’.

In her non-Franchise Speakers time, Aletha is the mother of two human kiddos and five fur-babies (all dogs). Aletha loves to crochet, make soap, hike, walk and run on her local trails and if that’s not enough, she’s actively involved in multiple church and school initiatives and events. Wheweee! Aletha gets the most out of every day for sure!

Jessica joined the Franchise Speakers team in June 2021. Although she is new to the team, she has hit the ground running and taken on the role as the Director of the Stellar Service Checklist. Her responsibility is to make sure the clients and speakers have the best customer service experience while working with Franchise Speakers. She has also taken on the role of making sure our Speaker Info Tracker is up to date with the latest and greatest information on all our speakers.

In her spare time, Jessica is a dog mom to a toy poodle named Missy. She also is a homebody and loves to binge watch tv shows on Netflix and Hulu. Her favorite food is Mexican cuisine and she loves shopping at Sephora and Ulta.

Melissa Staff is the newest member of the Franchise Speaker’s team. As the Social Connector Extraordinaire & Content Ninja, she is the one who makes us look and sound smart. As a multi-talented graphic designer, her background in communication began while working in the printing and publishing industries. Melissa is all about great customer service and is fascinated by social media. She enjoys using her skills to help brands tell their stories while growing and building their customer relationships.

When Melissa is not spending her time crafting engaging visual social content, she is happiest while spending time with family and friends. She loves music and especially enjoys singing harmonies.

Olivia Mazal is the owner of Bliss Bookkeeping. With over 17 years of experience in the business world, all the while successfully managing finances, Olivia is a wizard at keeping Franchise Speakers’ books running like clockwork.  Her keen insights and ability to create simple and effective systems make her a huge asset to the Franchise Speakers team. Olivia is based in Boulder, CO with her husband and son where they enjoy Boulder’s sustainable and health-minded lifestyle. The Mazal family enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, and cruising the isles of the local farmer’s market. Olivia has an MA in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in Anthropology/Journalism from University of California, Santa Cruz.