Speaking & Facilitation

Speaking & Facilitation

In-person & Virtual

If you’re looking for family reunion facilitation, head here.
 
You could hire a consultant, a cheerleader, a therapist, a motivational speaker, and a camp counselor, or you could hire Mac & Cheese Productions℠. Wife and Husband Saya and Pete, who met at a Mac & Cheese event, are both the perfect blend of professor, peer, and friend.
 
Whether you’re looking for a staff professional development opportunity, a fun way for your team to spend time together, or to set the tone for your conference, Mac & Cheese has a variety of offerings.
 
Need bios, headshots, logos, or photos? Head to the media kit page.
 
Interested in learning more or in a potential collaboration? Fill out the form and find more detail below.

Sample Clients

Inquiry Form

Before you fill this out, you may want to peruse the info below the form for more detail.

Mac & Cheese is based in Chicago and travels everywhere, both in-person and virtually. Interested in exploring further? Fill this out and we'll let you know if we're a good fit and a quote if applicable. If you have a topic in mind that's not listed, feel free fill out the form and specify what you're looking for — Mac & Cheese may be able to connect you to the perfect someone. Thanks for your interest!

  • Please double-check that you typed this correctly so we can get in touch.
  • A favor to ask — if it was an internet search, can you share what you googled? This is SO HELPFUL for a small business.
  • The name of your company or group
  • e.g. Annual Retreat, Off-Site, Staff Development, "Mindfulness Conference"...
  • Be as specific as possible. Date and time is ideal. If you don't have a specific date or time, you can provide an estimated timeframe, e.g. February Monday-Friday before noon.
  • E.g. 60 minutes, two hours, one day (with breaks and lunch).
  • If you know the exact address, great! If you just know city or state or the like, that's ok too. If it's virtual, note that.
  • For session descriptions, see below form. "Life of Yes℠ Experience" means you're interested in multiple sessions; please select that + the ones of interest. Times are suggested times and can be adjusted depending on your wants and needs.
  • Is this your company? Social group? Professional group? "The client relation department of my law firm..." "My female entrepreneur group..." "My college alumni group..."
  • Which of these are available for Mac & Cheese to use? If you're interested in a virtual offering, choose "doesn't apply."
  • What platform will you be using?
  • If you have a budget, specific or estimate, feel free to share, to help Mac & Cheese determine if they're a fit and/or refer you elsewhere. Mac & Cheese does not speak or facilitate for free or for honorariums. If your budget is on the smaller side, consider asking a corporate partner to sponsor Mac & Cheese in exchange for sponsorship perks; this is often how we're brought in.
  • "This audience LOVES _____ ..." "I prefer someone who incorporates _____ ..." Don't feel weird being specific. Like really specific. It helps Mac & Cheese figure out if we're a good match and to prepare something that fits your needs and desires. This is also the place to note if there are topics you're interested in that aren't above in case Mac & Cheese has someone else to recommend.

Saya’s Creative Mornings talk on how to be a pioneer. For a sample Q&A session, head here.

Saya & Pete Background

Everyone’s favorite buddy and not one to list accomplishments, Louisiana native and Vanderbilt alumnus Pete moved to Chicago for improv and has been performing and teaching for over twenty years, now using the art form to help teams and individuals learn, grow, and become better versions of themselves.

One of Brazen Careerist’s Top Twenty Young Professionals to Watch, featured in Forbes and the New York Times, a TEDx speaker, and one to list all of her accomplishments including the WGN-TV Extra Effort Award she won at age 17, Montessori and Boston College alumna Saya draws from owning a business since 2004 and from being different since 1978 to inspire you to embrace adulthood and to design the life you desire.

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If you’re interested in something you don’t see here, feel free to still submit an inquiry. Let Mac & Cheese know what you’re interested in and if they aren’t a fit, they may be able to refer someone.

Testimonials

"Saya’s (Life of Yes℠) workshop was so enjoyable! Being a virtual workshop, I wasn’t expecting too much but she knocked it out of the park from the minute she started. She was hilarious, engaging, and uber-relatable in talking about her life experiences. There seemed to be an “a-ha” moment for just about everyone. Our employees loved it! I’d highly recommend Saya and would love to have her back in the future!"
“Without a doubt, Saya's talk was my (and many others’) most memorable and favorite. Priceless!”
“I’m a corporate event planner and have had the opportunity to work with Saya and Mac & Cheese Productions seven times now. I cannot begin to express my overwhelming satisfaction with Saya's unique offerings, incredible customer service, and the overall enlightening energy she brings. We recently hosted her Life of Yes virtual workshop and had so much engagement throughout the session. Many of our members mentioned that they loved how relatable she was and they really appreciated how applicable the material felt to their daily lives. Looking forward to working with Mac & Cheese soon!”
"To our surprise and delight, even though some team members had initial reservations being goofy and vulnerable in front of their coworkers, everyone unanimously reported afterward that they found the session to be highly valuable and would do it again without hesitation. Pete has a real knack for putting people at ease - he got our entire team to open up, laugh and most importantly have fun! If you are looking for a unique team building experience that will get even the most reserved members of your team to loosen up and get silly, we would highly recommend Pete!"
"I hired Pete to conduct an improv session with my team to help build their presentation skills and be able to respond to questions on the fly. Pete did a wonderful job. He had a great way of getting us to feel more comfortable with each other and build camaraderie. He was fantastic at observing us and picking up the distinctions of each of our personalities and his feedback was on point and extremely helpful. Pete did a great job of making what seemed to be silly exercises on the surface relevant for public speaking on a professional, and personal, level."
“Saya spoke to our very diverse group of over 120 business owners in Illinois. She was not only able to hold their attention, with people rapidly taking notes, hanging on every word, but after the event we had many guests tell us she was the most relatable person they have ever heard speak to them before. We are still receiving positive feedback from the event and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Saya has cultivated her relatable real life experiences into presentations that can benefit all walks of life. She comes highly recommended.”
“Saya is natural born storyteller. She practices what she preaches in her ‘Life of Yes’ approach to living by being vulnerable and generous with her audiences and by taking risks to share what she’s discovering about the world and herself in a way that hands others along just a little further in their journey toward self-understanding. And she does all of this with a great sense of humor. She inspires us to want to live more boldly.”
“It was an absolute pleasure to attend Saya’s session, I hadn’t laughed that much all week and it really set the tone for my day! Her talk was vulnerable, encouraging, and really made me pause to think about how I want to approach a meaningful life of yes. Her enthusiasm and infectious smile rippled through the audience and proved her passion for helping those who seek purpose. It’s rare that a speaker makes such a lasting impression, especially at 9 am on a Friday, but Saya proved herself a compassionate and dedicated individual and I’m so excited to see what’s next!”
“Saya presented the Life of Yes workshop to a packed room of our members. After the session, the attendees were abuzz discussing the exciting projects they planned to start based on the LOY philosophy. I’m included in that – I went back to my desk and got the ball rolling on a creative project I’ve been putting off for years! Thank you Saya!”
“Saya is a wonderfully engaging speaker… enthusiastic while down to earth; entertaining yet insightful; relatable, thought-provoking and real. When she shared her dream job wish-list and how she turned that list into a reality I found it not only inspiring, but motivating in a way that made me say to myself, 'What a great idea! That’s a roadmap I can actually follow myself.' ”
“Saya has a very informal and confident presentation style, and is more non-traditional in her approach to entrepreneurship, which I think gave attendees another viewpoint on entrepreneurship in general. There was a very effective exercise at the end of the session that got everyone talking with people they didn’t already know in a way that we didn’t have in any of the other sessions.”
“Saya and Pete were great at the Ideation Conference. They had attendees at our intensive lab get out of their chairs for improv breakout sessions. Each session called on participants to break from their shells and get creative. Improv sessions are a great way to get conference attendees out of their comfort zone and find a commonality with other attendees. We can’t wait to work with them again.”