Signature Keynote
Breaking Financial Silence
The Barrier Your Audience Is Least Likely to Name Out Loud
An honest and practical keynote about financial abuse, financial vulnerability, recovery, power, and the hidden barriers that keep people trapped.
The Experience
What happens in the room
Money is the last thing most people will talk about honestly — and it is frequently the mechanism that keeps someone stuck in a situation they cannot explain to anyone else. Financial control is quiet, legal-looking, and almost invisible from the outside. It rarely leaves a mark that a colleague would notice.
Stephanie brings a combination of perspectives that is genuinely rare: she is a CPA and former finance executive who also experienced financial coercion firsthand. That intersection lets her explain the mechanics precisely — the accounts, the credit, the documentation, the recovery sequence — while treating the human reality with care.
This keynote gives audiences a vocabulary for something they may have sensed but never named, and it gives organizations a realistic view of what employees, clients, students, or congregants may be navigating while appearing entirely fine at work.
Why this message now
Economic pressure has made financial stress both more common and more hidden. Organizations that want to support people meaningfully need to understand the difference between financial hardship and financial control — and how to respond to each without shame.
What your audience leaves with
- A clear description of what financial coercion looks like in practice
- Language for asking about money without shaming anyone
- An understanding of the practical recovery sequence
- Confidence that support does not require expertise
How it is customized for you
- Sector-specific framing for financial services, HR, higher education, or advocacy
- Optional practitioner track with recognition and response guidance
- Resource one-pager co-branded for your organization
- Coordination with your EAP or advocacy partner ahead of the event
Session outcomes
- Recognize financial abuse and coercion
- Understand the emotional cost of financial instability
- Create safer conversations about money
- Support recovery without shame
Lengths
- 45 minutes
- 60 minutes with Q&A
- Two-hour practitioner workshop
Formats
Ideal audiences
- Financial services and banking organizations
- HR, benefits, and employee assistance teams
- Universities and student affairs
- Advocacy organizations and community coalitions
While each of our panelists made important and insightful contributions, perhaps the most meaningful contribution of the day came from our keynote speaker, domestic violence survivor and advocate Stephanie J. Bond. Graciously sharing her story with our attendees and panelists, Stephanie spoke about the night she was shot by her husband. She shared about the painful series of events leading up to that night and the role the legal system played in that story. Although the story Stephanie shared is tragic, she and her children have exemplified resilience, hope, and strength in the aftermath. Today, in her role as an advocate, Stephanie devotes much of her time to speaking engagements where she emphasizes the unfortunate reality that her story is not unique. The heart of Stephanie’s message provides a vitally important backdrop for this symposium issue—gun laws in the United States have grave and tangible consequences for millions of real people every day.
Read more from Stephanie
The Financial Abuse Nobody Sees
It rarely looks like theft. It looks like paperwork, convenience, and a series of reasonable-sounding arrangements that add up to a locked door.
Also consider