Tanya Hayles
Award-winning Creative Storyteller. Founder. Event Specialist. Digital Strategist. Community Builder.Tanya Hayles is an award-winning creative storyteller bridging brand building, digital strategy, and social impact. She founded Black Moms Connection, an online global village of almost 40,000 and a national non-profit. Tanya is a sought-after thought leader on Black motherhood, with a TEDx talk that was top 5 in the world when released in August 2022.
Previously, Tanya held the position of Manager of Digital Strategy and Development for MLSE Foundation, the official charity of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors. There, she put her pen to paper and made digital strategy come to life working alongside companies and events like McDonalds and the NHL All Star. Tanya has worked with entities such as the Ontario government and CBC. She has grown small events like AfroTech into star-studded powerhouse experiences. Coining the term ‘social corporate’ - that has been the lane for her creative work: corporate with a social twist.
While writing started as a side hustle, it has now become an outlet where Tanya connects with readers by sharing her stories and experiences through mainstream media platforms. Tanya touches on a wide variety of topics, from her journey into entrepreneurship, chatting about racial + social issues or writing about pop culture. Her words can be found in and on CBC, Global TV, CityNews, Globe and Mail, CityLine, Toronto Star, and Today’s Parent.
Tanya has been selected as one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence and named a L’Oreal Woman of Worth honouree. No matter the platform, Tanya brings her fresh brand of authenticity everywhere she goes, using storytelling to change the world.
Entrepreneurship •Parenthood •Event Planning • Black Culture • Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation • Personal Banding • Online Strategy
Areas of Expertise
Signature Topics
Perfecting the Pivot
Having gone through 7 career and business pivots (so far), Tanya will guide your audience on how building ones personal brand is key to having a useful plan B for life changes.
2D to 3D: Online Strategy to Offline Success:
From launching a digital global village to working with billion dollar brands - Tanya will answer questions from creatives and entrepreneurs on building a strategy that will lead to offline success.
So You Think you Can Plan
Tanya is a 20 year event industry veteran who will distill the process into 10 steps, allowing the audience to learn how to plan the (almost) perfect and (definitely) profitable event that their guests will remember.
The ROI of DEI
Infusing pop culture examples and humour to diffuse an often tense conversation, Tanya will break down the historical gaps in your industry and why it literally pays to pay attention or it will cost you more than your customers and audience.
