Healthy Community Builders:
Why People - And Parks - Change Lives
Healthy communities don't happen by accident. They are built every day through thousands of decisions, conversations, and interactions made by people who often underestimate their impact.
Whether you're leading an agency, developing staff, maintaining facilities, coordinating programs, or serving families, your ability to think clearly, respond intentionally, and lead yourself first influences every experience you create. The most successful organizations understand that exceptional communities begin with exceptional people.
In this engaging and highly interactive keynote, Julie Jones combines the science of mental performance with the power of human connection to show how our thoughts, emotions, attention, and behaviors shape the culture around us. Through humor, memorable stories, audience participation, and practical demonstrations, attendees will discover that the greatest impact they make isn't through the facilities they manage or the programs they offer, but through the people they influence every single day.
Participants will leave energized with practical, research-backed tools to strengthen their own performance, build stronger teams, create meaningful connections, and become more intentional leaders in their communities.
Participants will leave with practical tools to:
Apply the Three Power Moves to think clearly, respond intentionally, and perform at their best under pressure.
Use Notice. Truth. Narrow. to manage distractions, regain focus, and stay present during challenging situations.
Strengthen emotional regulation using simple, science-backed performance strategies.
Build stronger relationships by creating moments of connection, trust, and belonging.
Lead themselves first so they can positively influence their teams, organizations, and communities.
Recognize how small, intentional actions create extraordinary impact over time.
About the Speaker:
Julie Jones is a nationally respected leader in athletics and performance coaching, with over 26 years of experience as a Division I softball coach, athletics administrator, and advocate for women’s sports. As the founder of SSB Performance, LLC, she now helps athletes, coaches, and business professionals build a Smarter, Stronger, Better mindset through mental performance coaching and leadership development.
Julie’s coaching career includes over 500 victories at Cleveland State and the University of Akron, where she mentored five Academic All-Americans and more than 150 All-Conference, All-Region, and Academic honorees. Her teams were known for academic excellence, aggressive base running, and a culture of leadership and community service. At CSU, she was the youngest head coach in the country and left CSU as the winningest coach in school history. She is also a respected educator, serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Akron, Ursuline College, and Baldwin Wallace University, teaching courses in sports science, coaching, well-being, and leadership. She helped design Ursuline’s Curated Wellness master’s program and the Institute for Women, Wellness and Work.
A dynamic speaker, Julie has presented to audiences ranging from Fortune 500 companies to NCAA conferences and she partners with business and athletic teams across the country to develop mental tools for peak performance. Her messages are rooted in performance science, leadership and team culture and are delivered with passion, humor, and authenticity.
A breast cancer survivor and community leader, she is a seven-time Susan G. Komen Survivor Award recipient and serves on multiple nonprofit boards. Julie also continues to develop future athletes as a regional director for the USA Softball High Performance Program and co-owner of Softball at the Point, LLC.
Her legacy—on the field, in the classroom, and in the boardroom—is defined by empowering others to reach their potential through mindset, grit, passion and purpose.
