Disrupting Gracefully helps high-capacity individuals reconnect with their deeper truth so they can build lives and systems that actually fit.
Areas of Expertise
Barbara Ann Jacques, PhD is the founder of Disrupting Gracefully™, a platform dedicated to helping individuals and organizations break free from outdated systems and beliefs to create new, sustainable models for growth. She is also a criminal justice professor and a TEDx and BLu Talk at MIT speaker. With over 30 years in criminal justice, higher education, and human systems, along with a personal journey that reshaped her understanding of what limits and liberates human potential, Dr. Jacques brings a rare combination of lived experience, deep energetic insight, and grounded strategic vision.
Her keynotes and sessions go beyond education, offering audiences a transformative experience that challenges outdated paradigms and inspires lasting, conscious change.
Main Speaking Topics
- How traditional leadership models are failing professionals and what to do instead,
- Why breaking free from outdated systems isn’t about fighting them, but by building new ones,
- How to recognize and disrupt limiting patterns that keep leaders and organizations stuck,
- Designing leadership models that align with personal strengths and values,
- The role of self-awareness in leadership and decision-making,
- The intersection of personal transformation and professional success,
- How leaders can create sustainable success without burnout or compromise
Dr. Jacques has been teaching, leading training, and speaking in professional work settings for over 25 years. As a professor, mentor, and trainer, she has facilitated classroom discussions, academic presentations, and professional training sessions in higher education, the justice system, and personal growth communities.
Her recent transition into professional speaking builds on this foundation, allowing her to share leadership, transformation, and system reinvention strategies with a wider audience, including business leaders, professionals, and individuals seeking personal growth.
Speaking Experience Highlights:
17+ Years of Experience in Teaching, Training, and Presenting – Leading discussions, workshops, and academic presentations.
25+ Years of Personal Development Training
TEDx Speaker – Bridging the Gap: From Labels to Lives (2024)
Panelist & Guest Speaker on Leadership, Transformation, and Personal Growth