Luvvie Ajayi

Luvvie Ajayi Jones is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, speaker and entrepreneur who thrives at the intersection of culture, business and leadership.

Her critically acclaimed books "Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual" (2021), "Rising Troublemaker: A Fear-Fighter Manual for Teens" (2022) and "I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual" (2016) were instant bestsellers and established her as a literary force with a powerful pen. Her first children’s book, "Little Troublemaker Makes a Mess" released on May 2, 2023, and debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Her renowned TED talk “Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable” has over 9 million views, has been transcribed into 23 languages, and has placed her in the Top 1% of TED Talks of all time. Ajayi has taken the stage at some of the world’s most innovative and disruptive brands, such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Spotify, Nike, Bank of America, Salesforce, Deloitte, and Clif Bar. She’s been a featured speaker at noted conferences such as: Cannes Lions, SXSW, Leadercast, 3% Conference, and MAKERS Conference.

A noted writer, she has contributed to several anthologies and has written for the New York Times, ELLE and Essence. In addition, her work has been featured in outlets such as NPR, Forbes, Inc, Fortune, Fast Company, The Chicago Tribune and more. An 19-year blogging veteran, Ajayi writes on AwesomelyLuvvie.com, covering all things culture with a critical yet humorous lens. Ajayi is also the host of a podcast of the same name as her book, Professional Troublemaker, where you can listen to her have candid conversations with changemakers who have taken action, caused good trouble and led courageous lives driven by conviction, humor and honesty.

As a veteran marketer and digital strategist, Ajayi is adept at creating campaigns that make impact and rise above the noise. Most recently, Ajayi created Black Business Luvv (#BlackBizLuvv) to fund and amplify Black businesses, which are often under-appreciated, under-mentored and underfunded. #BlackBizLuvv was a month-long campaign highlighting 31 companies, across multiple product categories. In just 31 days, the #BlackBizLuvv campaign infused $500,000 into small, Black-owned businesses.

In 2020, Ajayi was co-creator of #SharetheMicNow, a campaign that magnified the voices of brilliant Black women through the telling of their stories from the Instagram accounts of prominent white women. The campaign got over 20 billion impressions worldwide, and its impact earned it an honorable mention by Fast Company for “World Changing Ideas.” It also won the Content Marketing Institute’s 2020 B2C Marketer of the Year award. The campaign’s reach has spanned the globe and industries, having been replicated through #SharetheMicUK, #SharetheMicNowHome, and #SharetheMedicalMic, to name a few.