Justine Froelker, Licensed Professional Counselor, two-time TEDx speaker, and author of 15 books will present the Keynote at the 2026 Best In Business Award Luncheon on Oct. 29, 2026. More information on the event and the presentation are below.
Best in Business Award Luncheon
October 29, 2026 | 11AM - 1PM | St. Charles Convention Center
PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA. We asked St. Louis area businesses to help us identify the 70 BEST businesses in the St. Louis area. Not the biggest, but the best businesses. We've counted the nominations and votes, and we'll bring the top 70 companies to one luncheon to honor them. Come and meet these outstanding companies and find out what makes them the very BEST. Event Sponsors: Bank of America, Vistage and Archford. Cost: $59, Tables of 10 are $590. Call 314.569.0076. Click here to purchase your tickets online.
Click here to see the complete list of award winners.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Courage is Built Here™
The best businesses aren't built on the biggest budgets or the boldest strategies. They're built by people who show up fully, tell the truth, and keep going when it's hard. In this keynote, Justine Froelker, Licensed Professional Counselor, two-time TEDx speaker, and author of 15 books, draws on 25 years of work in human behavior and leadership development to show what actually makes a workplace one people want to belong to. Leaders don't lose their skills. They lose themselves. Justine invites the room to remember who they are, to lead with clarity and heart, and to build the kind of culture that earns "best" long after the applause fades. You'll leave with practical tools to feel it all, be fully you, love others well, and do the work, because courage isn't something you find. It's something you build. Right here.
About Justine Froelker:
A Licensed Professional Counselor with over 25 years of experience in mental health, personal growth, and professional development, Justine Froelker creates the space where people can remember how deeply loved they are and learn how to live and lead from that love. For eleven years, she was certified in Dr. Brené Brown’s research on vulnerability, courage, and empathy. Today, she teaches her own curriculum, Courage is Built Here™, a transformative program that equips individuals and teams to live and lead with self-awareness, authenticity, and resilience to build courage-centered leaders and cultures and families. Rooted in her faith, Justine lives and works from her true identity, Mother of Restoration. Her work is an outpouring of that calling: to help people heal, remember who they are, and rise into lives of meaning, connection, and wholeness. An award-winning author of fifteen books, including five Amazon bestsellers, Justine writes across genres, from children’s literature to explorations of leadership, faith, infertility, grief, and healing. She has delivered two TEDx Talks, The Permission of the And and The Donut Effect, which highlight her unique perspective on navigating life’s complexities with love, humor, and grace. Justine is a sought-after speaker who travels nationally and presents virtually to global audiences, delivering keynotes, retreats, and trainings on courageous leadership, emotional resilience, burnout recovery, and creating cultures of belonging. Justine and her husband Chad are currently building and intentionally restoring a historic property into a small corporate retreat space in Florissant, MO, called Monarch Meadows Retreat. Justine lives in St. Louis Chad and their four dogs Gertie, Winston, Nick, and Schmidt. You’ll often find her volunteering at Wild Bird Rehabilitation. During butterfly season, her home comes alive with the flutter of wings as she raises hundreds of monarch and swallowtail butterflies.