Elena Joy Thurston
Elena Joy Thurston is a leadership consultant and keynote speaker who trains managers across the country on leading well across differences of generation, identity, and how our brains are wired. Her clients include Logitech, Peloton, and Penn State, and her work has been featured in Forbes, ABC, and HuffPost. She’s also a TEDx speaker and appears in the documentary CONVERSION, streaming on Apple TV and Amazon.
But her real credential for these conversations is her dinner table. Elena is the mom of four: three Gen Z kids and one Gen Alpha, several of them neurodivergent. She was raised in a conservative faith, came out later in life, and walked her own family through learning to meet each other where they were.
Elena Joy believes the people we love become easier to understand when we get curious instead of anxious. Whether the topic is a generation, a grandchild’s identity, or the way a brain works, she creates a room where no question is too awkward and everyone leaves a little closer.
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Four Generations Walked Into a Room
Boomers (1946–1964), Gen X (1965–1980), Millennials (1981–1996), and Gen Z (1997–2012): four generations are sharing workplaces, families, and dinner tables, and mostly confusing each other. This lecture takes you inside the generation everyone’s talking about and almost nobody understands, by exploring how Gen Z compares to each generation that came before them: where they break from the Boomers, where they echo Gen X, and where they’re quietly becoming their Millennial older siblings. Elena Joy Thurston brings a double credential to the topic: she’s a leadership consultant who trains managers across the country on leading across the generational divide, and she’s the mom of three Gen Z kids and one Gen Alpha, so she’s living the research at her own dinner table. Expect stories, surprising data, and plenty of laughs. You’ll leave understanding the young people all around you a little better, and you might even recognize yourself in them.
What Your LGBTQ+ Grandchild Wished You Knew
Most grandparents of LGBTQ+ grandkids want to be supportive. They also have questions, and nowhere safe to ask them. This is that place. Elena Joy Thurston knows this journey from every side: she was raised in a conservative faith, she’s a mom of four, and when she came out, her family had to learn how to meet each other where they were. She brings that hard-won understanding (and zero judgment) to every conversation. Elena walks you through the language (what does the plus mean, anyway?), answers the questions you’ve been too nervous to ask your grandkid, and shares the number one thing queer grandchildren wish their grandparents knew. Come with your awkward questions; Elena has heard them all and welcomes every one. You’ll leave with real understanding, practical dos and don’ts, and a simple way to show your grandchild a love they’ll never forget.
Your Grandkid’s Brain Is Not Broken: A Grandparent’s Guide to Neurodiversity
ADHD, autism, neurodivergent, masking: the language around how brains work has changed dramatically, and it can feel impossible to keep up. Elena Joy Thurston, a leadership trainer and an ADHD mom raising neurodivergent kids, offers a warm, funny, jargon-free tour of what these words mean today and why they matter. You’ll learn how neurodiversity shows up in real life, the common signs that a family member might need extra support, and how to be the person they can count on. Whether you’re curious about a grandchild’s diagnosis, a friend’s, or your own lifelong suspicion that your brain works a little differently, this lecture will leave you informed, reassured, and ready for better conversations.