She didn't discover the
Connection Economy.
She's been living it her whole life.
Sharon Delaney McCloud is a CSP®, Emmy Award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and Leadership Storyteller who has spent her career proving that the most powerful investments any person can make are the ones they make in other people through the stories they tell and the presence they bring.
Human connection can not only breathe life into the deepest grief…it can uncover joy. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
Sharon Delaney McCloud didn't set out to become a keynote speaker. She set out to tell the truth and to help others do the same.
As an Emmy Award-winning TV journalist, she spent two decades covering stories that shaped communities: the Persian Gulf War, NASA missions, Super Bowls, hurricanes, and the conversations that happen at the edge of grief, triumph, and change. Every narrative she told was an investment in the people watching. Every live shot, every interview, every report filed from a scene that mattered was a deposit into a Connection Economy she didn't have a name for yet.
Now, as a keynote speaker, leadership storyteller and university lecturer, Sharon helps leaders and teams understand what she's known since childhood: the organizations that thrive long-term aren’t the ones with the best products or the smartest strategy. They’re the ones with the deepest human connections built through story, sustained through presence, and compounded over time.
The connection economy in action - 27 years in the making
A July 4th, an aircraft carrier, and the most powerful proof of the Connection Economy she's ever lived.
In 1991, Sharon performed for 5,000 sailors aboard the USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf as part of a USO tour. She gave everything she had that day in 100-degree heat to an audience of strangers far from home. She had no idea who was watching. She just showed up fully and trusted the moment.
Twenty-seven years later, her son Pierce came home talking about his favorite teacher, Mr. Metzger. When Sharon met him, she discovered he had been standing in the front row of her concert on that July 4th. One sailor among five thousand. He carried that afternoon forward for nearly three decades and then poured it into her son's education.
Neither of them knew they were investing in each other's future. That is exactly how the Connection Economy works.
Your impact travels further than you will ever see. The connections you invest in today are already compounding in ways you can't predict, and may not discover for 27 years.
A life of compounding investments.
Every chapter of Sharon's story is a deposit in the Connection Economy, and the returns have been extraordinary.
Early - Born in Nairobi, Kenya · Raised in Ireland and East Africa before coming to the U.S.
Grew up attending schools in Kenya and Tanzania as the daughter of Irish immigrants. Learned that story is the original currency of human connection told around tables and fires long before there were boardrooms.
Connection Economy investment: learning that story transcends division.
FSU - BS in Communication · Florida State University
Laid the academic foundation for a career built entirely on human connection, clear communication, and the art of the story.
Connection Economy investment: understanding that everyone can learn something from someone else.
1991 - USO Performer · The Florida Girls · Persian Gulf
Performed for 5,000 sailors on the USS Nimitz on July 4th as part of a USO tour. Showed up fully for strangers far from home and unknowingly planted a seed that would bloom 27 years later in her son's classroom.
Connection Economy investment: showing up fully, with no expectation of return
Television - Emmy Award-Winning Broadcast Journalist
Two decades covering thousands of stories from war zones to NASA launches, hurricanes to elections. Moderated gubernatorial and mayoral debates. Mentored the next generation of communicators.
Connection Economy investment: using story to help communities understand each other.
2002 - Olympic Torch Bearer · Salt Lake City Winter Games
Carried the Olympic torch, one of the most visible symbols of what happens when humanity chooses to connect across every border, language, and difference.
Connection Economy investment: participating in one of humanity's oldest shared stories.
Entrepreneur - Co-Founded Greenroom Communications
Co-founded a video production and marketing firm with Kim and Penn Holderness (XMAS Jammies Family). Worked with Samsung, H&R Block, and Chase Bank. The agency merged with Walk West and landed on the Inc. 5000 list three consecutive times.
Connection Economy investment: building brands through story at scale.
2019 - TEDx Talk · Giving Vilomahs a Voice
Took the TEDx stage to share how to talk to bereaved parents, a story born from devastating personal loss and fierce advocacy. Wrote to a letter to the White House on bereavement leave policy and met with President Biden in 2021.
Connection Economy investment: using the most personal story to advocate for the most universal change.
Now- CSP® · Keynote Speaker · The Connection Economy
As a Certified Speaking Professional, Maxwell Leadership certified coach, Tilt 365 consultant, and adjunct professor, Sharon brings every chapter of this life to the stage to help leaders invest in their own Connection Economy with the same intention, courage, and full presence she brings to the rooms she walks into.
BUY the BOOK
KEEP GOING
Memoirs of Strength, Courage & Perseverance
Sharon is a co-author of this collection led by Jennifer M. Potter. It’s a book of narratives from women who refused to quit.
Sharon's chapter draws on her own experience of grief, resilience, and the hard work of rebuilding. In the Connection Economy, surviving is one thing. Sharing that survival with courage is an investment that pays dividends for everyone who reads it.
Let’s work together on your next event or project.
