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Michelle Makori

3 January 2023

Michelle Makori is an internationally acclaimed broadcast journalist, news anchor, reporter, and producer and is currently both the Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News, as well as Lead Anchor.

Michelle has worked as an anchor, reporter and producer for Bloomberg, CNN Money, i24News and SABC, where she has covered and analyzed the biggest global economic, financial, and geopolitical events of the past two decades. She has interviewed heads of state, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and other political, business, and entertainment leaders. Michelle also serves as MC, host and panel moderator for a variety of global conferences and financial events, from crypto currencies to natural resources – she’s been the default “Go-To” host of record, trusted by so many clients for years. 

And now – armed with years of financial reporting experience and deep dive interviews with some of the smartest investors, analysts, world leaders, business leaders and market prognosticators, Michelle is adding another titular notch to her already impressive resume: Keynote Speaker. 

Those of you familiar with Michelle’s interviewing style are aware that she has a profound understanding of the financial topics that are being discussed – and her interviews are really more discussions than they are simple Q&A’s with guests. Her business background, education, experience and global perspective lends to Michelle a big picture geopolitical and economic, markets driven understanding of the world today. 

No one is in the global financial trenches on a daily basis like Michelle is. Years of discussions with the experts from so many different areas of business has lead her to form her own global economic thesis; a geopolitical macro financial representation for where the economy is now, and where it might be going – all gleaned not just from discussions with world leaders and financial experts, but by her own analysis of the trends she sees forming and evolving daily. 

Michelle’s future looking keynote is highly customizable, but there is one geopolitical and financial game changer that is looming on a not too distant event horizon that has everyone watching: Central Bank Digital Currencies, and what effect this could have not just on business, and not just on how and where spend this new digital currency – but what this could mean to our daily lives. 

Michelle’s keynote’s are tantalizing and provocative, equally compelling as they are insightful and thought provoking. 

Videos

On March 9th, 2022, US president Joe Biden quietly signed into law Executive Order 14067, entitled, “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets”, where it says in section 4 of this order that the administration “.. places the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.” There are those who have nick-named this the creation of “Biden Bucks”, but the fact is, governments all over the world are already testing out or are creating their own CBDC’s, not just the American Government. China has one, as do many others. And all this comes at the same time that “FinTech” companies and entrepreneurs globally are creating decentralized financial (DEFI) infrastructure, for both ease of digital payments and transfers, crypto-currency exchanges, and more. These two digital directions could not appear more divergent; but are they? 
 
The questions CBDC’s raise are myriad, as are their possible perils. Will this lead to the end of cash? Will CBDC’s lead to a “Social Credit” system, as in  China today, where your behavior will determine what you are permitted to do? Will banks and governments be able to see all your purchases? Will your money be your own, or is a central bank digital currency going to be a dollar that the governments own, and simply permit you to use? What effect will this have on the US Dollar as being the worlds’ reserve currency? Will the BRICS countries and others who’ve joined them, create a new digital currency backed by hard assets that will compete for global payments with the US Dollar? And if so, what will this mean for the American economy? And more specifically, to the companies and countries that have dollar denominated debt? 
 
Michelle like none other, can paint the picture of what is to come when and if CBDC’s become a reality, and what it might mean: Could money, cold hard cash in hand, as we knew it… end? To be replaced by a cashless world where your every purchase is monitored? What happens then?
 
This a thought provoking keynote presentation – but if there is anyone in the world who can untangle the web of what CBDC’s mean, it’s Michelle Makori. Be sure to leave time for a Q&A after this talk. 
 
COMMON DENOMINATORS: ECONOMIC FORECAST FOR 2023 AND BEYOND 
 
In this forward looking keynote presentation, Michelle will discuss what the economic indicators and headwinds might be as she looks into the future, based on her years of experience speaking with and interviewing literally dozens (if not hundreds) of top experts in finance, geopolitics, fiscal and monetary policy, foreign affairs, market analysis, including guru portfolio managers, heads of state, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and more – from a panoply of industries including metals & mining, commodities, cryptocurrency and DEFI, banking, technology, energy and of course – government.
 
Armed with this encyclopedic knowledge from so many brilliant minds, Michelle has been able to identify themes and trends i.e., common denominators, that most, if not all, of her guests are saying, and what they all subtly have in common. (Or what they all DON’T have in common). Either way, these will be the common denominators that form the foundation of this keynote presentation – the wisdom of the many brought together, analyzed, and discussed in a way that audiences from any sector will find both riveting and useful at the same time.
 
This keynote presentation can be customized to suit your audience. 

BIOGRAPHY

Michelle Makori is an internationally acclaimed broadcast journalist, news anchor, reporter, and producer. Currently she is Editor-in-Chief and Lead Anchor at Kitco News. Makori has worked as an anchor, reporter and producer for Bloomberg, CNN Money, i24News and SABC.

As an anchor and reporter, Michelle has covered and analyzed the biggest global economic, financial, and geopolitical events of the past two decades. She has interviewed heads of state, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and other political, business, and entertainment leaders. Michelle also serves as MC, host and panel moderator for conferences and events around the globe.

Michelle now brings this expertise to Kitco News as Lead Anchor and Editor -in-Chief where she manages the editorial team; covering global financial and business news across the spectrum of cryptocurrencies, commodities, equity markets, macro-economics and geopolitics. Michelle is also the host of “On the Spot with Michelle Makori”.

Based in New York, Michelle joins Kitco News from i24News where she was Editor-in-Chief and lead anchor, hosting the nightly prime-time, flagship show “ClearCut with Michelle Makori” and “ IBW” a weekly start-up and technology focused magazine show.

Michelle was instrumental in setting-up the U.S. division of i24News and helped launch the live broadcast operations in February of 2017, broadcasting across the USA and around the globe.

Michelle was also a key member of the team that launched the U.S. operations of CGTN in 2011. She was the New York-based Lead Anchor and Producer of “Global Business America”, CGTN’s flagship global economic and business news show.

Prior to joining CGTN, Makori was an anchor and reporter for Bloomberg TV for five years covering both American and Asian markets out of Bloomberg’s NYC headquarters. She was also a reporter with CNN Money based at the NASDAQ and contributed to CNN’s national and international programs. Before joining Bloomberg TV and moving to New York in 2005, Makori was one of the main anchors and producers for SABC Africa Television, based in Johannesburg South Africa and broadcasting throughout the African Continent. Michelle also brings Wall Street experience to her financial news coverage, having received her FINRA financial adviser license (Series 7) and having worked with The Beryl Consulting Group, GFI and Context Summits. Michelle holds a Post Graduate Honors Degree in Media Studies and Journalism (with distinction), and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Law and Psychology, both from South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand. She graduated top of her class from Damelin Business School and graduated with distinction from Allenby Film School. Her accolades include winning the Harambee African Reporter of the Year Award for her work on micro-lending enterprises. She was also voted one of the “30 Most Outstanding Women” by Cosmopolitan magazine (South African Edition) and one of the “Sexiest Women in the World” by FHM magazine (South African Edition).

Born in Israel, raised in South Africa and now a proud American citizen, Michelle speaks five languages and brings a truly global perspective.