Published: Jan. 25, 2023

Molly Bloom


If you go

Who: Open to the public
What: Leo Hill Leadership Speaker Series featuring Molly Bloom
When: Monday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Macky Auditorium

Tickets Available Jan. 25

Molly Bloom, a CU Boulder alumna, bestselling author and entrepreneur best known for her memoir Molly’s Game, will speak in Macky Auditorium on Monday, Feb. 27.

The talk is part of the CU Center for Leadership’s Leo Hill Leadership Speaker Series, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are required and will be $2 for students, $5 for faculty and staff, and $20 for the general public. Tickets will be available starting Jan. 25 at 10 a.m.

During her talk, Bloom will share her advice to students confronted with pivotal choices, her challenges as a woman in a male-dominated environment and tips on maintaining personal values in a competitive world.

“Molly Bloom has a remarkable life story to share, filled with triumphs, failures and valuable lessons,” said Chancellor Phil DiStefano. “I’m certain that her perspectives on ambition, achievement and the human condition will be a fascinating message for students and the wider campus community.”

About the speaker

Bloom’s memoir, which was adapted into an award-winning film of the same name, chronicles her journey from CU Boulder student to Los Angeles and New York where she built, and for a time, operated one of the largest and most notorious private poker games in the world.

The games featured hundreds of millions of dollars and players such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, A-Rod and Ben Affleck. U.S. authorities discovered the games, and eventually charged more than 30 people with crimes, including Bloom. In 2014, she was sentenced to a year of probation for her role in the poker games.

Since her book release in 2014, Bloom has appeared on numerous shows and in media outlets such as Ellen, Vice, The Los Angeles Times, NPR and Vulture; and she has been asked to speak at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, for companies like Blackrock Financial, Dell, Google, SiriusXM Radio and Uber. 

She also shares her inspiring story of change as a keynote speaker in venues around the country. Recently, she launched the One World Group to support women facing various challenges, especially those exacerbated by the global pandemic.

Bloom is the seventh speaker in the Leo Hill Leadership Speaker Series, brought to campus by the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership.