102 Results for
Overcoming Adversity

Astrophysicist, Former Space Science Education Lead for NASA, & Inspirational Speaker

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Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi has three degrees, 8 U.S. patents, four E.U. patents and has hosted shows on the Science Channel and on Discovery. But more impressive is his life story. Oluseyi grew up in the roughest neighborhoods of America, learned to survive on the street, and still taught himself Einstein’s theory of relativity from an old set of encyclopedias. At every turn he was presented with a compelling option to quit and yet he persevered. Today, he is a NASA astrophysicist, a global educator, and the author of the highly-anticipated memoir A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Streets to the Stars where he recounts his journey from the streets to the stars. Dr. Oluseyi is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities.

Record-Breaking Explorer & Repeat TED Speaker

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  • Local: $10,001 - $20,000*
  • US East: $35,001 - $55,000*
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Polar explorer, TED speaker, and record-breaking long-distance skier Ben Saunders fuses the spirit of adventure with impressive technical ingenuity. He has five North Pole expeditions under his belt and is best known for leading one of the most ambitious expeditions in a century. Humble and self-effacing, he is an explorer of limits and his message is one of inspiration, empowerment, and boundless potential. He explores the dichotomy between ideas and action and urges audiences to consider carefully how to spend the “tiny amount of time we each have on this planet.”

World-Class Blind Adventurer

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  • Local: $55,001 - $75,000*
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Erik Weihenmayer is a world-class adventurer, the first blind man to summit Mount Everest, and one of only 150 mountaineers to climb the Seven Summits. His latest and most demanding adventure is kayaking the 277 miles of the Grand Canyon. One of the most exciting and well-known athletes in the world, he never let his lack of vision interfere with his quality of life. Weihenmayer’s feats have earned him incredible press coverage and dozens of awards. He is also the author of two books and addresses leadership, teamwork, overcoming adversity, motivation, and inspiration.

Olympic Champion Swimmer; 10x Olympic Medalist, 21x World Champion, 14x World Record Breaker

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Katie Ledecky is a 10-time Olympic Medalist (seven Gold, three Silver) and 21-time World Championship Gold Medalist, the most for any female swimmer. She has broken 14 World Records and 37 American Records in her career. Katie was the most decorated female athlete at both Tokyo and Rio Games and had the most decorated single Olympics performance ever by a U.S. female athlete in Rio. Katie’s success has earned her USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles Award as Female Swimmer of the Year an unprecedented eight times. A recent graduate of Stanford University, Katie is passionate about the importance of education, especially STEM and leadership programs for girls. Katie went home with more hardware at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated female swimmer in individual events of all time. She also made history by winning gold at the first ever 1500m women’s event.

Legendary "Iron Man" of Baseball

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One of the true legends of baseball, "Iron Man" Cal Ripken, Jr. broke several professional records during his 21 seasons, but none is as sacred as his consecutive-games-played record. Shattering Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,131 games by more than 500, Ripken displayed perseverance, endurance, and an everyday work ethic that endeared him to fans, transformed him into a national icon, and some argue, even saved baseball at its darkest moment. An inspirational speaker, philanthropist, businessman, and best-selling author, Cal Ripken, Jr. is the personification of leadership, commitment, and excellence. In warm and witty presentations filled with stories from his illustrious career, he shares how his keys to success apply to both the business world as well as the baseball field.

High-Impact Leadership Expert & Retired Green Beret

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  • Asia: $35,001 - $55,000*
Described as the “Warrior Storyteller,” retired Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann is a human connection expert and coach who works alongside organizations to unite their teams around a shared vision and arm them with the tools and resources to make an impact and achieve mission success. A former U.S. Army Green Beret who specialized in unconventional, high-impact special operations in do-or-die conflict zones all over the globe, Mann applies his hard-won lessons from the battlefield to business as he shares the relationship-building techniques that drove so many of his successful combat operations. Through Rooftop Leadership, the professional training and coaching program that he founded, Mann advises servant leaders across industries — from Fortune 100 corporations (including Capital One, Walmart, Raymond James, and Fannie Mae) to local small businesses — on how to mobilize their teams, forge deeper connections with their people, and gain a more complete understanding of the opportunities that exist to create high-trust, high-performance cultures.

GRAMMY Award-Winning Musician & Drummer, Hootie & the Blowfish

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Everyone has heard a Jim Sonefeld song – even if they don’t know it. He is the drummer of one of the top-selling rock bands of all time, Hootie & the Blowfish, as well as an award-winning songwriter and solo artist. Throughout his prolific career, his music has reached every corner of the globe and captured the imaginations of people from every walk of life. Sonefeld shares inspirational, never-before-heard behind-the-scenes stories from his life and the rise of Hootie & the Blowfish to illustrate how anyone is capable of overcoming any obstacle to achieve their purpose in life.

Founder & CEO of Not Impossible Labs and Author of Not Impossible: The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn't Be Done

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Mick Ebeling is an American film, television and commercial executive producer as well as an author, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was named as on one of the Top 50 Most Creative People of 2014, won the SXSW Innovation Award twice in a row (2014 and 2015), and was awarded the 2014 Muhammed Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award. He is the CEO of Not Impossible, an organization that develops creative technology solutions to address real-world problems.

Army Ranger School Graduate, Leadership and Peak Performance Expert

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  • Europe: $20,001 - $35,000*
  • Asia: $20,001 - $35,000*
Lisa Jaster is one of only three women to graduate from the first integrated United States Army Ranger program, which is one of the most difficult combat training courses in the world, and she was the first female Army Reserve officer to become Ranger qualified. Lisa continues to demonstrate that barriers are meant to be broken and exemplifies how perseverance and hard work are absolutely essential to achieving your goals. Filled with humorous stories and moving anecdotes, her talks leave audiences inspired to push past adversity no matter the cost and better their lives.

High-Performance Expert, Director of Performance and Mental Health for the Chicago Bulls

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Widely respected as an innovator in unlocking high performance in teams and individuals, Dr. Wendy Borlabi possesses expert-level understanding of the mental aspects of peak performance and works alongside the world’s top athletes to help them reframe their mindsets to reach their full potential. She is the director of performance and mental health for the Chicago Bulls where her mindset-centered philosophy to mastering your field is embedded in the team’s success and prevalent at all levels of the organization and its culture. A leading sports psychologists and performance coach, Dr. Borlabi is also an independent consultant with the NBA and is the founder of performance psychology firm Borlabi Consulting, through which she advises organizations in any industry on teamwork, elevating mental toughness, and inspiring unwavering confidence in their teams. Previously, she served as senior sports psychologist for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), preparing the country’s top athletes for dominant performances at two Winter Olympics and one Summer Olympics.

Former CIA Officer, FBI Special Agent, Educator, and Author

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Tracy Walder shares her incredible true story of a young woman who went straight from her college sorority to the CIA where, as a covert operative for CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, she assumed aliases, thwarted terrorist attacks, and debriefed terrorists at black sites. After the CIA, she went on to become one of the few women to work both at the CIA and FBI, serving as a Special Agent at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office and specializing in Chinese counterintelligence operations. Walder details her riveting journey with audiences, offering her unique perspective of a woman in the male-dominated field of special operations. A TED speaker, Walder expertly discusses a range of topics including national security, foreign policy, education, and the role of women in law enforcement and intelligence and shares her impactful message: don't try to change who you are to fit what you think the job wants you to be.

Business Insights & Strategy Leader, Organization Designer & Builder, & Former Director of Consumer Insights at Netflix

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A visionary, thought leader, and change agent in the arenas of innovation, marketing strategy, organizational design, and team culture enhancement, Nikkia Reveillac has driven success at some of the world’s leading brands by artfully challenging the status quo and thoughtfully asking the questions that others are so often afraid to. Over the course of her diverse career leading research and insight initiatives at top companies including Netflix, Twitter, and Colgate-Palmolive, she has leveraged unending empathy, a pioneering attitude, a deep love of multi-cultural moments, a passion for storytelling, an open-growth mindset, and a proven ability to develop high-functioning teams to shape business thinking and decision-making in ways that unlock pathways for growth.