It's no secret that we've lived through one of the most difficult times in history. We can likely all agree that we’re ready to have a new conversation. One that focuses on what’s next…and that’s asking yourself how do I live a kick-ass life? 

Andrea draws on her experience playing roller derby as “Veronica Vain” to bring you this motivational keynote chock full of tools around overcoming your fears.

• Learn the best imaginative tool to try on to go from feeling afraid to take action on something that scares you– to feeling like a legend in your own mind. This is the tool that the vast majority of derby players use.
• Using a metaphor around what we call “falling safely” in derby, I give scripts, examples, and stories around language to use in order to create a safe environment to make mistakes and experiment with things in life that might be anxiety inducing.
• We tend make things hard and create drama with our thoughts, mindset, and stories we make up around our fears. Using the metaphor of toe stops on skates, I ask you three powerful questions to take with you to change your life, just like using your toe stops and still making it look easy.

Key takeaways will be inspiration and motivation, as well as ways to bypass any fears around taking action on steps that will take your work (and life!) to the next level. You’ll also get strategies to ask for what you want with confidence, kindness, and professionalism.

The impact of the pandemic, social unrest, division of ideologies and relationships over the last few years has taken its toll. Many people have adopted unhealthy coping mechanisms or leaned in even more to the ones that existed in their behaviors already just to be able to handle life. Too much drinking, impulsive spending, sleeping too much or too little, isolating, avoiding everything and everyone, and more.

Andrea has been speaking and working with clients on this topic for over a decade, wrote a book about it, has overcome her own addictions and negative coping mechanisms, and brings you solutions into this keynote. 

Mental health matters, and especially to the Millenial and Gen Z workforce where this is often a non-negotiable for them. Topics like these need to be talked about and practiced more than ever. 

• Trust and believe that you can change your behaviors. It won’t be linear, but it will go in a positive trajectory. 
• Identify the root problem. We think it’s about the overspending, drinking too much, or avoiding, but it’s not; those are just symptoms. Determine what yours are so you can make progress in the right direction. 
• Practicing compassion and kindness with yourself are the pathways to kicking ass in your life and work. It may seem counterintuitive to some, but the more self-compassion you have, the more success you’ll have as well. 

Audience members will walk away with simple but impactful key learnings to begin to move away from unhealthy coping mechanisms that are keeping them in a cycle of being stuck, and making them feel terrible about themselves. This will help them move towards better, more success driven ways of coping, so that they can create better, more positive personal and professional habits. 

• Understand the 6 myths of vulnerability and how vulnerability shows up at work.
• Learn the 5 attributes of empathy, how to give it and receive it.
• Recognize how vulnerability and empathy build more trust and connection in the workplace.

Attendees will leave this training with complete self-awareness about how vulnerability shows up and works in their lives– including at work–  and research-driven tools on how vulnerability builds courage. 

In addition, they will learn what empathy is and looks like and have opportunities to practice it (in small breakout groups) to lock in their learning. Lastly, attendees will understand that vulnerability and empathy are key in establishing trust and fostering deeper connections within the workplace.