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Carlyn Shaw Has Been Through It.

Carlyn Shaw Has Been Through It.

And She’ll Make Your Audience Glad She Did.

MS diagnosis at 19. Two best friends buried before she turned 21. Relationships that asked her to disappear. A bike accident that took her smile. A life packed into a purple suitcase and carried across 14,000 miles of American road.

Carlyn Shaw is a life coach, speaker, and founder of Strangers to Friends — and every hard thing that has ever happened to her has become fuel for the next chapter. She doesn’t believe in starting over. She believes in beginning again. And she has done it, over and over, with humor and honesty and the kind of joy that makes you wonder what’s actually possible for your own life.

Book her when you want your audience to leave the room different than they walked in.

Book Carlyn to Speak
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Her Topics. Her Story. - All of It Real

Her Topics. Her Story. - All of It Real

Carlyn doesn’t deliver polished keynotes from a safe distance. She walks into a room, tells the truth, and creates the kind of space where people feel permission to do the same. Her topics aren’t separate talks — they’re chapters of the same story. And that story is about one thing: beginning again.

Nothing Can Steal Your Smile

Even when you don’t have teeth.
In 2013, Carlyn lost her teeth in a bike accident. She kept wearing her “Whoever Smiles First Wins” shirt anyway. What followed became a living experiment in human connection — across countries, cultures, and conversations — that she’s still running today.
This talk is about visibility. About showing up when you feel the least ready to be seen. About the radical act of smiling — at strangers, at hard days, at yourself in the mirror — and what happens to your world when you do. Great for: women’s conferences, healthcare and dental audiences, anyone working on connection, visibility, or confidence.

I Found Myself in Me

The journey back from trying to find yourself in everyone else.
For years, Carlyn looked for herself in other people. In relationships. In roles. In being the one who held it all together. Until she discovered the only place she’d never looked: herself.
This talk is about self-abandonment, patterns, and the quiet courage it takes to stop outsourcing your sense of worth. No villains. No drama. Just one woman’s honest reckoning with who she was, who she’d been pretending to be, and who she found on the other side. The journey wasn’t about finding the right love. It was about becoming it. Great for: women’s retreats, wellness events, anyone navigating identity, self-worth, or the aftermath of relationships that cost them themselves.

Life Happens For You

Not to you. Even the really big things.
MS at 19. Two closest friends killed in separate accidents before she turned 21. Loss, grief, reinvention — again and again. Carlyn has had more than her share of the really big things.
And she will tell you, without flinching: every single one of them happened for her. This isn’t toxic positivity. It’s a hard-won philosophy — that nothing has meaning unless we give it meaning, and that the moment you decide to give it meaning, the story changes. This is her hero’s journey talk. Raw, real, and full of the kind of perspective shift that stays with people long after they leave the room. Great for: grief support, chronic illness communities, career transition, anyone standing in the middle of something hard and looking for a reason to keep going.

Travel Is My Medicine


And it might be yours too.
Carlyn has moved across the country without a safety net, backpacked Australia at 27, lived with a family in Peru on disability leave, packed her life into a purple suitcase for a 14,000-mile road trip, and house-sat her way through New Zealand, Indonesia, and Colombia.
She flew to Vietnam for a tooth. This talk is about what happens when you change your environment: your identity shifts, your limitations dissolve, and you meet the version of yourself you couldn’t access at home. Travel isn’t running away. It’s running toward. And it has been Carlyn’s most reliable bridge to transformation. Great for: travel industry events, women’s conferences, anyone dreaming of their first solo trip or their next reinvention.

It’s All Connected

Internally. Externally. Spiritually. Emotionally. Physically.
Carlyn has spent her life paying attention to the connections most people miss. The stranger who arrives exactly when they’re needed. The loss that makes room for something better. The moment you realize the story you thought was falling apart was actually falling into place.
This talk is about synchronicity, divine timing, and the art of showing up open enough to recognize the signs when they come. It’s about trusting — the Universe, yourself, the process — and surrendering control without giving up direction. Because when you stop fighting what’s happening and start getting curious about why, everything changes.
Great for: spiritual and wellness events, retreats, anyone navigating uncertainty or looking for a new relationship with trust.

Bubbles Make Everything Better

What happens when you stop letting fear call the shots.
Most people are afraid to blow bubbles in public. Seriously. The fear of looking silly, drawing attention, being judged — it’s the same fear that keeps us from speaking up, showing up, and going after the things we actually want.br Bubbles are the metaphor. Fear is the real topic. This talk is funny, warm, and quietly profound — about resistance, overthinking, and what becomes possible the moment you decide to do the thing anyway. Even the small, ridiculous, bubble-blowing thing. Because if we let resistance call the shots, we miss all the shots.
Carlyn delivered this talk at Ignite Denver in 2017. Full video available. Great for: any audience. Corporate, retreats, conferences. This one works everywhere.

Let’s Bring This - Into Your World

Let’s Bring This- Into Your World

Carlyn is available for more than just keynotes. If you’re building something — an event, a podcast, a retreat, a community — and you think she’d be the right voice in the room, she’d love to hear about it.

Keynote Speaker

45 to 60 minutes, story-driven, room-changing

Workshop Facilitator

90 minutes to half day, interactive and practical

Podcast Guest

conversational, honest, the kind of interview people share

Retreat Collaborator

Carlyn holds space beautifully and designs with intention

Panel Moderator or Panelist

She’s a natural in conversation

Community Partner

interested in co-creating something? Let’s talk

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Download Speaker One-Sheet • PDF

She’s Been on Stages.
Here’s theProof.

She’s Been on Stages.
Here’s the Proof

Ignite Denver — “Bubbles Make Everything Better” — 2017
Prince of Wales Alaska Marathon — Guest Keynote — 2017
National Multiple Sclerosis Society — Multiple Events
Friendship Force International Conference — Panelist — 2019
Sought-out panelist on courage, connection, and reinvention
The Denver Post — “MS Produces Fuel, Not Fear” — 2015
Anderson Cooper 360° (CNN) — MS Feature — 2011
And in Heels Podcast — “From Struggles to Smiles”
The Courage to Connect Podcast — Guest Interview

Testimonials

Testimonials

What our Clients has to say!

“Carlyn helped me to harness a new way of thinking — a different perspective that was easily achieved with just a small shift. She offered reliability and understanding that was always judgment free and nurturing. Working with Carlyn is investing in yourself.”

Amanda Rey, Project

Manager, Denver CO

“Carlyn helped me to harness a new way of thinking — a different perspective that was easily achieved with just a small shift. She offered reliability and understanding that was always judgment free and nurturing. Working with Carlyn is investing in yourself.”

Angie,

Denver CO

“Carlyn helped me to harness a new way of thinking — a different perspective that was easily achieved with just a small shift. She offered reliability and understanding that was always judgment free and nurturing. Working with Carlyn is investing in yourself.”

Mark Epstein,

Charleston SC

Want Carlyn In Your World?

Want Carlyn In Your World?

She’s easy to reach, easy to talk to, and genuinely excited about the right fit. Whether it’s a stage, a microphone, a retreat center, or a collaboration you haven’t fully named yet — start with a conversation.

Book a Call with Carlyn