SPEAKING

Empowering and Inspiring Teams 

Kate McKenzie specializes in empowering and inspiring teams. Invest in your team’s professional development by hosting Kate for a keynote address or lunch and learn. Want to dive deeper? Invite Kate to host a 90min - 3 hour workshop for your team to develop a winning strategy to achieve breakthrough results. Perhaps your organization needs someone to facilitate an experience for you, Kate can do that too.

Kathryn McKenzie is a skilled keynote speaker, workshop leader, and panel moderator with extensive experience across industries. She excels at delivering practical skills and tools to participants during workshops and breakout sessions, ensuring they leave with actionable insights. As a panel moderator, she expertly facilitates engaging discussions, while her experience as an interviewer allows her to create a comfortable environment for distinguished leaders during fireside chats, encouraging them to share their expertise and interact with the audience through thoughtful facilitation.

Check out Kate's TED Talk: Power of Positive News

KEYNOTES

The Secret Marathon: Story of Hope & Gender Equity Through Sport  

Inspire your team to consider how they can be more gender equitable by hearing the story of the first women to run a marathon in Afghanistan. Kate shares her story of documenting the Marathon of Afghanistan in the award winning film The Secret Marathon, meeting these inspiring women and the global movement for equality that it has sparked creating the Secret 3K with participants joining from 27 countries around the world. 

Tie Ins: International Women’s Day, World Refugee Day, Active Living, Global Impact, Gender Equality, Sustainable Development Goals, War & Conflict

Kate McKenzie is a recognized expert in gender equity, known for documenting the first women to run a marathon in Afghanistan in the award-winning film The Secret Marathon. This experience inspired the creation of The Secret 3K, a global event with participants from 27 countries, promoting gender equality and safe, inclusive spaces. As a working mother navigating the challenges of raising two children while succeeding in the male-dominated film industry, Kate used co-creation and feminine approaches to transform project processes. She ties her work to International Women’s Day, the Sustainable Development Goals, and global movements for equality, making her a compelling voice on gender equity.

Prevent Burnout: Embedding Wellness & Resiliency Tools into Daily Culture

Learn and practice key strategies to keep yourself and your team strong and high functioning. Kate has coached over 400 businesses to help them grow and sustain their leadership through daily practices that improved mental health, resiliency and effectiveness. As a high functioning leader who deals with mental health challenges herself, Kate speaks first hand to her own experiences and the tools that helped her avoid burnout. Learn to use wellness language and mental health check-ins during team meetings. Empower your team through daily resiliency practices that help them consistently be at their best.

Tie Ins: Mental Health, Wellness, Resiliency, Leadership, Company Culture, Human Resources, Team Bonding

Kate McKenzie is an expert in embedding wellness and resiliency tools into business culture, having coached over 400 businesses on sustaining leadership through mental health practices. Drawing from her own experiences with mental health challenges, Kate shares practical strategies to prevent burnout, including wellness language, mental health check-ins, and daily resiliency practices. She has also integrated mental health into ATB Financial’s Business Accelerator program, educating over 200 business owners on incorporating wellness into their operations. As a TEDx speaker on the power of sharing positive news, Kate offers valuable insights for empowering teams to function at their best.

Own Your Story: Harnessing Effective Brand Storytelling

Empower your team to become confident brand ambassadors through simple and effective storytelling techniques. As a documentary filmmaker, author and professional speaker, Kate provides guidance to teams about leveraging key networking opportunities to share compelling company stories in a personal and authentic way. Her proven storytelling tools enable teams to assess and strengthen company messaging to better resonate with customers and other stakeholders for breakthrough results. 

Tie Ins: Communication, Storytelling, Brand Story, Networking, Culture of Sales, Prospecting, Digital Communication, Branding, Marketing, Stakeholder Communications, Customer Service

Kate McKenzie is an expert in brand storytelling, leveraging her experience as a documentary filmmaker, author, and professional speaker to help businesses craft authentic and compelling narratives. She advises some of Canada’s top brands on using storytelling to attract clients and engage internal teams. Through workshops and consulting, Kate teaches leaders how to share their personal and company stories with impact, enhancing customer connections and stakeholder communication. As a former Program Curator for TEDxYYC, she has trained leaders to deliver powerful talks, bringing her expertise in media and storytelling to empower teams as confident brand ambassadors.

The Power of Purpose: Building Social Enterprises that Scale and Inspire

Description:
Discover how to harness the transformative power of social enterprise to create lasting change and scalable impact. In this inspiring talk, Kate McKenzie shares her journey as the founder of two successful social enterprise initiatives: The Secret 3K, a global run/walk event promoting safe, inclusive spaces with participants in 27 countries, and Mentor Calgary, a youth mentoring charity that helps companies retain talent through mentoring programs. Drawing on her experience coaching over 400 business leaders, Kate provides actionable strategies for launching and growing social enterprises that drive both business success and social impact. Perfect for businesses looking to integrate purpose into their core operations and make a global difference.

Book Kate Today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

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Bio

Kate McKenzie is a Calgary-based leader, business coach, and digital media producer, known for her work in leadership development and storytelling. She is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Ayla Consulting, where she helps organizations design scalable programs and foster growth. Kate also founded Worldviews Productions, a media company that shares stories of innovation, including her award-winning documentary The Secret Marathon. As co-founder of the Secret 3K, she supports global efforts for gender equality through an international run/walk event now hosted in 27 countries. With over a decade of experience coaching over 400 businesses, Kate is a sought-after speaker and strategist. She holds a Master’s in Digital Media and is passionate about using storytelling to drive social impact. When she’s at home she’s an avid runner, reader and artist. These habits are made possible through the support of her husband Leor who partners with her to raise their 2 year old and 4 year old kiddos who also love to run, as long as there are frequent breaks to pick up leaves, sticks and of course eat more snacks.

Awards

• Top 40 Under 40 - Avenue Magazine

• Top 30 Under 30 - Alberta Council for Global Cooperation

• Red Deer College Distinguished Alumni

• Alberta Government Flood Hero