Speaker Bio
Karen Furneaux is a 3-Time Olympian and 2-Time World Champion and performance expert recognized for her achievements in sprint kayaking. Karen earned 10 world championship medals over her 20-year career. She is an inductee into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame (2016) and was voted one of the Top 15 Athletes in Nova Scotia Sport History! Karen has been honoured with Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal, the 2013 recipient of the Progress Women of Excellence Award for Health and Wellness as well as the Charles Yatzman Award for Sports Person of the Americas. Karen is a mental health advocate and the 2026 and 2027 Body Movin’ Ambassador for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.
Karen is an accomplished professional speaker who has presented at numerous conferences and worked with many organizations and brands, including Deloitte, McDonald’s, Intercontinental Hotels, Bell, Scotiabank, Investors Group, Irving Oil, Xerox, Liverpool University, Dalhousie University, Progress Club, Coca Cola, RBC Royal Bank, United Way, Halifax Port Authority, Colour, Spirit Spa, St. John Ambulance, Canadian Nurses Association, Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, Gold Medal Plates and Visa to name a few. Karen holds a Masters of Science Degree in Kiniesiology with a specialization in Sport Psychology. She is the author of “Strong Beauty: POWER Up the Champion Within”
Speaker Topics
What happens when life is flipped upside-down?
‘Build Your BRAVE: From Surviving to Thriving with Mental Illness’ is a keynote much needed in today’s world to help decrease the stigma surrounding mental health
How do we support our mental and physical health so that we can be BRAVE in our own stories?
Resilience and self-regulation of energy and emotions are key skill sets to avoiding burnout.
Learn the skills and tactics that can be immediately applied in-the-moment.
Karen weaves stories from her Olympic sport career and her lived experience with mental illness to emphasize that we must tune in to our own well-being first when pursuing our most meaningful work. Participants will learn how to recognize their own resilience and navigate challenging times with emotional agility.
Karen delivers much-needed stress management skills training; she is also a licensed HeartMath provider.
Do you wonder what life would be like if you could create the energy you need to power your most meaningful results?
This session uses Olympic experience to decode the secrets for empowering consistent, best performances.
Engage in Olympian mindset practices that will enable you to make the leap to world-class performance.
Learn the Gold Within thinking techniques to move your goals and performance forward. You will learn Goal Getting versus Goal Setting.
Learn how to build belief big in you and your team.
This high-powered session uses movement as a key energizer to engage your mindset for action and get your heart pumping!
Create meaningful goals and steps that align with your personal values and intentions
Discover the thinking, habits and practices that will get you there.
Make choices that move toward your goals and get back on track when you need a boost.
Identify what additional supports or resources you may need.
Learn how to set up sustainable routines and practices / habits to move from where you are to where you want to be.
Activate and launch in the direction of your own personal goals. Getting off that start line! This is the tough part.
Consider what strategies you will implement when you come up against a barrier.
Goal Getting is about consistency over time. Process over outcome and Progress over perfection.
No matter what is going on around us, we can develop consistency in our habits to navigate the waves of life’s challenges and keep moving off the start line!
Reboot from Burnout: How to Prioritize Movement and Mental Health with CARE
Participants will leave the session with a skill set they can engage in-the-moment.
MOVE with an Olympian and create a shift in mindset with micro-breaks!
Testimonials
What an amazing day we had yesterday!! Thank you LimeLight and Karen for all your hard work on this event. The office is buzzing with excitement and passion this morning, we even came in the office today with one team manager running a stretching session with his team! They loved it! I Can’t thank you enough for what a great experience that was!
I came in today to witness a full on Body Break moment happening in Team Josh’s area! They all had smiles on their faces and enjoyed being up and about. There’s no time better than RIGHT NOW to implement new changes!
Karen was excellent. Personable, genuine and motivational. She was the perfect fit for our conference, a great Keynote speaker and inspirational note to end the day on.
I loved that all areas of health and fitness were covered! The amount of knowledge you have to share is amazing! I have more energy, I have more ability to focus throughout my day. The increase in confidence is amazing! I don’t crash at 3 pm!
Karen offered a truly inspiring talk that motivated my whole management team. She helps everyone feel that they have something meaningful to contribute and that individual goals matter!
Karen offered a fantastic lecture around connecting to your personal power and aligning with your current wellness-related goals and passions. She spoke with ease to our distinguished group of alumni and friends. Very inspirational.
I was one of the Scotiabankers at the meeting last Wednesday, and I just had to write to you to thank you for such and inspiring and energizing speech!
I am 63 yrs of age, and I still have dreams and will never stop dreaming because I agree with you that you should always have a dream or goal and go for it!
I have put my dream on the top of “Mount Everest”…….and I will get there. I hope that you carry on with your work and inspire lots more people like me.
You are so young, but you have so many achievements already. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday, you are a famous writer or speaker, as well as a sports heroine 🙂
Good luck with all of your future endeavors!
Karen was very inspiring and made us all feel so special. Very interesting and relatable approach for our international conference group.
From all of us at Canadian Nurses Association, (CNA-AIIC) and the Canadian Academy of Nursing, let me offer a huge Thank You to Olympian, Karen Furneaux, who was the keynote speaker for CNA’s National Nurses Week in 2021 and speaker in our Global Changemakers Series! What a great presentation and discussion and helpful insights around the complicated issues of endurance, stamina, self care and building resilience when there is no finite end in sight to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were actively engaged and the discussion afterward, with the Fellows of the Academy was terrific!
As President & CEO of the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, I can honestly say that having Karen Furneaux as this year’s Body Movin’ Ambassador was the perfect fit. Karen embodies everything this campaign is about. She brought credibility, heart, and authenticity to the role — but most importantly, she brought courage. Her willingness to be vulnerable in sharing her experience with mental illness resonated deeply across our province. She reminded people that mental health challenges can affect anyone, even Olympians.
Throughout the month-long campaign, Karen encouraged Nova Scotians — in person, on social media, and in TV and podcast interviews — to move in ways that work for them. Whether that’s taking a walk, stretching at home, or having a kitchen dance party, she showed that movement doesn’t have to be elite or intimidating to make a meaningful difference.
We are so grateful for the way Karen inspired and motivated people to prioritize their mental health through movement while supporting the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.
Karen was the perfect addition to our conference. From her inspiring story as an Olympian, to reminding all of us that success is possible, even if it takes a few tries. She empowered and inspired everyone in the room. I highly recommend Karen to lift your team up and show them that they can achieve anything they desire.
It was an honor to welcome Karen as our speaker at a recent luncheon at Ashburn Golf Club. She spoke of her journey from her very successful paddling career on the world stage to her private setbacks with her mental health. She overcame the challenges of both with her courage, persistence and compassion towards herself. Her story of resilience was deeply inspiring. Thank you Karen for sharing what it means to be “Brave” in our own stories.
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