Kristina Karlsson

After setting out at age 22 to defy the odds and build a $650m globally loved retail brand through dizzy highs and crushing lows, Kristina Karlsson has deep business and personal experience to share. And she’s renowned for doing it in a human and high-impact way.

Her real-life experience and the learnings she has made are what sets her apart – and what connects with audiences around the world. Making Kristina a highly regarded female speaker.

Kristina can tailor her keynote and workshop presentations to suit your audience and connect uniquely and powerfully for you. Provoking thought, providing insights and stirring action.

Her specialty is inspiring and empowering people to dream big and chase their dreams. Be they business, team or personal. In good times and in bad.

She is deeply passionate about it – with a best-selling book, 3 million podcast downloads thousands of speaking gigs, and coaching clients as proof it resonates.

Her relatable approach will inspire and empower your audience in practical ways. Using real-life experience sharing and story-telling to deliver immediate take-home value that can be applied to any industry. Any organisation. Any level – from C-suite to front line.

Much loved the world over, Swedish born Kristina was the Founder of kikki.K, and more recently Dream Life (an inspiring and empowering brand turned global movement).

After growing up on a small farm in Sweden, aged 22 she found herself in Australia, half a world away from family and friends, with little money and no idea what to do with her life.

Kristina sold all she owned to create and build a globally loved Swedish design and stationery business, kikki.K from the ground up, to have 120 award-winning retail stores in 5 countries, a passionate team of 1,500, a reputation for innovation and service excellence, an online store serving stationery and design lovers in over 150 countries and total revenue of around $650m.

For over 20 years from start-up to mid 2021, Kristina won the hearts and minds of millions the world over, as the creative force and personality behind what was an authentic, founder and purpose led brand.

After a tumultuous experience through the Covid pandemic which forced closures of her stores – Kristina lost control of kikki.K and parted ways in heart-breaking circumstances. A riveting story with many learnings.

She has since bounced back – on a mission to inspire and empower 101 million people the world over to discover and chase their dreams.

Kristina Karlsson Talks About

Lessons from Growing and  Losing a $650m Business and Starting Again with a Smile

History is peppered with the real-life stories of people who have broken the mold – dreamed up a new future – and gone on to make those dreams reality. Kristina is one of them, and in this engaging and raw presentation, she shares the key business & personal lessons she learned along the way – from business success to failure – and starting again, with a smile.

• Many organisations and people focus on goal setting – based on the constraints of what they see as their every-day realities. Kristina takes them to a new level – beyond constraints – to tap into their hearts as well as their minds in an unconstrained and powerful way.
• A great way to start strategy or planning sessions – or if you need to shake up and inspire your people to consider new approaches.
• As a valuable add-on, Kristina can facilitate her powerful and now famous 101 Dreams Workshop for you after the keynote, so people leave with dreams written on paper. Excited and ready to action. Personal, team, business, or all the above.

Who is this for?

• Organisations and individuals who want to break open their thinking beyond the status quo.
• As a highly relatable human interest story with universal learnings for all – Kristina’s presentation is appropriate and relevant for audiences from the C-suite through entire organisations, departments and teams.
• Can be customised for specific audiences

Key Takeaways

• A sense of self-belief that comes from “If she can do it, I can too”.
• Real life ‘insider stories’ from one of the worlds most loved brands – creating talkability, interest and buzz.
• Inspiring & practical learnings.
• When combined with Kristina’s 101 Dreams Workshop participants take away a long list of dreams written on paper – with the Top 3 identified – and a list of the 7 most important actions required to make each of them a reality.

Tap The Power of Dreaming – 101 Dreams Workshop

This highly productive hands-on workshop will leave participants inspired and with a long list of dreams written on paper – with their top 3 identified – and a list of the first 7 most important next steps required to make them a reality.

• Drawing on her personal experience writing her dreams on paper in her early twenties, and then making them happen, the learnings she made researching and writing her best-selling book about the power of dreaming and her knowledge as a global thought-leader on the power of dreaming – Kristina runs a hands-on workshop to help audiences discover
  their dreams (business, team, personal or all) and to create an action plan to go get them.
• The workshop takes participants through a creative approach to goal setting and strategy development beyond constraints to tap into their hearts as well as their minds in a powerful way.
• A great way to start strategy, team building or planning sessions – or if you need to shake up and inspire your people to consider new approaches.

Who is this for?

• Organisations and individuals who want to break open their thinking beyond the status quo. Suitable for small or large groups of people.
• Kristina’s 101 Dreams Workshop is appropriate and relevant for audiences from the C-suite through entire organisations, departments and teams.
• Can be customised for specific audiences.
• As a follow-up, Kristina is available for coaching your best people 1-to-1 or in small groups.

Key Takeways

• A practical and repeatable process for dreaming as a business (or personal) innovation tool.
• A long list of dreams written on paper – with the Top 3 identified – and a list of the 7 most important actions required to make each of them a reality.
• A sense of self-belief that comes from “If she can do it, I can do it”.

2.5 hours required for 101 Dreams Workshop