Motivational Speakers

John Rosengren writes and speaks with words that strike the heart. The award-winning journalist, whose articles have appeared in more than 100 publications ranging from Reader's Digest to Sports Illustrated, has written about an airplane passenger shot in the head by hijackers, a tourist who saved a swimmer attacked by a shark, a Masai girl who escaped an arranged marriage and female genital mutilation, a teacher who was tortured by "the butcher of Uganda," a double amputee teenager who runs a six-minute mile, a boxer who fought for democratic ideals against his Nazi-sympathizing opponent, an American priest martyred in Guatemala, and a student who tried to stop the Red Lake High School killer. John's book Blades of Glory: The True Story of a Young Team Bred to Win exposed the pressure of youth sports. In his collaboration with Esera Tuaolo, Alone in the Trenches: My Life as a Gay Man in the NFL, he invited readers to walk in the shoes of a man laboring in a hostile environment. In Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid, John revealed one man's grace in the face of ugly racism.

John's mission is to tell stories about topics of substance that have the potential to change people's hearts and minds. With a master's degree in creative writing, he's as likely to quote Dante or Milton as he is to draw from conversations with Michael Jordan, Jane Fonda, Tony Dungy, Billie Jean King, Greg LeMond or Willie Mays. John engages audiences with anecdotes that has people laughing one moment and crying the next. His honest and personable style touches listeners and motivates them to act.

Whether he's talking about tolerance or self-care, John leaves a lasting impression guided by Mother Teresa's admonition, "Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier." "