When our guest was in university, her family faced two crises at the same time. Her mother, a business owner, fell seriously ill. And without proper financial planning in place, a health crisis quickly became a financial one too.

That experience lit a fire that would shape the entire direction of her life. She became a wealth advisor on a mission to make sure other families never face what hers did. And at the heart of that mission is a belief she holds deeply: that every woman deserves honest, straightforward financial advice.

This is a conversation about family, resilience, and what becomes possible when a painful personal experience is channelled into a life's purpose.

#pivotalmoment #family #financialadvice

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Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

At 28 years old, our guest received a diagnosis that stopped her life in its tracks. Breast cancer. And with it, medically induced menopause that no one her age expects to navigate.

So she did what many high-achievers do when life becomes unmanageable. She threw herself into work. A demanding career in marketing became both her anchor and her escape. 

But the body keeps score. And eventually, hers sent a message she could no longer ignore. Her nervous system was running on empty. 

So she walked away from the noise of city life and started over, building a short-term rental business in the quiet countryside.

This is a conversation about what happens when you finally stop outrunning yourself, and about slowing down not as a retreat, but as an act of profound reinvention. 

#pivotalmoment #breastcancer

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Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

She built her dream life. A beautiful home. Three gorgeous daughters. A marriage that checked all the boxes. But inside, something didn’t fit.

There was a quiet whisper she couldn’t ignore. A growing realization that nothing would ever be enough for her until she was enough for herself. No house, no role, no relationship could fill a space that required her own self-worth.

Listening to that voice meant making a gut-wrenching decision: walking away from her marriage and stepping into the unknown. What followed was the deep, uncomfortable work of untangling who she was from who she had been trying to be, and asking what truly fulfilled her.

This is a conversation about identity, courage, and what it takes to choose alignment over optics, even when the cost is high.

#pivotalmoment #divorce #courage

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Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

Sometimes the path you’re meant to follow starts in the most unlikely place. For today’s guest, it began on Christmas Day, watching football games on TV while the rest of the world celebrated the holiday. That quiet tradition sparked a love for the game that would shape the course of his life.

His career started in university sports communications. It was steady, predictable, comfortable. Until a tough conversation with his boss, and a hard look at his friend’s résumé, forced him to choose his path. 

The outcome? A remarkable career in sports broadcasting and an equally impactful career coaching youth football. Today, his impact has been recognized at the highest level, with induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

This is a conversation about pushing beyond your comfort zone and leaning into your passion.

#pivotalmoment #football #cfhof

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

At 37 years old, life was moving exactly as planned. A growing real estate business, his first child on the way, the future was bright.

Until the diagnosis. What followed was a year defined by radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and plenty of uncertainty. While fighting for his health, he was also running his business. And somehow, in the middle of it all, he had the best year of his real estate career.

But this isn’t just a story about productivity during crisis. It’s about mental toughness, perspective, and what changes when your sense of control disappears.

 #pivotalmoment #cancer #realestate 

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

With a degree in civil engineering, she was set for a future of stability and success, and yet her passion lay elsewhere. So she returned to school to learn the world of sports broadcasting, and has since become a leader in the space, appearing every evening as co-host of Sportsnet Central. 

After years of covering hockey, she made an unexpected move at 41: lacing up her own hockey skates, joining a women’s league, and discovering a completely different relationship with the sport she’d covered for years. 

At the same time, her world shifted in a far more profound and devastating way, as she lost her mother to ALS. Now, in her upcoming book, When the Game Changes, she reflects on reinvention, grief, and gaining a new perspective.

#pivotalmoment #sportsbroadcast #ALS

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

She was successful with a big sales role in the pharmaceutical industry. She had climbed the mountain and enjoyed all the perks that came with it, but something felt off. The view from the top wasn’t what she thought it would be.

So she made the decision to walk away and start again from scratch in a completely different world. The world of fashion, style, and identity.

What followed wasn’t just a career change, but a redefinition of leadership. Using personal style as a way for women to align how they show up on the outside with who they are on the inside.

This is a conversation about walking away from success, trusting your instincts, and building something that truly matters.

#pivotalmoment #fashion #style

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

From a young age, our guest understood what it meant to be seen through a label. Born with cerebral palsy, he could have allowed the diagnosis to define the boundaries of his life. Instead, he chose something different.

 At just eight years old, he became involved with Easter Seals, an organization dedicated to supporting children and youth with disabilities in carving their own paths. What began as personal connection evolved into lifelong commitment. Today, he serves as President of Easter Seals Ontario, leading the very organization that once supported him.

Along the way, his dedication to community work and fundraising has been recognized at the highest levels. But this conversation isn’t about titles or accolades. It’s about identity. It’s about refusing to be defined by circumstance. And what becomes possible when you shift from being supported to becoming the one who supports others.

 visit www.easterseals.org to learn more or to donate

#pivotalmoment #EasterSeals #disability

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

There are moments in life that redefine you. And for our guest today, two such moments changed everything about her and her life. 

Diagnosed with a bone disorder at just five years old, her disability shaped her identity, her personal limitation. Until one person challenged that narrative and it has led her to work advocating for those who are often excluded from society.

Her story took a tragic turn when she lost her daughter to Hodgkins Lymphoma. She had to face an impossible question: how do you keep going when the life you knew no longer exists?

This is a story about grief and survival. About accessibility, advocacy, and learning, one day at a time, how to get out of bed and live again.

 #pivotalmoment #grief #accessibility 

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

It started as a few harmless pints in high school, but for our guest today, one early habit slowly became part of his identity. It shaped how he showed up, how he coped. 

Until one mistake changed his course. A moment that forced him to confront the gap between who he was and who he wanted to be. That moment set him on a long, uncomfortable journey to reclaim his life.

This is a conversation about identity, accountability, and what it really takes to get yourself back when you’ve drifted further than you ever expected.

#pivotalmoment #sobriety

Send us Fan Mail

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership developer, and storyteller who believes that our most defining moments are rarely the ones we plan for. 

 Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiosity, and genuine warmth to every conversation, creating space for guests to share the stories they don’t always get to tell. 

 One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

 To learn more about Lesley visit www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca