Today we’d like to introduce you to Crissy Fishbane.
Hi Crissy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Like many people, my career hasn’t followed a straight line. It has been shaped by experiences that completely changed how I see the world.
I began my career as a high school psychology teacher because I was fascinated by human behavior and the questions that shape our lives. Long before that, though, I had already experienced challenges that would eventually become central to my work. As a teenager, I struggled with depression, and at sixteen I survived a life-threatening electrocution and third-degree burns in a car accident that forced me to confront just how precious and unpredictable life really is. Later, extensive travel through Central America, walking the Camino de Santiago across Spain, and navigating postpartum anxiety each challenged me in different ways, but they all led me back to the same questions: What makes a life meaningful? Why do some people thrive through adversity while others remain stuck? And what truly helps us feel connected to ourselves and one another?
Those questions eventually led me to co-found HER+ Health Collective, a community dedicated to supporting mothers and families through education, connection, and trusted resources. While building HER, I found myself speaking more and more — on podcasts, at community events, in schools, and on stages. Over time, I realized that speaking wasn’t just something I did to support my work. It was the work I felt called to do.
Today, I’m a keynote speaker helping audiences move beyond performance and pressure toward lives of greater courage, curiosity, and belonging. My talks blend psychology, personal storytelling, and practical reflection to help people rethink what success really means and how we create meaningful lives. Looking back, every chapter of my journey, from the hardest moments to the most joyful, has been preparing me for the conversations I’m privileged to have today.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. Like most meaningful journeys, it has been anything but linear.
I’ve faced seasons of depression, survived a life-threatening accident as a teenager, navigated postpartum anxiety, built a thriving community from the ground up, and experienced plenty of moments where I questioned whether I was capable or whether I was on the right path. Those experiences were incredibly difficult in the moment, but looking back, they’ve become some of my greatest teachers.
Professionally, one of the biggest challenges has been learning to stop measuring my worth by my accomplishments. For a long time, I believed that if I achieved enough, worked hard enough, or proved myself enough, I would finally feel like I was enough. That mindset is exhausting, and I don’t think I’m alone in it.
Ironically, the message I speak about today grew out of that struggle. My keynote isn’t about having life figured out, it’s about the lessons I’ve learned while trying to build a meaningful life myself. I’ve come to realize that courage usually comes before confidence, curiosity opens doors certainty never will, and belonging isn’t something we wait to find, it’s something we create.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that the obstacles we spend so much time wishing away often become the very things that prepare us to make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Today, I’m a keynote speaker helping people rethink what it means to build a meaningful life. My work sits at the intersection of psychology, personal storytelling, and human connection. Rather than focusing on productivity hacks or temporary motivation, I help audiences explore the beliefs that shape how they define success, navigate uncertainty, and relate to themselves and the people around them.
What I’m probably best known for is helping people leave a room thinking differently, not just feeling inspired. I want audiences to walk away with a new perspective that stays with them long after the event is over. Through stories from my own life, research from psychology, and practical reflection, I invite people to move beyond performance and pressure toward lives grounded in worthiness, courage, curiosity, and belonging.
I’m most proud of creating a keynote that feels deeply authentic to who I am. It isn’t a collection of my greatest accomplishments or a list of lessons I’ve mastered. It’s the culmination of experiences, questions, setbacks, and conversations that have shaped my own life. When people tell me they saw themselves in a story I shared, or that they left with a different way of seeing themselves or someone they love, that’s the greatest compliment I could receive.
I think what sets me apart is that I don’t just want people to have a great hour, I want them to leave with a different lens through which to experience the rest of their lives.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For much of my life, I defined success the way many of us do, by accomplishments, recognition, and reaching the next milestone. I kept believing that if I achieved enough, I would eventually arrive at a place where I finally felt enough.
Over the past few years, that definition has changed completely.
One experience that reinforced this shift was competing in season 7 of Next Top Speaker. While I was honored to finish third out of more than 4,000 speakers, what impacted me most wasn’t the placement. It was realizing that success had already happened long before the final rankings were announced. It happened every time someone told me they saw themselves in one of my stories, reconsidered a belief that had been holding them back, or walked away feeling less alone.
Today, I define success much more simply: Did I help someone think differently? Did I create genuine connection? Did I leave people with a perspective that makes their lives a little more meaningful?
Ironically, the less I’ve chased external validation, the more fulfilled, and successful, I feel.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crissyfishbane
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crissyfishbane
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CrissyFishbane
