Liezel van der Westhuizen is a Certified Mental Fitness Coach, Mindvalley Certified Executive Coach, and a sought-after Keynote Speaker, Master of Ceremonies, and wellness Presenter featured on KFM 94.5, CapeTalk, and Radio 702. Embodying true grit and resilience through exhilarating & harrowing personal and professional adventures, Liezel draws from her extraordinary endurance athlete experiences to endow any audience with gems that motivate & inspire – including lessons learned from completing multiple Ironman Triathlons, conquering the Dusi Canoe Marathon, cycling across the Himalayas on a tandem bike with a blind athlete, and swimming 7.5 km through icy 11°C waters from Robben Island to Blouberg.

Through her personal journey, business pursuits, and coaching expertise, Liezel inspires employees and leaders worldwide to break barriers and reach their full potential. Her unique blend of Mental Fitness Coaching and athletic achievement creates a compelling platform for fostering resilience, leadership, and peak performance.

A few of her most popular talks are listed, and elaborated on, below:

  • Break Through Self-Sabotage: Mental Fitness Strategies for Corporate Excellence
  • Future-proof yourself with your personal brand
  • Unstoppable Resilience: Story of Grit and Corporate Success
  • Boost Employee Wellness & Team Performance with Laughter Yoga Workshops
  • Every pedal stroke counts

Break Through Self-Sabotage: Mental Fitness Strategies for Corporate Excellence

When you’re not mentally fit, you feel mental stress – anxiety, frustration, or unhappiness – as you handle work and relationship challenges. The bad news is that 80% of people score below the minimum level of mental fitness required for peak performance and happiness. The great news? With recent breakthroughs in neuroscience and technology, you can now improve your mental fitness significantly within 6 weeks of practice.

During this session, you’ll get a sneak peek at what’s standing in your own way of peak performance and happiness and how to begin to move forward.

During this workshop you will gain insight on: 

  • The 10 most common ways we self-sabotage and which way is yours.
  • The neuroscience of happiness & peak performance and 10-second techniques to activate your “right” mind.
  • How you generate your own stress, and how you can generate peace of mind instead (even in the midst of great challenges).
  • The “Three Gifts Technique” and how to use it to convert failures and setbacks into gifts and opportunities.
  • The mental muscle t

Future-proof yourself with your Personal Brand

Apparently, the ideal job candidate of the future has an up-to-date LinkedIn profile, a website with a professional blog, and leaves other titbits here and there in cyberspace that indicate how skilled and experienced they really are. Essentially, job-search technology, automation, and AI, make it vital to be out there more professionally and powerfully than your peers, in order to secure that research funding or to land the next big contract.

The luxury of procrastination – and the desire to hide behind the scenes – will no longer serve you if you want to have a vibrant career tomorrow, the next day, and in the future, as the bots increasingly “control” our career-search platforms, and therefore your prospects rely on more curated visibility.

Key takeaways:

  • Create a CV that is comprehensive, clear and professional
  • Capitalize on the reach of your Facebook Business Page
  • Add reviews, and network as much as you can on LinkedIn
  • Update bios and photos across all your profiles
  • Post articles and blogs that position you as a leader in your niche; or invest in the services of a skilled Copywriter to help you
  • Self-promotion is key when it comes to your personal brand in cyberspace

Unstoppable Resilience: Story of Grit and Corporate Success

How many dreams have you dismissed simply because they seemed out of reach?

And when you dared to share your ambitions, how often were they met with doubt or disbelief? It’s time to change that narrative, says Liezel van der Westhuizen in her motivational address.

Drawing from her own transformative journey, Liezel empowers audiences to silence naysayers and overcome self-doubt. Through inspiring personal stories, she proves that even the most “impossible” goals are achievable with determination, resilience, and daily effort. “Set your goals and commit to them every single day,” Liezel urges. “Don’t stop until you’ve conquered them and felt the pride of achieving what once seemed out of reach.”

Key takeaways:

  • Discover Hidden Strengths
    • Unlock Potential: Learn how extreme challenges reveal untapped mental and physical strength that can be applied to any professional endeavor.
    • Find Joy in Progress: Adopt strategies for setting meaningful goals and finding satisfaction in consistent, daily growth.
  • Build Resilience
    • Turn Obstacles into Growth: Understand how to view setbacks as opportunities to strengthen focus and energy, equipping teams to thrive under pressure.
  • Foster a Growth Mindset
    • Overcome Limits: Using her own journey of persistence—whether mastering new sports or navigating challenges—Liezel empowers employees to adapt, persist, and excel.
  • Strengthen Leadership
    • Endurance in Leadership: Discover the role of mental fitness in maintaining composure, clarity, and strength as a leader in demanding situations.
  • Enhance Teamwork
    • Collaborative Excellence: Gain practical insights from Liezel’s experience of guiding a blind athlete across the Himalayas, highlighting the power of trust, communication, and shared goals.

This keynote is a transformative experience, equipping your workforce with the mindset and tools to conquer challenges, exceed expectations, and thrive as a cohesive, high-performing team.

Boost Employee Wellness & Team Performance with Laughter Yoga Workshops

Why Laughter Yoga?

In today’s demanding corporate environment, stress management and team synergy are more critical than ever. Companies worldwide are integrating Laughter Yoga into their wellness programs to unlock a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce. With Liezel’s expert guidance, your team can enjoy:

  • Improved Employee Wellness: Boost mental well-being and enhance resilience.
  • Reduced Absenteeism: Lower stress-related absences and burnout.
  • Enhanced Team Dynamics: Improve communication, collaboration, and overall morale.
  • Increased Motivation and Engagement: Cultivate creativity and a positive work environment.
  • Cost-Effective Wellness Solution: Laughter Yoga is accessible, time-efficient, and impactful.

Every Pedal Stroke Counts

Global speaker Liezel van der Westhuizen took on her greatest sporting and personal challenge yet! In August 2018, it happened; She and Cindy Jacobsz endeavored to cycle 500km across the mighty Himalayas.

In this keynote address about the #M2k2018 Cycle Tour, Liezel talks about Jacobsz’s visual impairment and how her Himalayan cycling buddy has gone on to achieve great things – including National Colours for Cycling, and working with Operation Smile South Africa and OneSight – which benefited from their massive achievement. In the true spirit of Liezel’s personal ability to make every experience a win for all, even unexpectedly, this Himalayan cycling challenge also snuck in a boost of added clout to her personal branding business, The Giraffe Brand Academy.

“This ride [was] about more than ourselves,” says Liezel. “Cindy and I wanted to find a way to make a real difference, so it was a natural decision to support these two incredible charities that essentially give people their smiles and help others to see them,” she enthuses.

Key takeaways:

  • How these two athletes faced innumerable challenges – including strong winds, rain, sleet, sub-zero temperatures, and every imaginable technical problem – but never gave in
  • How such tenacity and endurance in sport is a testament to incredible character-building and wisdom, which Liezel now puts into use in her personal brand coaching

DISCOVER HOW YOU CAN UNLEASH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL. LIEZEL WILL TAKE YOU THROUGH THE STEPS TO HELP FIND YOUR INNER STRENGTH.

WOULD YOU LIKE LIEZEL TO SPEAK AT YOUR EVENT? GET IN TOUCH!

TESTIMONIALS

We only had positive feedback from client.

Mish Hicks (Event Organisation)

I would just like to thank you so so much for MCing our Mercedes event yesterday. You were fantastic, and I have been receiving rave comments from early morning.

Beverley Horrell, Rola Motor marketing manager

Liezel was terrific, as always.

Riaan Kleinsmith, Makro

Always great working with Liezel; thank you for your empowering talk.

Mish Hicks, event organisation

Please can you personally pass on my gratitude to Liezel, who was the consummate professional and by far one of the best MCs I have worked with ever. Liezel certainly took [our] event to another level.

Sean, The Rainbow Team

Working with you was one of the favourite things about my job.

Caron Isaacs, Associated Media

Please extend my thanks to Liezel. She was incredible and, having a speaker of her calibre at our Awards, added to the entire experience.

Robyn Hey, BWA

The event was a great success and Liezel was brilliant, as always!

Candice Burgess, Greater Than

Liezel did an amazing job.

Jade Campbell, Top Events

Liezel was such a pleasure to work with – professional, articulate, inspiring. She really was great.

Bianca Church, Century City Property Owners’ Association

Liezel was awesome! She just knows our brand so well. We were exceptionally happy with the gig on Friday, and will be very keen to make use of Liezel’s services again in future, when the need arises. She handled everything superbly.

Fatima Borez, Cape Town Tourism

On behalf of the Fearless 14 and the BWA I would really like to thank you for your incredible presentation last night – your energy is infectious. You have set the tone for the FAST TRACK2SUCCESS programme and the candidates are super excited – and so eager – to make it work for them. Your presentation was warm, engaging and filled with little gems that stick in one’s mind. You made setting your goals and living your dream something that is so worth the highs and lows along each journey. Thank you from all of us! You are an exceptional BWA ambassador.

Cheryl Steyn, Businesswomen’s Association CT

Bronwyn, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about my experience of working with Liezel as a guest speaker. As you know, we deal with many speakers for our events. The fact of the matter is that each speaker is different and has different requirements. In my three years as chair of the BWA, I have never worked with a speaker who has been as professional as Liezel. In preparation for her keynote address for RBAA, Liezel asked for and complied perfectly with the brief on what we wanted her to talk on. Liezel also asked for the names of the people who would be at her table and researched each of those people so that she knew their names and a little bit about their business. Given that she was sitting at a table with our sponsors, this approach went a long way towards impressing them and making everyone at the table feel welcome. She also went the extra mile and attended the pre-drinks and photo session (even though this was not required of her), and put all the finalists and sponsors at ease. After all of this, she gave a talk which, as you know, was on point and really well presented. I cannot recommend Liezel highly enough as a speaker and I wanted to give you this feedback because I know she is one of your speakers and I am sure that feedback like this is invaluable.

Robin Hey, BWA

Dear Liezel, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude to you for joining the OKFD as the master of ceremonies on our island adventure. Your energetic and entertaining contribution to the success of our 2016 conference in Bali is greatly valued and appreciated. Best regards

OKFD Management

Was really awesome working with you; you did such a great job.

Kim Pearce, The Insurance Institute of the Cape of Good Hope

Thank you, best emcee ever.

Sean Hough, Pentravel