As a Paralympian, speaker, radio presenter, trainer, clinician and disability specialist, Karni has been invited to share her insight and experiences with thousands of audiences around the world. Karni’s presentations and workshops encourage people to embrace that we all have a choice in life and that our choices in life shouldn’t be determined by our circumstances. Karni’s life has provided her with inconceivable hardships, however her audiences express how relevant her story is to their everyday lives and issues.
Karni is one of the few speakers in Australia to receive many standing ovations throughout her 14 year speaking career. Karni is also able to provide your team with workshops and presentations focusing specifically on team building, relationship development, effective leadership (Karni was the Australian team captain), how to embrace change, media and public speaking training or a workshop specifically focused on how to engage clients, staff and customers with a disability.
Karni has risen over $1million dollars for the various charities she supports. Karni presented a TED speech which has been watched and applauded by thousands of people around the world and she was the only TED speaker on this particular day to receive a standing ovation.
Karni is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) QLD Ambassador, she sits on the United Nations Women’s board, she is a member of Dame Quentin Bryce’s Domestic and Family Violence Council, and is an Ambassador for Montrose Access, Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association and Day of Difference Foundation.
Karni has been awarded the Pride of Australia medal; she won the Teacher and Trainer of the year for the State of Qld and has just been awarded the Alumni of the year by the QUT Faculty of Health. Karni has a Masters in Clinical Social Work and a double degree in Communications.
My name is Sarah Maxwell and I grew up in Montreal, Canada wanting to solve the problems of the world in my earliest memory. I went from climbing all over my Mom’s furniture to trying every sport and wanting to be the best at everything I did. We were a family of 4 kids and I would be the one out in the backyard perfecting back flips off the picnic table or kicking the soccer ball over and over and over again until I got it right! Yes, it was that obsessive gene!
I chose to get on a 6-hour plane right across the country to do my BioPsychology degree at the University of British Columbia. It was the top tier volleyball program that really drew me in and getting my first taste of representing my country in sport was honed there.
It was the sandy beaches that eventually drew me in and I became a Professional Beach Volleyball Player for for 10yrs. This brought me to Australia where I would eventually meet my life partner Nat Cook and reside here for the past 20 years.
Retiring from sport in 2008, I studied Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP) to give structure to what I had been growing through in terms of team work, goals, purpose, and relationship building.
This led me to engineer specific GAMES (now called Gamification) to bring forth more experiential learning for Corporate Team Building (for companies such as Qantas); Couple Relationship Workshops (PG-rated GAME PLAY); and even Mindset coaching with Olympians on their way to London 2012.
These days, I have created a program called FOCUS coaching for high impact women CEOs and Managing Directors; Corporate Wellness and Nutritional Cleansing (with a team of over 13,000 people); and finally demonstrating my Eastern Philosophy Slant with my MindShift Meditations (offered free as a taster on this site)
Overall, I create communities that uplift and inspire people to dust off their dreams and start playing IN THE GAME of life once again!
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