Forging Today's Fires into Tomorrow's Fuel

Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is the founder and CEO of the Heartwood Leadership Institute. As an executive coach, global inspirational speaker, and corporate trainer, she sparks empowerment and motivates change. She’s helped thousands of physicians, clinicians, and senior executives at Fortune 50 companies learn the power skills needed for the modern era.

She’s inspired leaders from a wide range of industries and organizations, including Amazon, American Express, Albertson’s, BSH Home Appliances Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company, Hallmark, Mars, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota Medical Association, OptumHealth, Salesforce, Target, UnitedHealth, Visa, Walmart, Weight Watchers, Salesforce, and many more.

Jacquelyn is the co-creator and host of the Healing Words television show and a founding faculty member of the Creative Writing at the Bedside program, both administered by the Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine at Mayo Clinic. She’s also a guest lecturer in the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and a Mayo Clinic Grand Rounds speaker.

In 2023, Jacquelyn won the JP Morgan Chase 100 Women to KNOW in America award. She’s the award-winning author of 14 books, including Dear Body, Love Me, which she performed at multiple events at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Her advice has been featured in numerous publications including: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Newsday, PsychologyToday.com, and The Washington Post.

Jacquelyn has degrees in English and Women’s Studies from Wellesley College and holds an M.F.A. in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. Her love of understanding human behavior won her a yearlong fellowship from the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society to study with a team of therapists and her company is a network organization on the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience.

Jacquelyn served as Board Chair for the Loft Literary Center. She volunteers for Upturnships, an organization that builds skills for under-resourced college students; and is on the Board of Directors for the Dragon Divas, a nonprofit dragon boat racing club for breast cancer survivors.

 

Most Popular Topics:

RESILIENCE

Forged In Fire:
Building Sustainable Strength & Resilience

Professionals at every level are told to push through obstacles, work harder in the face of adversity, and try to quickly recover from setbacks.

But this outdated crisis-and-recovery mindset drains teams and leaves organizations constantly struggling to regain stability.

It’s time for a new approach.

Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson challenges the way leaders think about resilience, revealing why true strength isn’t built by fighting the fire, but by forging something stronger within it. With a dynamic mix of cutting-edge research, real-world leadership experience, and fiery storytelling, she delivers a keynote that is as insightful as it is energizing. Audiences will laugh, reflect, and walk away with a clear roadmap for shifting from reacting to challenges to building sustainable resilience that strengthens with every storm.

YOUR AUDIENCE WILL: 

• Discover why chronic resilience (constantly bouncing from crisis to crisis) is unsustainable — and what to do instead.
• Learn how to harness adversity as fuel for greater clarity, performance, and personal transformation.
• Walk away with practical tools to recover by cultivating sustainable resilience that lasts beyond the next challenge.
• Inspire collective resilience, creating a culture where teams build a positive upward cycle of strength.
• Walk away feeling recharged, refocused, and ready to lead — no matter what role they are in!

 

STORYTELLING

Harness the Fire: Tell Stories that Stick and Own Your Leadership Voice

Dragons don’t whisper. They roar. Successful leaders can’t afford to play small. 

And yet, many high-achieving leaders operate with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes. They are driven and capable, yet hold themselves back in ways they don’t even realize. Whether it’s second-guessing decisions, playing small in high-stakes conversations, or struggling to step fully into their influence, they know they’re capable of more, but without the skills of sticky storytelling and powerful delivery it’s difficult to step into their full voice, presence, and authority.

When leaders fail to at powerful storytelling and  presence, they weaken trust, slow momentum, and miss opportunities to create real impact.

Jacque Fletcher Johnson equips leaders with the necessary tools to break through these invisible barriers and step into the full power of their presence. Combining research on storytelling, leadership psychology, influence, and confidence with compelling real-world examples, she empowers leaders to own their voice, command attention, and inspire action — without changing who they are.

 

LEADERSHIP

Lead Like A Dragon: Harness The Power of Trust

Too many leaders believe success comes from pushing harder, carrying the heaviest load, and driving results alone.

But when a leader overexerts instead of aligning with their team, they create resistance instead of momentum — slowing progress, disengaging teams, and increasing burnout.

Jacque Fletcher-Johnson learned this lesson firsthand when she started dragon boat racing, where synchronization, not raw effort, wins the race. When one paddler pulls too hard, the boat veers off course, forcing the steerer to fight against the imbalance rather than guiding the team forward.

The same is true in leadership: true strength comes not from force, but from trust, rhythm, and collective power.

In this engaging keynote, Jacque blends her personal story, leadership research, and actionable strategies to show leaders how to create alignment, lead under pressure, and turn adversity into momentum.

YOUR LEADERS WILL:

• Discover why alignment, not force, fuels high-performing teams and sustainable leadership.
• Learn how leaders who take on too much can unintentionally slow progress and how to course-correct before burnout sets in.
• Build trust-driven leadership by mastering the balance between control and autonomy to help teams take ownership and excel.
• Develop strategies for handling team friction, uncertainty, and shifting priorities without losing focus.
• Shift from reacting to challenges to using them as fuel for long-term leadership success.

 

SELF-GROWTH / WOMEN’S EVENTS

Fire Is Fuel. Use It.

How to Find The Courage to Follow The Path of Purpose

Burned out. Cranky. Exhausted. These are all words women use to describe times when their light has gone out.

When one chapter has clearly come to an end, how do you find your way to what’s next? 

In a talk that audiences have described as leaving them feeling like they’ve been plugged into a super-powered battery charger, Jacquelyn helps people find their way into activating their soul-driven purpose.

What’s mine to do? 

When audiences live into this question, they find something interesting happens…they find clues.

What’s in my house? 

When groups explore this question, a path emerges with clear steps to take. If your group needs a boost of inspiration that can spark them into their next level of growth, this is the talk for you.

YOUR AUDIENCE WILL: 

• Identify the signs of emotional depletion and how they signal the end of a chapter and the invitation to begin a new one.
• Reconnect with your inner guidance systemwith reflection exercises and powerful questions to uncover a purpose-driven path forward.
• Engage your energetic wisdomand learn practices to activate energy, clarity, and motivation when you’re navigating transition or reinvention.
• Gather momentum to keep going with practices that help you tap into the science of motivation.
• Develop a personalized recharging strategyto boost inspiration, resilience, and soul-aligned action.

 

Your Mind Is Lying:

How to See Yourself Clearly and Tap the Strength of Your Inner Fire

Too many incredible women wake up each day wearing glasses that distort what they think they see in the mirror.

Whether they’re looking at their bodies or their accomplishments, they don’t see the beauty, strength, and brilliance that other people see. It’s not because they’re failing, it’s because their vision is distorted by stories that aren’t true.

It’s time to take off the faulty glasses to see the truth of who you are.

In this bold and compassionate keynote, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson confronts the silent epidemic of career dysmorphia, the distorted lenses that keeps women from recognizing their true strength and value.

With a blend of storytelling, science, and soul, Jacquelyn offers a mirror that tells the truth: you are already powerful. And it’s time you saw it for yourself.

YOUR AUDIENCE WILL:

• Identify and name distorted thinking that leads to the inability to see their brilliance, light, and beauty.
• Interrupt negative thinking and practice evidence-based empowerment skills.
• Discover the neuroscience of confidence and visibility.
• Connect with their inner voice of wisdom and develop practices to strengthen it over time.
• Build a personal “power portfolio” that helps them own their worth, story, and leadership presence.

 

How to Be Huge

Claim Your Voice. Own Your Story. Step Into Your Power

Every woman has a story she was born to tell. A message that aches to be heard. A song only she can sing. 

In this powerful experience, Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson guides women through the inner fire of self-discovery and creative reclamation.

It’s time to speak up. 

Through evidence-based practices, embodied presence work, and transformational storytelling, this session helps women move beyond silence, self-doubt, and societal conditioning and into the radiant truth of who they really are.

This is more than a keynote, it’s a powerful performance, and a call to rise. 

YOUR AUDIENCE WILL: 

• Claim their voice by learning to identify, trust, and tell their stories with clarity and confidence.
• Overcome doubt and fears of standing out and speaking up.
• Activate their presence by exploring body-based tools to show up with grounded energy and authentic authority.
• Connect to purpose by tuning in to the message, mission, or creative expression they were born to share.
• Design their next bold move through reflection exercises that translate soul-aligned insight into meaningful action.

 

FOR SURVIVORS & THRIVERS:

Live Like a Dragon: Navigating Life After Cancer

When life pushes us into the heat with a cancer diagnosis and treatment, we can use the experience to transform our lives. Global speaker and breast cancer survivor Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is a resilience expert and gold-medal winning dragon boat racer with the Dragon Divas of Minnesota. She’ll share fun and fiery stories, tips, and tricks on how you can shift from survival mode to showing up fully in your one glorious and precious life.

You’ll discover:  

 

Fire is Fuel: How to Use Storytelling to Transform Pain into Power

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools on earth. Stories give meaning and purpose to our lives. They shape our mindset. They help us get back on our feet. Global speaker and breast cancer survivor Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is a resilience expert and gold-medal winning dragon boat racer with the Dragon Divas of Minnesota. In this interactive keynote, you’ll discover how the power of story can help you create a sense of momentum that can drive positive change, no matter where you are on your cancer journey.

You’ll explore:

 

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

The Heart of a Dragon: Raising Breast Cancer Awareness One Race at a Time

As breast cancer rates rise, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness for early detection. The Dragon Divas of Minnesota are a group of breast cancer survivors and thrivers who use the sport of dragon boating to raise awareness for early detection and support. Global speaker and breast cancer survivor Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is a resilience expert and gold-medal winning dragon boat racer with the Divas. In this energetic and empathetic talk, she shares how breast cancer survivors from around the world tap into courage and community through the sport of dragon boat racing.

Attendees will hear: