ABOUT Holly

Global Keynote Speaker

Holly Kostrzewski was eighteen when a car crash changed everything. She spent months relearning how to walk, talk, read, and write — and came out the other side with something most people never find: a clear sense of what she was put here to do.

Years later, when her father became a paraplegic, she understood again that hard things don't have to break you. They can build you. That conviction is at the center of everything she does.

Holly spent over two decades in Tribal, state, and federal public service, leading traffic safety and injury prevention efforts that earned national recognition. She raised seat belt use rates from 68.5% to over 90%, launched Minnesota's first regional Toward Zero Deaths programs, and was honored with awards from the Lifesavers Conference and Indian Health Service, among others.

Today, through Kostrzewski Consulting and a speaking career that has reached over one million people across the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand, she helps individuals and organizations turn their hardest chapters into their most powerful ones.

When she is not on stage, you will find her on a trail — she is an avid hiker, a Superior Hiking Trail Association board member, and has traveled to all 50 states.

Holly is in the inaugural class of American Service Fellowship at The Havard Kennedy School earning a Masters degree in Public Administration. Holly lives in Duluth, Minnesota, with her husband Rob.