Meet Yvonne Camus, VAMACON21 Closing Keynote

Meet Yvonne Camus
Speaking on April 30, 2021 at 11:15 AM
Biography & Testimonials Provided by The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

How can a businesswoman and mom outperform the U.S. Navy Seals? Here’s how: through grit, determination and resilience. With two decades of executive experience in the highly competitive fitness industry, and a triumphant finish in the world’s most grueling endurance challenge, YVONNE CAMUS shows us how the principles of teamwork, diversity and perseverance create high-performance success—even in the most unlikely conditions.


Yvonne Camus was the sole female member on the first rookie team to ever complete the Eco-Challenge: the world championship of adventure racing conceived by Survivor’s Mark Burnett. The single mom and senior executive trained obsessively for an expedition that, up until then, even the U.S. Navy Seals hadn’t been able to complete. Their odds of finishing were placed at a disheartening zero, but that didn’t stop Camus and her team from rising to the challenge. Punchy, deeply moving, and often quite funny, Camus draws on her experience of  training, preparation, and execution to illustrate the value of perseverance. In the process, she helps us realize the potential for grit and greatness in ourselves, in our co-workers, and in our entire organization. Her talks help us understand how we can recreate high-performance outcomes, even when the odds are stacked against us.

Camus served as the COO of SPINCO, Canada’s largest indoor cycling brand, where she handled day-to-day operational management and implements enterprise-wide procedures. Previously, she was COO of the fitness club World Health, where she oversaw more than 600 employees, and World Health’s sister companies, Orange Theory Fitness and Fresh Fit Foods.

 
TESTIMONIALS

“You rocked our world. Perfect messaging. Incredible imagery. Powerful content. Dramatic and authentic delivery. One of the best I have ever attended or had the pleasure to watch in person.”

THE DIAL CORPORATION “She was inspiring, engaging, fun and really set the tone for the rest of the retreat on the importance of working together and putting our work challenges into perspective. She is an amazing speaker and we feel very lucky to have had her attend and speak at our retreat, so please pass along our huge thanks to Yvonne for her time and inspiration.”

PWC “Excellent speaker. Very energetic. This was probably the most amazing motivation session I ever attended, with examples which were linked to business. Yvonne was so captivating ... it would be great if we could summarize and circulate her list of key messages. Yvonne was very effective in relating her experience to business. This made a very effective and meaningful message. Very energizing, dynamic speaker with lots of great practical advice.”

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL “Yvonne did a spectacular job at drawing in her audience. You went through a whirlwind of emotions starting with complete awe (at what the Eco challenge entails and how a woman (and man) can undergo such mental and physical fatigue to get it done), ew (at all the bug and leech stories ), empathy (at all the sore feet and physical hurting stories), hope (at the sail being added to the boat and especially her dad’s email saying, “I am so proud of you” … made me tear up), relief (when she and her team completed the challenge), triumph (when her Canadian team placed 3rd!), and touched (when she ended up marrying one of her team members!). Yvonne was truly the best. What a professional and electrifying speaker! Hopefully we can do business with her again because she would be a sensational keynote.”

GLC ASSET MANAGEMENT GROUP “Yvonne’s ability to take her experience and deliver it in such a way that she understood the character profile of the group and that she needed to move fast and be entertaining yet motivating, was sensational. Her talent in paralleling many of her experiences to some very key issues that the dealers are facing today was also quite brilliant.”

GM CANADA “Yvonne was fantastic! She spoke with enthusiasm, dedication and endurance, everything that I am sure she applies to her races. She inspired and motivated the entire team. So much so, that most of us were crying by the end and many of our guests said it was the highlight of the week. Thank you to your team for recommending her and arranging all of the details. I would recommend The Lavin Agency to any of my contacts moving forward and hope to include another great speaker for next year.”

MDS NORDION “Yvonne was an absolute home run. It was a fairly large room with big double viewing screens for the entire audience and Yvonne's presentation content and style were exceptional. She drew so many parallels between so many of their team’s almost impossible challenges back through to challenges companies face at the corporate level ... a great link that definitely resonated with the audience.”

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT LIFE BROKERAGE AGENCIES “I would like to thank you for your incredibly inspiring and motivating presentation to our staff. I am still hearing comments a week later as to how insightful and powerful your presentation was to the participants. You have an excellent presentation style and you kept the audience on the edge of their seats. People appreciated your lessons learned as well as your sense of humour. I can’t wait until we bring you back!”