Tembi Locke Actress, activist, and New York Times bestselling author of From Scratch

• Resilience is a Ground Game

Locke shares how life-changing loss forged her personal and unconventional approach to resilience. From her experiences emerged a day-by-day, ground game approach that demystifies the ideas of grit and resilience. In this inspiring talk, she discusses the surprising role of willingness and she sparks ideas for small acts of resilience and mini-strategies for renewal that invite a new life.

• Reclaiming, Regathering, Re-imagining You

A widowed, single mom and 40-something actress, Locke took a brave leap toward rebuilding and re-imagining her life on the other side of loss. Her first book, The New York Times bestseller From Scratch was a radical act of reclaiming, both her story and her understanding of her creative power. Now a screenwriter, producer and a self-proclaimed “bravery sparker,” she shares how to embrace the unfinished parts of our own lives and dreams and to step into the life that is waiting for us.

• Last Things First 

A follow-up to her inspiring TEDx talk on whole-hearted living, “What Forty Steps Taught Me About Love and Grief”, Locke awakens us to the idea that starting at the end and looking what we most want from life actually opens us to living more authentically, connectedly today. She shares what facing love during the eleventh hour taught her about creative, inspired, and connected living. “Last Things First” is about celebrating our deepest dreams for ourselves, children, friends, partners, and careers. Locke shines a light on the idea that the risk is the reward when it comes to love and bravery. She sparks a joyful investigation into the things that matter most. You will leave inspired to put the last things first in your life and experience authentically full living.

• Making Mistakes, Mapping Magic

Over a twenty-year career in Hollywood, Locke has learned that “making mistakes” is where magic begins. That what does not work is as valuable as knowing what does. In a business where “no” is more common than “yes,” she has learned how to show up as a “creativity-warrior,” making mistakes, while mapping the magic of what is to come. This talk is about standing open to artful living and re-framing mistakes to see them as a gateway to potential magic. This talk will inspire a new understanding of what it means to create “in the pulse of magic.”

• Write Your Story, Heal Your Heart

There is the saying that everyone has a great story within them. But often they remain untold or our stories remain incomplete. This talk is about praising the incomplete stories and using them to write the story that you were not only born to write, but that will heal your heart. Locke shares how to begin to tune into your voice and unlock the mystery of your own, unique, compelling personal narrative. She outlines ways to stand in the mystery of what we may have forgotten and provides creative tools for connecting the sacred part within. Her talk will be help jump start your re-imagining so that you can write the story that was meant to heal your heart and let you soar.

• Care for the Caregiving – Inspiring the Lives of Those Who Care 

Locke’s life turned on a dime when her vibrant Italian chef-husband was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. She spent the next ten years in the trenches as a primary caregiver. Her journey taught her that providing care for another is a sacred act and that it teaches us the breath and depth of the human experience, if we let it. Today, she is a fierce advocate for the needs of family caregivers, supporting children through a family illness, and for creating community when it matters most.