Keynote Speaking

Maria Debruijn

Maria inspires leaders across sectors to lead with clarity and compassion. Blending academic insight, practical experience, and heartfelt storytelling, she challenges us to slow down, tune in, and build cultures where people feel truly seen, heard, and understood.

Maria deBruijn is a keynote speaker, author, and trusted voice in reimagining workplace engagement. With a background in communications and deep roots in participatory leadership, she invites audiences to shift from transactional strategies to meaningful, human-centered connection.

A woman giving a presentation in a classroom or workshop setting with a large screen behind her displaying '20+ Questions'. Several people are seated around tables listening, and there are potted plants on the tables.
Group of diverse people in a meeting room, some standing and some seated, smiling and engaging in a discussion, with notebooks and drinks on the tables.

Through her signature blend of insight, storytelling, and practical tools, Maria empowers leaders to transform their cultures from the inside out. Her message is clear: when people feel understood, they show up fully—and that’s when true engagement begins.

Current Key Note Offerings:

  • For the Love of Work: Reclaiming the Core of Engagement


    We all need work. And we all deserve a chance to love our work. Yet too often, engagement feels like a puzzle we can’t solve, burnout rises, morale dips, and collaboration frays. 

    This keynote reframes engagement not as a strategy or performance issue, but as a profoundly human one. Drawing on powerful research and stories, Maria shows how people are wired to love work and how we can rekindle engagement by tending to the human foundations of work.

    FROM THIS KEYNOTE, YOU WILL:

    • Understand why engagement efforts often fail to spark real change

    • Recognize the relational gaps that quietly drain energy and trust

    • Learn the three conditions that make work feel purposeful and human

    • Leave with simple, actionable practices to help people love their work again

    Work doesn’t break because people stop doing their jobs. It breaks when people stop seeing each other.

    For the Love of Work is an invitation to shift the engagement paradigm and make work matter again.

  • The Space Between Us: Building Trust and Connection Where It Matters Most

    Every project, decision, and partnership unfolds in the space between people. When trust is strong and presence is genuine, connection grows. But when assumptions, unspoken tensions, or past misunderstandings linger, shared goals feel out of reach.

    This keynote reframes working together as more than tasks and timelines, it’s about how we show up to one another. With real-world stories, practical insights, and powerful metaphors, Maria invites leaders, teams, and communities to tune into the relational dynamics that shape every interaction.

    FROM THIS KEYNOTE, YOU WILL:

    • Recognize why how we relate becomes how we create, influencing trust, alignment, and shared outcomes

    • Discover three small relational shifts that transform conversations and relationships

    • Gain insight into the conditions that foster understanding in complex, multi-stakeholder settings

    • Strengthen your ability to turn everyday moments into opportunities for trust and connection

    Work doesn’t just happen through strategies and plans, it happens in the space between us.

    The Space Between Us is an invitation to move from transaction to connection, creating trust where it matters most.

  • Relational Power: How We Rise, Relate, and Reshape Work

    Women aren’t just filling leadership roles, they are reshaping them. Research shows that women leaders consistently outperform in building trust, collaboration, and inclusion, yet too often their contributions remain unseen or undervalued.

    This keynote reframes leadership power not as control, but as connection and trust. Drawing on powerful stories and research, Maria reveals how relational power helps leaders rise with grounded presence, relate by making invisible work visible, and reshape systems so everyone can thrive.

    FROM THIS KEYNOTE, YOU WILL:

    • Discover how to anchor your leadership in presence and self-trust, even when doubt shows up

    • Gain tools to surface and honor the unseen contributions that keep teams strong

    • Explore how to transform limiting habits into intentional practices that expand your impact

    • Walk away with practical shifts that support a more sustainable way of leading

    Relational power isn’t about proving more, it’s about connecting more deeply.

    Relational Power: How We Rise, Relate, and Reshape Work is an invitation to lead with presence, visibility, and intention. To reshape work through trust and connection.

A woman standing at a podium with 'University of Alberta' on it, giving a presentation in a conference room. She is smiling and talking to an audience, some of whom are taking photos.

Ready to lead with intention and ignite true connection?

Book Maria deBruijn as your keynote speaker and inspire your team or audience to reimagine engagement as a lived experience—where understanding becomes the foundation for thriving workplaces and empowered leadership.

A woman with shoulder-length hair smiling and holding papers, standing in front of a table with items and a name tag that reads 'Joanne'. The setting includes a stone wall and a wooden shelf in a warmly lit room.