Stephanie Manica

You don’t have to be fearless.
You just have to keep going.

What if resilience isn’t about overcoming adversity once and for all, but learning how to move forward when the path changes?

Stephanie Manica is an entrepreneur, advocate, and speaker who turns adversity into action.  Through stories of entrepreneurship, disability, leadership, advocacy, and extraordinary persistence.

Stephanie challenges audiences to rethink what it means to keep going.

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TRYING COUNTS with Stephanie Manica on Lake Ontario background

Speaking Topics

Resilience That Moves You Forward

Practical ways to build resilience, navigate setbacks, and keep moving forward, even when progress looks different than expected.

TRYING COUNTS The Power of Showing Up

Reframing success around effort, persistence, and participation. Because sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is try.

Leading Without a Perfect Roadmap

Lessons from entrepreneurship, advocacy and nonprofit leadership.  How to lead with purpose when the path isn’t clear.

Disability, Inclusion, & Accessibility

More than a seat at the table, it’s asking whether the table was designed with them in mind.

Entrepreneurship With Purpose

From finding an idea to building partnerships– connecting business with purpose.

Adversity, Purpose, & Persistence

How adversity can reshape your perspective, reveal new possibilities, and create a deeper sense of purpose.

A Different Kind of Resilience

Resilience isn’t a straight line.

Sometimes moving forward means pushing harder. Sometimes it means changing direction. Sometimes it means stopping, recovering, and starting again.

Stephanie brings an honest, energetic, and deeply human perspective to the realties of adversity, without turning struggle into a cliche.

Meet Stephanie

  • Stephanie Manica is an entrepreneur, advocate, speaker, and the founder of TRYING COUNTS and The Great Canadian Swim.
  • Her approach to speaking is authentic, energetic, and audience-focused.  She doesn’t stand on stage pretending to have all the answers.
  • She invites audiences to find their own.
Stephanie swimming. 5575km one length at a time. from Victoria to Halifax, Stephanie is swimming across canada in a pool. it's bigger than swimming. it's about showing up. it's about persistence. it's about proving that a massive goal doesn't have to be accomplished all at once. one length. one kilometre. one day at a time Swimmer in a 25-meter indoor pool wearing branded cap and goggles, pushing off the wall.
hands in the shape of a heart with blue background.

For Your Audience

  • Think Differently: Challenge assumptions about success, resilience, and accessibility.
  • Feel Something: Connect emotionally with a story that is honest, hopeful, and human.
  • Take Action: Leave with a renewed willingness to try, even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.

“You don’t have to be the fastest.
You don’t have to be the strongest.
You don’t have to finish.

You just have to try!”

Stephanie Manica

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