ABOUT

Stephanie Manica is a Canadian speaker, entrepreneur, and advocate who turns lived experience into conversations that challenge how we think about resilience, disability, leadership, entrepreneurship, accessibility, and purpose.

Her message is simple:

TRYING COUNTS.

Because success isn’t always about how far you go.

Sometimes it’s about having the courage to take the next step.

A Different Kind of Success Story

Stephanie’s journey hasn’t followed a straight line.

Building businesses, navigating adversity, advocating for greater accessibility, and pursuing goals that sometimes seemed impossible have taught her that resilience isn’t about having everything figured out.

It’s about adapting.

It’s about continuing.

And sometimes, it’s about starting again.

Stephanie brings those lessons to the stage though stories that are honest, personal, and grounded in action.

Not inspiration for inspiration’s sake.

A reminder that challenges can become catalysts for something bigger.

From Experience to Impact

Stephanie is the founder of iPOTS, an initiative focused on improve awareness, education, community, and understanding around POTS and invisible disability.

Her advocacy has grown from personal experience into a broader commitment to accessibility and inclusion.

For Stephanie, accessibility isn’t simply about removing physical barriers.

It’s about creating environments where people can participate, contribute, and belong.

Different doesn’t mean less.

The Great Canadian Swim

Stephanie is also the creator of The Great Canadian Swim, a 5,575 kilometre virtual swim across Canada from Victoria to Halifax.

One length.

One kilometre.

One day at a time.

What began as cardiac recovery became a living expression of the philosophy behind her work.

Because when a goal feels too big, sometimes the answer isn’t to make the goal smaller.

It’s to take it one length at a time.

When injury temporarily interrupted Stephanie’s journey, she discovered another dimension of resilience:

A pause doesn’t mean the journey is over.

Trying Counts

These experiences became the foundation for Stephanie’s broader movement.

TRYING COUNTS

A belief that effort matters.

That progress doesn’t have to be linear.

That everyone’s starting point is different.

And that you don’t have to be the fastest of the strongest.

You just have to try.

Stephanie brings this philosophy into her speaking on:

• Resilience & Adversity
• Disability & Inclusion
• Accessibility
• Leadership
• Entrepreneurship
• Advocacy
• Purpose & Persistence

Why Stephanie Speaks

Stephanie doesn’t believe a speaker’s job is simply to tell an impressive story.

The story is the starting point.

The real question is: What does the audience do with it?

She wants people to leave her talks seeing their own challenges differently: with a little more perspective, a little more possibility, and a reason to take their next step.

Because sometimes, one person’s decision to keep trying gives someone else permission to do the same.

Your Next Step Starts here

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

You don’t have to know exactly how you’ll get there.

You just have to take the next step.

Because TRYING COUNTS.