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Melissa Forziat        

Transformational Business Consultant

A former competitive gymnast and captain of the Brown University gymnastics team, Melissa Forziat's career began one semester when she realized she had no passion for the food prep work-study jobs she was doing and instead walked into the office of the sports marketing director and convinced him to create a work-study job for her in that department.

This role was the first of many she designed for herself. For her first "real" job with the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, Forziat convinced the director of Press Operations to let her into the office and give her eight hours of work to do every day. When she flew to Italy and found her own accommodation, she had no official place in the headcount as staff, volunteer, or intern and expected to make photo copies as Olympically as possible. After a week, she was offered a paid Olympic role as a reporter, interviewing the alpine skiers who came down the slopes of Sestriere. Forziat took this expertise to roles with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC and the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, as well.

Forziat talked the US Olympic Committee into creating a role for her in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center in the International Relations Department. For two years, she planned itineraries for and hosted every foreign delegation that came through the Colorado, ranging from Saudi Arabian princes to Latin American cycling coaches to an Algerian Olympic delegation. She helped execute two historic visits from Iranian athletic delegations, working with the US Department of State and Farsi interpreters to host the weightlifting and table tennis programs.

As a professional speaker, she blends her spirit of encouragement, Olympic-level thinking, the humor of improv, and her grounded practicality to help audiences everywhere reach for their better tomorrow. Her biggest accomplishment was returning to New Zealand - where she used to live - as a professional speaker to do her first international talk for the Bed & Breakfast Association New Zealand.

Speech Topics

Take the Doughnut: Design Your Destiny (45-60 mins)

Is there something you want in life, but you haven’t gone for it yet? You’re not alone. But you CAN move forward. Opportunities are far more likely to come to you if you find the courage – and the plan – to set the wheels in motion. This session is about breaking through whatever has stopped you and developing your action plan to go after what you want. You can design your future and change your world for the better. It starts today.

Takeaways: – Identify what has stopped you – Reframe your thinking – Create your approach list – Build your network of allies and supporters – Discover new pitching technique Length: 45-60 Minutes

Take the Doughnut: How to Go After What You Want (45-60 mins)

Have you missed an opportunity in life, because you didn’t go for it? Are you missing one right now? Whatever it is you want, you are more likely to get it if you do something about it. You can design the life you desire, and it all starts with going after what you want – not sitting back and letting it pass you by!

So why can it be so difficult to take action? When that thing you want is a dream without a plan, or it lives in the land of “when I have time,” “maybe someday,” “that couldn’t REALLY happen for me,” or “I don’t deserve it,” how do you start to move forward? Together, let’s stare what you want straight in the eye, call it by name, and begin to make it happen. Melissa combines personal stories, interactive questions, and humor to inspire you to #TaketheDoughnut and go after what you want.

Takeaways: – Identify action-stopping thoughts – Simple ways to pitch more effectively – Confidence to make more approaches – When “no” gets you to the right “yes” – Think bigger with your value

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