Available to book
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Resilience
High Performance
Social Impact
Named the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, Jackie Joyner-Kersee won six Olympic medals across four Games, holds the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points set in 1988, and founded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation.
Olympian
Humanitarian
International Women's Day
Athlete
Basketball
Inspirational Female
Motivational
Author
Sport
Coach
Educator
Women's History Month
After Dinner Sports
After Dinner Speakers
Sports Leadership
Named the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, Jackie Joyner-Kersee is one of the most decorated Olympians in history and one of the most compelling motivational voices in sports.
Across four consecutive Olympic Games, Jackie amassed six Olympic medals — three gold, one silver, and two bronze — in the heptathlon and long jump. She was the first woman to score more than 7,000 points in the heptathlon and still holds the world record of 7,291 points set in 1988. She also holds the Olympic and national records in the long jump, and her 1994 performance remains the second longest in history.
Also a decorated All-American basketball player at UCLA, Jackie was voted Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years and named one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball history.
In 1988, she established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which provides youth and families in East St. Louis with resources to improve their quality of life. In 2007, she co-founded Athletes for Hope, helping professional athletes engage in charitable causes. She is the author of A Kind of Grace, her autobiography, and A Woman's Place Is Everywhere.
Jackie speaks on high performance, goal setting, resilience, women's advocacy, and living with health challenges, drawing on a career defined by record-breaking achievement and community impact. Her sessions combine personal storytelling with practical frameworks that audiences apply immediately.
Book Jackie for events where you need a speaker whose credibility is unimpeachable and whose story moves people to act.
Topics, sessions and talks
Jackie Joyner-Kersee became the first woman to score over 7,000 points in the heptathlon. She did it not through natural ease, but through relentless discipline and the decision to compete through adversity, including a career-long battle with asthma. She shares the mental frameworks behind record-breaking performance: how to set goals that stretch beyond what seems possible, how to train the mind alongside the body, and how to return stronger after setbacks. Audiences leave with tools to apply elite-level thinking to their own challenges.
Growing up in East St. Louis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was told what she could not be. She went on to become the most decorated female track and field athlete in Olympic history. This session traces her path from a community with limited resources to the world stage, exploring the role of mentorship, advocacy, and self-belief in breaking through systemic barriers. Jackie draws on her foundation work and her own story to help organizations build cultures where women and underrepresented talent can genuinely thrive.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee grew up in East St. Louis with limited resources — and returned to found the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which has served youth and families there for over 35 years. In this session, she draws on that experience to explore how purpose-driven leadership builds organizational strength, how community investment creates loyalty and performance that no financial incentive alone can replicate, and what it looks like to compete for something bigger than personal achievement. The session applies directly to organizations working on culture, retention, and long-term impact.
The only woman ever to score more than 7,000 points in the heptathlon, Jackie Joyner-Kersee holds a world record set in 1988 that still stands today, was voted the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, and won six Olympic medals across four Games. When that level of competitive credibility is what your event requires, there are very few names on the list.
Testimonials
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Confidence
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Jackie Joyner-Kersee structures her sessions around personal narrative drawn from her own athletic career and foundation work, using that story as a frame to deliver practical tools — on goal-setting, resilience, and performance under adversity — that audiences can apply directly to their own contexts.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee speaks on record-breaking performance and resilience, women's advocacy and systemic barriers, and purpose-driven leadership and community investment. She was named the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated and holds the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points, set in 1988, which still stands today.
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Not necessarily. While the speakers listed on our website may not have worked with PepTalk in the past, they are recognized professionals in the industry and known to engage in similar events and engagements. Alongside direct talent, we work with a wide variety of speaker agents and talent agencies, to ensure we have the best selection of speakers, hosts, comedians and entertainers available.
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Yes! Most event entertainers are happy to tailor their act to your brand, industry, or theme. From weaving in company jokes to incorporating your branding into their performance, personalisation makes all the difference. PepTalk's entertainers specialise in bespoke experiences that feel made just for your audience.
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