British Paralympic Long Jumper, Five-Time World Record Holder & Star of Dancing on Ice 2022

A track and field Paralympian, Stef Reid is nothing short of a sporting sensation that has competed for Great Britain and inspired the world! Stef's main area of competence lies within the category T44 long jump and sprint events. The incredible athlete has won multiple medals at European and World levels, with her most notable success undoubtedly coming during the Paralympic games in Beijing and London.

At just 15 years old, Stef's life changed dramatically. Already a talented sportsperson with an eye on the rugby world stage, her dreams were shattered when a boating accident resulted in the amputation of her right foot. Fast forward to 2019, and Stef is a Paralympic long jumper who competes for Great Britain. She is a five-time world record holder, long jump world champion (London 2017), and triple Paralympic medallist in the long jump (2016, 2012) and 200m sprint (2008). She has an honours degree in Biochemistry and works as a broadcaster, speaker, actor, and model. After competing in the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics, she took part in the show, Dancing on Ice in 2022 and announced her retirement from elite sport.

As a 2008 Paralympian, Stef represented Canada in Beijing, winning a bronze medal in the women's 200 metres - T44 event and performed admirably in other events. Going on to represent Great Britain in 2010, BBC presenter and producer Matthew Stadlen spent a day with Stef on the news programme The Road With… A Paralympian. Featuring in the Debenhams campaign in 2013, Stef became the first disabled model to be used in a campaign by a high street retailer. Stef was also featured in British Vogue Magazine, in April 2013, in celebration of diversity in the retail sector.

Despite not qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, Stef won gold at the IPC European Championships, beating the former world record holder, Marie-Amélie Le Fur, by 4cm. Appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to Paralympic sport, Stef is most certainly a world-renowned figure with global acclaim. She is also a member of the British Paralympic Association Athlete Commission and an ambassador for the Leprosy Mission UK. Both charities are committed to changing perceptions and improving opportunities for people with disabilities. An incredibly inspiring speaker on motivation and high performance, Stef Reid is called upon for events and functions globally and is available to hire through Champions Speakers.

How to hire Stef Reid

Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Stef Reid for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.

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When at corporate events, Stef is known to cover the following topics:

High Performance: Harnessing the Power of Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity has never been about ticking a box. High performance systems and businesses know that the key to success lies in the quality and originality of their ideas. They also know that the best ideas come from a room full of diverse thinkers with diverse experiences. People with disabilities are naturally good at this. The world wasn’t made for us so we learned to see and think differently because we had to. But you don’t need to have a disability to be good at this. We can all learn to move beyond our biases and assumptions. We can all learn to unleash the power of our unique perspective, and develop a culture that encourages challenging questions and original thinking.

High Performance: The Adaptive Mindset

If you are content with your current circumstances, then this is not the talk for you! But if you want to keep improving, then you have to keep adapting. The world never stops changing, so neither can you. It takes courage to experiment and it takes courage try something new. Failure is not the opposite of success. The opposite of success is doing the same thing over and over. Failure teaches us how to succeed in the moments when failure is not an option. Adapting can be exhausting and frustrating…or it can be the adventure of a lifetime!

High Performance: How to be Resilient

This is a practical talk about what it takes to find your inner grit. Life is hard. We have all experienced challenges in the workplace and in our personal lives. Becoming an amputee after a freak boating accident showed me that life does not always go to plan. We can’t always choose our circumstances, but we can always choose our response. Eighteen years in the world of elite sport has taught me that motivation and resilience are key to high performance in all areas of your life. Especially if you want sustained high performance. Anyone can get lucky once. This is a talk about consistently maximizing the potential.

High Performance: Mental Health and Well Being

High performing bodies are not just for athletes. High performing bodies are necessary for anyone with an idea or a goal. Our bodies matter because they are the means by which we bring our ideas to life. Our mental health matters because big goals take time, and we need to protect our capacity to ride out the bumps. Our bodies are amazing, but they come with parameters, and we need to understand those parameters to maximize our potential. Several user manuals already exist. It’s not a lack of knowledge we struggle with but consistency of habit. This is a talk that inspires you to action because you believe your potential is worth the investment.

Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events

“Stef delivered an absolutely magnificent opening speech at our annual Leadership conference in London this year [May 2022]. Through a series of powerful personal stories, she engaged with the audience on how to build an Adaptive Mindset and turn setbacks and personal differences to your advantage. With Equality & Inclusion at the core of our company values, Stef’s story around exploring the biases and assumptions that might hold us back was a perfect match. She had a natural ability to grip the audience from start to finish and was the talk of the event during the evening dinner. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for an external speaker to light up the room”. - Boaz , Senior Finance Director, Procter & Gamble, Northern Europe

“We were delighted to have Stef as our keynote speaker at the ScreenSkills Training Forum. She completely understood the, brief and was happy to liaise and tailor her speech so that everything linked back and was relevant to our themes of embracing change positively, adapting skillsets and enjoying training for something new. After also having the opportunity to ask Stef their own questions, our audience were left feeling very inspired by her story and responses on how to move forward when life changes.” - Emma, Head of Film CPD and Future Skills

“Stef Reid is phenomenal!!! Such powerful stories, so much energy and so engaging. People are hanging off her every word! Thank you for making the time for today’s panel and to help shape Barclays’ journey towards inclusivity and accessibility – [you were] amazing and made my job as a moderator so easy! Really hope we can keep the conversation going offline and any opportunity I can have to partner [with you] on this mission, please count me in.” - Taskeen, Head of Wholesale Onboarding & Group FCO, Barclays