Cy Wakeman
President & Founder | Keynote Speaker | Leadership Expert
Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, New York Times best-selling author, and 2023 World’s #1 Leadership Guru who is recognized for her Reality-Based approach to leadership. Backed by over 25 years of unparalleled experience partnering with top brands spanning all industries, Cy’s philosophy offers a modern approach to leadership in which employees and managers alike can deliver better results with less drama, higher engagement without entitlement, and more happiness in even the most challenging workplace realities.
Deemed “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace and the worldplace,” Cy empowers leaders to love their teams up while calling them up to greatness. Her client list includes Google, Meta, Viacom, NBC Universal, Keurig Dr. Pepper, NASA, Pfizer, CVS, Johns Hopkins, Stanford Medicine, Bank of America, among others.
As a highly sought-after conference headliner, Cy holds a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, placing her within the top 3% of speakers worldwide. In 2024, she was honored with the prestigious Council of Peers Award of Excellence (CPAE) and inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame, recognizing her as a professional speaker who has reached the top echelon of platform excellence by the National Speakers Association.
Cy’s avid fanbase online has surpassed 250,000 followers. Her Reality-Based Leadership newsletter that often goes viral within organizations reaches over 30,000 raving fans who discuss and apply her modern leadership techniques each and every week with their teams.
She has published four best-selling books, the latest of which is Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content (2022). Cy shares her latest leadership insights on the Reality-Based Leadership podcast where she offers practical ways to modernize how leaders evolve their teams beyond the challenges they face.
Request information on hiring Cy for a keynote or training at your next event by filling out this form, or calling us at 402-763-8963.
Speaking Program Topics
Rave Reviews
“Cy is consistently the highest-rated speaker at any event we host. This is especially notable when one considers the caliber of speakers who present at Women Lead Change events! She is also a speaker that provides ongoing opportunities for development, beyond her keynote. It is not uncommon for us to hear from organizations who use her books, podcasts, and videos as regular components to staff meetings and employee resource groups long after the conference.”
“Cy Wakeman’s virtual presentation was a gift to our very exhausted audience of nurse leaders. Her message was spot-on, providing pearls of wisdom and actionable tools that participants could immediately begin using in their day-to-day work as they press on through such challenging times. We could not have asked for a better speaker for a virtual format where our audience felt as though they were in the same room with her and each other.”
