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  1. Home
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  3. Sydney Williams
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Sydney Williams

Founder + Speaker + Author
Hiking My Feelings
Country or state 
United States
Available to 
Global
City 
Fee 
Ask for pricing
Languages 
English
Volunteer
Yes

Personal Details

Bio

When former collegiate athlete and competitive skydiver, Sydney Williams, unexpectedly found herself on the receiving end of a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, while grappling with unresolved trauma from a decades-old sexual assault, she set out on a mission: turn her pain into power. Two hikes across Catalina Island and 80 miles later, she founded Hiking My Feelings to help others tap into the mind-body connection and healing power of nature that helped kick her self-limiting beliefs and disease into remission.

Having more than 10 years of marketing experience with Fortune 500 companies and emerging brands, Sydney serves up her “truth juice” style of storytelling to break wide open tough conversations with practical, powerful content and experiences. Over the years, she’s been featured on the SXSW stage, as well as in Huffington Post, Psychology Today, US News & World Report, and numerous other publications. Today, she travels across the country empowering others to summit their personal mountains on their way to becoming Well Beings.

Current position (1)

Founder + Speaker + Author

Hiking My Feelings

Degrees (1)
Mass Communications
University of South Florida
2007 to 2009

Presentations

Presentations (2)
Hiking My Feelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail

After surviving two of the hardest years of her life, Sydney Williams was standing in an REI dressing room trying on hiking gear for her first backpacking trip. Looking back in the mirror was a woman (and body) she didn't recognize. She looked herself in the eye and simply asked, “GIRL, how did we get here?” It was a rhetorical question for the dressing room, but two thru-hikes across Catalina Island helped Williams establish the mind-body connection that was necessary for her to be able to face her trauma head-on and leave everything on the trail.

The first hike on the Trans-Catalina Trail was the hardest physical challenge Williams had ever tackled; it taught her how to love her body, and reminded her that she could do hard things. Nine months before her second journey, she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. By the time she hiked the island the second time, Williams was 60 pounds lighter. What would be possible if the hike itself wasn’t the hard part?

Your Empathy Evolution

Since hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail twice, I have been able to heal myself from the inside out and my Type 2 Diabetes is now in remission. Your Empathy Evolution is the foundational layer of the work I did to face my trauma head-on and start the healing journey. Before we can start unpacking our trauma packs, we have to learn how to speak more kindly to ourselves. This workshop is ideal for anyone who is having trouble quieting their inner critic and looking for solutions to help reframe limiting beliefs into powerful mantras and affirmations.

Past talks (19)
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Kansas Athletics - Women's Rowing Team
University of Kansas
August 27, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Missoula, Montana
August 8, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Becoming an Outdoors Woman - Friday Keynote
Missoula, Montana
August 9, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Bozeman, Montana
August 15, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Overland Park, Kansas
August 28, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Chicago, Illinois
September 4, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Vernon Hills, Illinois
September 7, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Ann Arbor, Michigan
September 10, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Cleveland, Ohio
September 11, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
REI Force of Nature Campout
Pittsburgh, PA
September 14, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Reading, MA
October 7, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Framingham, MA
October 8, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Cranston, RI
October 10, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
New York, NY (SOHO)
October 15, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Timonium, MD
October 16, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Washington, DC
October 17, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Raleigh, NC
October 23, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Charlotte, NC
October 25, 2019
#HikingMyFeelings: Healing Your Mind + Body on the Trail
Hiking My Feelings REI Speaking Tour
Asheville, NC
October 29, 2019
  • All (2)
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Slides (1)
  • Press information (1)
This speaker hasn't uploaded any videos yet.
This speaker hasn't uploaded any photos yet.
MONTANA: Glaciers, gratitude, and a standing ovation. — Hiking My Feelings®
This speaker hasn't uploaded any one sheet yet.
Hiking a path to healing: When destructive coping mechanisms failed the outdoors helped

Books & Articles (2)

Hiking My Feelings: Stepping into the Healing Power of Nature
Self,
2019
Hiking My Feelings: Connecting the dots between mind + body in the outdoors

Expertise (15)

Health & Well-being
Sport & Hobbies
Social & Political
Travel & Adventure
PR & Communications
sexual assault Diabetes Student Athlete Athlete Transition Self-awareness Storytelling for Activism Community Health Hiking Women Empowerment Mental health

Clients

REI
University of Kansas - Athletics Department
State of Montana - Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Finest City Improv
SXSW
CRAVE Chicago

Reviews

Testimonials (5)
  • I attended the #Hikingmyfeelings workshop at our local REI store last night. The event was in Grand Rapids, Michigan and it was well attended. Sydney gave her testimony in a passionate, sincere, and inspirational delivery. While several live symposiums I've attended amount to the keynote speaking at you, Sydney was careful to speak with you/us. It was a refreshing change to have been invited to participate and interact, albeit only as appropriate, given there of course was an agenda to follow. This level of engagement helped really solidify the message Sydney had to share, and it really served the audience (myself included) quite well. If your business/organization/group is looking for a motivational speaker that cuts past all the stereotypes and focuses on the benefits of life change(s) they've made, specifically with regard to how they may also help you/them, I highly recommend hiring Sydney to present her #Hikingmyfeelings program.
    Calvin Webb
    Verified
  • Sydney spoke at our Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshop in Montana and the women gave her a standing ovation at the end of her presentation. While she delivered a very serious message, she was also very engaging and entertaining and mixed humor into her presentation.
    Sara Smith
  • I've known Sydney for a while and have event had the pleasure of co-presenting with her on stage at SXSW Interactive. When I heard she was doing a talk about her upcoming book, Hiking My Feelings, at a nearby REI, I couldn't resist attending. There are a number of reasons why I loved Sydney's talk including the fact that she provided prescriptive advice to those with dealing with trauma/lifelong baggage. She was also funny and self-deprecating while telling the amazing story of her life journey and how it culminated in a life-altering experience on the Trans Catalina Trail in Southern California. If anyone is looking for a motivational speaker, Sydney is your woman.
    Aaron Strout
    Verified
  • A powerful, funny, deeply personal talk like nothing I've seen in the DC area. I went with a friend and was amazed at how much we had to talk about afterwards.
    Katherine Gypson
  • I went to this talk on a small whim - not knowing why I felt I should go since I am not an avid hiker but for the past year I have been wanting to learn more about hiking and how it helps with self healing as I am currently on my own journey. Not knowing anything about Sydney prior too the talk, and wanting to walk in blindly to her story I am so glad I did. I was inspired by her love of adventure and completely shocked at what led to her hiking as I am someone who is going through something freakishly almost identical. I was not expecting to leave there with such validation for myself, my past experiences and my journey. I felt like her sharing her story helped to validate what I'm going through. It gave me comfort, hope, and confidence listening to her speak. Not only that, she's just super rad. I'm looking forward to reading her book and can't wait to hear/read more!
    Maria
Recommendations
8 Audience
Show More
Why choose me? 

I'm sharing stories of how hiking helped me reverse my Type 2 Diabetes and quiet my inner critic.

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