Keynote Speaker · Author · Educator
You don't have to have it all figured out.
You just need the first step.
Anita Smith brings warmth, humor, honesty, lived experience, and meaningful conversation to the stage. Her presentations explore resilience, intentional living, connection, leadership, community, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't follow the plan.
This isn't motivation for the moment. It's an invitation to think, connect, and put purpose in motion.
What Happens in the Room
More Than a Message.
Anita doesn't arrive with a formula for fixing everyone's life. She creates space for people to think, laugh, reflect, connect, and consider what their next step might be. Her storytelling combines lived experience, thoughtful questions, humor, resilience, and honest conversation.
Seen
Not judged. Not talked at. Recognized.
Strengthened
Reminded that resilience doesn't require carrying everything alone.
Connected
More aware of the people, relationships, and community around them.
Intentional
Thinking differently about how they are showing up in their lives, organizations, families, and communities.
Ready for One Next Step
Not overwhelmed by ten things they should change tomorrow. Simply ready to move.
Signature Keynotes
Conversations That Put Purpose in Motion
From Intention to Action
Choosing Purpose Over Autopilot
It's easy to become busy without becoming intentional. This presentation explores what happens when we stop simply moving through our schedules and begin asking why we're moving in the first place. Through storytelling, reflection, and practical conversation, Anita challenges audiences to recognize where they may be drifting and identify one meaningful step toward greater intention.
Living Tenaciously
Resilience Built Through Connection
Resilience is often portrayed as the ability to endure more, work harder, and keep going alone. Anita offers another perspective. What if resilience is also built through relationships, honest conversations, asking for help, serving others, and recognizing that we were never meant to navigate life's challenges by ourselves?
Purpose in Motion
Moving Forward Without Losing Yourself
Purpose doesn't require having your entire future mapped out. Sometimes purpose begins with enough clarity — and enough courage — to take the next step. Anita explores how people can move through transition, uncertainty, change, and unexpected seasons without losing sight of who they are and what matters most.
Why Anita
She's Lived Some Life.
Anita's perspective doesn't come from a textbook. It comes from decades of showing up — in classrooms, in communities, in unfamiliar places, and in the quiet moments where life asks hard questions.
- More than 30 years as an educator, working with students and families across diverse communities.
- Extensive international travel and student leadership across Europe and Latin America.
- Author of the Scattered book series and contributing author to The Art of Connection: 365 Days of Resilience.
- Founder of Live Tenaciously — a brand built on the belief that purpose is meant to be lived, not just talked about.
Her experience as a writer, storyteller, educator, traveler, and community builder gives Anita the ability to connect ideas to real human experiences. Anita doesn't speak at audiences. She speaks with them.
Who Anita Speaks To
Different Rooms. Human Questions.
The core principles of Live Tenaciously remain consistent. The language, stories, emphasis, and application are shaped by the people in the room.
Corporate & Professional
Resilience Isn't Just Personal.
Organizations are made of people. Change, burnout, uncertainty, communication challenges, leadership transitions, and disconnection affect the people behind every organization. For professional audiences, Anita's presentations can explore resilient leadership, intentional leadership, human connection, communication, navigating change, community within organizations, purpose and professional identity, and moving from intention to action.
Faith & Community
Faith. Connection. Purpose.
Anita's Christian faith is an authentic part of her life and work. For churches, retreats, ministries, and faith-based organizations, presentations can more openly explore faith, Scripture, service, community, resilience, and purpose. The tone remains conversational, welcoming, and human — meeting people where they are.
From the Books to the Stage
The Stories Didn't Stay on the Page.
Her books grew from observations, journaling, conversations, life's unexpected moments, and the questions that follow. Speaking allows those conversations to continue in the room.
Scattered
Reflection
Amplifying Life Mano a Mano
Connection
Live Tenaciously
Purpose in Motion
What People Are Saying
Words from the Room
Testimonials coming soon — check back as Anita's speaking calendar grows.
Planning an Event?
Everything You Need Is Here.
We want to make your planning process as easy as possible. Below you'll find the resources your team needs to confirm Anita for your event.
Speaker kit coming soon — reach out directly and we'll send everything your way.
Event Inquiry
Let's Start a Conversation.
Every audience is different. Every room has its own story. Let's talk about your people, your event, and the conversation you want them to remember after they leave.
Live Tenaciously
Purpose in Motion. Together.