Erika Cramer

Erika Cramer's Biography

From a challenging past marked by trauma, abuse, and foster care, to joining the U.S. Army as a teenager and facing life-altering adversities like breaking her back and early widowhood, Erika Cramer has journeyed through monumental struggles.

Today, she is renowned as The Queen of Confidence, a global leader in the world of confidence coaching, empowering women worldwide to reclaim their lives. To date, her programs have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of women globally.

Erika Cramer's life is a testament to the unyielding power of resilience and healing, proving that overcoming obstacles only serves to make us stronger.

She is on a dedicated mission to support as many women as possible in healing their past, reclaiming their power, and creating the life of their dreams.

Erika Cramer is a leadership and performance speaker, mindset expert, and Penguin Random House bestselling author who helps individuals and organisations build the confidence, resilience, and mental toughness to perform at their best when it matters most.

She grew up in foster care, joined the U.S. Army at 17, broke her back in a near-fatal accident, and was widowed, all before the age of 25. She rebuilt from all of it, and now she helps others do the same. That experience is the foundation of everything she brings to a stage.

A U.S. Army veteran who served for a decade, TEDx speaker, and currently completing a Bachelor's in Psychotherapy, Erika brings a psychology-backed, research-driven approach to every stage, combined with military discipline and over a decade of coaching leaders and teams globally. Her latest book, Becoming Magnetic, was published by Penguin Random House in 2025.

She works with leaders and organisations across every level and industry, delivering keynotes that don't just motivate but move people into practical, tangible action that lasts long after the event ends.

Erika’s presentations go beyond her own personal stories of resilience, to explore what it takes to unlock potential, conquer fears and operate at your best. Erika dives into core themes of mindset, resilience and personal leadership to fill her audiences with energy and move them into action.

To enquire about Erika for your event contact Helene Greenham directly – helene@platinumspeakers.com.au

Speaking Topics Include

The high performance mindset

How high performers build the grit, self-belief, and mental toughness to lead at their best

The gap between a high performer and someone performing at their highest level is almost never about skill, experience, or intelligence, it is mindset. Drawing on Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura's self-efficacy research and Angela Duckworth's work on grit, Erika gives audiences a practical, research-backed framework for the mental habits that make high performance repeatable, and the resilience to keep showing up when conditions stop cooperating.

Best for: Sales kickoffs, annual conferences, leadership summits, employee development days, association conferences. Works for any industry, any seniority level, any audience size.

The resilient leader

How senior leaders build the mental toughness and presence to lead at the highest level

At the highest levels of leadership, the technical skills that got you there are not the thing that keep you there, what keeps you there is the ability to lead through uncertainty without losing your people. Drawing on Harvard Business Review's resilience research and Google's Project Aristotle findings on psychological safety, Erika gives senior leaders the inner framework for leading themselves through adversity and the practical tools for creating teams that perform at their highest under pressure.

Best for: Executive retreats, C-suite events, leadership development programs, management off-sites, sales leadership conferences, senior team away days.

The mental edge

How leaders build the mindset to navigate change, overcome adversity, and perform at their best

The difference between a leader who performs through change and one who gets stuck in it is rarely experience or talent, it is the mental habits they have built and how they have learned to respond when circumstances stop cooperating. Drawing on Steven Hayes' clinical research on psychological flexibility, Erika gives audiences the tools to feel the discomfort of change, uncertainty, or adversity fully and still move toward what matters, making this keynote ideal for change programs, R U OK Day, and mental health and wellbeing days.

Best for: Annual conferences, leadership summits, change management events, mental health and wellbeing days, R U OK Day and World Mental Health Month programming, resilience programs.

Lead without limits

How high performers break through their own barriers and step into the leader they are capable of being

Most high performers are not held back by a lack of opportunity, talent, or experience, they are held back by themselves and the gap between who they are being and who they know they are capable of becoming. Drawing on Albert Bandura's research on self-efficacy and Carl Rogers' work on the real self versus the ideal self, Erika gives audiences the inner framework and the practical process for closing that gap for good.

Best for: Leadership development programs, personal growth conferences, management off-sites, professional development events, sales conferences.

Show up. Stand up. Speak up.

How women step into authority, speak up, and get seen

Women's leadership events, International Women's Day, DEI programming, and women's ERGs are one of the strongest categories in the Australian speaking market, and Erika is one of the most in-demand voices in this space. She gives audiences the confidence to speak with authority in rooms where they have historically been overlooked, the tools to ask for what they want, and a shift in identity from doing good work quietly to leading visibly and unapologetically.

Best for: Women in leadership events, IWD conferences, women's ERG programming, DEI summits, industry conferences with women's tracks, Business Chicks-style events.