Kristina Karlsson

Kristina Karlsson's Biography

Much loved the world over, Swedish born Kristina was the Founder of kikki.K, and more recently founded Dream Life (an inspiring & empowering brand turned global movement).

After growing up on a small farm in Sweden, aged 22 she found herself in Australia, half a world away from family & friends, with little money and no idea what to do with her life.

Kristina sold all she owned to create & build globally loved Swedish design & stationery business, kikki.K - from the ground up, to have: 120 award winning retail stores in 5 countries; a passionate team of ~1,500; a reputation for innovation & service excellence; an online store serving stationery & design lovers in over 150 countries …and total revenue of around $650m.

For over 20 yrs from start-up to mid 2021, Kristina won the hearts & minds of millions the world over, as the creative force and personality behind what was an authentic, founder & purpose led brand.

After a tumultuous experience thru the Covid pandemic - with forced closures of her stores - Kristina lost control of kikki.K and parted ways in heart-breaking circumstances. A riveting story with many learnings.

She has since bounced back - on a mission to inspire & empower 101 million people the world over to discover and chase their dreams - and is passionate about sharing her learnings to help others.

Kristina has spoken at hundreds of events across Australia, the UK, Europe, the US, the Middle East & Asia with audiences leaving inspired, motivated and ready to put ideas into action.”

Speaking Topics Include

Lessons from Growing and Losing a $650m Business… And Starting Again with a Smile

History is peppered with the real-life stories of people who have broken the mould – dreamed up a new future – and gone on to make those dreams reality. Kristina is one of them, and in this engaging and raw presentation, she shares the key business & personal lessons she learned along the way - from business success to failure – and starting again, with a smile.

…engaging, educating, inspiring & empowering audiences to make personal, team or organisational transformations.

• Many teams, organisations and people focus on goal setting – based on the constraints of what they see as their every-day realities. Kristina takes them to a new level – beyond constraints – to tap into their hearts as well as their minds in an unconstrained and powerful way.
• A great way to start strategy or planning sessions – or if you need to shake up and inspire your people to consider new approaches.
• As a valuable add-on, Kristina can facilitate her powerful and now famous 101 Dreams Workshop for you after the keynote, so people leave with dreams written on paper. Excited and ready to action. Personal, team, business, or all the above.

WHO IS THIS FOR:

Organisations and individuals who want to break open their thinking beyond the status quo. Suitable for small or large groups of people.

• As a highly relatable human-interest story - with universal learnings for all - Kristina’s presentation is appropriate and relevant for audiences from the C-suite through entire organisations, departments & teams.
• Can be customised for specific audiences

AUDIENCE KEY TAKEAWAYS, TANGIBLE OUTCOMES & ROI:

• A sense of self-belief that comes from “If she can do it, I can too”.
• Real life ‘insider stories’ from one of the worlds most loved brands – creating talkability, interest & buzz.
• Inspiring & practical learnings.
• When combined with Kristina’s 101 Dreams Workshop: Participants take away a long list of dreams written on paper – with the Top 3 identified – and a list of the 7 most important actions required to make each of them a reality.

101 Dreams Workshop (2.5 hours)

This highly productive hands-on workshop will leave participants inspired and with a long list of dreams written on paper – with their top 3 identified – and a list of the first 7 most important next steps required to make them a reality.

• Drawing on her personal experience writing her dreams on paper in her early twenties, and then making them happen, the learnings she made researching and writing her best-selling book about the power of dreaming and her knowledge as a global thought-leader on the power of dreaming – Kristina runs a hands-on workshop to help audiences discover their dreams (business, team, personal or all) and to create an action plan to go get them.
• The workshop takes participants through a creative approach to goal setting & strategy development – beyond constraints – to tap into their hearts as well as their minds in a powerful way.
• A great way to start strategy, team building or planning sessions – or if you need to shake up and inspire your people to consider new approaches.

WHO IS THIS FOR:

Organisations and individuals who want to break open their thinking beyond the status quo. Suitable for small or large groups of people.

• Kristina’s 101 Dreams Workshop is appropriate and relevant for audiences from the C-suite through entire organisations, departments & teams.
• Can be customised for specific audiences.
• As a follow-up, Kristina is available for coaching your best people 1-to-1 or in small groups.

AUDIENCE KEY TAKEAWAYS, TANGIBLE OUTCOMES & ROI:

A practical and repeatable process for dreaming as a business (or personal) innovation tool.

• A long list of dreams written on paper – with the Top 3 identified – and a list of the 7 most important actions required to make each of them a reality.
• A sense of self-belief that comes from “If she can do it, I can do it”.

Kristina’s presentation covers:

Growing a Globally Loved Brand from a Start-Up Dream to $650m turnover

Dreaming: Then Creating Your Future (whether team, business or personal)

Wellness: Maintaining Mental & Physical Wellness Through Challenges

Resilience: Finding the Silver Linings & Learnings in Adversity. With a Smile.

Developing & Maintaining Daily Habits for A Productive Work/Personal Life

Self-Belief: Harness the Power of Self Doubt & Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Goal Setting

Start-up & Entrepreneurship

Maximising Human Potential:

Personal Growth

Writing a Best-selling Book

Balancing Work & Life as a Mum