Have Marlys Speak at Your Event
An award-winning author and motivational speaker, Marlys Johnson Lawry is available to speak at your next event. Inspired by the wilderness journey she navigated with her first husband and then taking a risk at later-in-life love, Marlys speaks on how to rebuild a life when loss impacts us.
What you can expect from me
✓ Prompt responses to your email and phone calls
✓ A pre-event phone call to clarify what you expect of me
✓ A blurb about your event on my blog (if the event is open to the public)
✓ A professional presentation designed to fit your needs, including a “call to action” hand-out, as appropriate
✓ Post-event communication for any feedback you might have to offer
A little about my experience
A member of Oregon Christian Writers (OCW) and Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA), I have more than 10 years speaking experience and have been interviewed for local and national radio, TV, podcast, magazine, and newsprint.
My blog site is updated frequently, I’ve been published multiple times in Chicken Soup for the Soul and Bella Grace magazine, and I’m a regular contributing writer for Grit and Grace Life.
After 6 years of widowhood, I married a cancer widower — a kind and thoughtful man who supports my writing and speaking. Between the two of us, we have 9 adult children and children-in-law, and 9 grandchildren. We make our home in Bend, Oregon, and our spare time is spent hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, camping, and playing with the grands.
Most-requested topics
Listed are some of the most-requested topics. I can also tailor my presentation to fit the theme of your event:
✓ Living forward after loss. How and why we should recruit a team for living forward with and beyond adversity: Good nutrition, increased physical activity, stress management, gratitude, getting plugged into community, and finding ways to give back.
✓ Effective tips for caregivers: The importance of self-care, attitude management, and making positive choices for quality of life.
✓ How to recognize fear and knock down the protective brick walls we construct around our hearts after failure, rejection, or loss. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
✓ Embracing new purpose. An assortment of choices we can make for rebuilding a life when loss impacts us. What if we could love our new purpose just as much as the old one we didn’t want to lose?
Previous speaking venues
I have presented to a variety of audiences at university cancer centers, to nursing and college students, and to the healthcare professionals. Here is a sampling of previous speaking venues:
• National Cancer Institute – Bethesda, MD
• California Nursing Students Association State Convention – Ontario, CA
• Legacy Women’s Conference – Boise, ID
• Jackson Hole Rotary Supper Club – Jackson, WY
• The Stupid Cancer Show – New York, NY
• Princeton Alliance Church – Princeton, NJ
• Univ of WA Fred Hutchison Cancer Center – Seattle, WA
• Upper Vermont “Man to Man” event – Montpelier, VT
• “A Day of Encounter” Women’s Event – Redding, CA
• University of South Florida Moffitt Cancer Center – Tampa, FL