Entrepreneurship, Leadership and The Courage to Overcome Adversity

The journey of finding your greatness can reinvent and redefine who you are. It may redefine an a community. It may even redefine a culture.

Mid-life, Layne stepped away from the corporate world and entered an unusual, niche career: fundraising event auctioneer. A profession dominated by cis-gendered, white males; an industry not yet willing to stray from the norm. As a non-binary person, brand new out of auction school and with no client market, the odds were stacked against Layne at every turn. A decade later, Layne has found record-breaking success, redefining the role on their terms.

What does it take to blaze a new trail, break the stereotype, and defy convention? The answers are within Layne’s journey: grit, belief, skill, courage, and a lot of vulnerability.

In Bidding To Be Your Best, Layne demonstrates how to take the first step towards doing what you love. They give audiences insight into what it takes to overcome fear of failure, fear of adversity and how breaking stereotypes will lead you to greatness.

Layne relives the experience of being “The only gay in the village” at auction school in mid-west USA. Even after years of being top in the industry, they continue to experience challenging moments of gender discrimination.

With intelligent humour, emotionally charged storytelling and an educational lens, Layne draws listeners into their life experience. They unabashedly challenge the audience to dismantle their perceptions and beliefs about the meaning of success and societal expectations. Staying true to yourself always wins.

Why reinvent yourself and completely change how you present to the world? Because the anguish and heartache of hiding your truth becomes unbearable.   

​​​​​From childhood, throughout the painful teenage years, and into mid-life, Layne agonizingly held it all inside.  

​​​After decades of skillfully depicting themselves as a straight, cisgender woman, ​​a moment arrived where the truth could no longer be denied.   

With trepidation and gut-wrenching fear, Layne came out to friends and family. ​​The reaction to the news was not what Layne was expecting. Layne was mostly met with love and support, something that many in the LGBTQ2S+ community do not experience after such a bold admittance. 

​​​Empowered with their new authentic self, they began blazing a new trail, while embracing the community in which they ​​so proudly and openly belonged to now. 

And yet, as time passed, something still didn’t feel right for Layne. The label of “she”.  

In From She To They, Layne explains what identifying as “Non-Binary” means. ​     ​With correct language, and the understanding the importance of pronouns, listeners take away immediate learnings. Layne gives insight on what behaviors and actions are needed to become a more inclusive society.  

​​     ​Providing welcoming spaces for all genders is not a privilege, it’s a right. 

With dynamic story-telling, humour, emotion and an educational lens, Layne delivers a presentation that will activate audiences to be the best version of themselves and become a positive force in their home, work and community by creating welcoming spaces for all.  

​​​Learning Outcomes: 

• Reframe societal expectations to live freely and be authentically you. 
• Understand Non-Binary, and how to use pronouns correctly. 
• Feel the reality of a LGBTQIA+ professional in a seemingly binary world.
  

Target Audience:  

• LGBTQ2+ and allies  
• Leaders; Emerging, Corporate, Not for Profit  
• Students (post-grad/continuing education) 
• Professional Associations  
• Teams and Communities