Craig Kielburger
- Co-Founder, Ambassador for Free The Children (Volunteer)
- Author/Co-Author of 12 books, including the New York Times bestseller Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World
- Social Activist
Travels From
Canada
Craig Kielburger Speaker Biography
“The honorarium received for Marc and Craig’s speaking engagement is used to support their work and social enterprise structure based on Me to We www.metowe.com. The Social Enterprise structure is designed to make socially responsible living the norm while financially helping to support their series of organizations which they co-founded to help change the world.”
Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author and captivating speaker, inspiring millions to improve their communities and the world through daily actions. Craig is the co-founder, along with his brother, Marc, of Free The Children, an international charity, Me to We, an innovative social enterprise, and We Day, a signature youth empowerment event.Craig’s journey as a child rights activist began at the age of 12, when he reached for the morning comics and noticed the newspaper’s front page. The headline read, “Battled Child Labour, Boy, 12, Murdered.” Being 12 himself, Craig felt an immediate connection and took the story with him to school. When he asked his class for help to tackle the issue of child labour, 11 students raised their hands. Free The Childrenwas born. What began as a group of a dozen kids has grown into an international charity. Free The Children programs have empowered more than one million beneficiaries. To date, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools and school rooms in developing countries, providing education to more than 55,000 children every day. Inspired by Craig’s life mission, Oprah’s Angel Network partnered with Free The Children to fund 68 schools.
Through Me to We, Craig and Marc are advancing a new vision of philanthropy that connects business to a social purpose. Every year, Me to We reaches hundreds of thousands of socially-conscious consumers. It provides full-time employment to over 1,000 women artisans in Kenya, and has created a global market for their work through partnerships with leading retailers, including Nordstrom, Virgin and PacSun. Half of Me to We’s annual net profit is donated to Free The Children, while the other half is reinvested to grow the enterprise and its social mission. Through We Day, a series of inspirational stadium-sized events, Craig and Marc connect with 200,000 students from 5,000 schools every year. These students earn their entry to the celebration through serviceprograms. Speakers and performers include Prince Harry, Richard Branson, and Jennifer Hudson. With more than 5 million followers on Facebook, We Day has become one of the largest charitable causes in the world.
Craig and Marc are the co-authors of 12 books, including the New York Times bestseller Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World. Their weekly columns are syndicated in over 30 newspapers across North America. Craig is the youngest-ever graduate from the Kellogg Schulich Executive MBA program.
For his work to advance human rights, Craig has been awarded 15 honorary doctorates and degrees, and has received the Order of Canada, the Roosevelt Freedom From Fear Medal, the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, and the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. His work has been featured through multiple appearances on 60 Minutes, as well as in National Geographic, TIME and The Economist
Call Executive Speakers Bureau to book Craig Kielburger 901-754-9404.
CHANGE, RESILIENCY AND DOING MORE WITH LESS
Craig Kielburger’s story is one of perseverance over WE’s 25-year history. Craig launched WE in 1995, at age 12, with a small group of classmates in his parents’ living room. In this talk, he will share inspiring lessons of resilience from the organization’s evolution. As this scrappy start-up became a global charity benefiting one million people around the world, Craig quickly discovered how to do more with less and to take change for granted.
He will share lessons about leadership during tough times as he shifted the organization’s mission after early missteps—attempts to free children from labor that were not sustainable. Through this, he discovered how to do a lot with very little, and he will share tangible tips in this talk.
Eventually, strategic partnerships with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson brought rigor, sustainability, and growth, and Craig will share insights from these leaders and others.
To diversify and stabilize funding, Craig co-founded ME to WE, one of the first registered social enterprises in Canada, a pioneer model that set precedents for the sector.
WE’s evolution continued as Craig and the team adapted domestic and global operations in the face of COVID-19. A massive shift of its core operations was executed over just a few weeks at the most turbulent time in recent memory, with WE Schools domestic programming moved to exclusively digital content and a focus on youth mental health at this time of heightened anxiety. Overseas, the charity’s hospitals are on the frontlines of the pandemic. This talk will also share lessons and tell stories from the field.
Me to We: How One Person Can Make a World of Difference
In their two decades of humanitarian work, Craig and Marc have visited dozens of countries, meeting people from all walks of life. They have learned from some of the greatest spiritual, political and social leaders of our time, including Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, and have shared simple meals with families struggling in the world’s slums and war zones. Along the way, they have discovered a simple but profound truth—that real fulfillment starts with having the courage to reach out and help others. It all begins when we make the shift from me to we. In this speech, Craig and/or Marc will help you discover the Me to We philosophy, described in their New York Times bestseller, Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World.
Tangible takeaways:
- Learn how to create your legacy while meeting the demands of a busy life.
- Achieve a deeper sense of gratitude for life’s simple pleasures and moments.
- Find inspiration in the teachings of the world’s heroes and take your first step to making lasting change.
- Equip yourself with practical tools for living the Me to We philosophy through daily choices and actions.
- Take steps toward a greater sense of purpose and fulfilment in the workplace, in your relationships and in your family.
What For-Profit Companies Can Learn from High Performing Non-Profits
For a new generation of business leaders and social entrepreneurs, making an impact means more than the bottom line. As the founders of Me to We, an innovative social enterprise, Craig and/or Marc will share insight on how to infuse your company with a sense of purpose, elevate your brand, differentiate your products and inspire your employees. In this speech, you’ll discover how to celebrate the positive impact that your company and employees bring to the world. Me to We has partnered with leading companies such as KPMG and Virgin Atlantic to build robust corporate citizenship programs, resulting in more engaged employees and clients and an improved brand reputation.
Tangible takeaways:
Highlight your brand’s social impact through storytelling, and celebrate this impact with your employees and customers.
- Discover how to attract and retain the best talent and inspire employees by infusing your workplace with purpose.
- Learn how the Kielburgers built one of the largest social media followings in the world and how to connect people to amplify your message.
- Gain insight on communicating with the millennial generation of employees and consumers who seek to make an impact through their work and purchases.
The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Kids Who Care and Contribute
For all those who help to shape children’s lives: parents, caregivers, educators, communities
Today, more than ever, the world needs your kids. Through their work with Free The Children, an international charity driven by youth, Craig and Marc have empowered more than two million young leaders to take action to better their local and global communities. Based on their international bestseller, The World Needs Your Kid: Raising Children Who Care and Contribute, this speech will provide key insights on guiding children to be compassionate and engaged global citizens. Their research is based on over a thousand interviews with experts on mentorship and early childhood development, and will help you guide young people through rites of passage, address materialism and foster empathy.
Tangible takeaways:
- Learn how to help children realize their own unique gifts and discover the causes they care about.
- Explore the Three C’s for raising socially conscious kids: Compassion, Courage and Community.
- Discover how everyday actions can have a lasting influence on a child—resulting in new friendships, improved grades and higher self-esteem.
- Learn how to introduce schools
Putting Our Families First
Experience A 3-4 hour workshop for parents and youth age 8+
In this workshop for parents and youth, Craig and/or Marc Kielburger share ground-breaking lessons on nurturing children to care about the world around them. Based on the Kielburgers’ international bestseller, The World Needs Your Kid: Raising Children Who Care and Contribute, this workshop experience will provide you with practical tips for raising socially responsible children, strengthening family bonds and changing the world—all at the same time.
The workshop experience:
- Begins with an inspirational keynote address for the whole family.
- Two simultaneous break-out sessions—one for parents, led by Craig or Marc Kielburger, and one for children, led by expert youth facilitators who help children identify their unique gifts and passions.
- Wrap-up session where children and parents share action plans for a family volunteer activity.
