Nikki Stone

Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic Champion in inverted aerial skiing at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. What made this performance so unbelievable was that less than two years earlier, a chronic injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing down a slope at almost 40 miles per hour.

Nikki came dangerously close to being sidelined from aerial skiing indefinitely. Her tenacity and refusal to step down from a challenge brought Nikki Stone back to the top of the freestyle skiing podium. This top spot was far from foreign to Nikki, as throughout her career she earned 35 World Cup medals, eleven World Cup titles, four national titles, two yearlong Aerial World Cup titles, and a World Championship title. She became the first pure aerialist (male or female) to become the yearlong Overall Freestyle World Cup Champion.

Nikki now travels around the world working as a sought-after inspirational speaker sharing her secrets to success. Nikki has spoken for hundreds of thousands, from startups to Fortune 500 corporations—some of her clients include John Hancock, Merrill Lynch, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, American Express, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Procter and Gamble, Morgan Stanley, AT&T, Visa, 3M, New York Life, Johnson and Johnson, Hilton Hotels, Anheuser Busch, 3M, and many more. The American Speakers Bureau even named Nikki the International Professional Speaker of the Year one year.

She encourages and inspires her audiences to find their Turtle Effect by realizing their passions, triumphing over obstacles, and taking life-enhancing risks, like she did, to reach extraordinary goals that may initially seem unattainable. Nikki has further parlayed her skills and knowledge into her popular Motivational Minutes program that shares a year-full of inspiring videos filled with short segments that include unique, but relatable tips on peak performance, motivation, exercise, nutrition, and overall wellness to help people find their achievements. Because of Nikki’s successful background, the U.S. Olympic Committee engaged her to help train current and upcoming athletes on overcoming challenges, finding motivation, and dealing with these pressures at the Olympic Games. Due to her constant referrals as a motivational speaker, the United States Olympic Committee also contracted Nikki to train the Olympians in speaking, presentation, and mentoring skills. Nikki also authored the empowering book, When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How to Stick Their Necks Out, which was honored as an Amazon bestseller. Nikki was invited on the Today Show to share the success of the book. When Turtles Fly includes inspirational stories from successful individuals from all different arenas (politicians, actors/actresses, Fortune 500 business executives, musicians, bestselling authors, athletes, Nobel Prize winners, and more), and after each story, Nikki gives readers different activities that they can perform to help reinforce the behavior needed for success in their own business and lifestyle.

Stone also writes articles and columns for several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including the Huffington Post. Nikki is also a contributing author to the inspirational book Awaken the Olympian Within: Stories from America's Greatest Olympic Motivators. In addition to her skiing, authoring, and speaking endeavors, Nikki is also a Magna Cum Laude undergraduate of Union College in New York and a Summa Cum Laude Master’s graduate of the University of Utah in the field of Sports Psychology. Nikki has helped counsel athletes in helping them strive towards world-class productivity and performance. With her incredible academic record and her remarkable presentation skills, the University of Utah voted Nikki “Student of the Year” and asked her to work as a Visiting Professor to teach a class on Leadership. Nikki’s contributions span far beyond her professional career, as she devotes time to charities such as “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, “The Make-A-Wish Foundation” & “The American Cancer Society”, hosts group skiing adventures, and participates in numerous sponsor promotions for major national and international companies. She has also remained very involved philanthropically by sitting on five different Olympic, sports, and charitable committees. You may have seen Nikki through her numerous television appearances on such shows as The Today Show (4 separate times), Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman, CNN Early Addition, MSNBC Morning Line, ESPN’s Cold Pizza, FOX News Sports Express, CNN Business As Unusual, and FOX Sports News live. You could have also caught Nikki in one of her nationally televised commercials for companies like Chevrolet and Visa. Nikki now resides in Park City, Utah, and continually works to help people stick their necks out to reach whatever their gold medal may be.