Nikki Stone

At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic Champion in the sport of inverted aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable, was the fact 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. Stone came dangerously close to being sidelined from aerial skiing indefinitely.

Her tenacity and refusal to step down from a challenge brought Stone Stone back to the top of the freestyle skiing podium. This top spot was far from foreign to Stone, 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 also became the first pure aerialist ever (male or female) to become the yearlong Overall Freestyle World Cup Champion.

Stone now travels around the world working as a sought-after inspirational speaker sharing her secrets to success. Stone has spoken for hundreds of thousands now, including startups all the way 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. Stone was even named the International Professional Speaker of the Year one year from American Speakers Bureau Corporation. She encourages and inspires her audiences to find their Turtle Effect by realizing their passions, triumphing over obstacles and take life-enhancing risks, like she did, to reach extraordinary goals that may initially seem unattainable.

Stone has further parlayed her skills and knowledge into her popular Motivational Minutes program that share 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 own achievements.

Because of Stone’s successful background, the U.S. Olympic Committee engaged her to help train the current and upcoming athletes on overcoming challenges, finding motivation, and dealing with these pressures at the Olympic Games. And due to her constant referrals as a motivational speaker, the United States Olympic Committee also contracted Stone to train the Olympians in speaking, presentation, and mentoring skills.

Stone 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. Stone 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, Stone 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 a number of magazines, newspapers, and websites, including the Huffington Post. Stone 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, Stone 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. Stone 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 Stone “Student of the Year” and asked her to work as a Visiting Professor to teach a class on Leadership.

Stone’s contributions span far beyond her professional careers, as she devotes time to charities such as “Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation, “The Make-A-Wish Foundation” & “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, sport, and charitable committees.

You may have seen Stone 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 Stone in one of her nationally televised commercials for companies like Chevrolet and Visa.

Stone now splits her time between Hilton Head, SC and Park City, Utah and continually works to help people stick their necks out to reach whatever their gold medal may be.