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Traci Schubert Barrett

Founding Executive of HGTV; Founder of Navigate the Journey; Bestselling Author; Podcast Host

Traci Schubert Barrett is a best-selling author, a sought-after keynote speaker, and founder of Navigate the Journey. A founding executive of HGTV, she blends 20+ years in television with breakthrough leadership frameworks to help organizations drive sustainable performance, inspire ambition, and thrive through change.

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Bio

Before HGTV was a household name, Traci Schubert Barrett was in the room where it happened. As one of the founding executives of HGTV, Traci spent two decades helping transform a bold idea into a billion-dollar media empire. She knows firsthand what it takes to build something extraordinary and what it costs when ambition goes unchecked.

Today, as an international keynote speaker, executive coach, and best-selling author of What If There's More? Finding Significance Beyond Success, Traci brings that hard-won wisdom to stages across the country. With a Master's in Professional Psychology, 30+ years of business experience, and the battle scars to prove it, she coaches C-suite leaders and high-growth entrepreneurs on how to achieve sustainable excellence without losing their culture, their people, or themselves.

Her signature Healthy Ambition framework — built around Identity, Relationships, and Results — gives leaders a practical, proven roadmap to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Traci doesn't just motivate. She mobilizes.

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Keynotes

Featured Keynote

Healthy Ambition: Achieving Sustainable Excellence in a Changing World
Excellence is a constantly evolving target, and the pressure to stay ahead is relentless. Too many leaders are burning out while their organizations lose the very spark that made them great. We’ve taught leaders how to climb higher, but never how to survive the altitude once they get there.

Scaling excellence requires more than just effort; it demands a new kind of ambition. Healthy Ambition is the essential framework that teaches leaders how to close the gap between high-functioning and next-level performance, without sacrificing culture, creativity, or well-being.

In this transformative keynote, Traci Schubert Barrett, a founding executive of HGTV, best-selling author, and trusted advisor to high-performing teams, educates leaders on the importance of balancing results, relationships, and identity as they navigate the ever-changing world of work and pursue their highest potential without wavering or burning out.

Your audience will learn:
- How to sustainably be your best while navigating change and uncertainty
- The three critical leadership levers that drive resilience, connection, and impact
- Why “good enough” is the enemy of innovation—and how to reignite job joy
- Pitfalls to avoid when closing the performance gap
- How to bring their teams along with them in their healthy ambition journey
With a dynamic mix of business strategy and deep emotional intelligence, Traci delivers more than inspiration, she delivers a roadmap for organizations ready to grow with intention and thrive through change.

Embrace the impact of Healthy Ambition: Leadership that Endures. Growth that Sustains.

Target Audience: Leaders, Managers, Individual Contributors

Next Level Leadership: Redefining Ambition for the Modern Leader
Next Level Leadership: Redefining Ambition for the Modern Leader
In today’s fast-moving, high-pressure environment, the leaders who thrive aren’t the ones who push harder; they’re the ones who lead smarter, deeper, and with healthy ambition.

This keynote redefines what Next-Level Leadership looks like in a world that’s constantly shifting. Drawing from the Healthy Ambition framework, it challenges high-achieving leaders to pursue sustainable excellence by aligning three essential pillars: Identity, Relationships, and Results.

Through compelling stories, proven strategies, and the perspective of someone who helped launch one of the most successful brands in media, Traci Schubert Barrett invites leaders to move beyond achievement for achievement’s sake and embrace the kind of ambition that fuels clarity, connection, and sustainable success.

In this experience, leaders will:

Reframe ambition as a powerful, renewable force that sustains energy and impact

Sharpen the three essential dimensions of modern leadership: Identity, Relationships, and Results

Learn to scale their leadership in a way that strengthens culture and fuels innovation

Traci’s delivery blends executive savvy with deep insight, helping seasoned leaders reconnect with what drives them and how to drive others forward. It’s a strategic reset for leaders navigating complexity, growth, and people leadership at scale.

This isn’t just a talk. It’s a challenge to evolve, inspire, and lead with impact.

Target Audience: New managers, Middle Managers, Senior Leaders, Director Level, People Leaders
Freedom to Scale: Healthy Ambition for Entrepreneurs Who Want More, On Their Terms
Freedom to Scale: Healthy Ambition for Entrepreneurs Who Want More, On Their Terms
You’ve built a strong business. You’ve led well. And from the outside, it looks like everything is working.

But deep down, you may be wondering: What will it really take to grow this to the next level and will it cost me more than I’m willing to give?

Freedom to Scale is a keynote designed for high-performing entrepreneurs who are ready to scale with intention not exhaustion. Traci Schubert Barrett, a founding executive at HGTV and strategic advisor to growth-minded leaders, delivers a powerful, practical framework for pursuing more—more impact, more alignment, more success—without sacrificing yourself, your team, or your original vision.

Through her signature Healthy Ambition approach, Traci challenges business owners to release the fear that growth must come at a personal cost and instead embrace a better way forward.

In this keynote, entrepreneurs will gain:

A strategic framework to grow the business by evolving the leader behind it

The three growth levers that unlock sustainable success: clarity of purpose, aligned relationships, and exceptional results

A renewed mindset that shifts from I have to carry it all to we’re built for more

Freedom to Scale reframes scaling not as a burden but as a breakthrough. It’s for leaders who believe in what they’ve built and are bold enough to ask what’s possible when they stop playing small.

Because when you lead with healthy ambition, you don’t lose what makes your business great. You amplify it.

Target Audience: Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Leaders of Start-ups