Anne Mahlum
Entrepreneur, Runner, Risk Taker, Leader and Founder of [solidcore] and Back On My Feet
Anne Mahlum is an American entrepreneur, motivational speaker, experienced CEO, investor, advisor, philanthropist and athlete. She is extremely passionate about empowering people to live life on their own terms.
Born in North Dakota, there was very little in Anne’s childhood that would indicate she would one day be an innovative two-time founder and thought leader who would have a remarkable impact on countless people.
The beginning of Anne’s entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of extraordinary. In 2007, she found herself running by a homeless shelter in Philadelphia and had the foresight to realize that running and community could be the catalyst to truly change lives. She engaged the shelter to start a running club, which she quickly formed into a national non-profit called Back on My Feet. The organization, now with an $8M annual budget, uses running as a vehicle to help those experiencing homelessness become empowered to change their lives. Under Anne’s leadership as CEO, she grew the organization to 14 cities. Since its inception Back on My Feet has helped thousands of individuals achieve employment and more self-sufficient living.
But Anne didn’t stop there. She created success again when she founded pilates-inspired [solidcore] in 2013. As its founder and CEO, she grew it into one of the country’s most successful fitness companies in less than a decade by raising more than $210M through private equity to scale it to more than 120 locations across the US. The company currently has more than 2,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of clients, including former First Lady Michelle Obama. Anne successfully exited [solidcore] in April 2023 and shared millions with her employees after the sale.
A true self-made success story, Anne’s entrepreneurial ventures have resulted in a personal net worth of over $100M. She is currently spending her time investing, advising, speaking, writing her book, playing beach volleyball and supporting work aimed at helping those struggling with addiction and who have been wrongly convicted.
She regularly speaks at corporate events, academic institutions, and conferences on numerous topics, including leadership, entrepreneurship, being bold, finding your happiness, and social change.
Anne has been honored many times for her leadership and entrepreneurial spirit. Most recently, she was featured by CNBC for her continued success over the years. She has also been recognized by the Washington Business Journal as a ‘Women Who Mean Business’ winner and was named both an ABC World News Person of the Week and a CNN Hero for her work at Back on My Feet. She has given three TEDx talks about finding your passion, letting go of your complacency, and helping others. She has also received notable media attention highlighting her talent, including articles in CNBC, The Washington Post, The Washington Business Journal and Runner’s World.
How to Live Life on Your Own Terms
In her most requested keynote, “How to Live Life on Your Own Terms,” Anne inspires audiences to reshape their self-perception and take charge of their lives, regardless of their current circumstances. From her humble beginnings in North Dakota, Anne shares her journey to becoming a two-time founder, CEO, and influential thought leader. With humor and charm, she imparts digestible lessons on belief systems, fear, choice, betting on yourself, letting go, and unapologetically pursuing more. Anne’s authenticity and vulnerability guide the audience towards self-discovery, leaving them with a resounding “yes, I can” sentiment. A genuine and empowering speaker, Anne is an ideal choice for events aiming to inspire and uplift.
You will learn how to:
- Change your life by changing the way you see yourself
- Highlight your uniqueness to elevate your opportunities
- Know how to put yourself in position to win
- Stop letting fear make your decisions
- Accept that letting go is necessary if you want to grow
- Realize there is more than one right answer
- Adopt the mantra “I’m going to have myself a Day One”
How to Start, Build and Scale Your Company
Anne Mahlum, a highly successful entrepreneur, and CEO, shares her journey in the keynote, “How to Start, Build, and Scale Your Company.” In 2007, she founded Back on My Feet, a running club for a homeless shelter in Philadelphia, witnessing transformative changes in individuals through sport, community, and hard work. Anne successfully raised funds, expanded programming, and scaled the organization to a $6.5M budget in 12 cities within 6.5 years.
Later, she founded [solidcore], growing it to 100 locations and two thousand employees in 9.5 years before a $90M exit in April 2023. With extensive experience as a founder, CEO, and leader, Anne is well-positioned to speak on startup life, leadership, scaling, organizational sustainability, branding, community engagement, hiring, fundraising, and the art of successfully selling a company.
You will learn how to:
- Understand what is holding you back from starting your business.
- Figure out what kind of business makes sense for you to start.
- Level up so that you can start scaling the business.
- Work backwards from your goals.
- Hire and lead the right people
- Fundraise effectively for your business.
- Lead and form a succession plan for your exit
“I’ve never seen a more authentic, powerful and convincing speaker than Anne. She has a story like no other and she knows how to tell it”
EPAM
“Anne will captivate your audience with her humor, passion and conviction about what she believes is possible. She is one of the best speakers I have ever seen.”
AT&T
“Wow, just wow. Anne’s energy and ability to inspire left our audience fired up about their own potential. I highly recommend her for any event.”
John Hancock
“Anne presentation was amazing. One of the highest rated speakers we have ever had and we have had every big name speaker out there.”
The Dijulius Group