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A performance artist since the day she was born, let us introduce you to Lyena Strelkoff. She would say she’s first and foremost a dancer and actress, and that goes without question, but now days she’s best known for motivational speaking.
From discovering the joy of storytelling when she was in rehab to developing a one-woman show that toured the country, check out the fascinating story of a woman who’s transformed her talents into a compelling art form aimed at helping the world understand the spinal cord injury experience.
Why She’s Fearless
Lyena’s journey into the unknown – life with paralysis – began in 2002. She was 33, had already lived an entire life as a dancer and actress, when she fell from a tree breaking her T10-11 vertebrae. Post-injury, she dedicated her life to walking again. In the first year, she was an active patient at Project Walk, even regaining the ability to voluntarily move her legs a small amount.
She was also fiercely determined to still be an artist. Within 7 months of her injury, Lyena performed a one-woman show, “The Road to Recovery,” where she shared inspirational and enlightening stories of her experience living with a spinal cord injury.
She believes this is needed for people without spinal cord injuries. She felt lost and alone in the beginning of her injury. People either underestimated her or overestimated her, but she didn’t want to get mad. She knew it was because they just didn’t understand SCI’s. She began compiling all of the stories and experiences she was having and developed them into a show.
And that show led her to creating a full length, autobiographical one-woman play she decided to call “Caterpillar Soup.” It was this play that catapulted her speaking career. It was only supposed to run for three weekends, but it got extended to six months and she went on to tour the show nationally.
Before she knew it, universities and organizations were asking her to speak as a motivational speaker; something she had never done before, but her one-woman play was in effect exactly that. This is how Lyena Strelkoff the motivational speaker was born.
What’s Next?
Since the beginnings of her speaking career, Lyena has been busy. She is busy doing shows in California whenever she can, and she still speaks and does storytelling. Lyena has also become a life coach, helping women in particular reach their full potential. She will host retreats as well to help participants reach their full potential. She also offers corporate coaching.
In her personal life, Lyena has been married to her husband Dean since 2006. They met when they were both stage actors, and they have a son Aidan.
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