Carina Bruwer

Keynote

"Against The Current" is a powerful, inspirational and entertaining keynote in which Carina Bruwer takes the audience on a journey through the extremes of challenging her own human and professional limits, in pursuit of progress and altruism.

From turning a musical vision into reality against all odds, to brushing with death in pursuit of a childhood dream; from building a sustainable business from the Covid ashes, to marathoning through shark infested waters to feed starving musicians; and from breaking world records to standing strong against injustice in the face of the threat of losing her own home, Carina's real-life stories require no embellishment.

Through personal analogies, she shows with great effect how and why our imagination is our strongest asset, how to mediate with fear in order to manifest the ideas which may seem beyond our capacities, and how to continually access the strongest version of yourself to be able to confront life's adversities.  The audience walks away with new tools to navigate a life and time where so much seems beyond our control, and to (re)discover their purpose and show up in a way that benefits their work, themselves, and those in their orbits.

Awards & Distinctions

• South African Music Award (SAMA) 2011 for Sterling EQ Live in Concert which Carina produced
• Tempo Award for best instrumental album of the Year 2013 for the Sterling EQ album Pulse Carina executive produced
• Cosmopolitan Awesome Woman award 2005
• Ghoema Award for best instrumental album of the Year 2013 for the Sterling EQ album Pulse which Carina executive produced
• Lewis Pugh Trophy for the most outstanding swim of the year (2006) – based on speed and quality – for crossing False Bay (36km) in 10 hours, 58 minutes
• Supersport Champions Award (2004)
• ATKV Musiq Award for the best performance of a South African work
• ATKV Muziq Category Prize 
• Distell Music Prize
• Huguenot Prize
• UNISA Overseas Study Bursary runner-up prize
• Various SAMRO prizes and a Kanna award nomination

Media

• CNN's African Voices aired a 10-minute long in-depth profile interview with Carina during 2015
• Main Profile Feature on Gilette World Sport
• Profile features on many major SA television productions including Kwela, Pasella, The Power Within
• Prime time news inserts on SABC1, 2 and 3 and ETV
• In print media she has made the front page of most local newspapers, and has been featured in glossies including Sarie, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Sports Illustrated and Shape Magazine, amongst many others, while she was featured as one of Glamour mag's 12 "Women We Loved" and a "Cosmo Awesome Woman".

Client Feedback

As leaders, we identify with the water in which you find yourself. The water in which we find ourselves is often a lot hotter, but it’s filled with predators, whose intent is to make our job more difficult. Loike yours, our water has very strong currents and we’re never quite sure from day to day what we’ll be swimming up against. Sometimes that even puts us off course. What struck me most about your talk, funny enough, was the video clip of you coming out - it appears as if you’ve sacrificed something of yourself; there is suffering in what you do. But you describe it so well - especially in the shift of your story - the motivation has come from elsewhere: because you do it for others. You came out quite clearly broken by the task that you took on, and I found that particularly and personally inspiring, because sometimes it does feel that you are quite literally putting yourself on the line every day, and that there is a personal cost to altruism.

I think for all of us, there are so many voices that say that what we do is impossible and that it can’t be done and that it shouldn’t be done.  We need to listen to a flautist come ocean swimmer to remind us that within that first hour, it’s easy to give up, it’s the easy option. But we have to get to a point where we say that we do not play second flute. We are principal flautists in our own way, and that’s gonna cost us something.

Thank you for your powerful and inspirational message and your story and thank you for everything you are doing quite far outside of your own self, for others. It’s a story worth telling again and again.

Grant Butler, Heads 2Gether Conference, August 2022

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We absolutely loved Carina and will definitely make use of her again.  The audience and our guests rated her an average of 10 out of 10!  Thank you so much.  Elmarie Jooste, BestMed Women Luncheon 1 August 2019

My gosh! The journey you took us on was such an inspiration! The metaphors that were presented between the ocean and life were so real and true. You delivered your talk with such humility and how you turned your passion into something that you could give back is really a lesson for all. Also loved watching your strokes under the water as I have taken up swimming in the last year, not ocean yet :)   Shani Judes, organizer – Wavescape Slide Night

I was engrossed and simply loved your talk.  I was sitting listening to your determination, your “self” wanting to achieve, your personal enjoyments, the ego, your disappointments in failure, your achievements, and yet you spoke of the lack of feeling fulfillment…. until the LITTLE FIGHTERS cancer trust came into the equation, and you found meaning of contribution to what you do. Thank you so much. It made a profound impact on my thought processes.  And by the way, your two little girls are so pretty, so precious! Go well special lady. You are an inspiration indeed!  Natalie Wittwen – The School of Lifestyle Medicine

What an eye opener; everyone just loved your talk!  And your timing is simply impeccable.  Thanks again.  Ross Johnson - St Cyprian's School

Quotes

"Carina Bruwer, musician and record-breaking open-water swimmer, with a powerful mix of humility and humour, blasted the audience with a ray of inspiration around her long distance swimming exploits" - The Green Times