Advocate · Bestselling Author

Elizabeth Smart

Elizabeth is available for speaking engagements to tell her incredible and inspiring story of overcoming adversity.

01 Biography

Elizabeth's story

The abduction of Elizabeth Smart was one of the most followed child abduction cases of our time. Elizabeth was abducted on June 5, 2002, and her captors controlled her by threatening to kill her and her family if she tried to escape. Fortunately, the police safely returned Elizabeth back to her family on March 12, 2003, after being held a prisoner for 9 grueling months.

Through this traumatic experience, Elizabeth has become an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs, and National legislation. Elizabeth triumphantly testified before her captor and the world about the very private nightmare she suffered during her abduction, which led to conviction.

The Founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, Elizabeth has also helped promote The National AMBER Alert, The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions.

Elizabeth has chronicled her experiences in the New York Times best-selling book, "My Story." In addition, she and other abduction survivors worked with the Department of Justice to create a survivors guide, entitled, “You're Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment.” This guide is meant to encourage children who have gone through similar experiences not to give up but to know that there is hope for a rewarding life.

Elizabeth has recently released a new powerful and inspiring book about what it takes to overcome trauma, find the strength to move on, and reclaim one’s life. "Where There’s Hope" is the result of Elizabeth’s mission: It is both an up-close-and-personal glimpse into her healing process and a heartfelt how-to guide for readers to make peace with the past and embrace the future.

Elizabeth’s abduction and recovery continue to motivate parents, law enforcement and leaders worldwide to focus on children’s safety. She emphasizes vigilance by "everyday" people and the belief that hope always exists to find every missing child.

Smart attended Brigham Young University, studying music as a harp performance major. She married her husband Matthew in 2012, and they now have two beautiful children. Elizabeth’s example is a daily demonstration that there really is life after tragedy.

02 Watch

Video & Media

“In the wake of a violent or traumatic experience, we’re left to struggle with some of life’s toughest questions: Will this thing that happened always define me, or will I redefine myself with the choices I make?”

03 Speaking

Speaking Topics

Detours

In this moving and empowering presentation, inspired by her new book Detours, Elizabeth Smart explores how unforeseen challenges can derail our intended paths in life. Moving beyond her well-known story of survival, she shares an intimate look at the ongoing journey of healing and the resilience required to forge a new way forward.
Detours demonstrates the shift from victim to driver. The core of the message is that while we cannot control the "rockslides" (trauma, loss, sudden change), we are the only ones who can steer the vehicle through the unmapped terrain that follows. This topic applies to not only survivors of crimes and unthinkable trauma, it applies to Job Loss, Divorce, Family Issues, midlife crisis and issues everyone faces in their lives. It encourages a shift of perspective to all us to succeed, regardless of the circumstances and challenges we face.
Here are 6 key takeaways from Detours for a high-impact motivational keynote:

Stop Chasing the "Ghost Life" (Letting go of "how it should have been").
Reclaiming the "Driver’s Seat" (Agency and small, personal choices).
The "Safety" of Discomfort (Choosing growth over the familiar).
Perspectives from the "Altitude" (Finding your "ranch" or grounding space).
Defining "Home" as a Feeling (Arrival is about peace, not a specific map coordinate).

These six takeaways as individual, standalone keynote concepts. Each one features a central Insight from your story and a universal Keynote Application for the audience.

Overcoming Adversity: The Elizabeth Smart Story

Elizabeth shares her incredible story of perseverance in the face of unimaginable adversity. Her speech not only tells her personal story, but also discusses topics such as overcoming extreme adversity, the importance and process of recovery, and not allowing your past to dictate your life's future, healing, never giving up. Elizabeth knows that there is nothing more important than having hope in a difficult situation. Having lived through an extreme circumstance as a young teenager, Elizabeth gives great insight and hope to all.

Smart Talks: I've Never Told Anyone

This session includes Elizabeth, a psychologist and Elizabeth’s father Ed in addition to an emcee. It is an interactive program for college students to discuss issues associated around women empowerment, rape and dating.

04 Reviews

Testimonials

Elizabeth Smart was our featured guest speaker at New Day for Children’s annual brunch and she was wonderful! She shared part of her story, giving hope and courage to us all. New Day provides funding to American girls who have been rescued from sex trafficking, so that they can get the long-term care and education needed to heal body, mind and spirit. We flew several girls in from around the country and they were able to spend an hour or so in private with Elizabeth. She was warm and gracious and gave them a glimpse of what life can be after trauma. She gave them hope for a better future.

Sharon Wood Healing mind, body, and spirit of American girls rescued from sex trafficking. Executive Director March 2020

Elizabeth Smart was a critical part of the CEC Love & Hope Gala. From the moment she arrived, she was gracious and kind. She was engaged in our program and listened to us tell our story to the more than 450 guests. As she took the stage to visit with our emcee, Jody Dean, you could hear a pin drop in the room. Hearing her story in her own voice was very moving and she did an amazing job of connecting her story to ours, increasing the impact felt by people in the room as they generously donated to CEC programs and families. Elizabeth Smart was an incredibly smart choice for our gala and we will be forever grateful that we could spend a little time with her!

September 2019 Love & Hope Gala, Keller, TX

Recently Elizabeth came to SAP and told her amazingly powerful survival story to our employees. She was extremely honest throughout her presentation, and employees left feeling inspired from her underlying message of perseverance and hope. She was a pleasure to work with and is a truly remarkable woman.

Meghan Vinci, Senior Operations Specialist, SAP Software Company July 2019

Thank you for your help in having Elizabeth speak to the ABF Fellows. She gave a fantastic talk. The audience was made up of federal and state court judges and lawyers. The audience is used to people with above-average public speaking abilities, but several commented afterwards how very poised and articulate she is. What she said came from her heart, and because she so genuinely shared her experience with the victim interview process and court system, we all came away with awareness of how to make the process work better.

Juli Blanch, Attorney at Law, Parsons Behle & Latimer July 2019

We were able to have Elizabeth Smart as a featured speaker for the Interfaith Women’s Conference 2019 in Tacoma, WA. She spoke on a Friday night before our main conference day, and the event was open to the public while the conference the next day was for women only.

Elizabeth begins many of her talks by painting a picture of herself at age 14; shy, naive young teen who loved her family and played the harp. She describes her captivity, her suffering, her loss of hope. And then, during this talk, she began to talk about how she kept hope alive as she spent nine months in captivity. She thought about her family, and what they taught her about God and her faith, and decided that she wanted to live.

Her talk had the audience riveted. We found ourselves cheering for this teenager who turns out to have amazing strength. She was, in her unassuming way, a powerful voice for strength and hope (this was the theme of our conference, so she fit in perfectly.)

Before her speaking event, we hosted a VIP reception for certain ticketholders. I know she was tired from traveling, and had a tiny baby upstairs in the hotel who she would have liked to rock. But - she was gracious, kind and attentive to every person at the reception. She allowed individual and group pictures, which thrilled everyone there. Elizabeth was easy to work with, generous with her time and her story, and gracious to the end. We loved having her, and have had so many comments about her wonderful presentation. Thank you Elizabeth!

Melinda Huish Co-Chair, Interfaith Women's Conference 2019

Elizabeth Smart was terrific, easy to work with, connected with the crowd, and she had a full house. She was all we had hoped she would be.

Minot State University - April 2019

There’s a buzz in our city, it exceeded our expectations.

Sherry Patterson, SEARHC, Juneau, AK 2019

From the moment Elizabeth arrived, her presence brought peace, love and understanding. It was a beautiful experience for all of our attendees to feel this permeate through her message. Everyone left feeling edified, strengthened and fixed with hope... the same hope that she herself has fought fiercely to promote! This of corse radiates through all of her marvelous work.

Andrea Monfredi, Women Of Light Conference 2018

Elizabeth Smart was a powerful, engaging, inspiring speaker. Hearing her share her incredible story of survival is an event few will ever forget. She is candid, honest and not afraid to share personal details from her past to help others dealing with challenging situations. "-Nate Eaton, East Idaho News 2018

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