Keynote speaker in South Africa: lived experience, not theory.

What makes Carina different from other keynote speakers

Most keynote speakers are professional speakers. Carina Bruwer is an entrepreneur, an elite athlete and a musician who also speaks, so every story she tells is her own. She has completed more than 30 open-water marathon swims and 10 world firsts, performed more than 2,000 times in more than 20 countries and built the events technology platform Gigster.

In 2026, twenty years after her first successful False Bay crossing in 2006, she swam it again: about 34 kilometres in 9 hours and 48 minutes. In October 2026 she swam 17 kilometres from Durban to Umhlanga in 4 hours and 45 minutes, raising funds for SAAMBR.

The keynote: The Art of Turning the Tide

'The Art of Turning the Tide' is a high-impact keynote on navigating uncertainty, pressure and rapid change. Audiences leave with four ideas: how to navigate uncertainty, why reinvention is a discipline, how to turn pressure into performance and how limits can spark creativity.

It is available as a 45 to 60 minute keynote, a 30-minute version, a fireside chat, a keynote plus workshop, or a virtual keynote, and every talk is tailored after a discovery call.

Who books Carina

Recent clients include Absa, FNB, Old Mutual, Woolworths, Novartis, Haleon, Driscoll's, DigiCert, Impact.com, Sovereign Trust, the South African National Blood Service, Peace Parks Foundation, Private Property and WOMEN IN TECH. She is based in Cape Town and speaks across South Africa and internationally, with bureau representation in the UK, USA, Australia and Asia.