
Rashmi Airan Speaking Fee: $10,000 to $20,000

Speaking Fee:
$10,000 to $20,000
Travels From:
Available Upon Request
Travels From:
Available Upon Request
Primary Topic Category:
Leadership and Management
Primary Topic Category:
Leadership and Management
Secondary Topic Category:
Inspiration / Motivation / Overcoming Obstacles
Secondary Topic Category:
Inspiration / Motivation / Overcoming Obstacles
Rashmi Airan Speaker Profile: At A Glance
Rashmi Airan is a powerhouse keynote speaker and workshop facilitator who ignites leaders to tackle adversity and make bold, values-driven decisions. From Wall Street banker to attorney to entrepreneur—and even federal prison—her incredible journey shatters conventional thinking on blindspots and transformation. With her Rise Through It™ framework, Rashmi equips leaders to face challenges head-on, break free from limiting beliefs, and lead with unshakable courage to spark extraordinary engagement and fuel limitless growth. Rashmi inspires organizations to build trust and cultivate leadership that thrives in the face of struggle.
Rashmi Airan is a force of nature. A keynote speaker, consultant, and unapologetic truth-teller, she shakes up rooms with her raw, riveting story—one that challenges everything you think you know about leadership, ethics, and the hidden traps of ambition. She doesn’t just speak about resilience; she lives it, proving that even the most crushing failures can be transformed into a catalyst for growth, authenticity, and unshakable courage.
As a first-generation Indian American, Rashmi was raised to chase excellence. She did just that—graduating with honors from Columbia Law School, thriving in corporate America, and building her own law practice. But success has a dark side. During the housing boom, she made a decision that, at the time, seemed small—but had devastating consequences. A single ethical blind spot, fueled by the pressure to provide for her children, led to a federal prison sentence for bank fraud.
Prison shattered everything she thought she knew about herself. And then? She rebuilt—stronger, bolder, and more awake than ever. Through six months behind bars, Rashmi stripped away the layers of ego, guilt, and fear that had defined her. She emerged with a powerful message: our worst mistakes don’t define us—our response to them does.
Now a "recovering lawyer and investment banker," Rashmi is a globally recognized speaker and TEDx presenter who fearlessly tackles the complexities of human behavior, decision-making, and ethical leadership. With 30+ years in business, law, and finance, she has a front-row seat to the pressures that push good people into bad decisions—and she’s on a mission to wake up individuals and organizations before they fall into the same traps.
Her insights are backed by cutting-edge research in behavioral psychology, ethics, and leadership, and she’s partnered with global powerhouses like Coca-Cola, Cardinal Health, Merck, Comcast, Sotheby’s, and Hershey’s. Deloitte has recognized her transformational impact, and her story has been featured on ABC, PBS, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.
Rashmi doesn’t do surface-level inspiration—she sparks deep, uncomfortable, necessary conversations. She challenges Fortune 100 leaders, financial firms, legal teams, and women’s groups to confront their blind spots, own their decisions, and rise through their struggles with integrity and courage.
Beyond the stage, she’s an avid hiker, globe-trotter, and proud mother of two. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Overtown Youth Center/Alonzo Mourning Foundation and is an Ambassador for The Key Clubhouse.
Her message is simple but urgent: Life will break you. Your choices will define you. And no matter how hard you fall—you can RISE.
Coca-Cola, India and CRISIL Ltd.
Preeti Balwani, Former General Counsel and Global General Counsel
“Rashmi worked with the Coca-Cola team for an entire day. She created such a meaningful impact on the pivotal issues of accountability and vulnerability. Her diverse and unique view has propelled her as a leader on these topics. Rashmi shares a personal story that we must strive to live through uncertainty with conviction and navigate through the gray area. Her workshop truly helped our team learn how to thrive in chaos, be adaptable and remain curious while always focusing on the organization’s needs and long-term sustainability. Her story is relatable and she is truly a remarkable speaker and consultant!”
YPO
Reuben Xeureb
“What Rashmi brought to us is real-life experience with emotion, authenticity, and courage for immediate value add in our individual organizations. As a group of CEOs of our companies, we typically don’t spend an entire day listening and engaging with one Coach/Consultant. Rashmi’s workshop and message were extremely effective and impactful, both personally and professionally. Even after an entire day with Rashmi, we all wanted more. I am definitely planning on bringing Rashmi back to work with my own leadership team at my organization.”
Hershey’s Inc.
Damien Atkins, Former General Counsel
“Rashmi’s story illustrates the power of humility and transformation. Rashmi is an energy giver - whether live or virtual. She reminds us that we are all humans and fallible. I would recommend Rashmi, she is one the best speakers I have ever worked with and I will work with her again!”
Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO)
Verne Harnish, Founder of EO, Founder of Scaling Up
“Excellent and Powerful!”
Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO)
Peter Chee, Founder & CEO, MinimZero
“Touching. Bold. Almost moved me to tears!”
Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO)
Brian Hollowaty, CEO, Los Angeles Brands
“This was an incredibly powerful talk about perseverance, adaptability, mindset, and agility. Truly memorable.”
Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO)
Brett Winn, CEO, Rave Collective; President EO, Los Angeles
“I book dozens of speakers, and I will tell you that Rashmi was the easiest person to work with when it came to booking an event. She came prepared. I got a real clear understanding of what her keynote would be and why we thought it would appeal to the audience, especially for a sea of entrepreneurs. It was brilliant. I think her take on business and her take on life and her experience is incredibly unique and inspiring. Through Rashmi’s eyes and her journey, we talk about failures and successes and how the greatest successes come out of multiple failures. I think her journey through the judicial system is one of epic proportions and one that very few ever experience. So, to relive it through her eyes and see the positivity that came out of that experience was remarkable.”
Meeting Planners International (MPI)
Lexi Quilty, Event Specialist
“Rashmi was an incredible speaker to work with for our “Global Meetings Industry Day” live broadcast. Our goal was to take attendees through the “Event Professional’s Journey,” and Rashmi did just that by sharing her story. Through vulnerability, encouragement, and a call to action, Rashmi spoke to event professionals and spurred them on to get back on track and use their experience to help them excel in their next event. We look forward to further opportunities to work with Rashmi.”
Asian American Hotel Owners Association
Roshni Kadhiwala, CEO/Owner JLM Hotel Group
“The most mind capturing talk ever! 100% focused and visually present. Personable and relatable”
SHRM Association Management Professional & Convention Planner
Lori Maher McCombs, Maher Group, LLC
“I had the pleasure of working with Rashmi Airan as conference planner for the 2020 Tri-State SHRM Conference. Rashmi was scheduled to present two in person sessions for us, but due to COVID-19, she easily adapted and presented her sessions virtually. Her presentations centered around taking ownership of your actions, and business ethics. Rashmi’s ability to tell her story with candor, honesty and ownership makes her keynote(s) very relevant to business leaders. Thank you, Rashmi! Keep up the great work.”
Georgia Tech University Athletics
Todd Stansbury
“Rashmi spoke to our senior leadership team and coaches at Georgia Tech. Her story and message around decision-making was incredibly impactful as it hit home the fact that good and smart people can make bad decisions with dire consequences. Rashmi helps shed light through her research in behavioral ethics. She provides a mental process for maintaining ethical vigilance in our decision- making and how to avoid the overconfidence bias that leads to the slippery slope. I highly recommend Rashmi to my friends and colleagues as she will inspire and help create substantive change in our athletic environments around integrity and ethics.”
Oregon Association of Realtors
Jenny Pakula, CEO
“Your story is immensely compelling with some incredible takeaways.”
Merck
Marc Durant, CTO and CISO
“Rashmi’s talk was authentic and really resonated with the entire audience. She was hands-down the #1 speaker we had over the course of our multi-day conference.”
Cardinal Health
Hollie Foust, Senior Vice President
“Thank you so much for your presentation. We had a record turnout to hear your story of over 2,700 participants and more to come in our APAC region! ”
Brown University
Grant Achilles, Head Baseball Coach
“Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing your story with vulnerability, creating a space for us to do the same, and sharing insight applicable to both personal and professional life choices. Your messaging resonated in unexpected and practical ways. I admire the courage on display to speak from a place of such openness and high character. “
Brown University
Alyssia Coates, Senior Director of Development
“Transformational. Life-changing. “
Colorado Bar Association
James A. Martell
“I attended Rashmi’s talk and I thought it was amazing. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to hear her speak. It was, without a doubt, the best session I have attended in my 40 years. I particularly liked her focus on our duty to the community and society as a whole.”
Colorado Association of REALTORS®
Scott A. Peterson, Esq.
“Rashmi’s story is equal parts chilling and heart-warming. The lessons from her life experience weave together to form a cautionary tale for REALTORS®. In watching the room as Rashmi delivered her keynote, I have never seen a REALTOR® audience so transfixed on a speaker and her story. Her delivery is direct, touching, sad, funny and always brutally honest. Her candor and accountability were rewarded with an emotional standing ovation at the conclusion of her keynote. When it comes to delivering a lesson on those two subjects in a poignant and unforgettable presentation, Rashmi and her story cannot be beat.
Columbia University, School of Law
John C. Coffee, Jr., Professor
“Because Ms. Airan was only a few years older than the law students she spoke to and because she graduated near the top of her class, her impact on the students was powerful and immediate. I think her presentation gave students an entirely unique, more nuanced and certainly more vivid sense of how seemingly normal professional practice can cross the line over into fraud. She made a very valuable contribution to the students’ that others cannot duplicate.”
Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, LLP
Scott L. Baena, Managing Partner
“Rashmi’s gripping presentation to more than 50 of our lawyers transformed the subject of professional responsibility from a textbook experience to a compelling human drama with real-life consequences. It was eye-opening and gut-wrenching, and Rashmi’s willingness to share the lowest moment in her professional life and her takeaways was a real tribute to her character.”
Best Western Hotel Group
Joelle Park, Chief Marketing Officer
“Rashmi is truly inspiring!”
California Association of Realtors
Ruthie Jones, Corcoran Icon
“Rashmi pushed me out of my comfort zone. She shared deeply about herself, and paved the way for all of us to then dig deep and share our own highs and lows..”
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Bubba Cunningham, Athletic Director
“Rashmi was absolutely outstanding. I would highly recommend her to work with your team if you're looking to get better and really have an examination of what is valuable to your university, to your industry, to your business, or to you personally. She's an effective leader, she's inspirational, and she's given us a lot to think about in our own lives.”