Shasta Nelson keynote speaker
- Relationally Fit: The Social Secret to a Longer, Happier Life
- The Connected Leader: Driving Performance and Growth through Human Connection
- The Science of Friendship at Work: Accelerating High-Trust, Resilient, and Rewarding Relationships
Shasta Nelson is a friendship expert, keynote speaker, and the author of three books on the science of friendship (with a fourth arriving in 2027) who helps organizations build the workplace connection and belonging that drive trust, retention, and performance.
Shasta has spent 15 years researching what makes relationships thrive — as Chief Friendship Officer of the U.S. Chamber of Connection, author of three books on relationships and belonging (with a fourth arriving in 2027), a two-time TEDx speaker with nearly 1 million views, and a speaker with 500+ keynotes. For the past six years, she's used a diagnostic tool with organizations to actually measure relationship health — not intuition, data.
Her research has identified three behaviors that bond any two people — positivity, consistency, and vulnerability — and she translates the science behind them into frameworks that determine whether teams trust each other, cultures thrive, and conferences create real connection.
Organizations invite Shasta to speak when they want to:
- Accelerate trust on teams so leaders collaborate faster and navigate change with resilience
- Strengthen culture, engagement, and retention
- Equip leaders and employees with practical relationship skills that improve belonging and performance
- Transform conferences from passive events into connection experiences
Her clients include global companies, healthcare systems, associations, and leadership teams working to strengthen trust and culture.
Because it’s time to trust the data: when relationships get stronger, everything else works better.
“Shasta is a powerhouse speaker & educator! While we were still coming out of the pandemic and learning new ways to lean on each other, Shasta hosted an incredible virtual session on the Business of Belonging & Relationships for my marketing team at Google. She left the team with incredible insights & thinking tools for a mindset change that are just so valuable. Our event with Shasta felt like a warm but productive hug with a focus on being intentional about the experiences people are creating for each other.”
– Supriya Gujral, Senior Director, Global Partner Marketing at Google
“Shasta was outstanding. Of all our Leadership and Development speakers, she was one of the best we’ve had. With the stress and risk of burnout many leaders face in today’s world, her presentation provided us with knowledge and tools in a way that was engaging, informative, transformational and unforgettable.”
– Rick Rawson, President, Adventist Health + Rideout Hospital
* and we really do it immediately