Public Speaker | Former News Anchor | Storyteller
“On the other side of fear is understanding and belonging, and the kind of love, and respect and connection that makes our lives so much richer.”
The Power of Human Connection
In this powerful talk, Marilyn shares how human connection became her lifeline through illness, grief, and healing - and why it's the most essential thing we have to offer one another.
Find Your Footing: What's Mine to Do Right Now?
When life knocks you off balance, discover the power of asking, “What's mine to do, right now?”
Marilyn’s Mission
Marilyn Getas Byrne believes that even in life's most difficult moments, there is still room for hope, connection, and joy. Not because life is always easy, or because happiness means turning away from pain, but because we have more power than we sometimes realize to shape how we move through it.
Her mission is to remind people that their stories matter, that vulnerability can be a source of strength, and that even when the path ahead feels uncertain, we don't have to find our way alone.
Through the wisdom gained from life's unexpected turns, Marilyn encourages others to meet themselves and one another with compassion, curiosity, and courage. She believes that healing isn't about returning to who we were before life's challenges, but discovering who we can become because of them.
Above all, Marilyn hopes to leave people with a renewed sense of possibility, even when life looks nothing like they imagined.
Speaking Topics & Experience
Marilyn Getas Byrne brings a powerful combination of heartfelt storytelling, warmth, humor, and hard-earned wisdom to every stage. Drawing from her career in broadcast journalism, her experiences as a breast cancer and sepsis survivor, and her deep belief in the healing power of human connection, Marilyn inspires audiences to find strength, perspective, and possibility in life's most challenging moments.
Her speaking experience includes the DebX stage at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Arizona, where she delivered a moving talk on the healing power of human connection. Most recently, she presented Finding Your Footing at the National Speakers Association (NSA) Arizona Speakers Showcase, exploring the transformative power of presence, personal agency, and the simple question: "What's mine to do, right now?"
Marilyn has also served as a keynote speaker for the American Cancer Society, regularly emcees fundraising events supporting cancer research, and advocates for compassionate, hands-on healing through her work with Healing Partners of the Central Coast.
Speaking Topics
Marilyn's presentations blend deeply personal experiences with universal lessons, inviting audiences to reflect, reconnect, and move forward with intention.
Finding Your Footing: Reclaiming your sense of agency, clarity, and direction when life feels beyond your control.
Resilience and Finding Light in Dark Places: Discovering strength, hope, and possibility through life's most difficult seasons.
The Healing Power of Human Connection: Exploring how compassion, community, and meaningful relationships help us heal.
Choosing Happiness Through Adversity: Understanding that joy and hardship can coexist, and that happiness can be a conscious practice.
Breast Cancer Awareness, Advocacy, and Survivorship: Sharing lessons in courage, vulnerability, healing, and life beyond diagnosis.
The Power of Storytelling: How sharing our experiences creates connection, fosters understanding, and reminds us that we are not alone.
Beyond the Stage
Marilyn is also the creator and host of I Choose Happy with Marilyn, presented by The Comfy, where she shares extraordinary stories of resilience, survival, healing, and the human spirit. Through candid, heartfelt conversations, she explores what it means to move through life's hardest chapters while holding onto hope, purpose, and the possibility of joy.
A new season of I Choose Happy returns in January 2027.
Through her newsletter, Kaleidoscope in Motion, Marilyn continues this exploration of resilience, perspective, and intentional living, reminding readers that while we cannot always control how life rearranges our pieces, we can choose how we turn toward the light.
Whether speaking from a stage, behind a microphone, or through the written word, Marilyn's message remains rooted in one powerful belief: Even when we cannot choose our circumstances, we can discover what's ours to do next.
