MYLÈNE
PAQUETTE
BILINGUAL SPEAKER & TRAINER |
OCEAN ROWER
« La seule chose qu’on puisse vraiment contrôler, c’est l’attitude qu’on choisi d’adopter! »
In November 2013, Mylène Paquette became the first person from the Americas to row solo across the North Atlantic. For 129 days she was alone on the ocean, facing storms, equipment failures and exhaustion - a feat recognized worldwide and feared by even the most seasoned navigators.
But her real arena extends far beyond the water.
With more than 1,000 keynote presentations delivered, in both French and English, across Quebec, the rest of Canada and internationally, Mylène has spent over 15 years working with CEOs, senior executives, managers and front-line teams of every size. In corporate settings, at conferences or in educational environments, she turns extreme experience into practical levers: mental resilience, leadership under pressure, uncertainty management, stress and anxiety awareness, and decisive courage.
Her approach is direct, structured and deeply human.
She speaks as candidly about strategy as she does about ego, as openly about performance as about vulnerability. She shares the behind-the-scenes reality: the invisible preparation, the mistakes, the doubts, the critical choices - the ones that ultimately determine the course.
Mylène does not tell an adventure story.
She provides a framework for navigating complexity.
EXPERTISES:
Through the story of her solo row across the North Atlantic and the hard-won lessons it produced, keynote speaker and corporate trainer Mylène Paquette explores the essential dimensions of leadership, decision-making and mental resilience in high-stakes, uncertain environments.
Her programs - available as keynotes, training workshops, coaching sessions or team-building experiences - are fully customizable to your audience, objectives and industry. They cover the following areas:
KEYNOTES:
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LEADERSHIP AND ATTITUDE | Holding the helm when landmarks disappear
129 days alone on the North Atlantic means 129 days of decisions with no safety net. Mylène breaks down what separates a leader who holds the helm from one who drifts: the ability to stay on course through the fog, to read blind spots before they become reefs, and to understand that even thousands of kilometres away, a crew remains decisive. From the CEO setting the destination to the managers coordinating manoeuvres and the teams rowing every day, this keynote speaks to every deck of the ship. Mylène also addresses the influence of ego in critical decisions and why clarity must remain sharp, especially when the wind seems favourable.
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MENTAL RESILIENCE AND NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY | Rowing forward when the current pushes back
There were days on the Atlantic when the current pushed Mylène backward, when every stroke felt futile. It was in those waters of stagnation that she forged her mental framework. She shares how to navigate periods of drift, lean into uncertainty rather than resist it, and consciously choose what you feed your mindset when the sea turns unstable. Through the logic of the orthodromic route, Mylène illustrates that progress is rarely a straight line, but a series of deliberate course corrections. A message that resonates in the executive boardroom as much as on the operations floor.
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ANXIETY, INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT | When the storm is in your head before it hits the water
Alone on a 7-metre boat in the middle of a storm, Mylène experienced anxiety in its rawest form. She observed firsthand how the mind amplifies perceived danger, how intrusive thoughts seize the helm when isolation sets in. From that extreme experience, she developed a grounded understanding of fear: not a reef to avoid, but a useful navigational signal. Mylène shares the tools she built to tell plausible scenarios from mental spirals - tools directly transferable to the daily reality of CEOs, managers and employees alike.
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COURAGE AS A LEADERSHIP SKILL | Casting off without waiting for perfect weather
Setting off alone across the North Atlantic meant weighing anchor with incomplete answers. Mylène turned courage into something far more than a character trait: a skill she trained, stroke after stroke. She shares the critical moments when she had to manoeuvre despite uncertainty, commit to a course with no guarantees and keep moving when everything invited her to drop anchor. A concrete framework for turning hesitation into informed action, applicable at every level of the organization.
TRAINING & LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS:
A boat does not cross an ocean without an aligned crew. The same holds true for any organization: for a heading to hold over time, every deck of the ship must speak the same language and read the same compass.
That is why Mylène offers training programs designed to bring every level of the organization on board - from the CEO and the executive committee to managers across all functions and front-line teams. The goal: align compasses, anchor a shared vocabulary and build a united crew that moves in the same direction.
Each theme can be delivered as a standalone session or combined into a structured multi-workshop program tailored to your organization’s objectives and reality. Because the most ambitious crossings are prepared together.
Available training themes:
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Growth mindset | Learning to navigate uncertainty without losing the ability to learn.
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Stress management | Understanding why our imagination often causes more suffering than reality.
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Adaptability | Knowing when and how to adjust course once the straight line no longer exists.
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Resilience | Continuing to move forward when the plan stops working.
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Clear-eyed leadership | Moving beyond the heroic-leader myth and learning to lead through doubt.
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Courage | Courage is not a personality trait — it is a skill that can be developed.
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Intuition and discernment | Recognizing weak signals before the storm arrives.
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Blind spots and ego | Understanding how certainty can become your greatest liability.
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Collaboration and interdependence | Great crossings are never accomplished alone.
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Psychological safety | Creating an environment where mistakes become a source of learning.
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Accountability | Accountability becomes possible when trust exists.
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Purpose and meaning | Different motivations can fuel the same destination.
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Autonomy and responsible freedom | Freedom only works when it rests on a solid framework.
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Decision-making under uncertainty | Deciding without complete information is an essential leadership skill.
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Sustainable performance | Moving forward for the long haul without burning out.
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Change management | Adapting without losing your identity.
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Routine, ritual and discipline | Great crossings are won one stroke at a time.
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Asking for help | Knowing when to ask for help is often the most courageous act.
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Humility and learning | Some skills can only be acquired through failure.
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Clarity and heading | When everything shifts around us, clarity becomes a strategic advantage.
HOSTING:
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MASTER OF CEREMONIES | Far more than hosting: a through-line built on real experience
Mylène Paquette does not simply host an event - she navigates it. With over 1,000 stage appearances across Quebec, Canada and internationally, she brings a one-of-a-kind approach to master of ceremonies work. Between each programming block, Mylène creates short 2-to-3-minute breathing moments - micro-keynotes that weave your event’s themes together with hard-won lessons from her solo row across the North Atlantic. The result: a coherent through-line that gives meaning to every transition, a rhythm that holds attention and content that stays with your audience long after the final applause. She reads a room the way she once read the ocean - adjusting course in real time, meeting the unexpected with poise and turning every moment between sessions into added value for everyone present, from the C-suite to the front lines.
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INTERVIEW | PANEL | PODCAST | Conversations that go beyond the surface
A seasoned media presence comfortable on any stage or studio set, Mylène moderates panels, interviews and podcasts with the same rigour she applied to every stroke on the Atlantic. She asks the questions that matter, follows up with precision and pushes every guest past rehearsed answers. Her background lets her draw unexpected connections between topics, steer the conversation back on course when it drifts and give participants an exchange that is authentic, structured and memorable.
LANGUAGES :
LOCATION : LAURENTIDES, QUEBEC
VIDEOS:
ARTICLES:
Behind the scenes of a legendary crossing
Unreleased recordings, countless anecdotes, exclusive interviews… Ten years after rowing solo across the North Atlantic, Mylène Paquette launches her podcast Méandres: les dessous d'une traversée.
Mylène Paquette: Fear as an Ally in Adventure
The moment I fell in love with my adventure, the day I first discovered it, carried me for years. I literally fell head over heels for the idea of crossing an ocean with nothing but my own arms, at the slow, steady rhythm of each stroke. A rhythm that allowed me to experience a deep connection with nature, with the environment, with myself.
BOOKS:
An untold story of an exhilarating quest for the absolute.
While the full online store is being set up, dive into the story of Mylène Paquette's crossing. The book tells, in a deeply personal tone, the story of her odyssey as it has never been told before, from the very moment the idea first came to her, to her departure at sea, her triumphant arrival in France and her return to Montreal.
She shares what drove her to embark on this incredible journey, why a stranger lent her thousands of dollars, how she met Hermel, "the man with stars in his eyes," the pivotal moments and the decisive encounters: a thrilling journey that only she could reveal.
TESTIMONIALS:
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal
"An outstanding speaker who gave us an incredible boost of energy. Authentic, engaging, and above all motivating, Ms. Paquette's keynote will appeal to you and your teams. I recommend her to everyone!!"
