Opens the event, or closes it.
As an opening keynote, it gives your entire audience one shared question to carry into every session. As a closing keynote, it sends them home with a challenge instead of a souvenir.
Conference keynote speaker · Creator of Belief Interrogation™
Motivation wears off by Monday. Beliefs don't.
Your attendees don't need another standing ovation they'll forget by the flight home. They need a question they can't stop asking about the invisible beliefs running how they work, lead, and live. That's the room Deondriea Cantrice creates.
Your attendees have heard the inspiring keynote.
They laughed. A few of them cried. The whole ballroom stood at the end, and the session ratings looked great.
Then they flew home, opened their inboxes, and went right back to the same hesitation, the same silence, and the same beliefs they arrived with.
That isn't a motivation problem. It's a belief problem. People don't change their behavior until they question the belief underneath it.
Change the belief. Change the behavior.™
What does Deondriea Cantrice speak about?
Deondriea Cantrice is a keynote speaker and the creator of Belief Interrogation™. She speaks to conference, association, and corporate audiences about the invisible beliefs that shape how people work, lead, and perform. Her flagship keynote, Who Told You That?™, helps audiences identify where their beliefs came from and decide which ones still deserve authority. She also speaks on human trafficking awareness as the mother of a survivor.
The flagship keynote
Who Told You That?™
The invisible beliefs shaping how we work, lead, and perform
Every person in your audience carries rules no one ever wrote down. They followed them into their careers, their leadership, and their lives, and they brought them into your ballroom.
Wait your turn.
My work should speak for itself.
Don't be too much.
That's above my pay grade.
In one session, Deondriea turns a room full of strangers into investigators of their own assumptions. They'll trace those rules back to where they started, test whether they're true, and decide which ones still deserve authority. Every keynote is tailored to your audience, your theme, and your goals.
Your audience will leave able to
- Name it. Spot the beliefs that quietly drive hesitation, silence, and second-guessing.
- Trace it. Recognize whether a belief was told, taught, translated, or rehearsed.
- Challenge it. Use one simple question to test any assumption, in themselves and in their teams.
- Act on it. Commit to one proof action they'll take the very next week.
Built for conference stages.
Tailored to your theme.
Deondriea shapes every talk around your audience, industry, and event theme, so the beliefs she interrogates are the ones your attendees actually face.
A question that travels.
"Who told you that?" is four words, easy to remember and hard to forget. It's built to follow attendees into breakouts, hallway conversations, and back home.
Choose the depth your audience needs.
Every format is tailored to your audience. In person, domestic and international, or virtual.
The interruption
Keynote
A cognitive disruption. Your audience walks out questioning a belief they walked in treating as fact.
Best for conference opening and closing keynotes
The interruption, then the practice
Keynote and workshop
The keynote opens the question. The workshop puts it to work: participants interrogate a real belief and leave with a proof action.
Best for conference breakouts, summits, and retreats
The deep work
Executive leadership experience
A facilitated session for leadership teams ready to examine the unwritten rules shaping their culture, and decide which ones to rewrite.
Best for association boards and senior leadership
Who is Deondriea's keynote for?
- Conferences and conventionsOpening and closing keynotes that give an entire audience a shared question to carry home.
- Associations and professional organizationsFor members ready to challenge the unwritten rules of their industry and their careers.
- Women's leadership conferencesFor accomplished women who did everything right and still feel overlooked.
- Corporate events and leadership teamsFor organizations that need people to speak up, decide, and challenge outdated assumptions.
- Colleges and universitiesFor students and staff deciding which beliefs to carry into the next chapter.
Why Deondriea
Not just inspiration. Transformation she's actually led.
Plenty of speakers can fire up a ballroom for an hour. Deondriea shows them how beliefs change, because she has driven change for a living. She led global technology programs, is a Prosci-certified change management practitioner, and built Belief Interrogation™ from both the education and her own life.
She became a mother as a teenager, earned her degree as an adult, was overlooked, undervalued and was told more than once what someone like her should become. She learned to ask who said so. Your audience will too.
- Creator of Belief Interrogation™
- Prosci-certified change management practitioner
- Global leader in technology program management
- Author of Overqualified, Overworked, Overlooked and the forthcoming Who Told You That?
- Former Southwestern Regional Training and Development Chair, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
- Recognized by Regis University as an influential leader and learner
Stages and audiences include
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.Texas Reproductive Justice SummitJunior AchievementNAMI North TexasNorth Central Texas CollegeDallas Office of Equity and InclusionAlliance of Black Telecommunications ProfessionalsRolling Out AM Wakeup CallCherry Creek School Summit
Human trafficking awareness talks
As the mother of a sex trafficking survivor and founder of Unmute the Silence, Deondriea also speaks to parents, schools, faith communities, and organizations about what trafficking really looks like.
The Human Side of Human Trafficking
Her lived experience as the mother of a trafficking survivor, and what every family and community needs to know.
Romeo Pimp, Juliette Victim
How traffickers use romance and promises of love to groom and control, and how to recognize it early.
Sold in Silence
Why Black girls and women are disproportionately affected by sex trafficking, and why it's still not talked about.
Questions event planners ask
What topics does Deondriea Cantrice speak on?
Deondriea speaks on the invisible beliefs that shape how people work, lead, and perform, and how to question them, through her flagship keynote Who Told You That?™. She also delivers human trafficking awareness talks: The Human Side of Human Trafficking, Romeo Pimp, Juliette Victim, and Sold in Silence.
What is the Who Told You That?™ keynote about?
Who Told You That?™ helps audiences surface the unwritten rules and inherited beliefs driving hesitation, silence, and second-guessing, trace where those beliefs came from, and decide which ones still deserve authority. Attendees leave with a simple question to test any assumption and one proof action to take the following week.
How is Deondriea different from a motivational speaker?
Motivation fades; beliefs drive behavior. Deondriea is a Prosci-certified change practitioner and former global technology program leader, so her keynotes focus on changing the beliefs underneath behavior, not just raising energy for a day. Her signature line says it simply: Change the belief. Change the behavior.™
What speaking formats does Deondriea offer?
Three formats: a keynote; a keynote paired with an interactive workshop; and an executive leadership experience for senior teams. Each is available in person, domestically and internationally, or virtually.
Does Deondriea speak virtually?
Yes. Deondriea delivers keynotes and workshops in person, domestically and internationally, and virtually.
Can the keynote be tailored to our audience?
Yes. Deondriea tailors every talk to your audience, industry, and event theme, so the beliefs she interrogates are the ones your attendees actually face.
Is Deondriea available as a conference opening or closing keynote?
Yes. As an opening keynote, Who Told You That?™ gives the entire audience a shared question to carry into every session. As a closing keynote, it sends attendees home with a challenge they can act on.
Who is the Who Told You That?™ keynote best for?
Conferences and conventions, associations and professional organizations, women's leadership conferences, corporate events, and colleges and universities, especially audiences ready to question the unwritten rules shaping their work and lives.
How do I book Deondriea Cantrice to speak?
Submit a request through the Book Deondriea page at deondriea.com/book-deondriea, or email win@deondriea.com with your event date, location, audience, and format. You can also view her media kit from this page.
Your audience will walk in with beliefs they've never questioned.
Decide now what they walk out with. Conference calendars fill early, so start the conversation today.
Change the belief. Change the behavior.™