Book this speaker: Jesse Lipscombe

Jesse Lipscombe is a powerful keynote speaker and expert on leadership, productivity and belonging. Jesse has inspired organizations to make significant changes in workplace culture, fostering collaborative and empowered teams. Educators turn to him to instill confidence in youth and challenge them to be more inclusive and accepting. Major institutions and leading speaker series’ trust Jesse to educate and energize their audiences. His clients have included Shopify, Kraft, TD Bank, Canadian Tire, Loblaws, and Giants of Africa and many more.

Jesse first stepped into the spotlight at age 14, starring in Children of the Dust alongside Hollywood icon Sidney Poitier. He later attended the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, on a full athletic scholarship, emerging as a breakout track star.

After college, Jesse returned to the screen, producing and starring in critically acclaimed films and TV series, including It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway, Tiny Plastic Men, Black Summer, and most recently, Netflix’s hit series My Life With the Walter Boys, where he plays Coach Walter.

In 2023, Jesse debuted as an author with Jars, a coming-of-age novel about identity, acceptance, and self-discovery. He followed this with The Art of Doing (HarperCollins, 2025), a motivational guidebook that shares his signature strategies for passion, pursuit, and productivity – including how to win through losing, shift from macro to micro planning, and only do what you love or learn to love what you do.

A passionate advocate and entrepreneur, Jesse co-founded the #MakeItAwkward campaign to challenge racism, misogyny, and homophobia, and co-created Not That Funny, the first tabletop game designed to gamify activism and spark difficult conversations. He is a recipient of the Obsidian Award for Top Business Leader in Western Canada and was named Community Man of the Year by Diversity Magazine.

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