Riley Kehoe

Fear does not stop death. It stops life. Riley Sewell is no stranger to the power of fear. Like the movie “The Impossible,” Riley and her family survived the 2004 South-East Asian Tsunami on an island in Thailand. As a ten-year-old girl, she ran to high ground, fearing for her life, as a 75-foot tsunami destroyed everything in its path. The traumatic event, which resulted in the death of 230,000 people, caused her to spend the last few decades learning how to fight fear. In this talk, Riley will inspire the audience to embrace life courageously, fight down fear daily, and have the courage to care for others.

As an international speaker about singleness, Riley shares how to thrive in singleness, including good habits to implement, the purpose of singleness, finding contentment, and the power of community. Singleness is not a disease to avoid or a season to quickly pass, but a gift to be embraced. Riley bases her talk on Paul’s preference for singleness over marriage from 1 Corinthians 7. She also shares her theory which helps you date better of the two “types” of singleness; open verse closed singleness. Closed singleness is an intentional period where you don’t date or consider love interests. Often this happens after a breakup. As for Riley, she shares vulnerable stories about why she entered “closed singleness” to heal her heart and stop a behavior that was hurting others. Open singleness is when you’re putting yourself out there and actively dating people for the purpose of marriage.

We all have tsunamis in our lives- it’s not if but when… How do we respond to the tsunamis of our lives? In this inspiring talk, Riley shares the story of how she survived a tsunami in 2004 and how each of us can respond to hardship with courage, not fear.