Arlene Dickinson

Arlene Dickinson

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Calgary, Alberta

CBC Dragons Den | Business Leader | Visionary Entrepreneur & Bestselling Author

  • Videos
  • Expertise
  • Business & Corporate
  • Business Growth
  • Business Leadership
  • Business Transitions
  • Leadership and Change
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Women Of Influence
  • Small Business Development
  • Celebrity

ARLENE DICKINSON BIOGRAPHY

Arlene Dickinson is a renowned “Dragon” on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, self-made multi-millionaire and is one of Canada’s most successful businesswomen, communications entrepreneurs, and investors. Arlene Dickinson has had the wonderful experience of being a Dragon on the award-winning show Dragons’ Den for 15 seasons – making her the longest running female Dragon in the show’s history.

Nationally recognized as one of the top business leaders in Canada, Arlene Dickinson is a visionary entrepreneur and leader with a remarkable track record of success. Arlene Dickinson is the Founder and General Partner of District Ventures Capital, an award winning venture capital fund that invests in innovative companies in the food & beverage and health & wellness sectors. Under her leadership, District Ventures Capital has become a leading force in the industry, with a portfolio of ground-breaking companies that are transforming the way we live and eat.

Dickinson is also the Co-Managing Partner of Believeco:Partners, an independent Canadian-based owner, operator, and builder of the foremost marketing, communications, and engagement agencies in North America. It was Dickinson’s vision that brought this platform to life resulting in the creation of a powerhouse marketing consolidator.

Arlene immigrated to Canada with her family at age three, arriving with few belongings but full of hope and excitement at the prospect of a new life. Deeply influenced by the curiosity and gratitude that her father, a teacher, displayed towards their adopted country, Arlene set out to make the most of the opportunity. While working at a TV station, Arlene was introduced to world of marketing, and quickly fell in love.

While raising four kids, she climbed up the ladder, eventually owning and running her own business. Arlene now sits on many public and private boards and is highly active in community organizations, with an enduring passion for health, food and beverage and women in business. She is deeply involved in various charities and foundations and has made a priority of giving back to the communities and the country that afforded her the opportunity to have such an incredible life and career.

Arlene Dickinson is a three-time best-selling author, podcaster, and accomplished public speaker. Through her business leadership & entrepreneurial spirit, Arlene’s uses powerful stories of the lessons she has learned on her journey and the businesses she has grown over the years to identify industry trends, manage economic landscapes, and use stories from “The Den” to bring opportunities through innovation, business growth and market gains.

Years of working alongside Canada’s top businesses has given Arlene Dickinson deep insight on a wide variety of topics such as marketing and branding to the value of leadership and relationships. Her own amazing story, and her astonishing achievements as a woman in a male-dominated environment, has shaped a unique perspective on important life lessons on the path to success and happiness.

Arlene Dickenson has been included in Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Hall of Fame, PROFIT and Chatelaine’s Top 100 Women Business Owners and the Marketing Hall of Legends. A proud recipient of the Pinnacle Award for Excellence and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Awards. She is a Marketing Hall of Legends inductee, named second most influential woman on LinkedIn Canada and sits on several public and private boards and is actively involved in supporting community and country.

Arlene has received numerous other awards and accolades – both for her work as an entrepreneur and her many philanthropic efforts, including acting as an ambassador for Second Harvest. She has served for many years as an Honourary Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy and has received honourary degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University, Concordia University, Saint Mary’s University, Olds College, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and University Canada West.

Arlene Dickinson’s dynamic and unique experience and expertise in different industries helps business leaders and entrepreneurs navigate markets and their industry. Her experience as a Dragon has given her the skills to communicate to a wide variety of audiences, from business leaders, to fortune 500 companies to graduating students.

Arlene Dickinson Related Media

Podcast

WLYC Unfiltered

Play

SBC

Entrepreneurship, Embracing Challenges & the Art of Creating Meaningful Impact with Arlene Dickinson

Arlene Dickinson Related Content

Book

Persuasion
Persuasion
At thirty-one, Arlene Dickinson found herself stranded. Recently divorced, she had only a high school diploma, no savings and no clue how she was going to feed four young children. But just one year later, she was a partner in Venture Communications. Ten years on, she was CEO, poised to grow the...

Book

Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future
Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future
At fifty-seven, Arlene Dickinson’s life was turned upside down. Her company was on the brink of disaster. Her sense of herself as a strong, confident leader was in tatters. She was overwhelmed by feelings of loss, fear, and shame. Five years later, her business is booming, she’s never been...

Book

All In
All In
To be a successful entrepreneur, you don’t just need to know how to run a business. You need to know how to run your life when the boundary between work and personal time has essentially been erased. But while there are countless books on setting up a company, there hasn’t ever been a primer on...

Articles & Magazine Feature

Anatomy of a Leader: Arlene Dickinson

Retail Inside

Arlene Dickinson today is recognized as a visionary entrepreneur with an incredible track record of success – an iconic Canadian business leader with a high profile through her work and as a dragon on the popular CBC TV show Dragons’ Den. Her journey to get to this position in life and in business has not been an easy one over the years. But a vision, dedication and perseverance have always been in the forefront of her road to success.
View

Articles & Magazine Feature

Arlene Dickinson: what works in venture capital

Canadian Family Offices

Arlene Dickinson: Dragons’ Den star, businesswoman, investor, author, and founder and managing general partner at Calgary-based District Ventures Capital, which invests in the food and beverage and health and wellness sectors. It can be a unique path for female founders and women leaders in Canada’s private businesses. While investing in others as a dragon on CBC’s entrepreneur-pitch show Dragons’ Den, Arlene Dickinson found the inspiration to create her venture capital fund.
View

Articles & Magazine Feature

Arlene Dickinson DRAGONS DEN

CBC

A self-made success story, Arlene has launched, operated and managed businesses for 35 years. Her strategies and business savvy are competitively sought after, and she has helped businesses go from early-stage startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. Across 15 seasons on Dragons’ Den, Arlene honed her once-in-a-generation ability to recognize and nurture business potential, eventually launching District Ventures Capital – a fund focused on helping foster entrepreneurs and scale companies in the food & beverage and health & wellness sectors. Under her leadership, District Ventures Capital has become a leading force in the industry, with a portfolio of ground-breaking companies...
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Articles & Magazine Feature

Arlene Dickinson – Four Messages Leaders Need to Share With Their Team - Metronome’s Tip Top Summit 2023

POSITIONING SYSTEMS STRATEGIC DISCIPLINE

“Learn the lesson in the moment!” Arlene Dickinson is best known for her role on Dragons' Den (Canada’s version of Shark Tank) for 14 seasons. She shared her story, at six years of age, moving with her family to Canada from South Africa in vivid form, sharing the challenges they had, including her mother trading her wedding ring (a keepsake from her family) so her father could complete the drive to his job as a university teacher. Each element of her journey provided lessons she learned and put into practice in her life. The lesson in the moment is to find the solution.
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Arlene Dickinson Topic Presentations

Lessons From the Den: Succeeding at Business and Being An Entrepreneur

  • Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
  • Can anyone be an entrepreneur? Arlene’s emphatic answer is “Yes.” In this talk, one of Canada’s most high profile business women distills a lifetime of experience to reveal everything you need to know—and do—to start, to run, and to grow a great business. On stage, she displays a palpable and infectious belief in the entrepreneurial spirit; she reminds us of the major contributions Canadians have made to international business and the entrepreneurial tradition.

Leadership and Strategic Marketing

Reinvention

Marketing Yourself

The Power of One

Arlene Dickinson Speaking Testimonials

Arlene Dickinson’s personal story was a wonderful way to start the day and her emphasis on dimensions of character that are not often discussed, such as humanity and humility was particularly powerful… In a business school, it is important to have great female role models with our speakers and she delivered that in spades.

Ivey Business School

It was amazing!!!!! Arlene was amazing, people were crying.

Industry Workforce Development Manager
Manitoba Environmental Industries Association (MEIA)

Arlene Dickinson Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Arlene Dickinson Keynote Speaker delivers customized and tailored keynote presentations, workshops, and training sessions on a wide variety of topics. Each presentation is unique and are designed for a variety of audiences, industries, conferences, and event formats.

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FAQ

How to book Arlene Dickinson for an event?

Arlene Dickinson keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Arlene Dickinson delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Arlene Dickinson from Calgary, Alberta for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada. 

Interested in booking Arlene Dickinson for an event?

Are you looking to hire Arlene Dickinson for your event? Arlene Dickinson Calgary, Alberta is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Arlene Dickinson is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Arlene Dickinson is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Arlene Dickinson from Speakers Canada's roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Arlene Dickinson to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.

Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Arlene Dickinson creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with one of our leading expert speaker like Arlene Dickinson from Calgary, Alberta offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Arlene Dickinson is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Arlene Dickinson focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Arlene Dickinson will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Arlene Dickinson's presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Arlene Dickinson speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.

How much does it cost to hire Arlene Dickinson for a keynote presentation or virtual event?

Arlene Dickinson is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Arlene Dickinson speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget. 

Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Arlene Dickinson to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Arlene Dickinson for your event. As Arlene Dickinson's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Arlene Dickinson and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.

Arlene Dickinson Disclaimer

Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Arlene Dickinson for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Arlene Dickinson, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada's top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation. 

When SBC receives a request to book Arlene Dickinson we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Arlene Dickinson about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Arlene Dickinson, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.