Speaker Events
Marianne speaks from the place where real life meets hard-won wisdom—on purpose, love, and what it means to build a life that still holds meaning after everything that tried to break it.
Her talks draw from her debut memoir, FIERCE: From Broken to Unbreakable, and are tailored to the audience in the room, from public libraries and senior living communities to college campuses and professional leadership settings.
The FIERCE Talk Series
Fierce Love
Some grief waits until you’re strong enough to finish it. This talk is for anyone who has loved deeply, lost painfully, and wondered if happy is still possible. Honest, humorous, and grounded in lived experience—it is. Available for community groups, libraries, senior centers, and general audiences.
Fierce Devotion
Caregiving is one of the hardest, most invisible jobs there is. This talk is for the people holding everyone else up—and forgetting to hold themselves. Available for libraries, caregiver groups, and sandwich-generation audiences.
Fierce Goals
Dream big. Start now. Don’t wait for perfect. This talk meets students where they are and sends them somewhere better. Available for middle school, high school, and college audiences.
Fierce Purpose
Before the grind takes over, find your why. This talk meets young professionals where they are—still laying the foundation, still deciding what gets built on it. Available for young professionals and millennial audiences.
Fierce-“The Lion Talk”
What does it mean to be brave? Everything. A simple, powerful conversation about courage, kindness, and showing up as your whole self. Available for elementary school audiences.
Fierce Hustle
Persistence. Confidence. The willingness to go all in without a guaranteed outcome. This talk is for the people who know what they want and need the push to go get it. Available for business and leadership audiences.
Book Marianne
If you’d like Marianne Heffernan to speak at your organization, business, or school, she’d love to hear from you.
Fierce Love: Getting Back to Happy
FEATURED
Some grief waits until you're strong enough to finish it. In Fierce Love: Getting Back to Happy, Marianne speaks honestly—and with hard-won humor—about the loss that shaped her and the choice she made to stop outrunning it. Her message is both simple and radical: the heartbreaks we carry are tied to the love we refuse to let go of. And that love, fiercely held, is how we find our way back to happy.
What You’ll Take With You
The certainty that the connection doesn’t end. The love is forever.
A new understanding of why grief keeps returning—and why that’s not a setback.
Permission to let go without leaving behind.
Proof that happiness after heartbreak is possible—and that everything you need is already inside you.
Upcoming Events
Marianne is currently booking intimate venues across Connecticut. Here’s where she’s headed next:
Fierce Love: Getting Back to Happy
Pomperaug Woods, 80 Heritage Road, Southbury, CT 06488
August 2026 (Date & Time TBD)
Fierce Love: Getting Back to Happy
Woodbury Public Library, 269 Main Street S, Woodbury, CT 06798
September 16, 2026 @ 6:30 p.m.
When the Ground Holds
Real life, honestly told. Biweekly. Because we’re in this together.