South African music icon Lira presents My Stroke of Luck, a deeply personal and uplifting keynote-performance exploring resilience, recovery, reinvention and the extraordinary power of the human spirit.
In March 2022, while in Germany for a performance, Lira suffered a severe stroke that dramatically changed her life. Although physically unaffected, the stroke impacted the language centre of her brain, leaving her unable to read, write or speak.
For an artist whose entire career had been built around her voice and ability to communicate, the challenge was profound.
Lira embarked on an intensive rehabilitation journey, effectively having to relearn language and rediscover her voice. Rather than viewing the experience purely as a tragedy, she eventually began describing it as “My Stroke of Luck” — an experience that forced her to slow down, reassess her life and discover a new version of herself.
My Stroke of Luck
Through warmth, humour and remarkable vulnerability, Lira shares the lessons she discovered during her recovery:
- Resilience in the face of unexpected change
- Rebuilding when life changes your plans
- Patience and the power of incremental progress
- Identity and rediscovering who you are
- Mindset during adversity
- Living more fully in the present
- Finding opportunity within disruption
- Self-belief, hope and courage
- Reinvention and embracing a new version of yourself
Her story is not simply about surviving a stroke. It is about what happens when the life and identity you know suddenly disappear — and you are given the opportunity to rebuild from the inside out.
Keynote + Live Musical Performance
What makes My Stroke of Luck particularly powerful for a corporate audience is Lira’s ability to combine her story with the very thing she fought so hard to regain — her voice and her music.
The experience can incorporate a carefully curated live musical performance, allowing the audience to move with Lira from the vulnerability of her stroke and rehabilitation journey to the joy of seeing her performing again.
The result is more than a keynote and more than a concert — it is an intimate storytelling and musical experience centred on resilience, gratitude and triumph.
Career Highlights
- 11-time South African Music Award winner
- Multi-platinum-selling recording artist
- Career spanning more than 20 years
- BET International Artist Award nominee
- Performed at Barack Obama’s second Presidential Inauguration celebrations in Washington
- First African artist to release a full HD concert film
- Six studio albums and multiple live concert releases
- International touring career across Africa, Europe and North America
- Author of Making Herstory
- Executive Producer of the successful South African film Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word
- Returned to keynote speaking in 2023 following her stroke
- Returned to live performance following extensive rehabilitation
- Has presented My Stroke of Luck to leading South African and international corporate audiences
Ideal For
LEADERSHIP | RESILIENCE | CHANGE | REINVENTION | WOMEN’S EVENTS | WELLNESS | PURPOSE | HUMAN POTENTIAL | CORPORATE CONFERENCES
My Stroke of Luck is ultimately a story about what happens when everything changes — and the extraordinary possibilities that can emerge when we stop trying to return to who we were and begin embracing who we are becoming.
For corporate audiences, Lira offers a rare combination of an authentic transformational story and the emotional impact of live music, delivered by one of South Africa’s most celebrated performers.
