Kelley Gunter

Kelley Gunter is an internationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, compassionate life coach, and a number one best-selling author. Her compelling memoir, You Have Such a Pretty Face, explores Gunter’s painful journey to find peace and self-worth after enduring a childhood riddled with trauma and sexual abuse. Following a remarkable 243-pound weight loss and the 22-year maintenance of that loss, Kelley discovered that unhealed trauma from the past would continue to create destruction in the form of life-altering cross-addictions.

Mired in her own suffering and unable to reach out for help, Gunter’s career followed the path of a wounded warrior. She graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in counseling, both of which she used in her 30-year career as a licensed social worker. Gunter’s education enabled her to aid others on their own journeys toward peace, but it wasn’t until 2016 — when an untreated gambling addiction caused her to lose everything — that she was able to begin her own true healing process.

Sober now for seven years, Gunter, who is a clinical supervisor on the national suicide hotline, remains refreshingly candid about the trauma-induced cross-addictions that wreaked havoc on her life and forced her to her knees. Armed with personal experience and vast therapeutic knowledge, Gunter is able to apply both to the creation of her written and spoken work. To further her education and expertise, Gunter is now pursuing her doctoral degree in counseling and traumatology.

Kelley’s powerful speaking is infused with the kind of wisdom that’s only learned from hitting rock bottom and living to tell the tale. In this, she’s uniquely equipped to connect to others, relying on equal parts professional insight and an endless wellspring of empathy. Listeners will find that her message isn’t simply a pretty speech tied off with a bow, but rather an open invitation for conversation, growth, and understanding.

In speaking, coaching, and writing, Gunter addresses the painful reality that weight loss alone doesn’t heal the traumas that contributed to the weight gain in the first place, nor does it address the high likelihood that cross addictions can and may arise in weight loss patients who don’t acknowledge their trauma. Gunter asserts that the root of addiction lies in shame, and she works to undo the stigma surrounding trauma by opening up about her own life-long feelings of shame, which once strangled the hope from her existence.

Gunter also acknowledges that without her strong faith in God, she wouldn’t be here today. As one who’s walked the path of deep suffering, Gunter’s message stands as a true weapon against darkness: “When the world says, ‘give up,’ Hope whispers, ‘try it one more time.’”