Keisha BlairThere are some emails you read once, some you read twice—and some you stare at while wondering whether you should jump for joy, calmly get a cup of chamomile tea or immediately tell everyone you love. I did the latter while on a Meditteranean cruise with my family in late August. We had just set sail for the Amalfi coast, one of my favorite stops on that cruise and the timing seemed surreal.
Learning that I had been named one of WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners for 2026 was definitely the third kind. Now that the official announcement is out, the congratulations are arriving, and my photograph has appeared alongside this remarkable group of women in the National Post, I’m finally taking a quiet moment to let it all sink in.
Keisha Blair, 2026 WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in the Professionals category.
What This WXN Top 100 Recognition Means to Me
I was recognized in the Professionals category, which celebrates women whose leadership, expertise and body of work are helping to change industries and expand what is possible. For me, this award holds many chapters at once. It reaches back to my work as an economist and policy leader, including becoming the first Black woman in Canada to lead on Canada’s foreign direct investment file (FDI) in support of the Prime Minister. It includes my work during Canada’s 2018 G7 Presidency, when I led Prime Ministerial advocacy for FDI.
Most importantly, it recognizes the work that grew from the most difficult chapter of my life: creating the Holistic Wealth framework, writing the Holistic Wealth books, founding the Institute on Holistic Wealth, hosting the Holistic Wealth Podcast and building a global movement around resilience, purpose, financial well-being and a richer definition of success. That is what makes this moment so meaningful. It honours not only a career, but a body of work built across public service, global policy, entrepreneurship, thought leadership and lived experience.
Yes, I’m in the National Post—and I Looked More Than Once
The National Post feature recognizing the 2026 WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners. National Post ePaper
Seeing the 2026 WXN Top 100 Award Winners featured in the National Post made the moment wonderfully real. I may have scanned the page more than once to find my photograph. I was surprised to see myself in the second row, and then realized it was alphabetical and thanks to my husband (and his surname), I’ve moved up in the alphabet, I’m used to seeing myself last in alphabetical lists!
What moved me most was the collective power of the feature. Every portrait represents years of decisions, risks, setbacks, late nights, brave pivots and work that often happened long before anyone applauded it.
The Story Behind the WXN Top 100 Win
A press release can announce an award, but it cannot always hold the full story behind it. So I recorded a special episode of the Holistic Wealth Podcast: “Keisha Blair Named One of Canada’s Most Powerful Women | The Story Behind the WXN Top 100 Win.” In it, I talk about what this recognition means to me, the road that led here and why our hardest experiences can become part of our most important work.
Watch the WXN Top 100 episode on YouTube
One idea sits at the heart of the conversation: power is not simply a title, a platform or a place at the table in an organization. As I stated in Holistic Wealth, when I quoted Martin Luther King Jnr., one of my favorite quotes on power. “Power is the ability to achieve purpose“. It is the courage to rebuild. It is using what you have learned to make the road a little easier for someone coming behind you. That is the kind of power I want my work to represent.
A Win for the Holistic Wealth Movement
Although my name is on the award, this milestone does not belong to me alone. It belongs to every reader who found language for an experience they could not explain. Every podcast listener who decided to begin again. Every graduate of the Institute on Holistic Wealth who is now helping others build resilience and well-being. Every partner, colleague, friend and family member who believed in this vision when it was still only an idea written down in a quiet room. It also strengthens our larger mission: Reaching 1 Billion with Holistic Wealth.
Holistic Wealth asks us to look beyond money alone and consider the full architecture of a well-lived life—our emotional resilience, physical health, relationships, purpose, spiritual health, financial wellness and ability to recover from disruption. Being recognized among Canada’s Most Powerful Women gives this message an even larger platform, and I intend to use it well.
What Comes Next
There is more work ahead: more people to reach, more leaders to equip, more communities to serve and more conversations to have about what wealth and power can look like when they are rooted in purpose. For today, though, I am allowing myself to celebrate. I am grateful to WXN for this extraordinary recognition, to the National Post for featuring the 2026 award winners, and to every person who has called, written, commented, shared the episode or quietly cheered me on.
Global Holistic Wealth Day 2027 comes up on April 9th. Get involved in the global Holistic Wealth movement. Become a Global Holistic Wealth Day Ambassador, or a Become a Certified Holistic Wealth Consultant with the Institute on Holistic Wealth. On Instagram, there are several individual Global Holistic Wealth Day accounts, depending on which country you live in. Follow along, engage and help us spread the word on the journey to recahing 1 billion people with Holistic Wealth.
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthday
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthdaycanada
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthday_usa
https://www.instagram.com/global_holistic_wealth_day_uk
https://www.instagram.com/holistic_wealth_day_africa
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthdayottawa
https://www.instagram.com/holistic_wealth_day_hungary
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthdayitaly
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealthdayspain
https://www.instagram.com/holistic_wealth_day_france
Global Holistic Wealth Day Jamaica
https://www.instagram.com/holistic_wealth_day_jamaica_/
Global Holistic Wealth Day Dubai/UAE
https://www.instagram.com/global_holistic_wealth_day_uae/
Global Holistic Wealth Day Mexico
https://www.instagram.com/holistic_wealth_day_mexico/
Global Holistic Wealth Day Germany
https://www.instagram.com/globalholisticwealth_germany/
I have read your messages, and I have smiled at every one. I thank God every day for giving me the opportunity to serve and for entrusting me with the gift of this message. I know He has placed this purpose in my heart and soul—and I know He has a purpose for your life, too. Whatever season you are walking through, trust that your story is still unfolding. The setbacks, detours and difficult chapters are not wasted. Keep believing, keep moving forward and keep making room for the life God is calling you to live.
With gratitude,
Keisha
Keisha Blair is the Mother of Holistic Wealth, an award-winning international bestselling author, founder and CEO of the Institute on Holistic Wealth, host of the Holistic Wealth Podcast, and a 2026 WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in the Professionals category.
FAQ Section
Was Keisha Blair named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women?
Yes. Keisha Blair was named a 2026 WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in the Professionals category.
What is Keisha Blair known for?
Keisha Blair is known as the Mother of Holistic Wealth. She is an award-winning international bestselling author, renowned economist, policy expert, founder and CEO of the Institute on Holistic Wealth, and host of the Holistic Wealth Podcast. Here’s the write-up on the award page for her win:
“Keisha Blair, widely regarded as the Mother of Holistic Wealth, is the pioneering architect of the Holistic Wealth framework, Founder and CEO of the Institute on Holistic Wealth, the world’s first Holistic Wealth certification body and pioneering institution. An international award-winning author and renowned economist, she was the first Black woman in Canada to lead Canada’s Foreign Direct Investment file in support of the Prime Minister. Blair also founded Global Holistic Wealth Day and Month, building a category-defining global movement reaching 500+ million people worldwide”.
Where can I listen to Keisha Blair discuss her WXN Top 100 win?
Keisha Blair shares the personal story behind the recognition in a special Holistic Wealth Podcast episode, available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/P2GxQuppJWs.
