
Penny Mallory
As a leading authority on Mental Toughness, Penny Mallory is one of the UK’s top female motivational speakers, drawing from her years of experience in Motorsport as a Rally Driver, TV Presenter and Performance Coach. Against all the odds Penny transformed her life form a runaway homeless teenager to became the first (and remains the only) woman in the world to compete in a World Rally Car, for the Ford Motor Company.
Penny Mallory's videos
What Penny Mallory's clients say
"Penny attended our Sales and Marketing conference and wowed the audience. She provided so much inspiration, as well as practical advice. She cleverly weaved together personal anecdotes with live feedback from the audience and made a real difference to our event. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Penny for any corporate event. "
"Penny was amazing and her keynote was really well received by our audience – everyone’s feedback has been so positive – we were very impressed! Thank you for introducing us."
"Penny was FABULOUS! We all didn’t want it to end. She was engaging, exciting, extremely approachable and inspiring, and absolutely on point. Highlight of the day!"
"Penny’s content was absolutely great for the technical developer community to acquire and learn strong soft skills in the area of confidence and Mental Toughness - especially during our current climate. The bitesize content was easy to consume and the storytelling made you want to explore the full series of assets. Working with Penny and her team has been a brilliant experience, responsive, helpful and friendly."
"Penny delivered a fantastic speech on mental toughness, and had the room captivated from start to finish - people are still talking about it - absolutely superb! "
"I was spellbound by Penny’s keynote at the DFS FRS yesterday and it’s really given me the boost I needed to refocus on a couple of goals. Thank you for making an immediate difference to my attitude. I know your session got a fantastic score and I look forward to following you. "
"An incredible lady and speaker who held the room on her every word mixed with emotion, inspiration, humour and intelligence. Could have listened to your stories and advice for much more than just the 1 hour."
"Penny is a world-class speaker and the feedback from our guests was incredible. Her engaging and inspiring talk had clear takeaways that created real value for everyone there. A delight to work with and a must for any audience looking to make themselves better!"
"Time spent with Penny was definitely time well spent! I needed to find new ways to respond and offer challenge in a work environment and Penny was able to coach me to draw on my own experience to create a whole new tool kit of techniques for me to use, which are absolutely taking me to the next level already. Penny was engaging and so easy to talk to and working with her over several sessions allowed me to really clear my path and focus on me, I would highly recommend her as a coach. Veolia Utterly superb! We made the perfect speaker choice – Penny was amazing! Every member of our team was super-engaged for the entire session, and Penny’s own story is nothing short of inspirational. The whole raft of challenges we thought we collectively faced were completely achievable by the end of it. What was all the more impressive was Penny’s ability to tailor-make the session so well to our company and our needs, cutting through any negativity, and transforming our frustrations into positive energy. We’re now in so much better shape. We’re coming back for more Penny, be sure of it!"
"Penny spoke with ease and great humour about her life and career at our event. She tailored her message to our needs and was able to provide her perspective on the themes central to the work. Further, she was a pleasure to collaborate with. I’d recommend her to anyone."
"Everything about the assessment was professional, supportive and useful. The questionnaire was simple to complete and Penny was clear and thorough when going through the report. It was very insightful and Penny's guidance and support allowed me to gain so valuable takeaways and areas to think about and work on. Overall a very enjoyable and helpful experience. "
"Penny, you were a smash hit! Everyone loved your session and everyone enjoyed it. My second time of seeing you and I enjoyed every minute."
"Penny was fantastic to work with, before, during, and after a corporate event and dinner. She provided an entertaining, open and honest view on what it takes to lift you performance to the highest level. Our staff were highly engaged and there was a good level of banter in the room. People were left to make their own links to their work and family life. Penny met our brief and I would not hesitate to recommend to others."
"Penny was excellent, a real professional, and was able to hold our audience’s attention is a very engaging and powerful way. They were thrilled with the investment AP chose to make and both Tim and I were thrilled with our choice with Penny. We did immediately feedback to Penny and our thoughts and reflections remain just as strong having slept on it."
"The content of Penny’s presentation was inspiring and emotive and linked into the key themes of our conference. It definitely met our objectives. The audience was completely engaged and many were clearly moved by Penny’s presentation. Outstanding."
"Penny was awesome, so inspirational. A great storyteller, with fabulous wit and humour. She went down so well, people were absolutely buzzing afterwards. I would certainly recommend Penny to anyone else looking for inspiration on driving world class performance."
"Penny was excellent! A joy to work with. Her presentation was extremely motivational and was given excellent feedback from all the attendees. She is extremely professional and takes the time to get the script just right. "
"Penny opened our annual partner’s conference last year and was brilliant; thought provoking and inspirational. Conference delegates were engaged from the start and the mood continued for the duration. She will be a hard act to follow this year."
"We had Penny as the guest speaker at our conference this year and we found her very personable with a fascinating story to tell. It was thoroughly engaging, entertaining and thought provoking. The session was interactive and an excellent insight into elite performance. Her dedication and endless energy were proven afterwards when she drove from North Wales back to London that same night to be ready for a meeting the following day! A thoroughly enjoyable speaker."
"I was lucky enough to work with Penny during a virtual event I produced this week. Penny’s mental toughness speech is not only inspirational but has ideas and themes everyone can relate to. Penny’s personal stories of self-belief and overcoming some pretty bleak challenges with practical insights were absolutely spot on for this audience. She really listened to the challenges the audience were facing by undertaking some Mental Toughness Assessments with a cross-section of the audience which gave her real insight into what they as an industry are facing. Penny also hosted the event – an absolute pro! She hosted with humour and knowledge of the sector. And we were working in a freezing studio but she didn’t complain once! So easy and professional to work with. "
"Boston Scientific’s RM EMEA leadership team had the pleasure of Penny’s company at our last team meeting of the year. At a time when people are being pushed to their limits, Penny’s talk on mental toughness was truly inspiring and provided valuable insight. Thank you, Penny, for such a thought-provoking session and making our last meeting of the year a memorable one."
"Penny was an excellent MC at our recent Annual Conference. She delivered an inspiring motivational speech to open the conference which set the tone for the day and kept our delegates engaged throughout. We look forward to working with Penny again in the future!"
"Penny’s talk was so inspirational. She used her own experiences to make all of our leaders think carefully about their ‘why?’ This, coupled with the idea that real change takes take, lots of small changes and mental toughness, was exactly the message that we wanted to get across. It will certainly help our organisation as we plan for the next stage of our improvement. Thank you Penny"
"Penny was formidable and you could not hear a pin drop during her talk. She was incredible. We will be booking her again I am sure in the very near future. Fully recommend folks book her what an inspiration."
"Penny wowed our Coca-Cola team. She inspired everyone, and cleverly weaved together personal anecdotes with live feedback from the audience. She made a real difference to our event. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Penny for any corporate event"
"Penny opened our annual partner’s conference last year and was brilliant; thought provoking and inspirational. Conference delegates were engaged from the start and the mood continued for the duration. She will be a hard act to follow this year."
"Penny was excellent, a real professional, and was able to hold our audience’s attention is a very engaging and powerful way. They were thrilled with the investment AP chose to make and both Tim and I were thrilled with our choice with Penny. We did immediately feedback to Penny and our thoughts and reflections remain just as strong having slept on it."
"Penny’s content was completely on theme and she delivered our objectives perfectly. She was very well received by the audience and her content was interesting to the audience. Many commented they would have liked to hear more of her and that 30 mins was not enough!"
"The content of Penny’s presentation was inspiring and emotive and linked into the key themes of our conference. It definitely met our objectives. The audience were completely engaged and some were clearly moved by Penny’s presentation. Outstanding."
"I just wanted to say how much I was inspired by your talk; it was such a shame that you weren’t able to cover everything you wanted to in the time you had. I could have listened to you all day, you were so engaging."
"During a recent event I had the pleasure to hear Penny speak, I found her thoroughly engaging and fascinating, In fact I was totally fixated. As with all good stories it’s the way its delivered that you truly get a real insight into someone’s life, Penny didn’t fail to deliver with passion and professionalism. I highly recommend her as a speaker!"
"The first time I heard Penny present I knew we had to book her for one of our events. Penny is an inspiring speaker with an interesting story which she delivers in a humorous and animated way. Penny’s numerous professional and personal achievements make her an ideal speaker for any corporate event and her style would appeal to a wide audience."
"Penny was excellent! A joy to work with. Her presentation was extremely motivational and was given excellent feedback by all the attendees. She is extremely professional and takes the time to get the message just right"
"Penny was awesome, so inspirational. A great storyteller, with fabulous wit and humour. She went down so well, people were absolutely buzzing afterwards. I would certainly recommend Penny to anyone else looking for inspiration on driving world class performance."
"Penny gave one of the best if not the best motivational talks I have attended – she has the ability to not only inspire an audience but to totally interact with them, and I suspect everybody came away wanting to improve. The ovation at the end combined with the many questions asked indicated the interest and attention from the audience….testament of a professional speaker and presenter. Any organisation or event would certainly benefit from her experience of life and combined with the gift of communication – she is a great choice of speaker for any conference."
"Penny was absolutely fantastic. Her story and message were strong in content and impact and many have said that she gave them a great deal of food for thought. An inspirational and brilliant speaker"
"Penny was fantastically entertaining and her story was so inspiring. She had the audience engaged from the very start and her story resonated with them very well. Penny’s name was appeared numerous times in the comments section titled Best part of the event"
"WOW, so inspirational. Thank you so much for sharing. It certainly has challenged me to be 100% committed to my goals. Loved listening to you today"
"Thank you Penny for sharing your fantastic story but also your lessons and guidance on how to succeed in challenging times. Each of us took different things away and we look forward to trying the challenges you set us!"
"It was a brilliant session Penny. Thank you so much. Lots of inspired young people and lots of cold showers the next day "
"Really enjoyed the talk this morning Penny, very inspiring and honest, not like the usual bish bash bosh motivational sermon."
"Great speaker. Honest and from the heart. Truly motivational."
"We invited Penny to speak at our annual conference, which we put on every year to thank our lovely customers in Ireland. She was funny, insightful, thoroughly inspiring and a delight to work with. We’ve had wonderful feedback from our customers about Penny’s keynote and I would highly recommend her as a speaker for any event which needs a high point!"
"Penny delivered a Keynote at our Sales and Marketing conference and wowed the audience. She provided inspiration as well as excellent practical advice. She cleverly weaved together personal anecdotes with live feedback from the audience and made a real difference to our event. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Penny for any corporate event."
"I was spellbound by Penny’s keynote and it’s really given me the boost I needed to refocus on a couple of goals. I just wanted to say a big thank you from me for making an immediate difference to my attitude.. I know your session got a fantastic score and I look forward to following you."
"We contacted Penny after a colleague saw an amazing session delivered by Penny. Her content was great for the team to develop skills of confidence and mental toughness – especially in our current climate, with so much stress and pressure. The bitesize content was easy to consume and the storytelling."
Available for
Languages:
- English
Penny Mallory's 2025 biography
Penny Mallory: Mental Toughness, Keynote Speaker
As a leading authority on Mental Toughness, Penny helps people to manage the stress, pressure, heavy workloads and relentless deadlines they face.
Drawing from her extraordinary experiences, Penny now shares her Mental Toughness formula to help organisations and individuals to cultivate confidence, resilience, commitment, determination, and focus.
Mental Toughness is a personality trait, that can everyone can develop. With Mental Toughness you have increased resilience, confidence, focus, determination and commitment. This enables you to manage stress and pressure, take challenges in your stride, and quickly bounce back from setbacks.
In today’s ever more competitive environment where only the best will do, Penny Mallory has perfected the art of Psychologically Powered Performance to bring out the very best in people. No secret sauce or overused buzzwords, for championship teams (including F1) to top organisations, from individuals and workshops to International audiences, her engagingly authentic but wildly entertaining vision of optimised performance and positive change sets her apart.
Penny defied the odds by achieving her childhood ambition of becoming a Champion Rally Driver. She surpassed that dream by becoming the first woman to compete in a World Rally Car for Ford in the prestigious World Rally Championship. Remarkably, she remains the only woman to accomplish this. Her journey is even more remarkable given her tumultuous past as a teenage runaway, enduring 3 years of homelessness in London. Penny attributes her success to her Mental Toughness.
As a child she saw alcoholism and mental illness destroy her family. Fleeing home at 14, homeless and fending for herself on the London streets, her life couldn’t have been more dangerous or bleak, yet an inner strength and self-belief enabled her to take control of her future. She made impossible possible and has since dedicated her life to helping others do the same.
It is these experiences that have made her keynotes acclaimed international favourites for many of the world’s most powerful and storied brands, including Microsoft, Google Cloud, Santander, Coca-Cola, Nat West, Waitrose, Tesco, Telefonica, RoadChef, Sony, CitiBank, HPI, Jaguar, Proctor & Gamble, Airbus and many more.
Her life is a continuing series of doing what conventional thinking says she simply can’t – from Rally Driving at the highest level, competing in multiple marathons, enter the boxing ring twice, conquering two of the world’s highest mountains…and now she is preparing to row the Atlantic Ocean. Little wonder that her interactive keynotes inspire taking action, and to believe you can – because you can.
Penny is a TEDX speaker, author of ‘365 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness’, ’World Class Thinking, World Class Behaviour’ and ‘Take Control of Your Life’.
If you’re looking for a speaker that will ignite enthusiasm, inspire change, deepen commitment and determination, you may have found the right speaker for your event.
Articles and podcasts
Penny Mallory's 2025 talks & topics
Increase Mental Toughness - Transform Performance
The Mentally Tough prosper and succeed in today’s fast pace of change and innovation. Increasing resilience, focus, confidence and attitude transforms performance and profitability. With increased Mental Toughness we can learn to manage the stress and pressures we all face. Unleashing the Psychology of Success Success really is achievable for everyone, but because the challenges and obstacles that must be overcome are won and lost in our minds, success requires a winning mindset. By learning how to develop winning habits you’ll think – and perform – like a champion. Avoiding the Balanced Mediocrity Trap Expecting extraordinary results from a life in the middle of the road is a path to mediocrity. Ironically, seeking balance in everything short-changes everything. Extraordinary results require our time and energy focused on what matters most, to make the impossible possible. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable From childhood most of us have been taught to resist and avoid uncomfortable at all costs, but it’s a best/worst case example of well-intentioned misguided advice. This is, because what makes us uncomfortable can summon our best, building confidence and self-esteem. Maximised Reward Requires Managing Risk Playing it safe and refusing to leave your comfort zone may be a recipe for failure, but risk is scary. Champions learn to open their minds to possibilities, managing risk and leveraging it to their advantage. There is no loss; you’ll succeed or learn from it, and both are big wins!?
Behavioural and Culture Change
World-class thinking, world-class behaviour
Thinking and performing at the highest level requires breaking free of our self-imposed limitations and adopting World Class basics:
The proven fundamentals of Championship Behaviour. When you do, you’ll discover truly extraordinary results are within your reach.
- 40-60 minute Keynote
- 30 min or 1 hour Breakout session
- 2hr – 1 day Workshop
- Consulting with teams/individuals
To thrive in today’s ultra competitive, fast paced business world, we need to drive meaningful change within ourselves and everyone around us. You can’t afford to think and behave anything less than World Class if you want to compete, thrive and win. But how can you achieve this? What makes the best people and organisations stand out? Just what is the secret of their success?
The good news is that the top performers don’t possess any magic formulas or gifts that you can’t possess. They simply employ a few World Class basics. World Class Thinking and World Class Behaviour starts with your mindset. With the right attitude, approach and mindset you will optimise your commitment, talent, creativity, opportunity and results. Being World Class is a choice. Is it a choice you can afford not to make? Delegates will be challenged to think about:
- How your thinking affects your behaviour
- You can do it the F1 way
- Why risk is essential to success
- Without continual innovation, you’ll be in reverse
- How to build relentless persistence
- A great attitude is the powerful fuel
- Seek to DISprove your own self-limiting beliefs
- Accelerate skill through deliberate practice
- Why you must get comfortable feeling uncomfortable
- How Rally Drivers have nailed effective communication
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
From childhood most of us have been taught to resist and avoid uncomfortable at all costs, but it’s a best/worst case example of well-intentioned misguided advice. This is, because what makes us uncomfortable can summon our best, building confidence and self-esteem.
The Genesis of World Class Teams
Learn how to take your team higher, faster and keep them there. At the heart of every great team is a leader with the vision and skills that see beyond Me to We. They‘ve learned how to inspire teammates to believe in themselves, put the team first and aspire to excellence.
Believe in Non-Stop Innovation
It’s the secret to staying ahead, not falling behind, by continuously shifting into a higher gear, turning ambition into achievement. Instead of settling, find the courage to demand more and create a culture of innovation that doesn’t look for the future in the rearview mirror.
Leadership and teamwork
Penny challenges conventional thinking on how leaders and teams become truly effective. Having worked inside a Formula 1 team as a Performance Coach she shares her experience and stories of how genuinely effective leadership and teamwork can transform an organisation. Leaders rarely show the empathy required to build a strong team, and they rarely ask the most important questions of all: ‘What is your personal purpose/ Why are you here? Knowing and understanding the purpose of every individual team member is the starting point of a meaningful and powerful team. Penny identifies the most important elements of a successful team (vision, purpose, planning, practice, passion) and displays how they can be implemented immediately, in business and relationships!
How to adopt a Winning Mindset
Teamwork, Leadership and Communication
Why a Creative Environment is Critical
Building and Leading a World Class Team
Creating High Performance Teams
Unleashing the Psychology of Succes
Success really is achievable for everyone, but because the challenges and obstacles that must be overcome are won and lost in our minds, success requires a winning mindset. By learning how to develop winning habits you’ll think – and perform – like a champion.
Maximised Reward Requires Managing Risk
Playing it safe and refusing to leave your comfort zone may be a recipe for failure, but risk is scary. Champions learn to open their minds to possibilities, managing risk and leveraging it to their advantage. There is no loss; you’ll succeed or learn from it, and both are big wins!
Accelerate through Change to Victory
Change is both inevitable and a constant, but how we deal with it is our choice. Don’t fear change, embrace it, accelerate through it. Doing that makes impossible, possible. Learn to be flexible, think creatively and to communicate in a way that builds trust and succeeds.
Making the impossible possible
Penny Mallory tells her story of leaving home at 14, desperate and alone, following a family breakdown. Alcoholism and mental illness in the family proved to be too much for Penny and she close to walk away. After three years of homelessness, she hit rock bottom. In a life changing moment of clarity, she chose to try and enter the world of Rally Driving which had been a childhood dream. Against all the odds, she became the first woman in the World to compete in a Ford Focus World Rally Car for the Ford Rally Team. Her story is funny, though provoking but more than anything, inspiring. Good news – inspiration is infectious!
Building & Leading a High Performance Team
Penny has extensive experience, over 20 years, of competing and coaching inside World Class Teams. She has insights into the diverse worlds including Formula 1, European Golf, International ballet, Olympic boxing and World Rally. She shares the secrets of how great leaders build High Performing teams.
Increasing Confidence and Visualising Success
Turning Ambition into Achievement
What is the Point? Less is more – using clarity to get extraordinary results
Thriving In difficult times
Innovative Thinking
Avoiding the Balanced Mediocrity Trap
Expecting extraordinary results from a life in the middle of the road is a path to mediocrity. Ironically, seeking balance in everything short-changes everything. Extraordinary results require our time and energy focused on what matters most, to make the impossible possible.
Marginal Change Powers Amazing Results
It’s how good becomes great, and great becomes extraordinary. Incremental, seemingly marginal improvements may seem like baby steps, but at the elite level, these thoughtful but modest changes are the fine-tuning that transforms your performance for the better.
It’s Time to Put Self-Limitations Behind
Many of us are our own biggest obstacle. Break free, refuse to accept what is and focus on what can be. Redefine your potential with an all new resolve to harness your full potential and unleash what’s no longer trapped inside and is no longer holding you back.
The Psychology of Success
Open your mind to new possibilities and anything becomes possible. But how would you go about ‘opening your mind’ or start to use ‘flexible thinking’? Penny is a Master Practitioner in CBT and a Performance Coach who works with everyone from world class teams to young offenders, to help them to improve their performance. Penny shares the secrets to changing thought sand behaviours to get what you want in life.
Building a World Class Team
Using Risk to Maximise Reward
Achieving Focus and Purpose
Everest – the incredible story of George Mallory, the first man to conquer Everest, told by his descendant!
1. You have at least 20% more to give
You are almost certainly not operating at your maximum ability, so how would you start to discover that missing 20% you have got tucked away? What can you start to do today that will push you, and the people around you, into uncharted territory? Remember, people love to be involved in creating something extraordinary.
2. Stop innovating at your peril
Stop innovating and creating and you will be moving backwards, allowing the competition to power ahead. How could you create a culture and environment where innovation, and innovative thinking, is a normal part of every day. What is currently taking 4 months that could take 2 weeks? What could YOU do the F1 way?
3. Stop trying to achieve a balance
Stop striving to achieve a balance in your life. Time on one thing means time away from another, That makes balance impossible. Extraordinary results require focus, attention, commitment and time. Live in the middle of a balance line, attending to all things, and everything will get short changed. Don’t expect amazing results from the middle of the road.
4. Unchartered territory requires risk
Start to discover how you can make uncomfortable decisions that can lead to big change, real growth and discovery. With flexible and optimistic thinking you will be open to new possibilities. Take a risk. You will either win or learn. There is no loss. And there is no loss in learning. Can you think of a World Champion that got there without taking risks?
5. Change requires something to stop and something to start
Check your attitude to change – are you an advocate of change, are you resistant, or just compliant? What about the attitude of the people around you? For something to change, something must stop and something must start. What will you start, stop and continue to ensure this change takes place?
6. Your self limiting beliefs are holding you back
If you have been trying and failing to reach certain goals it could well be due to a bunch of self limiting beliefs that you hold about yourself and the world around you. Although you may not be conscious of these most of the time, they will be constraining you and your ability to live the life you dream of. Start looking for evidence that DISproves your self limiting beliefs.
7. The magic happens outside your comfort zone
Society conditions us to believe there should be no discomfort in life. We resist things that feel tricky or uncomfortable. But the reverse is true – the things that makes us uncomfortable can be the very things that challenge us, build our confidence and self esteem. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
8. Start communicating like a Rally Driver
You may never achieve you goals until you start to communicate openly and honestly with everyone around you. Open communication increases trust, a sense of belonging and a feeling of being valued and appreciated. All these attributes feature in the top 10 workplace motivators.
9. You are your biggest obstacle
The greatest people on earth were not born great – they all started from a place of not knowing what they were doing. But they persisted, failed, persisted, failed. They fell down 9 times but got up 10. The biggest obstacle you may ever face is you, your mind and your attitude. Move away from a rigid, fixed mindset and towards an open flexible mindset that offers up options and possibilities.
Mental Toughness
If your clients are looking for a speaker that can connect and resonate on this massively important issue, but importantly offer some practical takeaways and tasks for the audience to implement immediately, that will reduce those feelings of stress and anxiety, then Penny can help.
Her ‘Mental Toughness’ keynotes and workshops will help people to:
- Develop strategies to deliver under intense pressure
- Increase a sense of control, commitment and confidence
- See every challenge as an opportunity
- Develop and sustain Mental Toughness
Building Mental Toughness – confidence, resilience, focus and determination – is now more important than ever.