Inclusive Leadership

Why organisations work with Charlotte Storey She trains leaders in the craft of presence using the same technical toolkit she used on stage: voice, physicality, and mindset under observation. Most executive coaching talks about presence. Hers drills it. She has coached the Royal Marines Band through two of the most scrutinised live performances in recent British history: the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. The stakes reference is not theoretical. Her work on disability inclusion is grounded in her own route into a commercial pilot’s seat with one arm, which gives her a specific, operational view on how hiring and development systems overlook non-standard candidates. Her method is concrete and demonstrable in the room: accent work, physical embodiment, vocal control, and anxiety regulation. Audiences leave with techniques they can rehearse, not concepts they have to translate. She bridges two audiences that rarely share a speaker: performance-anxious specialists (musicians, surgeons, pilots, public-facing executives) and HR and inclusion leaders working on disability at senior levels. Biography highlights Former West End actor and professional saxophonist, now working as a performance and communication coach to senior leaders. Gained a UK pilot’s licence in 2021 and flies a light aircraft as pilot in command, having lost the use of her right arm in 2008. Coached HM Royal Marines Band through the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. Delivered a 2023 keynote at the Lockheed Martin UK Leader Conference, described by CEO Paul Livingston as the most impactful presentation seen at the annual conference. Client roster includes the BBC, Disney, Nickelodeon, the Bank of England, NatWest, the European Business Aviation Association, Warburtons, and Homebase. Lives with Ehlers-Danlos Hypermobility Syndrome and speaks from direct experience on the practical mechanics of disability in high-performance careers. Biography The Royal Marines Band rehearsed for months before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. Charlotte Storey was the performance coach they brought in to handle the part of the job that does not show up in a music score: staying composed when the eyes of the world are on the ensemble and there is no room for a wrong note. That commission captures the work. Storey started in the West End as an actor and professional saxophonist, then moved into elite voice and acting coaching in UK conservatoires before her current career as a speaker and executive coach. Her specialism is what happens to people technically and physically when the pressure rises: voice tightens, breath shortens, attention collapses inward. She trains it out of them. The second strand of her work comes from lived experience. In 2008 she lost the use of her right arm following complications of Ehlers-Danlos Hypermobility Syndrome. In 2021, afraid of heights and working with a disability that grounds most pilots, she gained her licence and now flies as pilot in command. That route into the cockpit informs her work on disability inclusion, which she treats as an operational question about how organisations find and promote non-standard talent, not a values statement. Her keynote list runs from Lockheed Martin UK’s Leader Conference to the BBC, Disney, Nickelodeon, the Bank of England, NatWest, and the European Business Aviation Association. The through-line is the same: a practitioner teaching senior people how to perform, in the craft sense of the word, when it matters most. Key speaking topics Executive presence and the craft of performing under pressure Performance anxiety in high-stakes professional settings Non-verbal communication and vocal authority for senior leaders Disability inclusion in senior hiring and promotion Self-mastery and composure for client-facing and public-facing roles Audacious leadership and risk tolerance in technical careers Team dynamics in elite ensembles and high-performance units Ideal for CHROs, heads of leadership development, and DEI leaders working on presence, progression, and disability inclusion at senior levels. Executive teams preparing for high-stakes external appearances: investor days, regulatory hearings, media, large-scale town halls. Specialist professional communities where composure under scrutiny is part of the job: aviation, defence, surgery, financial services, broadcasting. Conferences seeking an inspirational keynote that has craft content underneath, not only a personal story. Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for what presence is made of, with specific techniques for voice, breath, and physical positioning. Practical tools for regulating performance anxiety before high-stakes appearances. A sharper view of how hiring and promotion systems filter out disabled and non-standard candidates, and what changes that. A reset on the role of rehearsal and craft in senior leadership, drawn from performing arts practice. A direct experience of the techniques in the room, delivered by a speaker trained to hold the space.

Why organisations work with Annie Emmerson A live event host who can carry a main-stage running order with the timing of a BBC Olympic broadcaster, then close the day with a personal keynote from elite sport. First-hand authority on managing anxiety and self-doubt during selection and qualification cycles, drawn from competing at the top of triathlon and duathlon under Brett Sutton. A credible voice for women’s leadership sessions, having built an elite career and a broadcast career in two male-dominated industries without making that the only story she tells. Practical, unshowy fluency in mental health conversations earned through years co-hosting Her Spirit with Louise Minchin and The Be Braver podcast. Biography highlights Retired in 2006 as the world’s number one ranked duathlete. Represented Great Britain in triathlon, duathlon, cross-country, track, and half marathon. BBC commentator across three Olympic Games, most recently Paris 2024, and Commonwealth Games coverage. Lead reporter and commentator for Super League Triathlon since 2018. Co-host of the Her Spirit podcast (2019 to 2021) with Louise Minchin and co-host of The Be Braver podcast. MC and host for Le Blanq cycling tours since 2020 and Channel 4 sports reporter. Biography Most people who reach the top of an endurance sport start young. Annie Emmerson did not. She came into triathlon late, trained under Brett Sutton, and retired in 2006 as the world’s number one duathlete after representing Great Britain across triathlon, duathlon, cross-country, track, and half marathon. That route shapes the content she now brings to corporate audiences. The pressure of late-career qualification, the management of injury, and the experience of being one of the only women in a coaching environment dominated by men became the working material for her speaking on resilience, mental health, and women in high-performance settings. Broadcasting is where she now spends most of her professional life. She has commentated on three Olympic Games for the BBC, including Paris 2024, covered Commonwealth Games, and been a lead voice on Super League Triathlon since 2018. She reports for Channel 4 and hosts Le Blanq cycling tours. Two podcasts sit alongside the broadcast work. Her Spirit, co-hosted with Louise Minchin from 2019 to 2021, focused on women’s mental health and physical activity. The Be Braver podcast continues that thread. The combined effect is a speaker and host who can hold a main-stage room with broadcast pacing, then talk about anxiety, scrutiny, and recovery with the credibility of someone who has lived through them. Key speaking topics Resilience under sustained pressure Mental health and anxiety in high-performance environments Women in male-dominated industries Motivation and late-career reinvention Event hosting and moderation Sport, performance, and recovery Ideal for Leadership conferences and women’s networks looking for a keynote anchored in lived performance, not theory Wellbeing and mental health summits seeking a speaker who can talk about anxiety credibly without clinical framing Annual conferences and awards evenings needing an MC who can host the day and deliver a personal keynote in the same brief Sports, endurance, and cycling brand events seeking a recognised BBC broadcast voice Audience outcomes A clearer sense of what resilience looks like as a daily working practice rather than a slogan Permission to talk about anxiety and self-doubt in performance settings without treating them as weakness A concrete account of how a woman built authority inside two male-dominated industries Sharper appreciation of the link between physical practice, recovery, and sustained mental performance

Why organisations work with Hayley Mulenda She has been booked into the rooms where retention strategy is set, including Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Unilever’s C-suite under Leena Nair, and Meta MENA’s leadership. Her TEDxLSE talk «The Danger of Being a Role Model» frames a specific argument about authenticity that translates directly into how organisations think about leadership visibility and reverse mentoring. She holds an active operating seat as Brand Board Member at Wagamama, so the inclusion and culture content is informed by board-level decision-making, not consultancy at arm’s length. Her work on the gap between C-suite intent and Gen Z lived experience addresses a problem most leadership teams can name but few can resolve. Her book «The ABCs to Student Success» and her TEDx platform give her a public body of work that buyers can read before booking. Biography highlights TEDxLSE speaker, «The Danger of Being a Role Model» Author, «The ABCs to Student Success» Brand Board Member, Wagamama Keynote and consulting work with Microsoft, Unilever, JP Morgan, Google, Meta MENA, Chanel, Bloomberg Media, Harrods, Clifford Chance, Cabinet Office UK Spoken at Wembley Arena, Oslo Spektrum, and the UK Houses of Parliament Named one of 25 Black entrepreneurs to watch in 2024, The Black Business Show x HSBC Biography The cost of failing to engage a younger workforce is now measured at executive committee level. Retention has become a leadership question rather than an HR one. Hayley Mulenda’s work sits at the point where mental health, inclusion, and generational change converge inside that question. She came to the work through her own experience. After a suicide attempt at 18, she rebuilt her life around the practical mechanics of mental health and self-worth, and turned that into a public body of work. Her TEDxLSE talk, «The Danger of Being a Role Model», argues that organisations and leaders default to curated personas when employees actually need authenticity, and that the difference is what determines trust. Her client list reflects how that argument lands inside large organisations. Microsoft brought her to Redmond. Unilever’s then Chief HR Officer Leena Nair, now CEO of Chanel, has worked with her. Meta MENA, JP Morgan, Bloomberg Media, Clifford Chance, Google, the Cabinet Office, and Teach First have all booked her on briefs covering wellbeing, inclusion, and reverse mentoring. Wagamama appointed her to its brand board. The «ABCs to Student Success» gives her a published framework. The board seat keeps the work close to operating decisions. Together, they explain why she is booked less as a wellbeing speaker and more as a translator between senior leaders and the workforce now reporting to them. Key speaking topics Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace Reverse mentoring and generational engagement Diversity, equity and inclusion Employee retention and the social contract of work Authentic leadership and personal branding Workplace culture across the MENA region Ideal for CHROs and people directors managing retention of Gen Z and millennial talent Inclusion and culture leads building reverse mentoring or ERG programmes Executive teams reviewing employee engagement and wellbeing strategy Conferences and offsites where leadership wants a credible voice on mental health rather than a generic one Audience outcomes A working language for the difference between leader visibility and leader authenticity, and why one drives engagement and the other does not A direct view of what younger employees actually want from senior leaders A reframing of mental health from a wellbeing programme into a retention lever Practical reference points for designing reverse mentoring that produces decisions, not optics

Why organisations work with June Sarpong She has run inclusion at scale inside one of the world’s largest media organisations. As the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity, she sat on the Executive Committee and oversaw a £100m commissioning commitment, which gives boards a credible peer voice rather than an outside consultant. Her three HarperCollins books (Diversify, The Power of Women, The Power of Privilege) build an economic argument for inclusion, drawing on Nuffield College, Oxford research that put the cost of UK discrimination at £127bn a year. Buyers get a speaker who can frame the case in commercial terms. Through Diversify International, she has worked with Burberry, Barclays, Nike, Google, Unilever, EY and the NHS, so the room can ask practical questions about what works in regulated, consumer-facing and public-sector contexts. She moves naturally between keynote and host or moderator, which makes her usable across formats: a leadership offsite opener, an internal town hall, an awards stage, or a chaired board conversation on diversity. Biography highlights First Director of Creative Diversity at the BBC and first Black woman on the BBC Executive Committee. Oversaw a £100m commitment to diverse and inclusive content commissioning at the BBC. Author of three HarperCollins titles on inclusion: Diversify, The Power of Women, The Power of Privilege. Founder of Diversify International, with corporate clients including Burberry, Barclays, Google, Nike, Unilever, EY, Facebook and the NHS. MBE (2007) and OBE (2020) for services to broadcasting and to broadcasting respectively. Non-Executive Trustee of Tate, appointed by the Prime Minister. Biography Inclusion is now a board-level question because the audiences, workforces and customer bases of most large organisations have changed faster than the people running them. June Sarpong’s work sits exactly in that gap. She argues, in commercial language, that closing it is an operating decision, not a values statement. She made that case from inside one of the world’s most scrutinised institutions. As the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity, she sat on the Executive Committee and oversaw a £100m commissioning commitment to diverse and inclusive content. It was the first time a UK public broadcaster of that scale tied inclusion to a budget line and reported against it. The argument is also published. Her three HarperCollins books, Diversify, The Power of Women and The Power of Privilege, draw on Nuffield College, Oxford research that put the annual cost of discrimination in the UK at £127bn. The books are used as a frame in her keynote work, which is how she became useful to companies trying to move beyond statements: Burberry, Barclays, Google, Nike, Unilever, EY and the NHS have all engaged Diversify International, the consultancy she founded after leaving the BBC. Her career began in broadcasting, and that range still matters commercially. She presented Channel 4’s T4 for nine years, interviewed Tony Blair for the strand, and is a regular panel and broadcast voice. The same craft that lets her host a leadership offsite or chair a board conversation also lets her bring difficult inclusion content into a room without it landing as a lecture. She is a Trustee of Tate, appointed by the Prime Minister, and holds an OBE for services to broadcasting. Key speaking topics Inclusion as an operating commitment Diverse audiences and consumer reach Workforce composition and talent The economic case for inclusion Allyship and privilege Women in leadership Culture change inside large organisations Ideal for CHROs, Chief People Officers and DEI leads under pressure to show measurable inclusion outcomes Boards and executive committees revisiting inclusion strategy after the post-2020 reset Marketing and brand leaders rethinking how products and content connect with diverse audiences Leadership offsites, internal town halls and conferences that need a credible host as well as a speaker Audience outcomes A clearer picture of what inclusion looks like as a budget and operating decision, drawn from a real public-sector example The commercial argument for inclusion in language a CFO or board chair will accept A practical reading of what worked and what failed across consumer, financial and public-sector deployments A sharper view of the difference between inclusion programmes and inclusion communications

Why organisations work with Dumi Senda He runs inclusion inside a 3,000-person operation at BBC England, so his method has been tested against the same scale and politics the audience is wrestling with, not built in a classroom. His LinkedIn Learning course “Make Belonging Real in the Workplace” gives organisations a shared curriculum to anchor manager conversations after the keynote, which most DEI speakers cannot offer. As President of the Oxford Black Alumni Network and ICF-accredited coach, he brings institutional credibility with senior audiences alongside coaching craft that works one-to-one with leaders. His lived arc from a decade of UK factory work to an Oxford MSc is the proof point that disarms the most sceptical rooms, including leadership teams that have sat through several DEI sessions already. He has delivered programmes inside the BBC, the UN, the House of Commons, the Bank of England, Google and Goldman Sachs, so references translate across public sector, finance and technology briefs. Biography highlights Diversity and Inclusion Portfolio Lead, BBC England (six regions, 3,000+ staff). Oxford University MSc graduate; sitting President of the Oxford Black Alumni Network (OxBAN). LinkedIn Learning instructor, “Make Belonging Real in the Workplace”; 2024 LinkedIn Top Voice, Teambuilding. International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited coach. Founder of Titese, an EDI consultancy working with clients including the UN, House of Commons, Bank of England, Google and Goldman Sachs. Featured in “Everyday Ubuntu” (Mungi Ngomane, Penguin), foreworded by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Biography The gap in most inclusion programmes is not ambition, it is operational credibility. Statements of intent are easy to write. Changing how three thousand managers actually speak to each other on a Tuesday morning is harder, and that is the work Senda does every day inside BBC England, where he leads the Diversity and Inclusion portfolio across six regions. That operational grounding is the reason his keynotes do not sound like generic DEI content. He is running the same programme internally that he is recommending to the audience, with the same budget pressures and the same sceptical middle managers. His LinkedIn Learning course, “Make Belonging Real in the Workplace”, distils that method into a curriculum organisations can deploy after he has left the stage. The personal story is well known and deliberately useful. Ten years as a labourer in the UK, a Master’s from Oxford, and now President of the Oxford Black Alumni Network. Senda uses it not as inspiration, but as evidence: inclusion is decided by the everyday behaviour of people already inside the room, and that behaviour can change. Clients include BBC, the UN, House of Commons, Bank of England, Google and Goldman Sachs. What they book him for is rarely a talk on diversity as a topic. They book him to shift the conversation from what the organisation says about inclusion to what its managers actually do on Monday. Key speaking topics Inclusive leadership and manager behaviour Belonging at work Bias and everyday conduct Culture change inside large organisations Authenticity and bringing your whole self to work Career development and professional identity Transformational change and taking the organisation with you Ideal for CHROs and heads of DEI designing the next phase of an inclusion programme that has stalled at policy level. Executive and senior leadership teams ahead of a culture change, restructure or “digital first” transformation. People managers across regionally dispersed organisations who carry the practical load of inclusion. Employee resource group leads and internal DEI networks looking for an external voice with operational authority. Audience outcomes A sharper read of where their own inclusion programme is losing traction between executive intent and manager behaviour. Specific language for describing belonging, bias and conduct that holds up in difficult day-to-day conversations. A framework for connecting personal values to professional contribution that coaches and managers can reuse. Practical prompts from Senda’s LinkedIn Learning curriculum that can be taken back into team sessions. Renewed confidence among sceptical managers that this work is a leadership skill, not a compliance task.

Why organisations work with Charlotte Richardson She works live on national radio and television every week, including TalkSport, BBC Final Score, Times Radio Breakfast and Charlton TV, which is the same craft that internal conferences and awards evenings need on stage. She is TalkSport’s first female commentator and the first woman to commentate for TalkSport at a Women’s World Cup, which gives a content keynote on inclusion in male-dominated industries genuine first-person material rather than a borrowed argument. She moves between formats inside a single booking: opening host, panel moderator, on-stage interviewer of a senior leader, awards announcer, after-dinner host. For organisations programming a women in sport or inclusion strand alongside an event, she can host the day and deliver the keynote, which removes a second booking and keeps tone consistent. Biography highlights TalkSport’s first female commentator, covering the men’s football pyramid, the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship across TalkSport and TalkSport 2. Reporter on BBC Final Score, the BBC’s prime-time Saturday afternoon football results programme. Sports analyst and contributor on Times Radio Breakfast. Co-host of In The Box, the England Football podcast produced with the FA’s grassroots football team. Pitch-side presenter and live broadcast host for Charlton Athletic’s Charlton TV at The Valley. Began her career on the operator side of the industry in sports marketing and communications before moving into broadcasting via BBC local radio. Biography Live football radio is unforgiving. The match does not pause for a missed cue, the crowd noise does not let a commentator catch a breath, and the audience can tell within thirty seconds whether the voice on air knows the game. Charlotte Richardson commentates on it weekly for TalkSport, the UK’s largest commercial sports network, and was the first woman the station put in that chair. Her broadcasting career started in BBC local radio and progressed to Final Score, the BBC’s Saturday afternoon football programme, before TalkSport. She now covers the full men’s pyramid, the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship across TalkSport and TalkSport 2, reports on Times Radio Breakfast, and hosts pitch-side and live coverage for Charlton Athletic’s Charlton TV. With Tom Lee she co-presents In The Box, the FA’s England Football podcast on grassroots football. That mix of live commentary, pitch-side presenting and studio analysis is the relevant credential for corporate work. Awards evenings, customer conferences and internal events run on the same skills: pace, recovery, the right question to a senior leader on stage, the ability to cover a gap in the running order without showing it. Richardson does that work in front of national audiences every week. She also has a content keynote that most hosts do not. Becoming the first woman to commentate for TalkSport at a Women’s World Cup, and on the men’s football pyramid more broadly, gives her a first-person account of inclusion in a male-dominated industry that an organisation programming a women’s network event, an International Women’s Day moment, or a sports-themed internal day can build a session around. Key speaking topics Conference and awards hosting Panel moderation and on-stage interviewing Women in sport Inclusion in male-dominated industries Sports broadcasting and live event craft Ideal for Internal women’s network events and International Women’s Day programmes Annual customer and partner conferences requiring a host and moderator Internal awards and recognition evenings Sponsor and hospitality events around football and major sporting fixtures Audience outcomes A live event that holds pace, recovers cleanly when something slips, and lands its recognition moments. Panels and senior leader interviews that produce direct answers rather than rehearsed lines. A first-person account of breaking into a male-dominated industry that an inclusion strand can be built around.

Why organisations work with Miranda Brawn She brings the perspective of a sitting non-executive director across an NHS Foundation Trust, FTSE 100 sustainability funds and AI start-ups, so her recommendations land as practitioner advice rather than commentary from outside the boardroom. The Brawn Review, launched at the House of Lords in October 2025, gives clients access to a named, evidenced governance framework with 50 specific recommendations, not a general lecture on why diversity matters. She is a barrister called to the Bar of England and Wales with an MBA and academic appointments at Roehampton and previously Oxford, which gives her credibility with general counsel, audit committees and regulators in equal measure. Her foundation has run the UK’s first diversity leadership lecture and scholarship programme since 2016, giving her a decade of evidence on what actually shifts representation, useful for clients tired of pledges that do not move numbers. She covers ESG, AI ethics and inclusive leadership from the same vantage point, which suits boards that no longer want three different speakers for three governance topics that have collapsed into one. Biography highlights Author of The Brawn Review: Boardroom Sustainability, Inclusion and Corporate Governance, launched at the UK House of Lords in October 2025. Honorary Professor in Business and Law, University of Roehampton; former Senior Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford. Barrister, Bar of England and Wales; MBA; Honorary Doctor of Letters (Brighton); Honorary Doctor of Laws (University of Law). Non-executive director, chair, trustee and advisor across an NHS Foundation Trust, FTSE 100 sustainability funds with over GBP 2 billion AUM, VC funds and AI start-ups including X0PA AI. Former Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan; founder and CEO of The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation (2016). Financial Times Top 30 Ethnic Minority Leaders; Prime Minister’s Point of Light; Woman of the Year, Women in Finance Awards. Biography The Brawn Review landed at the House of Lords in October 2025 with 50 recommendations on boardroom sustainability, inclusion and governance, drawn from contributions by 1,000 global board members and endorsed by Lord Davies of the 2011 Davies Review. It is the work of an author who sits on the boards she is writing about, not a researcher describing them from outside. Miranda Brawn is a barrister, MBA, honorary professor at the University of Roehampton and former Senior Visiting Fellow at Oxford, where the review began. Her board portfolio runs across the UK’s largest NHS Foundation Trust, FTSE 100 sustainability funds with more than GBP 2 billion in assets under management, venture capital funds and AI start-ups. Before the boardroom she traded for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Most inclusion speakers offer advocacy. Her contribution is governance design: what a sustainability committee should actually do, how directors should oversee AI deployment, how inclusion outcomes should be measured against legal and fiduciary tests. The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation, which she founded in 2016, has run a decade of scholarship and mentoring programmes that give her a longitudinal view of what shifts representation in finance, law and technology. Her recognition reflects the breadth of that practice rather than a single domain: Financial Times Top 30 Ethnic Minority Leaders, Prime Minister’s Point of Light, Woman of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards, and Top 50 Afro-Caribbean Leadership Award presented at the House of Lords. Key speaking topics Boardroom governance of sustainability, inclusion and AI Inclusive and values-based leadership ESG strategy and board oversight AI ethics and responsible technology Non-executive director practice Diversity, equity and inclusion in regulated industries The Brawn Review recommendations Ideal for Boards, chairs and non-executive directors reviewing committee structure on ESG, AI and inclusion General counsel, company secretaries and heads of governance preparing for investor and regulator scrutiny CHROs and chief sustainability officers translating board commitments into operating practice Financial services, healthcare and professional services firms with concentrated DEI and governance exposure Audience outcomes A named governance framework, The Brawn Review, with specific recommendations on board composition, committee remits and oversight of AI and sustainability. A clearer view of where DEI commitments sit in fiduciary and regulatory terms, not only reputational ones. A practitioner reading of what NEDs are actually being asked to evidence on inclusion and ESG by investors and regulators. Evidence from a decade of scholarship and mentoring programmes on which interventions move representation in finance, law and technology.

Why organisations work with Candice Brathwaite Two Sunday Times bestsellers built on different theses. I Am Not Your Baby Mother (2020) reshaped national conversations on Black British motherhood. Manifest(o) (2024) became an instant bestseller on intention and self-belief, and took her on a sold-out international tour across the UK, US and Canada. Lived authority on inclusion and representation in a moment when most DEI speakers have either lost the room or become politically performative. Her debut was the first book by a Black British woman about Black British motherhood to enter the British Library. A speaker who can hold uncomfortable conversations and keep audiences listening. Liberty London described her keynote as “the best we have ever put on in 150 years of the store.” Cross-sector keynote track record across financial services, professional services, retail and tech: NatWest, Barclays, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Ralph Lauren, Sainsbury’s, Deliveroo, Liberty London and the Cambridge Union. The timing and craft of a working broadcaster, drawn from regular appearances on ITV’s Lorraine and Steph’s Packed Lunch, her role as Contributing Editor at Grazia, and writing across the Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar and Stylist. Biography highlights Two-time Sunday Times bestselling author: I Am Not Your Baby Mother (Quercus, 2020) and Manifest(o) (Quercus, 2024) First book by a Black British woman about Black British motherhood to enter the British Library Founder of Make Motherhood Diverse, the campaign challenging stereotyped representations of parenthood in British media Contributing Editor at Grazia and regular UK television presenter on ITV’s Lorraine and Steph’s Packed Lunch Host of Conversations with Candice (Acast, 2026), following the multi-million-download Closet Confessions Keynote clients include NatWest, Barclays, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Ralph Lauren, Sainsbury’s, Deliveroo, Liberty London, the Royal College of Midwives and the Cambridge Union Biography Most corporate conversations about inclusion have stopped landing. The language is familiar, the speakers cautious, and the audiences switched off. The substance still matters; the form has stopped working. In 2016 a blog post asked where the Black mothers were in British parenting media, and started building an answer. The blog became Make Motherhood Diverse. The platform became a book. I Am Not Your Baby Mother (2020) was a Sunday Times bestseller and the first book written by a Black British woman about Black British motherhood to enter the British Library. A second Sunday Times bestseller followed in Manifest(o) (2024), with a sold-out international tour across the UK, US and Canada. Alongside the books came regular presenting work on ITV’s Lorraine and Steph’s Packed Lunch, a Contributing Editor role at Grazia, and two podcasts. The corporate keynote diary expanded with it: NatWest, Barclays, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Ralph Lauren, Sainsbury’s, Deliveroo, Liberty London and the Cambridge Union. Buyers tend to book her for the same reason. Inclusion, ambition and the lived reality of working parents are subjects where most speakers either over-perform or under-deliver. Liberty London described her keynote as “the best we have ever put on in 150 years of the store.” That is the response organisations come back for. Key speaking topics Diversity, equity and inclusion Personal brand building and visibility Modern motherhood and the working parent Motivation and self-belief Manifestation and intentional living Storytelling and cultural commentary Ideal for CHROs, CPOs and DEI leads designing inclusion programming that audiences will actually engage with rather than tolerate Internal communications, ERG sponsors and culture teams running events on representation, belonging and the experience of working parents Leadership development and event teams looking for a closing keynote that drives genuine post-event conversation Brand, marketing and creative leadership teams thinking about voice, visibility and cultural authenticity Audience outcomes A direct, honest perspective on inclusion that audiences will repeat back to their colleagues A sharper sense of what genuine representation looks like in the everyday operation of a business, beyond statements and campaigns Language and permission to talk about visibility, ambition and working parenthood as serious organisational concerns The energy and confidence to act on something they have been postponing in their own careers

Why organisations work with Anj Handa She brings governance-level credibility into inclusion conversations that usually stop at HR, holding positions as Independent Governor of Leeds Arts University, Chair of Freedom Studios, and Fellow of the RSA. Her campaign craft is verifiable, not rhetorical. She built the legal team, petition, and media strategy on the Afusat Saliu FGM-asylum case, gathering 126,500 signatures and pushing FGM higher on the UK political agenda. She names the parts of inclusive leadership most speakers avoid: emotional correctness, healthy boundaries, psychological safety, and what allyship has to do that employee networks cannot. She offers a working alternative to the glass ceiling, the labyrinth, which describes the actual sequence of barriers women, and particularly Black and brown women, encounter inside large organisations. Forbes named her in its 10 Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazers list, and Grant Thornton UK featured her among its 100 Faces of a Vibrant Economy. The recognition tracks substantive work, not commentary. Biography highlights Founder of Inspiring Women Changemakers, an inclusive community and consultancy advising on equity, governance, and systems change. Independent Governor of Leeds Arts University and Chair of the Board of Freedom Studios. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Named in Forbes “10 Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazers” and Grant Thornton UK’s 100 Faces of a Vibrant Economy (2018). Featured in Charity Times 2023 International Women’s Day list. Contributor to “Generation Share”, “Eradicating FGM in the UK” (Hilary Burrage), and “Refugee Tales” (Comma Press). Biography Most organisations have a diversity statement. Far fewer have governance and leadership practices that match it. The gap is where talent gets lost, complaints get managed, and senior leaders quietly accept attrition that the policy was meant to prevent. Closing that gap requires someone fluent in both the structural and the human side of the work. Anj Handa has spent more than two decades operating in that space. She is Founder of Inspiring Women Changemakers, an inclusive community and consultancy that advises senior leaders on inclusive governance, equity, and systems change. She is an Independent Governor of Leeds Arts University, Chair of Freedom Studios, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; positions she has often noted are held by fewer than one percent of Black and brown women in the UK. Her authority is not theoretical. In 2014 she led the high-profile asylum campaign for Afusat Saliu and her daughters, assembling the legal team, running a Change.org petition that drew 126,500 signatures, and bringing MPs and national media into the story. The work was later included in Hilary Burrage’s “Eradicating FGM in the UK” and the Comma Press anthology “Refugee Tales”. Forbes named her in its 10 Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazers list; Grant Thornton featured her among its 100 Faces of a Vibrant Economy. What separates her work for senior teams is the territory she is willing to name. Psychological safety, emotional correctness, healthy boundaries, allyship that is more than a network. She challenges the glass ceiling as a useful frame and offers the labyrinth in its place, a more accurate description of the sequence of barriers women encounter inside complex organisations. That precision is what boards and executive teams hire her for. Key speaking topics Inclusive leadership and governance Equity, diversity, and structural change The labyrinth: rethinking the glass ceiling Allyship beyond employee networks Psychological safety and emotional correctness Self-care and resilience for changemakers Campaign craft and policy influence Ideal for Boards, governance committees, and executive teams setting inclusion strategy CHROs, Heads of DEI, and senior people leaders rebuilding programmes under scrutiny Public sector, charity, and arts leaders working on equity and safeguarding Women’s leadership and changemaker networks inside large organisations Audience outcomes A sharper vocabulary for the structural barriers women face beyond the glass ceiling A clear distinction between allyship as practice and employee networks as forum Specific governance-level questions to put to their own inclusion programmes Permission and language to address emotional correctness and boundaries in senior teams A view of inclusion that connects policy, governance, and lived experience without losing rigour

Why organisations work with Ashley Rhodes-Courter A clinical credential behind the personal story. She is an LCSW running a mental health agency, the Foundation for Sustainable Families, which means her work on resilience and wellbeing is grounded in clinical practice, not motivational framing. A specific account of what trauma-informed care looks like in real institutions. Nine years across 14 foster placements gives her a rare credibility on systems that fail vulnerable people, and on what it takes to redesign them. Authority on schools, social services, and helping professions. Her talks for educators and frontline workers address abuse identification, burnout, and self-care with the precision of a practitioner, not a guest speaker. A New York Times bestselling memoir used in college curricula nationally, plus a published children’s book on a transgender sibling listed on the 2022 ALA Rainbow Book List. The body of work is taught, not just sold. Biography highlights New York Times bestselling author of Three Little Words (Simon & Schuster, 2008), with sequel Three More Words and the picture book Sam Is My Sister (Albert Whitman & Company, 2021). Licensed Clinical Social Worker. MSW from the University of Southern California; undergraduate degree from Eckerd College. Founder of the Foundation for Sustainable Families, a non-profit mental health agency providing trauma-informed care. Featured on CNN, Good Morning America, Today, The New York Times, USA Today, and Glamour, including selection as one of Glamour’s Top Ten College Women and to USA Today’s All-USA Academic Team. Profiled on NBC’s Women of Worth (December 2021). Sam Is My Sister included on the American Library Association’s 2022 Rainbow Book List. Biography Most public conversations about resilience treat it as a personal trait. In organisations that depend on people doing emotionally demanding work, teachers, social workers, healthcare staff, HR leaders, that framing breaks down. Resilience is built or eroded by systems, supervision, and the quality of care that workers themselves receive. Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s work begins from that point. She is unusual among speakers on this subject in holding the credential that matches the content. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s from the University of Southern California, she runs the Foundation for Sustainable Families, a mental health agency providing trauma-informed care. The clinical work informs the talks, and the talks track current practice rather than stories from a decade ago. Her authority on the subject is also biographical. Three Little Words, published by Simon & Schuster in 2008, traces nine years across 14 foster placements in Florida. The book began as an essay in The New York Times Magazine, became a New York Times bestseller, and is now used in collegiate social work and education programs. Three More Words extends the account into adulthood and adoptive parenting. Sam Is My Sister, her 2021 picture book with Albert Whitman, was placed on the American Library Association’s 2022 Rainbow Book List. The combination matters for serious buyers. A leadership team that wants a substantive session on burnout, on what schools and social services actually need from staff, or on inclusion as a duty of care, gets a speaker who has lived inside failing systems and now treats people inside the current ones. The argument is not that adversity creates strength. It is that institutions decide whether the people inside them recover or break. Key speaking topics Trauma-informed leadership and organisational practice Burnout and self-care in helping professions Resilience after adverse experience Foster care, child welfare, and adoption Mental health in the workplace Inclusion and family diversity Educator and frontline-worker wellbeing Ideal for CHROs, heads of wellbeing, and people leaders designing trauma-informed support Education sector leaders, district superintendents, and school principals Healthcare, social care, and non-profit boards DEI and inclusion leads working on family diversity and lived-experience inclusion Audience outcomes A clearer working definition of trauma-informed practice and what it asks of managers Specific signals of burnout and abuse that frontline staff and leaders can act on A frame for resilience that holds institutions, not only individuals, accountable A more confident vocabulary for inclusion conversations involving family identity and lived experience

Why organisations work with Joe Gerstandt He reframes inclusion as organisational design work, with named practices leaders can actually run, rather than a values campaign that depends on goodwill. His “From Anti to Ally” narrative gives sceptical audiences a credible personal entry point, useful in rooms where DEI language has lost its purchase. Co-author of Social Gravity, a published thesis on how relationship dynamics shape collective performance, which gives the work an intellectual spine beyond bureau talking points. Sits on Twitter’s Intersectional Culture and Diversity Advisory Council and the ISO US Technical Advisory Group on Diversity and Inclusion, meaning his frameworks have been tested inside platform governance and global standards. Marine Corps veteran turned culture practitioner, with a delivery register that lands credibly in industrial, defence, and engineering-led organisations where conventional DEI speakers often do not. Biography highlights Co-author, Social Gravity: Harnessing the Natural Laws of Relationships. Intersectional Culture and Diversity Advisory Council, Twitter. US Technical Advisory Group’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, International Organization for Standardization. Board director, Tri-Faith Initiative, Nebraska. Featured contributor, Workforce Diversity Network Expert Forum. Clients include Boeing, Toyota, Nestle, Target, Eli Lilly, Marathon Oil, Cornell University, University of Michigan, the CIA and the FAA. Biography Inclusion work has hit a credibility ceiling inside many large organisations. Twenty years of programmes, statements and training have not translated into the operating changes leaders were promised, and the political pressure on DEI has stripped away the cover that older approaches relied on. The result is a leadership population that knows the work matters but no longer trusts the standard playbook. Joe Gerstandt has spent the past two decades rebuilding the work on different ground. His starting point is that inclusion is a design problem, not a sentiment problem. Behaviour, norms, decision rights, conflict practices and conversational habits are the actual machinery. His sessions teach leaders to operate that machinery, with concrete practices around brave conversations, authenticity, and team design. Two strands give the work its weight. Social Gravity, which he co-authored, sets out the relational dynamics that determine whether collective performance compounds or decays. His “From Anti to Ally” narrative draws on his own move from rural Iowa and the Marine Corps into culture work, giving sceptical audiences a credible bridge into the material without asking them to start from agreement. The institutional record matters. He sits on Twitter’s Intersectional Culture and Diversity Advisory Council and on the ISO US Technical Advisory Group’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, advises Fortune 100 employers and federal agencies including the CIA and FAA, and has published in Diversity Best Practices, Diversity Executive and HR Executive. That positions him as a practitioner whose frameworks have been pressure-tested against platform governance, global standards and operating reality. Key speaking topics Inclusion as organisational design Inclusive leadership practice Authenticity and psychological safety at work Team performance and relational dynamics Behaviour change and culture change Allyship and personal transformation Bias, identity and decision-making Ideal for CHROs, Chief Diversity Officers and culture leads rebuilding inclusion programmes that have lost internal credibility. Executive teams running culture change inside engineering, defence, industrial and regulated environments where conventional DEI delivery falls flat. Boards and leadership cohorts treating inclusion as a leadership capability rather than a compliance line. Employee resource group leaders and allies seeking practical practice, not slogans. Audience outcomes A working definition of inclusion as a designed practice, separable from political language. Named behaviours and conversational practices leaders can use the next working day. A clearer read on where their organisation’s inclusion work has stalled and why. Language for engaging sceptics and ambivalent middle managers without forcing ideological agreement. A frame for treating relational dynamics as a performance variable, drawn from Social Gravity.

Why organisations work with Susan Hetrick A working operating model for toxic culture, not a moral framing of it. Her four-stage progression gives a board language to discuss what stage they are in, before deciding what to do. The RESPECT framework as a remediation sequence, used inside her book and consultancy at zuhra. It anchors the conversation in specific leadership behaviours rather than values posters. Practitioner credibility from senior HR roles at the World Bank Group, RBS, HSBC, Aegon and Deloitte, paired with a doctorate from City University Business School. She has run the function she is now critiquing. A published, peer-reviewed thesis (Routledge, 2023; 2024 Business Book Awards finalist) that gives the room a single, citable reference point rather than a deck of opinions. Biography highlights Author, Toxic Organizational Cultures and Leadership: How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace (Routledge, 2023). 2024 Business Book Awards finalist. Co-author with Professor Graeme Martin, Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management: A Strategic Approach to HR. Doctorate in Organisational Psychology, City University Business School. Senior HR leadership roles inside the World Bank Group, RBS Group, HSBC, Aegon, Arab Banking Corporation and Deloitte. Academic appointments at the Universities of Aberdeen, Glasgow and London, Birkbeck College and Helsinki School of Economics. Founder of zuhra consulting; Chair of the Board, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre. Keynote, CIPD Annual Conference 2023, to an audience of 600+ HR professionals. Biography Most organisations describe culture as something they have, not something they do. That language is what allows toxic patterns to harden inside otherwise functional companies, often for years before the board treats them as a strategic risk. Susan Hetrick’s work is built around closing that gap. Her book Toxic Organizational Cultures and Leadership (Routledge, 2023) sets out a four-stage account of how cultures degrade and a remediation sequence she calls the RESPECT framework. The book reached the 2024 Business Book Awards shortlist and is now used by HR leaders looking for a structured way to brief their executive committees. She brings 35 years of senior HR practice to the argument, including roles inside the World Bank Group, RBS, HSBC, Aegon, Arab Banking Corporation and Deloitte. Her doctorate in Organisational Psychology is from City University Business School, with academic appointments at Aberdeen, Glasgow, London, Birkbeck and Helsinki School of Economics. Today she runs zuhra consulting, a specialist culture practice, and chairs the boards of Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre. The combination matters because it gives senior teams a counterpart who has sat in their seat, written the academic case, and is now operating the remedy with paying clients. Key speaking topics Toxic organisational cultures Healthy workplace culture design Leadership behaviour and culture risk Corporate reputation and HR strategy Culture transformation in regulated industries Board oversight of people risk Organisational psychology in practice Ideal for CHROs and senior HR leaders facing engagement, attrition or conduct concerns Boards and audit/risk committees treating culture as a governance risk Executive teams entering or recovering from restructure, acquisition or scandal Regulated sector leadership groups (financial services, professional services, public bodies) Audience outcomes A four-stage diagnostic that lets a leadership team locate where their culture currently sits The RESPECT sequence as a practical guide to leadership behaviours that repair, rather than mask, cultural damage A clearer board-level language for naming culture risk before it becomes legal or reputational exposure A reading of how HR, legal and executive functions need to operate together to prevent toxicity recurring