The 2021 International Women’s Day, which this year is celebrated on 8th March, will be like no other.  Due to Covid all events in the UK and most of the rest of the world will be delivered virtually to all attendees for the first time.  And The Speakers Agency is honoured to list some of the most impressive female speakers on the planet.

This celebratory day which has been held each March for over 100 years helps to continue to forge a gender equal world. It also celebrates women’s continued achievements.

#ChooseToChallenge  #IWD2021

Courageous female heroines, iconic female trail blazers  and inspiring female leaders past and present continue to change the world for women everywhere. Their legacies, sacrifices and efforts empower other women to fight on for women’s rights as well as equal opportunities for all.

The Speakers Agency works with a number of these incredible women, booking them to speak and host at events for organisations around the globe. Demonstrating their fantastic achievements, they highlight how anything is possible. That glass ceilings are being shattered everywhere.

We are passionate about our female speakers and are proud to feature a huge number of them on our website. These speakers include lawyers, astronauts, sports women, scientists and business women and the list below highlights just some of them.

Business Speakers

Jo Fairley
One of the UK’s most skilled entrepreneurs and a truly motivational speakers Jo tells the inspirational story of the global ethical brand Green & Black’s. This is the business she created with her husband from scratch.  Co-founder of Green & Black’s, Judges Bakery, The Wellington Centre (wellbeing and integrated health) Jo’s latest business is The Perfume Society. She shares her business insights with audiences across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and USA. She is also often able to supply chocolate for guests and delegates.

Simone Heng
Simon Heng travels the world inspiring people on the topic of Human Connection. She is globally recognised keynote speaker and her expertise covers mental health and diversity too.  Simone’s incredibly moving and inspiring keynotes have been described as “oratory movies.  Her clients include Salesforce, UBS, Rubrik, Acronis, DBS, Google, Ted X, Great Eastern, AIA, Eurochem, Manulife and The United Nations. She is also an extremely versatile event host and very experienced in both in person and virtual deliveries.

Kirsty Henshaw
Kirsty Henshaw is the Creator of Kirsty’s, the UK’s fastest growing free-from brand. She is the entrepreneur best known for her memorable, emotional and most successful pitch ever seen on Dragon’s Den (July 2010).  The then 24-year-old single mum electrified the Den with her passion, commitment and gritty determination to succeed. In addition she secured £65,000 investment from Peter and Duncan. She bought out her Dragons many moons ago and opened her first bespoke factory in 2020 enabling her to grow her sales from £10m to £30m. An truly awesome and talented entrepreneur and speaker.

Rita Clifton CBE
Rita Clifton CBE is a high-profile business leader, acclaimed brand guru and sustainability champion. She inspires organisations of all kinds to find new ways to succeed in an uncertain world and has an ability to engage CEOs and boards, raise the performance of all levels of executives and help entrepreneurs create long-term value.  Highly skilled at speaking about all aspects of modern business leadership Rita’s passion is in branding in all its forms and digital disruption.

Political and Economy Speakers

 The Rt Hon. The Baroness Morgan of Cotes
Nicky Morgan is an impressive speaker on education, financial services, BREXIT, digital tech, the arts and media. Formerly the member of parliament for Loughborough for nine years she stood down in November 2019.  Twice a Cabinet Minister, she served under both David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

Dr Noreena Hertz
Dr Noreena hertz is a leading political economist, a Distinguished Fellow at Cambridge and a Visiting Professor at Utrecht. As a strong advocate of ethical globalisation, she speaks about her beliefs that Corporate Social Responsibility can deliver increased profits.

Space Speakers

Laura Winterling
Former Astronaut instructor Laura Winterling is also a physicist, entrepreneur and keynote speaker.  Working for the European Space Agency for almost a decade she takes her audience on an incredible journey far up into the atmosphere. Using anecdotes and stories from working with astronauts Laura merges and carves a variety of relevant topics into her speeches.

Courage and Bravery Speakers

Catrin Pugh
Catrin Pugh was a normal young girl with her dreams and life in front of her, until in an instant everything changed forever. In 2013 she sustained horrific burn injuries but has beaten all the odds to only astonish medical staff, her family and her friends with her resilience. Catrin delivers some of the most inspirational speeches you will ever hear. Katie Piper is her greatest fan.

Baroness Helen Newlove
A gifted and inspirational speaker Helen Newlove has gone from witnessing  the horrific murder of her husband on her doorstep to helping people realise their true potential.  Appointed to the House of Lords in 2010, Helen because the UK’s first Victims’ commissioner, a role she dedicated herself to for nine years.  She stepped down late 2019.   Today Helen shares how her own determination to focus and overcome adversity translates into strategies for success for organisations and  individuals alike. Her natural ability to deliver tangible, realistic and effective solutions can be applied to everyone. Accustomed to addressing the most senior members of organisations, employee and the general public she genuinely captivates audiences with her ability to adapt to change and overcome setbacks.

Celebrity Speakers

Nicki Chapman
Nicki Chapman is a gifted speaker, highly skilled event host, TV presenter and broadcaster.  She is best known for presenting such programmes as the BBC’s ‘Wanted Down Under’ and ‘Escape to the Country’. Nicki also stands in for Zoe Ball and Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio 2.  Furthermore Nicki brings a real sparkle to every event. An exceptionally lovely person, Nicki Chapman is an event planner/speaker booker’s dream.

Shirley Ballass
Shirley Ballas is the head judge on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing. The British-born Ballroom and Latin dancer, and international coach, is also an outstanding and hugely inspirational speaker. The prefect choice for a fireside chat, Shirley also delivers speeches about the importance of focusing and achieving your goals. She also offers advice on how to ignore the naysayers, reinvent yourself when necessary and ho to maintain mental health and wellbeing.  The author of Behind the Sequins Shirley offers the readers an incredible insight into her fascinating career.  Furthermore, she shares her battles with mental health and how she copes.  Genuine and rather humble, Shirley’s speeches really do resonate with her audiences. She leaves them feeling uplifted and empowered.

Sport

Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova is not only a tennis legend, but an inspirational leader who demonstrates wit, candor and sheer motivation.  She is a fantastic speaker for a variety of events.

Sally Gunnell OBE
Outstanding speaker, Sally Gunnell O.B.E. holds a place in the hearts of the nation as the most popular female sportswoman of our time, and our most successful. She is the only woman to hold four titles concurrently – Olympic, World, European & Commonwealth. Sally also held the World Record for the 400m hurdles.  Her speech content covers motivation, goal setting and wellbeing

Kate Richardson Walsh MBE
Kate Richardson-Walsh MBE is the most capped GB  female hockey player ever and was captain of GB women’s hockey teams for 13 years.  An inspirational and charismatic leader Kate is a skilled and popular speaker.  She is widely credited for helping build the incredible team ethos and commitment which drove the GB team to a nail biting victory at the Rio Olympic Games. Kate often speaks along side her wife Helen Richardson Walsh MBE who was one of the incredible 2016 Rio Olympic Hockey Gold Medallists and a midfield maestro.  Helen is also a fine and much in demand speaker.

Diversity and Inclusion

Afua Hirsch
A leading diversity and inclusions speaker, Afua Hirsch is a former barrister, journalist and documentary maker. Her recent projects include a 6-part series with Samuel L Jackson, a major BBC series about African art, and another about whiteness. She has also recorded an Audible original series We Need to Talk About The British Empire. Afua regularly writes, reports and speaks on international current affairs, and has published two bestselling books, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize, and Equal To Everything, about the UK Supreme Court.  Furthermore she was a judge on last year’s Booker Prize and is currently the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Gillian Joseph
Gillian Joseph is the award winning presenter of Sky News Sunrise at weekends. She played a major role in the coverage of the aftermath of many  global incident from the 2004 Asian Tsunami to the 2020 Trump/Biden Election and what followed. She is passionate about diversity, inclusion and equality.

Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a lawyer, an impressive speaker, activist and regular media commentator. She speaks on law, politics, diversity equality and inclusion and women’s rights. Passionate about women in leadership, Shola is the founder & editor of the Women in Leadership publication.

Adventure

The Ice Maidens
The Ice Maidens Sandy Hennis & Sophie Montagne speak of their experiences as part of the first female team to ski across Antarctica using muscle power alone. In 2018 Sandy Hennis & Sophie Montagne were two of the six Ice Maidens who covered 1,704km in 2 months, setting three world records.

The Yorkshire Rows
Yorkshire Rows is a team of four women who dared to dream.  Their most popular keynote ‘Four Mums in a boat – It’ll be Fine’, is about their remarkable row across the Atlantic.  They speak from the heart, with honesty and humour about their personal journey of discovery whilst, sharing practical strategies for dealing with life. Their fantastic spirit of adventure and can-do approach has won them countless awards. It’s also inspired ‘Four Mums in a Boat’, a bestselling book by the foursome

If you would like to book a speaker to talk to your workforce, your clients or your students please email holly@thespeakersagency.com or call us on +44 (0) 1332 810481for fee details and availability.

Please note all our speakers are experienced in delivering both virtual and live speeches, enjoy participating in question and answer sessions following their speeches and are familiar with all the digital platforms currently being used to host virtual events.

For more details on the International Women’s Day movement please visit https://www.internationalwomensday.com/