Preethi Nair
Author of Gypsy Masala
*Fees are a guide only. Exact cost will be dependent on requirements and are subject to change.
About Preethi Nair
Some speakers tell you what resilience looks like.
Preethi Nair has lived it – repeatedly, publicly, and without a safety net.
She got made redundant in her twenties and put on a suit for eight months pretending to go to work. When her first manuscript was rejected by publishers, she did something audacious. She set up a publishing and PR Company, and appointed a feisty fictional PR Director, Pru Menon, to front the whole operation. Nobody knew Pru didn’t exist. After two years of sheer creative nerve, Preethi signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins. Her alter-ego Pru, was shortlisted as Publicist of the Year.
Preethi won Asian Woman of the Year.
In her forties, nobody would commission her one-woman show. So, she booked a West End theatre herself, wrote it, produced it, and performed all 22 parts – having never acted before, not even at school.
When a fourth book deal came from HarperCollins, she turned it down. She self-published on her own terms. Unravelling was recently shortlisted as Independent Book of the Year.
Today, Preethi is MD of Kiss the Frog, a storytelling consultancy working with global organisations. She is also a Visiting Professor at London Business School, Cranfield Management School and Headspring Executive Development, where she teaches creativity and storytelling for personal leadership.
She has delivered over 200 keynotes internationally – from 3,000 women at the Women on Wall Street Conference in New York, to the Whatif?! Innovation Conference alongside Sir Bob Geldof, to stages across London, Dublin and beyond.
To book Keynote Speaker Preethi Nair, contact The Speakers Agency on +44(0)1332 810481 or email enquiries@thespeakersagency.com
Resilience as a Superpower – The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Failure
Most people treat failure as something to survive. Preethi treats it as material. This talk reframes failure not as an obstacle but as the raw ingredients of your next chapter – drawing on her own extraordinary story of reinvention across writing, business and performance.
For: Leadership conferences, women in business events, resilience and wellbeing programmes
Storytelling as Currency – The Skill No AI Can Replace
In a world of AI-generated content, the ability to tell a true, human story is the most valuable professional skill you can have. This talk – honed across London Business School, Cranfield, Henley and the FT shows leaders and teams how to find, shape and tell the stories that move people.
For: Corporate teams, business schools, innovation conferences, marketing and brand leaders
Navigating Change & Uncertainty – How to Write the Next Chapter When You Don’t Know the Ending
Most people freeze when the ground shifts. Preethi has made a career of starting over.
Redundancy. Rejection. Reinvention. A West End stage she booked herself because nobody else would. A book deal turned down because the terms didn’t fit her vision. At every point where the expected path disappeared, she found another one, not through certainty, but through the willingness to keep moving without it.
This talk gives leaders and teams a practical and deeply human framework for navigating change, not by pretending it isn’t frightening, but by learning to tell a different story about what it means.
Audiences leave not just inspired but equipped with tools for reframing uncertainty, rebuilding momentum and backing themselves when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.
For: Leadership and L&D programmes, organisational change initiatives, HR conferences, teams navigating restructure or strategic transition
- The Power of Storytelling for Personal Transformation and Leadership (90 mins)
- Discovering Your Inner Mentor – How To Find and Listen To Your Inner Wise – (60 minutes)
- Journaling for wellbeing (60 minutes)
Here you can find books by Preethi Nair. For bulk book orders for your event please speak with a member of the team.
Client Feedback
"When Preethi is hired to share her unique insight into story creation she does so by opening a window into her own amazing life. Within an event that boasted other speakers such as Bob Geldof, she was the one most we were most impressed by and wanted to follow up with. If your brand or business has a story that customers should value go talk to her!"
The Innovation Company
"It was a pleasure to have Preethi Nair come to Morgan Stanley and speak to us, she an excellent speaker with a really positive vibe about her."
Morgan Stanley Ltd
"Preethi ran a visioning session with a selection of leaders from around the BBC. She was engaging and inspiring and gave us all a lot to think about, definitely recommend her."
BBC – Internal Communications
"Preethi Nair certainly gave our preparatory school pupils and their parents plenty to think as she delivered her serious message with humour. Preethi's personal story showed what following your dream with single-minded determination can achieve against the odds. Her own experience demonstrated that the path to success is often tortuous, so it is important not to lose sight of your goal. Preethi encouraged our young people to dream dreams but also to recognize the importance of making the best use of your opportunities at school. I would recommend Preethi as a wonderful guest speaker with a fascinating tale to tell."
Bromsgrove Preparatory School
