2025 Public Speaking Recap: The Year I Chose to Use My Voice

Not the polished, perfect version. The raw, real one. The one that’s lived a bit, worked hard, been bent around the edges… and still showed up.

And I’ll say this honestly: I didn’t do it because I suddenly felt “ready”. I did it because I’ve learned something about growth along the way. If you wait until you feel good enough, you’ll never meet the standard you set yourself, because the benchmark moves every time you get close.

You improve, so you raise the bar. You get braver, so you decide you need to be even braver. You do the thing once and tell yourself it doesn’t count until you can do it “properly”. It’s exhausting, and it’s sneaky, because it looks like you’re preparing. But a lot of the time, it’s fear dressed in nice clothes.

So instead of waiting for the perfect moment, I started doing the reps. I started speaking anyway. And the confidence came in the action, not before it.

The line that kept landing in the room

This year I got to speak in rooms full of women carrying a lot… and still taking on more. Women who are capable, relied on, and often the one everyone else leans on. Underneath the different stories, the same message kept surfacing in different ways:

“I am ready to stop waiting to put me back in the equation.”

And that isn’t just about rest, time off, or another self-care tip. It’s about identity. It’s about the quiet cost of being the go-to person for so long that you forget you’re allowed to be part of your own plan too.

Because for a lot of women, what keeps them stuck is this idea of needing to be “ready” first. Ready sounds like: when the kids are older, when work calms down, when the season changes, when the business is stable, when I feel more confident, when I’ve got my other stuff sorted.

But life doesn’t really settle, does it. Not for women holding a stack of roles and carrying everyone’s emotional temperature on top. So “one day” becomes a moving target, and putting yourself back in the equation gets pushed to later.

What public speaking taught me about growth

Public speaking has been one of my biggest growth edges because it’s visible. You can’t hide behind the admin. You can’t keep “getting ready” forever. At some point you have to walk up, get on stage and go. And it’s made something really clear to me that applies to far more than speaking.

Most women don’t need more pressure to perform. They need permission to begin.

Not perfect. Not polished. Not bulletproof. Just begin. Because growth doesn’t happen in your head. It happens in the reps. And the reps don’t ask for perfection. They ask for honesty and follow-through.

Why this matters to me as a speaker

I could compare myself to the polished professionals who have the whole thing nailed. But that’s not where I aim. I’m here armed with real stories, lived experience, and a practical message that meets people where they actually are. A bit dusty. A bit human. The kind of speaker who doesn’t pretend the patterns and problems don’t exist.

And if you’ve ever been around my work with horses, you’ll know why that matters. Horses don’t respond to performance. They respond to what’s real. Presence, congruency and the willingness to show up as you are and adjust from there. That’s how change actually happens. Not after the breakdown, before it. Not when life finally slows down, while it’s still full.

Thank you, and what’s next

Thank you to every event organiser who trusted me on their stage, and to every woman who stayed back after a session to share what hit home. Those conversations are the whole point.

If you’re planning your 2026 program and you want a speaker who’s grounded and practical, I’d love to be considered. Send me a message and I’ll share keynote topics and availability for 2026.

A question for you

If you’ve been waiting for “one day”, what would it look like to put you back in the equation now?