These speakers provide fresh perspectives, encouraging teams to embrace cultural understanding and inclusivity, which boosts employee morale, productivity, and overall workplace harmony.
At Great Business Speakers, we specialise in finding the ideal EDI speaker for your event— whether virtual or in-person. Our curated roster of diverse talents includes professionals who address timely and impactful topics like systemic bias, allyship, and the importance of celebrating diversity in the workplace.
For notable occasions such as Black History Month, an EDI speaker can emphasise the significance of African American contributions, discuss historical and ongoing challenges, and inspire ongoing efforts toward equity and inclusion. With our support, your event can create a lasting impact by educating and empowering your audience to build a more inclusive future.
Discover our EDI Speakers below, or contact the team at Great Business Speakers to enquire or book. +44 1753 439 289
Russell Beck’s drive is inspired by the belief that people are the only USP of any organisation. He helps empower leaders and organisations to navigate the evolving world of work to be future ready.
An author, consultant, and keynote speaker, Russell Beck is widely acknowledged as a thought leader in people and leadership. He blends an engineer’s desire for knowledge, an inquisitive need for evidence, and a belief that things can be better with an inspirational, charismatic, and thought-provoking style.
Russell Beck connects dots in an informative way to help organisations take tangible actions to unlock the potential and productivity of their most expensive asset, their people. Often acting as a catalyst, he captivates people, motivating them to think differently, providing the impetus to change and transform, and enabling them to move quicker and further than they previously thought possible.
He provides inspirational and analytical insight into moving any organisation forward with giant steps.
Ruby Malik leaves us in no doubt that to be a more inspirational leader or team, you need to achieve three key elements: to think more deliberately, connect more effectively and command an executive presence more successfully.
She helps them achieve just that as a leadership coach and speaker, with her winning methodologies and direct but engaging style and humour.
She also believes, in a world of constant change, challenge, and cultural diversity, that people can achieve a portfolio of life ambitions if they wish. This is proven in her own diverse and successful guises over twenty+ years in business.
Rosalyn Palmer is an award-winning transformational coach and therapist combining clinical hypnotherapy, Rapid Transformational Therapy and NLP-based coaching to create deep change.
She is also an acclaimed author with a remarkable ability to inspire positive change and foster wellbeing.
Rosalyn Palmer has a wellbeing column in local newspaper The Newark Advertiser and was formerly the wellbeing expert on radio show Girls Around Town – a weekly radio programme billed as Radio Newark’s answer to Loose Women, providing news, gossip, opinions, and interviews; made by women, for women, as well as the host of the Monkey Business podcast, exploring the mindset secrets of top business leaders.
She is also the award-winning self-help author of Reset! A Blueprint for a Better Life (2018), and contributor to Ignite Your Life For Women (2019), Ignite Your Female Leadership (2019), and Ignite For Female Changemakers (2020).
Roma Agrawal is a diversity campaigner, author and award-winning structural engineer best known for working on the foundations and spire of The Shard in London, one of the tallest buildings in Western Europe. Roma attributes her enthusiasm for engineering to her love of making, and breaking, things with Lego as a child.
She was once described by The Telegraph as “the new voice of women talking about science and engineering and making it cool.” She has won international awards for her technical prowess including the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering’s Rooke Award, and an MBE in 2018.
Her first book Built (2018) won her an AAAS Science Book Award and has been translated into nine languages. This was then adapted in 2021 into How Was That Built, a more child-friendly version. Her latest book, Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions that Changed the World (in a Big Way) was released in March 2023.
Roma Agrawal is also a very popular and much sought-after speaker, and has given thousands of talks to organisations, universities and schools around the world, as well as appearing on numerous TV and radio shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery. She is passionate about promoting technical careers to young people, especially those from minoritized groups.
Roberta Lucca – known as Beta – is a highly successful entrepreneur and co-founder of the BAFTA-winning games company Bossa Studies. Bossa is now amongst the 1% top performing start-ups in the UK in terms of annual sales, which is not bad for a company that only started in 2010.
Named in Forbes magazine’s Top 50 Women in Tech list, Roberta is a popular keynote speaker who entertains her audiences with her trials, tribulations and triumphs as an entrepreneur and a leader.
Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, a Chartered organisational Psychologist, has an international reputation in the field of leadership studies – an area of interest for over 30 years. She has a passionate interest in translating rigorous applied academic research into a form that is practical and accessible to organisations. She supports Boards and Executive Teams of organisations to embed the ethical application of leadership, increase valuing diversity, and strengthening their capacity for engagement, collaboration, innovation and effectiveness.
While Chair of Leadership Studies at the University of Leeds, as a result of ground-breaking research into the nature of engaging leadership, involving over 6,000 managers and professionals in the NHS, wider public sector, and FTSE100 companies, Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe established a Leeds University spin-out company, Real World Group.
The company undertakes research into leadership, culture, governance, diversity and inclusion, creates robust diagnostic instruments that are utilised worldwide, and undertakes major cultural transformation projects across the public and private sectors.
Pip Tomson is an award-winning, highly-experienced and versatile live TV presenter, correspondent, journalist, and event host, with over 20 years experience in live television.
Most recently, Pip has been a presenter on Good Morning Britain and GB News. She has worked alongside the likes of Eamonn Holmes, Michael Portillo and Richard Madeley or fronted shows solo.
Pip has twice received a Best Presenter award from the Royal Television Society for outstanding live outside broadcasts and studio presenting. She has interviewed some of the world’s biggest stars including George Clooney and Hugh Jackman and is known for not being afraid to ask the tough questions of politicians.
She is an accomplished host of corporate and charity events where clients have included MasterCard, You Magazine, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Power of One animal welfare charity.
Piers Linney is an entrepreneur best known for his appearance as one of the ‘dragons’ on the popular television programme, Dragons’ Den (2013-2015). He is also an investor with experience across a range of sectors, including additive manufacturing, media converged communications, and technology.
As the founder and CEO of Moblox, a next generation technology and business tools platform for small business owners in the UK, Piers is a keen champion of entrepreneurship and SMEs. He has first-hand experience of the challenges and obstacles that face businesses as a founder, advisor, director, and investor.
In 2018, Piers was named in the top 20 of the Financial Times list of the Top 100 Minority Ethnic Leaders in Technology, and named one of the Top 100 BAME Leaders in Business.
In 2023, Piers founded Implement AI, a next-generation technology partner that aims to support SMEs in understanding and implementing AI strategies.
Phil Hesketh is a professional speaker on ‘The Psychology of Persuasion and Influence’. He combines a powerful mix of well-researched and persuasive techniques with his unique sense of humour. He inspires, entertains and informs audiences on how buying, selling and persuading can influence work. He is an inspiration, motivational and thought-provoking and all his techniques can be implemented instantly.
Phil Hesketh read psychology at Newcastle University before becoming a sales graduate from Procter & Gamble. In 1986, he started his own advertising agency – Advertising Principles – where he was also the business director and managing partner. Over 17 years of continuous growth, Philip had grown it from a business with zero clients to one bringing in £48 million with 150 employees, working alongside clients such as the BBC, General Accident, HSBC, Nestle and Walt Disney. He then sold the company with the aim of becoming a full-time professional speaker.
There was no denying Phil’s intentions; he set out to become the best speaker on the planet, and after speaking for more than 1,000 events in over 20 countries from the UK to Australia, it’s clear he has achieved his aim.
Wanting to reach people that couldn’t attend his events, Phil put pen to paper and has written a number of critically successful books including How to Persuade and Influence People, Persuade, The Seven Golden Rules for a Happy and Successful Life, and Life’s a Game so Fix the Odds.
“Proudly swim with the current”
Phil Drinkwater is a Certified Coach, successful online small business owner, entrepreneur, and advocate for neurodiverse individuals, particularly those with ADHD.
Invisible disabilities like neurodiversity lead to challenges and struggles such as ongoing anxiety, stress and imposter syndrome, which he himself continues to work through every week, to say nothing of the huge frustration that comes from procrastination and managing time. Even brushing his teeth can launch a 5 minute inner dialogue! “Try walking in my shoes”, he quips, “because they’ve got a mind of their own, like strong magnets drawing toward and repelling against”.
He notices that neurodiverse people might appear to be lazy or difficult to others, and this can lead to unkindness and a lack of compassion from peers, but through knowledge and understanding about neurodiversity we can all work together using our unique strengths to great effect. His deep empathy for these invisible disabilities drives his work.
For more details on how Phil can add value to your event, contact us on 0044 (0)1753 439289
Ortis Deley is in his tenth year of hosting Channel 5’s very popular The Gadget Show. As well as appearing on our screens weekly on The Gadget Show, Ortis has co-hosted the sell-out live version of the show on numerous occasions at Birmingham’s NEC, performing to over 75,000 guests at the 5-day event.
Ortis has also been part of Channel 5’s Police Interceptors team, presenting specials both alone and alongside Rick Edwards. He also contributed to Ancient Top 10 for the History Channel, a programme which looked at the origins of technology.
As an accomplished corporate host, Ortis has worked with many brands and companies, including Avast, Highways England, Optima, Tado, BT, Audi and GTR Network, to name a few.
Olamide ‘Ola’ Majekodunmi is a renowned financial expert and the founder of All Things Money, an online platform dedicated to providing young adults with valuable financial tools to navigate the challenges of adult life.
The platform offers a diverse range of personal finance tips and information, covering topics such as budgeting, saving, investing, and mortgages. Additionally, All Things Money hosts a podcast that further expands on these financial topics.
Nisha Menon is a medical microbiologist turned mumpreneur who is the Director of Nikasu Foods & Founder of Jack & Chill
The businesses have an impressive list of clients globally including celebrity chefs, fine dining restaurants, pub chains, stadiums and high-end health stores.
She was nominated to attend the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit in London & is 3 times Finalist of Croydon Business Awards.
She has contributed and been featured in various press articles including BBC news, Femina magazine, Empowered Magazine & The Telegraph. She also runs a Facebook Group (UK Importers Hub) which supports over 2.5K businesses who import goods into the UK.
Natasha Saunders is a testament to the strength and mental power inside all of us; overcoming eight years of domestic abuse, she has gone on to change laws, raise millions in funds and train various police forces and government departments on their awareness, response and wellbeing throughout the workforce.
Alongside extensive media and live tv work, Natasha delivers motivational and keynote speeches for various sectors.
Natasha also has an innovative and engaging training session to educate, support and develop both executives and staff in their approach to business and life challenges. In a progressive business landscape, Natasha can be the element to raise mental well-being and thus, productivity and motivation levels.
Natalie Fée is an award-winning environmentalist, sustainability author, keynote speaker, compere, former TV presenter and founder of City to Sea. She’s passionate about helping organisations engage their teams with sustainability goals and explore how nature connection drives productivity, wellbeing and ESG commitments through her keynote talks and Nature Governance Consultancy.
She has a unique gift for bridging the worlds of environmental action, nature connection and workplace transformation, and after a decade founding and leading City to Sea – one of the UK’s leading organisations combating plastic pollution globally – Natalie is now a sought-after speaker and event host, from corporate keynote speeches to environmental panels, staff talks to intimate dinner events. She manages to combine rigorous science with lived experience, hard-hitting facts with warmth and optimism and brings a wonderful, inclusive energy to events of sizes.
With over 20 years’ experience in television and media, Naomi Sesay has devoted her career to serving as a powerful advocate for diversity and inclusion, and trail-blazer for social enterprise.
Recent roles at Channel 4 included On-Screen Diversity Executive and Interim Head of Diversity & Inclusion. She also worked as Head of Innovation and Diversity for Media Trust.
Michael McGrath made history in 2004 by becoming the first disabled person to lead expeditions to both the north and south poles – what makes this achievement all the more remarkable is that in 1984, aged just 18yrs, Michael was diagnosed with the muscle wasting disease muscular dystrophy (MD).
The journey gave rise to a new life plan, inspiring Michael to embark on a career as an internationally recognised motivational business speaker. He has built an enviable list of clients, providing carefully tailored speeches for organisations including HMRC, PwC, Shell, Hilton Hotels and the NHS.
Leadership, courage, and trust combined with resolute self-belief, confidence, teamwork and a singularly focused obsession towards achieving desired outcomes were critical success factors – Michael McGrath draws on these experiences, giving wider business and life lessons.
Michael was made an MBE in the King’s first Birthday Honours List in 2023.
Michael Fuller first came to prominence in 2004 when he became Britain’s first black Chief Constable.
He served in this position for Kent Police until 2010 where he successfully led the force’s response to the Calais migration crisis and the channel tunnel fire. He has also worked with European police forces to counter Islamist radicalisation and avert terrorist incidents.
Michael Fuller also led the police response to the biggest cash robbery in Britain at the time where a group of people stole £53 million from the Securitas depot in Kent; he was instrumental in the successful prosecution of the key criminals.
Liz Johnson is one of the UK’s most well-known Paralympic swimmers, winning an impressive 13 medals at various events over her career.
Since retiring in 2016, Liz has become a popular contributor to sporting broadcasting on Channel 4 and the BBC and a familiar face on entertainment shows, including Celebrity Masterchef (2016) and The Last Leg (2021).
She is the Managing Director and Client Ambassador of The Ability People, a specialist employment company which aims to encourage employment for those with disabilities.
She is also a popular motivational and sports speaker, offering an insight into her competitive past, her broadcasting experience and her disability, aiming to inspire the next generation of sporting stars.
Liz Earle MBE is a global brand pioneer; co-founder of the multi-award winning eponymous beauty brand, she is also the editor of her own magazine, a podcaster, charity philanthropist and best-selling author of over 35 books.
An expert in her field and an inspirational female entrepreneur, Liz can speak on a range of topics and will captivate audiences of all ages and industries.
Lisa Ventura MBE is a multi-award-winning cyber security consultant and expert with over 23 years experience.
She entered the industry in 2009 when she became Titania Ltd’s Chief Operations Officer and PR & Marketing Director. Since then, she has worked as a security or marketing consultant for the likes of BlueVoyant, Boost Technology Group, BT, Corinium Global Intelligence, CyBourn, Logistics UK, Pinsent Masons, Proficio Inc, Royal Life Saving Society UK, and the UK Cyber Security Council.
A TechWoman100 Award Winner, Lisa is one of the most well-known and respected experts in her field; Lisa Ventura is now an in-demand keynote speaker, consultant, and writer.
Lisa was awarded the MBE in the first Kings honours list for services to cyber security and inclusion and diversity by King Charles III in 2023.
Matt Lindley was an RAF Pilot, specialising in flying VIPs such as The Queen, members of the Royal Family and Government Ministers, as well as flying missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. He is now a commercial long haul pilot.
Matt was one of the first ever gay pilots in the Royal Air Force, and is now a very influential military figure. Matt had dreamt of being a RAF pilot ever since he was a child, and he wasn’t going to let something like LGBTQ+ prejudice stand against him. His brave journey has paved the way for change in the Armed Forces and to ensure all sexualities are represented.
Matt now runs workshops and keynotes based on lessons he has learnt whilst flying, aimed at reducing human error in the workplace. He uses fascinating case studies of aircraft accident, applies basic psychology and provides lots of ‘take homes’ for any audience.
Lisa Baskott is the award-winning founder and CEO of 2nd Line of Defence, a private security recruitment agency that focuses on filling roles with a new, diverse and inclusive workforce. The business was an Enterprise Vision Awards winner in 2023 in the New Business category.
As part of her commitment to serving the community, Lisa Baskott has been a Magistrate for 11 years, sitting as a Presiding Justice in both the Adult and Youth Courts in Sussex. In 2021, Lisa was one of seven newly-appointed regional Inclusion and Diversity Magistrates (IDM).
Lisa became a qualified Security Industry Authority (SIA) licensed door supervisor in 2021. She is celebrated for her commitment to advancing diversity and inclusivity within the private security industry and is especially focused on getting more women into the frontline security sector.
She has written numerous articles on the subject, has appeared on national television and radio, as well as being interviewed on many podcasts.
“I want to spread the word that if a black Brixtonian Rastafarian can make it with just a sauce, then you can make it too.”
The incredible rise of musician Levi Roots to Business legend is one of the most heard-warming success stories of the country. He made the big time by producing his Reggae Reggae Sauce, a delightful mix of barbecue and jerk sauce that won an exclusive contract in 2007 with Sainsburys, becoming their fastest ever selling product.
Prior to his business success, he had been making the sauce from his home kitchen with the help of his seven adult children, selling it at various small London outlets. His secret recipe was inspired by his grandmother, Miriam Small, who taught him to cook from the age of nine in Jamaica. He had the recipe in his head for years but didn’t start producing it until 1991 at the Notting Hill Carnival – where his ‘Rastaurant’ was a popular feature for over two decades.
As a keynote and after-dinner speaker, Levi infuses his performance with anecdotes, insights into entrepreneurship and inspiring the next generation of business leaders.
