career acceleration
and into
out of autopilot
helping ambitious professionals shift
As Seen in:
In Person Keynote
Get ahead without burning out:
How to skyrocket your career through human connection
Everyone wants a leg up in their career. So, we should all just work harder, right? Wrong.
Audience Takeaways:
In this interactive, entertaining and motivational keynote, Julia breaks down common myths about what it takes to get ahead in your career. She then distills down exactly what you need to do to get to the next level - through authentic connection and intentional relationship building.
- Bust the myth about how working harder always leads to success
- Learn from inspiring stories and research about why having a personal board of directors is the differentiator for success
- Understand the specific roles to fill on their own personal boards of directors
- Build connections with co-participants through an interactive audience game
Virtual Keynote
Break Up With “Should” at Work: Skyrocket Your Career by Moving from Autopilot to Intention
This talk is an epic combination of Julia’s Editors’ Pick TEDx talk (Breaking Up With “Should” In Your Career) and her most delivered in-person keynote (How to Build Your Career Board of Directors).
Audience members will uncover how unspoken “shoulds” quietly run their careers and personal lives—shaping their choices, draining their energy, and keeping them stuck on autopilot. This hilarious, relatable and actionable keynote challenges the idea that hard work alone leads to opportunity, that silence equals safety, and that self-sacrifice is the price of success. Participants will learn how to replace default thinking with intentional action through simple reflection tools, low-risk experiments, and strategic relationship-building. The session introduces the Personal Board of Directors as a practical, energizing framework for creating momentum, accessing opportunity, and designing a career and life that actually feel aligned, sustainable, and self-directed.
Through hilarious, real-world examples, evidence-based research, and proven frameworks, audiences learn how to confidently make asks, handle pushback, and avoid the pitfalls of shameless entitlement. Interactive exercises give participants hands-on practice so they leave with actionable skills and tools they can apply immediately — maximizing results while maintaining credibility and professional rapport.
- Identify the invisible “shoulds,” inherited rules, and default behaviors that are quietly shaping their choices and limiting their growth.
- Implement simple, immediate tools to move off autopilot and start making intentional decisions starting immediately.
- Build a Personal Board of Directors using a clear, repeatable framework for creating opportunity, accountability, and career momentum.
- Activate the confidence and language to ask, negotiate, set boundaries, and advocate for themselves without guilt, apology, or over-explaining.
Audience Takeaways:
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In this interactive and hands-on workshop, participants will create their own personal user manuals for work. They'll share their answers, get vulnerable, and feel ready to action their user manuals with their teams starting immediately.
Duration: 2.5 Hours
Create Your Personal User Manual
Audience Takeaways:
The Why: Learn why open and honest communication on teams is a non-negotiable.
The How: Understand how the Personal User Manual is one simple yet profound tool that drastically improves communication.
The What: Create own personal user manual and take home immediately for use with team.
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There's something insidious holding ambitious professionals back: imposter syndrome. It affects 75% of high achievers and yet is rarely talked about. It's time to change that.
Duration: 2 Hours
I'm a Fraud: Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the curb
Audience Takeaways:
The Why: Learn why imposter syndrome happens and what it is.
The How: Understand how your own imposter syndrome shows up and how it's holding you back.
The What: Implement real strategies to lessen those pesky inner voices, starting immediately.
Workshops
Julia brought incredible energy and insight to the stage. Her presentation sparked meaningful conversations that continued throughout the entire event. I’d enthusiastically recommend her to any event planner looking for a dynamic speaker who knows how to motivate a room!
Grace Chlosta
Event Manager, Institute Finance and Management Conference
In their Own Words
We couldn't have asked for a better keynote speaker!
Throughout the rest of the conference, I kept hearing people reference their personal "board of directors", which was the core concept of Julia’s talk, and how transformative and inspiring her message was. Julia was amazing. We are grateful for her impactful message to our group!
Maeve Kiley
Event Manager, Institute Finance and Management Conference
In their Own Words
By the end, everyone was on their feet, holding hands, and singing together.
We have worked with Julia as a keynote speaker twice and each time her presentation was a hit with our community. Not only is Julia an energizing speaker who connects by relating to her audience and providing actionable takeaways, she is a true professional and a delight to work with before, during, and after the event.
Leah Warwick
Event Manager, American Society of Administrative Professionals
In their Own Words
Her presentation was a hit with our community!
Speaker Reel
FAQs
You’ve found her! My talks focus on how human connection—not AI—drives motivation and career success. I combine comedic yet poignant storytelling with actionable frameworks and audience interaction. Feedback consistently ranks me as a top keynote speaker.
I hate boring keynote speakers. Nobody wants to sit through someone talking at a podium for 60 minutes. I bring humor—physical and verbal—and a ton of surprising audience interaction. Audiences have fun, learn, and leave inspired to take action. I also come across as very authentic—you know the real me—and I offer a fresh perspective as a woman, not another old white guy telling the same tired story.
I speak to audiences of all types. The most common are: association conferences, company teams, employee resource groups, and women’s conferences.
I speak on topics including human connection in the age of AI, preventing burnout, team motivation, confidence, combating impostor syndrome, communication, personal branding, and career growth and development. If you don’t see a specific topic on my website, reach out anyway—I have a large catalog of talks I don’t publicly advertise.
My rates vary based on the size, scope, and format of your event (in-person or virtual). Please get in touch to learn more.
