speaker and presenter

JOANNE
FEDLER
SPEAKER AND PRESENTER
I believe no-one has come here to be
invisible; that everyone has a story to
tell.
We have come here to touch and be
touched.
“Listening to Joanne speak I
am reminded of the great Maya
Angelou, who once said;
“I’ve learned that people will
forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people
will never forget how you made
them feel.”
- Anna Kellerman,
Director, Artbuds
10 reasons to Book me
for your next even t
1
I am a Yale law graduate, Fulbright
scholar, internationally bestselling author
of 9 books, mother of two teenagers
and have also had the privilege of being
named Asshole of the Month in Hustler
magazine in 2004 (for the work I was
doing to eradicate violent pornography in
South Africa). I have a deep and broad
view of the world, both personally and
politically and bring all my experiences
into my presentations.
2
I consider my role as a speaker
as a collaboration with your
vision and your aims. I tailor
every presentation to fit your
audience as well as the purpose
of your event. (I may ask a lot of
questions upfront to make sure
this happens).
3
I work together with you to
establish the ‘vibe’ you want
your function to create, and
how you want people to leave
feeling, whether it’s a fundraiser
or a consciousness-raiser. I am
invested in ensuring that people
leave the room feeling exactly the
way you want them to feel.
4
As a bestselling author and
writing mentor, I am well-read
on a range of different topics,
and am able to draw on stories
and ideas from spirituality,
to psychology, relationships,
business, parenthood, lifestyle,
health and wellness.
5
My aim is to touch and move
your audience – to make them
laugh and even cry. I am able to
uplift and inspire an audience,
no matter the topic of my
presentation.
6
I’ve counselled abused women, taught
law students, brought up two kids,
moved countries, represented women’s
organizations in the Constitutional
Court of South Africa, and spoken to
many different audiences from different
racial, social, economic and political
backgrounds. I can pretty much talk to
anyone, and meet them wherever they
happen to be.
7
I have read most of Shakespeare and
the entire trilogy of Fifty Shades of
Grey and quite a bit in between. My
presentations draw on the sublime
as well as the ridiculous, to ensure
your audience is both entertained and
provoked to think and feel – sometimes
outside their comfort zones. (Don’t worry
– I use enough humour to ensure this is
a gentle experience).
8
I can speak for ten minutes or an hour.
I can develop any talk into a three
hour or three day workshop. If you
want your audience to participate, I
can draw them in. If you want them to
create, I will develop writing games and
exercises. Small groups don’t scare me.
Neither do big ones. I can tailor my talks
for a group of nuns, kindy teachers,
housewives, CEO’s, rabbi’s wives,
politicians, teenagers, or breast cancer
survivors.
9
I have had extensive experience doing
television and radio interviews, both in
Australia and other countries.
10
The only way I know that I’ve done a
good job is to ensure that at the end of
my presentation, you think to yourself,
‘Booking this speaker was the best
decision I’ve made in a long time.’
‘I have had the great privilege of hearing Joanne
Fedler speak on a few occasions. Each time,
she was nothing short of brilliant and each
time I wanted to hear more. Her talks are
highly intelligent but easily accessible. She is
frighteningly perceptive and incisive and has
the most wonderful, self-deprecating sense of
humour. My staff loved listening to and were
inspired by her motivational presentation.’
- Dr Hilton Immerman, Hon Fellow,
University of New South Wales, CEO,
Shalom Institute and Shalom College
‘What a privilege to hear such an accomplished
woman, with such a rich background, speak with
openness and vulnerably about her journey and
the road she took to success. Her story is so
engaging. Joanne Fedler is a woman who hasn’t
given up her feminine energy as she’s walked
through the mire of professional life.’
-Mary Barker, AMP,
Females in Finance
‘Joanne is such an informed, engaging
and warmly received speaker. I had the
pleasure of working with Joanne when she
generously delivered a wonderful keynote
address at an event that I managed for
women, aimed at empowering and uplifting
mothers.
It was such a beautifully prepared and
responsive keynote, Joanne took the time
to research our audience and was attentive
to their needs and interests. The event was
highly anticipated and Joanne's keynote
was a highlight, providing our guests with
intimate insights, an abundance of learning
and Joanne's authentic, empowering
presence.’
- Lisa Humphries,
organiser SUnny
Mummy Breakfast
‘We were honoured to have Joanne
Fedler speak at our event and support
our literacy initiative ‘Written Portraits’.
Joanne was not only insightful with
her knowledge and advice but kept
the enthusiastic audience entranced
onto every word. She is an excellent
communicator and is extremely
knowledgeable about her subject.
We highly recommend Joanne as an
inspirational speaker.’
- Renata Cooper,
CEO and Founder,
Forming Circles
‘I recall seeing Joanne speak at
an event a few years back and
I promised myself that if I ever
got the opportunity to organise
a function, she would be first on
my list of speakers to invite.’
- Rochelle Rothfield,
King david School
Parents association
Former Clients
Liebler Yavneh School, Melbourne
Limmud Oz
Magwood Bookclub Book Salon, South
Africa
Mount Scopus School, Melbourne
Moriah College, Sydney
Mount Sinai School, Sydney
Ardmore Art exhibition opening
Bnai Brith
Centre for the Book, South Africa
Creative Mamas
Droemer publishers, Munich
Emanuel School, Sydney
Exclusive Books book club
breakfast, South Africa
Moving Trains Productions –
International Women’s Day event
National Breast Cancer Foundation
Northbridge Library
Open Book Festival, South Africa
Quality Life breakfast, South Africa
Queenwood School, Sydney
Females in Finance
Randwick City Council – International
Women’s Rights Project
Forming Circles Foundation
Reddam School, Sydney
The Friendship Circle
Sunflower Bookshop, Melbourne
The Gidget Foundation
Sunny Mummy’s breakfast
Jenny & Co – Jenny Cryws-Williams
book club breakfast, South Africa
Sydenham Highland’s North
Synagogue, South Africa
Jessie Street National Women’s
Library
Sydney Jewish Writers Festival
Sydney Writer’s Festival
Jewish Food Culture Fest
WIZO
The Jewish Museum
The Waverley Literary Festival
King David School, Melbourne
The Women’s Club
Yad Aharon, South Africa
‘Joanne Fedler is an excellent speaker who offers substance,
perceptiveness, humour and inspiration in all the right amounts.
She has a generosity of spirit and a warmth which is uplifting and
nourishing. She leaves her audiences thinking and smiling, and I
would not hesitate to invite her again.’
- Michael Misrachi, organizer
Sydney Jewish Writers Festival
KEYNoTE ADDrESSES
1.
These are a few of my keynote
addresses which can be adapted for
your particular audience.
If there is a particular issue or topic you
would like me to turn into a keynote
address, I can do so.
Lead with your legacy
What is the legacy that the story of your life will leave
behind? Joseph Campbell spoke of human life as
‘the hero’s journey’ and proposed that there are four
questions that each human being must answer: Who
am I? What is it to be human? From whence am I
born? What happens when I die? In this inspiring talk,
I examine these questions and ask where each of
our stories are taking us. How do we create meaning
through the mundane drudgery of everyday? I also
share difficult stories from my life and show how we
can use our experience to reinvigorate and recommit to
living a life with meaning and purpose.
2.
Ask the right questions:
a path to soulful success
What does it mean to be a ‘success?’ We imagine
that a successful person has the ‘answers’ to life’s
challenging questions. In this gentle but provocative
talk, I suggest that having the answers is not a path to
success, but rather being able to ask the right questions
about any situation we find ourselves in. I examine how
questions work on our subconscious; how poetry helps
us ask questions and how we can learn to ‘love the
questions,’ as the poet Rilke said, and make peace in
places of uncertainty.
3.
What does it mean to
live a ‘passionate’ life?
Quotation anthologist Terri Guillemets said,
‘Chase down your passion like it’s the last
bus of the night..’ So many of us are living
lives of quiet desperation, lurching from
one pay cheque to the next, in lukewarm
(or unhappy) relationships, shackled to
lives that neither inspire nor energize us. In
this presentation, I share some secrets for
discovering your passion – even the purpose
for which you are here.
4.
the Secret Power of Great Leaders
What are the qualities that distinguish a
great leader? Great leaders inspire others to
action – by connecting with the hearts and
minds of their team or communities through
powerful, heartfelt communication. In this
keynote address, I talk about the power of
language, drawing on the years in which I sat
on committees to draft legislation (including
clauses of the new constitution of South
Africa), my love of story and poetry, and the
passion we all have to communicate and
reach others through our written and spoken
words.
5.
8. The Secrets of
the gifts of hunger
What are you hungry for? And what can hunger
teach us about how to live? This presentation
is based on the insights from my book When
Hungry, Eat, a spiritual memoir about two years
of my life in which I investigated my own ‘hunger’
in an attempt to lose weight. I discovered that
there is always a much deeper hunger driving
us, and it’s only when we can make a home in
our hunger that we can ever let go of what is
holding us back.
6.
Sustenance in a Busy Life
What does it mean to be ‘sustained’ by our
lives? What are some of the tools we can draw
on to fill us up with purpose, creativity and
joy so that the ordinary moments in our lives
make us feel fulfilled and enriched? In this
motivational speech, I share my own journey
of sustenance through a period of emptiness
and grief, and how I overcame these hurdles
to re-embrace the richness of my life.
7.
The seven Secrets to
creative success
What does it take to make a success of your creative
talents? In this talk I share the seven secrets to living a
life of creative success. Whether your creative passion
is to write a book, start a movement, paint, sculpt,
create music, movies, or social change, this address is
designed to help you identify the seven characteristics
you need to develop to achieve your goals. Here I
share my own journey as a writer (and the role of luck,
serendipity and good timing) and suggest ways in
which aspiring creatives can reach their dreams.
This talk can also be adapted specifically for aspiring
authors:
These days so many people want to write books –
but so few people succeed in finishing their books
or getting published. What does it really take to start
writing a book? How does one keep going? Why is
editing important? And how does one get published?
As a writing mentor, I’ve worked closely with many
aspiring authors and have identified seven personal
characteristics that I believe successful authors need
to develop, and suggest ways in which these can be
developed.
Successful Relationships
This talk draws from insights from It Doesn’t
Have to Be So Hard: the secrets to finding and
keeping intimacy, a book I co-authored with
psychologist Graeme Friedman. Why do we find
it so hard to connect with each other? In love,
why does romance sour into incompatibility?
Are men really frightened of intimacy? Why
don’t women understand that sex is intimacy?
Is staying in an unhappy relationship better
than being alone? How do we keep passion
and intimacy alive with the same person over
time? And – here’s a dangerous question – is
monogamy unnatural? And if so, what are we to
do about it?
9. Your story could
change someone’s life
When I wrote my memoir, When Hungry, Eat, I
was consumed with the fear that no-one would
relate to my story – after all, it was a deeply
personal story about trying to lose weight
and emigrating from my homeland. To my
great surprise, I still get emails from readers
telling me, ‘your story changed my life.’ How
is it possible, that our own deeply intimate
and personal stories could touch and move
others? In this soul-searching talk, I share why
I believe storytelling is so powerful, and why
I believe telling your story is not a selfish act,
but one of generosity. I share tips on how to
make your story interesting to others, and talk
about how storytelling can heal and make us
whole.
10. Another day in
Paradox
After I lost a dear friend tragically in 2012, I went
through a deep period of grief. During this time,
I was consumed with the paradox of life’s pain
and beauty mottled into one day, one hour,
one moment. How do we make sense of this
paradox? Grief and joy; light and dark; birth and
death? How do we make sense of a life full of
contradiction? In this speech, I draw on the deep
wisdom of poets and philosophers, artists and
musicians, to suggest that life is journey into
paradox, and our job is to embrace the gifts of
contradiction.
Here’s what people say about me:
‘To hear Joanne Fedler as a keynote speaker is
always an absolute treat and pleasure. She makes
you think whilst sharing such wisdom, humour,
intelligence and warmth which is surely rare and a
wonderful combination. I have been incredibly lucky
to have had Joanne speak at various functions, with
different crowds, and she always knows how to
engage people and entertain whilst being motivating,
insightful and one whose content resonates way
beyond the actual event.’
‘Joanne kept more than 200 women enthralled for
an hour as she spoke on the topic “Rethinking
Sustenance and the Modern Trap of Happiness”. Her
intimate stories and perceptive insights resonated
with the audience, who appreciated her courage,
honesty and fantastic sense of humour. One year
on, Joanne’s thoughts on the importance of stillness
and playfulness continue to pop into my head as I
navigate daily life.’
- Romy Moshinsky, King David
School Parent’s Association
- Chris Barnes, Event Co-ordinator,
Queenwood Parents Association
‘The first time I saw Joanne speak I knew quite instantly that I was in the presence of an insightful,
creative, intelligent and compassionate woman. And she could speak! To the masses! She has
the rare ability to balance the macro with the micro, the personal with the big picture, and she's
damn funny too. She will take you on a journey and you'll be wishing you could travel together a bit
longer. A WonderWoman for sure.’
- Miriam Hechtman,
founder of WonderWoman
‘As our keynote speaker at Creative Mamas (TED for Mums), Joanne brought
with her an extraordinary force that left the group in awe for days and
weeks later. Her expertise, professionalism and adaptability also made our
collaboration a joyful experience, and one I would repeat in a heartbeat. ‘
- Anna Kellerman,
Founder Artbuds
In a few short moments Joanne lets you in to her world – generous, tender,
funny and deeply honest. Her talent lies in her ability to make her listeners
feel we have had the privilege of being allowed in, without fuss, to bear
witness not only to her rich life experiences, but also to her soul. It is an
experience that lingers, long.’
- Cathy Milwidsky, Director of
Preschools, Moriah College
‘Thank you a million times over for
such an inspiring, funny, honest
and wonderful talk yesterday. I
am basking in the accolades that
have been streaming in by email
and sms and phone calls. Not only
did you make the Big Breakfast
really special, we sold 92 books
as well. Seriously talks like yours
make all the hassle of fundraising
worthwhile.’
- Michele Silver, Moriah School
Parents Association
‘Joanne is masterful writer and inspirational speaker. She brings personal warmth, meaningful insight and
dignity to her audience. Her keynote presentation on "Herstory" allowed us a glimpse into her experiences of
womanhood, mothering, immigration and personal growth. There was something for everyone and we all felt
lighter for having shared in these wise words".
- Vivienne Radomsky, Project
Manager B’nai B’rith NSW
'Once you’re in the orbit that is Joanne Fedler, you will forever be captivated by her wit, charm and brilliance. As
a writer and keynote speaker she masterfully weaves her stories with heartfelt anecdotes and beautiful quotes
skilfully integrated, showcasing the breadth of her research and depth of her wisdom. Her delivery is filled with
such authenticity and passion that you cannot help but feel personally moved. She has that remarkable gift
where she can at once delight and motivate, but also be compassionate and make you feel at ease.’
- Anna Kellerman,
Director, Artbuds
how to book
me as a speaker
Please contact me through my
agent:
[email protected] for costs
and terms (costs vary depending
on the length of the presentation,
where the event is being held and
the number of people attending).
I look forward to working together
with you to create an unforgettable
event.
Joanne
www.joannefedler.com
Twitter: @JoanneFedler
Facebook: Joanne Fedler
over 600 000 copies
sold worldwide