An IWD and leadership keynote on what it actually takes to support women’s careers over the long term – beyond the panel-quote version.
Most “women at work” keynotes get booked for International Women’s Day and forgotten by April. This one is built to land differently — and to make leadership audiences think differently about what they’re actually doing the rest of the year.
An International Women’s Day keynote speaker.
Sally Lovett — founder of Stretching the City and a working mother of two who built a multi-six-figure consultancy through pregnancies, maternity leaves and school runs — explores how organisations can move beyond the usual IWD script.
The keynote covers invisible work, the realities of mid-career attrition, menopause, ambition without burnout, and the specific cultural and leadership behaviours that quietly shape whether women stay, progress and lead. Honest, evidence-based and built for mixed leadership audiences — not just for the women in the room.
What audiences leave with:
- Permission to do something more substantial than a one-off IWD event
- A clearer view of the invisible work that quietly shapes women’s career trajectories
- Specific, behaviour-level allyship leaders can practice on Monday morning
- An honest understanding of mid-career attrition and the menopause moment most workplaces are still under-equipped for
Themes explored:
- The hidden impact of invisible and non-promotable work
- How “side-of-desk” responsibilities shape (and stall) career progression
- Why high-performing women so often experience burnout in their thirties and forties
- Supporting women through maternity, parenting, and menopause as career-stage realities, not edge cases
- The cost of mid-career attrition and the loss of experienced women from organisations
- How leadership behaviour, culture and job design influence long-term career sustainability
- Practical ways organisations can support ambition, wellbeing and progression simultaneously Allyship as a leadership skill, not a moral position
Around one in ten women leave the workforce due to menopausal symptoms. Many more reduce hours or step away from leadership pathways at key life transitions. The cost of mid-career female attrition is one of the largest hidden costs in modern organisations — and almost nowhere on the strategy slide.
Who This Women in the Workplace Keynote Is For:
This keynote works particularly well for:
- International Women’s Day events
- Leadership and management conferences
- Organisational culture events
- Gender equality programmes, particularly those looking for a women’s network speaker.
- Leadership teams exploring inclusive workplaces
The talk is designed to spark thoughtful discussion and reflection, making it particularly suitable for conference audiences and leadership groups.
Event formats:
This can be delivered as:
• Conference keynote (30–45 minutes)
• Leadership event talk
• Panel speaker contribution
• Conference or event moderation
Sessions can be delivered in person or virtually for global audiences.
About Sally Lovett
Sally Lovett is the founder of Stretching the City, a workplace wellbeing consultancy she built from a one-woman yoga side hustle into a multi-six-figure business, working with 350+ organisations including Amazon, the Cabinet Office, Universal Music, Soho House and Accenture, without external investment, a PR agency, or a business plan.
Her talks combine fifteen years of organisational insight with the honest realities of building something from the inside. Sally is a contributor to The Guardian, The Times and Condé Nast Traveller, author of The Wellbeing Guide to London, and a recent panellist at the IoD Women’s Business Forum alongside Mariella Frostrup. She speaks regularly at HR conferences, leadership offsites, founder programmes and IWD events across the UK and internationally.
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MAKE AN ENQUIRY FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT
If you’re planning a conference, leadership event or organisational offsite and would like to explore this keynote, please get in touch.
Sally personally reads every enquiry and replies within 2 working days. For urgent enquiries: sally@stretchingthecity.com.
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