“The most honest, authentic and down-to-earth speaker I have had the pleasure of hearing.”
“Transformational!”
“Her ability to connect with and affect people is profound.”
“One of the most inspiring and engaging people I have ever met.”
“Thoughtful in her choice of words and so full of wisdom.”
Looking for an authentic and engaging speaker or MC? Let’s talk.
I feel at home on stage.
I am deeply passionate and excited about speaking to audiences of adults and adolescents who want to be the most authentic version of themselves in life and leadership, who want to challenge fear and unhelpful self patterns with greater conviction than ever before, who long to feel unashamedly grounded and content within themselves while using their voice honestly and wholeheartedly for good in their own life and in the lives of others, and who want to learn how to bring their very best to fruition through every decision they make while having courageous conversations, managing conflict and still finding room for fun and joy.
I am the perfect speaker for people who feel ready to explore and unearth their truest passions while learning to embrace and celebrate their uniqueness, to communicate more powerfully and to develop the confidence, clarity and courage they need to achieve their every goal – whether in study, business, relationships, team management or how they see and connect with themselves. I have been speaking to and running workshops for audiences aged 8 – 80 in numbers of 7 – 700 across Australia and internationally for over half of my lifetime, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
JADE WISELY
Host of The Create Days, Jade Wisely Photography
Johanna is a new kind of leader. She inspires intention-led living with her every interaction and her ability to connect and affect people is profound. I chose Johanna as our opening speaker for The Create Day and the energy she created with our audience set the perfect tone for our entire day. She presents with first class polish and heart, and on stage as well as in conversation, she is both captivating and generous.
People recognise that they are in safe hands with Johanna and are willing to be vulnerable because she quickly earns trust. Luminous yet grounded and accessible, she gifts audiences a perfect mix of inspiration and practical application that enables them to be the best versions of themselves. Johanna shows such depth, substance and infectious kindness. From knowing her I am more lit up in my own life and I was honoured to connect her with my community, too.
If you bring the stage, screen or airways, I will bring the message…
My keynote presentations and workshops proudly encompass the following themes:
+ Living and leading with unashamed authenticity
+ Self-love, confidence and personal courage
+ Challenging unhelpful patterns, doubt and fear
+ Personal leadership and conscious communication
+ Feeling-based and values-based decision making + goal setting
+ Creating successful, sustainable change
+ Strengthening communities through self
+ Public speaking success
+ Managing conflict and courageous conversations
SAMANTHA FEWSTER
Chair 2020-2021, Rotaract Australia MDIO
Johanna was inspiring, engaging and the highlight of our event! She had researched the target market and in the online backstage area she was completely present and ready to go, which was really great for us as it was our first virtual event.
When she presented it felt like she was speaking to each of us individually. I found myself taking lots of notes and have received extremely positive feedback from our attendees. We all now have some great tools that we can continue to use too. It was a pleasure listening to her and we hope to have her as a presenter at our future events!
To the speaking stage I bring my personal (but not always rosy) journey and continued learnings in leadership, confidence, communication and crafting a meaningful, deeply fulfilling life and business
my experiences as a Coach following seven years working in the not-for-profit space providing frontline outreach work and crisis intervention to Australia’s most socially isolated and disadvantaged young people
my love of building connectedness within communities and organisations
and my innate ability to quickly foster empowering relationships with audiences from very diverse settings.
As an MC, I love holding space for speakers and award nominees, supporting organisers to enjoy their own event and engaging audiences with genuine warmth, authenticity and spark!
“A beautiful energy just radiates from her.”
“She led the day with such presence and grace.”
“I enjoyed listening to her as MC just as much as listening to the speakers themselves!”
“She reflected openly on the key messages of every speaker live and tied everything together magically.”
I do not believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach to speaking of any kind…
While you are most welcome to book one of my popular keynotes listed below to save yourself time, I am always VERY excited to connect – at no additional cost to you – to hear more about the hopes for your event/s and learn more about your plans, format, agenda and audience so that I can facilitate something that is specially and uniquely constructed for you and that flows magically within everything else you have planned for the day.
If it is a standalone workshop for young people that you are interested in, this is how I suggest we approach that.
Keynote presentations include:
+ Courageous Action and Making Fear Your Friend
+ Leading From Within: The Path of Personal Leadership
+ The Secrets to Successful Goal Setting: Forget What They Told You
+ Finding Your Community and Building Your (DREAM) Team
+ Feeling Into Business With Unashamed Authenticity
+ Strengthening Family Through Self
+ From Stress to Success
+ Drop the Mic: Public Speaking Masterclass
+ Secrets of an Eternal Optimist
+ Conscious Communication and Conflict as Process
Each keynote mentioned above has an accompanying workshop – great for conferences that have breakout sessions!
CALLUM BARTLEY
RYLA District 9830 (TAS) Secretary 2020-2021
Jo has made our program better and more effective from the very first day she became involved. She is absolutely amazing in the way she holds space and is present in conversations, always seeming to say exactly what is needed when needed to bring what is most important to the surface. Her sessions are invaluable for our program’s participants and us as a team, and her professional debriefing supports our team to arrive fresh and ready to deliver each new program day while leaving the previous one behind. Cloning her or bottling up what makes her her, would be worth billions.
JESS JONES
Founder, Soar Collective
Jo spoke at SoarCon – a conference for women in business – and was the perfect person for the job! The audience were immediately engaged and truly inspired by her presentation on authenticity as it really hit the nail on the head for so many attendees. Jo was the favourite speaker amongst many guests and we had wonderful feedback from them saying she’d really struck a chord with them. A beautiful person inside and out, Jo’s ability to really connect with the audience was something not all speakers can do. We’d love to have her back at a future event.
More than a Motivational Speaker
If I am truly honest, I don’t like being referred to as a ‘Motivational Speaker’.
Yes, I motivate my audience members, but that is not what is most important to me.
The thing about the concept of ‘Motivational Speaking’ that doesn’t sit well with me is what happens the morning after the event… or the day after that… or the week after that; that inevitable moment when an audience member wakes up and the feeling they felt in the room with a speaker has worn off. The moment they find themselves right back where they started.
My personal speaking philosophy ensures that, regardless of the session, my audience members receive:
+ Practical tools that they can apply today and reapply any day for the rest of their lives
+ A direct contact line to me so that they are able to keep the conversation going if my words have sparked something in them that they would like to explore further
+ A greater understanding of who they authentically are
+ A feeling of connection: to me, to you, to themselves, to their own life and to their responsibility in defining their own journey
It might not sound as fancy, but I guess you can call me a ‘Carpenter Speaker’ instead.
I am here to give audiences tools and to teach them to build so they have the power and resources to do so for themselves long after I have left the room!
My wish for them is a more wonderful life, not just a wonderful day.
