Shola Kaye
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Change
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Communication & Interaction
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Company Culture
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Creativity & Innovation
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Dialogue
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion DEI
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Empathy
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Future & Society
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Growth
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Interpersonal Skills
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Leadership
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People-First Culture
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Teamwork
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Trust
Shola Kaye is an award-winning international keynote speaker, author, and empathy-at-work specialist who helps organisations replace fear with connection. Working at the intersection of inclusive leadership, communication, and people-first culture, she equips leaders and teams to build workplaces grounded in empathy, trust, and courageous dialogue.
Shola’s keynotes are relatable, actionable, and evidence-based. She speaks on Communication, Empathy, and Culture, helping organisations strengthen engagement, belonging, and performance through compassionate leadership. Her message is clear: when people feel safe, seen, and heard, collaboration deepens, innovation flourishes, and results follow. The outcome is more engaged, inclusive, and productive teams and workplaces that truly thrive.
Creating People-First Cultures
From company-wide keynotes to leadership development programmes and small-group strategic sessions, Shola’s work is customised, relevant, and deeply practical. She invests time in understanding each organisation’s unique challenges and opportunities, ensuring that every keynote or workshop feels tailor-made for its audience.
Her sessions are highly interactive and conversational, often incorporating live polls, Q&As, and reflection exercises. Shola calls her talks “conversations” because no two sessions are ever the same, every audience shapes the experience. Expect inspiration, interaction, and insight, all grounded in empathy and real-world impact.
Background & Approach
Before becoming a global keynote speaker, Shola worked for blue-chip corporates in the demanding fields of investment banking and IT management consulting in New York and London. Having once struggled to be heard in those fast-paced environments, she understands the challenges of confidence, communication, and belonging at work.
Her background spans STEM, finance, and the creative industries, including neuroscience research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Drawing on these experiences, she created her signature framework, EMOTIONAL AUDACITY™ – a practical approach to leading with empathy, emotional intelligence, and resilience.
Today, she has spoken to tens of thousands of people worldwide and delivered programmes for clients such as The United Nations, Deloitte, Google, American Express, HSBC, Meta, Nestlé, IBM, and Tate & Lyle. Her insights have been featured in Marie Claire, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, and the BBC, and she is a LinkedIn Learning instructor whose courses on empathy and communication reach a global audience.
Style & Impact
Shola’s background as both a corporate consultant and professional entertainer gives her a rare ability to combine analytical precision with warmth, humour, and stage-tested charisma. Her sessions are designed to energise, connect, and create change helping people turn awareness into action.
As an introvert and advocate for diverse leadership, Shola knows what it feels like to be overlooked, and what it takes to help others shine. Her mission is to build speak-up cultures and psychologically safe workplaces where people contribute their best ideas and feel truly valued.
Whether in-person or virtual, Shola’s sessions leave a lasting impression: brave communication, compassionate leadership, and workplaces where empathy drives performance and authenticity fuels innovation.
Shola Kaye’s most sought-after keynotes:
Develop a Psychologically Safe, Speak-Up Culture: How to Feel Seen, Safe and Heard
What are the core behaviours and communication strategies that create a psychologically safe, high-performing workplace?
In a culture where people feel seen, safe and heard, innovation thrives, belonging deepens, and collaboration strengthens.
Through powerful storytelling, live exercises, and practical tools, Shola unpacks the role of compassion, deep inquiry, and psychological safety to create environments of cooperation and creativity. Participants learn to foster a workplace free of groupthink where individuals can make their best contributions and the business can thrive.
Elevate Empathy: Sustainable, Common-sense Strategies for Creating a Workplace of Care and Understanding
How can organisations embed empathy at every level – from the boardroom to the break room?
As the need for respectful, supportive workplaces grows, empathy is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a critical leadership and communication skill that directly impacts retention, innovation, and employee wellbeing.
Through storytelling, accessible research, and hands-on reflection, Shola introduces a practical approach to empathy that avoids burnout, fosters connection, and works across virtual, hybrid and in-person teams. With a focus on curiosity, courage and being a catalyst, this session equips every audience member with the awareness and confidence to make empathy a daily practice.
Create a Positive Feedback Culture: Elevate Performance with Daring, Caring Communication
How will you build a thriving feedback culture where communication uplifts and energises, rather than undermines and demotivates?
When feedback is delivered with empathy, clarity and consistency, it drives performance, strengthens relationships and creates motivated, resilient teams. But when it’s avoided or mishandled, the damage to morale and collaboration can be lasting.
Through candid examples and interactive exercises, Shola explores the difference between feedback that inspires and feedback that alienates. She equips individuals at every level – not just managers – with the tools and confidence to offer feedback that fuels learning and growth.
Shola Kaye’s testimonials:
Shola has been incredible to work with. She accepted the challenge of a last-minute brief to deliver a virtual Keynote speech on Empathy to a global audience and blew us away … inspiring, relatable, engaging and empowering. Thank you Shola!
— Rachael Rowland, Global Marketer, Ex-L’Oréal, Henkel
This was such a great session. I’ve heard talks about Empathy before, but this is the first time I could hear very actionable steps to becoming more empathetic.
— Audience Member, IBM
Shola was flexible and dedicated to learning about our organization, our people and customized her talk according to our needs. Shola was able to conduct a dynamic keynote address on Empathy with meaningful storytelling elements to emotionally engage us while driving home practical and implementable lessons to create a workplace of belonging.
— Jennifer Landgren, MBA, Dentsply Sirona
Brilliant session, practical and realistic with great tips and techniques that could inspire and help cultivate career and teams.
— Shannon Caffrey, Key Account Executive, Allianz
Shola delivered a top-notch remote keynote address for our Bryant University IDEA Program focused on “Elevating Empathy.” Shola was engaging, informative, and inspiring. Everyone loved her message and the practical tips she shared for how we might all learn to be more empathetic and emotionally intelligent. In the planning process, Shola was wonderful to collaborate with, and she delivered exactly what we were looking for.
— Allison Butler, Professor, Bryant University
This session was very informative, relevant, and engaging! Shola’s presentation style makes the material interactive. I found myself doing a lot of introspection and wanting to learn more about the topic.
— John Justice, Senior Manager, LexisNexis Risk Solutions
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