Speaker

Jessica Gallagher- Keynote Speaker

Having recently returned from the Paris Paralympics, her sixth Games with a silver medal Jess’ longevity as a multi-sport athlete is un-deniable.

As she moves forwards Jess’ circumstances, choices and actions in real life continue to reverberate and reflect her keynote and messages ‘Are. You. Ready?’

Are. You. Ready?

Trust – Mindset – Courage

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ski down a mountain at 100km/hr? Or to ride a tandem bike being controlled by someone else at over at 69km/hour? How you might do this when you’re vision impaired and being guided by someone else acting as your eye sight? Would you have the courage to trust someone when they take your life into their hands?

Jess has been profiled as one of 200 Women Who Will Change The Way You See The World and in 2023 RMIT University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences. Jess is the first Australian dual summer and winter Paralympic medallist, Australia’s first female winter Paralympic medallist and an Australian representative across 4 sports. These experiences speak for themselves but it’s her ability to bring the authenticity of these experiences on and off the sporting field and create synergy with her audience that is unique.

She will challenge you to think differently and change the way you see your world.

‘Jess is the best keynote speaker we have ever had, hands down. An inspiring lady who is able to transform a room. I couldn’t recommend Jess more highly’
– Coca Cola

Her inspiring story is unlike any other.

Keynote Topics

Are.You.Ready?

Trust and change

Hurtling down a mountain at over 100km/hour with someone else acting as your sight there is no greater skill required than trust. It’s a critical element to Jessica’s success as a summer and winter Paralympic medallist, Osteopath and Board Director and yet trust in business and society globally is at an all-time low. In this keynote Jessica will share how she develops, builds and sustains trust whilst adapting to the variabilities around her. The only constant we have in life is that change and trust are necessary for growth and sustainable success. Are you ready?

It’s not what you see but how you choose to see it.

Leadership & Team Work

As an elite performer Jessica’s success is underpinned by the guides that support her to compete, not unlike a manager working with a team. The ever changing dynamics of leadership and team work when coupled with complexity and risk is real and profound regardless of the environment. In order to succeed it’s critical leader’s get it right. In this keynote Jessica shares the lessons she has learnt in developing her ability to interchange between being led, leading others and the impact of when it goes wrong (and how to stop it from going wrong!)

The Agile Mind.

Safety, Risk & Overcoming Fear

How do you remain agile at the time when risk and fear strikes? As a high performance athlete in the dangerous world of Alpine Skiing Jessica shares the practical ways she shaped her risk appetite and turned fear into a must have component of her mindset, skill and performances. It’s easier than you might think to create a positive, empowered mindset to ensure you achieve your goals.

Making the time to live better

Health and Wellness

In our fast paced, complex lives it’s easy to lose sight of looking after your greatest asset, you. As an Osteopath Jess is asked the ultimate question on a weekly basis, how can I gain work/ life balance? In this keynote Jess will help you see health and wellbeing from a new perspective, share her personal stories of overcoming adversity and give you the tips and tools she has used to create positive and sustainable habits to live your best life. How will you make the time to live better?

Enquire about having Jessica speak at your next event.

Testimonials

We’ve engaged Jess for a few conferences to come and speak under the theme of Courage. No one is left untouched by her unbelievable story. She is an inspiring, brave, courageous young lady who everyone needs to hear!

Event Manager, Westpac

Jessica is an inspiring and immensely popular keynote speaker. She always delivers a wonderful session at our events, offering a positive message and many practical take-aways.

Simon Yeowart

Program Director, The Eventful Group

Jess was our “all important closing speaker” on the first day of our Annual Conference. Wow. In the room, you could hear a pin drop. Everyone hung on every word of her amazing story of drive, perseverance in the face of adversity and her courage and self-belief. I think we all felt a little insignificant after listening to Jess. Afterwards she attended our dinner and won the hearts of all who were there, speaking with the children, showing them her medal and interacting so naturally with attendees. Highly recommended!

Grahame Evans

Managing Director, GPS Wealth Ltd

Jessica is an inspiring and immensely popular keynote speaker. She always delivers a wonderful session at our events, offering a positive message and many practical take-aways.

Simon Yeowart

Program Director, The Eventful Group

What a great finale Jess provided for our conference of 250 primary school leaders on the Gold Coast. We all have a story and no story is uninteresting, but Jess’s story is one well worth listening to. It is inspirational, motivational and intriguing. It is a story of courage, resilience and integrity. It is a story of love and trust, perseverance and dedication. Moreover, Jess is a great storyteller and is able to balance humour and passion into her story while leaving us as an audience in awe of the challenges overcome and the depth of her achievements. Jess will inspire any individual or group to set goals and be the best they can be while staying true to the values they believe in.

Mr Neville McDonald

2017 Primary Leaders Conference Committee. Catholic Education Archdiocese of Brisbane

Dr Jessica Gallagher not only delivers a remarkable presentation, she also takes those in the room along for the ride with her inspiring story that captivates the entire audience. Jessica shows that no matter your capabilities, anything is achievable with passion, determination, strength and persistence in what you enjoy most in life. Jessica leaves the audience wanting more and more!

Hayley Eastham

Senior Events Coordinator, ASFA - The Voice of Super

Jessica’s keynote presentation, Trust - Mindset - Courage was just what we needed to end the Travel Industry Exhibition and Conference. She was an absolute pleasure to work with in the lead up to the conference and onsite. Professional and personable. I would definitely recommend Jess to my clients and colleagues!

Peta Moore

Managing Director, Nectar Creative Communications

Jess presented at Australia Post’s Corporate Health and Wellbeing day. Jess’ presentation certainly left our people with a lasting impression and created many new Paralympic fans in the process. Jess is a remarkably inspiring and determined World Champion, World Record Holder, Osteopath and Director! While her achievements speak for themselves, it was her honest and down to earth approach in sharing her personal stories of success that truly connected with our people. The adversity that she has overcome along her journey is outstanding. Our people left the seminar feeling uplifted and empowered to challenge their choices and the way they think about Health and Wellbeing – so thank you Jess.

Shannon Barca

Manager myHR Advisory and Services, People Services, Australia Post

Fearless, brave, determined and simply amazing are just few of the many words to describe Jessica Gallagher. It was really very inspiring to hear Jessica's story and it was well articulated to every little detail from the day the illness rob Jessica's sight to her achieving so much for Australia today. Highly recommended! ~ Courage is knowing what not to fear - Winston Churchill~

Colgate/ Palmolive

To say that Jessica is inspiring is to understate the truth. She is vibrant, entertaining, motivating, inspiring and so much more. Our audience was enraptured by her story and she made them feel that they are part of her journey. I know that every one of our delegates will be tuning into the Paralympics to watch Jessica and will feel that they have a personal interest in her events. We will all be rooting for her.

Peta Irvine

Chief Executive Officer, Local Government Managers Australia Queensland

Jess is an extraordinary and inspiring person who has achieved so much despite the challenges that she has faced. As the Keynote Speaker at our National Conference she took the audience on an emotional journey that captured their hearts. She delivered her presentation with such infectious enthusiasm and professionalism. She is very well organised and a pleasure to work with before and during the conference. Her message is related back to the business world in a very effective way. I would highly recommend Jess as a speaker, the feedback we received from the audience was overwhelmingly positive.

Michelle Harris

President, ECM Victorian User Group

Thanks to our I Support Women in Sport (ISWIS) campaign, I crossed paths with this inspiring, driven, vivacious and smart woman about five years ago. While I'm impressed with her sporting and eduction achievements, I've been even more impressed by her off-field performance. She is the utmost professional. She was the keynote speaker at our 2014 ISWIS Awards' night and she was absolutely fantastic - well-prepared, interesting and had the room riveted the entire time she was on stage. I look forward to working with this fantastic woman in the future (and not just because she goes for the same footy team. Go Geelong!).

Felicity Harley

Editor Women’s Health Magazine Australia

Having Jess Gallagher come and speak to 1,000 secondary students at The National Young Leaders Day in 2014 was such a privilege. She followed and understood the brief exactly and was engaging, inspiring, personable and a great communicator. The students submit a survey at the end of the event and Jess was voted as favourite speaker for the day! She was extremely easy to work with in the lead up to the event and I wouldn’t hesitate having her come again.

Janice Hickman

Event Manager Halogen Foundation Ltd

Jessica Gallagher is one of those rare amazing people that you meet in life. I had the pleasure meeting Jessica when she was engaged as a guest speaker at Maribyrnong City Council. Jessica shared her lived experience of acquired disability and how she set about achieving her personal and professional goals, with trust, mindset and courage.

Jessica was a delight to work with. She took time to understand the purpose of the event to ensure that she could give her best. The audience was captivated listening to Jessica and we received so many positive comments about the event. Thank you Jessica for sharing your knowledge, experience and self.

Cr Catherine Cumming

Mayor of the City of Maribyrnong