"A visionary leader changing the inclusion landscape" - Billie Jean King
Michelle King is a leading expert on diversity and inclusion, in particular, she is passionate about gender equality and workplace culture. Founder and Managing Director of Equality Forward, Michelle provides a range of coaching and assessments that allow leaders to build cultures of equality at work. Spreading the message that we need to tackle inequality by fixing workplace cultures, Michelle is also booked as a keynote speaker for a range of corporate events. When booked as a speaker, Michelle covers topics such as the next generations of women leaders, gender denial, how to apply intersectional thinking and the barriers working mothers and fathers face.
An HR professional, Michelle has enjoyed a successful career improving the workplace cultures of various leading companies. Back in 2002, Michelle began her career as an HR Consultant for PwC, before becoming a Senior HR Business Partner for Fonterra. She has also acted as an HR Business Partner for Suncor Energy, HR Manager and Corporate Affairs Manager for BHP Billiton. With the knowledge that encompasses various aspects of positive workplace culture and organisational behaviour, Michelle has also authored the book The Fix: How to Overcome the Invisible Barriers that are Holding Women Back at Work and How Work Works. She is also the host of The Fix podcast, which has over 100,000 downloads.
Dedicated to accelerating the achievement of gender equality, Michelle has also been the Head of Integrated Strategy for Gender Innovation and the Senior Manager Development for Diversity and Employee Engagement for UN Women. She has also been an Advisory Board Member of Girl Up for the United Nations Foundation, championing female empowerment. She has also formerly worked as the Director of Inclusion for Netflix, integrating inclusive practices into the worldwide streaming platform. In reward of her commitment to ensuring inclusivity in the workplace, Michelle has been named the 2019 Inspiring Innovator Award from Women Tech Founders and named as a LinkedIn 2020 Top Voice for Equality. She has also claimed the 2020 Axiom Business Book Awards Silver Medal, been longlisted for the 2020 Non-Obvious Book Award and was named as the Porchlight No.1 Business Bestseller 2020. She is also a contributing writer for Forbes, holds a PhD from Cranfield University and five degrees from the University of California.
With a respectable career to her name, Michelle is now highly sought after as a diversity and inclusion speaker and consultant for a variety of corporate events. When booked as a speaker, Michelle focuses on building positive workplace cultures, touching on topics such as gender denial, gender equality, women’s advancement at work, navigating invisible barriers and the next generation of women leaders. Described as a ‘visionary leader changing the inclusion landscape’ by Billie Jean King, Michelle has formerly spoken for the likes of Dior, Netflix, Travis Perkins, LinkedIn and Amazon to name but a few clients. She was also invited to deliver the TEDx Chelsea Park talk, titled It’s Not You, It’s Your Workplace. When looking for a passionate, professional and insightful speaker who can cover all aspects of diversity and inclusion, book Michelle King for your next event.
In recognition of her expertise, Michelle King was recently named one of the Top 10 Organisational Behaviour Speakers to Book - a testament to her knowledge of the importance of diversity and inclusion in corporate settings, and how to achieve such values in the workplace.
Social Media
Books
The Fix: How to Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work
How Work Works: The Subtle Science of Getting Ahead Without Losing Yourself
Reviews
Michelle King received a 5 star rating across 20 events in 2023
Agent Recommendation
"Michelle King is a dynamic and insightful diversity and inclusion keynote speaker. Her expertise in gender equality and positive workplace culture is unparalleled. As the Founder of Equality Forward, she empowers leaders to cultivate equality in the workplace. Her engaging talks cover crucial topics like intersectional thinking and challenges faced by working parents. Michelle's impressive career and extensive knowledge, showcased in her book and podcast, make her an invaluable asset to any corporate event focused on fostering a more inclusive environment. Highly recommended for her visionary approach to transforming workplace cultures."
How to hire Michelle King
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Michelle King for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Michelle King's official speaking topics are listed below:
- The Number 1 Skill You Need to Future-Proof Your Career... That No One is Talking About
- How Inequality Works at Work
- Why DEI Efforts are Failing (and What We Can Do About It)
- Why DEI is an Invitation for Leaders to Lead
- Why Inequality Costs Men, and What They Can Do About It
- Overcoming The Greatest Barrier To Women’s Advancement At Work: Gender Denial
- Are Robots Going To Take Your Job? Three Ways to Future-Proof Your Career
- Understanding How Workplaces Work: The Four Ways to Advance at Work Without Losing Yourself
- How to Make Your Workplace Work for Everyone (including you!)
- Paying It Forward: How to Find Meaning at Work
- How to Future-Proof Your Career: Discover How to Develop the Skills You Need to Survive the New World of Work
- Unlocking Trust: Discover Why Building Trust is the Key to Creating High-Performing Teams & Effective Leaders
- What You Really Need to Get Ahead: Hacking the Four Informal Systems That Determine Your Career Advancement
- How Informal Networks Work: Learn How to Build & Maintain Connections to Advance Your Career & Find Meaning at Work
- Hot to Build Self, Other and Organisational Awareness at Work: Discover What Your Co-Workers Really Think About You!
- How to Manage Your Informal Development at Work: Discover Why You Need to Manage Your Development & How to Do This
- How to Manage Your Carrer & Find Meaning at Work: Learn What You Need to Do to Navigate & Advance in This New World of Work
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"A visionary leader changing the inclusion landscape" - Billie Jean King
"Candidly shares her personal experiences and decades of research to reveal the invisible barriers women face at work." - Tamara, Co-Founder, Jimmy Choo
"I just wanted to say thank you so much for your help in organising Michelle King at JET for IWD. She was truly amazing!" - Chloe, Technology Manager, Just Eat Takeaway
Insightful and thoroughly engaging, Michelle King provides practical solutions for bringing about tangible and lasting change, as well as an impassioned argument for equity that moves beyond the current discourse on women in the workplace." - Dr Nina, UN Women Global Champion for Innovation
"Michelle has an exquisite ability to captivate the room, whatever the audience" - Belinda, Associate Director & Diversity and Inclusion Lead, EMEIA TAS Talent EY
"Michelle is not only extremely knowledgeable with her background and research on gender inequality, but she applies those insights specifically to the workplace and brings it to life. Michelle has a truly unique way of connecting with her audience. She makes the research come to life and provides real 'a-ha' moments and practical takeaways that can be applied in any organisation" - Claudia, CEO, SHE Global
"Michelle is a speaker who sparks fires in her audience around the issues she cares about. Her in-depth knowledge and insights, paired with her ability to clearly and vividly create the case for its importance, is a unique gift to the groups she speaks to. Our community still asks us about Michelle and where to access her talks and upcoming events" - Jenn, Founder, Be Social Change
“Michelle provides actions to take that do not succumb to the notion of “fixing” women. Calling for accountability in what too often is a toxic environment is only as important as offering ways to bring about real change in that environment.” - Meredith, Founder, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls
“Michelle King candidly shares her own personal experiences and decades of research to reveal the invisible barriers women face at work. Drawing on her exposure to companies that are structured to enable only men to succeed, she suggests that our denial towards gender inequality is hurting women, and challenges the idea that women can improve their way to success. Bravely, Michelle offers the essential message that women are extraordinary as they are, and don’t need fixing - workplaces do.” -Tamara, OBE, Co-founder, Jimmy Choo
“Michelle understands that creating an inclusive and equitable workplace for everyone takes all of us. We are fortunate she is sharing her expertise and learnings, and is bringing us along this journey to implement real change.” - Dr. Cindy, Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, MetLife
“Always backed with tremendous expertise and experience as well as profound research Michelle managed to create awareness even with our most critical stakeholders.” - Christiane, CHRO Stepstone
"The event was a great success and we have had lots of positive comments on Michelle’s presentation – she certainly packs a punch. Her enthusiasm and knowledge of the topic definitely shines through – I don’t think she actually drew breath ….. but a fantastic presentation, hard hitting in areas but that’s what we needed – someone to share the facts with brutal honestly – but also share how we can address the issues. We loved the ACM model she shared with us and will definitely be using this going forward. We may be having a similar event in the (UK this time) in November and I’ll be discussing with our leadership team whether this would be a good one to invite Michelle back to."
- 2023 - Author of How Work Works: The Subtle Science of Getting Ahead Without Losing Yourself
- 2022 - Top 100 Women at Davos by Global Women's Leadership Experts
- 2022 - Named LinkedIn's Top Voice for Workplace Equality
- 2020 - DEI, People & Culture Managing Director for The Culture Practice
- 2020 - Nobel Peace Prize Speaker
- 2020 - Managing Director of Equality Forward
- 2020 - Named a LinkedIn Top Voice for Equity in the Workplace
- 2019 - Director of Inclusion for Netflix
- 2019 - Awarded the Inspiring Innovator Award by Women in Tech Founders
- 2018 - Advisory Board Member of Girl Up United Nations Foundation
- 2017 - Head of Integrated Strategy for Gender Innovation & GICC for UN Women
- 2016 - Senior Manager of Development, Diversity and Employee Engagement for UN Women
- 2016 - Contributing Writer for Forbes
- 2015 - Corporate Affairs Manager of Communications & Culture for BHP Billiton
- 2014 - Human Resources Manager of Petroleum for BHP Billiton
- 2012 - Human Resources Manager of Group Functions for BHP Billiton
- 2010 - Workforce Strategy & Performance Manager for BHP Billiton
- 2008 - Human Resource Business Partner for Suncor Energy
- 2007 - Reporter & Producer of Breakfast Business for TVNZ
- 2005 - Senior Human Resource Business Partner for Fonterra
- 2002 - Human Resource Consultant for PwC
- Named a Davos Top 100 Women
