Kate Oram draws on twenty years inside elite sport to speak about performance, identity and what it takes to operate at your best under pressure.
She spent the majority of those twenty years in professional rugby, in almost every room the only woman in it. She navigated that career through every phase of womanhood, and every phase brought its own set of assumptions about her capabilities, her motivations and her right to be there.
What she took from it was a very particular kind of knowledge. The kind that only comes from being inside high pressure environments for long enough to see what actually works, what does not, and what the best performers consistently do differently.
Her talks are honest, practical and grounded in real experience. There is no borrowed theory here, only what she observed, lived and learned across two decades at the highest level of professional sport.
What audiences leave with
The self-belief to take action, the tools to navigate prejudice at every career stage, and the confidence to handle high pressure moments and manage their own perception, in the boardroom, on the touchline and everywhere in between.
Talk topics
Kate is available to speak on the following topics, individually or as a bespoke combination shaped around the specific needs of your audience.
Getting in the Room and Staying There
What it actually takes to establish credibility in a male dominated environment, why competence alone is never enough, and the practical tools Kate learned, often the hard way, for building authority when the environment is not designed for you.
Every Phase of Womanhood Has a Professional Consequence
How the assumptions others make about us shift at every life stage, and how to navigate those shifts without losing ground, losing confidence or losing yourself in the process.
Identity and Self-Belief Under Pressure
The most consistent performers in elite sport were not the most driven. They were the most certain about who they were. This talk explores how women in leadership build that certainty, hold onto it under pressure and use it to make faster, cleaner decisions when it matters most.
Your PR is Your Responsibility
In elite sport, perception management is not left to chance. This talk looks at how women in leadership can take ownership of how they are seen, how they handle high pressure moments publicly and privately, and how to respond rather than react when things do not go to plan.
Ideal for
Women in leadership programmes, corporate teams navigating change or pressure, professional networks, educational institutions and organisations committed to building genuine performance culture. Speaking enquiries, event bookings and media requests are welcome.