Heather Whelpley

Keynotes and virtual events that embolden women to break free from proving, pleasing, and perfecting and rediscover their voice, take up space, and unleash their authentic leadership - and life.

Expert on

  • Motivation
  • Leadership
  • Careers
  • Personal Development
  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Inspirational

Fee Range

$5,000–$10,000

Travels from

MN, US

Heather Whelpley is an international speaker, award-winning author, and leadership development consultant that works with women to live, work, and lead with grounded confidence so they can share their voice and take bold steps in their career. She is known for intersectional, interactive presentations full of both human connection and practical tools that audience members can use for career and personal development.

Prior to becoming a speaker, Heather worked for over a decade at Cargill and Ameriprise in a wide variety of leadership development, human resources, and change management roles in both plants and offices across the US, Latin America, and Australia. She also facilitated multiple corporate leadership development programs specifically designed to engage and advance women.

Everywhere she went, Heather saw the same story. Too many amazing women questioned themselves. They felt like they could never disappoint anyone. They believed they had to make everything perfect and prove themselves over and over again. They worried about being too direct – while at the same time needing to be seen as confident. They felt like they didn’t know enough to share their great idea or go for the promotion, even though they were highly qualified and knew more than enough.

It wasn’t just them. Heather felt it too. And she wanted to do something about it.

Heather has since led keynotes and workshops on imposter syndrome, creating your own rules for success, discovering your authentic voice, managing burnout, and unleashing authentic leadership with thousands of people at Fortune 500 companies like Deloitte, General Mills, and PepsiCo as well as international conferences, including the Women In Manufacturing Summit and WE22, The Society Of Women Engineers’ annual conference.

Heather’s first book, An Overachiever’s Guide to Breaking The Rules, has been recognized with multiple awards, including gold medals from the Next Generation Indie Books Awards and the Living Now Book Awards. Her second book, Grounded Wildness: Break Free from Performing Your Life and Start Living It, was published in fall 2023. Heather also hosts the Grounded Wildness podcast.

Heather has a master’s degree in Human Resource Development from the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute. She lives in Colorado where she enjoys hiking and exploring as much as possible.

Navigating Your Career with Grounded Confidence

Perfect for an employee development event, this interactive workshop will give employees the tools they need to understand where they’re going in their career, create meaningful development goals, and navigate career decisions with grounded confidence.

Participants will walk away with:

  • Strategies to combat imposter syndrome and fear of failure
  • Knowing the four types of people they need to grow their career
  • Approaches to talk to managers, leaders, and mentors about their career development
  • Greater clarity on what they really want in their career – and clear development goals for next steps

Note: This workshop is customizable to your organization’s performance and development processes

Imposter Syndrome – And What To Do About It

Do you ever hear a little voice in your head saying, “I’m not ready. I don’t belong here. I just got lucky. Do I have enough experience to speak up? Do I know enough to do that?” If any of these sounds familiar, then you have been impacted by imposter syndrome! These fraudy thoughts influence how you show up in your career, from pursuing a promotion or leadership role to speaking up in meetings and sharing new ideas.

 

The good news is you can do something about it! In this interactive session we will discuss how imposter syndrome impacts you, the structural and cultural reasons you experience it, how to be an ally and guide others through imposter syndrome, and practical tools to manage it so you can take bold steps in your career, including how to:

  • Quiet your inner critic
  • Recover fast when doubt and imposter syndrome strike
  • Act even when you don’t feel confident

Discover Your Authentic Voice – And How To Use It To Lead Change

Have you ever felt like something had to be perfect before you could share it with anyone? Like you didn’t know enough to put your idea out there? Or have enough experience to speak up for your next career move? Or maybe you’ve gotten feedback that you can be too direct – or need to be more confident. Or both!

 

If so, you’re not alone. Most of us have been handed messages that cause you to hold your voice back – and hold you back from the impact you want to create and the career you want to pursue.

 

It’s time to flip those messages upside down. It’s time to reclaim your authentic voice.

 

Instead of diving into tactics on how you “should” present yourself, we’re going to get clear on what is important and authentic to YOU so that you can share your ideas, impact clients, advocate for your career development, and lead positive change in your workplace – and beyond. In this interactive session we’ll identify:

  • How imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and bias get in the way of sharing your voice – and how to find the motivation to speak up in spite of these barriers
  • Concrete strategies and tools to get your voice heard
  • Actions you can take to create a culture of allyship where others can share their authentic voice as well

Creating Your Own Rules Of Success

What rules are you playing by in your career? Do you feel like you can’t disappoint anyone? Have to say yes to everything? Aren’t allowed to fail – or even make a mistake? Need to change how you show up to match what a successful person is “supposed” to do?

 

These rules helped you at some point in your life – but they may be creating unnecessary stress and holding you back from the impact you want to create now. It’s time to know what YOU want and WHY. Key takeaways include:

  • Understanding the rules you’re playing by now, where they come from, and if they still make sense at this point in your career and life
  • Redefining success on your own terms
  • Creating a new set of rules that align to your values, goals, and the impact you want to have

Surviving To Thriving: A New Way to Manage Burnout

Massages and bubble baths are great, but they are not the cure to burnout. Instead of scratching the surface with temporary fixes, we’ll dive into the REAL steps to recover from burnout so you can truly thrive in your work, life, and leadership. You’ll discover the rules you’ve been taught that lead to burnout and how to unlearn them through practical, tangible steps you can use immediately to heal from burnout and reclaim your life, including:

  • The surprising key to releasing stress
  • Practices to build self-compassion and resilience
  • Strategies to say no, set boundaries, and create more space in your life
  • A personal toolkit to feel alive again
  • Simple actions you can take as a team to set boundaries and thrive together

I want to be clear – burnout isn’t your fault. But there is something you can do about it. It’s time to stop merely surviving – and start thriving.