Andrea ryan
Women's Leadership & Gender Equality Keynote Speaker
I speak about the thing underneath the confidence gap, the inner operating system that decides how a woman leads, what she asks for and how long she'll put up with a system that wasn't built for her.
Two-time International Women's Day keynote speaker. UN Women Australia committee member. 25+ years across global brands, not-for-profits and philanthropic partnerships.
Keynotes, leadership labs, full-day programs and panels. In person across Australia, online anywhere.
CLAIRE MELBOURNE, DIRECTOR FOR PEOPLE STRATEGY & OD - NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
“We hosted our first virtual conference for International Women’s Day this year, Andrea was our key note speaker and gave a fantastic session which set the tone for the day.
Our audience found the session really engaging and came away feeling inspired and empowered to strive for more.
Every single piece of feedback we have received about the session was positive and our colleagues loved the energy and passion Andrea brought to the day.”
Women in Leadership Summit
Leadership Lab — Leading From Within to Strengthen Self-Belief
NPS of 40
4/5 for impact and relevance, consistently
Participants named it the most valuable part of the Summit
The most common piece of feedback was that they wanted more time in the room
The word that came up most was honesty. Several participants said it was refreshing to learn from someone who talks openly about identity, self-belief and what women actually deal with in leadership.
“Organisers tend to tell me the same thing afterwards. Women don't want another session about confidence. They want someone who'll say the real thing out loud and then give them something to do with it.”
WHAT I SPEAK ABOUT
Every talk gets rebuilt for your audience, your theme and your room. Before I write a word I'll ask you what you actually want to be different when people walk out.
International Women's Day 2027
A keynote built around your theme, not mine. I'll take the official IWD theme, your organisation's real position on gender equality and the room you're putting me in and write something that lands rather than something that decorates.
I don't do the version where we all agree things are improving.
IWD books out from November. If you're planning March 2027, talk to me now.
Gender Equity & the State of Play
The Power Shift Nobody Warned You About Rights aren't a ratchet. They go backwards. Where we actually are on gender equality, what's being rolled back and where and what that means for the women in your organisation. This is the talk for organisations that want the real picture, not the celebration.
Identity, Midlife & Reinvention
The Midlife Power Shift Nobody warns you that the version of you that got you here is the one you'll have to renegotiate. What happens when the roles stop fitting, the ambition doesn't go anywhere and the question you can't put down is whether this is really how you want the next twenty years to look.
Gender Equity & the State of Play
SDG 5: A Promise With a Deadline Goal 5 was a promise; specific, documented, internationally endorsed, signed by governments who knew the data and understood the gap. With the deadline in sight, not one indicator is fully achieved. That isn't a failure of ambition. It's a choice, made repeatedly. What it would take to change it.
Power & Leadership
Leading From Within to Strengthen Self-BeliefMy most-requested lab, and the one that scored an NPS of 40 at the Women in Leadership Summit. Reflection and practical tools in equal measure, participants leave with something they can use on Monday, not a feeling that fades by Thursday.
Workshop examples
Reflect, Refocus, Reset A reset session, works at the start of a year, the end of a restructure, or the point where a team has been running on fumes for eleven months.
Values-Based Leadership: Decide Values are useless as a poster and powerful as a decision rule. Knowing your non-negotiables before the moment that tests them, so the decision is already made when it arrives.
HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER
Keynote — 30 to 45 minutes Conference opener or closer, IWD event, women's network launch. Sets the tone and gives the room a shared language for the rest of the day.
Leadership Lab — 60 to 90 minutes Interactive, hands-on, frameworks people can actually use. This is the format that scored an NPS of 40 at the Women in Leadership Summit and the one participants asked to stay in longer.
Half-day or full-day program For leadership cohorts, women's development programs and offsites. Built with you. Nothing off the shelf.
Panel, MC or facilitation Panel contributor, moderator or MC for the day. I do the prep, I read the room, and I'll keep a panel honest.
In person across Australia. Online anywhere. I've keynoted a UK virtual IWD conference from Sydney and it worked.
who i work with
Organisations running International Women's Day events
Women's networks and employee resource groups
Leadership, talent and emerging leader programs
Conferences and summits
Not-for-profits and purpose-led organisations
What happens after you enquire?
I come back within two business days. We have a twenty-minute call about your audience, your theme and what you want to be different afterwards. You get a written outline before you commit to anything.
ABOUT ANDREA
There wasn't a moment. That's the first thing I tell audiences, because everyone is waiting for one.
I was a confident child who learned, in increments, which version of that was acceptable. It took thirty years and it never announced itself. It took grief,my mother, my marriage and finally the childhood I'd been walking around with, to make me stop and look back at the pattern.
Now I see it in every room I speak in. Women who couldn't tell you when they started making themselves smaller. Only that they did.
I've spent 25+ years across global brands, not-for-profits and philanthropic partnerships. I've served on the Australian National Committee for UN Women. I've launched Olympic Games campaigns, built award-winning initiatives and advised organisations on leadership development and culture change.
I also coach women through exactly this, every week. Which means what I bring to a stage isn't research from five years ago. It's what's landing on women right now, in real organisations, said to me in confidence on a Tuesday afternoon.
Most speaking about women's leadership deals with the symptoms. Confidence. Visibility. Personal brand. I'm interested in what sits underneath, the inner operating system that decides how a woman leads, what she believes she's allowed to ask for and how long she'll tolerate a system that wasn't designed with her in mind.
I'm direct and I'm warm and those aren't in tension. What I won't do is the version where everyone leaves feeling lovely and nothing changes.
I know what your audience is carrying. I know what they're not saying. I think it's time we said it out loud.
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR EVENT
Tell me the date, the format, roughly how many people and what you want to be different when they walk out. That's enough for me to tell you whether I'm the right fit.
And if I'm not, I'll say so and point you at someone who is.
andrea@limitlesswomenlead.com
+61 (0) 451 779 716