Guests will be inspired and motivated as a lineup of speakers delve into their own personal stories highlighting the power of transformation as organisers behind the US-based SPEAK series of pop-up events bring their unique format across international waters for the first time at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on Thursday 5th October.
Belfast’s SPEAK: Transformation event will feature a line-up of unique and diverse speakers, all with varying relationships to Northern Ireland, with each three-part talk including a moment of truth, a moment of transformation, and a moment of impact.
Commenting on the arrival of their format to Northern Ireland SPEAK Co-founder and event organiser George Andriopoulos, a New York-based entrepreneur, said, “The team at SPEAK are so excited to be crossing the pond for our first international pop-up event following our initial roll-out of 7 pop-up events held across the United States over the past year. We have worked closely with local speakers on-the-ground to ensure that this event is delivered with unique local flavour, highlighting the broad and diverse experiences of speakers in Northern Ireland and speakers are empowered to tell their stories on their own terms.”
The line-up has been curated and speakers who reflect the wide range of lived experiences of those in Northern Ireland invited to take part. Confirmed to take the stage are: Ashleigh Averell, Managing Director of brand manufacturer Ibrand and parenting advocate; Parenting and Teen Coach and Author Cai Graham; Dave Thompson, Integrated Education Advocate and Researcher and Facilitator at Confluence Facilitation; Kristen Donnelly, Empathy Educator, Author and Founder of Philadelphia-based Abbey Research; Louise McCabe, an England-based Tech Start Co-Founder turned advocate against workplace discrimination and MD of Angel Accounting; Mairead Loughran, a mental health nurse and Director of Voicing the Void, a social enterprise which seeks to empower and enable those from marginalised corners of society to have a voice; Marc Mulholland, a creative director and producer, sports management executive, basketball advocate and current Vice Chair of Basketball Northern Ireland; and Pragya Sharma, Medical Biochemist and founder of Gran Lab, a Green-MedTech venture that specialises in making steroid-free, colour-inclusive formulations to treat skin conditions.
Commenting on the varied backgrounds of the events speakers event co-producer Dr Kristen Donnelly added, “When developing the line-up for this event, we were conscious of the stereotypes that tend to come along with events of this nature in Northern Ireland. We consciously chose to step away from politics and instead focus on speakers who had universal experiences and truths to share. Whilst our line-up and event is hyper-local by nature, the themes and stories they will share are truly universal and we look forward to sharing them with the audience at the Empire on the night as well as a global audience online.”
Commenting on how the event aligned with their own brand Brittany Breslin, Director at Impact Communications said, “We are proud to support this event which will bring together an inspiring and engaging lineup of speakers who will all dig deep to tell their stories of transformation. Storytelling is at the heart of the work we do at Impact Communications and we are delighted to be supporting these brave speakers as they share their own stories on-stage at the Empire.”
SPEAK: Transformation will take place at Belfast’s Empire Music Call on Thursday 5th October from 7pm – 10pm. Tickets are £20 (£10 concession) and can be purchased via Eventbrite here.
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