Poorna Bell
Transform workplace wellbeing and inclusive leadership with Poorna Bell, award-winning journalist, author, and mental health advocate. Poorna works with organisations like Spotify, Meta and NHS to build mental resilience strategies and create inclusive environments. Winner of The Sunday Times' Sports Performance Book of the Year award.
London, United Kingdom
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A former UK Executive Editor for HuffPost, Poorna has authored five acclaimed books, including Chase the Rainbow, Stronger (which was named Sports Performance Book of the Year by The Sunday Times), and her novels In Case of Emergency and This Is Fine. She also founded See My Strong, a platform celebrating diverse women in fitness, and serves as an ambassador for suicide prevention charity CALM.
A dynamic and insightful speaker, Poorna has delivered keynotes and hosted events for organisations including Spotify, Meta, Twitter, Ernst & Young, Moët Hennessy, and The Financial Times, as well as NHS mental health summits. Trained in presentation at RADA, she helps organisations navigate complex challenges through her keynotes on mental resilience, inclusive leadership, and authentic storytelling. Her work with Spotify, Meta, NatWest, and the NHS demonstrates her ability to translate personal insights into actionable strategies for workplace wellbeing and cultural transformation.
Audiences leave Poorna's presentations with practical tools for building mental resilience, frameworks for creating inclusive environments, and inspiration to embrace vulnerability as a leadership strength.
Book Poorna for a transformative experience that combines journalistic insight with the hard-earned wisdom of someone who has turned personal challenges into professional purpose.
Topics, Sessions And Talks
Poorna Bell draws on deeply personal experiences of loss, identity, and renewal to explore what true resilience looks like. From navigating racial intolerance after moving from India to the UK, to rebuilding her life following the death of her husband, Poorna shares how vulnerability and strength can coexist. Through her journey into powerlifting, she illustrates how finding physical strength transformed her mental and emotional wellbeing, offering powerful lessons in courage and reinvention.
Through a compelling blend of honesty and insight, Poorna Bell charts her journey from grief to empowerment. After her husband’s passing, she turned to physical strength training, discovering confidence, resilience, and a renewed sense of purpose. Her story challenges outdated perceptions of fragility and highlights the transformative impact of strength, both mental and physical, on identity and self-belief. This talk inspires audiences to embrace adversity as a catalyst for growth and authentic empowerment.
Poorna Bell examines the barriers that continue to shape women’s experiences in leadership, from internalised self-doubt to systemic inequality. Drawing from two decades in journalism and advocacy, she unpacks how women can cultivate confidence, self-advocacy, and collective support to thrive in modern workplaces. Combining practical insight with lived experience, Poorna’s engaging and candid approach encourages audiences to lead with purpose, build resilience, and redefine success on their own terms.
Poorna Bell challenges cultural narratives that confine women’s physical and emotional power. Building on themes from her award-winning book Stronger, she reveals how embracing strength, beyond appearance, can transform confidence, connection, and leadership. Her approach blends storytelling, social insight, and humour, inviting audiences to rethink the relationship between body and identity. Through her message, she encourages women to claim space, break free from limitation, and discover strength as a source of freedom and community.
Looking for a custom keynote or workshop designed around your company’s goals and culture? The expert will create a tailored, interactive session that aligns with your objectives, values, and strategic priorities. From leadership and innovation to wellbeing and collaboration, each experience is built from the ground up to deliver measurable impact and lasting change.
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Not necessarily. While the speakers listed on our website may not have worked with PepTalk in the past, they are recognized professionals in the industry and known to engage in similar events and engagements. We work with a wide variety of speaker agents and talent agencies to ensure we have the best selection of speakers, hosts, comedians and entertainers available.
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We work with speakers across a variety of fee ranges, giving you the flexibility to choose someone who fits your event's needs. Virtual keynote fees in the UK and Europe typically start at £2,000, while in-person top-tier speakers can reach £25,000. In the US, virtual in-person fees range from $5,000 to over $100,000, depending on the speaker and format, such as after-dinner talks, conference keynotes, Q&As, or podcasts. Comedians generally start at £1,500 or $2,000 for a 20-minute set.
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Partnering with PepTalk means elevating your events with our curated roster of top motivational speakers, industry experts, delivering punchy keynotes that leave a lasting impact. From talent selection, to contracts and logistics, we handle it all. We have global expert network, with over 3000 speakers from over 33 countries on our line-up.
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