Finding your voice

Embrace the power of your authentic voice to speak with confidence…

In November 2024, I was asked to deliver the Friday Lecture to the senior girls at my alma mater,
St Paul’s Girls’ School. I chose the subject “Finding Your voice.”

It has taken me over forty years to find my voice. To be able to express myself on the page and verbally in a way that I feel confident and comfortable with. While I was writing my talk for the Paulinas, I asked myself: “what is your voice?” I concluded that it is the watermark of your individual personality.

I analysed how to find your own voice, tools to enhance and strengthen your sense of self, how to trust the pauses in life and how to turn rejection into success. Through my own writing and life experience; fame, infamy, High Court trials, endless rejection and career lows –  I feel sufficiently seasoned to be able to help people navigate from crisis through to catharsis both in their mode of expression and emotional lives.

After witnessing the impact of this talk, I’m deeply inspired to help others discover their own voice, enabling them to share their stories with confidence and power.

I am an experienced public speaker. I love the Literary Festival circuit when I have a book to promote and in 2021, I spoke at the Oxford Union against the motion to abolish the British monarchy.

If you are looking for an inspiring speaker who can captivate and motivate your audience, please

“We loved your talk and hope you will come back again soon. You made some wonderful points and enlivened the narrative with perfectly judged anecdotes. The warmth of the applause said it all.”

Sarah Fletcher, High Mistress, St Paul’s

“What an incredible lecture, you were so inspiring, entertaining and honest. I really enjoyed listening to your speech and as I said, I have rarely heard such a loud, long round of applause after a Friday lecture!”

SARAH HARRISON, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT ST PAUL’S

“I just wanted to say how wonderful your talk was today – the students completely loved it and I heard the whole lunch queue full of chatter about how funny you were and then I had two hours of lessons with VII students during the afternoon who all kept referring to ‘Finding their Voice’ and about their watermark!”

CLAIRE ASHLEY, HEAD OF CAREERS, ST PAUL’S

“I am one of the St Paul’s Girls’ students that you had lunch with last Friday. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your talk (everyone says it is the best Friday lecture so far!) and how honoured I was to have lunch with you afterwards. Usually, events that we have like that are very forced and I find myself struggling to fill up silences with boring questions but our conversation as a table was quite the opposite. It was honestly so thought-provoking and enriching and generally a thoroughly good way to spend my Friday lunchtime. I loved the way you spoke about the damaging nature of ‘cancel culture’, and how you stand by your beliefs no matter what.

As my departure from St Paul’s steadily approaches, I can only hope that in forty years time (I think you said you left in ’85) I will be a fraction of the woman you are with all that you have achieved. Please come back and visit soon.”

“Use your voice to its best effect, trust yourselves, have courage, go out in the world and don’t worry if it doesn’t happen immediately – because with faith, it will.

We were incredibly lucky to have writer and alumna, Anna Pasternak, return to the school to deliver the Friday Lecture. Informed by her successful career as a writer, Anna gave an impassioned and inspirational lecture on finding your voice. Our students, including some budding journalists and editors, thoroughly enjoyed listening to her experiences and advice. A big thank you to Anna for coming back to see us!”

ST PAUL’S GIRLS ALUMNAE