Available to book
Jennifer Willey
Jennifer Willey helps leaders and teams navigate change, overcome self-doubt, and act with courage. A resilience and leadership development speaker, she is founder of Wet Cement, author of Fearless in 5, and a Certified Speaking Professional.
Jennifer Willey is the founder and CEO of Wet Cement, a leadership development firm, and author of Fearless in 5. She helps leaders and teams navigate change, overcome self-doubt, communicate with impact, and take courageous action.
Jennifer spent more than 20 years leading commercial teams at Yahoo, AOL, and The Trade Desk, after an earlier career as a TV news anchor for ABC and CBS affiliates. A Certified Speaking Professional, she has run programs for Samsung, Nissan, Paramount, Genentech, and Walmart.
Her Fearless Fundamentals framework draws on Wet Cement's Fearless@Work Survey and a career that changed direction 14 times, from child actor and the youngest certified fitness instructor in the US to media executive. Jennifer pairs that research with practical tools, so organizations can keep running the framework internally after the keynote ends.
Audiences leave with methods for deciding and acting before conditions feel settled, including as AI reshapes roles. Leaders gain a framework for building psychological safety through repeated restructures, and teams learn to recognize impostor patterns that cause people to withhold ideas and pass up leadership opportunities.
For organizations navigating transformation or developing leaders, Jennifer offers a keynote backed by a program and a book, so the shared vocabulary lasts well beyond the event.
Topics, sessions and talks
Jennifer Willey argues confidence and adaptability are skills, and she makes the case from a career that kept changing direction: child actor on a 1980s television show, the youngest certified fitness instructor in the US, TV news anchor, IT management consultant, and tech and media executive. Combining research, humor, and stories from those pivots, she shows what fear costs when people stay silent and leaves audiences with ways to act before conditions feel settled, including as AI reshapes roles.
Gartner research finds 74% of employees report lower engagement and productivity when they go through change without support. Built for people leaders, from new managers to executives, this session shows how fear surfaces in a team as fight, flight, fawn, or freeze, and what each looks like in performance terms. Leaders leave with a repeatable five-part framework for building psychological safety and practical ways to use generative AI for change messaging and restructure decisions.
Wet Cement research found 98% of professionals report some aspect of impostor syndrome, and the cost shows up in withheld ideas and passed-up leadership opportunities. Jennifer unpacks what triggers impostor patterns at work and offers tools for reframing limiting beliefs and asking for help without losing standing. Available for all employees, with a manager version, the session closes with ways to use AI to build confidence without outsourcing judgment or voice.
Center for Talent Innovation research finds people with strong networks of mentors, sponsors, and advocates are 23% more likely to advance. Jennifer guides participants through which relationship types do which work, from sponsors and mentors to peers, allies, and protégés, and where their own network is thin. Participants practice conversation openers for approaching a potential sponsor and leave with named prospective board members and a plan for approaching each one.
Many teams use AI as little more than an expensive search engine. This hands-on workshop puts it to work across the Fearless Fundamentals, with prompts for communicating more assertively, advocating for an idea, and working through a complex problem. Jennifer also covers using AI to prioritize, cut low-value work, and reduce burnout, along with safe handling of proprietary information. Participants practice inside their own workflow rather than on generic examples, leaving with prompts built for their actual work.
Jennifer Willey led commercial teams at Yahoo, AOL, and The Trade Desk before founding Wet Cement, which has run leadership programs for Samsung, Paramount, and Genentech. That pairing of business experience and active program delivery means her keynote can lead straight into the training that makes it stick.
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frequently asked questions
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Jennifer Willey pairs Wet Cement research with humor and stories from her own career pivots, then moves audiences into practical tools, often following a keynote with an interactive workshop so the ideas are applied in the room.
Jennifer Willey specializes in resilience and reinvention, leading through change, impostor patterns and confidence, building a personal board of directors, and generative AI for productivity. She is the founder of Wet Cement, author of Fearless in 5, and a Certified Speaking Professional, a designation held by fewer than 12% of National Speakers Association members.
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