Available to book
Ruth Penfold
Company Culture
Workplace Wellbeing
Leadership Development
Shape high-performing workplace culture and leadership with Ruth Penfold, People and Culture Strategist. Ruth works with organizations to build authentic leadership, psychological safety, and sustainable team performance. Former Chief People Officer at Shazam, Onfido, and bp Launchpad, she delivers actionable frameworks through her Women Who Lead programme.
Female Empowerment
Coach
Personal Wellbeing
Professional Development
HR
Mentor
Inclusion
Women in Business
Founder
TEDx
Executive
Ruth Penfold is a People and Culture leader who transforms how organizations approach leadership, combining two decades of experience with a methodology centred on authenticity and human connection.
As the founder of Bloom and creator of Women Who Lead, Ruth has shaped high-performing teams at technology innovators, including Shazam, Onfido, and bp Launchpad, where she served as Chief People Officer. Her work bridges corporate expertise with modern understanding of leadership psychology and somatic intelligence.
Ruth helps organizations close what she calls the "Authenticity Gap" - the disconnect between who people are and who they believe they must be at work. Her approach integrates practical leadership strategies with nervous system awareness, enabling companies to build cultures where innovation thrives through trust rather than burnout. This methodology proves particularly valuable for teams navigating rapid growth or significant change.
Audiences leave Ruth's presentations with concrete tools for creating psychological safety in high-pressure environments, practical frameworks for sustainable leadership that honour natural energy cycles, and strategies to transform authenticity from a personal value into a competitive advantage.
Book Ruth when you need a speaker who delivers not just inspiration, but actionable wisdom that transforms how your organization approaches leadership and culture.
Topics, sessions and talks
Ruth Penfold explores how to design organizations that expand without losing their soul. Drawing on her experience at high-growth companies, she unpacks how trust, safety, and self-awareness can drive innovation and performance. Through practical insights and real-world examples, she demonstrates how culture becomes a living system — one that grows with its people rather than at their expense.
In this session, Ruth Penfold reveals how understanding the body’s responses can transform leadership. She explains how stress, uncertainty, and rapid change affect the nervous system, and how leaders can cultivate calm, clarity, and connection even under pressure. With accessible somatic tools and grounded wisdom, she helps audiences rediscover balance and build workplaces that foster sustainable performance.
Ruth Penfold examines the unique pressures facing women in leadership and how societal expectations often create a disconnect between personal truth and professional identity. She shares practical strategies to close this Authenticity Gap, build self-trust, and lead without self-abandonment. Combining empathy and evidence-based insight, she empowers women to lead from wholeness, redefining success on their own terms.
Drawing on decades in fast-moving industries, Ruth Penfold explores what it means to lead adaptively in times of transition. She discusses how leaders can hold stability while embracing evolution, balancing strategy with self-awareness. Her calm yet dynamic approach helps audiences understand how authenticity, presence, and psychological safety create resilience when everything else is shifting.
Ruth Penfold delves into the foundations of thriving teams in an era of hybrid work and rapid change. She explains how psychological safety and shared ownership unlock performance and innovation. With clarity and candour, she offers leaders a roadmap to build workplaces where honesty is welcomed, collaboration deepens, and people are empowered to bring their best to the collective.
Ruth Penfold transforms organizational culture by bridging the Authenticity Gap, drawing from two decades of experience shaping high-performing teams at Shazam, Onfido, and bp Launchpad. Book Ruth to gain actionable wisdom that creates psychological safety in high-pressure environments while turning authentic leadership into your competitive advantage.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Email ruth.penfold@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Ruth's availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience.
Ruth Penfold structures her sessions around a central framework she terms the Authenticity Gap, using it as a diagnostic lens through which she presents somatic tools, nervous system awareness, and practical leadership strategies drawn from her experience at high-growth technology companies.
Ruth Penfold speaks on building human-centred cultures at scale, nervous system awareness in leadership, and the authenticity gap facing women in leadership roles. She brings two decades of People and Culture experience, having served as Chief People Officer at bp Launchpad and held senior roles at Shazam and Onfido, and is the founder of Bloom and creator of the Women Who Lead programme.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
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