Finding the right speakers for women’s events is harder than it should be. Event planners for women’s leadership conferences, employee resource groups, and executive retreats all want the same thing: a woman who has actually done something extraordinary, can prove it, and can turn that experience into a message a room of female executives will still be talking about on Monday.

Deirdre Gogarty is that speaker. Before she was a women’s leadership speaker, she was Ireland’s first female world boxing champion, a fighter who trained in secret when women’s boxing was banned, moved to the United States alone to compete, and helped put women’s boxing on the map on the biggest stage in the sport. Today she brings that story, and the mindset behind it, to women’s events, corporate leadership programs, and virtual audiences around the world.

This guide covers what to look for in a speaker for a women’s event, the leadership themes Deirdre delivers, how she performs in virtual and hybrid formats, and how to book her.

What Makes a Great Speaker for Women’s Events?
Booking a speaker for a women’s event carries a higher bar than a general keynote. Your audience of women leaders has heard plenty of polished talks about “empowerment.” They respond to credibility, specificity, and a message they can use. When shortlisting speakers for women’s events, look for:

• A story that was lived, not researched. Audiences can tell the difference between someone who studied resilience and someone who had to find it.
• A message that translates to the boardroom. The best women leadership speakers connect their experience to decisions your attendees make every week: negotiating, leading through resistance, recovering from a public setback.
• Range across formats. Your speaker should be as strong on a 30-minute virtual keynote as on a ballroom stage.
• Humility and approachability. Female executives want a speaker who will stay for the Q&A, join the networking hour, and mean it.
• A verifiable track record. Championships, hall-of-fame inductions, and testimonials from leaders who have booked her before.

Deirdre checks every box, and she does it with a story that no other speaker on your shortlist can tell.

A Women’s Leadership Speaker Who Earned Every Lesson in the Ring

Deirdre Gogarty grew up in Drogheda, Ireland, when women were not simply discouraged from boxing; they were prohibited from it. No gyms would train her, no sanctioned bouts to enter, and no path forward. So she built one.

• Early 1990s: She trained in secret and won three unsanctioned bouts in Ireland and England while women’s boxing remained banned.
• 1994: With no professional opportunities at home, she moved to the United States alone to compete and train.
• 1996: She fought Christy Martin on the Tyson vs. Bruno II undercard at the MGM Grand, the first women’s bout on a major pay-per-view card. The crowd booed the fight at the opening bell and had them on their feet by the end of round one. It is widely credited with putting women’s boxing on the map.
• 1997: She won the WIBF World Featherweight title, becoming Ireland’s first female world boxing champion.
• 2015: She was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.
• 2024: A statue was unveiled in her honor in Drogheda, recognizing her role in breaking barriers for women in sport.

Legendary trainer Angelo Dundee, who worked Muhammad Ali’s corner, noted that Deirdre only got stronger as a fight went on. That is the quality she teaches: not the highlight-reel moment, but the capacity to keep advancing when the early rounds go against you.

She calls it Relentless Tenacity™, and it is the throughline of every keynote she delivers. Read Deirdre’s full story

Keynote Themes for Female Executives and Women’s Leadership Events
Deirdre is a women’s leadership speaker for female executives beyond the basics. Her keynotes are built for senior women, high-potential leaders, and the organizations investing in them. Each program is customized to your event theme, industry, and audience seniority. Signature themes include:

Fighting for a Seat: Leading When No One Opens the Door
How to build a path where none exists, earn credibility in rooms that were not designed for you, and turn resistance into fuel without losing yourself in the process. Ideal for women’s leadership conferences and executive development cohorts.

Getting Up After the Knockdown: Resilience for Women Leaders
A practical framework for recovering from public setbacks: a lost promotion, a failed launch, a reorg. Deirdre translates a fighter’s between-rounds reset into a repeatable leadership habit.

Your Corner: Building the Team That Gets You Through the Late Rounds
No champion wins alone. This keynote examines mentorship, sponsorship, and the peer network that female executives need, and how to build one deliberately rather than hoping it forms.

Rounds, Not Rushes: Sustainable High Performance
Twelve rounds are won with pacing, not adrenaline. A message on managing energy, ambition, and burnout for women carrying leadership responsibility at work and at home.

Women Speakers for Virtual Events: Built for the Screen, Not Just the Stage
The search for women speakers for virtual events usually ends in disappointment: a keynote that worked in a ballroom, delivered flat into a webcam. Deirdre approaches virtual and hybrid events as a discipline of their own.

• Broadcast-quality setup. Professional lighting, audio, and a dedicated connection from her studio in Louisiana (Central Time), with a full tech check before every event.
• Formats sized for attention spans. 20-minute virtual keynotes, 45-minute keynote plus moderated Q&A, fireside chats, and interactive breakout workshops for ERG and women’s network programming.
• Audience interaction by design. Polls, live chat prompts, and story-driven segments that keep distributed teams engaged from the first minute.
• Global scheduling. Early-morning and evening slots to reach EMEA and APAC teams for International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month, and multi-region leadership series.

For organizations running a hybrid women’s conference, Deirdre can keynote in person and deliver a follow-up virtual session for regional offices, extending your investment across the whole company.

Events and Audiences Deirdre Speaks To
Deirdre’s message travels well across industries because it focuses on leadership under pressure, not boxing. Recent and typical bookings include:

• Women’s leadership conferences and summits
• International Women’s Day (March 8) and Women’s History Month programming
• Employee resource groups and corporate women’s networks
• Executive retreats and high-potential leadership cohorts
• Sales kickoffs and franchise or multi-unit operator conventions
• Professional associations, chambers of commerce, and nonprofit galas
• Universities, athletic departments, and women-in-sport programs

Her speaking has earned endorsements from restaurant-franchise executives who have hosted her for their leadership teams, a sitting U.S. Congressman she coached, and Hall of Fame boxer Christy Martin, who shared the ring with her the night they broke women’s boxing open.

How to Book Deirdre Gogarty for Your Women’s Event
Booking is simple, and Deirdre’s team responds quickly: Speaking – Deirdre Gogarty

1. Schedule a 30-minute discovery call using the form on the Connect page, or email team@deirdregogarty.com.
2. Share your event date, audience profile, format (in-person, virtual, or hybrid), and theme.
3. Receive a customized program outline and a clear, all-inclusive quote.
4. Deirdre’s team handles the tech check, promotional assets, and pre-event alignment call, so your job is easy.