About Kate Atkin
Kate is author of The Confident Manager, and The Presentation Workout and co-author of The Business of Professional Speaking.
Kate is also an accredited Strengths Profiler practitioner.
Kate’s Story
Speaking to audiences about Courage, Confidence and the Imposter, Kate Atkin inspires others to overcome their inner fears. For nearly two decades Kate covered the topics of management development, leadership and personal impact. Since completing her MSc and her research into self-efficacy and the imposter phenomenon with entrepreneurs, Kate’s new talk is being received with enthusiasm.
In her youth Kate was known for her shyness; at primary school her headmaster used her blush as an example of Bashful, one of the 7 dwarves, and during her teens she found social occasions awkward. When she was twenty three Kate’s older sister died from leukaemia. This had a profound impact on her desire to seize life and inspire others, knowing she had “played it safe” before then. Kate resigned from her job at Barclays Bank and went backpacking for a while to Australia and New Zealand, returning to the UK more confident, self-assured and composed. However, as her success grew so did her imposter feelings – finally putting a name to them during her MSc in positive psychology has enabled Kate to overcome them and she shares her tips, tricks and techniques with you.
Over the next ten years Kate honed her speaking skills through Junior Chamber International, becoming a World Debating Champion and was runner up in the European Public Speaking Competition. She has since competed as a member of Toastmasters International and was the UK and Ireland Speech Evaluation Contest Champion in 2005.
Professional Speaker
In September 2000 Kate Atkin started her own business, having been offered two days’ work. Yes, just two days – a leap of faith and good skills soon proved it to be the right decision as her client base now includes the Bank of England, the NHS and the University of Cambridge.
Internationally Kate has spoken to audiences in America, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Malta, Spain and even Outer Mongolia.
Having built her own confidence, Kate uses her experience to inspire confidence in others. She is called upon by sales executives, corporations, charities and event organisers to deliver inspiring presentations that make a real difference to people’s lives. Helping others feel confident has a direct impact on the bottom line of businesses, and helps to create a resilient, engaged and productive workforce.
Kate is passionate about her own development, as well as that of others, and has completed a masters degree in applied positive psychology; she has a research interest in the imposter phenomenon, courage and self-efficacy and is undertaking a PhD.
Kate has been quoted in the Financial Times, Oxford English Dictionary blog and written articles for several magazines. Kate is a former Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association, member of the Global Speakers’ Federation, member of the Association for Coaching and senator of Junior Chamber International UK.
For more detail about the types of courses that Kate runs, please download her Course Brochure.
“Kate’s story is an inspirational one. There appeared to be a glow of inner confidence and belief that radiated from within this gentile yet powerful lady. Appearing humble to a degree, Kate set the scene for her wonderful journey by relating personal events tied with emotions and thoughts which were delivered with poise and a pace that allowed me to pause and consider each speech element, and often relate to my own journey.”
“I can’t imagine Kate Atkin not being the most confident person around because I have seen her speak with great self-assurance several times, so the news that she does not always feel as confident as she looks was quite an eye-opener. I felt empathy, and then I realised ‘Perhaps we all have a bit of this impostor syndrome in us!'”