I’ve been on a mission lately. It’s a mission I took on reluctantly even though I believe strongly that it’s a very important mission: Help improve the presence of women speakers at fitness conferences. I first wrote about this problem a couple of years ago in a recap of the Perform Better Summit I had just attended. 30 presenters and 30 men. In 2012. Really?
Since then I started including openness to female speakers in my criteria for selecting what conferences I attend. My criteria is that they need to either have reasonable representation by women on the speaker panel, which I define as at least as much as the US Congress (about 20 percent), or they must have some sort of accessible process such as a call for presenters.
Recently I was interviewed for the strengthcoach podcast to talk about a couple of training topics, as well as my perspective on women speakers at seminars (You can listen to it here). On that podcast, I mentioned that I’m not looking for forced gender equity via quotas, but rather a simple request for an accessible selection process. It’s a simple solution, in my opinion. Yes, it might yield extra emails, but the upside is that it might actually introduce the seminar organizer to new and exciting presenters that they haven’t heard of (men and women). If you let anyone apply, it also makes it hard for the likes of me to suggest you’re running an old boys club.
In addition to the suggestion above, I have also been compiling a list of women in the fitness industry who are writers, speakers, and influencers. Currently there are 39 127 women on this list, which I have included below along with links to their bios. In some cases they are already speakers at events, while in others they aren’t but should be. Hopefully this list will help to connect these great women with some seminar organizers.
Note that this list is far from exhaustive. That became apparent a few years ago when I had the privilege of speaking at the first Women’s Fitness Summit. The quality of women who both spoke and attended this event was incredible, and it makes me excited to see even more great fitness presentations given by women. Bottom line: there are a lot of smart women in the fitness industry who are excellent speakers. If you are running an event with only male speakers, please consider the following comment from social entrepreneur Scott Gilmore, from Maclean’s Magazine:
“There is no topic that cannot be discussed by women. There is no circumstance that would prevent one from inviting women. There is simply no rational excuse for excluding women.
Here is my list of women in the fitness industry that would be great additions to any speaker panel:
Abby Clark
Ali Gilbert (Mens Health and hormone optimization)
Allison Tenney
Amanda Thebe
Ana Tocco
Analisa Naldi
Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt
Ann Wendel
Ariana Rabinovitch
Ariane Missimer
Artemis Scantalides
Barb Hoogenboom (physical therapist. “butt & gut”, therapeutic exercise, functional movement/biomechanical assessment)
Brenda Murdock
Brianna Battles
Dr. Brooke Kalanik
Brooke Thomas
Carmen Bott
Carolina Belmares
Dr. Cassandra Forsythe
Chrissy King
Christa Doran
Christmas Abbott
Clare Frank
Dana Santas
Dani Almeyda
Diane Lee
Diane Vives
Dr. Ellie Somers (physicla therapist. female athlete management, body image & persistent pain)
Erica Suter
Elsbeth Vaino (personal trainer. Structural variations and exercise, how to coach, motor control and exercise)
Elisabeth Akinwale
Erin Brown
Dr. Emily splichal
Geralyn Coopersmith
Georgie Fear (Registered dietician. effective nutrition counseling, weight loss and diet psychology, disordered eating)
Heba Shaheed (Physical therapist, women’s health, co-founder, The Pelvic Expert)
Holly Herman
Jamie Guined
Jamie Snow
Janet Alexander
Jen Comas
Jen sinkler
Jennifer Pilotti (personal trainer. motor control, psychology, pain science).
Jennifer Volgegesang Blake
Jess McCutcheon-Schour
Jessamyn Stanley
Jessica Shepherd (M.D., Women’s health issues)
Jessie Mundell
Jill Coleman
Jo Clubb (sport scientist)
Dr. Joan Vernikos
Dr. Joanne Elphinston
Joletta Belton
Joy Victoria
Judy Seto
Julia Ladewski
Julie Angel
Julie Wiebe
Kaitlyn Pimental (training female golfers, train according to menstrual cycles)
Kara Stewart Agostino
Karen McDowell Smith (personal trainer, instructor for trainers. Kettlebell, Bodyweight strength, programming and assessments, mindset/positivity)
Karen Goeller
Kate Solovieva
Dr. Kathy Dooley
Katy Bowman
Kellie Hart Davis
Kelly Coffey
Kirsty Godso
Kirsty Grosart
Kourtney Thomas (Personal Trainer and Online Coach. Women and hypertrophy, online coaching)
Krista Scott-Dixon
Larissa Mercado-Lopez
Lauren Perreault
Leigh Peele
Lindsay Becker
Dr. Lisa Holland
Lisa MacDdonald (Maximus)
Liz Benda
Dr. Lorena Martin (Seattle Mariners Director of high performance)
Louise Burke (sports nutrition researcher)
Lucy hendricks (Personal Trainer and LMT. Breathing and Posture, How to coach.)
Maria Mountain
Marianne Kane
Marie Spano (sports nutrition)
Marika Hart
Marjorie Brook
Marni Sumbal
MaryBeth Gangemi
Meghan Callaway (personal trainer, mastering pullups)
Meghan Doyle (personal trainer, taking the first steps to fitness with sedentary women)
Meghan Rohde
Melody schoenfeld
Meryl Alappattu
Michelle Fraser
Molly Galbraith
Mychelle Lyons
Nancy Newell
Nancy Sokol Green
Natasha Weddle
Neghar Fonooni
Nia Shanks
Nikki Metzger
Sandy Hilton (physical therapist, continence without compromise, treating pain, and overcoming aging)
Sarah Ashman (nutrition)
Sarah Cahill
Sarah Conomacos (nutrition)
Dr. Sarah Duvall
Sarah Hentges
Sarah Scozzaro
Dr. Shirley Sahrmann
Sivan Fagan
Sohee Lee
Stacey Lei Krauss
Steph Dykstra
Stephanie Case
Stephanie Karlovits
Sue Falsone (physical therapist, athletic trainer, strength coach. bridging the Gap from Rehab to Performance, alternative treatments)
Dr. Susan Kleiner
Suzanne Ko
Taylor Dunham
Tara Gibson (DPT, Pilates Instructor. Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation and Pilates Principles)
Tracy Reifkind
Tyna Moore (ND and DC, Muscle and hormones, overtraining, immune function)
Notes:
1. As this list grows, I’m trying to make it more helpful for conference organizers by including a title and 1 to 3 prefered topics, however because there are so many amazing women in fitness, it is a work in progress.
2. If you know of someone you think should be on this list, or if you think you should be on the list, please contact me with details. In addition to a name, please include a link to a website that has a bio and a method of contacting you, in the event that a conference organizer is interested. Please also include what you do (e.g. personal trainer, physical therapist, chirpractor etc), one to three topics you would present about. Pleaes keep the topic descriptions brief.
3. Yes I did include myself in the list. Some might view that as arrogant, but I think my self-inclusion is important. Let’s face it ladies, we tend to shy away from saying “pick me, pick me!“. But if we want to attend seminars with more than zero female presenters, we have to step up and say “you should pick me for this event“.
Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc., CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa Canada who has an opinion or two.
awesome, glad you got in touch.
Big yes on that suggestion!
Damn right you better put yourself on the list!
Also:
Clare Frank
Elsbeth,
I love to speak and have a lot of teaching and speaking experience, both nationally and some internationally. I don’t like to “toot my own horn” at all, but Would love to provide you with a list of topics that I often teach/speak on.
Thank you for the mention. I’m so on board with your mission and am honored to have made this list!