A Keynote on LIGHTER - Reclaiming Intelligence in a Performance Culture

Ingrid provides talks and keynotes in two areas:

 
1. The Second Act Siren: Aliveness as Strategy

2. LIGHTER: Reclaiming Intelligence in a Performance Culture

SECOND ACT SIREN

Aliveness as Strategy

In performance-driven cultures, many high-capacity women don’t burn out.

They dim.

Not from lack of ambition.
Not from lack of competence.

But from accumulated self-monitoring.

Second Act Siren explores what happens when that internal surveillance drops — and aliveness returns as a strategic asset.

At 53, after a long career in corporate account management, I stepped onto film sets alongside Colin Salmon and Seann Walsh with no formal training. Within five years, I secured credits including the BBC’s Michael McIntyre's Big Show.

The shift wasn’t hustle.
It wasn’t reinvention theatre.

It was presence.

This keynote reframes midlife not as decline, but as a powerful recalibration point — where experience meets reduced tolerance for internal friction.

Because often, it isn’t confidence that’s missing.

It’s bandwidth.
And with it, aliveness.

Why This Work Is Credible

Before acting, I built a long career in corporate account management and entrepreneurship.

I understand professional environments where perception, hierarchy and performance metrics shape behaviour long before talent is questioned.

As a Black British woman navigating corporate systems, creative industries, and advocating within educational structures for my son in the face of low expectation, I have experienced how subtle ceilings alter behaviour.

I also understand what happens when they don’t.

Transitioning into acting in my fifties - without drama school or industry connections - was not a confidence experiment. It was a bandwidth experiment.

When self-monitoring reduced, capacity expanded.

The results were visible.

But the mechanism was internal.

Why Organisations Invite This Conversation Now

Organisations are currently navigating:

• Retention challenges among experienced women
• Leadership fatigue masked as professionalism
• Visibility hesitancy in high-stakes roles
• Senior women plateauing despite capability
• Talent pipelines narrowing at midlife

Second Act Siren addresses a pattern rarely named:

Women often reach peak competence at the same time cultural messaging subtly suggests contraction.

The result?

Self-editing increases.
Risk appetite narrows.
Energy flattens.

This keynote offers a different narrative:

Midlife is not a liability.
It is a leverage point.

When internal friction reduces, senior women become clearer, more decisive, more creatively expansive - not less.

Aliveness is not indulgence.

It is strategic energy.

What Happens in the Room

This is not a motivational rally.

It is a reorientation.

Audiences describe the experience as:

• Energising without hype
• Grounded and disarming
• Intellectually affirming
• Permission-giving without being sentimental

There is space for reflection - but no forced vulnerability.

There is candour - but no performance of empowerment.

The room shifts subtly from effort to presence.

And often, what follows is not emotional catharsis.

It is relief.

Because many women realise they were never underqualified.

They were over-monitoring.

LIGHTER

Reclaiming Intelligence in a Performance Culture

What if 80% of your intelligence wasn’t missing -
but busy checking whether you were acceptable?

In modern organisations, performance culture doesn’t just exhaust people.
It quietly consumes bandwidth.

When professionals constantly self-monitor - tone, expression, perception, risk - cognitive capacity fragments. Not because they lack confidence or competence, but because attention is being diverted inward.

Decision-making slows.
Creativity narrows.
Candour vanishes.
Aliveness disappears. 

LIGHTER reframes performance pressure as a bandwidth problem, not a confidence problem.

Reduce self-monitoring - and intelligence returns.

The Keynote

LIGHTER: Reclaiming Intelligence in a Performance Culture

Most keynotes teach people how to perform better.

This one asks a more uncomfortable question:
What is performance culture costing your organisation?

Drawing on lived experience across corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, broadcasting and professional acting, this keynote introduces a clear framework for reducing the hidden cognitive load of self-monitoring - without lowering standards or ambition.

Audiences leave with:

• A precise understanding of how self-monitoring drains cognitive bandwidth
• Insight into why capable people overthink under scrutiny
• Language to identify performance pressure in teams and leadership
• Simple behavioural shifts that restore clarity, judgement and candour

This is not confidence training.
It is cognitive liberation.

Why This Work Is Credible

At 53, I went from corporate account management and entrepreneurship to actor, stepping onto film sets alongside Colin Salmon and Seann Walsh with no formal training.

My secret wasn’t a masterclass or a five-year plan.
It was simply not overthinking it.

In my fifties, as a single mother, I left a long career in corporate account management to pursue acting. No drama school. No industry connections. No safety net.

What I did have was presence - and a refusal to accept that my most alive work was behind me.

Five years later, I’m a working actor with credits including BBC’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show and film projects alongside Colin Salmon and Seann Walsh.

This isn’t just a career pivot story.

It is proof that when self-monitoring drops, capacity expands.

Because often, it isn’t talent that’s missing.
It’s bandwidth.

Why Organisations Invite This Conversation Now

Modern workplaces are experiencing:

• Decision fatigue at senior levels
• Innovation slowed by reputational caution
• Burnout disguised as commitment
• Groupthink reinforced by politeness
• Psychological safety discussed but rarely embodied

The issue is not motivation or skill.

It is the internal cost of constant self-editing.

As a Black British woman who has navigated corporate systems, entrepreneurship, creative industries - and advocated for academic access for my son in the face of low institutional expectation - I understand how unspoken ceilings alter behaviour long before performance metrics change.

LIGHTER gives leaders a way to address this systemically, not sentimentally.

What Happens in the Room

This is not a high-energy performance.
It is a recalibration.

Audiences describe the experience as:

• Quietly powerful
• Grounded and disarming
• Intellectually relieving
• Immediately applicable

Where appropriate, the keynote may open with a short ritual pause - a deliberate transition from urgency into attention - allowing people to feel the shift rather than just understand it.

No forced participation.
No performative vulnerability.
Just space for clarity to return.

Ideal Audiences

• Executive and senior leadership teams
• Women in leadership and visibility roles
• Creative and media organisations
• Founder and entrepreneurial communities
• Organisations navigating growth, change or scrutiny

Especially effective for roles where visibility, judgement and consequence are high.

Formats

• 45–60 minute keynote
• Keynote + moderated Q&A
• Conference panels
• Executive roundtables
• Leadership offsites

UK and international bookings available.

What Audiences Say about Ingrid

Booking Enquiries

For availability, fees and speaking briefs:

Ingrid Marsh@btinternet.com
Or contact me using the form below

Book Ingrid for your event

📍 UK & International