The woman Steven Bartlett believes “changed everything” has agreed an exclusive deal with Champions Speakers to deliver keynote addresses.
Katy Leeson spent more than half a decade working with the Dragons’ Den star, ultimately becoming managing director of Social Chain.
Praised by Steven as “exceptional”, Katy guided the company’s growth from 30 staff to over 750, with operations in 24 offices globally.
She later took over as CEO of Relentless Media, the media company founded by Gary Neville, where she managed Salford City FC’s media team and spearheaded its social media rollout.
Her career highlights also include leading the marketing behind Stick to Football and helping to launch The Overlap, now a leading UK sports series on YouTube with a successful live tour.
Her journey has firmly positioned her among the country’s top female executives.
Recognition includes LinkedIn Top Voice status in both 2019 and 2020, Campaign Female Frontier Honouree in 2020, IPA Women of Tomorrow Finalist in 2016, and a LinkedIn network of 70,000 followers.
Now, in an exciting new collaboration with Champions Speakers, the UK’s leading keynote agency, Katy will share the story of her career so far, and explain why she felt able to walk away from her dream job.
Katy said: “I’m hugely excited to be working with Champions Speakers, and starting to write a brand new chapter in my career. If I help just one person by sharing my experiences then I’ve achieved my mission.
“I hope people leave my talks feeling inspired, but also equipped with practical takeaways they can apply in their own roles. I want the message to stay with them long after the event.”
Reflecting on her time working with Steven and Gary she said: “The biggest lesson I learned from Steven and from Gary was the power of visionary leadership combined with a willingness to challenge.
“They taught me to trust my instincts, push boundaries, and always put people first. The main thing that both of them have though, is an incredible way to envisage what is next, before anyone else has a clue and I’ve tried to absorb a bit of that from both of them in how I think now. Steven has been hugely supportive, and said how interesting my career arc will be to a lot of people I will be speaking to.”
Explaining how she initiated the change which Steven so famously credited her for bringing about, Katy said: “To hear that was an incredible compliment from Steven. I’m a very good reader of people, they key for me was to hire people who fitted the values of the company. For me you can have the strongest CV but if you are going to disrupt the rest of the established team by the way you approach things I don’t want to hire you. I also focussed on building a strong, values-led culture; implementing clear communication, especially around company performance, and empowering teams to take ownership and innovate.”
Jack Hayes, the Director of Champions Speakers, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Katy into the family at Champions Speakers. She’s already one of the country’s best and most inspirational speakers and we’re looking forward to supporting her in this exciting new stage of her life and career.”
