Shailvi Wakhlu
Helping companies build empowered and productive teams
When companies are serious about supporting their employees, they call me. I'm the author of "Self-Advocacy", an international keynote speaker, and a data leader. I work with leaders who want to leverage self-advocacy across their teams for better business outcomes.
I work with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, professional organizations, universities, schools, conferences, non-profits, and private groups. I am open to both virtual and in-person engagements and can travel from San Francisco.
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- Professional Bio
- Speaking and Workshop Topics
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Professional Bio
Shailvi Wakhlu is an Author, International Keynote Speaker, and Technology Leader. She is the former Head of Data & Analytics at Strava and Komodo Health. Her sixteen-year data and engineering career has included companies such as Salesforce, Fitbit, and a software startup she co-founded. Shailvi’s self-advocacy expertise comes from being a practitioner at tech startups and large companies across three continents.
Wakhlu speaks on self-advocacy and data at twenty-five or more global conferences and Fortune 500 corporate events each year. She also teaches online courses on these subjects to a global audience.
Wakhlu offers individual and group coaching. She has helped hundreds of people grow their self-advocacy skills and reach important career milestones faster. She is also an investor and advisor to several high-growth startups.
Wakhlu grew up in India and studied Computer Engineering at Illinois Tech in Chicago. She loves to travel and has visited thirty-two countries. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Govind, and their sixty plants.
Back to topSpeaking and Workshop Topics
My self-advocacy sessions empower individuals, and facilitate good team dynamics while supporting business benefits.
My top sessions for self-advocacy:
Click on the topics above or scroll below to learn more details. All sessions can be customized based on the specific demographics of the group.
Please mention any relevant details about the
audience, their needs, and their interests in the speaking request intake form.
"Mastering Self-Advocacy: A Blueprint"
In the modern workplace, self-advocacy is the cornerstone of success. This session unveils a pragmatic blueprint for honing your self-advocacy prowess, delivering benefits for your personal growth. Learn about what self-advocacy skills can unlock for you, the ways to reframe limiting beliefs, and tactical ways to frame wins in a way that leads to your desired outcomes. Break free from self-doubt, seize the reins of your potential, and sculpt a future brimming with accomplishments and empowerment.
This topic is great if you want to enable high-ownership employees equipped with self-advocacy skills.
Ideal audience for this session:
- Groups of individuals who struggle with self-advocacy
- Members of minority groups eg. Women and underrepresented genders, BIPOC, LGBTQ+
- Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
- Early Career Professionals
The audience will leave with:
- An in-depth understanding of self-advocacy and its importance for career & business success
- Tools to reframe limiting beliefs around advocacy
- A framework to strategically unleash your authentic voice for your self-interest
- An actionable set of advocacy challenges to hold yourself accountable and practice your skills
"Empowering Teams: The Self-Advocacy Revolution"
Discover the keys to business triumph by empowering and aligning your workforce. In this session, I unveil a straightforward framework for bolstering self-advocacy skills within your team, promising enhanced results for your business. Explore the transformative potential of normalizing self-advocacy, cultivate a resilient team dynamic, and proactively mitigate business risks while gaining profound insights into your team's motivations. Unleash your organization's full potential by fostering enhanced psychological safety, and witness the substantial benefits it bestows upon your business output.
This topic is great if you want to build psychologically safe & high advocacy cultures.
Ideal audience for this session:
- Members of the C-suite
- Senior leaders, department heads, and managers
- Business leaders, team leaders, and technology leaders
- Employee Resource Group (ERG) leads or leads of other interest groups
The audience will leave with:
- An in-depth understanding of self-advocacy and why teams that hone that skill succeed
- Tools to understand and reframe the challenges your team faces in advocating for themselves
- A framework to create personalized blueprints that can help individuals unleash their authentic voice
- An actionable execution plan for you as well as your team
- Accountability and success measurement tactics
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Prior Clients and Testimonials
I've had the privilege of working with some amazing organizations. Click here for a full list of prior speaking engagements.
Prior Clients
Client testimonials
- "Self-advocacy is a topic that is not openly discussed and it should be. And I'm glad that we have experts like Shailvi to walk us through it. Shailvi was able to communicate her points very clearly and the examples cited were relatable. The steps were also assertive but realistic at the same time. I'd definitely love to know more about this topic because of her talk." ~ LTP
- "It was eye opening and something I needed to hear at this point. The flow in content was just perfect and it was so impactful. It’s so easy to put ourselves down specially for people who need constant external validation but this talk is motivating to take that extra step and get out of comfort zone" ~ Ritika
- "I loved listening to you speak on self-advocacy. More women should speak up for themselves and their accomplishments" ~ Sandra H
- "Thanks for your awesome talk. I learnt a lot and thanks for sharing the framework too" ~ Seema S
- "I LOVED your talk, especially the humble brags and advocating for myself" ~ Carissa Y
- "I appreciate your resources and the direct actions instead of just providing hypothetical solutions" ~ Shannon M
- "I really found your speech insightful and I do really like your approach" ~ Christine D
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