Julia Streets, CEO and Founder of Streets Consulting, Founder of DiverCity® Podcast
When I’m on stage I often open by explaining that I have quite a weird mashed up life.
By day I’m an entrepreneur, the proud founder & CEO of a business development, marketing and communications consultancy called Streets Consulting. My team and I spend every day working with clients ranging from early stage startups to some of the world’s largest organisations, helping them explain what they offer, why it matters, and devising and executing strategies and campaigns to drive growth. In addition, I’m also a stand up comedian and have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and a wide variety of comedy clubs and festivals. Drawing on these skills, I’m regularly invited to speak at, host or MC industry and corporate events around the world. Chances are, we may even have met at one of the amazing WeAreTheCity events and awards ceremonies.
I am fascinated by the subject of talent. Everyone is talking about how talent is changing and as the host “DiverCity® Podcast”, discussing equality, diversity and inclusion in financial services, we explore what we need today and tomorrow and how our approach to attracting, hiring and retaining talent must shift. Now well into our fourth series, I’ve had the great joy of interviewing many industry experts, including Vanessa, who was a guest on one of our very first episodes.
Guests talk about the need to help rising executives find their voices and build their confidence to step into the spotlight, which also inspires future generations of diverse talent. After all, “if you can see it, you can be it”. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that at conferences too many people to ignore ask whether I can teach comedy skills because they want their teams to build confidence and communication skills, or because they want to invest in themselves. And what gives me even greater hope is that there is most certainly a demand to see greater diversity on stages, as events that continue to field male-only panels are being publicly called out, particularly on social media.
For some time as part of our support in helping businesses tell their stories, we’ve been working with a variety of coaches to provide speech writing, 1-2-1 presentation support, executive coaching and mentoring. Now we have extended that offer to launch a new programme, “ Executive Shine”, in partnership with an award-winning stand up comedian and corporate coach, Lara A King, who has years of experience coaching executives in large global organisations.
The programme has been crafted with a deep and real understanding of business dynamics, a full appreciation of the impact that effective communication delivers at both a corporate and individual level, and the value that comedy, acting and communications techniques can offer.
Introducing Executive Shine – Helping Talent Discover Its Shine
Executive Shine is a series of workshops designed to improve communication skills and build confidence in many different business scenarios, from pitches, panels and presentations to boardrooms, meetings and calls.
It’s all about getting heard and delivering your message in the most compelling way, so that you have your intended impact every time you speak, whether in a meeting, on the phone or on a stage. Highly effective communication incorporates many different elements, both verbal and non-verbal, including: body language and gesturing; posture, presence and energy; pace and tone of voice, eye contact and breathing. What you say is important, but how you say it has so much more impact.
As with the launch of every new product, we put the modules through their paces and tested Executive Shine with Innovate Finance, one of the most important and influential industry bodies in the financial services industry. To say we were delighted by the feedback is an understatement. It exceeded all our expectations in terms of demand, structure and also post-workshop impact. We wanted to make this appealing for individuals who want to invest in their own skills, industry groups who want to support their members and organisations keen to support, align and encourage communication within their teams. It’s not only effective, but also a very fun and bonding experience.
CEO Charlotte Crosswell was thrilled with the results and this is what she had to say. “At Innovate Finance, we are keen to see a reflection of our diverse FinTech community in the public eye, on panels and on stages. For this reason, we were delighted to partner with Streets Consulting to trial their Executive Shine training programme as part of our ‘Women in FinTech’ initiative. We have had phenomenal feedback from all of our members who participated and would absolutely encourage ambitious executives to invest in themselves.“
We are delighted to invite WeAreTheCity members to take the opportunity to participate in the first public workshop at a special introductory rate. The workshop will be held at a City of London venue on Wednesday 8th May. To make sure that delegates get the most from the sessions, the workshops are designed for small groups, so places are limited and already filling up fast. We would love to see you there and help you find your shine!
Join us for Module One at a special introductory rate of just £99
For more information about the programme and modules, visit:
http://www.streetsconsulting.com/executiveshine/
About the author
Julia Streets, CEO and Founder of Streets Consulting, Founder of DiverCity® Podcast.
Julia Streets is a champion of fintech entrepreneurship, innovation and the value of diversity.
In 2007, she incorporated her business Streets Consulting, the business development, marketing and communications consultancy. Since then she and her team have advised a wide range of firms in the world of capital markets, B2B and payments, and offering specialist technology including blockchain, artificial intelligence, cyber and more.
Prior to founding Streets Consulting in 2008, Julia was global head of communications at NYSE Technologies, serving on the Executive Committee and European head of marketing and sales development at Instinet.
In 2017 Julia launched a podcast series ‘DiverCity Podcast’. On each episode, industry luminaries shine a light on progress, call out areas requiring further focus and offer insights and best practice to help listeners drive change. (www.divercitypodcast.com // @DiverCitypod)
Brummell Magazine, known as the ‘City’s little black book’, has recognised Julia a number of times – last year as one of their 30 Inspirational Women Influencers, in 2014 as one of 30 Inspirational Women Entrepreneurs and in 2013, one of 30 Inspirational Women on Boards. She is one of SWIFT’s Global Power Women in FinTech and been listed in Innovate Finance’s Women in FinTech Power List for many years. In 2018, Julia was a finalist at the Variety ‘Catherine Awards’; for inspirational women.
Julia is the author of ‘The Lingua Franca of the Corporate Banker’, lampooning corporate jargon. She is called upon to host and MC many public events, is an after-dinner speaker, and stand-up comedian. She is BBC Radio Kent’s ‘Kindness Champion’, making regular appearances Dominic King’s evening show.
Julia is proud to serve as a trustee of the charity ‘Street Child’ and is a Fellow of the British American Project, the transatlantic leadership fellowship.
