Samantha Richards is Australia’s #1 female public speaking coach and founder of Building Voices Public Speaking. She changed her career in her forties. Samantha says, “To understand why Building Voices Public Speaking was born, I feel it’s important to know my drivers to change profession. To call my childhood difficult would be oversimplifying my experience. My life was one of displacement, violence, and a constant need to adapt to a new environment and culture when living in six countries: Malta, Iran, Africa, Cyprus, UK, and now Australia.” 

Early on in her career as a communication coach, Samantha realized that a social need exists for children to develop communication skills not fully learned during their formative years at school (outside of debate and drama). She discovered there was a practical demand in an area that should better serve our children’s needs. The need resulted in the development of the Junior Public Speaking Program, where she teaches children confident communication, builds self-esteem, encourages positive leadership, and develops essential and comprehensive life skills.

Parents and other professionals then began approaching Samantha to help them in their presentation delivery. To date, she has coached CEOs, directors, radio hosts, founders, lawyers, government employees, IT specialists, research scientists, teachers, nurses, and it won’t stop there.

Samantha will launch Building Voices Communication in 2021, directed only at adults for those who want to step out of the shadows to be the heroes in their own lives and stories, where they step into their power and are seen and positioned as an authority in their field.

As a coach, Samantha believes that by rewriting our stories, we create exciting new opportunities for ourselves, whether as a TEDx presenter, keynote speaker, when interviewed or growing our business to the next level. We shouldn’t underestimate the power of storytelling, both written and spoken.