Bodacious Mary Foley believes that successful careers don’t just happen — they are engineered. That’s why she has combined her engineering education, passion for inspiring professional women, and two decades of live program experience to help women create the careers they really want.

Foley began sharing career advice after her 10-year career at AOL — when AOL was cool — where she started as an $8-an-hour customer service rep and rose to become the company’s first head of corporate training.

Known for her uncommon insights, candor, and humor, Foley is the author of three books, including “Bodacious! Career: Outrageous Success for Working Women”; a featured blogger on WorkingMother.com; and the former co-host of the “Girlfriend We Gotta Talk” radio show.

As a facilitator and speaker, she energizes women with practical advice to increase their confidence, expand their influence, and thrive on change. Regardless of her engineering background, no matter what Foley’s doing, she absolutely refuses to wear a pocket protector.

In a surprising turn of events, Foley appeared on the cover of “Kiplinger’s Personal Finance” magazine and was spoofed on the E! Entertaining TV show “The Soup.” She will tell you how that happened over a glass of wine!

What People Are Saying About Mary Foley

• “Your practical nature and on-the-go style will prove useful as women move beyond your session.” — Dr. Nakeina Douglas-Glenn, Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, VCU

• “You were fantastic! Inspiring, right-on-target message, plus fun!” — Vicky Carr, Lockheed Martin Women’s Network

• “Mary combined motivation with just plain smarts!” — Genworth Financial employee

• “Mary’s warmth and generous spirit fostered feelings of trust and comfort. She’s a fabulous facilitator!” — Debbie Fisher, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond

• “I got the adrenaline shot of courage that I had long been searching for.” — Leizel Parks, Booz Allen Hamilton

• “Mary is a true pro at creating a fun and engaging experience that allows others to shine and ideas to flow!” — Marci Shimoff, New York Times bestselling author

Mary’s Speaking Topics

Keys to Being a Confident, Courageous, Career-Savvy Woman: An energizing, practical keynote that’s perfect for conferences and business events.

As today’s busy business woman, you are experiencing tough challenges — increased workplace tension, more demanding clients, reduced budgets, and more. Cliche advice such as “work smarter, not harder” doesn’t cut it. Today you have to work hard and smart. You have to have career-savvy.

In this honest, energizing presentation, you will learn critical skills to boost your career-savvy and become a more powerful asset to your team, company, and clients, including:

• What real confidence is — and isn’t — that will free you up and immediately instill new belief in yourself
• Three types of people you should know to advance your career or business
• Four behaviors that instantly create connection when you first meet someone
• Why thinking more strategically is critical to advancing your career, and how to do more of it
• The “secret sauce” to getting comfortable talking about yourself and marketing your value
• The key to thriving on change in your workplace or business
• Why people really play power games and how not be played yourself
• An easy way to lighten up in the midst of workplace stress and stay productive

What it Takes to Being Seen as an Invaluable, Effective Woman Leader: An energizing, practical keynote or a highly interactive breakout session/mini-workshop that’s perfect for conferences and corporate events

Between reduced resources, nagging uncertainty, and pressures to produce results, today’s managers are facing tough challenges. Now more than ever, what do you need to do to be seen as an invaluable, effective woman leader?This session will share impactful strategies to make yourself invaluable to your company, create more productive teams, and powerfully interact with other organizational leaders, including your boss.

In this lively presentation, you will learn:

• The key to producing results that most leaders miss
• Three specific strategies to help your team successfully move through organizational change
• A series of questions that will immediately increase your strategic thinking and positive impact on any project or initiative
• Why people really play power games and one simple thing you can do to dramatically reduce their impact
• The essential ingredients to authentically influence others to care about your team, project, or initiative
• One deliberate action that has a huge impact on building key relationships — that most leaders never do

Secrets to Thriving on Change in Stressful Times: An energizing, practical keynote or a highly interactive breakout session/mini-workshop that’s perfect for conferences and corporate events.

Constant change as today’s norm is oh-so-fun in organizations with increased workplace tension, more demanding clients, reduced budgets, fewer opportunities for professional development, and more. A natural reaction is to hunker down and withdraw. But that’s the opposite of what successful people do! Successful businesswomen embrace change, seek new people and fresh ways of doing things, and actively support one another.

In this highly energetic, interactive session, you will learn:

• Four secrets of successful businesswomen in tough times
• The fundamental choice everyone must make when responding to change
• Fail-proof evidence that you are already resilient in the face of change
• The new and improved definition of failure that won’t let you down
• The #1 motivation-killer during times of change, and how to avoid it

Increasing Busy Women’s Sanity, Confidence, and Fun — Even in Nail-Biting Times: Perfect when you want an energetic, fun-filled presentation to inspire and motivate busy women.

In today’s nail-biting times, it’s easy to let stress, fear, and frustration affect your sanity and success. Stop biting your nails and start living like your nail color. Mary Foley, author of the Amazon best-seller “Live Like Your Nail Color, Even If You Have Naked Nails,” says living like your nail color may sound like a fluffy, female, feel-good phrase, but it’s so much more than making your nails look pretty.

In this fun-filled, motivating presentation you will learn:

• How trying new nail colors — from mild to wild — can increase your confidence in taking risks and navigating change
• That just as a “base coat” provides a foundation for healthy, happy nails, clarity about what you want is the foundation for personal and professional success
• How a “top coat” of positivity keeps gratitude and laughter top of mind so you can stay energized, even when “chip happens”
• How having naked nails can remind you of your true, authentic self
• Foley can even create a special signature nail polish for your event

Above-and-Beyond Panels: Conversations on Career Confidence

Forget boring panels! This is a facilitated conversation on the new generation of panels … ones that are engaging, interactive, and include everyone in the room. Panels are popular but chock-full of challenges — dominating panelists, lackluster moderators, and little or no audience interaction.

Utilizing her “Girlfriend We Gotta Talk” radio show hosting and group facilitation skills, Foley goes waaaaay beyond a moderated panel to create a “Conversation on Career Confidence” that includes special guests as well as everyone in the room. The result is an engaging, interactive, inclusive conversation women love.

The topic of confidence has wide appeal because even though it’s easy to recognize a confident, successful woman, it’s not so easy to understand what it took for her to get there. But that is precisely what every aspiring woman wants to know!

Using her upbeat, engaging interviewing style, Foley will uncover the success strategies of your top female performers, industry leaders, or corporate executives. Then, she will extend the conversation to everyone in the room using directed table-talk conversations, “snapshots of success” stories, “hot seat” Q&As, and more.

Let’s “Netconnect”: The Fun, Simple Way to Create Meaningful Connections: A fun, energizing, structured networking session that’s effective at the beginning, middle, or end of an event.

Even though one of the top reasons women attend live events is to network, most don’t get what they came for because they feel awkward meeting new people. Foley’s structured “netconnecting” experience solves this problem by taking the work out of networking and making it easy, comfortable, and fun!

In this facilitated networking session, Foley will:

• Share her simple, but effective, three-part approach to taking the work out of networking and “net” several great connections
• Lead the group into test-driving these strategies for at least two rounds of conversation and connection
• Wrap-up the session with a group debrief, offering everyone an opportunity to share something interesting or unique about a person they met and/or what the networking experience felt like
• Hold this structured networking session near the beginning, part way through, or at the end. Near the beginning of the event, this session taps into people’s curiosity to know who is in the room, and it can set the tone to keep meeting new people. Part way the event is a great strategy when you need a group energy boost, such as shortly after a meal or mid-afternoon slump. Scheduling it at the end of your event can be a fun way to wrap things up.

To book Mary Foley for your next keynote, conference, or workshop panel, send us an email.