Keynote Speaking
Looking for a dynamic keynote speaker who inspires action and drives lasting impact?
LaTonya Wilkins is an award-winning leadership speaker, executive coach, and the founder of Change Coaches. In a world shaped by AI, uncertainty, and growing workplace fear, LaTonya helps organizations return to what matters most: trust, empathy, and real human connection.
Through her transformative keynotes and coaching experiences, LaTonya guides leaders to rebuild trust, lead with courage, and foster psychologically safe cultures where people feel a true sense of belonging at work, no matter the change or pressure around them.
She is the author of Leading Below the Surface and host of the Leading Below the Surface Podcast. Her signature framework honors each person’s knowledge, perspectives, and experiences (KPEs) and challenges the dominant leadership standard that too often fuels disconnection and fear. Instead, she offers a people-first path to building resilient, high-performing teams in even the most complex environments.
Whether she’s working with executives, HR leaders, or emerging leaders, LaTonya brings clarity, compassion, and action to the future of leadership.
Ideal for: corporate leadership events, executive retreats, culture and talent strategy programs, and workplaces navigating change, complexity, or disconnection.
LaTonya’s Current Keynote Offerings
Leading Below the Surface™: Becoming the Type of Leader that the Future Workplace Demands
Explore how the future of work and our biggest challenges, like disconnection, burnout, and fear, require a bold new kind of leadership. In this keynote, LaTonya introduces her signature Leading Below the Surface™ approach to help leaders navigate burnout, build trust, foster psychological safety, and lead with courage and connection.
Ideal for: Leadership development programs, ERG summits, executive retreats
REAL Leadership: How to Show Up When It’s Hard to Lead
In uncertain times, your presence matters most. This keynote dives deep into LaTonya’s REAL Leadership™ framework, Relatable, Equitable, Aware, and Loyal, to help leaders build psychological safety, lead with courage, and stay grounded while taking care of themselves and their teams. We will also touch on KPE
Ideal for: Executive development programs, leadership retreats, DEIB-aligned initiatives
The Culture We All Want to Create: How to Lead with Trust, Courage, and Real Connection
This keynote is a call to move beyond surface-level belonging work and into the deeper practices that create real trust, connection, and psychological safety. LaTonya Wilkins challenges the dominant leadership standard and offers a new path forward, one rooted in empathy, shared humanity, and the courage to lead culture change from the inside out.
Ideal for: Leadership summits, HR and culture strategy events, executive and people leader retreats
Discover More with the Leading Below the Surface Podcast
The Leading Below the Surface Podcast dives into leadership development, empathy, and psychological safety in today’s diverse and dynamic workplace. Inspired by LaTonya Wilkins’ acclaimed book, the podcast provides actionable insights for navigating cultural and generational differences, fostering authentic relationships, and embracing DEIB in real-world scenarios.
Hosted by LaTonya herself, this podcast offers a deeper look into the transformative topics she explores in her keynotes and workshops. Tune in to discover how her expertise can help your organization thrive.
Listen now and explore topics that resonate with your team.
Meet LaTonya
My most valuable skill, and the one thing I often teach others, is how to build real relationships across differences.
"I demonstrate what it means to lead below the surface through relatable stories from my career, my family, and through direct experience with other below the surface leaders. We can all lead below the surface and make real change in our organizations. A few small shifts can go a long way."
LaTonya Wilkins is the award-winning founder and CEO of Change Coaches and author of Leading Below the Surface, featured in Fast Company, NPR, Inc. Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Well+Good, and taught in top MBA programs. A second edition was released in 2025, expanding her insights on emotional strength, trust, belonging, and connection in a fractured world. She works with CEOs, senior teams, and people leaders at organizations including Google, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the EPA to build cultures of trust, psychological safety, and real human connection.
As an executive coach, keynote speaker, and educator who has taught and coached at top business schools, including Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, LaTonya is known for her calm expertise and ability to help leaders access clarity, confidence, and connection, especially during organizational change, expansion, or high-pressure environments. Her work spans healthcare, higher education, technology, professional services, and mission-driven organizations.
LaTonya is also the creator of Coaching Below the Surface (CBTS) — an ICF-approved development experience for leaders and coaches ready to build deeper presence, emotional strength, and the ability to make people genuinely feel seen. In an era of growing reliance on AI, CBTS develops the human skills that matter most: the capacity to build trust, navigate complexity, and coach in a way that creates lasting transformation.
A LinkedIn Top Voice, her Leading Below the Surface podcast offers research-informed insights, stories, and conversations that help leaders lead with courage, emotional awareness, and humanity. Across her coaching practice, classrooms, stages, and podcast, LaTonya is valued for helping leaders slow down, get below the surface, and lead in ways that build healthier cultures, stronger relationships, and more meaningful results.
Are you looking to improve the quality of your conversations across differences?
Psychological safety is the most effective tool for reducing workplace stress, navigating conflict, increasing feelings of belonging, and cultivating the diverse workplaces we want to see. It is one of the most important skills for leaders to cultivate in today’s workplace. This guide includes definitions, a brief assessment, tactics, and coaching/reflection prompts.
Download it today!
As Seen In....
Leading Below the Surface with LaTonya
Most leadership advice stays on the surface. This is where we go deeper. In this newsletter space, I share thoughts on grounded leadership, executive coaching, identity, and the below the surface work that drives meaningful shifts. If you’re navigating complexity, leading through change, or trying to show up more intentionally in your work, this is a space for you. Looking forward to seeing you there. – LaTonya