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    Penguin Connect

    Inspiring personal and professional growth

We connect businesses with world class authors and ideas that make a difference.

From standalone workshops, to keynote speeches or curated programmes, our events stimulate ideas, generate growth and spark creative thinking at the heart of business.

Authors at Penguin Connect Events

"Phenomenal. They have been brilliant at helping us develop an event programme that ties in with our values and culture."

Olivia McMonagle, Facebook 

Our experts include

Afua Hirsch

Afua Hirsch is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. She is a columnist for the Guardian, and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and CNN. Brit(ish) is her first book and was awarded a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction.

Afua Hirsch

Francesca Martinez

Multi-award-winning Francesca Martinez is the first and only woman to win the Open Mic Award at the Edinburgh Festival, and has since become one of the top comedians of her generation. As well as touring internationally with sell-out runs around the world, Francesca is a TV and radio regular, making popular appearances on such varied programmes as The News Quiz, Russell Howard's Good News, The Jonathan Ross Show, The Frank Skinner Show, Ricky Gervais's Extras (in a role written specially for her), Newsnight, This Week, Free Speech (where she was voted most popular guest) and Channel 4 News. Currently, Francesca is in the middle of a 55-date UK/Ireland tour of her award-winning show, also called 'WHAT THE **** IS NORMAL?!', which has just been nominated for Best Show at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival 2013 - the UK's largest comedy festival.

Francesca Martinez

Humza Arshad

Humza Arshad is the first British YouTuber to have his own scripted comedy series on BBC Three in the mockumentary series Coconut. Since accumulating over ninety million views on his channel Humza has used his influence and comedy for a greater purpose. In 2015, Humza performed at one hundred and twenty schools using comedy to prevent at risk teens of becoming radicalised. He is currently an ambassador for YouTube's Creators For Change campaign.

Humza Arshad

James O'Brien

James O'Brien is a writer and radio broadcaster. His journalism has appeared everywhere from the TLS to the Daily Mirror. He has presented BBC Two’s Newsnight and his own daytime talk show O’Brien on ITV. His daily current affairs phone-in show on LBC has 1.2 million weekly listeners. His last book, How to be Right, was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

James O'Brien

Mary Portas

Mary Portas (Author, Reader) Known to the nation as Mary, Queen of Shops, from her Award winning series for the BBC Mary Portas has made an indelible mark on British retail. Starting her career with Harrods and then Top Shop she made her name as the Creative Director of Harvey Nichols, transforming the department store into London’s sexiest fashion destination. She has written columns for most national media on retail and consumerism, published two books, advised Government on the future of High Streets, launched her own fashion label, as well as kickstarting the return of British manufacturing with her brand Kinky Knickers. Her proudest achievement to date, she says, is the creation of Mary’s Living and Giving shops for Save The Children. Currently the most profitable charity shops in the UK, she has so far opened 25 and has raised over £13 million and counting. All of this is fuelled by the talent and expertise of the people of Portas, her agency based in London. Working on an international level, the business advises clients from every continent, covering every sector of the industry, from mass market brands to high-end luxury, across fashion, beauty, hotels, airports, Malls and Real Estate Place-making. Distinguished by an unrelenting focus on people and the cultural influences that shape their lives, Mary and her diverse team of strategists, designers and creatives have built made to-measure concepts that marry the key tenets of intelligence, instinct and insight. Westfield, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes, Gap, Liberty, L’Oreal, Sainsburys, Estée Lauder to name but a few have all had the Portas magic. Portas believe that understanding today’s fluid consumers is at the heart of great selling and shopping. That and a bloody great dollop of intuition, creativity, vision and risk. Otherwise, why bother?

Mary Portas

Rangan Chatterjee

Dr Rangan Chatterjee is regarded as one of the most influential doctors in the UK. A practising GP for the last two decades and resident BBC Breakfast doctor, Dr Chatterjee wants to inspire people to transform their health through making small, sustainable changes to their lifestyles. Leading the charge on how healthcare and medicine is understood in the UK, Dr Chatterjee most recently co-created a lifestyle medicine course with the Royal College of GPs, that has now been delivered to over 400 GPs and health care professionals. Host of the No. 1 iTunes podcast, Feel Better, Live More, and presenter of BBC 1's Doctor in the House, Dr Chatterjee is the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books and his TED talk, How to Make Diseases Disappear, has now been viewed over 1.8 million times. Dr Chatterjee lives in Wilmslow, Manchester, with his wife and two children.

Rangan Chatterjee

Sam Conniff Allende

Sam Conniff Allende is the founder and former CEO of Livity, a multi-award-winning youth marketing agency. Sam has led the unlikeliest collaborations between brands and bright young people on the edges of society, resulting in real innovation. He has worked with Google, Unilever, PlayStation and Dyson, and regularly speaks and runs Be More Pirate workshops at these industry-leading companies. Sam believes in the power of professional rule-breaking and is on a mission to instigate modern mutinies in organisations around the world, where the team's takeover the running of the ship to ultimately become more accountable, motivated and rebellious.

Sam Conniff Allende

Sara Milne Rowe

Sara Milne Rowe is one of the UK's leading performance coaches, having founded Coaching Impact in 2004. She works alongside senior leaders, teams and individuals within creative and media industriesm education, fast track start-ups, not for profit organisations and in support of female entrepreneurs. This powerful book introduces the unique method that Milne Rowe uses with her clients to help them manage their minds and reach their full potential.

Sara Milne Rowe

"It’s always a massive pleasure working with the Penguin Connect team – they make collaboration easy and they make life more interesting – and more fun!"

Madlena Pozlevic, Perkbox

Meet the Head of Penguin Connect

Jonathan Phillips

Head of Penguin Connect

Get in touch to find out how our events can make a difference to your business.

Email: JPhillips@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

Telephone: +44 (0) 208 231 6412

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More from our experts

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Mary Portas on creating an unstoppable force for change in the workplace
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David Wallace-Wells on climate change
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Dr Rangan Chatterjee on how to live a long and healthy life

What we're reading

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