Keynote Speaker & Workshop Facilitator
Christina Metcalf
For the woman who has done everything right — and still feels like something is terribly wrong. Christina speaks to the overlooked burnout of high-achieving women who’ve quietly lost themselves in the pursuit of excellence.
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Author · Speaker · Advocate for women reclaiming their own lives
Author of The Glinda Principle and When Great No Longer Feels Good
About
She’s been in the room — and she knows what it costs.
Christina Metcalf writes and speaks for the overachieving woman who has built a life that looks perfect from the outside — and feels hollow on the inside. She’s the woman who checks every box, carries every responsibility, and quietly stops recognizing herself in the mirror.
Drawing from her books When Great No Longer Feels Good and The Glinda Principle, Christina delivers talks that don’t flinch from naming what’s really happening — the relentless giving, the slow disappearance, the people who quietly encourage both. Her message isn’t about managing burnout. It’s about ending it.
Christina speaks to women’s leadership conferences, corporate audiences, professional associations, and any room full of women who suspect they’ve been working very hard at someone else’s life.
Speaking Topics
Two books. Countless rooms. One truth.
“You didn’t lose yourself all at once. It happened in a thousand small moments of putting everyone else first — and it can be undone the same way.”
When Great No Longer Feels Good
Designed for high-achieving women who have optimized every area of life — and still wake up exhausted and hollow. This talk names the specific moment when striving stops feeling like ambition and starts feeling like survival. Christina walks audiences through why success without self-recognition isn’t success at all, and what it takes to reclaim a life that actually feels like yours.
Audience leaves with: language for what they’ve been feeling, permission to stop, and a first step forward.
The Glinda Principle: You Had the Power All Along
Before the career, the titles, the obligations, the invisible labor — there was a woman who was lit up about something. This talk is about finding her again. Christina introduces The Glinda Principle: the fire you had before you started putting everyone else first isn’t gone. It’s buried under years of accommodation, expectation, and self-erasure.
Audience leaves with: a rekindled sense of self, clarity on what they’ve been suppressing, and a practice for returning to it.
The Cast of Characters: Naming the People Who Hold You Back
Not every obstacle is internal. Some wear familiar faces. This session gives women the vocabulary to recognize and name the specific people in their lives who — intentionally or not — benefit from their smallness. The Martyr. The Scorekeeper. The Benevolent Saboteur. Naming them is the first act of freedom.
Audience leaves with: recognition, relief, and tools for rewriting those dynamics.
The Full Arc: From Overachiever to Authentically Herself
A full-day or multi-session experience combining all three themes: recognizing the cost of chronic overachievement, rekindling the original self through The Glinda Principle, and confronting the external dynamics that feed the cycle. Built for organizations committed to not just retaining women — but actually supporting their flourishing.
Ideal for: women’s leadership initiatives, annual retreats, ERG full-day events.
Ideal Audiences
Christina speaks for rooms that are ready to be honest.
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Let’s put the right talk in the right room.
Whether you’re planning a keynote, a half-day workshop, or a multi-session retreat, Christina works with event organizers to tailor her message to your audience and goals. Reach out to start the conversation.
Past Speaking Engagements Include:
