Matt Ellison
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Matt Ellison is a highly sought-after, entertaining and thought-provoking transgender speaker. His life experience as a trans man has fascinated and inspired audiences of all kinds in both private and public sectors in the U.K. and internationally. His insights on change, as someone who has made such a huge and fundamental change himself, apply to everyone in all areas of professional and personal life.

Organisations who have invited Matt to speak include Microsoft, eBay, Mars, Toyota, Lacoste, Disney, KFC, NHS, Lloyds of London, City of London Corporation, Fidelity International, HM Courts and Tribunals, and many more.

Matt has been consulted and interviewed on many occasions. He was recently seen on TV in the high-profile Channel 4 documentary ‘Me and My Penis’, which broke many taboos, covering sex, psychology and men’s mental health issues.

Tailored towards the audience, Matt has something to offer all audiences, including healthcare professionals, businesses, educational institutions, emergency services, political and religious groups, plus more. Depending upon requirements he can delve deep into the mind of what it feels like to be transgender with a story full of highs, lows and humour. He can educate the audience around such things as the medical interventions, social aspects, safe practices for service providers and employers, as well the legal implications of the Gender Recognition Act and the popular Q&A if requested gives the opportunity to answer all those burning questions.

With an increasing number of trans folk having the courage to transition, yet with so many still facing discrimination and ignorance, transgender issues and diversity & inclusion, are currently more relevant than ever.

Matt’s showreel

Matt, as seen on Channel 4 (Documentary)

Matt’s Clients include:

“Matt was fantastic. He brought great energy and delivered a personal, honest, inspirational story. We were very happy.“

MicrosoftJune 2022 - London

“One of the best talks I’ve ever heard at a conference!”

Robbie TurnerDirector For England, Royal Pharmaceutical Societyhttps://www.rpharms.com/about-us/how-we-are-run/our-executive-team/robbie-turner–https://www.rpharms.com/executive-team/robbie-turner

“The talk given by Matt Ellison as part of the 2021 Mars UK LGBTQ+ Pride Series was thought provoking and inspiring.

Matt’s honest and personal style of storytelling took the audience on an insightful journey into the experiences of transgender people.

Matt engaged the audience from start to finish and was open and supportive of questions.”

Mars - Global Food Manufactuer Virtual event, July 2021

“A big thank you for a very authentic and thought provoking session today, as part of our harnessing the power of diversity week. In speaking to a number of our senior leaders after the session they all said it made them stop and think, and everyone I spoke to has taken something away from your story. It’s a really great way to get a discussion going and the little frog analogy was very powerful – simple yet effective.”

Leonie GovanRolls Royce (Dreadnought Alliance), Organisational Effectiveness Lead - Virtual event, June 2021

“Pandemic or no pandemic, nothing can stop our Kentucky Fried pride celebrations.

To get the party started Matt Ellison joined us virtually to share his personal journey and experiences.

Buckets of love and gratitude to Matt for such an inspiring, authentic session.”

KFCVirtual event, July 2020

“Matt captured the attention of our audience from start to finish.  The GP’s really appreciated how open Matt was about his experience and were grateful for the insight he provided. His talk was excellent, I really wish we could have had him for longer.”

NHSRoyal Surrey Hospital

“We were very happy with and got great feedback from the audience.”

ToyotaJune 2022

“You are a fantastic and extremely uplifting speaker Matt, thank you for helping me increase my understanding”

HM Courts & Tribunals ServiceVirtual event, Sept 2021

“Matt is an eloquent and engaging speaker whose candid style and refreshing quick humour won over our audience. He speaks from the heart in an entertaining yet insightful manner. Matt’s personal journey is so inspiring that we are already planning on bringing him back.  If you get a chance to book Matt you will certainly not be disappointed.”

BroadridgeVirtual event, March 2021

“I learnt so much and even as a cis male your story really resonated with me so thank you again for helping me in my personal growth. You are truly inspirational”

Martin Jory, Snowfox GroupFeb 2022

Thank you, one of the most inspirational speakers I have heard for some time.

Government Agency Virtual event, May 2021

“Matt was incredible today and was a joy to work with start to finish!”

EpiqVirtual event, June 2021

Thank you so much Matt. You have such a knowledgable, relatable way of helping us (the listener) to understand all the issues around transgender. I think the ‘no pressure/little frogs’ message is so persuasive and will encourage more of us to be curious and get it right.

Government AgencyVirtual event, May 2021

Matt was recently invited to speak at the Lloyd’s Dive In Festival in Chatham.  Matt shared his life story and how the decisions he made throughout have affected him.  Matt was very engaging and his talk opened my eyes to the difficulties faced by Matt and others in similar situations.  Matt is obviously very passionate about helping others and telling his story, so others are confident in taking the first step to changing their lives.  Matt was able to share useful resources to the group and was keen to speak to members of the audience on a personal level after the talk.   A thought provoking talk.

Anne CooperLloyds of London
Matt had the audience captivated with his own incredible and courageous personal story. I have to say it was one of the best sessions I have ever seen delivered at a Pharmacy Conference and I have been to many in my 24 years as a pharmacist professional.
Matt has a natural ability to speak confidently and effortlessly to a large audience and has personality and speaker content to keep an audience hanging on his every word.
I cannot recommend Matt more highly.
Rachel MackayNHS - Associate Director of Medicines Management

“Thank you so much. Such a touching and illuminating discussion. I feel very lucky to have been here to hear your story.

Every workplace needs this presentation.”
Virtual event Sept 2020

What a brilliant, informative and inspiring talk.

Government AgencyVirtual event, May 2021

“Excellent. Matt is very empathic and speaks of his experiences with truth and emotion.”

Royal Birmingham ConservatoireVirual event, Sept 2021

“It [the session] was so inspiring and so informative. Matt’s human approach prompted really good questions and discussions and he got a lot of love in the comments!”

HM Courts & Tribunals ServiceVirtual event, Sept 2021
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Matt was co-chair of FTM London (FTM = Female-to-Male) for two years, probably the UK’s largest support group for trans men. He’s engaged with NHS England to help improve trans care and is knowledgeable on both safe practices for trans people and the Gender Recognition Act.

He founded a successful guitar school, is a qualified horse-riding instructor, holds black belts in both judo and ju-jitsu (has run clubs in both), was a Police cadet and other hobbies also include weightlifting and kickboxing.

Matt’s ebook

Matt speaking in a podcast for Men’s Magazine Port, alongside Jake and Stephen Whittle, OBE

Overview of Matt’s keynotes:

Change & Motivation – Having made life changes more fundamental than most people are faced with, Matt brings his insights to the issues of blocks, facing the unfaceable and redefining your life for the positive.

After nearly four decades being too fearful to go through the changes that he needed to be happy, he finally found the answers that made the scariest challenges of his life feel easy and effortless. What he learned can help others to also overcome fears that are often exaggerated, and to increase their motivation to achieve their goals in life.

In this keynote, Matt will give you tools and strategies to increase motivation and overcome fear!

Diversity & Inclusion – How diversity and inclusion can help your company thrive, from recruiting more highly skilled staff to increasing staff productivity and boosting staff retention

Practical advice on how to be more inclusive, develop good practices and put together company policies and procedures.

How to be more dynamic with your diversity and inclusion policies and procedures, creating a higher degree of engagement, including with your non-LGBT staff

The UK Gender Recognition Act and how to avoid inadvertently committing criminal offenses

Mental Health – Matt’s lived experience as a trans man brings unique perspective to the conversation around mental health. Having faced profound mental health challenges himself, stemming from both society’s behaviour towards trans people, and as a result of this, his own internalised stigmas, there is much to be learnt by all walks of life from Matt’s courageous journey of transition to improved mental health.

As Co-Chair of support group FTM London, he gained deep insight into the extensive mental health challenges faced by this community, evident through the prevalence of self-harm scars, depression, anxiety and more. Through his work, he has successfully empowered individuals to overcome these struggles.

Matt was recently invited to speak to patients and staff at Rampton Hospital, one of just three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England (Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth).

The event at Rampton Hospital was a great success and the client gave the following feedback: “Just to let you know the afternoon went perfect. Staff and patients loved Matt’s honesty, sense of humour and passion. Patients really enjoyed Matt’s slides and had questions during the presentation which Matt was very relaxed to answer.  Thank you for all your help and please pass my thanks again to Matt. We are very proud of the event today at Rampton Hospital.”

Gender – What is gender? Male, female and non-binary. The difference between sex, gender and sexuality.

Identity – Who do you identify as? Internal and external factors – appearance and inner identity. How aspects of identity may be in conflict, or undergo change. Identity, self-discovery and self-realisation.

Social norms – Our minds and lives are conditioned by the norms we have grown up with. They may seem natural, inevitable or just plain common sense, but they can be limiting or worse. Creative questioning of norms can allow liberating change.

Courage & Inspiration – Matt knows what it’s like to risk everything. Gender transition meant he could have lost his family, friends and business & he feared he might been branded a ‘freak’ by society, yet none of those things happened.

Trans Awareness & Acceptance – Raising awareness of transgender issues. How best to support staff, clients, students etc who are undergoing or are around those undergoing gender transition.

Equality & Rights – The UK’s Gender Recognition Act: a British perspective on the right to be respected and to be accepted whatever one’s gender identity, sexuality, race etc.

Some countries don’t recognise acquired gender, or require sterilization to do so. (Matt is happy to research the individual laws and social laws of your country if required).

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  • Home
  • Matt’s Talks
    • Motivational Speaker
    • LGBTQ Diversity Speaker
    • Inspirational Speaker
    • Change Resilience Speaker
    • Bringing your whole self to work
    • After Dinner Speaker
    • Pride Speaker
  • About
  • Testimonials
  • Virtual Events
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Blog
  • Contact

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