TESTIMONIALS


“Hannah was an inspirational speaker at our event Celebrating Calisthenics – humble, witty and incredibly engaging l could have listened to her all night. Her messages around inclusion were powerful and relatable.
l took away many things from Hannah’s presentation but her one-armed judo champion story will stick with me forever ‘what might appear to be an incredible weakness can in fact be the greatest strength”
Jen McIntyre - CEO Calisthenics Victoria
“Thank you for being an incredible role model to show that anything is possible through persistent to a given goal.
Inspiring these Grow Kids will help them in their endeavours to help others in need now and into their futures – you are an absolute star.”
Sarah - Grow Foundation
“Hannah was a fantastic and inspiring guest speaker for us at an event on Innovation in the Disability Sector. She spoke in a passionate and well informed manner, and gave the audience plenty to think about from a sector and policy point of view, as well as from personal experience. Hannah was also part of our speaker panel, taking questions from the floor, and she responded extremely well to questions on a range of topics.

Hannah was superb to plan our event with, and connected well during evening networking with our invited audience.”

Ruth Owen, Partner, Human Services, Ernst & Young
“Hannah was one of the guest speakers at RMIT Sport’s Inspiring Leadership Program. She was a truly inspirational speaker that engaged with the students. Hearing her story and the importance of mental health and wellbeing provided valuable insights into each students leadership journey and how they can take the next step. If you ever get the chance to have Hannah be a guest speaker, I would highly recommend her! Thank you Hannah!”
Jono Ramanathan | Sport Officer (Social Sport & Events) RMIT Student Life | RMIT University
“We had Paralympian Hannah MacDougall speak to parents, students and teachers and she was fabulous. She has had an incredible journey, is very easy to relate to and is very knowledgeable about how we can engage our mind to help us achieve success and increase wellbeing. She was able to talk about the benefits of mindfulness in a very accessible way. A confident and engaging speaker that I highly recommend!”
Hayley Anthony, Educational Psychologist, Head of Mindfulness, St Leonard’s College
“Your story and your presentation were very inspiring! It’s wonderful that you are teaching young people (and oldies like me) about mindfulness. I really felt that your sharing of how long it took to transition to cycling and then succeeding in terms of winning medals, was very powerful. It helps give people a sense of how long developing profound expertise takes. For me it really resonated because in the last few years I have gone back to studying classical piano and French again and I know it will take a lot of time to become excellent- but somehow that’s actually quite a relief!”
Associate Professor Edwina Wright,
Alfred Health & Monash University.
“Hannah was a guest speaker at a Ride2Work Day event for Frasers Property staff. An extremely engaging speaker, she took our team on a journey and armed us with some useful techniques to adopt when faced with our own difficult or challenging situations. We all walked away feeling inspired and since this event I have had multiple people come and tell me how impressed they were with Hannah’s presentation. I would absolutely love to work with Hannah again and cannot recommend her enough as an informed and confident speaker.”
Kelly Summers, Frasers Property Australia
“Hi Hannah, I’m Jas and I was one of the very lucky people who got to listen to you speak today at the GSA thingo. I just wanted to say that you are truly an inspiration. Listening to you talk was amazing. It was so awesome to hear from someone who knew about our brains and was able to explain to us what was happening and what we could do to help our performance. I loved your stories and endless knowledge. I couldn’t come tell you this at the end because I am unbelievably shy but I still wanted to know that if you had to make a difference in one of us, it was me. Thank you.”
Jas
“Just wanted to say a huge thank-you for coming to chat to the kids on Friday- you were such a fantastic speaker and the kids were so engaged. You had such a great rapport with the kids. Thanks again.”
Tracey Nelson, PE and Sport Co-ordinator. Murrumbeena Primary School
“I asked Hannah to speak at an International Women’s Day event and what she delivered was more than we could possibly hope for. Hannah is nothing short of educational, inspiring and engaging as a speaker. She has the ability to draw in an audience and deliver her message in a considered, fun and concise manner. Her style allows the audience to go on her journey with her. I would highly recommend Hannah for any speaking engagement.”
Mark Drehlich - Riding & People Manager | Cycling Victoria.
“Game setters v game changers…Hannah is a true game changer.I have had the privilege to connect and work with Hannah for a number of years. Hannah’s leadership has inspired me, her courage enriched me and intellect continues to challenge me. In a world filled with game setters, Hannah has remained strong in character and I believe has earned the right to be a true game changer.

Thank you, Hannah, for coming into my world…”

Jon Burgess – KWAN
“In the world of public speaking, Hannah Macdougall’s inspirational story is a breath of fresh air. One can’t help but feel inspired after an afternoon spent with Hannah, and she did such a good job at our Women Making A Mark luncheon that we didn’t think twice about asking her to speak again.”

Shaun Kelly – AFL Goldfields Media, Marketing & Events Manager
“Hannah is a remarkable person and her disposition is one of which everyone gravitates to her. Hannah’s visit to our staff conference was the highlight for many of our attendees. Her ability to smash through the barriers and create a situation where the participants attending the course felt very empowered, ready to confront any of their personal inhibitions, particularly when dealing with people with different abilities, and left everyone with the take home message that disabled does not mean unable”.

Pete Murphy – Operations Manager, Surfing Victoria
“Hannah has been involved with the Essendon Football Club “On the Ball” program in 2011. She has been a wonderful asset to the team and thoroughly engages the students with her genuine enthusiasm for life. She has the ability to make each child feel special and able to take on any challenge presented to them. Any team with Hannah involved already has a head start over the opposition”.
Michelle Murray – On The Ball Program Coordinator, Essendon Football Club
“Hannah is my ‘go to’ gal ! Whenever I’m looking for an athlete with an engaging personality who is capable of holding an audience with anecdotes and accurate information she is my first choice. Hannah stays “on message” so well that children and adults often don’t know how much they’ve learnt until they spend time after the session reflecting on what’s been said. She has a very bright future!”

Rick Wall – Marketing and Community Projects Coordinator, Victorian Institute of Sport
“Hannah participated in a postgraduate panel on social responsibility in sport at Deakin University. Hannah provided the audience with amazing and powerful insight on her experience, and further on areas where our industry men and women can pay greater attention to when considering solutions for inclusion. Hannah was perfect for the panel and would motivate any audience on those topics for which she is so passionate”
Dr Sheila N Nguyen – LEED Green Associate, Lecturer at Deakin University
“With her positive and very real message of resilience, persistence and a never give up attitude we are so proud to have Hannah as a Just BU ambassador. Hannah shares her personal journey, career and life experiences via our Panels to hundreds of teens inspiring them to believe in themselves, to love the skin they are in and never be afraid to turn their dreams into a reality!”
Lisa Donath- Founder, Just BU
“What a delight it was to have Hannah speak at the launch of our six week ‘Health and Fitness Challenge’ at the Contours Rosanna Studio, to inspire and motivate our members with the theme of the evening ‘Challenge Yourself’. Hannah was inspirational, sharing with us her own personal journey and the many challenges she has faced, and overcome in her young life, told with humour, passion and with a wisdom beyond her years. She is a remarkable young woman and we will all be supporting her as she continues to achieve her goals. Our members were still talking about her presentation days and weeks after, and the empowering effect it had on them.”
Liz Perry – Owner/Manager, Contours Rosanna
“ Thank you for coming and inspiring many of our participants to re-assess their goal setting strategies through more positive thinking and encouraging them to go for their dreams. You were a highlight for many of the participants and your tips were brought up throughout the rest of the camp.”
Marie Blyth - Events Co-Ordinator, Australian Young Christian Workers (AYCW)
“Hannah was a refreshing presenter in sharing her story, her passion for wellbeing and happiness. The presentation was engaging to a large and diverse group of employees from factoring workers to senior staff in the organisation. Her attitude, dedication and motivation is contagious. All the best for your future, Hannah and Thank you!”

Belinda Berger, Human Resources Business Partner, Schneider Electric
“ Our sincerest thank you for the contributions you’ve made to our Year 5 Leadership Conference.

These events are often a challenge to put together, but with your amazing energy Hannah, it was a great success.

Students were entertained, educated and inspired by your insights and experiences.

It was a privilege to witness.”

John Donaldson - Leadership Coordinator, Melbourne Grammar School
“I have watched Hannah make many presentations to a variety of groups over the past years. Her style and warm nature means that she presents brilliantly to any group whether it in a school or corporate. 
Apart from being a fantastic public speaker she is an exemplary student, completing her PhD, and a motivational elite athlete as well as a highly influential professional.
 She is a role model to others in how she balances study, work and training commitments.”
Lisa Hasker, Manager , Sport Partnerships, La Trobe Sport
“We invited Hannah to speak to RACV staff on our annual Ride to Work day. The objective of these days is to help motivate more people to commute sustainably. The feedback from the 50 or so people who attended Hannah’s talk was very positive. She was engaging, amusing – and importantly, left us with tools to use to help embed the behaviour changes.”
Gordon Oakley, General Manager, Motoring, RACV
“Delighted to share that I received much positive feedback following your sessions yesterday. A majority of the feedback was how well you presented, your acknowledgement of the audience for their participation and the relevance of the information you imparted. It would appear that your session hit the nail on the head! Great work, Hannah.”
Ben King - VIC Performance Coordinator, Athletics Victoria, Athletics Australia.
“Thank you so much for coming out to visit us at Balwyn today. Your presentation was very inspiring. I know that the students definitely got a lot out of your visit today and all really enjoyed listening to your speech.”
Sue Price, Balwyn Primary School
“Hannah is a speaker who has the capacity to adapt her presentations to any audience be it primary school children to corporate groups. She is fun & engaging and has a story to tell that is inspiring and inspirational. Hannah speaks from her heart and engages her audience at that level”.

Carol Fox – Life Performance
“ Hannah’s honest and engaging presentation style captured the audience attention.  She was able to share her personal story and also impart techniques and simple actions that help her achieve her goals.  This motivated many audience members to take positive steps towards changing their own thinking when faced with a difficult or challenging situation.  I would definitely recommend Hannah as a guest motivational speaker.”
Deb Richards - Associate Director Commercial Operations, Gilead Sciences

“Found your presentation inspirational, you have made me ask myself…if I’m having a go at life! Cheers and Thank you.”
Ted Turner, Executive Director, Ashford’s Accountants
“We wanted to say a very big thank you to you and Travellers Aid for facilitating the wonderful mindfulness session on Wednesday night.
It was very refreshing and allowed us to have an hour away from work, school, and COVID anxiety to really focus on ourselves and gave us some really good coping strategies for self wellness.”
Traveller’s Aid volunteer as part of a Mindfulness and Breathwork session in my role as Health & Well-Being Ambassador for Traveller’s Aid.

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“Hannah’s strong messages and engaging stories were the perfect tool for our SEDA College Victoria students to understand how to ‘Break The Bias’ on International Women’s Day. She was honest and funny, creating many discussions by the students afterwards.”

Brad Martin, Regional Manager, SEDA College VIC
“On International Women’s Day we had the pleasure of hearing Hannah Macdougall speak at Hall Chadwick Melbourne. With vulnerability, warmth and humor Hannah shared snippets of her dreams and challenges, which provided insights into her amazing willpower. The conversation was both moving and empowering. Hannah provided simple techniques to calm and reset the mind, leaving us refreshed and equipped with a powerful tool to use in any tough moment. Hannah’s insights gave plenty of food for thought, growth and future discussion, and our group felt richer for having had the opportunity to attend. Thank you, Hannah.”
Alison Godlee - HR Manager, Hall Chadwick Melbourne