Clarity in voice. Courage in Connection. Humanity in every conversation.
Dr. Damini Chawla is an award-winning professional speaker, TEDx presenter, practicing dentist, leadership coach and founder of Speaking Human. She works with leaders, teams and organizations to build courageous communication, strengthen human connection and create psychologically safe environments.
Her multicultural upbringing across India, China and Australia, combined with her life in Singapore, has shaped her deep interest in how culture, identity and human behavior influence the way we communicate and connect. With more than fifteen years of clinical dentistry experience, Dr. Damini brings a distinctive blend of professional expertise, lived experience and practical insight to her work.
She is the author of Speaking Human: The Hardest Conversations You’ll Have with Yourself, a book that explores the internal stories and patterns that can shape our voices, relationships and conversations. Through her keynotes, workshops, coaching and facilitation, she helps audiences approach difficult conversations with greater clarity, courage and care.
Dr. Damini has spoken for global organizations, diplomatic missions and educational institutions and has also emceed and moderated events for audiences of up to 15,000 people. Her sessions combine humor, storytelling, reflection and practical tools to create engaging and meaningful experiences for audiences.
Talking Points
Clarity, Confidence & Connection Under Pressure
When the stakes are high, communication often becomes a trade-off: we soften the message to preserve relationships, or deliver it so directly that connection suffers.Clarity, Confidence & Connection Under Pressure
This keynote explores how leaders can communicate with clarity, confidence and connection — especially when pressure is high. Through real-world leadership scenarios and practical tools, Dr. Damini Chawla shows audiences how to say what needs to be said, stay grounded in difficult moments, and build trust without avoiding the conversations that matter.
Ideal for: Leadership conferences, executive teams, sales leaders, high-performance cultures.
EQ in the AI Era: Leading Human Conversations That Matter
As AI becomes increasingly capable of analysing, predicting and communicating, the competitive advantage of leaders is shifting toward something distinctly human: how we navigate emotion, tension, trust and relationships.EQ in the AI Era: Leading Human Conversations That Matter
This keynote reframes emotional intelligence for the AI era through three conversations happening in every interaction: the conversation within ourselves, the conversation we imagine is happening for the other person, and the conversation the moment actually requires. Using her Speaking HUMAN framework, Damini gives leaders a practical way to communicate with greater awareness, empathy and intention — particularly when technology can provide the words, but not the human judgement behind them.
Ideal for: Future of work, HR, leadership, transformation and AI conferences.
Speaking Human: Leading Difficult Conversations in the Workplace
The conversations that matter most at work are often the ones we avoid.Speaking Human: Leading Difficult Conversations in the Workplace
Giving difficult feedback. Challenging a decision. Addressing poor behaviour. Saying no. Naming tension. Disagreeing with someone more senior. The cost of avoiding these conversations shows up in trust, performance, culture and ultimately business results.
In this practical, story-led keynote, Damini introduces the Speaking HUMAN framework — Hearing, Understanding, Moderating, Authenticity and Naming Needs — to help leaders approach difficult conversations with greater courage and humanity. Audiences leave with a framework they can use immediately to move from avoidance or confrontation toward conversations that create clarity, accountability and connection.
Ideal for: Leadership, people & culture, management and organisational development audiences.
Breaking Down the Walls: Navigating Hierarchy, Culture & Tension Across Global Teams
Global teams bring together different cultures, communication styles, expectations and relationships with hierarchy. What sounds confident in one culture can sound confrontational in another. What looks like agreement may actually be deference. And silence can mean anything from respect to disengagement.Breaking Down the Walls: Navigating Hierarchy, Culture & Tension Across Global Teams
Drawing on her experience living and working across cultures, Damini explores the invisible walls that prevent global teams from communicating openly and effectively. Through relatable workplace situations, she helps leaders recognise how hierarchy, cultural conditioning and interpersonal tension influence who speaks, who stays silent and what remains unsaid — and equips teams to build greater psychological safety, understanding and trust across differences.
Ideal for: Multinational organisations, regional leadership teams, cross-cultural conferences and global offsites.
Video
Dr Damini Chawla | Showreel | Saxton Speakers
Dr Damini Chawla is an award-winning Keynote Speaker, TEDx presenter, practising dentist and founder of Speaking Human. She grew up across India, China and Australia and now lives in Singapore. That background shapes how she helps leaders and teams approach the conversations that matter most, including the hardest ones they have with themselves. In this showreel, Dr Damini explores the tension between the life we've built and the one we still want. She argues that the permission to change has to come from within. The reflections in the video capture what her sessions leave behind: clarity, courage and a new way of seeing change. Dr Damini is the author of Speaking Human: The Hardest Conversations You'll Have with Yourself. She has spoken for global organisations, diplomatic missions and educational institutions, and has emceed events for audiences of up to 15,000 people. For organisations building psychologically safe cultures, she gives people the language and confidence to communicate with care.She was brilliant. Her wit and charm weren't just crowd-pleasers; they were crowd captivators. The way she brought her characters to life, especially in that hilarious anecdote about her exp ... keep reading What's your story Slam
A very powerful speaker who has the ability to connect with an audience, has the ability to speak of her experiences from the heart, and share those experiences with others in a way that deeply resonates.
Damini is very grounded, very insightful in her sharing, connects to the audience at different levels, and yes, it’s hilarious!
