Book IWD Speaker: Rachael Karlyl

Lawyer, MBA & speaker helping ambitious women redefine success, prevent burnout & build lives and careers they actually want to live

Rachael Karlyl is a professional speaker, lawyer, MBA, podcaster and personal leadership strategist who helps ambitious women build success that feels as good as it looks. With 16 years’ experience as a lawyer and a career spanning professional services, business ownership and senior Commonwealth Government leadership, Rachael brings both professional expertise and lived experience to the stage.

She also knows the International Women’s Day room. In 2025 and 2026, Rachael took the stage at the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs’ International Women’s Day events, first as a panel moderator and then as keynote speaker. She understands that an IWD event should do more than celebrate women for an hour. It should create conversations that stay with people when they return to their teams, careers and lives.

Rachael knows what it feels like to do everything “right”, climb the ladder, collect the qualifications and still find yourself wondering: Is this actually the story I want to be living?

Her work is deeply personal. Burnout, loss, divorce, physical and mental health challenges, career reinvention and building businesses have taught Rachael lessons that could never have been learned through a degree or job title.

She has been in the audience of the rooms she now speaks in.

Today, Rachael brings those experiences together to create honest, practical and deeply human conversations about ambition, identity, burnout, authenticity, personal leadership and redefining success.

For International Women’s Day, Rachael can tailor her keynotes around two central conversations:

1 - Is This the Story You Want to Be Living?
A conversation for successful, capable women who have become incredibly good at meeting expectations, supporting others and doing what needs to be done, but may have stopped asking what they actually want. Rachael explores the quiet progression from “I can handle it” to “they know I can handle it”, to “I’m the person who handles it”, and eventually, “I have to handle everything.”
She invites women to examine what they are carrying, what it is costing them and whether the version of success they are pursuing still belongs to them.

2 - The Power of Showing Up (as Yourself)
An exploration of what becomes possible when women stop waiting for another title, qualification or invitation to recognise the influence they already have.
Rachael challenges the idea that leadership begins with hierarchy. Instead, she explores identity, values, authenticity, communication and influence, helping women understand how knowing themselves changes the way they lead, make decisions, build relationships and contribute to the environments around them.

What will the audience get?

Her audiences can expect vulnerability, humour, difficult questions, practical guidance and the occasional spectacular outfit. Rachael creates an environment where people can recognise themselves in the stories being told, question assumptions they may have carried for years and leave with something they can actually do differently.

Key notes and sessions with Rachael:
Her sessions can be tailored for corporate audiences, professional services, government, emerging leaders, senior executives, business owners and women navigating significant career or life transitions.

Rachael’s purpose is to create a positive impact through meaningful interactions, and she brings that purpose into every room she enters. She has a way of creating moments that last long after an event is finished. Audiences leave with new questions to ask themselves, practical changes they can make immediately and, most importantly, a clearer sense of the story they want to live next.

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