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SPEAKER/MC
Nelly Thomas has over twenty years experience speaking and HOSTING corporate and community EVENTS.
She a is highly sought-after as a specialist MC, Facilitator and speaker and her testimonials speak to the quality of her work. Nelly’s background is varied (see her CV) and she is happy to tackle almost any subject. She prides herself on tailoring her material to the specific gig and setting and all her gigs are throughly researched and professionally delivered.
Nelly is particularly sought-after for events and audiences that require an intelligent but irreverent tone. Her background in women’s health, family violence and respectful relationships spaces means she is the perfect choice for events that require a respectful and thoughtful tone, with some appropriate moments of levity. She has spoken at and hosted numerous events for local councils, large health promotion organisations and government departments.
TOPICS
Nelly tailors her work to every event she does, but she has lived experience and is often asked to Speak / MC on:
Wellbeing and Health Promotion (no jargon, no judgement - let Nelly translate the experts for you)
Mental Health (do what you can today and in your own way)
Positive Aging (the body may age but the true spirit often emerges in mid-life)
Gender Equality (a healthy rethinking of gender roles is good for everyone)
Early Childhood Development (child-centred, no nonsense approach based on her award winning books)
Parenting (when we know better, we do better and our best is pretty good!)
Caring/ Carers (superannuation for carers - not platitudes)
LGBTIQA+ community and issues (pride takes practice - let’s be intentional about community and inclusion)
“Nelly’s warmth, empathy and ability to strike a chord with such a diverse audience was exceptional - the feedback from attendees has been nothing but positive with lots of discussions and claims that it felt like Nelly was speaking directly to them. As a community and as an organisation we’ve faced some really challenging times over the last few years – fire, flood, pandemic. We’ve seen it all and it has been a lot… Nelly’s ability to balance often difficult and confronting topics of mental health and trauma with both humour and humility absolutely hit the spot.”
RECENT EVENTS
Nelly’s recent (2023/24) speaking and MC-ing engagements include:
City Of Melbourne - MC, International Women’s Day Gala
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Vic) - MC annual Public Housing Awards
Her PLace Museum - Book reading for young children
Mercy Health - MC annual leadership conference
Life Blood - MC Staff Awards Night
Schizzy Inc - Facilitator and Mentor for peformers living with complex mental health conditions
Towong Shire - Key-note speaker on health and wellbeing
VMCH Carers - Monthly key-note speaker on carer issues
WIRE - Host of the Annual Great Debate
Warburton CEDA - Key-note speaker about wellbeing and small business
Bethany Community Support Service - MC community conference
Department of Justice (Vic) - Facilitator for Vic Pol internal gender equity discussions
Give Where You Live - Key-note on wellbeing over 40
Women’s Health East - MC annual conference
Nelly has presented in front of Judges, Magistrates, Health Workers, Childcare workers, Local Councils, Policy Makers, Politicians, Public Servants, Business-people, Academics and the general public.
She genuinely likes all sorts of people and her clients attest to the fact that she's bright, dilgent, easy to work with and professional.
“The feedback in regards to your MC role specifically was resoundingly positive - you were an absolute hit …” Rebecca Varcoe, Events Officer, Corporate Services, Department of Premier and Cabinet
“Nelly Thomas is the gold standard of comedy.” Diana Price, Convener - Women Barristers Association
"We are so glad we decided to go with a MC and especially Nelly. If you’re ever considering a MC (Nelly) do yourself a favour and make the investment, it is well worth it." Monique Swain - Past and Present Women Police Association Victoria