Welcome to Powal Public Speaking & Advisory. I’m Janelle Powlett — public speaker, advisor, and authenticity advocate.

I help organizations rethink what leadership can look like—and help leaders better understand and advocate for talent whose experiences differ from their own.

For more than 20 years, I built my career in corporate finance and leadership, working across three countries and eventually earning a seat at the executive table. Along the way, I learned how to navigate corporate environments: how to read the room, influence decisions, communicate with senior leaders, and speak the language of the organization.

I learned “corporate speak.”

Sometimes, that adaptation helped me succeed. Sometimes, it came at a cost.

Over time, I began to recognize the difference between learning how to navigate an organization and changing myself to fit an expectation of what leadership was supposed to look like. The more I adapted, the easier it became to lose sight of the perspective and experiences that made me valuable in the first place.

That experience changed how I think about leadership.

Organizations need talented people who bring different experiences, perspectives, and ways of thinking to the table. But getting different talent into the room isn’t enough if success still requires everyone in the room to look, think, communicate, and lead the same way.

And the responsibility for navigating those differences can’t sit entirely with the person who is different.

Leaders have a role to play, too.

Even well-intentioned leaders can have blind spots when managing people whose lived experiences differ from their own. We naturally draw from what we know. The challenge is recognizing what we don’t know—and becoming comfortable enough to ask rather than assume.

That’s why I created Powal Public Speaking & Advisory.

Through public speaking, I use my own leadership journey to challenge the idea that leadership has to look one way and explore the line between adapting to succeed and adapting away the very things that make us valuable.

Through the ABCs of Advocacy, I work with leaders who want to better understand and advocate for talent whose experiences may be different from their own. The work creates space for honest conversation, greater awareness, and practice—so leaders can move beyond good intentions and become more impactful advocates for the people they lead.

I know these challenges from both sides of the table: as someone who spent years navigating leadership while underrepresented, and as an executive responsible for leading people across different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.

Today, I bring those experiences together to help individuals and organizations make room for something I came to understand firsthand:

Leadership doesn’t have to look one way.

Advocacy. Authenticity. Impact.