About Charlotte Kemp

Futurist Keynote Speaker

TL;DR

I am a futurist keynote speaker, helping people to develop new ways to think about the future. I am also very invested in the association world and speaking profession. I have held the positions of President of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA) as well as President of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF). I am also a professional member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Eclectic Pursuits

It is fascinating that the three careers that I have recently pursued; social media trainer, keynote speaker and futurist, were not even real career options when I was in school. I remember seriously considering becoming an accountant (but I switched to History at the last minute) and my actual work life started in financial services (a bank, an insurance company, a financial advisor’s office and then an administration company where I managed a retirement annuity fund). I studied psychology and education at university, worked as a volunteer for a while and then invested time in teaching the next generation of adults how to walk, talk and blah blah bl

Futurist and Sci-Fi Fan

Imagine waking up one morning and realising, with delight, that your hobby has become your career! I don’t mean speaking. That’s just sexist. Women don’t really talk that much! What I mean is, that I discovered that all my years of nerdish devotion and fan-girling over sci-fi novels, paid off. My curiosity in various, disparate fields had suddenly found a common home, a theme that made what had appeared to be a somewhat ADHD mind, suddenly seem Da-Vinci-like in its insight. I know. That sounds grandiose and self-indulgent, but surely you know how exciting it feels when things just come together and gel and make sense and you can see the yellow brick road in front of you and it is so full of promise. My childhood crush was on Isaac Asimov – I loved everything he wrote. And I knew exactly which nerdish friends at school could understand obscure references from Douglas Adams. Heck, I even chose my husband based on our shared laughter over Adam’s stories. While my sci-fi education is not complete, it is varied and interspersed with reading fantasy, studying education and psychology at university, poking around in issues of human motivation and wrestling with philosophy and theology. And when I started attending lectures about futures studies at Stellenbosch University, I was delighted to learn that a futurist must have a handle on all this and more: politics, economics, sociology, demographics, and all the futurist principles as well.

Professional Speaker

One day while surfing the internet, as we used to do way back then, I discovered that something called the Global Speakers Summit, was going to be held in Cape Town the following year. I didn’t even know what that meant, but the name captured my imagination and started me on a journey that would find me my home, find me speaking internationally, serving as Deputy President of the PSASA, involved in masterminds, speaker classes and international conversations with other speakers, and as an incredible extra bonus, find me a wonderful husband to have all these journeys with!

I love the energy and diversity of the speaking world. I cannot imagine another industry where we are so different and yet so much on the same path. We have different topics, approaches, business models, priorities, presentation styles, values, politics, religions. But we are united in that there is something in our hearts and minds that we want to share with clients and audiences. While many people speak about topics that are divisive, members of the speaking associations we encounter daily are without fail, seeking growth and progress rather than division.

The commitment of people in this space, to improve the world and to be proactive rather than victims, is so insanely inspiring, that I often neglect my own work to work in this space. There is such a thrill being able to facilitate issues behind the scenes, that allows more speakers to engage with our home association and to form relationships globally.

So I was delighted and honestly honoured, to receive PSASA’s highest award in April 2019; the Stef du Plessis Founders Award.

Association Executive

I went to 6 junior schools before settling and completing high school. We moved around the country often with my father’s job, and I became one of those annoying children who insisted they didn’t want to do group projects. Only in recent years have I discovered the joy (you are going to call me a nerd any moment now) of working with other people. I have discovered that we can co-create more amazing work and get better results together, than we ever could on our own. Maybe my teachers were right? So I find myself these days seeking out opportunities to network and collaborate or even to just share and compare ideas and experiences. I am very involved in leadership of my primary association, PSASA, and have been involved in setting up a number of masterminds so that my colleagues can also experience these opportunities. And I am also a member of a bunch of other associations to which I volunteer some time.

I love the energy and diversity of the speaking world. I cannot imagine another industry where we are so different and yet so much on the same path. We have different topics, approaches, business models, priorities, presentation styles, values, politics, religions. But we are united in that there is something in our hearts and minds that we want to share with clients and audiences. While many people speak about topics that are divisive, members of the speaking associations we encounter daily are without fail, seeking growth and progress rather than division.

The commitment of people in this space, to improve the world and to be proactive rather than victims, is so insanely inspiring, that I often neglect my own work to work in this space. There is such a thrill being able to facilitate issues behind the scenes, that allows more speakers to engage with our home association and to form relationships globally.

So I was delighted and honestly honoured, to receive PSASA’s highest award in April 2019; the Stef du Plessis Founders Award.

Personal

I am married to fellow speaker, Richard Mulvey – the best person in the world to be in months of lock-down with. I have two daughters who are out of school and exploring their careers. I have a sword fighting scar (literally my only effort sport-wise), I am learning Spanish and Dutch on Duolingo (Hola!) and I make miniature houses in books, for fun.