Invite Dr. Gigi Burke to Speak
Dr. Gigi Burke works with Black and Brown women as they live through ongoing bodily and relational changes associated with midlife, perimenopause, and menopause. Her work stays close to what is often carried quietly as these changes reshape daily life, work, and identity.
Gigi speaks in spaces where people are navigating change and are still expected to function, contribute, and carry responsibility. Her talks name how bodily and relational changes alter how people move through work, relationships, and responsibility, often gradually and without clear markers.
She speaks to what it means to continue meeting expectations, fulfilling responsibilities, and showing up for others while something is shifting internally, and to how people begin to recognize that shift without immediately trying to fix it, explain it, or move past it.
Her work also extends beyond midlife into a broader examination of what humans require to function in environments that are unfamiliar, changing, or not designed to support them. She brings this perspective into her speaking, offering a way to understand how expectation, environment, and human capacity interact across different contexts.
Here's Her Signature Talks
What Is Changing While You Are Still Expected to Function
Midlife, Perimenopause, and the Reality of Ongoing Responsibility
This talk explores what it is like when emotional, physical, and cognitive changes begin to alter how you experience yourself, even as the expectations around you remain the same.
Your emotional responses shift. Your energy changes. Focus, memory, and clarity become less predictable. Things that once felt automatic now require effort, or no longer work in the same way. At the same time, you are still expected to function, contribute, and carry responsibility.
Gigi speaks to what it means to live inside this tension, particularly for Black and Brown women who are often expected to hold everything together without space for what is changing.
This talk names what is happening and why it matters. It shows how these changes are not random or a sign of failure, but part of a deeper shift in how the body and mind sustain effort, attention, and responsibility over time, even when the demands placed on you have not adjusted.
What's really shaping choice?
This talk examines how choices are shaped in environments that are fast-moving, technologically mediated, and often unclear.
Choices are often understood as the result of logic or deliberate decision-making. In practice, they are shaped by conditions, what is visible, what is expected, what is named, and what is not. They are also shaped by what is felt, what is at stake, and what a person can recognize in the moment.
Technology changes these conditions. It alters how information is presented, how quickly responses are expected, and how responsibility is distributed. It also affects how people stay present with what they are experiencing, and how much space exists to recognize what is actually at stake.
As a result, people may find themselves agreeing to things without fully recognizing it, taking on responsibilities that emerge gradually, or responding in ways shaped more by the environment than by deliberate choice.
In this talk, Gigi brings these dynamics into view. She helps groups see how choice is being shaped, what is being taken on, and how these patterns affect trust, presence, and the ability to act with intention.
This work matters because when the conditions shaping choice are not visible, people are often held responsible for outcomes they did not fully choose. Over time, this affects how work is done, how people relate to one another, and what becomes possible within a system.
Short Reflections From Past Audiences
"Dr. Burke, thank you so much for your insights and excellent presentation! We learned a great deal from you about why we need to take care of ourselves."
"Thank you for presenting and sharing your insights. You were great!"
"THANK YOU for acting as a guest speaker at the EWB-Atlanta Chapter meeting. I greatly enjoyed your presentation and teaching style."
"I was most struck by the biological and physiological intelligence and explanations in your presentation. I was fascinated by how much you knew and communicated. The reality of the information you presented is helpful to me as I try and help others be more emotionally intelligent too many people that grew up thinking that emotions have no place in the working world."
Exploring a Speaking Invitation
If you are considering bringing this kind of grounded, honest conversation into your space, you are welcome to reach out.
Whether you are planning a retreat, conference, workshop, classroom, or intimate gathering, we can explore what might be supportive for your community. There is no assumption and no pressure. Just a conversation to see if it feels like a good fit.
You can use the form below to share a little about your event. I read each inquiry carefully and will respond if it feels aligned.
Speaking Inquiry Form