Claire O’Connor
Speaker · Founder & CEO of babyballet®
Help your people back themselves.
Honest, practical keynotes and workshops on self-belief, imposter syndrome and leading with ADHD, from the founder of babyballet®.
Believe
I Can. I Matter. I Am Enough.
Claire has spoken for
EWiF Women in Franchising Awards · GoCardless · The Baby Show Dubai · Children’s Activities Association
Recognised by
EWiF Inspirational Woman of the Year 2026 · EWiF Overall Woman in Franchising 2021 · Winner, ITV This Morning Mumpreneur · Northern Power Women Awards finalist 2025 · Tommy’s Community Diamond Award
babyballet®
Collaborations with Peppa Pig and CBeebies Magazine · Over £1.6 million raised for charity
As seen and heard on
ITV’s Lorraine · Channel 4’s Big Ballet · Dubai 92 · We Are PoWEr · The BusinessMum · The Franchised · Franchising Uncovered
Featured in the books Unstoppable Women and Dance for Your Life
Watch Claire
In conversation with We Are PoWEr
Three talks
Keynote · Workshop · Panel · Virtual
Take Centre Stage in Your Own Way
For International Women’s Day, women’s networks, founders and leadership teams.
Claire talks honestly about imposter syndrome, overwhelm and leading through a crisis, and why it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react. Audiences leave with practical ways to control the controllables, back their own decisions and stop waiting until they feel ready.
Building a Brand with ADHD
For International Women’s Day, Neurodiversity Celebration Week and wellbeing networks.
Claire shares what her diagnosis explained, how a fast-reacting brain helped her lead through the pandemic, and the tools she uses to turn ideas into finished work. Audiences leave with a better understanding of how ADHD can show up in women at work, and practical ideas to use themselves or to support colleagues.
Allowing Every Child to Shine in Their Own Way
For education, early years and parent audiences.
What Claire has seen in twenty years of early years ballet classes, and why she believes welcome comes before ability. Audiences leave with simple, practical ways to help every child feel they belong and can take part in their own way.
Every talk is tailored to your audience
These three talks are starting points. Tell Claire who will be in the room and what you want them to leave with, and she will shape the stories, examples, length and format to fit your event.
What audiences say
“Claire was simply magic and we felt very lucky to have her on our stage at our Women in Franchising awards. She was able to craft a message for our audience that combined her body of expertise with a touching story. Claire’s warmth and down to earth personality shone through as she delivered a highly engaging presentation. Whilst speaking on the very important and emotive topic of mental health, Claire combined light humour with useful takeaways that left our audience feeling inspired. The feedback we received on Claire’s talk really blew me away, and we couldn’t have hosted such a fantastic event without her.”
Helen Mansfield, Managing Director, EWiF
“Claire’s raw honesty when she speaks is brilliant. She is a legend.”
Pip Wilkins, CEO, British Franchise Association
“One of the best presentations I have ever seen because it was 100% authentic. Claire made every single person in the room believe that, with hard work and passion, they could achieve the same things.”
Louise Bruce, PR and Digital Marketing Professional
“Claire was articulate, engaging, and informative. She was well-prepared but still natural, and the feedback from the team was terrific.”
Hamish Wood, Senior Leader, GoCardless
Why Claire
She left ballet at fourteen believing she wasn’t good enough. So she built babyballet®.
Claire O’Connor grew up around ballet. Her mother, Barbara Peters, was a Royal Academy of Dance examiner and built her own ballet school. Claire started classes at three and loved it, but she never felt enough. She left at fourteen with little self-belief, low confidence and a poor body image. It was a feeling she never wanted another child to have.
In 1999, aged 26, she came back to ballet at her mother’s school, where they started classes for preschoolers in a local play gym, with a bag of mismatched teddy bears. Claire began to dream up a magical world of ballet where every child was welcome and felt they belonged. She spent six years researching and piloting the idea, and in 2005 she founded babyballet®.
Today babyballet® is a purpose-led, award-winning ballet brand that educates, enriches and entertains young children. Its aim is to help every child shine in their own unique way and grow in confidence and self-belief. At its heart is one belief: I Can. I Matter. I Am Enough.
115
locations internationally
20,000
children in classes every week
7.2m
YouTube views
The lack of self-belief and the poor body image stayed with Claire for decades, while she built the business, steered a franchise network through Covid and raised four children. At 48 she reached a point where she could no longer ignore how she felt about herself. What followed was a time of personal discovery, including an ADHD diagnosis at fifty.
Today she understands how her mind works, is comfortable in her own skin and backs her own decisions.
“There is one driving force behind everything I do, personally and professionally: the desire to help everyone believe I can, I matter, I am enough.”
Claire O’Connor
On stage she is engaging and down to earth. She shares what she learned, with honesty and light humour, so that others don’t have to wait as long as she did.
Book Claire to speak
Keynotes, workshops, panels and virtual talks. Email Claire to check availability for your event.
