Caged Bird HR is looking for speakers.

Our core audience is Black women navigating corporate America. Our broader community includes Black people, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, women, and other marginalized workers dealing with workplace power, exclusion, retaliation, and instability.

Speakers must understand that these groups do not experience workplace harm in identical ways.

We select speakers with demonstrated expertise, including:

• Licensed professionals presenting within their scope
• Practitioners with substantial direct experience
• Published authors, researchers, and framework creators
• People with a documented record of relevant policy, legal, organizational, or community work

Follower count and online visibility do not establish expertise.

It depends on the session.

Webinars involving legal rights, immigration, financial planning, mental health, accommodations, HR escalation, or other high-stakes guidance require appropriately qualified professionals.

Story and community sessions may feature speakers whose primary qualification is lived experience. Those speakers will not be asked to provide technical advice outside their expertise.

Yes. Lived experience can bring necessary context, credibility, and depth.

For technical sessions, lived experience strengthens subject-matter expertise but does not replace it. Hybrid panels may pair a qualified expert with a community speaker whose role is to address the lived stakes.

Yes. Prior speaking experience is helpful but not required.

Your application should demonstrate that you can explain your subject clearly, answer questions responsibly, and hold the attention of a live audience.

Yes. Strong proposals should identify:

• The specific workplace situation being addressed
• The structural problem behind it
• What attendees will be able to do after the session
• Why the topic is timely
• Why you are qualified to teach it

Broad proposals about empowerment, confidence, leadership, or career success are unlikely to be selected without a sharper workplace problem and practical takeaway.

Yes. Submit the topics you are genuinely qualified to address. Do not select every category unless your experience clearly supports each one.

Yes. Panels and co-presentations are welcome when each person has a defined role.

For hybrid sessions, identify who will provide technical guidance and who will contribute lived experience or community perspective.

Unless a speaker call states otherwise, Caged Bird HR webinars are virtual. Platform, format, rehearsal, and technical requirements will be shared with selected speakers.

Session length and format will be included in the specific speaker invitation. Most programs may include a presentation, moderated discussion, and audience Q&A.

Selected speakers will receive a clear run of show before the event.

Caged Bird HR generally does not provide compensation for virtual speaking engagements. Exceptions may apply depending on the program, speaker requirements, and available budget.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, speakers should not expect additional compensation for the event or subsequent use of the content. Any exception must be confirmed in writing before the engagement.

Speakers may include a brief professional introduction and approved resource information. The session itself cannot function as a sales presentation.

Product pitches, extended service promotions, and pressure-based selling are not permitted.

Yes. Every selected speaker must sign Worklution Inc.’s Consent and Release for Use of Content before participating.

The agreement grants Worklution Inc. and its brands, including Caged Bird HR and Wrk Receipts, broad rights concerning:

• Recording and editing the speaker’s participation
• Use of the speaker’s name, likeness, voice, image, performance, and statements
• Ownership and distribution of recordings, clips, and derivative content
• Promotional and commercial use across current and future media
• AI, machine-learning, dataset, analytics, and technology uses

Applicants should review the complete agreement carefully before accepting an engagement. Speakers may seek independent legal counsel before signing. The signed agreement, rather than this FAQ summary, controls the parties’ rights and obligations.

Webinars may be recorded. Selected speakers must sign the Consent and Release for Use of Content, which authorizes Worklution Inc. to record, edit, publish, distribute, and create clips or derivative materials from the speaker’s participation.

The Company is not required to publish or use the recording. Speakers should review the complete release for information about ownership, approval rights, permitted speaker use, and AI-related rights.

Applications may request:

• A professional biography
• Relevant licenses or credentials
• Your proposed topic or areas of expertise
• Three learning objectives
• Links to publications, research, interviews, or prior presentations
• A speaking sample, when available
• Disclosure of relevant professional or financial conflicts
• Accessibility or scheduling needs

We evaluate:

• Subject-matter credibility
• Fit with the session track
• Relevance to what workers are currently facing
• Ability to provide specific, practical information
• Understanding of race, gender, power, and workplace systems
• Ability to stay within professional scope
• Alignment with Caged Bird HR’s direct, structurally grounded approach

We generally do not select:

• Generic motivation or empowerment presentations
• Personal stories presented as universal advice
• Topics without a concrete worker takeaway
• Speakers relying primarily on follower count or virality
• Sales presentations
• Advice outside the applicant’s professional scope
• Proposals that treat all marginalized workers as having the same experience
• Applications containing inflated, unverifiable, or misleading credentials

Application volume may limit individual feedback. Applicants selected for further consideration will be contacted using the information submitted with their application.

Submitting an application does not guarantee a speaking invitation.

Selected speakers may be asked to participate in:

• A planning conversation
• Content and learning-objective review
• A technical rehearsal
• Audience-question preparation
• Promotional content or a short speaker introduction
• Review of recording, compensation, and usage terms

Caged Bird HR may request revisions to keep the session accurate, focused, and appropriate for the audience.

Yes. A speaker may be a strong fit even when a particular proposal does not match the current programming calendar. Submit a new application when a future topic aligns more closely with your expertise.