BIOGRAPHIES

Short Bio (45 words)

Shaunagh Brown is not your average speaker. A former international rugby player, firefighter, gas engineer and Commonwealth Games athlete, she brings lived experience, fearless authenticity, and deep insight to every stage she steps onto. Whether she’s speaking to CEOs, school children or stadium crowds, Shaunagh knows how to move people — to think differently, act courageously and lead with purpose.

If you're looking to inspire your audience with stories of resilience, inclusion, leadership, and real-world change, Shaunagh brings it all — raw, powerful, and real.

Medium Bio (100 words)

Shaunagh Brown is a trail-blazing former England rugby prop who won 30 caps and back-to-back Grand Slams before retiring in 2022. A 2014 Commonwealth Games hammer-thrower, qualified commercial diver, firefighter and now full time keynote speaker and host, she has built a career on challenging expectations. Shaunagh draws on her eclectic journey - from a Peckham council house to a Rugby World Cup final - to deliver powerful talks on leadership, resilience and inclusion, helping teams turn adversity into competitive advantage. She is regularly featured by BBC Sport for her outspoken advocacy of women’s sport and racial diversity. 

Long Bio (279 words)

Shaunagh Brown’s story is anything but ordinary. Raised in Peckham, south-east London, the daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother, she discovered early that barriers were invitations to improvise. At 20 she qualified as a British Gas engineer, then swapped boilers for breathing apparatus to work as a commercial diver and, later, as a full-time firefighter with Kent Fire & Rescue.

At the same time she pursued elite sport. After representing England in the hammer throw at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Shaunagh was persuaded to try rugby - aged 25, with zero experience. Two years later she debuted for the Red Roses, as the England Women’s rugby team are affectionally known and over the next five seasons collected 30 caps, back-to-back Grand Slams and a place in the 2021 Rugby World Cup final (played in 2022). In December 2022 she retired from international rugby to focus on driving change off the field.

Today Shaunagh is a rugby ambassador for Royal London and a sought-after speaker and host. Her sessions fuse frontline tales - from fire engines and diving construction sites to Twickenham, the hoke of English rugby - into actionable lessons on leading under pressure, embedding diversity and building cultures where every voice is heard.

A member of the RFU’s Rugby Against Racism working group, she was named one of the Evening Standard’s Most Influential Londoners and shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year “Influencer of the Year” award. When she isn’t on stage she mentors young athletes, dissects the latest women’s-sport sponsorship deals and plans her next adventure - because, as she puts it, “once you’ve been in a scrum, everything else feels possible.” 

One that doesn’t give away the story (75 words)

Shaunagh Brown has lived a life of surprising left turns: from elite athlete to emergency-services professional and beyond. Today she competes on stages and in boardrooms instead of stadiums, sharing frontline lessons on resilience, inclusion and high-performance teamwork. What she reveals on stage is both gripping and practical, yet the route she took remains her most powerful twist - one she keeps under wraps until the applause fades. Expect to leave energised, equipped and ready to rewrite your own story. 

Something a bit more ‘var, var, voom’ (59 words)

Bored of cookie-cutter keynotes? Strap in. Shaunagh Brown swaps slick slides for unfiltered stories - she’ll have you laughing, wincing and fist-pumping in minutes, then sprinting out to smash your comfort zone and lead with guts. Real grit, real inclusion, real results. Ready to get scrappy? Because ordinary just left the building.