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Amit Kalley is a coach, speaker and co-founder of For Working Parents, a company that helps organisations become more inclusive for their working parents and employees.
A former Deputy Headteacher, Amit Kalley uses his experience and his training as an ICF Coach to create an environment in the workplace that is more empathetic and human and where parents can thrive both at work and at home.
As a speaker, Amit shares his own story to create a culture of compassion and empathy in the workplace, which can and should be more human centric.
Amit Kalley’s story comes from the perspective of an ethnic minority individual diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. Amit talks are a detailed and honest account of coping with the diagnosis and eventual loss of his mother to ovarian cancer all in the midst of planning a wedding.
The focus on this aspect of the story is grief, loss and recovery. Amit also shares his story of having a daughter born during COVID with three holes in her heart and the impact her treatment and eventual surgeries at Great Ormond Street had on him as an individual, a husband and a father.
Amit Kalley has over 10 years experience in education, having been a teacher and then Deputy Headteacher at London schools. After leaving education he qualified as an ICF Coach. He has has an MA in Creative Writing.
Amit and his wife Jaspreet experienced significant challenges during Covid, with their daughter being born in the peak of the pandemic.
With a diagnosis of three holes in her heart, Amit was struck with the terror of a life-threatening prognosis for his daughter. Together with Jaspreet, they felt scared and helpless. Covid restrictions exacerbated an already challenging situation, with only one parent allowed in the hospital.
With open heart surgery cancelled multiple times, surgery finally took place in February 2021 with three long days spent with their baby fighting for her life.
Thankfully, their daughter is now healthy and thriving. However, the experience made Amit and Jaspreet realise that every parent needs support, not just during times of crisis but throughout every step of the parenting journey.
Amit was fortunate to have benefitted from employers that had empathy, understanding and patience but the experience was a stark insight on how hard it can be when a workplace lacks patience, empathy and understanding.
It was a sense of relatability and empathy that motivated Amit and Jaspreet to start For Working Parents. The idea evolved, but the core remained intact: all parents deserve access to the support and resources they need to navigate the ups and downs of parenthood.
For Working Parents also work on turning organisations in to places where parents are supported, where they can come together and share their experiences, and gain the tools they need to tackle challenges, both in their professional and personal lives.
Amit and For Working Parents believe modern parents should not be expected to sacrifice one area of their lives to succeed in the other. Working with parents and organisations alike, Amit helps ensure success in work, while also having a happy family life.
Amit shares his stories as a parent, stories about resilience, perseverance, and the power of support. Amit’s keynote session is designed to share his story in a way that inspires and empowers others, highlighting the importance of a support system, empathy, and understanding in the workplace.
Whether delivered in person or virtually, the session is an engaging and powerful experience that will leave teams feeling inspired and motivated to create a more human, empathetic workplace culture, where each individual is more mindful of the challenges faced by their peers.
Amit’s talk was incredibly powerful and engaging. His story was raw and exposed a vulnerability that is so important for colleagues to see and hear. Our colleagues discussed how it changed their mindset about workplace culture and how being compassionate towards one another is the recipe for a happy environment. A wonderful session.
Amit’s story is powerful and delivered perfectly for the audience – one of the best speakers I have heard. He was able to change his pitch for when it was delivered to leaders and to wider colleagues, yet still capture the audience and share the important message of creating empathy. Highly recommended.
Empathy is something we strive to achieve across our organisation. Amit spoke with passion and was able to really get our staff thinking about the kind of environment they wanted their workplace to be. His passionate and outstanding delivery was talked about a long time after.