Lea was one of our main speakers for EY Knowledge’s global virtual learning week in early 2021 where she talked about “Thrive! Enhancing your work through Visible Wellbeing”. Our audience was thrilled to hear her explore and explain simple ways to make wellbeing more visible to ourselves and others by harnessing the positive momentum when our wellbeing is high and addressing moments when our wellbeing is low. A fantastic session!
— Marco Hoenig, People & Professional Development Leader | Global Markets - EY Knowledge, Ernst & Young
Dr. Lea Waters is a substantive and inspirational speaker. She is also one of those rare speakers who brings research to life so that it can be directly applied in practice. She is engaging, informative and impactful, providing lasting impacts on the audience who is fortunate enough to hear her speak.
— Jane Dutton PhD, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Lea Waters is a terrific speaker. As an educator and parent, she brings real-life experience to her presentations. As an experienced speaker, she knows how to connect with diverse audiences with warmth and humor. I always enjoy being in the audience when she is on stage; I know I’m in good hands and that I’ll leave the talk informed and inspired.
— James Pawelski, Executive Director, International Positive Psychology Association
I have had the good fortune to work with Lea on two different projects. With unusual swiftness and insight, Lea brought scholarly wisdom, practical knowledge, and deft strategic thinking to our collaboration to design a just in time, blended learning experience for parents. Additionally, Lea shared her knowledge of strengths-based parenting with a community audience at Mayerson Academy. She was an absolute inspiration to our staff, partners and those in attendance. In her remarks and follow-up conversations she simultaneously offered encouragement, challenge, and empathy for each one of the highly engaged attendees. If you have the chance to welcome Lea to your community or collaborate with her on a project, do it!
— Jillian Coppley Darwish, President, Mayerson Academy
Lea presented a webinar for 250+ participants during our 2018 annual online conference. Everything about her session was top-notch: Quality of materials, content, level of engagement, presentation skills, etc. Lea also cut short a family holiday to be available for the event, delivering her presentation free of charge to help us raise funds for charity. Lea was originally recommended to me by a highly respected international speaker, so I had high expectations - and she certainly didn't disappoint! I'd love to work with Lea again in the future, and would certainly recommend her to others.
— Pedro Gondim, CEO at Mental Health Academy
Lea is an outstanding storyteller, translating academia into practical action through a presentation style that creates a sense of connection with her. Her knowledge, warmth and capacity to lead profound change makes her an asset to anyone fortunate enough to work with her.
— Laura Allison, Director of Wellbeing at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Perth
We had the wonderful opportunity to have Lea Waters speak to our school community and teachers and parents from other Institutions that were invited. Since the beginning, Lea's warmth and humor captured the nearly 300 people in the audience. She truly has the ability to bring the science of her research to practical examples, which eases the understanding of how the strength-based approach can be applied in real life. Her presentation, as a renowned leader and expert on positive psychology, had a very significant impact in our school community. Her visit has motivated us to keep working on the approach to Positive Education that has been implemented at our school. Lea's research on positive education and strength-based parenting has been an inspiration for me and has influenced my vision as a school leader.
— Gabriela Peña Pompa, MAd, Vice-Principal, Interamerican School
We were thrilled to welcome Dr. Lea Waters to speak to our faculty about the Strength Switch to really think about how we can leverage strengths in our students and in our faculty and in our community, to help us to become stronger students, stronger learners, stronger community members. All of the faculty walked away empowered to support our students in ways they haven’t quite thought about before. Lea's presentation style was warm and welcoming. She gave us tools ourselves that we could model for our students in the classroom, like the brain boost, and really called upon us to think deeply about strengths in ourselves and our own students. This was such a powerful message and especially meaningful to all of us so we’re incredibly grateful to her.
— Jen Halliday, Assistant Head of School, Friends Academy, Long Island, NY
Professor Lea Waters was amazing to work with on our Think with Google video series, On the Line. Her insights on how positive psychology can support brands - and people - to be more resilient in times of change were invaluable as businesses continue to navigate the pandemic. We'd love to work with her again.
— Mark Wheeler, Head of YouTube and Large Customer Marketing, Google
Professor Lea Waters is a highly knowledgeable and very engaging presenter. I cannot speak highly enough of her depth of knowledge in the field of Positive Psychology and Positive Education. Her personal and professional commitment to student and wider community wellbeing is exemplary. Professor Waters was instrumental in the establishment of PESA, Australia's Positive Education Schools Association, and her ongoing support has been instrumental in the growth of our association. A truly outstanding academic and presenter.
— Marita Hayes-Brown, CEO at PESA - Positive Education Schools Association, Ltd.
Working with Professor Lea Waters is insightful, inspiring and invigorating; indeed she lives and breathes every aspect of Visible Wellbeing. Lea’s outstanding ability to connect with others enables her to develop strong rapport with those she works with. She is a woman to be admired and a role model for all.
— Joanne Wastle, Principal, Kambrya College, VIC, Australia
Dr. Lea Waters is a captivating and engaging speaker who was able to hold the attention of a room full of 50 Senior leaders and executives from across tech, telecommunications, finance and government. Her balance of insightful, accessible research and energizing interactive sessions was both entertaining and enriching. Dr. Waters inspired, educated and motivated the attendees, and we are already planning a repeat event with her.
— Rachel Slattery, Director, SlatteryIT
Lea is an outstanding and inspirational leader. Her courage, professionalism and passion for positive psychology are contagious. She is a delight to know and a pleasure to work with.
— Alex Johnstone, CEO, IPC Health
If you are a parent or an educator and you haven’t engaged with Lea’s work you are missing out on the greatest paradigm shift I have encountered. Lea’s focus on well being and strength based approach to parenting is not only inspiring it has profound impact on school culture and family life. The next best thing is Lea is leading the world in these areas, from our very own backyard in Melbourne, Australia. Thanks Lea for your leadership, passion and pioneering work devoted to ensuring we can be the best version of ourselves!
— Dr. Steven Middleton, Head of Berwick Grammar School
Much has transpired across our school, as a direct result of our visit with Lea Waters. All three of her presentations greatly exceeded our expectations, for a number of reasons. Having Lea meet with and speak to our teaching faculty seemed to amplify and energize the faculty, right at a time when you want this to happen - at the very beginning of the school year. We have moved from having a handful of staff interested in and incorporating strengths into the work that they do with students to having a much larger cross-section of our staff using strengths. Our leadership team has begun to incorporate strengths with their teams, creating wordles and using strengths when giving feedback; our outdoor education teachers incorporated a strengths-spotting activity into our senior students' four-day canoe expedition; guidance counsellors are using strengths to help students discover their passions and interests for post-secondary research; our language teachers have incorporated strengths into their curriculum; and finally our residential heads of houses are using a strengths-based approach in their combined 'parenting'/teaching approach with students living in residences at our schools. To say that Lea Waters presentations sparked a strengths movement in our school would be an understatement! And finally, the feedback we have received from the wider community - our parents, teachers within local and neighbouring schools as well as community partners in the field of health and education were all incredibly grateful for the opportunity to hear Lea Waters speak at our school during the evening parent presentation. Opening the doors to the wider community was certainly in line with the spirit of positive psychology - sharing and collaborating to make the lives of our children and students a better place to live, learn and grow. Having Lea Waters here at our school was absolutely the boost we needed to move our school further ahead in the field of positive education.
— Kirsten Johnston, Associate Director of Guidance, Lakefield College School
One of the best decisions we made as a school about to implement a whole-school move towards Positive Education, was to invite an inspirational speaker to provide all-staff training. Lea was more than inspirational. She provided a depth of knowledge in science and research, as well as resourcing teachers and school leaders in practical ways to teach students, support growth and impact the wider community. . . Lea's impact at CIS was significant and we continue to appreciate having had such a respected and renowned world leader who not only had a remarkable depth in knowledge and an engaging teaching style, but also the ability to connect with people - students, adults, parents, teachers alike.
— Su Fenwick, Head of Student Support, Chinese International School
I have worked with Lea closely as an educator in both Hong Kong and New York and have seen her inspire teachers and parents in both contexts. She has a rare combination of superb academic qualifications matched with a deft personal touch. I recommend her highly!
— Sarah McLean, Director at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, NYC
Lea’s speaking style is dynamic, engaging and lively. She has the ability to distill complex psychological science and the intricacies of research into layman’s terminology, thus ensuring her audience connects with, and understands, the material she is presenting.
— Marita Hayes-Brown, Chief Executive Officer & Company Secretary, Positive Education Schools Association Ltd
I met Lea during my Master in Instructional Leadership at the University of Melbourne, studying her subject in Positive Psychology. She is simply a phenomenal speaker, academic, educator and communicator and her insights have had a disproportionally positive impact on my worldview as a leader and educator. Lea is brilliant at translating complex scientific findings into clear, actionable tasks, bridging the gap between theory and practice. She recently shared her insights in positive psychology and positive education on the Educhange podcast which I run, sharing her message with our educator community.
— Louka Parry, Director, Education Changemakers
Lea is a dynamic, intelligent and highly accessible presenter who clearly articulates evidence-based practice and fully engages participants through a balanced program of lectures, relevant case studies, group discussions, critical reflection and simulation. After two days in her company I feel empowered to introduce positive psychology principles in my workplace to inspire an authentic leadership culture focused on employee wellbeing and performance.
I highly recommend Professor Lea Waters.
— Melissa Branagh, Epworth Medical Imaging
We were delighted to present Dr. Lea Waters to our community. The feedback received was positive. Both staff and parents thought that Lea's strategies were easy to implement and would improve their relationships with their students/children.
— Gabriela Maiz, Eagle Parent University Director, American School Foundation of Monterrey
It was an absolutely great experience to have Lea spend the day with us – we learned so much from her and were inspired by her! Her wisdom and vitality totally energized us as we move towards embracing a strength-based and Pos Ed approach to student learning and wellbeing at Appleby.
— Tom Karcz, Assistant Head of School: Student Life, Appleby College
The student appreciative inquiry was instrumental in building a culture of wellbeing at Good Shepherd. Students were able to affirm and celebrate their collective identity and generate a strong and aspirational voice that was heard right through to our formal strategic planning documents. Students from a wide range of ages were able to engage in this event and it was critical in building a strong sense of connectedness across the College and setting a clear and empowering direction for our future development.
— Darren Boyce MAPP, Med, Bed, GradCertTheol., Head of Positive Education, Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Northern Territory, AU