Jaz Ampaw-Farr – Everyday Hero

By thehealingplacepodcast | April 12, 2019

Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.

What an absolute joy it was to chat “across the pond” with the beautiful, hilarious, and inspirational Jaz Ampaw-Farr. From her TEDx talk to her international motivational presentations, she is empowering others along their healing journeys. Thank you, Jaz for helping leave this world a better place – from your Tampax donation in the school bathroom to your work in prisons to your ability to make us laugh – your enthusiasm is contagious.

I encourage you to grab your tissues and watch her 11 minute TEDx talk. I promise it will be worth it!

Bio:

“It would be easy to say, you’ve never met anyone like Jaz before. Her passion for the potential
we can uncover in ourselves when we are just 2% braver and her insight into how to remove
the barriers that hinder connection between us and those we seek to influence make Jaz one of
those people you will never forget.

Jaz’s story is one of growing up in the midst of most appalling abuse, poverty and hardship
during which she encountered five adults (and, importantly, one pimp) whose belief in her
literally saved her life. She shares her fantastic journey of how saying yes first allowed her to
progress from council estate and foster care to advising international governments on
education policy.

There are many messages leaders take away from listening to Jaz deliver keynotes across the
UK, in the US (where she’s being called ‘The British Oprah’!) and elsewhere. Clearly, the
impact that we have to connect and transform lives comes through loud and clear but there is
more to it than just that.

Jaz also embodies the idea of bravery and the willingness to be defined by what you’ve tried
even if you fail, rather than by what you could have done. Both her (very) brief stint on TV’s The
Apprentice, more substantial skills as a presenter on BBC’s Hard Spell Abbey and her career as
a stand up comedian are good examples of this. And she shows that a human being can be
subject to the worst depravities of her fellow humans and not only survive, but thrive – and do
so without anger or bitterness.

It is true, we are more than our stories, and Jaz shares strategies and insights in her work with
humour, energy, honesty and an unswerving optimism in people and in authentic connection in
particular. Full of practical advice, for leaders from all industries, including the corporate,
health and education sectors, her message is neatly summed up in her own words to those five
teachers from her past and the title of her best selling book – Because Of You – This Is Me.”