Allison Shapira, MPA

Allison Shapira is an opera singer turned entrepreneur and author. One of the world’s most in-demand public speaking experts, she is the CEO/Founder of the communication training firm Global Public Speaking and author of the new book Speak with Impact: How to Command the Room and Influence Others (HarperCollins Leadership, 2018).

Allison is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School and has spent the last 15 years working with Fortune 50 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations worldwide.

With a special focus on women’s leadership and women’s empowerment through confidence-building, she works extensively with women leaders in the corporate and nonprofit sectors and travels around the world with the nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership, helping women grow their business, run for office, or launch a non-profit organization.

Allison holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and is an internationally-renowned singer/songwriter who uses music as a way to help others find their voice and their courage to speak. She speaks Italian and Hebrew, has studied 8 other languages, and has led programs on site in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.

She was a finalist for 2017 Woman Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners, San Diego Chapter, and she is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review. She has been interviewed in Forbes, Bloomberg, Market Watch, Fast Company, and CNBC. She lives in Washington, DC.