Sophie-Anne Onland knows how to move a room without making it feel heavy. She combines vulnerability with humor, making topics like inclusion, self-acceptance, and representation accessible and impactful. On stage, she is open, direct, and connecting. Her story touches on personal leadership, mental resilience, and the power of differences, showing how diversity can become a strength within teams and organizations.
TEDx Talk with a Universal Message
From her teenage years, Sophie-Anne tried to hide her congenital leg difference. Under long pants and a skin-colored prosthesis, she concealed not just her disability but a part of herself.
In 2021, she decided to do things differently. She swapped her camouflage prosthesis for a sparkling silver one, put on a dress, and stepped out with a simple message: “Here I am. Bring it on.” This choice changed everything and forms the foundation of her story about visibility, self-acceptance, and the courage to show yourself.
Her visibility led to a feature in LINDA.meiden and an overwhelming response from people who felt “different” for various reasons. This insight became the basis for her TEDx talk, which won the TEDxAmsterdamWomen Talent Night in 2021 and has since been viewed thousands of times. She continues to reach a growing audience on social media, sharing her story about visibility, inclusion, and self-acceptance.
Sophie-Anne’s story goes beyond a prosthesis. It speaks to a universal desire: to belong, to adapt, and ultimately to have the courage to show yourself fully. Her message naturally extends to teamwork, collaboration, and creating environments where people feel safe to be themselves.
Broad Applicability
Although Sophie-Anne is known for her work on visibility and inclusion, her expertise applies much more broadly. She addresses topics relevant to every organization: psychological safety, leadership in times of change, stalled innovation due to culture, collaboration under pressure, personal visibility and ownership, mental resilience, and the impact of assumptions on decision-making.
Where technology, strategy, or growth are central, people, behavior, and culture are always decisive. That is where her strength lies. Sophie-Anne links personal courage to professional impact, showing how safety accelerates innovation, visibility improves collaboration, and thinking differently drives organizational progress. She is therefore not only a D&I speaker but also a speaker on human leadership in a changing world—equally relevant at IT conferences, leadership events, strategic offsites, HR days, or transformation meetings.
Entrepreneurship and NinetyNine Agency
In addition to speaking and moderating, Sophie-Anne founded NinetyNine Agency, a talent and strategic consultancy that makes people with disabilities more visible in media, campaigns, and marketing. Her agency works at the intersection of talent development, positioning, and systemic change, supporting talent in their visibility and advising organizations on embedding representation strategically rather than symbolically.
This entrepreneurship is a natural extension of her mission. While she speaks on visibility, safety, and culture on stage, her agency actively builds a more inclusive playing field. As an entrepreneur, she also speaks about visionary leadership, creating movement, and having the courage to set a new narrative—turning talk into action.
D&I Expertise and Workplace Impact
Alongside her personal story, Sophie-Anne brings extensive professional experience. She has worked on diversity and inclusion initiatives within organizations such as Randstad, Nationale Postcode Loterij, and ABN AMRO, giving her deep insight into making sensitive topics approachable in teams and leadership contexts.
She provides clear and practical insights on visibility, inclusion, and psychological safety, helping organizations build cultures where differences are embraced rather than merely tolerated.
In addition to her speaking work, Sophie-Anne continues to develop as an entrepreneur with her own agency.
