We catch up with the youngest motivational speaker in the world

At just 13-years-old, Vanessa isn’t your ordinary teenager - she’s an international, multi-award-winning, motivational speaker who aims to give adults and children alike the courage to be who they want to be. If that wasn’t enough, she’s also a YouTuber, author and TV presenter, too. Here, she tells us about her heart-felt hopes for the future.

I started motivational speaking in 2016 when I was nine-years-old. I attended an inspirational seminar, and one of the speakers was Warren Inspire Ryan. My mum and I have been following him on social media for ages, so were extremely excited to finally meet him. At the event, a couple minutes before he was supposed to go on stage, he asked me if I wanted to go up with him. Immediately I thought to myself ‘no way!’, but I also didn’t want to let him down and seem disrespectful because I didn’t accept the opportunity. In the end, luckily, I said some affirmations and went on stage. I had some knowledge about self-development after watching my mum’s experience with it. In the moment, I had a surreal realisation. I realised that although I am very introverted, I can be very bubbly and I’m always talking and I always wanted to do something in the future that would result in me helping others. Once I came to the conclusion that motivational speaking was the perfect thing for me, Mum and I continued to attend more events and I soon started to gain a following on social media and getting booked for engagements.