NO MORE
Sidelines.
YOUR LIFE
Your Terms.
Winning on your terms does not mean you never lose. It means you stop letting someone else’s scoreboard decide your worth
Meet Kolleen
Meet Dr. Kolleen Dougherty — physician, coach, author, speaker, and enthusiastic believer that nobody was meant to spend their life warming the bench.
For more than two decades, Kolleen has worked in the high-stakes world of medicine as an Ivy League–trained, double board-certified anesthesiologist and critical care physician. Translation: she knows pressure, she knows leadership, and she knows what happens when people are expected to perform at their best in rooms that do not always make space for them.
She also knows what it feels like to be sidelined — and what it takes to step back in.
Today, Kolleen helps audiences stop shrinking, stop waiting for permission, and stop playing by rules that were never designed for their full potential. Through personal stories, practical tools, and a healthy dose of humor, she teaches people how to reclaim their voice, own their power, and win on their own terms.
Because life is not a spectator sport.
And Kolleen is here to remind people that they still belong in the game.
Kolleen is authentic, compelling, and impossible not to connect with. Her story of rising through challenge and reclaiming her power inspires audiences to stop sitting on the sidelines of their own lives. This is a message everyone/everywhere needs to hear
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Kolleen’s Keynote Topics
Get Back in the Game
How to Stop Being Sidelined in Your Own Life and Win on Your Terms
Overview:
Too many high-achieving people are sitting on the sidelines of their own lives — waiting to be chosen, waiting to feel ready, waiting for permission, or trying to win by someone else’s rules.
In this energizing keynote, Dr. Kolleen Dougherty helps audiences recognize where they have been shrinking, self-editing, or giving away their power — and shows them how to step back into the game with confidence, clarity, and courage.
Drawing from her experience as an Ivy League–trained, double board-certified physician, certified coach, author, and leader in high-pressure rooms, Kolleen blends powerful storytelling, humor, and practical tools to help people reclaim their voice and redefine success on their own terms.
Key takeaways:
Audience members will learn how to:
Recognize the subtle ways they sideline themselves at work, in leadership, and in life.
Stop waiting for permission, perfect confidence, or the “right moment” to begin.
Reclaim their voice with simple, usable language for high-pressure moments.
Redefine winning based on purpose, integrity, impact, and self-trust.
Take one brave next move to get back in the game.
Audience:
Best for leadership conferences, healthcare organizations, corporate events, professional associations, and college or graduate school audiences. This is the broadest, most universal keynote — ideal for events focused on confidence, courage, resilience, leadership, and helping people stop sitting on the sidelines of their own lives.
No More Benchwarming
How to Reclaim Your Voice, Use Your Power, and Lead from Where You Are
Overview:
Most people do not lose their power all at once. They give it away in small moments — by staying quiet, apologizing too quickly, over-explaining, avoiding the hard conversation, or waiting for someone else to invite them in.
In this practical and motivating keynote, Kolleen shows audiences how to stop warming the bench of their own potential and start leading from exactly where they are.
With warmth, wit, and real-world insight from the high-stakes world of medicine, Kolleen teaches audiences how to recognize power leaks, speak with more confidence, and use their influence without becoming louder, harder, or someone they are not.
Key takeaways:
Audience members will learn how to:
Identify where they are “benchwarming” instead of participating fully.
Replace self-diminishing language with clear, confident communication.
Use their voice without over-apologizing, over-explaining, or shrinking.
Interrupt interruptions and reclaim their contribution without drama.
Build confidence through action instead of waiting to feel ready.
Audience:
Best for corporate teams, employee resource groups, healthcare departments, emerging leaders, and professionals in high-pressure or traditionally rigid industries such as medicine, law, finance, tech, engineering, and academia. This topic works especially well as a practical workshop or breakout session focused on communication, visibility, self-advocacy, and using your voice at work.
Win on Your Terms
How to Stop Chasing Someone Else’s Scoreboard and Start Playing Your Own Game
Overview:
Success can look impressive from the outside and still feel misaligned on the inside. Many people spend years chasing approval, titles, perfection, or external validation — only to realize they are winning a game they never chose.
In this inspiring keynote, Kolleen helps audiences step back, reassess the scoreboard, and define success in a way that is powerful, personal, and sustainable.
Through storytelling, coaching tools, and humor, Kolleen invites audiences to stop measuring their worth by outdated rules and start building lives and careers rooted in courage, clarity, and authenticity.
Key takeaways:
Audience members will learn how to:
Recognize when they are chasing someone else’s version of success.
Separate external achievement from internal alignment.
Define what “winning” actually means in their current season of life.
Make decisions from self-trust instead of fear, guilt, or approval-seeking.
Create a practical personal scoreboard based on values, energy, purpose, and impact.
Best audience: healthcare leadership, professional women, equity events, resilience conferences, corporate audiences, academic medicine.
Audience:
Best for high-achieving professionals, physicians, executives, entrepreneurs, leaders, wellness conferences, burnout programs, and retreats. This keynote is ideal for audiences who look successful on paper but are ready to redefine success, stop chasing someone else’s scoreboard, and build a life and career aligned with their own values.
If you’re ready to help your people stop watching life from the sidelines, reclaim their voice, and win on their own terms, you’re in the right place.
After hearing KOLLEEN, your audience will gain:
A new definition of power — one rooted in self-trust, clarity, courage, and the ability to stay connected to yourself under pressure.
Practical tools to stop self-editing — so they can speak up, take up space, and stop waiting for permission to participate fully in their own lives.
A clear way to recognize when they have been sidelined — at work, in relationships, in leadership, or in their own dreams.
Actionable steps to get back in the game — including how to use their voice, make brave next moves, and reclaim agency one decision at a time.
A healthier definition of winning — one that is not based on someone else’s scoreboard, but on purpose, integrity, impact, and living on their own terms.
The confidence to lead from where they are — without needing to be louder, harder, perfect, or fully fearless first.
A renewed sense of possibility — and the reminder that they are not here to sit on the bench of their own life.
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"Doctoring While Female is a must read for all women entering the workforce. Dr. Dougherty shares the real life stories she faced as a female physician — similar to what many other women face at work. The invaluable lessons learned after two decades of practicing medicine in a world of mansplaining, interruptions, and being bypassed by less experienced men for promotions are relatable, and her advice on how to move through it, despite these hurdles, provide insightful and actionable advice for readers.”
Julie Roginsky & Gretchen Carlson; Co - Founders of Lift Our Voices
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“Doctoring While Female is part memoir, part wake-up call. Dr. Dougherty takes you behind the scenes of academic medicine and shows what it’s really like to be a woman in a male-dominated world. It’s raw, smart, and unflinchingly honest. Whether you’re a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, a working mom, raising children, or just want a powerful read—you’ll be entertained, enraged, and deeply moved. She doesn’t just tell her story—she gives women real tools to navigate the workplace minefield. It’s a must-read for anyone who cares about equity and change in the workplace”
Tiffany Moon, M.D., FASA; Real Housewives of Dallas; CEO/founder of LeadHerSummit; author
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"Dr Dougherty, through her candid sharing of her life story, brings the reader into the medical world and what it is like behind closed doors of academic medicine. Vying for promotions and non-clinical time allocation, attending meetings, professional peer reviews and even what shoes one picks can be fodder for comment by the male majority. Filled with timely statistics on what it means to work in male dominated American careers, Dr Dougherty uses her life as an example to bring these damning statistics to life. I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Dougherty as a mentor for the seven years I practiced Anesthesia with her."
Jenny Thompson,M.D.; Pediatric Anesthesiologist; 12 time Olympic medalist
Dr. Kolleen Dougherty helps audiences stop being sidelined in their own lives. Through powerful storytelling, practical coaching tools, and hard-won wisdom from the high-pressure world of medicine, she teaches people how to reclaim their voice, use their power with confidence, and define success on their own terms.