Sonia Houria Rivas
Speaker · Author · Explorer · Founder, Women Make Waves
Speaking
What happens when a woman stops surviving and starts leading? Everything changes. Sonia Houria Rivas shows you how.
From ancient wisdom to modern research – a blueprint for resilience, belonging and real performance.
Sonia is a French-Tunisian speaker, author, and explorer whose work sits at the intersection of ancestral wisdom, modern neuroscience, and lived experience. Drawing on her own journey from burnout and depression to embodied leadership – and from her Amazigh heritage to the Australian coast – she delivers keynotes and workshops that don’t just inspire. They activate.
Her audiences leave with tools they actually use, and a renewed sense of what’s possible when safety becomes the foundation of everything.
Featured Talk
Inspiring leaders, teams, and communities to connect, adapt and thrive.
Safety First: The Human Blueprint for Resilience, Belonging & Real Performance
A keynote for leaders, teams, and communities ready to do things differently.
We are in a crisis of disconnection. Mental health is declining. Burnout is rising. Belonging has become a business buzzword with no body behind it.
But this isn’t new; and our ancestors knew the way through.
Drawing on the lived wisdom of her Tunisian Amazigh ancestry, insights from traditional cultures worldwide, and the latest research in neuroscience and trauma-informed leadership, Sonia reveals the one thing that makes everything else possible: safety as a prerequisite to healing, performance, and genuine human connection.
This isn’t theory. It’s a blueprint – tested in her own healing journey, confirmed through years of working with hundreds of women, and now being carried across one of the world’s most inhospitable landscapes in the Sahara Project.
Your audience will leave with:
– A new understanding of why psychological safety isn’t “soft” — it’s strategic
– Practical tools for regulating their nervous system under pressure
– An ancestral framework for building resilient teams and communities
– Permission to lead from their whole humanity, not just their productivity
Ideal for:
Corporate wellbeing, DEI and culture conferences, women’s leadership events, NFP and social impact organisations, health and wellness summits
Adidas Inspire Series
Talk Library
All talks can be adapted for keynotes (45–60 min), breakout sessions (30–45 min), or workshop format (90 min–half day). Custom talks available on request.
Resilience & Performance
A keynote for leaders, teams, and communities ready to do things differently.
The Resilience Equation: Courage + Culture + Connection
What ancestral communities have always known about bouncing back — and what modern organisations are only beginning to measure. A framework for building teams that adapt, recover, and grow stronger through change.
Fear as an Ally: Turning Stress into Strategic Advantage
We’re taught to manage fear. Sonia teaches you to work with it. Drawing on breathwork, neuroscience, and her own near-death experiences in the ocean, this talk rewires how your team relates to pressure, risk, and the unknown.
Pushing Limits Without Breaking
The real story of peak performance: how to expand capacity and achieve ambitious goals without burning out — by understanding the mind and working with the body’s natural rhythms, not against them.
Unshakable Confidence: The Art of Self-Trust
The difference between confidence and self-confidence, and why only one of them will hold when things get hard. A deep, practical dive into what makes leaders — and people — unshakeably grounded.
Identity, Culture & Belonging
Thriving Through Change: Identity, Adaptability, and Resilience
Why knowing who you are — and where you come from — is your greatest competitive advantage in uncertain times. Tools for leading through disruption without losing yourself.
Wisdom in Action: Cultural Preservation as a Modern Leadership Skill
How protecting ancestral knowledge offers a blueprint for sustainability, innovation, and ethical leadership. A talk that challenges organisations to think about what wisdom they might be discarding in the name of progress.
From Disconnection to Belonging: Nature-Based Teachings for Modern Life
Practical ways to apply ancestral rhythms in urban settings to improve mental health, deepen team connection, and inspire collective action.
Women, Wellbeing & Healing
Whole Again: Safety as a Prerequisite to Healing
(Based on Sonia’s forthcoming book)
What does it actually take for a woman to heal? Not cope – heal. This talk explores the conditions that make transformation possible, and why most wellbeing programs miss the most important step.
Breath, Body & Courage: Ancient Practices for Modern Women
A sensory, experiential keynote that moves beyond inspiration into activation – using breathwork, somatic tools, and ancestral wisdom to help women release fear, restore balance, and reconnect with their power.
What's It Like To Be In The Room
Her keynote set the tone: honest, brave, and deeply connective. People didn’t just leave inspired, they left empowered. Activated with practical tools, stories and a renewed sense of what’s possible.
Attendee, IAMPOWER Summit Kiama
We Rise Networking 2023
I left inspired and ready to step up!
Attendee at We Rise Networking 2023
Sonia Houria Rivas is a speaker, author-in-progress, explorer, and the founder of Women Make Waves. Born in France to a French father and Tunisian Amazigh mother, and raised across three countries, she spent years pursuing society’s version of success — two Master’s degrees, a career in law — before burnout, grief, and a surfing accident that broke her back forced her to stop, and to truly begin.
What she found in that stillness — through breathwork, nervous system work, spiritual practice, and deep ancestral inquiry — became the foundation of everything she teaches. Her method, The HOURIA Process, has guided hundreds of women from survival mode into embodied confidence, self-trust, and whole-life leadership.
She is currently completing her first book, Whole Again: Safety as a Prerequisite to Healing, and preparing for the Sahara Project — a solo expedition across the Saharan desert retracing the nomadic paths of her Amazigh ancestors.
Sonia speaks internationally on resilience, ancestral wisdom, psychological safety, women’s leadership, and cultural conservation. She has spoken at Adidas, IAMPOWER Summit, and We Rise Networking, and has been featured in HEAL Magazine, Mind Blank, and the Illawarra Mercury.
Available for:
Keynotes · Workshops · Panel Facilitation · Retreats · Podcast & Media Appearances
Based in:
New South Wales, Australia · Available nationally and internationally
Ready to Create Lasting Impact Together?
Whether you’re planning a global conference, a corporate wellbeing day, a women’s event, or a community gathering, Sonia will meet your audience exactly where they are, and take them somewhere they didn’t expect to go.
For speaking fees and availability, please reach out directly. Sonia is available for events across Australia and internationally.
