Cally Beaton

Cally Beaton is a media executive, entrepreneur and performer. Whilst working on Comedy Central Cally developed her other life as a standup comedian. Despite joining the circuit after already establishing an impressive corporate career, the move has seen her perform at clubs around the UK and front her own show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Bringing humour and energy to her business insight, Cally considers the nature of the workplace and leadership culture. She looks at how to engender change (both personal and organisational), inspire teams and develop a positive, agile and inclusive environment. She also tackles the working priorities and expectations of the so-called millennial generation, and reveals how to be creative whilst keeping an eye on the bottom line. Her personality, love of performance and business knowledge has also seen her coach and train senior figures from a range of industries.

Cally is a natural storyteller full of intelligent, distinctive and punchline-rich material and her star is fast on the rise. She has held senior management positions at some of the biggest media companies in the world including MTV, UKTV and Viacom. Early in her career she headed an independent television production company that was bought by ITV’s Carlton Television (where a certain David Cameron was on the board). She left to set up a successful creative consultancy company, and went on to do a 10 year stint as Senior Vice President at the US studio giant Viacom. There, Cally oversaw a multi-million dollar budget for channels including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount; if you want someone to blame for bringing South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants to the world, you need look no further. She has a Masters in Neuro Linguistic Programming and has worked for many years, alongside her not inconsiderable day jobs, as a sought-after Executive Coach to the great and the good in industry, public life and politics.

It was while working for Comedy Central, on the road with the late, great Joan Rivers, that Cally Beaton was nudged into the sphere of performance. Acting as an unofficial business event warm-up for Ms. Rivers, it was she who told Cally she had what it took to be a stand-up and so, as a 45 year old single parent, Cally first took to the stage. She quickly cemented her position as one of the most exciting and distinctive new stand-ups in the country, with her unflinching, acerbic and intelligent brand of comedy. She has appeared on BBC2’s QI multiple times and as a guest on Radio 4’s Museum Of Curiosity, as well as BBC Radio 6 Music and as a regular contributor on BBC London. In 2019 Cally has appeared as an expert on BBC2’s The Apprentice You’re Fired, as well as a panelist on Radio 4’s The Unbelievable Truth with David Mitchell and BBC’s The Blame Game. Cally also writes for The Guardian.

Teemat: Let Me Entertain You: Lessons from the Television Industry for Success in a Virtual World | Confessions of a Public Speaker | Getting your Work Life to work for YOU | Networking, Allyship & Mentoring | Change & Reinvention | Negotiation & Influencing – Making it easy for the other party to say ‘YES’ | Thriving in the ’New’ Remote Workplace | Business Mentoring | Creativity | Diversity