Laylee Emadi | Coach for Speakers & Educators

If you’ve ever dreamed of standing on a stage (or in front of a Zoom room) and getting paid to share what you know, this episode is for you. Brittni sits down with Laylee Emadi, a coach for speakers and educators, founder of The Creative Educator Conference, and the mind behind the coaching membership The Educators Lounge, to talk about what it actually takes to build a profitable career around teaching and speaking.

Meet Laylee Emadi

Laylee is an educator, speaker, and conference host with a heart for serving clients and fellow entrepreneurs. Through her coaching membership, The Educators Lounge, and as founder of The Creative Educator Conference, she equips fellow entrepreneurs to make an impact by teaching what they know. She believes in leading with heartfelt encouragement and honest guidance, and as a longtime entrepreneur, she isn’t afraid to dig into tough topics or transparently share her own experiences — the good and the bad.

From classroom to camera to coaching

Laylee’s path started as a high school teacher, which gave her a strong foundation in education long before she became an entrepreneur. From there she moved into photography, first shooting dancers (drawing on her own background as a dance teacher and choreographer), then high school seniors, and eventually weddings for a handful of years. As her photography business grew, former students and clients started asking how she used her gear and how she built her business — and that curiosity sparked her shift into teaching other creatives. Today, her work sits at a unique intersection: she teaches entrepreneurs, coaches, and course creators how to actually teach well, blending her educator’s toolkit with her firsthand experience building a creative business.

Professional speaker vs. professional who speaks

One of the most useful distinctions Laylee shares is the difference between being a professional speaker and being a professional in your industry who also speaks. Professional speakers typically get paid well to show up, deliver a talk, and leave — often building additional income through books or related offers. Professionals who speak within their own industry, especially in the creative space, are rarely paid much (if anything) for the opportunity itself. Instead, the value comes from the relationships, visibility, and backend sales that speaking generates.

Laylee is candid that she still speaks for free fairly often, but structures those engagements so she consistently walks away with four or five figures in backend revenue through her membership, courses, and coaching offers. The lesson: unpaid speaking can absolutely be profitable if you have something strategic to offer once you’re in front of the right room.

What separates the two, really

According to Laylee, the real differentiator is expertise — specifically, how much time and effort you’ve invested in becoming excellent at speaking itself, not just at your craft. Being great at what you do doesn’t automatically make you a great speaker; that’s its own skill built through practice and intention. If you haven’t put in that work, you’re likely not ready to pitch corporate keynote stages, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be speaking at industry events aimed at your niche audience.

Corporate speaking opportunities also work differently on the money side. Corporate budgets typically belong to the company, not to the individual booking the speaker, so there’s often more room to negotiate a solid fee. Industry events, on the other hand, are frequently funded by individuals or small businesses with far less budget to work with — which is exactly why building strong backend offers (coaching, courses, memberships, digital products) matters so much for creative entrepreneurs.

Getting booked: strategy over guesswork

So how do you actually land these opportunities? Laylee breaks it down into two parts. First, get strategic about finding audiences that align with your message — for her, that means seeking out spaces with more women in the audience who resonate with her topics. Second, expect to do real outreach: researching companies, deciding whether you’re open to travel, and finding the right point of contact to pitch. It’s a job in itself, and for full-time professional speakers, pitching and booking talks often is the job. For creative entrepreneurs with a broader ecosystem of offers, Laylee’s approach is often to trade a lower or unpaid fee for exposure and student growth, since the backend impact matters more to her long-term goals.

What you need before you start pitching

Before reaching out to book any speaking engagement, Laylee recommends having a few essentials ready to go:

• One or two clear, well-summarized speaking topics you’re passionate about (nothing has to be permanent — this can evolve)
• A strong professional bio
• A handful of professional photos
• Speaking footage, if you have it (though it’s not a dealbreaker if you don’t)
• Testimonials, if available

Having these pieces pulled together in a clean, concise format signals professionalism and makes it far easier for event organizers to say yes. Laylee has a free resource to help you build exactly this, linked below.

Where to find Laylee

Laylee is most active on Instagram, where she shares openly about education, speaking, and building impact. Right now, the best ways to work with her directly are through her membership, The Educators Lounge, or by attending The Creative Educator Conference, held annually each spring.

Connect with Laylee Emadi

• Instagram: @laylee_emadi
• Free resource: layleeemadi.com/resources