Some speakers walk onto a stage and deliver a talk. And then there are those like Dr Jaz Ampaw-Farr, who take a room within seconds.

From the moment she began speaking at the Disruptors Festival, the atmosphere in the theatre shifted. She had the room — humour, honesty, vulnerability and presence, all at once. One moment it roared with laughter; the next it fell completely silent. Moving an audience emotionally while keeping them safe enough to laugh is rare, and Jaz did both without apparent effort.

Internationally acclaimed speaker, bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker, Jaz brought far more than motivation to the stage. She brought lived experience. Drawing on a childhood of foster care, trauma, exclusion and survival, her talk explored what it means to become "10% braver" — the small, daily moments where we choose not to let fear decide who we become.

What made the talk land was that Jaz never positioned bravery as perfection. Quite the opposite. She spoke openly about imposter syndrome, about feeling "not good enough," about the stories so many people carry privately for years. She described giving her very first talk and feeling like a complete fraud, even as she introduced herself confidently as "a street kid from Nottingham." Courage rarely waits for confidence. More often, it comes first.

Again and again, she challenged the audience to separate fact from feeling: to see that the stories we tell about ourselves are often rooted in fear, shame, or an outdated version of who we once were. Her message was plain. Your past may explain part of your story. It does not have to become your future.

And yet the talk never became heavy. Jaz folds humour into even the hardest truths. One of the most memorable moments came when she confessed to adjusting her age at various points in life, in pursuit of compliments, opportunities and, ultimately, better presents. The room erupted. It was relatable, perfectly timed and completely human, and it captured why the talk connected: Jaz never spoke at the audience. She brought them in with her.

It became clear that "10% braver" is a practical framework, not a slogan. Whether you are confronting fear, stepping into leadership, unpicking an old story or simply asking yourself a harder question, bravery tends to begin in the moments that make us most uncomfortable.

One question in particular settled over the theatre: "What does success actually mean for me?" You could watch people reflecting where they sat.

Watching the room was as telling as watching the stage. People softened. They laughed harder. They listened differently. There was recognition in the theatre — the uncomfortable, powerful kind that arrives when someone says aloud what others have carried privately for years.

And perhaps that was Jaz's real achievement. She didn't only inspire the room; she gave people permission: to confront what frightens them, to question the stories they've inherited, and to stop letting an outdated version of themselves run the show.

By the end, the feeling in the theatre was hard to miss. People didn't want it to finish. They left inspired, challenged and unexpectedly moved, and judging by the conversations afterwards, that feeling travelled with them.

Jaz Ampaw-Farr is more than an exceptional speaker. She is, by any measure, a force — and on this evidence, one who could fill a comedy theatre as easily as a leadership stage.