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INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER PROFILE
Nicola Barke.
Two-Sport World Champion | TEDx Speaker | Programme Director | Biomedical Scientist | Retired Professional Boxer
From childhood narcolepsy and sixteen years of ballet to world championship martial arts, undefeated professional boxing, major corporate transformation and a new career helping people perform through change.
Nicola Barke — known throughout combat sport as “The Burmese Python” — is a two-sport world champion, TEDx speaker, retired undefeated professional boxer, biomedical science graduate and Programme Director whose career connects elite sport with complex organisational transformation.
Her story has moved through ballet, Taekwondo, kickboxing, Lethwei, professional boxing, healthcare, banking, global transformation leadership and public speaking.
It has also included obstacles that Nicola has chosen to discuss publicly: living with narcolepsy, surviving a serious car crash, experiencing post-traumatic stress, major sporting injuries and being diagnosed with a benign brain tumour at the point she had planned to commit fully to professional boxing.
The result is a keynote perspective built around adaptability, courage, women in leadership, resilience, evidence-led decisions, pressure, identity and the first next step through uncertainty.
World Champion
Taekwondo
Lethwei
UK female trailblazer
5–0
Retired unbeaten boxer
TEDx
Not Just Fists
THE STORY BEFORE COMBAT SPORT
Narcolepsy, ballet and learning to work differently.
Born in Hertfordshire
Nicola Maria Barke was born on 21 August 1993 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
Public biographies describe an upbringing that looked very different from the combat-sport career that would follow.
Growing up with narcolepsy
Nicola has spoken publicly about having narcolepsy from childhood.
Rather than presenting the condition as a motivational slogan, she uses the experience to explain that performance sometimes requires understanding how you personally operate instead of copying somebody else's routine.
Sixteen years of ballet
Speaker biographies describe Nicola spending roughly sixteen years training in ballet before combat sport became her primary competitive outlet.
Ballet developed balance, movement, coordination, repetition and the expectation that technical detail mattered.
An unusual foundation for a fighter
Those years became more relevant later than they initially appeared.
The competitive environment changed dramatically, but the basic lesson remained familiar: movement becomes reliable when practice becomes repeatable.
SCIENCE BEFORE STRATEGY
Biomedical science built an evidence-led way of thinking.
University of the West of England
Nicola studied Biomedical Science at the University of the West of England in Bristol from 2011 to 2014.
She graduated with a First-Class Honours degree.
A scientific mindset
Nicola's own professional profile describes the degree as developing her ability to understand complex concepts, identify key issues, anticipate problems, evaluate research critically and argue a case using evidence.
Those are scientific skills, but they are also useful leadership skills.
Healthcare experience
Her early career included health and education-related work, including experience as a health assistant at Liberec Regional Hospital in the Czech Republic.
She also worked within medical science education and peer-assisted learning.
The connection to today
More than a decade later, Nicola's move into Westfield Health brought her professional career back towards health, wellbeing and the scientific field in which she originally trained.
TAEKWONDO — THE FIRST WORLD TITLE
Three years from beginner to world champion.
Starting in 2009
Nicola began Taekwondo in 2009.
The move from ballet into martial arts appears dramatic, but many of the underlying performance skills transferred: footwork, coordination, timing, disciplined repetition and awareness of space.
2011 — British Champion
Within roughly two years she had reached national championship level.
2012 — World Champion
UK ITF's official 2012 World Championships report records Nicola becoming Adult Female Welterweight Sparring World Champion.
She won the title only three years after beginning the sport.
European honours
Public career profiles also record European-level Taekwondo success alongside her British and world championship achievements.
Olympic pathway
Nicola's professional profile records reaching the final selection group connected with the Rio 2016 Olympic Taekwondo pathway before injury disrupted that route.
It was an early lesson in the difference between being capable of achieving a goal and being able to control every circumstance around it.
FROM SCIENCE TO FINANCE
Elite sport developed beside a full corporate career.
Early professional experience
Nicola's career moved through healthcare, teaching, coaching, recruitment and finance before developing into large-scale corporate transformation.
Public professional biographies record experience associated with organisations and investment environments including Robert Half and private-equity businesses before her HSBC career.
HSBC — from 2015
Nicola joined HSBC in 2015.
Across roughly eleven years she worked through roles spanning sales and service, product, digital, transformation, market activation, project management and global change.
Global Transformation Manager
By 2021 Nicola was publicly listed as a Global Transformation Manager.
UWE Bristol independently reported that she managed a team of approximately 170 people.
Professional speaker profiles also associate her transformation responsibilities with investment portfolios exceeding £30 million.
Two high-pressure worlds
For years, Nicola combined corporate transformation with elite combat sport.
The two environments looked different but repeatedly asked the same questions:
How do you make decisions with incomplete information? How do you respond when pressure changes behaviour? How do you bring people through uncertainty? And how do you adapt without losing purpose?
KICKBOXING & LETHWEI
Choosing a sport where British women had almost no precedent.
Kickboxing championships
Nicola expanded from Taekwondo into K-1 and kickboxing, building experience across different striking systems.
Her professional profiles list multiple British kickboxing championship achievements, including British titles during 2018.
Discovering Lethwei
Nicola then entered one of the most unusual chapters of her sporting career: Lethwei.
The traditional Burmese striking sport allows punches, kicks, knees, elbows and headbutts and historically has been competed without conventional boxing gloves.
The first British woman
UWE Bristol identifies Nicola as the first UK female athlete to compete in Burmese bare-knuckle boxing.
That made participation itself a form of representation.
4 October 2019 — Mandalay
Nicola made her World Lethwei Championship debut at WLC 10: Fearless Tigers at Mandalar Thiri Indoor Stadium in Mandalay, Myanmar.
Fighting Hungary's Bianka Balajti in the co-main event, Nicola won by unanimous decision.
The Burmese Python
The nickname “The Burmese Python” became closely associated with her combat-sport identity.
Career profiles later listed a Lethwei world-title achievement, while UWE Bristol reported her ranked world number two in Lethwei in 2025.
Representing women, not simply winning
Nicola has explained that being underrepresented changed how she viewed the challenge.
Rather than treating the absence of women as proof she did not belong, she began viewing it as an opportunity to make the route more visible for those coming next.
WHEN THE PLAN CHANGES WITHOUT PERMISSION
Resilience became something Nicola had to practise, not simply speak about.
A life-threatening car crash
Nicola has publicly discussed surviving a serious road accident.
UWE Bristol also records her later experience of post-traumatic stress disorder following the crash.
Major sporting injuries
Her combat career has included significant physical setbacks.
Earlier public profiles describe injuries including broken ribs and a serious knee problem that at one stage resulted in time using a wheelchair.
January 2024 — brain-tumour diagnosis
Nicola had planned to begin a sabbatical from HSBC and focus fully on professional boxing after signing with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions and appearing on the TNT Sports platform.
Instead, she publicly announced that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Benign tumour
Nicola later explained publicly that the tumour was benign.
Her fighting licence was temporarily affected while the situation was medically assessed.
In a later update she said that the tumour had grown, delaying the full-time boxing plan again.
Not waiting for life to restart
During the period away from a standard corporate role and uncertain boxing future, Nicola created leadership programmes, delivered talks, commentated on boxing, volunteered in radio, undertook media work and continued developing new professional directions.
That chapter became central to her message about transformation: when one identity becomes temporarily unavailable, progress can still happen somewhere else.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING
Five fights. Five wins. Then choosing a different future.
Why boxing?
Nicola's transition towards professional boxing was partly shaped by circumstances outside the ring.
The Covid period and political instability following the Myanmar military coup severely disrupted the possibility of continuing her Lethwei path in the way she had expected.
Boxing became the discipline she could continue developing consistently.
6 November 2021
Nicola made her professional boxing debut in Maidstone, defeating Tereza Dvorakova on points.
2022
She added points victories over Bojana Libiszewska and Vaida Masiokaite.
2023
Nicola defeated Laura Reoyo, moving to 4–0.
Queensberry Promotions
Her progress led to an agreement associated with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions and TNT Sports.
The opportunity was supposed to coincide with Nicola taking time away from HSBC to focus properly on boxing — until the brain-tumour diagnosis interrupted the plan.
28 June 2024 — Belfast
Nicola eventually returned and made her Queensberry debut at the SSE Arena in Belfast.
She defeated Kerry Haley on points and moved her professional record to 5 wins and 0 defeats.
The record remained unbeaten
No subsequent professional boxing contest appears in the public records reviewed for this profile.
Nicola would later end that chapter without a professional defeat.
TEDxNORTHERNQUARTER
Not Just Fists.
In 2025 Nicola took her story onto the TEDx stage in Manchester. Not Just Fists connects world championship sport, serious setbacks, identity, creativity, courage and the uncomfortable reality behind visible achievement.
Watch “Not Just Fists | Nicola Barke | TEDxNorthernQuarter” on YouTube ↗
BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. BE YOU.
The person behind the achievement matters more than the highlight reel.
Vulnerability on a public stage
Nicola has described the TEDx talk as one of the most personal presentations she had delivered.
She used it to discuss both ends of the performance story: world titles and brain tumours, success and uncertainty, confidence and vulnerability.
A difficult period around the talk
Nicola later shared that the weeks surrounding the TEDx event included significant family bereavement and illness.
That context made the idea behind the talk more immediate: audiences normally see the presentation, not everything the presenter carried into the room.
More than resilience
Nicola's message is not simply to endure more pressure.
It is to understand yourself, change direction when necessary, build support and retain enough flexibility to respond to circumstances you did not choose.
Creativity under pressure
TEDxNorthernQuarter describes Nicola's approach as showing that elite performance is not just power.
Adaptability, innovation and vision also matter when a situation changes faster than the original plan.
2026 — OFFICIALLY RETIRED
Leaving boxing meant rebuilding identity again.
Retirement at 32
In 2026 Nicola publicly confirmed that she had officially retired from professional boxing at the age of thirty-two.
She finished the professional chapter with an undefeated 5–0 record.
Retirement was not simply stopping
Nicola described the experience as losing an identity and having to discover a new path and purpose.
That makes the retirement chapter particularly relevant to leaders and organisations experiencing change.
Transformation on paper is about structures and roles. Transformation in real life often asks a harder question: who am I when something I built my identity around is no longer there?
Ending undefeated
Professional sport did not give Nicola every opportunity she originally imagined.
But she left boxing without a professional loss and with experience spanning ballet, Taekwondo, kickboxing, Lethwei and professional boxing.
NICOLA BARKE TODAY
Back to healthcare. Forward into leadership and speaking.
Westfield Health
In 2026 Nicola joined Westfield Health as Programme Director.
She described the move as a return to her Biomedical Science roots after approximately eleven years in financial services.
Health, wellbeing and transformation
Her new professional chapter combines major programme delivery with an organisation focused on workplace health and wellbeing.
That creates a natural connection between her scientific education, transformation experience and years spent managing performance in elite sport.
Still using sport differently
Retirement has not removed physical challenge from Nicola's life.
Westfield Health reported her completing a long-distance charity cycling challenge from the Netherlands to Sheffield and later acting as a pace-maker at the 2026 British Transplant Games Donor Run.
International keynote & TEDx speaker
Nicola is increasingly building her professional identity around keynote speaking, facilitation, leadership and transformation.
Her current positioning focuses on helping people take the first next step through challenge and change rather than waiting until the entire path becomes clear.
Radio & media
She has also volunteered as a presenter with Sheffield Hospital Radio, appeared across podcasts and sports media and worked in boxing commentary and on-screen performance.
FROM COMBAT TO CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION
Six principles behind Nicola's approach.
Evidence Before Ego
Science, transformation and combat sport all reward people who can respond to evidence rather than defend an outdated assumption.
Adapt Without Losing Purpose
Ballet, Taekwondo, Lethwei, boxing and leadership required different methods while drawing on the same underlying ambition.
Pressure Exposes Preparation
Confidence under pressure is usually built before the difficult moment arrives.
Identity Must Be Flexible
A career, title or role can disappear. Sustainable performance requires an identity broad enough to survive change.
Representation Changes Possibility
Becoming the first person through a door matters more when the door remains easier for somebody else to use afterwards.
KEY SPEAKING TOPICS
What Nicola Barke brings to the room.
Leading Through Transformation
How to translate ambition into practical movement when complexity and uncertainty are high.
The First Next Step
Replacing paralysis and perfectionism with purposeful, evidence-informed action.
Women in Leadership
Visibility, confidence, authenticity and progressing in environments where women remain underrepresented.
Combat Mindset
Preparation, controlled aggression, adaptability and clear thinking when pressure rises.
Resilience
Continuing to move without pretending that injury, illness, uncertainty or disappointment are easy.
High Performance
Developing repeatable standards that survive changing circumstances.
Confidence Under Pressure
Using preparation and self-awareness instead of waiting to feel completely fearless.
Emotional Intelligence
Reading yourself, the people around you and the situation accurately enough to respond well.
Reinvention
Moving beyond a career, role or identity without discarding the skills already earned.
Imposter Syndrome
Developing visibility and authentic confidence when the environment makes belonging feel uncertain.
Equality & Representation
Why opportunity, visibility and fair treatment materially affect who can progress.
Health & Wellbeing
Connecting sustainable human performance with the reality that people cannot separate health from work indefinitely.
CAREER & LIFE TIMELINE
Ballet. Science. World titles. Transformation. TEDx. Reinvention.
Born in Hertfordshire
Nicola Maria Barke is born in Hemel Hempstead.
Narcolepsy
Nicola later speaks publicly about growing up with narcolepsy.
Ballet
Public biographies describe approximately sixteen years of ballet training.
Taekwondo begins
Moves seriously into martial arts.
British Champion
Reaches national championship level in Taekwondo.
Biomedical Science
Studies at UWE Bristol and graduates with First-Class Honours.
Taekwondo World Champion
Wins the ITF Adult Female Welterweight Sparring World Championship.
Healthcare experience
Works as a health assistant at Liberec Regional Hospital.
Olympic selection pathway
Professional profile records reaching the final selection group associated with the Rio Olympic Taekwondo pathway.
Health, education & coaching
Works across medical science, learning, mentoring and sport.
HSBC
Begins what becomes an approximately eleven-year financial services career.
Digital & regional roles
Develops through HSBC roles connected with service, regional support and digital activity.
Transformation
Moves further into corporate transformation work.
British Kickboxing titles
Public sporting profiles record multiple British kickboxing championship achievements.
Lethwei debut
Defeats Bianka Balajti by unanimous decision at WLC 10 in Mandalay.
UK female Lethwei first
Becomes a pioneering British woman in Burmese bare-knuckle boxing.
Lethwei recognition
Current professional profiles list a world-title honour in Lethwei.
Changing sporting route
Global events and disruption in Myanmar reduce the viability of continuing the original Lethwei pathway.
Global Transformation Manager
Reaches senior global transformation responsibility at HSBC.
Professional boxing debut
Defeats Tereza Dvorakova on points.
Second boxing win
Defeats Bojana Libiszewska.
Third boxing win
Beats Vaida Masiokaite on points.
Screen combat
Adds on-screen combat and performance work to a growing media portfolio.
4–0 professional boxer
Defeats Laura Reoyo.
Queensberry opportunity
Moves towards a full professional boxing push associated with Frank Warren and TNT Sports.
Brain-tumour diagnosis
Publicly discloses diagnosis of a benign brain tumour, interrupting the planned full-time boxing period.
5–0
Defeats Kerry Haley on points in Belfast on her Queensberry debut.
Women in sport
Participates in industry conversations on the future of women's sport.
Transforming Leaders
Publishes and speaks increasingly about leadership, confidence and transformation.
World No. 2 Lethwei profile
UWE Bristol reports Nicola as world number two in Lethwei.
Sheffield Hospital Radio
Begins volunteering as a radio presenter.
TEDxNorthernQuarter
Delivers Not Just Fists in Manchester.
TEDx talk released
Not Just Fists becomes publicly available through TEDxNorthernQuarter's YouTube programme.
Ends HSBC chapter
Leaves financial services after approximately eleven years.
Westfield Health
Becomes Programme Director and reconnects corporate leadership with healthcare and wellbeing.
Official boxing retirement
Publicly confirms retirement from professional boxing at age thirty-two.
Finishes unbeaten
Professional boxing career closes at 5 wins and 0 defeats.
Pedalling for a Purpose
Completes a long-distance charity cycling challenge with Westfield Health.
British Transplant Games
Supports the Donor Run as a pace-maker.
Leadership & speaking
Works across programme leadership, wellbeing, TEDx and international keynote speaking.
AT A GLANCE
Nicola Barke profile.
- Full name
- Nicola Maria Barke
- Known as
- The Burmese Python
- Born
- 21 August 1993
- Birthplace
- Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
- Current professional base
- Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Education
- BSc Biomedical Science — First-Class Honours, University of the West of England
- Current corporate role
- Programme Director, Westfield Health
- Previous major employer
- HSBC — approximately 11 years
- HSBC senior role
- Global Transformation Manager
- Team scale
- Approximately 170 staff reported by UWE Bristol
- Transformation scale
- Professional profiles cite responsibility associated with £30m+ investment funds
- Taekwondo
- 2012 ITF Adult Female Welterweight World Champion
- Kickboxing
- Multiple British championship honours
- Lethwei
- UK female pioneer; WLC winner and internationally ranked competitor
- Lethwei nickname
- The Burmese Python
- Professional boxing debut
- 6 November 2021
- Final boxing record
- 5 wins, 0 losses
- Final recorded bout
- Kerry Haley — 28 June 2024, Belfast
- Boxing status
- Retired — officially announced in 2026
- TEDx talk
- Not Just Fists — TEDxNorthernQuarter 2025
- Media
- TEDx, podcast guest, radio presenter, boxing commentary and on-screen combat work
- Core topics
- Transformation, leadership, resilience, women in leadership, high performance, wellbeing, pressure and reinvention
- Speaking style
- Energetic, direct, practical, vulnerable and evidence-led
- Current focus
- Programme leadership, health and wellbeing, keynote speaking and helping people move through change
EVENT FIT
Where Nicola's experience creates the strongest connection.
Corporate Conferences
A rare combination of global transformation leadership and
elite competitive sport.
Leadership Programmes
Confidence, adaptability, evidence-led action and leading
people through uncertainty.
Sports & High-Performance
World championship martial arts, undefeated boxing and
performance under pressure.
Women in Leadership
Authentic visibility, self-belief, assertiveness and leading
in traditionally male-dominated environments.
Transformation & Change
Practical insight from large-scale corporate transformation
and repeated personal reinvention.
Health & Wellbeing
Sustainable performance, health, identity and how people
function when circumstances change unexpectedly.
Resilience Events
A lived story involving serious health challenges,
professional uncertainty and multiple career transitions.
Inspirational Events
TEDx storytelling supported by world-level sporting and
corporate experience.
Multi-Speaker Programmes
Combine Nicola with complementary voices across leadership,
sport, transformation and resilience.
RELATED SPEAKERS
Continue the conversation around resilience and performance.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Nicola Barke speaker questions.
Who is Nicola Barke?
Nicola Barke is a two-sport world champion martial artist, TEDx speaker, retired undefeated professional boxer, first-class Biomedical Science graduate and Programme Director at Westfield Health.
What is Nicola Barke known as?
Nicola is widely known by her combat-sport nickname, The Burmese Python.
Where was Nicola Barke born?
Nicola was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, on 21 August 1993.
What did Nicola Barke study?
She studied Biomedical Science at the University of the West of England and graduated with First-Class Honours.
Is Nicola Barke a world champion?
Yes. UK ITF records Nicola winning the 2012 Adult Female Welterweight Sparring World Championship in Taekwondo. Her professional profiles also list world-title honours associated with her Lethwei career.
Was Nicola Barke the first British woman to compete in Lethwei?
UWE Bristol describes Nicola as the UK's first female athlete to compete in Burmese bare-knuckle boxing.
What happened in Nicola Barke's Lethwei debut?
Nicola defeated Hungary's Bianka Balajti by unanimous decision at WLC 10: Fearless Tigers in Mandalay, Myanmar, on 4 October 2019.
What was Nicola Barke's professional boxing record?
Nicola retired with an undefeated professional record of five wins and no defeats.
When did Nicola Barke retire from boxing?
Nicola publicly confirmed her professional boxing retirement in 2026 at the age of thirty-two.
What is Nicola Barke's TEDx talk?
Her TEDxNorthernQuarter talk is titled Not Just Fists. It explores the human story behind achievement, including resilience, identity, adversity, courage and reinvention.
What happened with Nicola Barke's brain tumour?
Nicola publicly disclosed a brain-tumour diagnosis while preparing to take a sabbatical and focus on professional boxing. She later stated publicly that the tumour was benign and discussed how ongoing monitoring affected her boxing plans.
Did Nicola Barke work for HSBC?
Yes. Nicola spent approximately eleven years with HSBC and progressed through multiple roles into global transformation leadership.
What does Nicola Barke do now?
As of 2026, Nicola works as Programme Director at Westfield Health and is developing an international speaking career focused on leadership, transformation, resilience and high performance.
What does Nicola Barke speak about?
Nicola speaks about transformation, leadership, women in leadership, high performance, resilience, combat mindset, emotional intelligence, confidence, wellbeing, representation and reinvention.
What type of events is Nicola Barke suitable for?
Nicola is suited to corporate conferences, transformation programmes, women's leadership events, high-performance sessions, health and wellbeing events, sports conferences, fireside conversations, resilience programmes and leadership development.
How can I book Nicola Barke?
Contact The Immersion Project using the contact page or email sue@theimmersionproject.co.uk .
VERIFIED SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Explore Nicola's journey in greater depth.
This profile combines university, sporting, professional, first-person and current career sources rather than relying on a single biography.
UWE Bristol — Nicola Barke
Biomedical Science, Lethwei, HSBC leadership, equality and
health journey ↗
UWE Alumni — The Burmese Python
Women in sport, leadership, confidence and resilience ↗
UK ITF — 2012 World Championships
Official record of Nicola's Taekwondo world championship ↗
TEDxNorthernQuarter
Official speaker profile and Not Just Fists talk ↗
TEDx — Not Just Fists
Watch Nicola's full TEDxNorthernQuarter talk ↗
BoxRec — Nicola Barke
Professional boxing identity and record profile ↗
BBC Sport — June 2024 Boxing Schedule
Nicola Barke vs Kerry Haley in Belfast ↗
Global New Light of Myanmar — WLC 10
Contemporary report of Nicola's unanimous-decision Lethwei
victory ↗
Tapology — World Lethwei Championship
WLC 10 fight card and result ↗
FightPost — Nicola Barke Interview
Lethwei-to-boxing transition and professional ambitions ↗
Nicola Barke — LinkedIn
Current professional role, education, volunteering and
career information ↗
Nicola Barke — Brain Tumour Announcement
Nicola's own public statement about the diagnosis and
planned boxing sabbatical ↗
Nicola Barke — Health & Reinvention Update
Benign tumour update and professional reinvention ↗
Nicola Barke — Official Boxing Retirement
First public confirmation of retirement at age 32 ↗
Nicola Barke — Westfield Health
Current Programme Director role and end of eleven-year HSBC
chapter ↗
Westfield Health
Current company activity and Nicola's 2026 wellbeing and
charity work ↗
Great British Speakers — Nicola Barke
Combat titles, corporate career and speaking profile ↗
Champions Speakers — Nicola Barke
Career background, speaking topics and leadership profile ↗
BOOK NICOLA BARKE
Bring world-champion discipline and real transformation leadership to your audience.
Nicola's story is unusual because the boardroom and the fight environment are not separate case studies. She lived both at the same time.
Her talks connect evidence, courage, adaptability and human performance with a practical question: what is the first next step when the plan you expected is no longer available?
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