MEET OUR PROFESSIONAL MEMBER

Heather Hansen

ACCENT BIAS – CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – PRESENTATION SKILLS - VOCAL PRESENCE

HEATHER HANSEN is a leader in the field of global communication where she helps top professionals show up, speak up, and inspire action in a changing world. Heather is one of the only practitioners in the world speaking and training on accent bias, linguistic diversity and inclusion. She helps companies build an unmuted communication culture where every voice is valued.

Heather was named to the Thinkers50 2024 Radar Class, an exclusive list of 30 up-and-coming thinkers whose ideas are expected to make an important impact on management thinking in the future. She was shortlisted for their biannual Radar Award in 2025.

Heather’s training program, Overcoming Accent Bias, which she ran for NASA from 2023-24 won both the Excellence in Business Consulting and Community Perspectives and Practice awards from the Assoc. for Business Communication in 2025.

Originally from the United States, Heather has spent over half her life abroad, split mainly between Singapore (her current home) and Denmark (her husband's birthplace). Her work has taken her to 18 countries on four continents. An early adopter of online technologies, she has been coaching and training her global clients online since 2012. She is fully bilingual in English and Danish and speaks very rusty German.

Heather's 2018 TEDx Odense talk titled "2 Billion Voices: How to speak bad English perfectly" is referenced by university professors and language specialists. An adaptation of this talk has been featured in National Geographic Learning’s Keynote series of English language textbooks.

Heather has been featured in media outlets across the globe, most notably, NPR, ABC, CNA, Quartz, Forbes, CNA, and Business Insider. She regularly appears on global podcasts and webinars.

In addition to her client work, Heather is currently pursuing a PhD in Linguistics at Nanyang Technological University Singapore where she is researching the impact of linguistic biases on power and status in multi-national/lingual/cultural organizations.

Heather is author of the multi-award-winning book, Unmuted, published by Bloomsbury Business in March 2022. Her next book "Accent Matters: Include every voice by challenging accent bias at work" (also Bloomsbury) is a comprehensive guide on how to manage accent bias and promote linguistic inclusion. It is the first book on accent bias written for a business audience.