There are more than 14 million women-owned businesses in the United States. Yet women represent only about a third of keynote speakers at major conferences. Most conversations about that gap focus on confidence or access. Fewer focus on the systems underneath.
That’s the premise behind a new book released during Women’s History Month, and the reason PR strategist Heather McElrath wanted to be part of it.
“Speak Your Way to Sales: Expert Strategies to Turn Speaking into Sales, Clients, and Growth” (Eaton Press, 2026) united 10 women specialists to address something most speaking advice leaves out: the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that determines whether visibility turns into business growth.
McElrath, founder of Sandbox Communications, a boutique marketing communications agency in Virginia, contributed Chapter 5: “Stop Chasing Gigs, Start Attracting Them: The PR Playbook for Speakers.” The chapter focuses on third-party credibility — the kind that makes event organizers reach out rather than waiting to receive a cold pitch.
“When you say you’re an expert, it’s marketing,” McElrath writes. “When a respected media outlet features you as an expert, it’s proof.”
Research bears that out. Studies suggest roughly 70% of speaking bookings still flow through existing referral networks, a dynamic that tends to keep the same voices circulating in the same rooms. Building a way into those networks, or around them, takes more than talent. It takes a track record that speaks before you do.
Her chapter walks readers through what she calls PR infrastructure: not a single media hit, but a set of interconnected systems that compound over time. Media relationships, thought leadership placements, industry recognition — each one adds to a body of evidence that makes the right opportunities easier to attract.
“A media appearance is wasted if there’s nothing in place to carry that momentum forward,” McElrath says. “That’s the piece a lot of small business owners are missing, and it’s entirely buildable.”
McElrath also teaches PR Essentials as an Adjunct Lecturer at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), working with students of all ages as they navigate a rapidly shifting communications landscape. The practical, systems-oriented approach she brings to the classroom is the same one that shaped her contribution to the book.
“Speak Your Way to Sales” is available now on Amazon. Details at eatonpress.com/speak-your-way-to-sales.
