Natalia Garcia · Speaker, Founder, Mum, Migrant
For anyone who has ever doubted their courage, their path, or their power to make a difference.
Book Nat to speak
About Nat
Nat is the founder of Girl in Motion, a movement changing the migrant narrative in Aotearoa.
As founder of Girl in Motion, Nat has built a movement grounded in the belief that migrant women are not defined by struggle, lack, or what they've had to leave behind, but by the courage, ambition and capability they carry with them.
She is living proof that leaving everything familiar behind is not a setback to overcome, but the foundation for a life of extraordinary possibility.
She knows firsthand what happens when you refuse to accept someone else's limits. When an early manager told her that her English was not good enough to write, she turned that doubt into determination, going on to build a thriving copywriting agency with a team of native English writers working for her.
Nat brings to the speaking stage her own journey of migration, from arriving in New Zealand at 19 with no map for what came next, to building a thriving business, to founding a movement whose storytelling series has reached more than 50,000 views.
Her work sits at the intersection of storytelling, entrepreneurship and technology. She is passionate about shifting how migrant women are seen and how they see themselves, replacing narratives of deficit with narratives of abundance, and using tools like AI to widen access to opportunity rather than narrow it. She holds a Master of Technological Futures, awarded with commendation, with research focused on AI for social impact and migrant women entrepreneurs.
"This is not about division. It is about connection. It is a conversation that belongs to all of us and an invitation. We want every New Zealander to feel proud of the diversity that makes this country extraordinary."
Natalia Garcia, quoted in Stuff, June 2026
Talks, panels and podcasts
Workshops
Speaking topics
Migration as the Ultimate Act of Courage
The word migrant is too often associated with sadness, struggle, and what was left behind. Yet migrants are go-getters who chose to pack their bags, step out of their comfort zone, and chase a dream. Why, then, is migration so rarely celebrated for what it truly is?
In this talk, Nat challenges the deficit narrative and offers a powerful reframe: getting on that plane was the ultimate act of courage. It was ambitious, brave, and remarkable.
Too often, in the noise of settling in and starting over, migrant women lose sight of the extraordinary grit it took to get here. Drawing on her own story of arriving in Aotearoa at 19, Nat delivers an empowering wake-up call. This talk is not about giving women something they lack. It is a reminder that the brilliance, drive, and leadership they are looking for is already within them.
What Is Your Definition of Success?
Success is too often measured by narrow standards: corporate titles, dollar signs, and external validation on a path someone else designed.
In this talk, Nat invites audiences to question that playbook. Her biggest turning point came with the realisation that professional milestones mean little without freedom and presence. Today, her true north is simple: to be fully present for her boys, to raise them with intention, and to one day look them in the eyes knowing she did her part to leave the world a bit better for them than she found it.
Drawing on her journey through corporate life, entrepreneurship, and community impact, Nat delivers an honest, grounded talk on designing a life of alignment. This is an invitation to stop measuring our worth against rigid expectations, to redefine ambition on our own terms, and to build a future where your heart leads the way.
AI as an Amplifier: Building a Movement, Not Just a Platform
In this talk, Nat, whose Masters research explored AI for social impact, shares how she harnessed generative AI as a solo founder to build Girl in Motion from the ground up. Without a large tech team or venture capital budget, she used modern tools to close the gap between mission and capacity: producing an interactive digital platform prototype in days, building a storytelling series that reached over 50,000 views, and launching a community movement across Aotearoa.
But what's interesting about her story isn't just what AI let her achieve at a speed and scale one person alone could never reach without it. It's all the times AI failed her.
Nat's argument: when human skill, emotion, and lived experience are combined with AI's capacity to scale, produce, and distribute, the potential is extraordinary. Not because AI replaces what a person brings, but because it multiplies it. Used with intention, the potential of AI for good is incredible.
This is a call for purpose-led creators, non-profits, and community builders to stop waiting for permission, embrace practical experimentation, and use technology to amplify the human heart behind their work.
Workshops
Turning Your Skills into a Business
You Already Have What It Takes to Start
Too many people hold back from starting a business because they believe they lack the right credentials, business degrees, or formal experience. But everyone has skills, lived experience, and talents that are deeply valuable to others.
In this interactive workshop, Nat guides participants through an empowering, practical framework to uncover the skills they already possess and translate them into a viable business idea. Participants learn how to package what they already know, identify who needs their help, and validate their offer without needing a massive budget or complex business plans. This session replaces self-doubt with clarity and proof that starting is possible right now.
What participants walk away with: An inventory of their transferable skills, a validated business or service concept, and a simple 3-step action plan to land their first customer.
One Small Step at a Time: Turning a Business Idea into Reality
Starting a business can feel like a huge mountain to climb. But when you break that mountain into small steps, everything feels a lot more manageable.
In this workshop, Nat shares what she's learned from years of building her own businesses and coaching women from all over the world: fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. Being scared is normal. You don't need to quit your job, have it all figured out, or make any drastic moves to get started.
Nat knows this firsthand. In 2014, she walked away from her corporate marketing career to start working online, back before working online was even a "thing" like it is today. Since then, she has coached women from all over the world and created digital business tools used by more than 3,000 women worldwide.
Nat walks participants through the practical reality of starting a business in New Zealand: what actually matters in the early days, the tools that can make it easier, and how to take that first small step instead of getting stuck in overthinking.
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