Speaker
She lived it. Now she brings that story into the rooms where decisions get made.
In January 2023, Brenda walked into a medical weight management clinic and felt devastated. She thought needing help meant she had failed. She didn't yet understand obesity as a chronic disease — with real treatment, real support, and real community. Now she speaks in the rooms where coverage, access, and care are decided.
"Brenda is exactly the kind of voice this conversation needs. She is refreshingly unfiltered, honest about her journey, the real barriers she has faced around access and affordability, and what it has actually taken to reach her current position." Through her involvement with Obesity Matters and our OM Wellness Workshop, she speaks to what so many in our community feel but rarely say aloud. That authenticity is rare, and it lands. When I put Brenda in front of a journalist or a panel, I trust her to bring both credibility and candour to the conversation. She doesn't just tell her story, she helps others feel seen in it.
Priti Chawla
Founder & Executive Director, Obesity Matters | Parlons Obésité
Why Brenda
She's been on both sides of the table
Brenda Rogers has spent her career inside large organizations — supporting senior leaders at McDonald's Restaurants of Canada for over a decade, and working with live audiences of up to 20,000 at Canucks Sports & Entertainment for more than 30 years.
She also knows what it feels like to sit in a medical appointment and have reality hit hard. She knows what it takes to navigate treatment, coverage, cost, and the day-to-day work of caring for a body that needs more than willpower.
When Brenda speaks, she is not sharing theory. She is showing people what obesity care looks like when you are the person trying to access it.
Signature Talk
What the Spreadsheet Doesn't See
Patient voice at the intersection of obesity care, coverage policy, and real human cost
Brenda Rogers has sat across from insurers, employers, and pharmaceutical leaders and asked one question: what do the numbers leave out? In this talk, she answers it from the inside.
Brenda shares what it took to access GLP-1 medication in Canada, including the paradox of needing a diabetes diagnosis to qualify for coverage of a medication that could have prevented that diagnosis. She walks through losing employment-based benefits in 2023, scrambling to source Mounjaro vials across pharmacies when the pens became unaffordable, and what it means to manage a chronic disease when coverage can disappear overnight.
The title says it plainly: chronic disease does not disappear because coverage does. Brenda brings that reality into the rooms where coverage decisions are made, not to shame decision-makers, but to ensure the human face behind the data is visible before the decision is final.
Audiences leave with
National Media Coverage
Her story has already reached your audience.
Brenda has been quoted in 40+ Canadian media pickups through Canadian Press, sharing what access, affordability, and treatment decisions look like for real patients.
These patients without drug coverage are eagerly awaiting generic Ozempic in Canada
Brenda speaks openly about rationing her medication after losing drug coverage — and what access to affordable treatment would actually mean for people like her.
Read the articleWhat is food noise and why are we hearing about it amid the rise of GLP-1 medications?
Brenda describes what it's actually like to live with the constant mental pull of food — and what changed when she finally got treatment that addressed it.
Read the articleOn the Obesity Matters panel
Watch Brenda speaking alongside an esteemed panel of obesity care leaders at Obesity Matters' You Belong Here session — sharing her lived experience with her peers and the community she calls her cheering squad.
Background
She knows how these rooms work — and what they're missing
Brenda has spent her career inside large organizations and her personal life navigating the healthcare system as a patient. That combination is exactly what makes her useful in front of the people who set coverage policy.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Get in Touch
Ready to bring her into the conversation?
Your audience may know the data. Brenda brings the part data cannot show on its own: what it feels like to seek treatment, face coverage limits, find support, and keep going when the system makes access harder than it needs to be.
Brenda is available for speaking engagements, panel appearances, and media interviews across Canada and beyond.
Invite Brenda to Speak
We respond to all inquiries within two business days.