Sophie Thompson

About Sophie Thompson

My name is Sophie Thompson and I am the CEO and Co-founder of VirtualSpeech an award-winning soft skill training platform that combines e-learning with VR and AI tools such as ChatGPT.

I went from having social anxiety to speaking in conferences all over the world and even being interviewed by the BBC.

I had crippling social anxiety throughout my childhood and university years, which prevented me from speaking in front of crowds or even ordering for myself in restaurants. My friend and business partner, Dom Barnard, and I came up with the idea of simulating a virtual reality experience to help me overcome my fear of public speaking. From then on, my fear disappeared, and I became a much more confident person.

The virtual reality experience has since evolved into our own company, VirtualSpeech, which has helped over 550,000 people in 130 countries thanks to our 25+ courses, 50+ practice exercises and 40+ VR scenarios. We’ve been excitedly experimenting with new technologies to further the realism of our immersive scenarios; we have worked directly with hardware leaders like Meta and Pico to make the most of their technology, and we were one of the first to incorporate real-time ChatGPT-powered conversations into our scenarios.

Overall, VirtualSpeech is helping to drive innovation in the field of immersive technology, providing new and exciting ways for people to learn and grow. We're committed to continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible in this space and to making immersive training more accessible and effective for everyone.