A TEDx talk is my special announcement!
Opportunity. There are defining moments in my life where my trajectory changed, and those moments were when I decided to say “yes” to something that presented itself to me. It was these defining times that allowed me to continue to step forward into what I am here to do even though the path was uncertain, and not always easy. More often than not, I had no idea where the “yes” would take me. It turns out, the picture was always bigger than my imagination, and I just knew I had to listen, trust what kept unfolding in front of me, and keep going.
This is a moment in my lifetime where the vision has become reality. It is with such excitement and humility that I share with you that I have been chosen as one of the speakers at this year’s TEDxPortlandStateUniversity event with the theme of “Our Time Is Now.”
Over the course of a year, I have gone through the rigorous process of writing and developing my talk, submission, interviews, taping and finally, the soon-to-be release of this talk. It is a dream actualized. And ironically, the opportunity could have passed me by. I was given the choice of postponing my talk to next year, and I briefly thought of doing just that. But with the encouragement of my TED coach, I did a quantum leap, took the dive, and said “Yes.”
The title of my talk – “To live a life truly seen, you need to tear down the walls you’ve built” – shares my story of how I built walls when I was a child because I stuttered due to an accident in a routine surgery, and I literally lost the voice of my childhood.
Then when I worked incredibly hard to create the “perfect” life, I found I couldn’t feel it all because of the walls I had built up inside myself.
Through a profound journey and tearing down my inner walls, I discovered and created a process that I call Listen.Trust.Act that allowed me to not only connect with myself but then be able to connect with others. This story is about connection and how we can truly learn how to connect with others by learning how to first connect with ourselves and, in the process, be truly seen for who we are.
My journey is not an insular one, and of course it has been through connection! There have been countless people who have been a part of my life who have helped shape and create who I am today. I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you. But I would remiss if I did not specifically name a few of these incredible people who helped me connect with this larger vision one step at a time – even when the vision was not clear and I had no idea where I was going. But Spirit knew, and the grace of these interactions helped me create this work that I am so proud to share with you.
To the talented Shelly Lipkin where for two years I took your acting and on-camera training. With your classes, you helped me rediscover my voice through my divorce;
To Claire Zammit for creating the structure and container of Feminine Power. It was here that I found my sisterhood and was seen, heard and witnessed in ways I never knew was possible. Thank you for bringing this wisdom and knowledge forward where I began to flourish;
To the amazing people I have interacted with at the National Speakers Association and during the nine month Speaker Academy training with special recognition to Jake French, Michael Brand, and Roger Courville. Your extra care, time and knowledge was invaluable to me as I continued to develop and grow my speaking voice and story;
To my beloved POD sisters and dearest friends and family. I have a very tight inner circle, and your witnessing, reflecting, mirroring and love for me means everything;
To my spiritual coach and warrior for the Light, Heide Banks. For three years you stood with me as I unwound and unravelled lifetimes of karma and broke down my inner walls. Damn were you tough! But you were always by my side, and I wouldn’t be in this place without you, your other-worldly seeing, and love. I can’t wait for you to witness even more of my dreams becoming a reality;
And to the phenomenal, brilliant, 5th dimensional TED coach Melanie Gow. Your ability to name, frame and create story is like no other. How fun was it to work together and then say – “that’s it!!”- when you named the exact right word or phrase. Your feedback, encouragement, knowledge and support landed me this stage. When I messaged you to let you know of the chance to postpone the talk to next year, you told me I was ready and that I could do this. Thank you doesn’t even come close and will have to do for now.
Now more than ever, we all need to find our voices, speak our authentic truth, and stand with and for ourselves in our power. My time is now, and I take this stage perfectly imperfect but willing to keep taking the steps forward to create the change I want to see.
The next step after this is to write the Listen.Trust.Act book that will show everyone how they can truly connect with themselves, trust what they hear, and then act in truest alignment with their deepest knowing. My alignment is to Spirit, and with the angels, guides and masters, I will continue to do the work of the Light. May we all shine ours as brightly and brilliantly as we can and know that now is truly our time.
Today I will be announced on the TEDxPortlandStateUniversity website. My talk can be seen for the first time on October 29th as I am in the barrier breakers conversation.
You can sign up to view the talk for FREE here:
https://www.tedxportlandstateuniversity.com/events/our-time-is-now
My heart and Love to you. xo
