How It Began

I began my speaking career at the age of 7.  I won the honour of being the emcee at my Elementary School Christmas Pageant because I could clearly project my voice in a gymnasium of 300 people without a microphone.  I remember vividly the ‘try-outs’ where I was up against children older than I was, as we stood at one end of a long hallway and read lines from a play while two teachers at the other end of the hall listened to see who they thought did the best job.

As an extrovert, the microphone, stage and camera are not things I shy away from.  In fact, that is the place I feel most alive and connected to my purpose of setting people free through authentic sharing and education.  I have been growing as a speaker ever since that day and became an emcee extraordinaire before moving to keynote speaking.

I spent a decade honing my communication techniques and getting critiqued and videotaped in front of a group to be the best I can be.  I have a speaking coach and will always be looking for ways to improve and best meet the needs of my clients.

I have always been different.  I was one of only two girls to play football in the city league, took woodworking and electronics as electives in school (no home economics for me!), greatly excelled at many sports and maintained an A- grade average.  My post-secondary education was for a Technologist Diploma in Biomedical Electronics Repair.  That led me to working with many home patients in remote areas of British Columbia and understanding how incredibly important knowledge and encouragement were.  After writing a training program for those patients and seeing a very positive impact on them and the kinds of distress calls I was getting, I was hooked.

Eventually I began coaching individuals on employment insurance in career transition.  This is when I really became clear on the importance of my communication and the impact I was having.