July 27, 2024 • 40 mins
Lauri Smith shares her journey to soulful speaking coaching, discussing coaching transformations and personal growth. She delves into the power and spiritual connection of voice, overcoming professional vocal challenges, and the impact of emotions on authentic expression. Lauri emphasizes the importance of intention in communication and offers guidance on connecting with her to express your authentic voice.
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(00:00):
And the audience literally does transformenergetically or emotionally when they speak.
And that's when we get to when we're atransformational soulful speaker, we're
actually changing the world one room at a time.
Are you ready to unlock your full potential andachieve your personal, professional, and
(00:21):
financial goals.
Welcome to remarkably simple, the podcastdedicated to helping you do just that.
I'm Monique Fields, and I believe that with theright strategies, anyone can achieve remarkable
results.
Whether you're a seasoned leader or juststarting a business.
This podcast is your guide to achieving yourgoals with simplicity and efficiency.
(00:42):
Let's Mark on this journey together and makesuccess simple.
Hello, everyone.
I am happy to welcome you back to anotherepisode of remarkably simple, I am Monique
Fields, and today I have the pleasure andexcitement of introducing you to another really
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great guest.
We have with us Laurie Smith.
She is a speaker.
An intuitive public speaking and leadershipcoach, creator of the vocal presence path,
approach to soulful speaking, and the author ofyour voice matters, a guide to speaking
soufully when it counts.
(01:25):
She helps sensitive visionaries, am ambitiousimpacts, and loving rebels to speak, be seen,
and fulfill their souls calling.
Her mission is to call 4th more open heartedleaders so they can do their part to change the
world with authenticity, creativity, andcourage.
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She envisions a world in which everyone sharesthe vibration of their soul's purpose with the
world through their voices and together reachglobal harmony.
Laurie can always see the soul underneath thestatic, which makes her really good at
motivating people, to fight their inner demons,and find tremendous inner power.
(02:10):
Laurie, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me.
So to get the conversation started, and tocreate a little bit of context for our
listeners.
I would love it if you would share just alittle bit of your story and how it is that you
became the soulful speaking coach that you aretoday.
(02:36):
I would love to, and I'll start by saying Icould probably tell a 4 hour version for any of
your listeners who hear this and think that itwas like a clear direct road.
It's gonna sound a little bit more of that.
And for the sake of time, I will I'll I'll dohighlights.
(02:57):
So at seven years old, my mom found me in thebackyard talking to myself.
I had been playing make believe with somefriends, like making up an episode of The Brady
Bunch, and they got bored with the exercisebeing kids and went off to the pool.
And I said, okay.
I'll meet you there later.
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I'm gonna stay here and finish the story.
And that's when my mom walked in, and sheimmediately took me to an acting class.
Theater has a light side and a dark side.
The dark side is a little bit more like whatyou would see in the movie Mean Girls, or I
think there was a a movie in, like, 1940 calledthe understudy where the understudy kills the
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lead in order to get the part.
That's true.
And there's also a light side of theater whereactors and theater people are capable of being
present and connected with each other in adeep, deep way that most of the world is not.
(04:02):
And I've surrounded myself with the light sideof the theater and fast forward 20 years was
working as an executive assistant in theSilicon Valley during the day and as an actress
and a director and a writer, mostly acting.
At night, And working way too much overall, andI felt this call to go toward living a more
(04:25):
aligned life.
And I kept saying no to that call.
And around that time, we did an exercise in myfavorite acting class ever in the sideways
acting studio in San Francisco.
And in that exercise, everybody was focused onme that day.
Normally, you would be up there with at leastone other person, possibly 3 other people.
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So the attention was more divided.
And that day, it was my short stack.
Exercise.
And I kept doing what we as humans do to kindof pull myself together in between these little
mini exercises within the big one.
And Richard paused as he did a number of timeswith me over the years and said whatever that
(05:13):
thing is you're doing, in between, like, you'reyou're pulling yourself together.
Stop doing that.
And I looked at him, and I said, I'm not thatcomfortable having everyone's eyes on me.
And he took off his glasses and said, well,then you've picked a strange set of careers for
yourself.
You're an actor, a teacher, a speaker, aleader.
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Part of you wants this.
Part of you knows You're meant to be here.
And it was like, it cut through my own soulsuckers, inner critics and static and I deeply
trusted him and the space that he held.
So I took the leap, went back into theexercise, and was actively releasing what I now
(06:00):
call our emotional masks and energetic armor Istopped the pulling it together.
I just kind of let that all melt, and it feltlike fire and the ice at the same time.
And, like, decades of protection were meltingaway.
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And, you know, for one thing, my acting wasmuch more amazing in the exercise.
And for my life, when the exercise was over, Ilooked out at everyone in the room, and it was
like, I could see and feel what kind of dayevery single one of them was having.
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And it was my first moment of oneness thatlasted beyond the acting.
And that moment led me to go get a graduatedegree in theater to go study leadership,
having lots more powerful experiences of theuniverse kind of going keep going.
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This is your way.
Here's another piece.
Here's another piece.
And I realized a few years ago that that is atthe heart of the work that I now do with
speakers.
That our charisma, we all have it, and we'rethe ones getting in the way of it coming
(07:22):
across.
Because we're trying to fit in or we'reprotecting ourselves or we're armoring up.
And the doorway to speaking soulfully is beingso authentic that we are raw authentic.
And then from there, our energy and theresonance of our voices shifts.
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So that it's touching people emotionally andliterally the sound waves hitting their bodies
in a very different way.
So I knew this was gonna happen.
There's so much so much that you've set inthere.
And it just makes me hungry to ask you the nextquestion, but I'm gonna, you know, just make a
(08:05):
make a connection really quick because I couldsee myself as a former school leader.
And, you know, I just went on this journeywhile you were talking about remembering times
where I absolutely was inhibited inhibited bymasks that I wore and thinking about simpler
times where with what I would say is the bestleadership team that I ever worked with.
(08:29):
1 of our experiences that we shared was in asummer leadership development program that we
participated in.
The way that they let us was, through theexercise of improv to, get outside of, you
know, the box and unlock some of that What Iguess I would describe as an, you know, an
inexperienced person about this, just thisinnate chemistry instead of always the planned
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path.
But we took away so much from that.
And I think the gift that you described thatnow you have brought your own experience with
this getting to another level of personalawareness and expression, and marrying that
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with something like theater and art andleadership, first of all, is mind blowing.
Like, we could just sit right there and go,really?
Just put a big question mark up.
Yeah.
But then taking that a step further andbecoming a coach who works with other
individuals to help them do their version ofwhat you personally experienced for their life
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and their work is fascinating.
So I want to hear about the work that you dowith the people that you coach.
What kinds of people are you coaching and howis this concept really applied in some of those
contexts?
Yeah.
I love like the intro said, I've I realized,you know, I struggled for years with, like,
(10:06):
what do I call my people so they know I meanthem?
Mhmm.
I started out with the word, like, emergingleader, and I got a lot of people saying, no,
I'm not a leader.
And then I switched to visionary, and I got alot of people saying, I'm not a visionary.
One thing I knew about 5 years ago they all hadin common was sensitivity Mhmm.
Intuition.
(10:26):
Mhmm.
So into my head one day fell sensitivevisionaries, ambitious empaths, and loving
rebels.
Some people call themselves all three of thosethings, and some people really say, oh, I'm an
ambitious empath.
I'm not a visionary.
I'm not a rebel.
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It's it's this combination of the sensitivityand the desire to change the world.
Or even more so the calling to change somethingin their world or the world, not a desire for
some.
For some some day this calling, like, I had togo toward a more aligned life gets awakened.
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And they realize that in order to fulfill theirimpact, they need to speak air quotes and that
can mean anything from tiktok videos.
I'm spreading my message in tiktok videos or apodcast or live on a stage.
They're spreading the magic that they're hereto bring and the message that they're here to
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bring in whichever of those formats they'recalled to.
The main way that I work with all of thesesensitive beings is in small groups.
I run something now called the speaker studio,very much modeled after that thing studio where
I had my breakthrough.
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And, part of the reason for that is the wholeworld is varying levels of threatening to us.
You know, raise your hand if you did not have amoment of bullying in high school at a minimum.
All of our hands are down.
Right.
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And and the whole world is modeling themasking.
So it can be really insidious.
Sometimes we're aware we're doing it whilewe're doing it and we can't stop it.
Other times, we're not even aware because ofmirror neurons that everyone else is doing it.
So we just model what we're seeing and feelingfrom everyone else.
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And in order to teach ourselves with new neuralpathways and new fig physical habits of being
unmasked, We need a safe, small, yet not justone on 1 group, so that our bodies, minds,
hearts, and soul get to experience showing upthis way in a safe group with others.
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And then all parts of us when we go out intothe real world and are the leader or one of the
leaders holding that space in the outsideworld, we know we can do it.
And we also know it can be done.
So my clients will say, like, now I'm ready togo out and be the one holding the container.
(13:25):
Instead of being in only in your container.
I connect with now based on that description,how you identify this group of people, and I
needed to pull it back up, but the sensitivevisionaries, the ambitious empaths, and the
loving rebels.
Because, again, just thinking about my owngrowth and development and leadership, there
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absolutely have been elements where it's likeyou are very aware, consciously and
subconsciously.
On some levels of the the norms and the statusquo and the conventions and just the way that
things usually are.
And at the same time resistant to it.
(14:09):
Right?
Like, when you describe this as a calling, Itotally identify with what that is.
It's like, you try to get away from it, and itjust comes around the corner peeking at you.
You know, like, it's just something you canavoid.
Yeah.
And, I can imagine also what you describehappening with the individuals after they have
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been able to experience the space held for themin the speaker studio.
Yeah.
And then transitioning that to a practice thatthey implement for themselves and others in
their actual work.
And, I don't know.
This is just so fascinating.
(14:53):
One of curiosity that I have is What are someof the, like, temporal things that people
describe when they are initially speaking toyou about, you know, becoming a part of your
program or participating in this work.
And what do they relate is their experienceafter?
I'm totally, like, I'm about to pick up theremote and rewind time and put a speaker studio
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series in my history so that I could see howthings might play out differently.
So I would love to experience that throughsomebody else's story since we know it's really
not possible.
Yeah.
Some of the people that come to me say thingslike, I don't even really know why I'm here.
I'm feeling called, but I'm not a speaker.
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Or I'm feeling called, but I'm not a leader.
So part of them is the sole part, the part thatwants to fulfill the calling, is going toward
that and their ego or the soul suckers, theinner critics are going, no, this doesn't make
any logical sense.
I'm not a and that's both true and not true.
(15:59):
So the truth is they are not the leader that wegrew up with.
One type of leader wearing 1 type of suit,moving, and talking the same way, whatever way
is popular.
They're not that.
Mhmm.
They are the leader of now.
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Who's here to usher in the change.
So some of them don't even really know whythey're there.
They don't think It's possible for them on somelevel, or they're just starting to think maybe
maybe there is another way Then the one I grewup with, then kind of the industrial speaking
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machine.
And I call it, like, not your granddaddyspeaking group.
Mhmm.
They're curious because they've heard I'mdifferent or they've seen something about it.
At the other end of the spectrum are people whowent through that bro speaking machine and
maybe even one competitions.
And it never felt good.
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They they were able to wear the mask and makeeverybody else happy with the masks.
And they walked away saying, I'm capable ofmore or there must be something more to this.
And if there's not, I'm done.
And when they come back, it's like the volumeis going up on there is.
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Something more.
There's a way to be truly present and connectedwith the crowd and to hold the space for that
crowd to emotionally or energeticallytransform.
Through you speaking with them and holding thecontainer for them.
(17:49):
Depending on how long they stay, Mhmm.
Some people get so far that they feelcomfortable being authentic.
And it feels good to them.
They feel at home in their own skin.
They're able to look at and connect with theaudience while they're talking and and have a
conversation while they speak.
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That's kind of an authentic speaking stoppingpoint.
Some people continue all the way to what Iwould call soulful speaking, which is where
they are they've reawakened their superpower offeeling energy.
Mhmm.
And The audience literally does transformenergetically or emotionally when they speak.
(18:38):
And that's when we get to when we're atransformational soulful speaker, we're
actually changing the world one room at a time.
Love you framing this as a superpower.
This this place that we come to, but kind ofrolling back to the beginning of what you were
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talking about.
I see this work that you're doing of helpingsomeone really unlock first their belief in
their ability to be the future or best versionof themselves.
I think that is the most compelling part ofwhat you're describing that very often, we need
to borrow.
And I just spoke about this with somebody elseto borrow somebody else's belief.
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In what we are capable of because we're stillso hugging tightly the self doubt or you know,
whatever message we've rehearsed our whole lifethat we don't we don't see what someone else
easily sees.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and you made me think another part of themagic of the small groups is that it's not just
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me believing So when people come to me, itstarts with my belief.
Mhmm.
Seeing the soul underneath the static thatdoesn't believe.
And then they take a risk on themselves and onme, and then they get in a room with 9 other
people.
And that and a Zoom room counts.
(20:08):
Yes.
And there's still a part of them that doesn'tbelieve, and there's a part of their circle
made that doesn't believe.
And when they see the value in their circlemate and they see their circle mate looking
back at them, it becomes, like, you know, tothe 100 power from nine people because they
really start to believe through the eyes ofother people believing.
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And another one of the things that can shift isin 6 months to a year.
Someone can go from nobody wants to hear fromsomeone like me to I have a message for the
world.
I know what my message is, and this is what itis so that they've got their own transformation
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talk that they're ready to take to the world.
I think that is just so Lovely.
This this experience to be frank.
It just sounds absolutely like transfixing.
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Yeah.
That probably isn't the right way to describeit.
You use the word transformation, which I thinkthe majority of us think is quite frankly out
of reach.
Right?
People who call themselves transformational orsay that they have experienced transformation.
Mhmm.
I think it is, it's so common and so acceptedfor us to disbelieve ourselves.
(21:38):
But
I have experienced exactly what you describedabout being in a room with other people.
And giving those other people 100 percent of mybelief, my faith, my hope, my trust that
they've got what it takes to do whateverthey're being called upon to do.
And simultaneously turning around and thinking,but I'm not going to be the 1 or I can't be the
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1.
And I see that happening because there aretimes where I'm standing up and showing up and
giving the best that I can in the momentbecause I've chosen to be brave, and someone
else is saying these comments of adorationabout You know, how fantastic it is that I'm
doing something.
I'm thinking, how can they think that this isso awesome while I at the same time think it's
the worst delivery ever.
(22:21):
But what you describe about this connectionbetween the group until in that moment of
oneness that you originally talked about inyour personal experience.
Mhmm.
But you believe in what they believe and whatyou see and what they see is the same.
And I think that would just be like I said, atransfixing type of experience.
(22:44):
Right?
I think there are so many contexts where thistype of thing can happen.
But, maybe you could just speak a little bitabout why voice matters because in the grand
scheme of things, I think very often, this isone of those core pieces that if we could just
figure it out it might unlock so many of thethings that, you know, appear to be mysteries
(23:08):
in life.
So
yeah.
Yeah.
Voice to me, voice and soulful speaking is aspiritual path.
Mhmm.
So a lot of us think of it as a necessary evil.
I have to speak because my teacher in highschool is telling me to, or I have to speak
because my business coach is telling me I needto in order to magnetize clients.
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And in reality, it's like it partners extremelywell with sitting on a meditation cushion.
The meditation cushion helps raiseconsciousness and speaking because we we were
born, I'm gonna use a metaphor so that I don'thave to adjust my audio settings so you can
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hear, if you imagine that we were all born as,like, a real Deep reverberant reverberating
African drum.
Mhmm.
And then the world told us, don't be too big.
Don't be too much.
Don't be too loud.
Don't take up too much space.
So it's like it morphed into a little toy drumgoing, it's still a drum.
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That is how we're walking around the world whenwe are masked up and suppressing our voices
because of all of that, don't take up too muchspace.
Don't be too emotional.
We hide our emotions by suppressing our breath,and eventually it becomes that armor around the
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heart and the lungs.
Which makes us sound and feel like a toy drumversion of ourselves.
And we're both saying this again and again.
It is not about becoming something else.
It's more like that michelangelo quote, I sawthe angel in the marble and I carved until I
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set him free.
It's about removing what's blocking the fullreverberant African drum sound from coming
across.
So removing the tension, removing the beliefsthat were not enough in order to open that back
up.
(25:28):
And that it's like we if you remember that,like, image that we saw, like, in biology class
of I call it chromagnet man.
I have no idea if that's actually what it was,but, like, the punched over all the way to the
upright humans that we are now.
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That is happening with the voice.
So if we're still stuck in this hunched overvoice trying to evolve our consciousness, it's
harder than if we open it back up so that it'sresonating on a different level.
And one new way that I've been saying it Sincethe instrument that produces singing is the
(26:12):
same instrument that produces speaking andvoice, I have people imagine Madonna from the
19 eighties.
Mhmm.
Very toy drum.
Mhmm.
Very charismatic in a different way, but verytoy drum.
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And part of that is, you know, what they did toher music in the eighties.
And very rebellious.
Right?
And very rebellious.
Being her rebel self, for sure.
Absolutely.
And now imagine Lady Gaga.
Very rebellious.
Very individualized, also incrediblycharismatic, different voice, It's not tinny.
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It's not like a toy drum.
It is a full resounding drum.
And that's happening for the sensitivevisionaries, ambitious empaths, and loving
rebels.
The voice literally touches us just like LadyGaga's, and hair stand up on end, or we hear
it, and it sounds sort of cool and distant andfar away from us.
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So, I love your equation of this to anevolution.
Because the potential, the capacity, the beinghas been there, is there.
But the expression of it perhaps grows andchanges.
Something that, you know, with my background ineducation and, teaching and learning and this
(27:43):
being As a learner, something that it'sdifficult for me to escape.
One thing that, came to my mind is kind of backto the question that I was asking about why the
voice matters and my opinion on this is so muchof who we are and the way we experience the
world is tied to our speaking.
Our we think in our voice.
(28:07):
Mhmm.
I don't know how much we realize we feel in ourvoice.
Like, the way we experience our being, isalmost an identical match to the way that we
speak about it.
Right?
Like, if you ever just think the comparison ofthose things.
The feelings you have in your body match yourwords, the tone, and vibration of them.
So having this opportunity to evolve, toexpand, and to fully realize the potential and
(28:35):
and capability in our individual voices meansAnd to me, that is just such a powerful and
important realization, right?
Like, that I hope whoever listens does not takelightly.
(28:56):
This, this emphasis that you place on you Idon't know that you've used the word
authenticity.
But something that I recently in some personalwork that I've done, you know, months prior to
this conversation, considered because I have atmany times in my life been asking the question,
like, but is this really what I think or how Ifeel or the way that I that I want to be and
(29:22):
and often I was asking that question becausewhatever was going on or wherever I was or
however I was showing up, it's like you said.
Everybody was happy with it, but was I happywith it, right?
Is it really what I wanted to express?
This is so it just resonates so deeply with me.
(29:42):
This this power that we have to not becomeauthentic, but just be authentic.
I recently had this epiphany that authenticityis about And I learned this from, Peter Sage.
It's authenticity is not being authentic.
It's not being inauthentic.
(30:05):
Right?
Like, when we stop trying to be whatever it is.
And just me, that is authenticity.
And the the amount of growth and, self love andself acceptance that I think it takes to just
own and truly value not look for validation,but truly personally value who you are, what
(30:26):
you bring.
And, you know, the gifts and talents in yourspeech you're speaking and then bigger than
that, your voice.
Yeah.
That's just such an empowering way that you'rechoosing to make a difference in the world.
As I'm I'm so grateful now that we read theentire intro because I think all of that needed
(30:49):
to be said as, sort of prelude to the contextfor this discussion.
And we've talked a little bit about individualsthat you've had an opportunity to see
transformed, and we could stop, but I'm curiousabout one more thing if you'd entertain the
question, and that is to say When you'reworking with individuals, like those that
(31:11):
you're working with, what are some of thechallenges?
Whether whether or not your particular clientsare are seeing them.
But what are some of the challenges that younotice with the professionals and the leaders
that you're working with?
Where, you know, their voice is challenged.
What are some of the things that you're seeing,going on that are creating these I think these
(31:32):
barriers.
Yeah.
Some they're they're soul suckers.
That's my name for the inner critics.
Yeah.
You said that several times now.
Tell us more.
Yeah.
It I call them the soul suckers because likethey suck the soul out of the voice.
Mhmm.
Either leaving us unable to speak or speak upor It's they're the ones that say grab the mask
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so you can say it, but only if you protectyourself.
Some of them become subject to the controllingstage mothers, which are the inner critics that
are like, okay.
If you're gonna talk then it better be perfect.
They only understand what you do or say Theydon't understand your presence, your heart,
(32:24):
your soul so they can make people freak outabout what they're gonna say so that they're
talking really fast and learning, remembering,I love the Maya angelou quote, people will
forget what you did.
They will forget what you said, but they willnever forget how you made them feel.
(32:44):
Mhmm.
So the challenge is people actually getting.
That's an example of we mean you too.
Your presence is where the value is andanything you say or do is kinda icing on the
cake.
Another thing that comes up for a lot of thepeople that I work with is tears, emotions, If
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I'm actually authentic and present in my ownbody and I breathe and open up and have
conversation, even when I'm the only onetalking, because there's a mic in front of my
face.
I'll cry.
And we think that the way out is to, like,suppress it and push it back down and hope it
goes away.
(33:30):
And that's saying what you resist persists isreally true.
The way out is through, and I've been throughthis one personally myself.
So right now, I'm having a whole conversationwith you so far haven't teared up yet.
Sometimes I still do.
And for a while there, I had so many uncriedcries of myself and others around me in my
(33:55):
body.
Mhmm.
That there was about a year long period when Iwas a part of a leadership program where I
cried and snot it all over myself every time Ispoke.
And a few years before that, I was in a voicetraining program, and I asked, what am I gonna
do when I'm crying when I'm teaching?
And they said, when they need you, you'll findyour way through, which was absolutely true.
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The tears start, and then I spoke on who needsme, and I just keep talking through the tears
until they kinda burn it away.
Mhmm.
And they at time said the answer is go in morerooms like this one where you can go through
it.
So that is also a challenge of reallybelieving.
(34:40):
It's usually, like, I say I cry and it's notall over myself or I did, And I really, really
did because I would you know, there weredecades of uncried cries coming through me at
first.
And at times, it was like the whole room neededto cry, but they weren't doing it.
So I would be past this talking stick in aleadership group.
(35:00):
And eventually, I started grabbing it andcrying and then saying what I came to say after
I cried all of their uncried cries.
The funny thing as I'm saying this is that Ifeel like I'm here to be the one that's
creating more permission for others.
Mhmm.
Because most of the time, the cries that arehappening in others are actually softer, much
(35:25):
more subtle.
It's not snot all over them or the heavingchest that I went through.
So sometimes I feel like I'm here to say, look,if I could make it through, like, the crying
and the heaving chest and the ugly cries
Mhmm.
Your cries are beautiful.
We're all finding it beautiful.
It's only you that's thinking that it'sdistracting from what you're here to say.
(35:49):
Yeah.
There's so much.
Every time you speak, there's just so much.
And Yeah.
There's no I don't think there's anything I canadd to that except thank you.
Thank you for the space that you create.
And the way that you hold space for, you know,people in the work that you do.
(36:14):
And I'm certain.
I'm certain that someone listening is curiousto know how they would find out more about what
you do or where they can follow you.
So would you please share with our audience howthey get to know more and, perhaps work with
Lori.
Yeah.
Well, thank you also for the space that youhold.
It is beautiful, and I could talk to you for 10days.
(36:37):
And people that are looking to find me, I'm alittle old school, I I am on LinkedIn,
Instagram, and YouTube, and the easiest way tofind me is to go to my website voice dash
matters.com and then scroll down to yourfavorite of those 3 socials or connect with me
(36:58):
through the website itself.
Absolutely.
And we will link you up to this post and all ofthe other socials that we mention with it to
make it easier for our listeners.
I have one final question before we wrap thischat up for this this time, and that is for the
individual who's listening and perhaps they sawthemselves as I did at many points in our
(37:22):
conversation.
What would be the one piece of advice that youwould give them that they could apply,
immediately something simple that they could doas a takeaway that will help them with Just
getting a little bit closer to expressing theirauthentic voice.
Yeah.
The the fastest quickest first step is wheneveryou're gonna go into a space where you can use
(37:47):
your voice, whether it's a group meeting or apodcast or a speech, Take a moment to set an
intention for what you want the audience tofeel.
That takes the reins away from our soul suckerswho are trying not to screw it up, trying not
to get it wrong.
(38:07):
Don't wanna forget what they're gonna say.
It takes the reins away from them and gives itback to your soul.
And it's like, you know, there was a pointwhere I wanted a bug, and I was driving on the
street and everywhere were little red VW bugs.
It becomes like that.
If you're looking for what you want theaudience to experience.
(38:28):
You start seeing them shifting toward thatinstead of watching out for all the bits of
broken glass that you don't wanna step on andthen seeing more and more glass as you're
speaking.
This is so beautiful, and it is I have to callit It is one of those simple, and entirely
(38:48):
transferable principles that when we take thefocus away from the negative and you start
talking about the amygdala and the gift that wehave of this brain that we've been given
finding what we're looking for.
Give it giving it the challenge.
Right?
But I also love this the the point that youmake about intention.
(39:10):
Right?
What do you what do you intend?
Let that be the focus.
You intend?
For the audience to feel a certain thing, thenfocus on that.
And I love that you frame this as the quickest,fastest, easiest way because anyone and all of
us, right?
However, while we do that, we all can do that.
And I perhaps, I believe that we can get betterand better at if that were a muscle, we
(39:35):
definitely could practice and strengthen it.
Right?
So thank you for that advice.
That's just beautiful advice, Lori.
Yeah.
You're welcome.
Thank you for asking.
This has been such a fantastic conversation.
And to be frank, as you said, I hate to wrap itup.
I think we could go on and on.
So we might need to find a way to do thisagain.
But I would like to say thank you so much forjust creating this bit of space.
(39:59):
For myself and for our listeners.
And just I appreciate you so much for being onthe show with me today.
Thank you so much for
And the audience literally does transformenergetically or emotionally when they speak.
And that's when we get to when we're atransformational soulful speaker, we're
actually changing the world one room at a time.
Are you ready to unlock your full potential andachieve your personal, professional, and
(00:21):
financial goals.
Welcome to remarkably simple, the podcastdedicated to helping you do just that.
I'm Monique Fields, and I believe that with theright strategies, anyone can achieve remarkable
results.
Whether you're a seasoned leader or juststarting a business.
This podcast is your guide to achieving yourgoals with simplicity and efficiency.
(00:42):
Let's Mark on this journey together and makesuccess simple.
Hello, everyone.
I am happy to welcome you back to anotherepisode of remarkably simple, I am Monique
Fields, and today I have the pleasure andexcitement of introducing you to another really
(01:04):
great guest.
We have with us Laurie Smith.
She is a speaker.
An intuitive public speaking and leadershipcoach, creator of the vocal presence path,
approach to soulful speaking, and the author ofyour voice matters, a guide to speaking
soufully when it counts.
(01:25):
She helps sensitive visionaries, am ambitiousimpacts, and loving rebels to speak, be seen,
and fulfill their souls calling.
Her mission is to call 4th more open heartedleaders so they can do their part to change the
world with authenticity, creativity, andcourage.
(01:46):
She envisions a world in which everyone sharesthe vibration of their soul's purpose with the
world through their voices and together reachglobal harmony.
Laurie can always see the soul underneath thestatic, which makes her really good at
motivating people, to fight their inner demons,and find tremendous inner power.
(02:10):
Laurie, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me.
So to get the conversation started, and tocreate a little bit of context for our
listeners.
I would love it if you would share just alittle bit of your story and how it is that you
became the soulful speaking coach that you aretoday.
(02:36):
I would love to, and I'll start by saying Icould probably tell a 4 hour version for any of
your listeners who hear this and think that itwas like a clear direct road.
It's gonna sound a little bit more of that.
And for the sake of time, I will I'll I'll dohighlights.
(02:57):
So at seven years old, my mom found me in thebackyard talking to myself.
I had been playing make believe with somefriends, like making up an episode of The Brady
Bunch, and they got bored with the exercisebeing kids and went off to the pool.
And I said, okay.
I'll meet you there later.
(03:18):
I'm gonna stay here and finish the story.
And that's when my mom walked in, and sheimmediately took me to an acting class.
Theater has a light side and a dark side.
The dark side is a little bit more like whatyou would see in the movie Mean Girls, or I
think there was a a movie in, like, 1940 calledthe understudy where the understudy kills the
(03:41):
lead in order to get the part.
That's true.
And there's also a light side of theater whereactors and theater people are capable of being
present and connected with each other in adeep, deep way that most of the world is not.
(04:02):
And I've surrounded myself with the light sideof the theater and fast forward 20 years was
working as an executive assistant in theSilicon Valley during the day and as an actress
and a director and a writer, mostly acting.
At night, And working way too much overall, andI felt this call to go toward living a more
(04:25):
aligned life.
And I kept saying no to that call.
And around that time, we did an exercise in myfavorite acting class ever in the sideways
acting studio in San Francisco.
And in that exercise, everybody was focused onme that day.
Normally, you would be up there with at leastone other person, possibly 3 other people.
(04:49):
So the attention was more divided.
And that day, it was my short stack.
Exercise.
And I kept doing what we as humans do to kindof pull myself together in between these little
mini exercises within the big one.
And Richard paused as he did a number of timeswith me over the years and said whatever that
(05:13):
thing is you're doing, in between, like, you'reyou're pulling yourself together.
Stop doing that.
And I looked at him, and I said, I'm not thatcomfortable having everyone's eyes on me.
And he took off his glasses and said, well,then you've picked a strange set of careers for
yourself.
You're an actor, a teacher, a speaker, aleader.
(05:35):
Part of you wants this.
Part of you knows You're meant to be here.
And it was like, it cut through my own soulsuckers, inner critics and static and I deeply
trusted him and the space that he held.
So I took the leap, went back into theexercise, and was actively releasing what I now
(06:00):
call our emotional masks and energetic armor Istopped the pulling it together.
I just kind of let that all melt, and it feltlike fire and the ice at the same time.
And, like, decades of protection were meltingaway.
(06:20):
And, you know, for one thing, my acting wasmuch more amazing in the exercise.
And for my life, when the exercise was over, Ilooked out at everyone in the room, and it was
like, I could see and feel what kind of dayevery single one of them was having.
(06:40):
And it was my first moment of oneness thatlasted beyond the acting.
And that moment led me to go get a graduatedegree in theater to go study leadership,
having lots more powerful experiences of theuniverse kind of going keep going.
(07:01):
This is your way.
Here's another piece.
Here's another piece.
And I realized a few years ago that that is atthe heart of the work that I now do with
speakers.
That our charisma, we all have it, and we'rethe ones getting in the way of it coming
(07:22):
across.
Because we're trying to fit in or we'reprotecting ourselves or we're armoring up.
And the doorway to speaking soulfully is beingso authentic that we are raw authentic.
And then from there, our energy and theresonance of our voices shifts.
(07:42):
So that it's touching people emotionally andliterally the sound waves hitting their bodies
in a very different way.
So I knew this was gonna happen.
There's so much so much that you've set inthere.
And it just makes me hungry to ask you the nextquestion, but I'm gonna, you know, just make a
(08:05):
make a connection really quick because I couldsee myself as a former school leader.
And, you know, I just went on this journeywhile you were talking about remembering times
where I absolutely was inhibited inhibited bymasks that I wore and thinking about simpler
times where with what I would say is the bestleadership team that I ever worked with.
(08:29):
1 of our experiences that we shared was in asummer leadership development program that we
participated in.
The way that they let us was, through theexercise of improv to, get outside of, you
know, the box and unlock some of that What Iguess I would describe as an, you know, an
inexperienced person about this, just thisinnate chemistry instead of always the planned
(08:54):
path.
But we took away so much from that.
And I think the gift that you described thatnow you have brought your own experience with
this getting to another level of personalawareness and expression, and marrying that
(09:16):
with something like theater and art andleadership, first of all, is mind blowing.
Like, we could just sit right there and go,really?
Just put a big question mark up.
Yeah.
But then taking that a step further andbecoming a coach who works with other
individuals to help them do their version ofwhat you personally experienced for their life
(09:43):
and their work is fascinating.
So I want to hear about the work that you dowith the people that you coach.
What kinds of people are you coaching and howis this concept really applied in some of those
contexts?
Yeah.
I love like the intro said, I've I realized,you know, I struggled for years with, like,
(10:06):
what do I call my people so they know I meanthem?
Mhmm.
I started out with the word, like, emergingleader, and I got a lot of people saying, no,
I'm not a leader.
And then I switched to visionary, and I got alot of people saying, I'm not a visionary.
One thing I knew about 5 years ago they all hadin common was sensitivity Mhmm.
Intuition.
(10:26):
Mhmm.
So into my head one day fell sensitivevisionaries, ambitious empaths, and loving
rebels.
Some people call themselves all three of thosethings, and some people really say, oh, I'm an
ambitious empath.
I'm not a visionary.
I'm not a rebel.
(10:46):
It's it's this combination of the sensitivityand the desire to change the world.
Or even more so the calling to change somethingin their world or the world, not a desire for
some.
For some some day this calling, like, I had togo toward a more aligned life gets awakened.
(11:11):
And they realize that in order to fulfill theirimpact, they need to speak air quotes and that
can mean anything from tiktok videos.
I'm spreading my message in tiktok videos or apodcast or live on a stage.
They're spreading the magic that they're hereto bring and the message that they're here to
(11:34):
bring in whichever of those formats they'recalled to.
The main way that I work with all of thesesensitive beings is in small groups.
I run something now called the speaker studio,very much modeled after that thing studio where
I had my breakthrough.
(11:56):
And, part of the reason for that is the wholeworld is varying levels of threatening to us.
You know, raise your hand if you did not have amoment of bullying in high school at a minimum.
All of our hands are down.
Right.
(12:16):
And and the whole world is modeling themasking.
So it can be really insidious.
Sometimes we're aware we're doing it whilewe're doing it and we can't stop it.
Other times, we're not even aware because ofmirror neurons that everyone else is doing it.
So we just model what we're seeing and feelingfrom everyone else.
(12:36):
And in order to teach ourselves with new neuralpathways and new fig physical habits of being
unmasked, We need a safe, small, yet not justone on 1 group, so that our bodies, minds,
hearts, and soul get to experience showing upthis way in a safe group with others.
(13:01):
And then all parts of us when we go out intothe real world and are the leader or one of the
leaders holding that space in the outsideworld, we know we can do it.
And we also know it can be done.
So my clients will say, like, now I'm ready togo out and be the one holding the container.
(13:25):
Instead of being in only in your container.
I connect with now based on that description,how you identify this group of people, and I
needed to pull it back up, but the sensitivevisionaries, the ambitious empaths, and the
loving rebels.
Because, again, just thinking about my owngrowth and development and leadership, there
(13:49):
absolutely have been elements where it's likeyou are very aware, consciously and
subconsciously.
On some levels of the the norms and the statusquo and the conventions and just the way that
things usually are.
And at the same time resistant to it.
(14:09):
Right?
Like, when you describe this as a calling, Itotally identify with what that is.
It's like, you try to get away from it, and itjust comes around the corner peeking at you.
You know, like, it's just something you canavoid.
Yeah.
And, I can imagine also what you describehappening with the individuals after they have
(14:31):
been able to experience the space held for themin the speaker studio.
Yeah.
And then transitioning that to a practice thatthey implement for themselves and others in
their actual work.
And, I don't know.
This is just so fascinating.
(14:53):
One of curiosity that I have is What are someof the, like, temporal things that people
describe when they are initially speaking toyou about, you know, becoming a part of your
program or participating in this work.
And what do they relate is their experienceafter?
I'm totally, like, I'm about to pick up theremote and rewind time and put a speaker studio
(15:16):
series in my history so that I could see howthings might play out differently.
So I would love to experience that throughsomebody else's story since we know it's really
not possible.
Yeah.
Some of the people that come to me say thingslike, I don't even really know why I'm here.
I'm feeling called, but I'm not a speaker.
(15:37):
Or I'm feeling called, but I'm not a leader.
So part of them is the sole part, the part thatwants to fulfill the calling, is going toward
that and their ego or the soul suckers, theinner critics are going, no, this doesn't make
any logical sense.
I'm not a and that's both true and not true.
(15:59):
So the truth is they are not the leader that wegrew up with.
One type of leader wearing 1 type of suit,moving, and talking the same way, whatever way
is popular.
They're not that.
Mhmm.
They are the leader of now.
(16:21):
Who's here to usher in the change.
So some of them don't even really know whythey're there.
They don't think It's possible for them on somelevel, or they're just starting to think maybe
maybe there is another way Then the one I grewup with, then kind of the industrial speaking
(16:44):
machine.
And I call it, like, not your granddaddyspeaking group.
Mhmm.
They're curious because they've heard I'mdifferent or they've seen something about it.
At the other end of the spectrum are people whowent through that bro speaking machine and
maybe even one competitions.
And it never felt good.
(17:05):
They they were able to wear the mask and makeeverybody else happy with the masks.
And they walked away saying, I'm capable ofmore or there must be something more to this.
And if there's not, I'm done.
And when they come back, it's like the volumeis going up on there is.
(17:29):
Something more.
There's a way to be truly present and connectedwith the crowd and to hold the space for that
crowd to emotionally or energeticallytransform.
Through you speaking with them and holding thecontainer for them.
(17:49):
Depending on how long they stay, Mhmm.
Some people get so far that they feelcomfortable being authentic.
And it feels good to them.
They feel at home in their own skin.
They're able to look at and connect with theaudience while they're talking and and have a
conversation while they speak.
(18:11):
That's kind of an authentic speaking stoppingpoint.
Some people continue all the way to what Iwould call soulful speaking, which is where
they are they've reawakened their superpower offeeling energy.
Mhmm.
And The audience literally does transformenergetically or emotionally when they speak.
(18:38):
And that's when we get to when we're atransformational soulful speaker, we're
actually changing the world one room at a time.
Love you framing this as a superpower.
This this place that we come to, but kind ofrolling back to the beginning of what you were
(18:59):
talking about.
I see this work that you're doing of helpingsomeone really unlock first their belief in
their ability to be the future or best versionof themselves.
I think that is the most compelling part ofwhat you're describing that very often, we need
to borrow.
And I just spoke about this with somebody elseto borrow somebody else's belief.
(19:24):
In what we are capable of because we're stillso hugging tightly the self doubt or you know,
whatever message we've rehearsed our whole lifethat we don't we don't see what someone else
easily sees.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and you made me think another part of themagic of the small groups is that it's not just
(19:46):
me believing So when people come to me, itstarts with my belief.
Mhmm.
Seeing the soul underneath the static thatdoesn't believe.
And then they take a risk on themselves and onme, and then they get in a room with 9 other
people.
And that and a Zoom room counts.
(20:08):
Yes.
And there's still a part of them that doesn'tbelieve, and there's a part of their circle
made that doesn't believe.
And when they see the value in their circlemate and they see their circle mate looking
back at them, it becomes, like, you know, tothe 100 power from nine people because they
really start to believe through the eyes ofother people believing.
(20:31):
And another one of the things that can shift isin 6 months to a year.
Someone can go from nobody wants to hear fromsomeone like me to I have a message for the
world.
I know what my message is, and this is what itis so that they've got their own transformation
(20:54):
talk that they're ready to take to the world.
I think that is just so Lovely.
This this experience to be frank.
It just sounds absolutely like transfixing.
(21:14):
Yeah.
That probably isn't the right way to describeit.
You use the word transformation, which I thinkthe majority of us think is quite frankly out
of reach.
Right?
People who call themselves transformational orsay that they have experienced transformation.
Mhmm.
I think it is, it's so common and so acceptedfor us to disbelieve ourselves.
(21:38):
But
I have experienced exactly what you describedabout being in a room with other people.
And giving those other people 100 percent of mybelief, my faith, my hope, my trust that
they've got what it takes to do whateverthey're being called upon to do.
And simultaneously turning around and thinking,but I'm not going to be the 1 or I can't be the
(21:59):
1.
And I see that happening because there aretimes where I'm standing up and showing up and
giving the best that I can in the momentbecause I've chosen to be brave, and someone
else is saying these comments of adorationabout You know, how fantastic it is that I'm
doing something.
I'm thinking, how can they think that this isso awesome while I at the same time think it's
the worst delivery ever.
(22:21):
But what you describe about this connectionbetween the group until in that moment of
oneness that you originally talked about inyour personal experience.
Mhmm.
But you believe in what they believe and whatyou see and what they see is the same.
And I think that would just be like I said, atransfixing type of experience.
(22:44):
Right?
I think there are so many contexts where thistype of thing can happen.
But, maybe you could just speak a little bitabout why voice matters because in the grand
scheme of things, I think very often, this isone of those core pieces that if we could just
figure it out it might unlock so many of thethings that, you know, appear to be mysteries
(23:08):
in life.
So
yeah.
Yeah.
Voice to me, voice and soulful speaking is aspiritual path.
Mhmm.
So a lot of us think of it as a necessary evil.
I have to speak because my teacher in highschool is telling me to, or I have to speak
because my business coach is telling me I needto in order to magnetize clients.
(23:35):
And in reality, it's like it partners extremelywell with sitting on a meditation cushion.
The meditation cushion helps raiseconsciousness and speaking because we we were
born, I'm gonna use a metaphor so that I don'thave to adjust my audio settings so you can
(23:59):
hear, if you imagine that we were all born as,like, a real Deep reverberant reverberating
African drum.
Mhmm.
And then the world told us, don't be too big.
Don't be too much.
Don't be too loud.
Don't take up too much space.
So it's like it morphed into a little toy drumgoing, it's still a drum.
(24:25):
That is how we're walking around the world whenwe are masked up and suppressing our voices
because of all of that, don't take up too muchspace.
Don't be too emotional.
We hide our emotions by suppressing our breath,and eventually it becomes that armor around the
(24:46):
heart and the lungs.
Which makes us sound and feel like a toy drumversion of ourselves.
And we're both saying this again and again.
It is not about becoming something else.
It's more like that michelangelo quote, I sawthe angel in the marble and I carved until I
(25:07):
set him free.
It's about removing what's blocking the fullreverberant African drum sound from coming
across.
So removing the tension, removing the beliefsthat were not enough in order to open that back
up.
(25:28):
And that it's like we if you remember that,like, image that we saw, like, in biology class
of I call it chromagnet man.
I have no idea if that's actually what it was,but, like, the punched over all the way to the
upright humans that we are now.
(25:49):
That is happening with the voice.
So if we're still stuck in this hunched overvoice trying to evolve our consciousness, it's
harder than if we open it back up so that it'sresonating on a different level.
And one new way that I've been saying it Sincethe instrument that produces singing is the
(26:12):
same instrument that produces speaking andvoice, I have people imagine Madonna from the
19 eighties.
Mhmm.
Very toy drum.
Mhmm.
Very charismatic in a different way, but verytoy drum.
(26:33):
And part of that is, you know, what they did toher music in the eighties.
And very rebellious.
Right?
And very rebellious.
Being her rebel self, for sure.
Absolutely.
And now imagine Lady Gaga.
Very rebellious.
Very individualized, also incrediblycharismatic, different voice, It's not tinny.
(26:59):
It's not like a toy drum.
It is a full resounding drum.
And that's happening for the sensitivevisionaries, ambitious empaths, and loving
rebels.
The voice literally touches us just like LadyGaga's, and hair stand up on end, or we hear
it, and it sounds sort of cool and distant andfar away from us.
(27:23):
So, I love your equation of this to anevolution.
Because the potential, the capacity, the beinghas been there, is there.
But the expression of it perhaps grows andchanges.
Something that, you know, with my background ineducation and, teaching and learning and this
(27:43):
being As a learner, something that it'sdifficult for me to escape.
One thing that, came to my mind is kind of backto the question that I was asking about why the
voice matters and my opinion on this is so muchof who we are and the way we experience the
world is tied to our speaking.
Our we think in our voice.
(28:07):
Mhmm.
I don't know how much we realize we feel in ourvoice.
Like, the way we experience our being, isalmost an identical match to the way that we
speak about it.
Right?
Like, if you ever just think the comparison ofthose things.
The feelings you have in your body match yourwords, the tone, and vibration of them.
So having this opportunity to evolve, toexpand, and to fully realize the potential and
(28:35):
and capability in our individual voices meansAnd to me, that is just such a powerful and
important realization, right?
Like, that I hope whoever listens does not takelightly.
(28:56):
This, this emphasis that you place on you Idon't know that you've used the word
authenticity.
But something that I recently in some personalwork that I've done, you know, months prior to
this conversation, considered because I have atmany times in my life been asking the question,
like, but is this really what I think or how Ifeel or the way that I that I want to be and
(29:22):
and often I was asking that question becausewhatever was going on or wherever I was or
however I was showing up, it's like you said.
Everybody was happy with it, but was I happywith it, right?
Is it really what I wanted to express?
This is so it just resonates so deeply with me.
(29:42):
This this power that we have to not becomeauthentic, but just be authentic.
I recently had this epiphany that authenticityis about And I learned this from, Peter Sage.
It's authenticity is not being authentic.
It's not being inauthentic.
(30:05):
Right?
Like, when we stop trying to be whatever it is.
And just me, that is authenticity.
And the the amount of growth and, self love andself acceptance that I think it takes to just
own and truly value not look for validation,but truly personally value who you are, what
(30:26):
you bring.
And, you know, the gifts and talents in yourspeech you're speaking and then bigger than
that, your voice.
Yeah.
That's just such an empowering way that you'rechoosing to make a difference in the world.
As I'm I'm so grateful now that we read theentire intro because I think all of that needed
(30:49):
to be said as, sort of prelude to the contextfor this discussion.
And we've talked a little bit about individualsthat you've had an opportunity to see
transformed, and we could stop, but I'm curiousabout one more thing if you'd entertain the
question, and that is to say When you'reworking with individuals, like those that
(31:11):
you're working with, what are some of thechallenges?
Whether whether or not your particular clientsare are seeing them.
But what are some of the challenges that younotice with the professionals and the leaders
that you're working with?
Where, you know, their voice is challenged.
What are some of the things that you're seeing,going on that are creating these I think these
(31:32):
barriers.
Yeah.
Some they're they're soul suckers.
That's my name for the inner critics.
Yeah.
You said that several times now.
Tell us more.
Yeah.
It I call them the soul suckers because likethey suck the soul out of the voice.
Mhmm.
Either leaving us unable to speak or speak upor It's they're the ones that say grab the mask
(31:59):
so you can say it, but only if you protectyourself.
Some of them become subject to the controllingstage mothers, which are the inner critics that
are like, okay.
If you're gonna talk then it better be perfect.
They only understand what you do or say Theydon't understand your presence, your heart,
(32:24):
your soul so they can make people freak outabout what they're gonna say so that they're
talking really fast and learning, remembering,I love the Maya angelou quote, people will
forget what you did.
They will forget what you said, but they willnever forget how you made them feel.
(32:44):
Mhmm.
So the challenge is people actually getting.
That's an example of we mean you too.
Your presence is where the value is andanything you say or do is kinda icing on the
cake.
Another thing that comes up for a lot of thepeople that I work with is tears, emotions, If
(33:08):
I'm actually authentic and present in my ownbody and I breathe and open up and have
conversation, even when I'm the only onetalking, because there's a mic in front of my
face.
I'll cry.
And we think that the way out is to, like,suppress it and push it back down and hope it
goes away.
(33:30):
And that's saying what you resist persists isreally true.
The way out is through, and I've been throughthis one personally myself.
So right now, I'm having a whole conversationwith you so far haven't teared up yet.
Sometimes I still do.
And for a while there, I had so many uncriedcries of myself and others around me in my
(33:55):
body.
Mhmm.
That there was about a year long period when Iwas a part of a leadership program where I
cried and snot it all over myself every time Ispoke.
And a few years before that, I was in a voicetraining program, and I asked, what am I gonna
do when I'm crying when I'm teaching?
And they said, when they need you, you'll findyour way through, which was absolutely true.
(34:20):
The tears start, and then I spoke on who needsme, and I just keep talking through the tears
until they kinda burn it away.
Mhmm.
And they at time said the answer is go in morerooms like this one where you can go through
it.
So that is also a challenge of reallybelieving.
(34:40):
It's usually, like, I say I cry and it's notall over myself or I did, And I really, really
did because I would you know, there weredecades of uncried cries coming through me at
first.
And at times, it was like the whole room neededto cry, but they weren't doing it.
So I would be past this talking stick in aleadership group.
(35:00):
And eventually, I started grabbing it andcrying and then saying what I came to say after
I cried all of their uncried cries.
The funny thing as I'm saying this is that Ifeel like I'm here to be the one that's
creating more permission for others.
Mhmm.
Because most of the time, the cries that arehappening in others are actually softer, much
(35:25):
more subtle.
It's not snot all over them or the heavingchest that I went through.
So sometimes I feel like I'm here to say, look,if I could make it through, like, the crying
and the heaving chest and the ugly cries
Mhmm.
Your cries are beautiful.
We're all finding it beautiful.
It's only you that's thinking that it'sdistracting from what you're here to say.
(35:49):
Yeah.
There's so much.
Every time you speak, there's just so much.
And Yeah.
There's no I don't think there's anything I canadd to that except thank you.
Thank you for the space that you create.
And the way that you hold space for, you know,people in the work that you do.
(36:14):
And I'm certain.
I'm certain that someone listening is curiousto know how they would find out more about what
you do or where they can follow you.
So would you please share with our audience howthey get to know more and, perhaps work with
Lori.
Yeah.
Well, thank you also for the space that youhold.
It is beautiful, and I could talk to you for 10days.
(36:37):
And people that are looking to find me, I'm alittle old school, I I am on LinkedIn,
Instagram, and YouTube, and the easiest way tofind me is to go to my website voice dash
matters.com and then scroll down to yourfavorite of those 3 socials or connect with me
(36:58):
through the website itself.
Absolutely.
And we will link you up to this post and all ofthe other socials that we mention with it to
make it easier for our listeners.
I have one final question before we wrap thischat up for this this time, and that is for the
individual who's listening and perhaps they sawthemselves as I did at many points in our
(37:22):
conversation.
What would be the one piece of advice that youwould give them that they could apply,
immediately something simple that they could doas a takeaway that will help them with Just
getting a little bit closer to expressing theirauthentic voice.
Yeah.
The the fastest quickest first step is wheneveryou're gonna go into a space where you can use
(37:47):
your voice, whether it's a group meeting or apodcast or a speech, Take a moment to set an
intention for what you want the audience tofeel.
That takes the reins away from our soul suckerswho are trying not to screw it up, trying not
to get it wrong.
(38:07):
Don't wanna forget what they're gonna say.
It takes the reins away from them and gives itback to your soul.
And it's like, you know, there was a pointwhere I wanted a bug, and I was driving on the
street and everywhere were little red VW bugs.
It becomes like that.
If you're looking for what you want theaudience to experience.
(38:28):
You start seeing them shifting toward thatinstead of watching out for all the bits of
broken glass that you don't wanna step on andthen seeing more and more glass as you're
speaking.
This is so beautiful, and it is I have to callit It is one of those simple, and entirely
(38:48):
transferable principles that when we take thefocus away from the negative and you start
talking about the amygdala and the gift that wehave of this brain that we've been given
finding what we're looking for.
Give it giving it the challenge.
Right?
But I also love this the the point that youmake about intention.
(39:10):
Right?
What do you what do you intend?
Let that be the focus.
You intend?
For the audience to feel a certain thing, thenfocus on that.
And I love that you frame this as the quickest,fastest, easiest way because anyone and all of
us, right?
However, while we do that, we all can do that.
And I perhaps, I believe that we can get betterand better at if that were a muscle, we
(39:35):
definitely could practice and strengthen it.
Right?
So thank you for that advice.
That's just beautiful advice, Lori.
Yeah.
You're welcome.
Thank you for asking.
This has been such a fantastic conversation.
And to be frank, as you said, I hate to wrap itup.
I think we could go on and on.
So we might need to find a way to do thisagain.
But I would like to say thank you so much forjust creating this bit of space.
(39:59):
For myself and for our listeners.
And just I appreciate you so much for being onthe show with me today.
Thank you so much for
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